Television Reviews: The Whitest Kids You Know

I have a love/hate relationship with comedy designed to shock and surprise its audience. “The Whitest Kids You Know” attempts with incredible diligence to provide its viewers with more than their fair share of shocking comedy. As it is broadcast on the Independent Film Channel, WKYK has the distinct privilege of a complete lack of censorship.

And I don’t use the term “complete” lightly. It is total lack of censhorship. I’ve watched this troup do things for television that I have never watched anyone do before. This includes a sketch laying out a deliberate request/plan to kill the president, a baby being shot in the head, and a duo of hunters deliberating about whether to kill another hunter whom they’ve accidentally shot.

Anything for a laugh right?

People who write shock comedy and people who watch it and love it are a very strange breed. As an art form I think it works, if only because oftentimes the artists are making statements against the very things they think are hilarious. It’s anti-comedy. It’s terrifying. It’s brilliant.

Though a bit formulaic at times, WKYK adheres to the oldest theater trick in the book. They approach comedy from the point of view that art exists not merely to entertain, but to educate. Let artists hold a mirror up to society and say, “Hey. This is real. This happens. What are you going to do about it?” They adhere so staunchly to this old mainstay that at times it becomes humorless to point of being simply dramatic. I can’t tell you how many times I found myself staring at the screen in rapt tension, terrified at the prospect of what I was watching. Nearly every sketch leaves you with something to think about. Scratch that; every sketch needs to be thought about. It would be foolish for the viewer to ignore the artists.

I feel as though I’ve come late to a life changing party. I don’t know how much these cats from Brooklyn will effect the future of comedy, but I simply cannot imagine how they will not.

I wouldn’t say that I enjoy watching WKYK. Saying that, would imply that I enjoy watching Hitler rap about his new plans for world takeover (the first bit ever aired by these truly twisted people). No, I experience The Whitest Kids You Know. I wouldn’t say that I like it either. But, I can’t stop watching and neither will you.