Dick jokes. Lots of dick jokes.
Now, I don’t want starting things off with that to suggest I didn’t enjoy The League Season 2—because I did—I just want to be clear on what kind of humor is to be found. I have not seen the first season of The League but I figured this wasn’t an intricately plotted kind of affair and that’s accurate. It’s about a group of guys who partake in a fantasy football league, but that’s really simply a backdrop for this group of people to interact and be funny together.
Again, with many a dick joke to be found.
The main cast consists of Nick Kroll (various standup acts come to mind first but he’s had bit parts in Date Night, Dinner for Schmucks, & Parks and Recreation etc) as Ruxin, Mark Duplass (Humpday) as Pete, Jonathan Lajoie (never heard of him) as Taco, Stephen Rannazzisi (Paul Blart: Mall Cop & some Samantha Who?s) as Kevin, Paul Scheer (Upright Citizens Brigade, Piranha 3D) as Andre, and Katie Aselton (…Glove Girl from a blood drive episode of the Office a couple years ago) as Jenny. Between them there’s much humor of the wisecrack, vulgar innuendo, oblivious to the world, immature parent, standup-esque bit, and dry observation variety. They are all pretty solid, I’d say, with no weak link among them.
The biggest stumbling block I had to overcome was the fact this was about fantasy football. I care to the sum of zero about sports of any kind, so a show that was apparently about a group of football fans interacting with each other didn’t sound appealing—except this show is about football the same way Friday Night Lights was about football (maybe not exactly, but kind of). It’s a reason and setting for these people to be in each other’s lives and that’s about it. I didn’t feel adrift in a sea of football speak or endless references to…I don’t even know, sports stuff.
The episodes themselves fly by at a quick pace, breezing through twenty minutes with a number of laugh-out-loud bits to show for it. Thankfully there are no sitcom-esque “emotional” moments to be found, as far as I can remember. No lessons learned, no growing, no maturing. I didn’t expect there to be any of those, but you never can tell. Also, Jason Mantzoukas provides some odd and humorous energy as Ruxin’s probably insane brother-in-law throughout the season. There are some less than stellar ones (the Halloween episode and the Vegas premiere come to mind—quite the duds, I thought) but overall things are pretty consistent. Just to harp on the negative for a moment, though, the extreme unreality of some things were a bit over the line of suspension of disbelief for me. Everybody racing through the airport security line comes to mind, as well as some little things like a petting zoo having a capuchin monkey and a courtroom semi-fight ending up in the judge’s quarters. The world of this show was in no way realistic (especially when it came to parenting) but some things went a little beyond the line of even the loose rules set.
Still, overall it was much funnier than I thought it’d be. Some of the observational humor reminded me of Seinfeld. Perhaps because of its observational nature, but also just the terminology used to easily and humorously describe the goings on. Boyfriend chameleon, vaginal hubris, and fear boner spring to mind but there were a number more. I was also weary of how a show like this would handle the gays (if they even did at all) so that was another area I was pleasantly surprised by. There were some gays sprinkled throughout and it wasn’t a case of laugh-at-the-queer; they were just other types of people the league were kind of douches to—so score one for the homosexual male.
This season saw the addition of one of the guys’ wives to the league and I enjoyed having a woman around (however token) to occasionally remark on the lunacy of the men while getting to partake in some craziness of her own. Nobody on this show is above crude humor. Nick Kroll might have been my favorite, though really they all provide laughter on a regular basis.
I will be watching season three when it starts in a couple days, so take away from that what you will.
Special Features
Disc 1:
Extended episodes of Vegas Draft, Bro-Lo El Cunado, and the Kluneberg run 1-4 minutes longer than the usual 21 minute episode and while I don't remember specifically what was "extended" from each one it was all of the humorous nature.
Deleted scenes (7:52): aside from a couple good lines ("There's not enough disease in this kid for the two of us") these scenes were pretty justifiably deleted. Not bad, really, but not so great to include.
Kluneberg Paint by Numbers (6:46): Paul Scheer as the PBS painting guy Bob Ross, the calm sounding one with the big fro. I found this hilarious for a good five minutes of the nearly seven minute run time, but even the so-so end doesn't diminish the funny that comes before it.
El Notario (5:17) and Taco Tones Productions Presents: I'm Inside Me, Notarize!, Nagintas, Ruxin's Wedding Video, and Vinegar Strokes (10:19) prove that a little Taco goes a long way. The El Notario one at a brutal five minutes was possibly the hardest to get through.
Disc 2:
Extended episodes of The Tie, The Expert Witness, Ramona Neopolitano, and the Sacko Bowl also of the 1-4 minute extension, also funny.
Deleted Scenes (3:17): this batch was forgettable.
Alt Nation: about seven minutes of alternative line readings and takes. As with all improv, there's some hits and misses.
Gag Reel (8:54): I laughed a fair bit so I'd say this was a gag reel that didn't disappoint.
If the following sounds like what you want to see in a comedic show, you’ll enjoy The League:
-The occasional humorous song about Fear Boners and tiny little erect-dicks.
-Jokes about the Rwanda genocide and September 11th
-A toddler suckling at a man’s breast (yeah, I know, Family Guy did it).
-Parents being quite vulgar and inappropriate around their young daughter.
-Cocaine toilet seat leading to unexpected gay sex.
And I think you get the jist of it. Dick jokes.
