All Out (Broadway) (2025)

It sort of plays out like an episode of Saturday Night Live, 90 minutes without commercials of sketch comedy with special guests and musical performances. The music here is performed by the band Lawrence. We got an understudy for Gracie Lawrence, but she (Olivia Puckett) was also excellent. I'd never heard of Lawrence before but I quite liked their music and fun instrumentation. Clyde Lawrence has a fantastic raspy singing voice. The show is basically half Lawrence concert. The other half is sketch comedy, not so much acted out, but read aloud, mostly on book from a seated position. Like SNL, some of the sketches are better than others, some just a few lines long; occasionally an audible laugh but mostly clever chuckles. They rotate the cast. We went for Ray Romano. But the star was really Nicholas Braun, who is basically playing Cousin Greg himself. He's comically tall and awkward. He improv-ed a bit, making his cast mates laugh. Jenny Slate also did a funny sketch where she plays a horse. Not just any horse but Paul Revere's midnight ride horse.  It was fun, the music was good, the show wasn't too long. 

Succession (2018-23)

For quite a long stretch of time during the golden age of TV, Succession was the best show on air.  From the beginning, it spoke to our nightmare times. The Roy family was most closely modeled on the Murdochs but there is something undoubtedly Trumpian about it all, isn't there? It's so painfully realistic, it's terrifying at times. Succession was the perfect balance of comedy and (Shakespearean) tragedy. And it wasn't just clever writing. It was the comedic performances and the hilarious cameraman controlling the zoom lens. There are so many iconic moments that have entered the culture. I'm talking "L to the OG", boar on the floor, two safe rooms, crack some greggs to make a Tomelette, etc. Really any scene with Cousin Greg. 

The final season was announced ahead of the season premiere. Succession ran a tight four seasons, left us wanting more, rather than overstaying its welcome. There was a clear series arc that the showrunner Jesse Armstrong had clearly thought out.  And it took a bold swing in Season 4 Episode 3 that paid dividends. The final 3 episodes were excellent. I feel like they really stuck the landing. The final season leans more tragedy ("You are not serious people") than comedy, but it has its moments, like "it's not that lemony" and Connor arguing with Roman about ambassadorships. 

And how about that opening song by Nicholas Britell!