Tim Heidecker is accidentally a feminist.
Okay, I know how that sounds. Hear me out. One of the greatest crimes a man can commit in Bro Code is telling the world how men operate, especially when it comes to treating women badly. I admit I’m nearly 20 years late to the Tim n’ Eric party, and thirteen years late to the movie The Comedy, but Heidecker portrayal of douchey characters is spot on. We all think the best villains comes to us in a mask and a prison jump suit. But, no. Some villains come to us in a button down shirt and cheap, plastic sunglasses.
Our adorable antagonist, Asa, character started as a recycle from an older series, but after watching The Comedy. I realized he needed some punch up. Asa isn’t just a clownish, rich kid villain from an 80’s cartoon. He’s so much worse. He’s a brutal life lesson of who not to trust. He’s what happens when you give kids more toys than guidance. Asa is a nightmare in nautical shorts.
Why do the worst dudes always wear those shorts? Those specifically? Whyyyy?
Anyway, Tim Heidecker’s main character in The Comedy is also a nightmare. His problem is that he’s an unparented party boy living on a houseboat while managing his emotions with drugs and alcohol. He’s a rich failson with nothing to offer the world except uncomfortable jokes, drunken chaos, and drama. Partying with him is rough. Having to service him is worse. Dating him is particularly heinous, as Heidecker’s character spends one pivotal scene watching a date have a seizure and doing literally nothing to help her. Heidecker’s character is a perfect portrayal of this type of Rich White Dude. Having lived in Southern California, let me tell you dating someone like this is a walk through the bowels of hell. That’s the whole point of telling stories about people like this. So if you meet one in the wild, you can clock him, avoid him like Covid, and move on with your life.
But of course avoiding the party boy is the one thing our girl Vanessa doesn’t do. Her lesson is what drives the whole story: all that glitters isn’t gold.
I feel a little bad that so many other Youtube pilots I see coming up, especially the ones with female leads and shoujo plots, are all about the power of friendship. Because…this pilot shows how the wrong friendships can totally destroy your life. I was a teenager during the time in the 90’s where you had to stay friends with terrible people FOREVER. Any time I ever told the adults in my life about my bad times with friendships, they all stressed forgiveness and making things work with total emotional vampires. I want to teach the world differently. I feel like it’s a good use of my time to show viewers not only what good friendships look like, but terrible ones too. And when things go terribly, you have the right to respond unkindly.
If you see this man out in the wild, no, you didn’t.