The problem with theater is, of course, that it’s temporary.
When the show is over, it’s over forever. Unlike a movie, you can’t just go
back and watch that performance again. When I left the Broadway production of Oh,
Hello earlier this year, I was absolutely floored, and deeply
disappointed that my friends couldn’t see this brilliantly hilarious show.
Enter Netflix, who filmed one of the last performances of the play and finally
released it today!
The play is written by comedian friends Nick Kroll and John
Mulaney, who also star in it as George and Gil, two elderly self-absorbed New
Yorkers premiering their original play-within-a-play. Based on a sketch the duo
performed on Kroll Show, the play delivers the exact type of
bizarre humor and specific pop culture references fans of the comedians have
come to love. Truly, I laughed harder than ever when I saw the show in person,
and the Netflix special captures a great deal of that spark.
When it’s funny, it’s hilarious. The joke-per-minute count
in Oh,
Hello is astonishing. One of the many benefits of having it on Netflix is
the ability to pause or turn on captioning so you don’t miss any jokes drowned
out by laughter. And this laughter lasts throughout most of the 90 minute
special. Unfortunately, toward the end of the show, they revisit an extended
parody of over-dramatic arguments in theater. This really slows down the
otherwise quick pace of the play, so it drags a bit to its ending. That is to
say, it’s about ten minutes longer than it should have been. Too much of a good
thing, etc.
If you’re hesitant to watch it because of its concept, I
assure you that the old man characters are far less annoying than they seem,
with very little of the show’s humor coming from their broad cartoonish
stereotypes. Instead, we’re treated to the strangest hour and a half
imaginable, filled with proudly inaccessible references and spot on parodies of
theatrical conventions. Once again, I stress that it is predominantly funny,
and when it is funny, Netflix’s Oh, Hello is one of the best pieces of
comedy I have ever seen. Do yourself a
favor and check it out.
4 out of 5
