'Michael and Michael Have Issues' Premiere Episodes

The State alums Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter mix elements of their past projects in this often amusing sketch-comedy/sitcom hybrid. The absurdist sketches work better than the somewhat tiresome passive-aggressive dynamic between the two in the sitcom segments, but it all adds up to a unique and promising package.

The members of the sketch-comedy troupe The State have gone on to create a whole bunch of very funny movies and TV shows (including Wet Hot American Summer, Reno 911! and Role Models), and Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter in particular carried on the legacy of The State with their Comedy Central series Stella back in 2005. So it’s great to see them back on TV, and Michael and Michael Have Issues certainly showcases some of the strengths that the State folks have brought to comedy over the years.

The show’s concept is similar to 30 Rock, following the behind-the-scenes lives of the staffers at a sketch-comedy show, although it’s in a decidedly more absurdist vein. Black and Showalter play cartoonish versions of themselves, the creators and hosts of the sketch-comedy series Michael and Michael Have Issues, and the show intersperses sketches with more straightforward sitcom material. Those sketches have the weird, exuberant spirit of the duo’s past work, and are generally funnier than the dominant storylines, which so far offer only simple variations on the idea that Michael and Michael not-so-secretly hate each other.

Black brings the same smarmy, sarcastic delivery to his performance here that’s recognizable from his appearances on any number of VH1 I Love the … shows, while Showalter comes off a little more modulated, although both performances are broad by nature. Josh Pais shines as the show’s third main character, Michael and Michael’s beleaguered producer/babysitter, and the minor characters show signs of worthwhile development. For Issues to really succeed beyond a string of funny sketches stitched together with filler material, it’ll have to create the same kind of engaging behind-the-scenes world that we see every week on 30 Rock. That might well come to be, but in these first two episodes, it’s not quite there yet.