Eastbound & Down

The first ten minutes of last week's debut of this new HBO comedy had me thinking I had discovered my new favorite television show. Danny McBride stars as washed-up former major league relief pitcher Kenny Powers, whose slogan during his playing career was "You're f**kin' out!"

A cross between Ricky Bobby's clueless arrogance, Michael Scott's cringe-inducing awkwardness and Andrew "Dice" Clay's crudeness and vulgarity, McBride's Powers had me laughing exponentially more than this humor was worthy of. The high point to me was when Powers sat in his car listening to his memoir-style book on tape, titled You're F**kin' Out, I'm F**kin' In, on which he defends his xenophobic reputation with a rant about how he just thinks this country's better than all the others, and how that used to be considered patriotism.

But, of course, writing about comedy doesn't do it justice, so...



I have to admit that it's been over a week since the debut aired, and I've yet to watch this past Sunday's second episode, but I guess not having HBO is my excuse. Regardless, I look forward to being entertained for at least the five additional episodes that are scheduled to air. If it doesn't last beyond this, I'm pretty certain I won't be lamenting its demise like I did that of Arrested Development, but I'm sure I'll be laughing uncontrollably at least a few more times.