The Comedians: “Misdirection”

Since premiering in April, The Comedians has leaned on the generational gap separating its two stars for drama and mostly left their differences explicitly unspoken. A few episodes, like “Billy’s Birthday,” address the divide while remaining non-specific; it’s an age disparity rather than a personal one, seen in a brief moment where Billy crashes and burns at an impromptu stand-up gig in front of an audience of people too young to revere him. But “Misdirection” actually tries to take a bite out of the tension between Billy and Josh by giving the latter a “win.” Josh has tried to slip his ideas past Billy or hire people he knows to work for The Comedians’ show within a show before. In “Misdirection,” he actually succeeds.
The experience goes poorly, at least for the purposes of “The Billy and Josh Show.” For our leads, it’s sort of a win. If nothing else, the exercise is an excuse for us to pick on Matt Oberg and marvel at how good Adam Campbell is at playing smarmy assholes. The English seem to think that they’re responsible for inventing everything from curry to comedy, and Campbell’s aggressively refined British superficiality makes Connor Tate a terrific antagonist for Billy and Josh to unite against almost immediately. There’s a brief moment of pause where we want to smirk at Billy’s hesitation over working with Tate; we assume that he’s just being a stubborn codger, unwilling to give Josh’s suggestions more than a moment’s thought. (Not that he necessarily should, but if you’re going to dismiss a person’s pitches, try not to be ageist.)
But then we meet Tate and we’re fully on Billy’s side. Tate is one of those too-hip douchesters who lacks proper appreciation of the past. To him, Monty Python and Fawlty Towers are relics in need of a good dusting, though he seems more keen on shattering them than giving them a contemporary polish. He takes control of the set the moment he sets foot on the lot, bringing in his own people, each as pretentious as Tate, to replace FX’s crew. Smells like trouble. Even poor Mitch, The Comedians’ trusty old schlemiel, gets shunted to the side. We love watching him trip over equipment and look like a putz, but he’s not Tate’s putz. He’s our putz. Tate’s polite contempt for him is a bridge too far.