Review: Let’s Be Real “Episode 104”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The season finale centers on sketches like Taylor Swift re-recording songs about her past relationships, Charles’s mother becoming Kanye West’s partner, and Jeff Garlin’s audition with Viola Davis.

Our Take:

We’ve reached the end of this abridged season of Let’s Be Real, and you can already tell how happy I am to see it conclude. The sketch comedy show has done nothing to improve its uninspired segments and tasteless comedy since the premiere back in April. Maybe it’s the timing of its release or the quality of the show, or even both. Whatever the case may be, I got to be real with you. This show sucks puppet balls, and this finale may be the final nail of its satirical coffin.

The first segment satirized Taylor Swift re-recording her old songs following her masters dispute with her talent manager Scooter Braun. As it turns out, Swift is sharing her re-recorded hits with Coolio about her past relationships. She previously went out with famous people like Michael Sorrentino (aka The Situation), international drug lord El Chapo, and even the hockey mascot named Gretchard. The end of the segment reveals via song that Taylor’s relationships ended with her cheating on them.

Another sketch has Prince Charles and her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, going around town looking for Megan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. Immediately after, they were greeted by Kanye West, who requests the Queen to become partners with him, both marriage and business. Charles and Elizabeth made a return in the final sketch involving a podcast interview with The Wrecking Crew. I could probably think of a few reasons why this sketch did not work for me. It had no idea what direction it’s going for, the jokes were lazily written, and the age difference between West and Elizabeth. Seriously, what was going through the writers’ minds when they wrote that disgusting bit?

The third sketch saw Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff discussing their business involving privacy hysteria when they heard from Elon that Nancy’s cheating on her husband. They followed her to the motel room, and when they arrived, they were greeted with a surprise birthday party for Zuckerberg. After the party, Nancy and Mark kiss, and it was revealed at the end that it was all part of a VR game Mark’s testing out for Facebook. Talk about a letdown.

The final sketch has Jeff Garlin hosting auditions for his new sitcom “Dad About Town”, and guess who arrived to take on the role? That’s right. It’s none other than Oscar winner Viola Davis. Unfortunately, Davis’ dramatic acting skills might be a bit too much for the show’s concept. Nevertheless, she got the part, and the show went on to win numerous awards. I thought the show satirized Davis pretty well because she’s been recently known for giving out melodramatic performances in her movies. It showed how far she would go in her acting to get herself another award. Alas, it wasn’t enough to provide any good laughs from this sketch, so it looks like her Oscar chances are now extremely slim.

So what do all of these sketches in “Episode 104” have in common? They’re all unfunny, forgettable, and extremely tame. It’s a bit better than the previous two episodes, mainly because it didn’t involve many offensive jokes on the political and racism side. However, that doesn’t make this finale worth watching.  

With that out of the way, I can easily say that Let’s Be Real is a piece of trash that belongs in FOX’s dumpster. I enjoy watching puppet shows as much as everyone, but this series is a severe slap in the face of the art form. The sketches are uninspiring, the jokes were tasteless and bland, and the movements of the puppet mouths don’t even match the dialogue of the voice cast throughout the entire series. It’s a poorly made show that should not be allowed to participate in next year’s election. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to watch a great puppet show like The Muppet Show or Sesame Street.