I really like this show. But I'm not shocked that many people dislike it. The sketches don't all stand up well by themselves, lacking the clearly-defined, singular premise that is the hallmark of traditional sketch comedy (e.g., SNL, Mad TV, Chappelle Show, Whitest Kids U Know), where a humorous situation is set up and then played out to further and further extremes. There is not much here aimed towards water-cooler recaps. Nor is the satire offbeat enough for the show to achieve that surreal, absurdist quality that you get from Mr. Show, Portlandia, Comedy Bang Bang, or even Monty Python. Kroll does not venture too far from reality show parodies. But where Kroll Show may shrug off mainstream expectations as sketch comedy, it nails its target as social commentary: a kind of stream-of-consciousness symphonic poem aware only of the circular, ephemeral landscape of trashy television and internet memes that exists in front of its own eyes. At its best, the show is to Bravo and E! what The Onion is to bad journalism, the joke not so much on the idiots that it caricatures but rather on all of us for letting them happen. If you don't feel a little ashamed of yourself by how recognizable all of this is then yes, you are probably missing the point.
Review of Kroll Show
