Review: Universal Basic Guys “Mr Cupcake Man”

Overview

Mark writes a hit song that becomes the next Baby Shark, and enlists his family and neighbors to join his management team; David tries to capitalize in Mark’s wake by resuscitating his old and out of touch climate change educational magic act.

Our Take

The irony about the producers of Universal Basic Guys doing an episode of the show that focuses on catchy music is that since this series has premiered I’ve been pretty addicted to the opening theme song produced by the show’s creators Adam Malamut & Craig Malamut. It’s a catchy little jingle that’s simple and I think the show should post it on YouTube and make some bank on it. Similarly, this week’s episode of Universal Basic Guys also features a catchy jingle, this one all about cupcakes written by Mark and admittedly it’s a hit with babies…and with me (also post this song).

David’s bit didn’t really have a lot of build up nor follow-through, but the performance he puts on has a giggle here and there. Still, it was nice to get an episode that spent more time with his wife Andrea whom we don’t get to see all that often, moreover, we got to learn a little more about her job and what she actually does to support David and his passions. Likewise, we got to spend a tad more time with Darren, and Murph came in for the first time in a long time with some solid contributions and I hope we get to see some more of him in future episodes.

FOX is taking a week off and, don’t look now, we’re at the back-half of Universal Basic Guys’ first season. So far Universal Basic Guys has proven itself as the best of FOX’s self-produced efforts thus far. Even in weeks where, yes, a lot of shows have done YouTube bits, Adam and Craig go the extra mile with the ridiculousness by bringing in a Rick Rubin-clone to really get these pitches to go down the middle and get themselves some foul tips with ancillary jokes that help make the show feel not so formulaic.