55: Observe and Report (with Bryan Quinby) (Patreon)

Street Fight Radio’s Bryan Quinby joins the show from Columbus, Ohio to discuss Jody Hill’s black comedy Observe and Report. 

Misunderstood in 2009 as a mean-spirited comedic spin on Taxi Driver and King of Comedy, it is clearer to see in 2021 that Observe and Report was intended as a vicious satire not only of the American police state, but also of the kinds of toxic males that want to be cops, presented as a Judd Apatow-style laff riot.

Bryan and I talk about our appreciation for anti-comedy and harsh satire, how this film anticipated the kinds of guys who populate the alt-right, the bad timing of this film being released right after the smash hit comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and how Jody Hill went on to be one of the great modern satirists of American life through his subsequent work for HBO.

Plus a little trash-talking of the upcoming Terrence Malick arthouse film Eternals, and how the earlier, funnier Howard Stern was a major influence on political comedy podcasting.

Follow Bryan Quinby on Twitter.

Check out Bryan's great podcasts Street Fight Radio and The P.O.D Kast.

Trailer for Observe and Report (Jody Hill, 2009)