Throwing Shade Throws Flames
By Valerie Milano
Pasadena, CA (The Hollywood Times) 1/18/17 – “We definitely try to focus on things affecting women and LGBT people, and we definitely try to bully the bullies and go after the people who are going after us.” Bryan Safi
There’s a new late-night socio-political snark fest invading the Tuesday Night 10:30 Slot. It is TV Land’s Throwing Shade. Already a hit in podcastland, the show now gets a shot at a broadcast audience, Throwing Shade has a manic, millennial newness that might just be the tonic for college educated viewers freaked out by our craven new world.
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Echoes of SNL’s Weekend Update come to mind, but this show throws off any newsroom fakery and give us pure, uncut Zeitgeist. Hosts Erin Gibson (a.k.a. “Feminasty”) and Bryan Safi (a.k.a. “Homosensual) both have an broad, perfectly callibrated machine gun delivery that never seems to misfire. These aren’t just kids fidddling around with a web-cam, there’s talent on the hoof here.The show opens with a East-Euro styled propaganda spot extolling the virtues of our leader (you know who), and then pinballs from newsy topics to skits and spots like ‘Etsy on Ecstasy’ and ‘Your heard of this bitch?’ We also have Will Farrel (as a car mechanic) sharing mastabatory fantasies about the shop’s pin-up calendar featuring Annie Leibovitz and Yoko Ono.
Throwing Shade goes pretty far out but stays in the groove with five-hour energy-pacing. This is late night viewing tailor-made for the young-adult ADD crowd in need of some laughs with a side of truth.
