For those unfamiliar with the Funny or Die, it is a website designed by the creative duo of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (The Other Guys, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, Anchorman) made for people to submit funny videos. While a lot of the submissions are created by amateurs from around the world, there are also a ton of submissions by professional comedians and actors. The thing about Funny or Die, as a website, is that the users vote the submitted videos up and down so that the funny ones rise to the top and the not-so good ones... well, die.
So what is Funny or Die Presents? Basically, the minds behind the website got together with HBO and somehow got the premium channel to agree to a season of half-hour shows full of new segments. I guess my biggest problem is that, while quite a lot of big names in comedy were involved in the creation of a lot of these skits, I don't feel like they would have passed the general public's voting had these clips been put on the Funny or Die website. Don't get me wrong, there are quite a few funny segments scattered about this season, but not every episode contains a gem, and I found that if I didn't absolutely love the presented segment, I was downright baffled over why anyone would find it funny.
Some of the better running skits include "Space Baby," "Drunk History" (though there are only two of these), "Designated Driver" and "Holdup." "Space Baby" features a baby in a space suit going around and fighting evil in her very cute manner, while "Drunk History" has people getting drunk and explaining an important aspect of American history. In this case, one skit covers Frederick Douglass, while the other takes on Nikolai Tesla. In both cases, the facts are more-or-less correct, even if the delivery of such information isn't what you would expect from a lecture hall history class.
"Designated Driver" features Rob Riggle and Paul Scheer as they have a strange night on the town. The evening begins when Riggle's character calls on Scheer's to pick him up at a bar. What results is a night of adventures that include everything from robbing stores to being chased by the cops. This story is broken up into four parts and spread across the entire season.
"Holdup" is another multi-part segment. This one takes place in a bank that is being robbed. Between the idiotic robbers and the over-anxious cops, the few captives are going to have a hard time surviving the experience, especially since one captive is waiting to sell them all out at any moment, another keeps making bad plans to escape, a third seems to to have an extreme case of Stockholm Syndrome and a fourth has already been badly injured.
My personal favorites though are the Playground Politics skits. Here, kids take on the roles of various counties and explains various political topics in an overly simplified, but damned funny, manner. These skits include America, a chubby boy, trying to take dangerous fireworks from little North Korea and another one where America tries to stop Israel from beating up the Gaza Strip while several Middle Eastern countries/kids wait to beat up Israel. I found each one of these segments to be both hilarious and brilliant.
There are other recurring segments like "Derek Waters LOL" and "The Slovin & Allen Show," both of which are segments comprised of several skits only semi-related to each other. While these are definitely amusing, they don't quite reach the same level as the previously mentioned segments.
Another notable skit that actually takes up an entire episode is "The Carpet Brothers." This is the story of three heirs to a major carpet store. When their dad dies, they are left trying to figure out what to do with the company. On one hand, they can keep running it, but a huge amount of debt makes that a risky option. On the other hand, they can sell it to an opposing business man (David Spade). What they try to do is convince a big-time motel owner played by Ferrell that their store is the best source for all of his carpeting needs.
Unfortunately, there is also a lot of clutter stuck around these truly funny parts of the show. One such piece is "Just 3 Boyz" featuring Zach Galifianakis, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. Done in the style of an early 90's sitcom (the style feels a lot like Saved by the Bell), this particular segment seems to stem more from the creative stylings of Heidecker and Wareheim. For those not familiar with this duo, their work can more readily be seen on [Adult Swim] in the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. The problem I have is that over the last few years, I've gotten away from the [Adult Swim] brand of comedy and it just doesn't seem as funny to me as it used to. As a result "Just 3 Boyz" was far from amusing.
Another confusing and just horrible skit was "Magical Balloon." This sketch focused on a company that is hired to make a video based on a relaxation pamphlet. The studio believes it is their big break and when the writer/co-owner of the company has to decide between their beautiful actress and his wife and co-owner, tensions rise. Much like "Just 3 Boyz," I was left more awestruck than amused with this part of the show.
Funny or Die Presents puts itself out there as the perfect marriage between TV and the Internet, but it's missing one vital part, and that's the interactive nature that is apparently necessary in order to allow some segments to die before actually being aired. While it has some good parts to it, there are just way more misses than hits and as a result, the need to wade through the lesser quality skits in order to get to the better stuff is just too much to warrant the purchase of Funny or Die Presents: Season One... especially given the complete lack of special features.
