I had heard about comedian Bert Kreischer a few years ago. The only thing I knew is that he did stand-up comedy while being shirtless. It was a gimmick and shtick that he had. I'm sure that there are plenty of standup comedians who many wished were shirtless, such as Kevin Hart, Matt Rife, Kumail Nanjiani (post his body transformation), or Joel McHale, mainly because all these guys are now considered sexy comedians or hot guys in great shape, very muscular men who can also make us laugh. The joke about Kreischer is that he isn't some super-ripped guy with six-pack abs. Kreischer has what some might consider a "dad bod." He's a beefcake of a certain type. When he first started, he wasn't that overweight. He's gotten fatter over the years, but he's always seemed confident about himself, as well as very body positive, which was attractive and him doing it all the time normalized it till it got to a point where seeing him in clothes was what felt weird.
This series, co-created by Kreischer, is essentially an examination of this shirtless, on-stage persona for which he's known. That persona was so successful that it got him a major motion picture deal from Sony Pictures. The Machine (2023) was the Hollywood film, starring Kreischer with Mark Hamill and Jimmy Tatro, which got a wide release. The film wasn't well received and didn't do well in the box office. Despite the film being based on a standup bit that went viral for Kreischer, it didn't translate into a bigger draw to mainstream audiences outside the Internet. That film could've been seen as a failure, and that failure could've caused Kreischer to reevaluate his persona, even his on-stage persona, in order to figure out how he could be more successful in film and television. Thus, this series was probably born.
Kreischer stars as Bert Kreischer, a fictionalized version of himself. He's a successful comedian who is married and has two children, two daughters. He lives in Beverly Hills. He's very much an overgrown frat boy and his family loves and accepts him. His family very much suits him too. They even share his mindset and opinions about things. Yet, this stands out in Beverly Hills, which is very much elitist and haughty. There is a level of privilege and high-class etiquette that exists in that neighborhood with which Bert's family clashes. Therefore, his shirtless, Florida-raised, party boy persona is an anathema to the button-up, California snobs that run the town.
Bert starts to believe that he has to change himself in order to fit in and be accepted with those Beverly Hills elites. In order to maintain peace, he can't be shirtless and vulgar. He has to be clothed and polite. He has to capitulate. He claims to be happier, especially when doing so allows him into the boys club of wealthy guys who can get him a lot of those privileges and luxuries that makes him feel better about himself or powerful in some way. Strangely, we never get a sense of Bert's friend group or guys that he knew before moving to Beverly Hills. He seems insulated inside this wealth bubble and becomes hellbent on making things work inside the bubble, never venturing out of it.
This seems mostly exacerbated by his children. His daughters, particularly his eldest, Georgia, played by Ava Ryan, are acclimated to this new neighborhood and this wealth bubble. Georgia has a boyfriend named Zac Hotchkiss, played by Braxton Alexander. Zac is the son of one of the wealthy guys that lord over everyone in this Beverly Hills area. Georgia really likes Zac, but she knows that her dad's shirtless, frat boy tendencies tend to piss off Zac's parents, as well as others. Therefore, Bert's change to a more buttoned-up, yuppie persona is fueled in a lot of ways by his eldest daughter and trying to appease her. Bert wants to have a nice relationship with Georgia. His youngest daughter, Ila, is more of a tiny, female clone of him, so he doesn't have to try as hard with her. Yet, Georgia is a different matter.
Arden Myrin (Insatiable and Mad TV) co-stars as LeeAnne Kreischer, Bert's wife. She loves her husband and fully accepts him for who he is, but she understands that adjusting his behavior and even hers in order to fit in with the yuppies might be necessary. She also knows that lying and putting on an act might also be necessary. A lot of the humor and comedy comes from LeeAnne and Bert trying to lie and put on an act. Even when their lies become outrageous or patently ridiculous, they double and triple down on them. It becomes a matter of how far they will go to maintain these lies and maintain their social status.
A lot of the comedy comes from what could be called toilet humor. A lot of male comedians make sex jokes and particularly penis jokes. This series literally centers itself around a joke about a person's testicles, and that joke is pretty much utilized and revisited in every episode. It might seem a little repetitive, but the show makes good use of it. The show even turns it into somewhat of a thriller over testicles.
Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 30 mins. / 6 eps.
Available on Netflix.
