Joe Pera Talks to You Season 3: Talking to Joe about Austin Powers

At a time when there is a debate raging about what comedians supposedly can’t say, Joe Pera finds a lot to say about things that seemingly nobody on television is concerned with. Check out the episode titles for the new season of Joe Pera is talking to you, his adult swim comedy, which started in November, “Joe Pera Sits With You” (in which Pera talks about buying a chair) or “Joe Pera shows you how to build a fire” (in which he shows you how to build a fire) ”) or even“ Joe Pera will discuss school-appropriate entertainment with you ”(it is better if you see for yourself).

When it premiered in 2018, Joe Pera is talking to you felt like the strangest and most wonderful thing on TV at the same time. The title describes exactly what viewers get: for 11 minutes, Joe Pera will speak to the audience on a subject in plaintive, monotonous, but warm overtones, while Pera – playing a fictional version of himself who is a middle school choir teacher – interacts with her his friends and neighbors in Marquette, Michigan, sometimes in a way directly related to the subject of the episode, sometimes in a more abstract way. For example, while the season three premiere is about buying a chair, it’s also about helping his friend Gene (Gene Kelly) deal with his discomfort about retirement.

All Joe Pera is talking to you is like this: The everyday as a window to the soul, where nothing really gets boring if you open up enough.

“The line that Dan Licata, the author, put a few weeks ago was, ‘Other TV shows feel like they were made from an energy drink,” Joe Pera tells me on the phone, cider. “”

It’s tempting to describe Joe Pera as a comfort TV, thanks to its warm mood and Pera’s sanguine personality. But that feels like an oversimplification. There is darkness in the show: viewers encounter a character who is clearly struggling with alcoholism, other characters are struggling with grief, and some people just aren’t very nice. The show’s achievement lies in its efforts to capture the beauty that exists alongside these things.

“I don’t want to do anything that is completely detached from the real world or some kind of fantasy show,” says Pera, “I just concentrate on the nicer, decent moments and try to pay attention to them.”

Over time, this is the appeal of Joe Pera is talking to you: It’s a show that loves people deeply and is not interested in making them more or less glamorous than they already are. That makes it hilarious too, because people are naturally funny, especially when they don’t try. In one episode of the second season, Pera attends an incredibly uncomfortable bachelorette party at which he – thin and uncomfortable, completely at odds with the Michigan brothers he accompanies – surprisingly finds his neighbors open up to him.

“The bachelorette party episode was from a bachelorette party weekend that I went to,” says Pera. “I was at home in Buffalo and someone on the bachelorette party, I found out, goes to a UFO Believers club that meets at the Old Country Buffet. It’s like you never thought about that until you talk to someone! “

Joe Pera is talking to you is, in short, full of things you would never guess. One minute a normal, funny-looking choir teacher could riff on the Rat Wars of Alberta, Canada, the next he could be talking about Elizabeth Hurley’s underrated performance Austin Powers. (Pera loves Austin Powers. “It’s really hot! Little by little, loaded with good characters and funny moments and so much energy. did you know already [Mike Myers] was 33 when he did that? “)

All sorts of things can happen when you stop and talk to someone like Joe Pera. You just have to take the time.

New episodes of Joe Pera is talking to you broadcast every Sunday on Adult Swim and streamed on the network’s website. Seasons 1-2 are also available on HBO Max.