Jeff Garlin's Our Man in Chicago

⭐ 4.0/10

(Originally written by Zach)

If you've seen Curb, you'll know Jeff Garlin as Jeff Green, Larry David's improvisational, escalation prone counterpart. He brings an even-keeled presence to Larry's idiosyncrasy and their chemistry is magical. I went into Our Man expecting to be as drawn in to a smart comedic take on whatever. I didn't make it 30-minutes. This seems like the product of Netflix giving out stand-up specials like high school nurses give out condoms.

Garlin is a long time improviser and while that serves him in other contexts, his standup special could've used more polish, practice, and precision. Premise after premise was set-up only to be left standing. Garlin would bring something up, like locker room nudity, only to say "geez, that's funny!" and yeah sure, it's funny but Jeff, you gotta say more! Give me a new angle on the dangle bro!

I found Garlin to be more entertained than the actual audience and he was prone to burst out into obnoxious laughter that far outweighed what was deserving in the moment.

I found it funny to see Garlin follow a thought just as far as the audience before saying, 'fuck it' and moving on to the next idea. There was a visible improvisation taking place and even though it was never uproarious, the break is always funny.

The bit that killed it for me was a story about the worst gig of Jeff's career. He set the scene over and over again, sucking the air out of the room with each iteration dragging what could've been a solid 8-min into something like 18-minutes of repeating himself for not a lot of payoff.

Garlin is an extremely successful comedic mind but to me, this special misses the mark. It's not that funny. I get the impression that Garlin has done so well that he could give a shit if the special flops and he plays it with that attitude. As an aside, I wish he would've picked a different look for the show. He kind of looks like an evil magician.

For Garlin gold, check out Curb Your Enthusiasm.