Nuanced humor of ‘Atlanta’ sets new standard for comedy.
No matter how many retreads the broadcast networks throw at viewers in the next few months, the fall TV season will be memorable because of the premiere Tuesday of “Atlanta” on FX.
The half-hour comedy created by and starring Donald Glover (“Community”) simply and brilliantly recalibrates our expectations of what a TV comedy is and how black lives are portrayed on the medium.
Yes, television is belatedly trying to correct its appalling diversity problems with shows like “Scandal,” “Fresh Off the Boat,” “Jane the Virgin,” “The Carmichael Show” and “Black-ish,” but “Atlanta” is about as far from “Black-ish” as “Homeland” is from “Get Smart.”
Glover plays Earnest “Earn” Marks, a young guy struggling to gain a foothold in the world while crashing with Vanessa (Zazie Beetz, “Wolves”), the mother of his infant daughter. Technically, as he likes to say, he’s homeless. His parents (Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Myra Lucretia Taylor) only see him when he needs money and won’t allow him into their house for that reason. He has a dead-end job that only pays on a commission basis, and he’s not very good at it.
His cousin Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry, “Boardwalk Empire”) has just hit momentary success as a rapper named Paper Boi, and Earn wants to be his manager. Their friend Darius (Lakeith Stan-field, “Straight Outta Compton”) is a lot like Earn except that he doesn’t stress much over how to make ends meet. He’s always got some scheme in mind, such as buying a samurai sword at a pawnshop and trading it up for a hunting dog he’ll offer for stud.
Whatever passes, fleetingly, for something vaguely akin to comic punchlines often come from Darius, but Glover doesn’t define “Atlanta’s” comedy as that of a traditional sitcom. There are no setups followed by punchlines, but also no specific situations. Things happen, yes, but they are always within the context of the quotidian lives of the characters. Accordingly, there is no definite resolution of even the suggestion of an episodic situation before the final credits roll.
The fact is, much of the time, “Atlanta” feels more like a halfhour drama than a comedy. But the comedy is there, just as it was there in Buster Keaton films of the early 20th century and in the plays of Samuel Beckett: The comedy, in the broader definition, is woven into the lives of people trying get by and find some meaning in a world that deems them close to worthless.
With “Atlanta,” Glover is basically making a TV show the way they have been created for decades, but in reverse. Where most shows were made by white people for white people, with an expectation that other demographics would tune in simply because there were few alternatives, Glover has made a show about black people that black audiences will respond to, and is asking white viewers to tag along as well.
Fortunately, that’s not all that difficult. Yes, white viewers won’t immediately recognize their life experiences in Earn, Darius and Alfred, but the care with which Glover has created these characters, and the skill with which they are portrayed by the cast, make them accessible and appealing to every demographic.
Just as there is diversity of lifestyles, income levels and personal goals in the white majority, there is similar diversity among AfricanAmericans or any ethnic group. The key is what viewers have in common, regardless of race or lifestyle.
Glover taps into that with assurance and thrilling attention to detail. The scripts for the four episodes are as richly nuanced as anything you’ll see on TV or, to be sure, in a movie theater. You will not only know these characters after only one episode, you’ll be hooked on them, as well.
In so many areas, “Atlanta” sets the bar exceptionally high.