Episode Summary
On this B-Side episode we're discussing the Showtime comedy Flatbush Misdemeanors. We found out the show was cancelled the same day that we recorded this, but decided to go ahead with it anyway since it's still worth reviewing (for us) and streaming (if you haven't already) on demand.
Transcript
Christina: I'm sad.
Miguel: Why?
Christina: Because the topic for today's B-Side is Flatbush Misdemeanors. And we just found out that this show is canceled.
Miguel: Yeah, like three hours ago. We were actually supposed to record this yesterday and we wouldn't have known. But because we recorded it today, we find out that it's been canceled.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: But it's still a good show.
Christina: There's still two seasons.
Miguel: There's two seasons for you to check out, and that's what we're gonna talk about in this episode. Wanna get into it?
Christina: Let's do it!
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: “You got dead man energy.”
Miguel: That's probably the best line in the entire series is when Kareem was telling Kevin that, “I thought you was dead.”
Christina: And he’s like, “Why?”
Miguel: “‘Cause you got real dead man energy.” Alright. So we getting off—
Christina: Back up, back up, back up.
Miguel: Yeah. We need to back this train up a little bit.
Christina: So what is Flatbush Misdemeanors?
Miguel: It's a show on Showtime[1]. Well, it was a show on Showtime in the US and if you're in Canada it's on Crave. But it's a half hour comedy about two friends who both are suffering from like—
Christina: Crippling depression.
Miguel: Crippling, clinical depression, and all the shenanigans they get into because of it.
Christina: Yes. So it doesn't sound like it would be funny.
Miguel: No.
Christina: Based on that description because a lot of shit goes down that is not funny, but somehow it's hilarious at the same time.
Miguel: Yeah. And as I'm saying that, I watched an interview[2] today with Dan Perlman and Hassan Johnson, and as he said, if you try and describe this show to somebody, it doesn't make any sense.
Christina: It doesn’t.
Miguel: And just me saying it out loud, that doesn't seem like anything that somebody would wanna watch, but I think you should. It's hilarious. It's a great show.
Christina: It is. It's definitely what you would call like dry, dark humor.
Miguel: Yes. And Dan plays a school teacher. Well, first of all, it's starring Dan Perlman and Kevin Iso, two stand up comics. They created the show as a YouTube series[3] originally, and it was picked up by Showtime and they were able to get two seasons out of it. Kevin plays an artist, a struggling artist, who works at a roti shop in, uh, in Flatbush. And Dan is a school teacher with a Xanax addiction and they are forced roommates and friends, longtime friends, and they get into a lot of shit that really isn't their fault most of the time. But they don't make things better.
Christina: Yes. And another major character is well, he'll always be Wee-Bey[4] to me, but he plays Uncle Drew.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: And he becomes a pivotal character in the journey of these two friends.
Miguel: Something I noticed or I didn't notice, but I caught when they were doing the interview and remember the episode when we found out that his name was Drew Hill?
Christina: Yes!
Miguel: Dan was just talking about how throughout both seasons, they kept mentioning that his last name was Hill. They'd be like “Mr. Hill” or this and that. Just hoping people would put it together.
Christina: Eventually put it together.
Miguel: And he is like a few people did and then we were wait minute, his name is Drew Hill?
Christina: Yeah, I can't remember what scene or episode or even if they said his full name, but I just remember being like—
Miguel: No they finally said it.
Christina: Did they finally said—
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: Okay. Instead of saying one or the other. And then Sticky Fingaz, has a small role. You see him.
Miguel: Yeah they talk about him a lot, but he finally shows up at the end of season two playing his brother and he's basically watching his niece, who is Sticky Fingaz daughter, while he's in jail. And these stories just keep getting tied up. And no matter how much they try to get away from each other, they can’t.
Christina: And hilarity ensues, as you like to say.
Miguel: It does. A lot of stuff that shouldn't be happening, but it does.
Christina: Yeah. There's some other things that I wanna say, but I also just don't wanna ruin the jokes, you know?
Miguel: Yeah, you have to see it so the jokes aren't ruined.
Christina: I do wanna say, just remember, when Kevin goes into a fellowship program.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: I want to—
Miguel: The name of the program that he's in.
Christina: I wanna say it so bad that I won’t.
