One of the reasons why Louis C.K.’s Louie became one of the most critically acclaimed comedies of the 2010s is because no one knew what to expect on a weekly basis. One episode, he’s watching Chloë Sevigny masturbate in a bar; the next, he’s trying to replace David Letterman as the host of Late Show. Louie kept viewers guessing, and expected us to keep up. The heir apparent to Louie looked like it was going to be Better Things, considering it stars and was created by Pamela Adlon and is produced by C.K., but it’s actually another new FX comedy that’s defying all expectations: Donald Glover’s Atlanta.
Episode five had black Justin Bieber; episode six was all about Van (and her condom-full-of-baby-urine schemes); and last night’s episode “B.A.N.” was Atlanta‘s weirdest one yet, with Paper Boi on a fictional talk show called Montague. The commitment to the bit was impressive: there were even fake commercials, including one for Coconut Crunchos Cereal. The ad starts out normal enough. Three adorable little kids and a police officer enter an Egyptian temple, where they discover bowls of Coconut Crunchos. Before they can start eating, though, a wolf pops out of sarcophagus and tries to have the cereal all to himself. Naturally, he bonks his head and fails, because “only kids can have Coconut Crunchos.” It could be any ol’ Cocoa Puffs commercial, until the cop starts violently abusing his privileges on the wolf.
Sonny the Cuckoo Bird and the Trix Rabbit got off easy.