Review: Universal Basic Guys “Mark Men”

Mark throws his hat into the ring as an Ad Man after being shown up by a group of execs at his favorite bar.

Our Take

The Simpsons just premiered a Treehouse episode that was all about asshole armchair social media critics going after lowbrow entertainment and Universal Basic Guys is a show that not only grabs that ball but does so and spikes it in the end zone. “Mark Men” sounds like just what the title seems to indicate, this week’s episode is more or less Mark trying his best to do his best Don Draper impersonation and the results are hysterical. In a year where by piece of shit Dallas Cowboys are ruining my football season, Universal Basic Guys is a pretty good antidote to make me remember why I’ve loved the game since I was a kid.

Adam and Craig Malamut’s show is already starting to show signs of early episodes of The Simpsons with my favorite episodes that used to feature Homer getting piled on until the figurative bow breaks and you see those same sentiments all over the place here. Whether it’s Tammy’s haircut being the lynchpin of Murph’s attempted murder coming to fruition and then all of the epilogue that came with it. Likewise, Hank’s constant promotions at the ad agency only for it to end the way it did meant Craig Malamut’s dual-voiced roles were both slam dunks.

In the animation industry you’d be surprised how many creators and producers were at one point ad agency creatives. As someone who has a bit of an experience in dealing with different agencies myself, the amount of breadth that “Mark Men” featured in this industry isn’t unlike say The Office or Office Space where there’s a good amount of factual satire going on here which has me thinking there may be a few producers on this show that knew exactly where to go with this one.

The ad execs of the world are going to love this week’s episode of Universal Basic Guys, but so will the football fans of whom these guys are feeding and feeding well this freshman season.