Miguel: Sam Jay plays his sister in the show as well, so she's in like three or four episodes over the two seasons. And she's funny.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: Roy Wood plays the principal at the school that Dan works at. So there are a lot of familiar faces in it that we've seen in other things before. And then a lot of newcomers, and we have no idea who they are, but everybody's funny.
Christina: And apparently what—the teenage daughter is like a 25 year old woman you said? She just looks like she's 16.
Miguel: Yeah, she's playing his 16—or Hassan Johnson's 16 year old niece and she's like 30.
Christina: Oh.
Miguel: I'm gonna look it up right now. Cause when I found that out I was like, what? Yeah, she's a full ass adult.
Christina: Yeah, she definitely looks like a teenager though.
Miguel: She does. She is 32 years old.
Christina: What? How is she 32? Wow! I thought I looked young. I definitely don't look that young.
Miguel: Her name is Kristen Dodson.And she was born July 13th, 1990. So she is not a teenager
Christina: What? She looks like a 16 year old.
Miguel: She's been in a few things. I'm just looking at her IMDb right now. But the biggest thing has been Flatbush Misdemeanors.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: She was in the Roxanne Roxanne movie on Netflix.
Christina: Did we watch that?
Miguel: We did.
Christina: I don’t remember. Okay.
Miguel: Yep, we did. And a couple other things, but yeah, this was her biggest role.
Christina: Okay. Yeah, I—I already miss it. Just knowing that—
Miguel: It’s only been a couple hours.
Christina: Come on, show—well, I was gonna say, come on, Showtime. But the last Showtime show that was canceled that we really loved, I don't think that was Showtime's fault.
Miguel: It wasn't. But there's a lot of things going on with Showtime / Paramount / Discovery where they're cutting a lot of shows and movies because of all these mergers.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: And they're slashing budgets wherever they can. So I think this one just got caught up in that too. Cause it’s a good show.
Christina: Oh, boo.
Miguel: It's done well with the critics[5].
Miguel: But it's gone.
Christina: Boo. Oh, well. At least we got two seasons.
Miguel: And if you really want a nice comedy to watch. Two full seasons, check out Flatbush Misdemeanors. It's highly recommended from us.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: Two thumbs up.
Christina: Four thumbs up.
Miguel: Four thumbs up.
Christina: Mine and yours.
Miguel: You are correct in that. I said two cause I have dead man energy.
Christina: “You got dead man energy!”
Miguel: That’s great.
Christina: Yeah, so that's Dan's stepdad, but his mom is also quite the character.
Miguel: Yeah, his mom is very neurotic and she has her own mental health issues. And then she ends up dating Kareem, who's a younger Black man. And now he really wants to be Dan's stepfather, even though they're like the same age.
Christina: Oh he’s older…
Miguel: Just slightly.
Christina: Yeah, he's in his forties, I think.
Miguel: Yeah. He's not much older than him.
Christina: Maybe like 10 years older than him.
Miguel: If that. Because it's not like Dan and Kevin are young either.
Christina: They're not, they never really say, but I would imagine they're in their thirties.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: I don't think they've ever said their age?
Miguel: They didn’t.
Christina: But I would imagine they're in their thirties. They're definitely not in their twenties.
Miguel: They're not. Kareem. And he bought a bike shop from Larry. Larry's Bike Shop, but instead of changing the name to Kareem's Bike Shop, it's now called Kareem's Larry's Bike Shop. Kinda like Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. And every time I see it, it makes me laugh.
Christina: Yeah, I think we need to just watch it again just to—I'm sure there's lots of like little jokes we've probably missed first time around.
Miguel: Oh of course, cause the whole thing, Mr. Hill. Drew.
Christina: Yeah, I was just about to say that.
Miguel: Several times apparently.
Christina: Yeah. It's like, wait a minute. His name's Drew Hill?
Miguel: Yeah. So yeah, I think we should give it a second run before Showtime takes it down completely. So yeah, that's all I got for this. You got anything else you want to add?
Christina: Well, if y'all already know the show, hit us up and let us know what your favorite line is. Cause you know what ours is cause we've said it at least three times.
Miguel: Yes. “You got real dead man energy.”
Christina: All right, I think it's time to go.
Miguel: Yeah. See you next week.
Christina: Bye.
Miguel: Bye.