By Steve Heisler July 15, 2009
Michael & Michael Have Issues premieres tonight on Comedy Central, 10:30pm ET/9:30pm CT

When Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter joined David Wain for Stella in 2005, they were credited on IMDB as "Michael"—exaggerated versions of themselves, sure, though there was still some distance from the role. But much like The Daily Show correspondents, the last few years have found both Michaels cultivating the personas they adopt when appearing as "themselves": Black, as evidenced during his brief but highly entertaining stint as host of Reality Bites Back, is affably cocksure, ironically quipping, "Hello, I'm Michael Ian Black—very famous" before each show; Showalter is more of the brainy goof—he devotes an entire section of his stand-up to the cleanliness of his penis and gravediggers who use their cocks as shovels.

Those perceptions of Black and Showalter form the base of the promising Michael And Michael Has Issues; the show finds the two actors credited each as "himself", working together to put on a Mr. Show-like sketch series. The crux of the action, though, takes place behind-the-scenes—a show-within-a-show, as it were.

The episode starts at the beginning of a script meeting; Biederman the producer asks if the cast—Michael and Michael—is willing to chat with Greg the intern for an article he's writing for his high school newspaper. Showalter agrees immediately, but Black says no—then proceeds to tell Greg that both the Michaels are package deal. Showalter denies that fact; Black reasserts it. Okay. Moving on, time for a read thru, which finds Black setting up a punch line about virginity pledges in which Showalter says, "Why would anyone not wanna get laaaaaaaid!" Laughter, but Showalter has a problem with the line, and wants to change it to "I like Lemon Pledge on my table top." Black makes fun of Showalter for a while.

Most of these little arguments are fleeting; the one that carries through the remainder of the episode has to do with Greg—Showalter goes ahead and gives the interview, downplaying Black's role in the show. Not to be outdone, Black invites Greg to his house for dinner, in which he gives his own interview/side of the story. Showalter tries to call Greg, Black intercepts. The end result: the two Michaels meet outside Black's house, take off their shirts, and commence preparing to fight with air kicks and intimidating faces—while Showalter's girlfriend and Black's wife have a discussion about blouses.

There's nothing to really "get" here: These are two guys who will forever have a oneupsmanship thing going on. The beauty of Michael And Michael is in its simplicity, though it gives the show an added layer to deal with. It's about arguments, so naturally there will be arguments; but as soon as an argument starts on screen, viewers want so desperately to see it build—appealing to the inner schadenfreude within us all. Tonight's episode starts with a few off-handed remarks about not wanting to be interviewed by an intern, and ends with this ridiculous lawn fight. In short, it works, and the pay-off is silly and neat. The shorter bits, though, don't strike as hard; casual arguments like the ones at the episode's beginning strike me as more awkward than they should, largely because there really isn't any build, nor is there yet a layer of familiarity show on screen between the Michaels.

But this is just nitpicking what I believe is a really strong start to a series. Part of this show's challenge is coming up with new and interesting—and above all, funny—ways to have arguments; and both Black and Showalter are perfect for the task. They've worked closely together on so many projects, and as Stella made clear, they're both adept at writing realistic scenarios that pull humor from unexpected places. The more we watch this show, the more we'll get a sense of how the Michaels interact, and thus each joke will hit harder than the one before it. After all, this is a show that benefits from some build.

Grade: B+

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By Steve Heisler July 22, 2009
Tonight's rendition was a lot stronger than last week's (not to say "Greg The Intern" wasn't strong), particularly because they shaved down the tiny arguments and got right to the good stuff: the large-scale bickering between Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter. The boys still broke things up with a few live segments and taped sketches—as per the show-within-a-show concept. And while I'm beginning to see this show's similarities to Flight Of The Conchords, those aforementioned segments are feeling like the songs on FOTC. They're nice and all—some kick ass—but often they feel forced and distracting.

But much like FOTC, they're kept to a minimum, and instead we see plenty of enjoyable Michael shenanigans. It's Biederman's birthday, and the Michaels decide to get him a bag of weed to calm his nerves. So they ask the staffers where to score some, and discover the park's "one big skunk store" (according to a new character, played by the awesome New York stand-up Kumail Nanjiani, formerly of Chicago). At the park, Showalter convinces Black to ask a mustachioed gentleman for the weed—by the rule of reverse psychology, clearly this man is not an undercover cop, precisely because he looks like one; and Showalter can't do it, because he has "cop face". That man, who for a second I thought was Tom Lennon, is, in fact, a cop, and Black is arrested, with Showalter watching guiltily from the side.

Aside from the mighty entertaining main drag, we did get a few asides—Showalter is Quiet Bob the weatherman, who no one on air can understand; two explanations about how it's bad to use drugs, unless you're bored, want to feel good, want to appreciate music more, etc. They're nice and all, and in the latter case, the segment commented on the action that was taking place over on side A. But I'm holding out for "Business Time," as it were.

The episode also contains two all-out angry moments: first Showalter, then Black. Showalter's comes at Biederman's party (he shows up with a coffeetable book about classic cars, from "Just Michael Showalter") after every staffer asks him what happened to Black, his story keeps changing, and he loses it. Later that night, Showalter is home with some new staffer he picked up, and Black comes to the door, face bruised badly and eyes full of madness. (In a pretty funny turn, Black forces Showalter to head back to the park in the hopes he'll be busted; then while Showalter scores the drugs, Black gets his ass whooped by some park hooligans.) These two moments accomplish what should have been done in episode one: demonstrate that the gloves are off, and things are going to get dirty. I can't wait.

