“The Jeselnik Offensive,” which premiered last Tuesday on Comedy Central, is a compilation comedy show starring Anthony Jeselnik. The pilot episode features an opening monologue, various current events segments and a celebrity panel with Amy Schumer and Aziz Ansari (“Parks and Recreation”). The aim of the show is to create comedy based on seemingly “offensive” topics, which in the pilot episode include cancer, the perpetrator of the Aurora shooting and various other subjects.
The pilot episode is formatted similarly to “Tosh.0,” with Jeselnik standing next to a television screen commenting on funny photographs or tweets. Many of these segments were quite humorous, but Jeselnik is sometimes a bit awkward and laughs at himself far too often. This makes the pilot episode seem a little rough and unpolished, and Jeselnik’s timing is not always spot on. In general, Jeselnik needs to become more comfortable with the format of the show in contrast to traditional stand-up comedy. Because of Jeselnik’s awkwardness, the pilot episode felt over rehearsed and unnatural, and at times it sounded like he was reading directly from a script. Perhaps with some more improvisation and spontaneity, Jeselnik would be able to come out of his shell a bit more in the series.
The celebrity panel was probably one of the funniest segments of the pilot episode, with Ansari and Schumer working off of one another more than Jeselnik. The panel also included a segment in which the host read embarrassing tweets from the two celebrities and asked them to justify their actions. This segment was funnier than others simply because it was more personal, and allowed the comedians to feed off of one another and improvise a bit more. Additionally, the other comedians allowed Jeselnik to relax slightly since he wasn’t the only one on screen. In future episodes, it may be effective to highlight the panel segment a tad more, and spend some time talking about the guest celebrities’ careers and personal lives.
In terms of the actual comedy, Jeselnik often toes the line between good comedy and bad taste. Though it’s true that this is the focus of the series, it may be too soon for jokes about the events like the Aurora shooting. That being said, there are some hilarious moments throughout the pilot episode. In the segment on cancer, the host interviews an oncologist and makes fun of her profession. Then there’s the credit reel, which is Jeselnik acting out random scenes—among them one where he, wearing a straitjacket, does snow angels in a puddle of blood (it doesn’t sound like it would be funny, but surprisingly it is). Overall, Jeselnik seems to be more comfortable in scripted and pre-recorded segments than in the live segments in front of a studio audience.
As a whole, “The Jeselnik Offensive” contains some incredibly humorous moments, but lacks a certain polished quality. This is mostly due to the man whom the show is named after, who often seems uncomfortable in the format of the show and doesn’t always deliver in terms of timing. What’s more, Jeselnik’s jokes often felt a bit over rehearsed, and the episode lacked any essence of improvisation. Overall, “The Jeselnik Offensive” is mediocre, and in order to become a fan favorite, it will require a lot of work and significant adaptation.
