We explore how Adult Swims dinner specials are evolving one-off comedy.
So youre just going to torture us?
Torture us and kill us?
It would be redundant at this point to say that comedy has evolved to a challenging, ambitious place.
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One-offs and specials are hardly anything new for Adult Swim.
For those unfamiliar with Dantes classic piece of literature,Infernochronicles Dantes journey through Hell.
He goes through all sorts of self-discovery while wallowing in the recognition and rejection of sin.
Its remarkably apt for the journey they take their audience on.
These specials are some of the most unpredictable, challenging think pieces to come from the internet.
The newest entry wastes no time in stirring the pot.
They revolve around the idea of Gelman reconstructing and changing history in a way that makes him more powerful.
Immediately this causes the guests to be on guard from the duplicitous Gelman.
He of course is an actor though, only blurring the lines further.
These pranks continue to happen at moments of intense vulnerability, digging deeper into raw wounds.
At one point Gelman turns off the cameras so everyone can feel more comfortable about opening up.
Raw surveillance footage is emblematic of the truth, and they treat it as such.
Its a story entirely about manipulation and control, and the ending hammers it in to a resounding degree.
Each of the scenarios has Gelman acting as puppet master and dictating the events that trap his respective guests.
The theatre is no different.
Its as if its a microcosmic version of the reality that Gelman wants.
Gelman is the gatekeeper.
Once again, he presents all of this as twisted, intrusive, upsetting comedy.
With these specials, you never really know, which manages to keep the suspense high.
This once again becomes about confronting trauma and trying to move on.
All of these specials are somehow meant to beand are, to an extentperverted tools designed for growth.
We never set out to do anything that was just shocking or dark, Woliner tellsDen of Geek.
Its really just what makes us laugh.
We did the first one, which was essentially justDinner for Five, which comes with psychological horror.
Hes still holding lives in the balance, widening the spotlight to racial prejudices and inequality.
The material provides plenty of poignancy as it pushes the envelope.
The issues brought up inDinner in Americaare real and present in our lives.
In the first two specials, arguably the characters within the show dont know that theyre trapped in Hell.
Well, with this latest entrywerethe oblivious ones that are stuck there.
Woliner explains a bit of the duty felt in engineering this topic.
So we wanted to make it about something thats real.
And a real issue thats important to us.
Its merely impressive that something can simultaneously be so funny while still having such a message to it.
It sounds like Gelman and Woliner are interested in continuing this trend and challenging the audience.
Gelman tells us, Theres always things to talk about.
We can definitely keep going.
Brett Gelmans Dinner in Americaairs Friday July 1st, at midnight (technically July 2nd), on Adult Swim
