Who knew Trey would be the Dirk Diggler of Broad City? In another amazing, surprising move for Broad City, “Kirk Steele” marks the on-screen debut of Trey’s amateur porn career, arguably the most depressingly hilarious gag Broad City‘s ever gone for. And as the show is oft to do, they’re able to turn the absurd into the meaningful, using Kirk Steele’s failed ‘solo’ career as the jumping-off point to build Trey’s character in ways we’ve never seen before.
What makes the twist about Trey’s past work so well is just how neatly it fits into what we already know about the character. He’s a man of missions, one who doesn’t like failure and stares any non-bathroom related challenge directly in the face (by the way, Abbi’s “situations” are getting so unbelievably foul this season) – and to turn herself into a trainer, she blackmails Trey with the darkest challenge he ever faced: making the world’s loneliest adult film, shot on Christmas 2004, playing like the world’s least erotic The Real (Porn) World audition ever. Talking head shots of Trey are interspersed with him running around naked, doing various gross, yet very perverted things to the toys left out by the pool (and we’re not talking Ilana leaving one of her toys around; this is straight up foam needles and plastic Shamu he’s fornicating with), and as dumb as it sounds, it’s wickedly funny, thanks to the depressing undercurrent (he shoots his video alone – on Christmas!!!) and Paul Downs’ committed performance with the frosted tips and golf hat. I’ve never been a big fan of Trey, but this episode’s events endear him in ways I didn’t think would be possible, especially given how Ilana initially discovers Trey’s other “career” (the opening tags this season are just perfection, are they not? She would totally admire her lady bits in the mirror while enjoying herself).
It’s a brilliant side step into one of Broad City‘s lesser characters, following suit with Jaime, Bevers, and Lincoln in filling out the secondary players of the show’s troupe. And it still leaves plenty of room for Abbi and Ilana – the former of which has a hilarious cocaine montage with bagel chips (she’s using them for inspiration to figure out how to raise $700), and the latter who finds herself with free rein to educate a child. There are great guest stars – Amy Ryan of The Wire (and a million other things) appears as Oliver’s mother, and Orange is the New Black‘s Kimiko Glenn is a hipster consignment employee – which put the show’s stars in fantastic, familiar positions: Ilana allowed to let her wild string of thoughts turned into absurdity (she tells Oliver he’s the poorest person on the subway, because he’s “poor in experience”), and Abbi frantically reacting to something she screwed up (in this case, whipping a kettle ball through a mirror).
Broad City is on such a roll this season – and the more they separate Abbi and Ilana for short-term adventures, the more rewarding each characterization is turning out to be. Abbi and Ilana together leads to interesting debates, and the latter pushing the former into uncomfortable places: separated from each other, they’re left to the whims of the world around them, and watching them react to these ludicrous, yet still completely tangible, situations, continues to be a weekly highlight.
[Photo via Comedy Central]
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