"Children's Hospital" Review: Double-Fried Eggs on a Hot, Hot Titty
By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (13)
Part of the fun in watching “Children’s Hospital” is keeping a running tally on the number of actors in it who are alumnus of the best comedies of the last decade: “Arrested Development,” (Michael Cera, Henry Winkler) “Party Down,” (Ken Marino, Megan Mullaly, Adam Scott) “Parks and Recreation,” (Mullally, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott) “The Daily Show,” (Rob Corddry, Ed Helms) and “The League” (Paul Scheer, Nick Kroll). Given the common thread of David Wain to most of the cast and guest stars, it’s only a matter of time before Michael Ian Black and Paul Rudd show up, and Jon Hamm — because he’s obligated to cameo in everything that’s truly funny these days — already has.
“Children’s Hospital” is an unrelentingly funny stew of those aforementioned shows, combining their wacky absurdist sense of humor and an obsession with vagina metaphors with skewering parody of hospital shows, most tellingly “Grey’s Anatomy,” “ER,” and “Scrubs.” In fact, though it’s occasionally mentioned that the show takes place in Brazil, there’s no attempt to cover up the fact that it’s filmed in Los Angeles on the old “Scrubs” set (which is even mentioned in one of the many fourth-wall meta moments).
Created by Rob Corddry — who writes many of the episodes and stars as a demented, slasher-movie Patch Adams obsessed with healing with the magical powers of laughter to the exclusion of medicine — “Children’s Hospital” began as a web series during the Writer’s Strike back in 2008 with 10 five minute episodes. After it was picked up by Adult Swim, the second season aired in 2010 as 10 15- minute episodes, which is the current format, now in the third season. The main cast includes Megan Mullally as an oversexed take on “ER’s” Dr. Kerry Weaver; she ambles around in a walker and tries to screw everything on the show with her clumsy vagina. Lake Bell (and her brain jelly), who I didn’t realize could be this funny, is one of the many hot female doctors (along with Erinn Hayes and Malin Ackerman, who joined the cast in season two), all of whom have a revolving door of fuck buddies, though nothing tops Lake Bell’s relationship with a six-year old with advanced aging disease (Nick Kroll, the motherfucker who continues to take all of Josh Malina’s rolls). Ken Marino (“Party Down”) and Rob Huebel (Everything) round out the cast as horny doctors who are never lacking a good sexual metaphor or boner joke. Relationships rarely last longer than an episode, there’s barely any continuity, and as an ode to the soap opera melodramatics of hospital shows, anyone who dies is likely to return a few episodes later.
“Children’s Hospital” is furiously hilarious, a shotgun blast of quotable one-liners and sight gags, and easily the funniest thing on television this summer (given its short run time, you can catch up on the first two seasons — now on DVD — in under three hours). It’s everything you love about “Party Down,” “Arrested Development,” and Ron Swanson, set in a hospital and condensed into 11 minute episodes. It’s batshit off-the-wall, makes no sense at times, and is as politically incorrect as you can be on basic cable. In other words, it’s just about perfect. You may as well give into it now, because like those other cult comedies, people will be asking you for years to come if you’ve seen “Children’s Hospital” yet. Beat the crowds, rape the clown, and drink the mint julep.
Just for a taste, here’s one of my favorite scenes, a dance sequence set to a rap song which fairly sums up the entire episode’s narrative (and if you have five minutes, check out the first episode in the second clip)
Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance
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Comments
Posted by: Rykker at June 27, 2011 3:43 PM
This is freaky.
I JUST discovered this show about two hours ago when I clicked on one of the pictures in the Uproxx Breaking Web Trends thing, and I was wondering how I had gone this long without knowing about it (pretty much like what happened with "Archer").
I added Seasons One and Two to my Amazon Wish List after watching just a few clips.