Grade: A-

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By Steve Heisler July 29, 2009
Last week I compared Michael & Michael to Flight Of The Conchords, because of the way it blends scenes from a heightened reality for its stars (who essentially play themselves) with scenes meant to break up the pace and provide some distraction—those of you familiar with long-form improvisation might recognize this as a variation on a Harold. But after tonight's episode, I'm starting to feel an Office comparison is probably more apropos. Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black, like Michael Scott, have found themselves in position of power and see themselves as as such. But they remain oblivious to social cues, and the inhabitants of the sane world around them struggle between ridiculing them and falling in line. After all, they're the bosses.

This is a role both Michaels are comfortable playing—whereas Michael Scott is someone we saw from the beginning, the characters of both Michaels, as I pointed out in week one, have been honed for years through other projects. And the actors' ease with the roles allows them to develop tension, then exploit said tension, almost effortlessly.

While "Matchmaker" ended strong, it shared a problem with the first episode of the season, in that the conclusion felt like a long time coming. Both Michaels pick up early on that their associate producer, Marla, has the hots for new guy Nick (Leo Allen). But Marla is extremely bumbling around boys she likes—laughing at inappropriate times; talking nonstop—so the Michaels take it upon themselves to set the two up (and turn Marla into what she was always meant to become: Liz Lemon). They throw a dinner party for the cast, insisting the peons abide by a made-up seating chart, thus placing Marla and Nick next to each other; then it's time to partake in the ol' Italian standby custom, "Kiss the person next to you on the lips." (Poor Kumail…)

Despite the whole thing being so forced it hurts (just like Marla's "game"), the plan works, and Marla brings Nick home. And now they're dating. Fast forward three weeks, and Nick has broken up with Marla. ("Their love is a lie!") The Michaels are furious, so they storm into the editing room—and upon a computer editing a scene with Showalter talking to a bunch of computers—to chew Nick out. But they learn that Nick had a pretty good reason for ending things: She wanted him to pee on her. Now the Michaels understand—oh, those sick but not too sick boys.

Because the Michaels are self-righteous and totally clueless as to anything tact related, they feel it's their God-given duty to spell out the situation for their employees, to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen again. The ensuing chat—Showalter brings up something vague, then Black interjects the specifics of who was involved and what bodily function was asked to be expelled, and onto whom—is the high point of the episode; the boys hardly fought at all tonight, and instead we witness their superb comic timing and sense of how best to riff off one another. But Michael & Michael has quickly become a show about payoffs, the earlier parts of the episode too diluted to make the few jokes hit all that hard. If The Office is the right model, there's plenty more fun to be had with the set-ups.

Grade: B+

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By Steve Heisler August 6, 2009

I'm sorry for posting this the day after the episode aired. I was out late covering a show for the ol' AV Club Chicago, which started 45 minutes late. (It was a freakin' awesome Michael Jackson cover band, so it's all good.) Certainly, visions of dick-hugger pants have been swimming around your minds all night, so here's your outlet.

This was a strange episode for Michael And Michael, one that I feel should have been the pilot. For one, there were more taped sketches and show-within-a-show banter than any other one, and the in-episode fight between Showalter and Black started right from the get-go. It was perhaps the best display of the show's potential, on all three of those fronts., something I wish I had seen earlier.

And to all this I say: Nice work. The video sketch stuff, which dealt with a company producing dick-hugger pants and a gymnast who performs with a twisted ankle, wasn't overtly funny—novel, yes—but I think that's the point. Or rather, that's what the point should be. The real-life stuff is already so cartoony and silly, it's sort of nice to have State-like over-the-top video gags heighten that reality even more. The guys are comfortable being a little lame on the show, so it follows the sketches would be lamer. Embrace the lame, I always say.

The live banter stuff, absent from the last episode, came back tonight by borrowing from the main storyline: Michael Ian Black is accused of not pulling his weight around the office. So he and Showalter, in front of a live audience, walk through what a typical day is like for Black—in the most passive-aggressive way possible. After watching them fight behind the scenes, it's even more delightfully bitter to hear Black call Showalter a "fat Screech," then show the very telling visual.

But the best stuff by far, and as usual, is the stuff that happens in "reality." This episode was superior to the pilot, in that the conflict was established right up front. Showalter thinks Black is lazy, and he tells him in the first few minutes. (Black had to take a break from Twittering and Googling himself to even listen.) This causes Black to blatantly mock Showalter by staying super late to work on a sketch, then talk to Biederman behind Showlater's back about how he has to stop working every 90 minutes to make sandwiches. He's the lazy one (and fat). So Showalter tortures Black during the zombie sketch, running him ragged and doing take after take until Black vomits and heads to the hospital. The same one-upsmanship we've seen before, but starting from a much more extreme place.

The real strength in "Pulling Your Weight" is that the rest of the staff fawns over Black, which lends a real sense of desperation to Showalter's actions; even at the hospital, when it becomes obvious to Showalter that Black is faking (dead giveaway: Black's wife was at a jewelry show, and too busy to come to the bedside of her almost-dead husband), the rest of the staff continues to coddle Black. The truth's revealed just in time for the credits, giving a button-ending to a clean 21 minutes of great Comedy Central TV. The Michaels have created a modern indie-comedy variety show—get onboard while the gettin's good. I'll mush up your gordita for you.

Grade: A-

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And now I direct your attention to them:

Did you see Black on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson?

How about Sho on Late Show with David Letterman?

Did you catch both Michaels on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross? (this one really impressed my dad)

Make sure to check out M&M interviewed in The Onion's A.V. Club.

Cooler still? Dave Itzkoff's piece in the New York Times.

But whatever you do, don't read Variety's killer review. Okay, actually do.

P.S. Tune into Late Night with Jimmy Fallon for a tale of two Michaels tonight!

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Here!

And here!

Thanks Screen Junkies and Punchline Magazine!

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