Review: Let’s Be Real

Robert Smigel was considered the defacto sketch god before an onslaught of Dave Chappelle/Neal Brennan, Key/Peele, and the like came to pass and he still very much is having been nominated a couple of years ago for a Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Election special for Hulu that still gets the “snub” tag thrown around like a rag doll. One thing Triumph/Smigel has always been good at dating back to the legendary TV Funhouse sketches for Saturday Night Live, is biting political comedy.

Problem is, everybody does this now which of course leads us to the increase in animation formats to take on a lot of the familiar territory that live-action commentary already does on a daily basis. With the likes of Colbert, Seth Meyers, and Trevor Noah doing it in late-night, Tooning Out The News and Our Cartoon President dominating the political spectrum for animation, and even the return of a similar puppet formatted sketch series returning this Saturday that looks to have a Trump, Biden, and Kanye puppets of their own, even Let’s Be Real’s bits can be deemed a tad too familiar for some.

Inspired by the Canal+ series “Les Guignols”, Let’s Be Real is a puppet sketch comedy that features a few D-list celebrities sprinkled around, commenting on today’s top political topics. Whether Democrat or Republican, both sides get their fair share of comeuppance, for Biden it’s his idiotic one-liners, for Trump, it’s a hilarious Zoom call with Stormy Daniels trying to convince the former porn star to take another pay out. By far the funniest depiction of political notables is Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner as mannequins.

The main drawback of Let’s Be Real, is the lack of room in which to impress upon jokes that haven’t already been done a dozen times before. The addition of D-list cameos didn’t help me much, and in fact, I was pretty let down by the lack of Trumph the Insult Comic Dog who I think has just as much right to be a part of a political special filled with puppets as anyone else. Puppet Heap’s creations need a bit of work as well, certainly lacking the finesse that even ventriloquists feature for their own Trump parodies, Spitting Image looks to be a clear winner in this comparison and it’s not even close right now.

I actually do want more of the series, however, I like my Robert Smigel not handcuffed by primetime television standards and a bit more ruthless and not giving a shit. Usually when his puppy is tamed, the results are so-so, here’s hoping he can dash a bit more of Family Guy-inspired naughtiness in future iterations.