Bad Thoughts TV Review: Tom Segura’s hilarious series combines Black Mirror with a sense of dark humor

Plot: In this six-episode dark comedic series, Tom Segura navigates unthinkable situations and fantasies within a cinematic world.

Review: Tom Segura likes messed-up humor. The comedian and podcaster has made a career by telling relatable yet slightly intrusive jokes. Along with his contemporaries Bill Burr and Bert Kreischer, Tom Segura’s brand of comedy is shockingly honest and shockingly blunt yet delivered in a way that makes you think as hard as you are laughing. Segura also loves the scope and scale of cinema and has channeled that into his new series, Bad Thoughts. A collection of loosely connected short films unified by episodic themes, Bad Thoughts is for fans of ambitious comedic series like Key & Peele, Louie, Better Things, and Dave, but through a twisted lens reminiscent of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror. Hilarious and deeply disturbing at the same time, Bad Thoughts will have you laughing and questioning your own sick inner monologue at the same time.

The series opens with a Mission: Impossible-style film featuring Tom Segura as a black ops assassin whose only rule is that he does not kill women or children, and then proceeds to shoot a waitress in the head. What follows is an increasingly twisted series of events in which Segura’s character tries to get away from the scene but succumbs to diarrhea and offering sexual favors to his handler. The humor does not pull punches, while the production values still rival some big-screen espionage projects. It is a quick, self-contained vignette that transitions into a framing device featuring Segura in a white void as he introduces the episode’s theme. The framing space also allows Segura to share one-off jokes as he plays a contemporary equivalent to Rod Serling in The Twilight Zone.

The Twilight Zone is an apt comparison to Bad Thoughts as both series take normal activities and interactions and bend them just slightly to show a surreal take on the everyday. The darkness of where Tom Segura takes Bad Thoughts earns the series a parallel with fellow Netflix series Black Mirror, but the overall theme of Bad Thoughts is looser and freer to go places beyond technology. Segura and his writing team present everything from a spoof of the comedian’s own “feud” with country music superstar Garth Brooks to mocking Steven Seagal in a merciless short that sends up his weight, lack of physical movement in fights, and his notorious connections to Russia. In these sketches, Tom Segura takes center stage as the main antagonist; in others, he takes a back seat or does not appear. When he does, Segura does not shy away from donning costumes, wigs, or making himself out to be the butt of the joke.

The short episodes also make the series an easy binge, with some sketches ending on cliffhangers as they lead into the next entry. One recurring sketch featuring The Sopranos actor Robert Iler as Evan progressively gets weirder and connects the six episodes. There are some inconsistencies in where each episode begins, as the framing device is not always used to the same effect in each entry. As I started watching Bad Thoughts, I was convinced that there was no way that Tom Segura could top a particular short, and then he managed to do so. These shorts could easily have stayed too long or played out the central joke, but Segura knows where something is at peak comedy and never overstays its welcome. It also helps that the shorts range from spoof film trailers to innocuous stories that are just funny to form longer stories that evoke genres like noir, French New Wave, and A24 productions.

Tom Segura is the director of some episodes, alongside Jeremy Konner and Rami Hachache. Segura also leads the writing staff, featuring Konner, Hachache, Craig Gerard, Conor Galvin, Greg Tuculescu, and Matthew Zinman. The series has several notable guest stars, including Dan Stevens in multiple roles and Daniella Pineda, Shea Whigham, Kirk Fox, Bobby Lee, and Rachel Bloom. The level that Segura goes to make these films funny will depend on the audience’s sense of humor, but if you like the comedian’s style, you will be guaranteed to love this series. The production values alone rival any other comedy series on the air and reminded me of where Jordan Peele and Louis C.K. started before broadening their cinematic muscles. Segura definitely has an appreciation for film, and it shines in these stories, which are brilliantly twisted.

I laughed from the opening short in the first episode and did not stop laughing through the sixth and final episode. My biggest complaint about the series is how short it is, with most episodes barely cracking the half-hour mark. Any sketch-format series is bound to have some duds or unfunny material, but Bad Thoughts is a winner throughout and has the potential to become a perennial hit for Netflix. Whether or not we get a second season, Tom Segura has proven his skills as a writer and filmmaker of cinematic caliber projects. He has a voice destined to deliver something on par with Jordan Peele’s transition from small screen to Oscar winner. Segura has the potential to be huge after this and once you see the episode involving giant penises, you will know what I mean.

Bad Thoughts is now streaming on Netflix.

Bad Thoughts

GREAT

8

The post Bad Thoughts TV Review: Tom Segura’s hilarious series combines Black Mirror with a sense of dark humor appeared first on JoBlo.