Sometimes I mean to write a post for ages and ages but it is impossible to get out until I concretely determine that TODAY I WILL WRITE THAT POST. For The League, today is that day.
At first I was understandably nonplussed by the concept of The League. Fantasy football? Who cares? I neither understand how it works nor do I know anything about the game of actual football past what I need to know to know that it is boring. But the league of The League is really just Greendale, Dunder Mifflin, or the Cheers bar - the tangential setting that brings all of these characters together in order to make some funny. Sure, it helps if you're familiar with fantasy football, or community colleges, or whatever, but if you're not, it sure as hell doesn't diminish the show at all.
No, I love The League because it has what all of my favorite shows has: a great ensemble. Nick Kroll, Jon LaJoie, Mark Duplass, Paul Scheer, and whatever that guy's name who plays Kevin is all bring something to the table, and those somethings are always funny. Ok, sometimes the women are funny, too, but (and this is a casting problem, not a "women aren't funny" problem) ugh Jenny and UGH Sofia and TRIPLE UGH to that lady who plays Megan. Like, seriously, these dudes are so funny, you'd think they could find ladies to bring some real comedy. Anyway, from what I've read it seems that The League is partially scripted and partially improvised - and with a group of comedians like this, that is a recipe for hilarity. And OMG RAFI! I almost forgot about Rafi until I was just thinking about "murder boner" and whether it was an improv. Rafi (AKA Dennis Feinstein on Parks & Rec) is INCREDIBLE.
You will have to forgive the all-caps usage; it just feels right today.
So, you may ask, why should I watch The League? The easy answer is that it is crazy funny in an unexpected way. The complicated answer is (you guessed it) more complicated. To begin with, the fact that it airs on FX is a big point right away. I think I watch all of the FX comedies besides Sunny - Louie, Archer, Wilfred - and they are all excellent shows that I recommend to people who like excellent comedies. I don't like Sunny and please don't try to make me; I find it gross and offensive in a really lazy way and totally just not for me. This is not to say that the other FX shows are never gross or offensive, but somehow they manage to do it in a way that is either funny or forgivable. Example: I still find it disgusting and reprehensible that that dude from Sunny gained 50 pounds or whatever to be "funnier". In a similar vein, my least favorite episode of The League is "The Herdsman" because it's full of all kinds of fatist bullshit, but at least they come at it from a nuanced perspective that is true to both real life and the characters, and thus it is forgivable. But I digress.
The League, in essence, revolves around this group of friends who have known each other since high school and who place great importance and status on whoever champions their fantasy football league and wins their beloved trophy, the Shiva (I won't tell you why it's named that because it's much funnier if you find out on your own). Along the way there is a ton of often-evil pranking, extreme amounts of shit-talking, and yet an underlying layer of camaraderie that demonstrates to the viewer why these guys are still friends after so long. Quick character rundown: There's Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi), the commissioner and Susan Lucci of The League, whose wife, Jenny (Katie Aselton), knows more about football than him. There's Pete (Mark Duplass), the handsome, recently-divorced manchild, who is just cockiness and suaveness and a devil's-may-care attitude rolled up inside more handsomeness. Rodney "Everybody Calls Me Ruxin" Ruxin (Nick Kroll) is a lawyer with a new baby and a hot Latina wife and he is also a total dick but in a great, perfectly smarmy yet charming (smarming?) way. He is kind of the devil. Andre (Paul Scheer) is the league's punching bag - a rich plastic surgeon with no clue about anything who constantly fucks things up for himself, spends money on stupid things in an attempt to impress people, and buys hats from the Kevin Federline collection. In short, he makes it really easy to enjoy watching everybody else torment him. Then there's Taco (Jon LaJoie), Kevin's little brother and an idiot savant/plain idiot who picks up women effortlessly (and more often than not proceeds to screw them in the bathroom), doesn't really give a shit about football, and flirts shamelessly with Ruxin's wife. Finally, there's Rafi (Jason Mantzoukas), Ruxin's brother-in-law (Bro-Lo El Cunado), who is batshit crazy, super-disgusting, drinks other people's beers, and may or may not be an actual murderer. Obviously Rafi is extra-great.
And that's it! The League is really just watching these guys hang out, fuck with each other, and occasionally watch football. It's more about friendship than anything else. Although I would love if the female characters were more well-developed or played by better actresses, I understand and find it forgivable that they are what they are. This is a show about men-friends. Just as there are plenty of men who found Sex And The City to be entertaining and endearing (may the SATC movies be forever erased from our collective memory), I know there are plenty of women like me who enjoy the testosterone-laden dynamic of a group of dudes. I've seen some complaints that The League is just adolescent bro-humor, to which I counter: So? What's wrong with bros? I, for one, really like that close, loving man-friendships have become culturally acceptable and something to be celebrated in the media, because I know guys like these guys, and I have friendships like that! Platonic love: not just for the ladies anymore. And yeah, I know that most of the time in The League these dudes are being competitive and kind of terrible to each other, but underneath all of that is a heartfelt current of real friendship. I wouldn't watch it (and it wouldn't be as funny) otherwise.
So, to sum up: great comedians, excellent writing, a simple, relatable concept, AND the first two seasons are on Netflix? Done and done. And the third season has Jeff Goldblum as Ruxin's dad? TOTALLY DONE. Although I HIGHLY encourage you to watch Louie (why haven't you watched Louie yet???) and Archer, and Wilfred, if you like any of those shows I will bet that you'll like The League. The Usual Bet, dude.
Ruxin, dance me out!
Images via PopTower, GifSoup
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