DVD Review: Lil' Bush Season 1
Donick Gary Created Amp'd Mobile, Comedy Central Cartoon
The Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States Season 1 DVD is satire without any insight, and comedy without any laughs. 1/10.
You know a comedy is in trouble when the biggest laugh on the DVD comes from Ralph Nader, someone who's not known for his sparkling wit. It only gets worse when you realize said laugh is in the audio commentary for this alleged comedy. But that's the problem with Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States, a Comedy Central cartoon. Creator Donick Carey, who originally pitched this series to Amp'd Mobile, tries to mix South Park-level humour and Jon Stewart-style satire in equal amounts However, Lil' Bush fails on both counts.
Bottom line? It's not funny, and it's too stupid to be satirical.
The central conceit is that Lil' Bush, Lil' Cheney, Lil' Condi and Lil' Rummy are elementary school students who treat the White House as their playground. They mix it up with various antagonists like Lil' Billy Clinton (who's always messing around with other girls), Lil' Hillary, Lil' Vladimir Putin (who never wears a shirt) and Lil' Kim Jong Il (who walks around with two bodyguards).
Lil' Dubya is a scheming, spoiled brat, Lil' Rummy is psychotic, Lil' Jeb Bush is an indestructible idiot, Lil' Condi is hopelessly in love with Lil' Bush and Lil' Cheney is a growling monster. Oh, and they suddenly play in a punk band at unexpected points.
Their grown-up counterparts are nominally in charge of running the U.S. into the ground: George H.W. Bush is an ineffectual old man who's violently allergic to Asians and has "old man sex" with his secretary, while Barbara Bush is June Cleaver by way of the Happy Hooker. Oh yeah, there are older versions of Condi, Rummy and Cheney running around (older Cheney wears a Darth Vader helmet; you see, it's to show the viewer that he's really, really evil . . . ah, never mind).
What's wrong with Lil' Bush?
If gross-out comedy was a sure ratings winner, the countless South Park clones that proliferated in the past 10 years would still be around. However, the clones all got canceled due to the inescapable fact that they sucked, which testifies to the fact that comedy is hard, and satirical comedy is doubly so.
To make good satire, it's not enough to say that the emperor is wearing no clothes, but you also have to prove it. That implies an understanding of the Bush administration (probably the worst presidency the United States has ever suffered through) that Lil' Bush sorely lacks. This show is too stupid to have any zing.
To illustrate: a sequence where Barbara Bush has sexual relations with Lil' Cheney and they have to go to an abortion clinic to pull him out of her, not only crosses the boundaries of good taste but falls flat on its face. South Park mined a similar joke a few seasons back, and generated more laughs.
It also fails as satire, since anyone with half a brain knows that Barbara Bush has publicly stated her pro-choice views. There's nothing to mock in depicting her getting an "abortion," so the sequence just comes off as lame.
Tucker Carlson, Jerry Springer and Ralph Nader commentaries
The audio commentaries are distinctive for what the guest commentators don't say, rather than what they do. Jerry Springer is speechless for about half of his track, and is cautiously polite for the rest. Despite being a longtime Democrat, the former Cincinnati mayor and talk show host clearly isn't that all impressed with Lil' Bush. Nader, other than supplying a brilliant riff about how Republicans have the same haircuts at age 56 that they did at age 6, pretty much uses his time on tape to hop on his favourite soapboxes.
Tucker Carlson talks about his time working the White House beat, and comments on the artwork, but that's about it. All three commentators don't give any real insight into the show, and aren't exactly laughing at what's onscreen either.
Lil' Bush: soon to be flushed away?
Ah, history. So depressing so much of the time, but so wonderful when genuine crap gets flushed down the toilet. As of this writing, Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States has yet to be renewed for a third season, and given the audience response this show has received so far, it probably won't. The real-life Bush administration will be gone by November and hopefully this alleged comedy will go along with it, soon to be forgotten.
America, your long, national nightmare should soon be over.
