I didn’t feel like I was laughing at his awkwardness but with him because the sincerity of the writing and performance got me to care. There’s something vulnerable about Joe’s old man shuffle, how he walks hunched forward with his arms hanging over his side, like a geriatric penguin. They’re both weird, unique people, and their interactions with each other and the world are captivating and hilarious to watch. These characters walk the line of being simultaneously lame and endearing-no small feat. It’s awkward for sure but not in a way that suggests the show is making fun of Joe or Sarah. I still can’t get the song out of my head. It’s rooted in a weird fact (Alberta has been rat-free for the last 65 years thanks to vigilant patrolling) and turns into something absurdly funny and endearing. We’re treated to a children’s musical centered around the Rat Wars of Alberta, Canada-something Sarah suggested to Joe do after they first went snowmobiling together. Sarah, too, is just slightly short, and there’s a great scene where she gets mad at Joe and tries to angrily drive away in her truck, except she can’t quite climb in because it’s too high off the ground. Joe Pera has a physical awkwardness to him: he carries himself like he’s not exactly at home in his body. The show finds empathetic comedy in how its “outsider” characters fit in with the real world. In the fourth episode, Joe finally meets his match in the form of anxious doomsday-prepper and fellow music teacher Sarah Connor, played by Jo Firestone. While each episode is framed as an exploration of a particular theme-snowmobiles, breakfast, The Rat Wars of Alberta, Canada-they’re really brief portraits of a thoughtful, melancholy and sympathetic character. But the Midwestern ephemera is really just window-dressing “Joe Pera Talks With You” is about the character. In the first episode, “Joe Pera Shows You Iron,” he teaches us not just about iron but also copper, azurite, tourmaline and, of course, Lake Superior Agate. He’s an elementary school choirmaster who loves his hometown, Marquette, Michigan, and he spends a lot of time telling us about it. The show has a dry, subtle sense of humor, but it doesn’t make fun of Joe in a mean-spirited way. And it’s got OnStar.” All of the episodes are framed like this: expository forays into this solitary young/old man’s life. Joe Pera ends his treatise in his car, the 2001 Buick Park Avenue by saying, “It’s just a really nice car that doesn’t make people feel bad about how nice it is. Rogers-kind, considerate, perhaps slightly aloof. The character emanates the same aura as Mr. “Joe Pera,” played by the comedian of the same name, is a man of indiscriminate age, who usually walks with an unhurried, shambling gait and always has his shirt tucked in. He’s talking to the camera, slowly and deliberately, as he drives in his car on a late autumn day in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. These are three words I would use to describe the 2001 Buick Park Avenue,” is how Pera begins episode three. Usually, this means something dark and crass and absurd, but “Joe Pera” takes things in an entirely different direction-there are no Satanic rituals, severed limbs or diarrhea, just a character and atmosphere that make you want to keep coming back. Twelve minutes forces inventive efficiency: showrunners have to get to the point as fast as possible. Perhaps “Joe Pera Talks With You” could only exist on Adult Swim, a network where twelve minute episodes are the norm. Late night programming block Adult Swim has built its brand on off-color, caustic comedy, but earlier this summer, something completely different premiered: the sincere, meditative, and caring “Joe Pera Talks With You.” It’s an incredible work of empathy, rooted to an entirely unique character-the kind of show that just might make you feel better after watching.
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