If the show manages to maneuver through its self-planted minefield fairly nimbly, and maintain a moderate but comfortable level of amusement, much of the credit goes to the perfectly cast Morris, best known for his seven seasons on New Girl. Hes an expert at projecting an affable complacency that comes out of good-naturedness rather than entitlement, and his wounded, crotchety reactions as Keefs world turns upside down keep us invested even when the situations and jokes get wheezy.
The writing is sharpest in the pilot episode, credited to the shows creators, the cartoonist Keith Knight the show is inspired by his life and work and the screenwriter Marshall Todd (Barbershop). It introduces Keefs roommates, Gunther (Blake Anderson of Workaholics), whose idea for a start-up is selling Peruvian coca as a dietary supplement, and Clovis (T. Murph), a sunnily cynical player; like many elements of the show, theyre familiar types given just enough of a spin to feel fresh, if not exactly distinctive.
Clovis, who in T. Murphs hands is the most consistently funny aspect of the show, provides a counterpoint to the hectoring voices of Keefs new consciousness. As Keef begins to act out, blowing his syndication deal by going off-script at a launch event, Clovis pushes him to keep money top of mind. Clovis has his own opposite number, Ayana (Sasheer Zamata), an alternative press journalist who gives Keef a place to publish while pushing him to stay on his new track.
Keefs journey in which he has to wake up not just to racism and the specific dangers of police violence but also to standard sitcom verities about love and friendship proceeds in a loose, fluid, slightly melancholy style thats easy to sit through (helped by episode lengths as short as 21 minutes). Six of the episodes were directed by Maurice Marable, who was the primary director on the estimable Brockmire.
Theres a disconnect, though, between the facility of the filmmaking and the originality and force of the storytelling as the season progresses. In an episode in which San Francisco shuts down because of an escaped koala, the satire of privileged Bay Area sensibilities is directly on the nose. Subplots involving black-market sneakers and the indignities of the gig economy echo innumerable sitcoms at this point. (The Last O.G. and Insecure, to name two.)read more
In Hulu’s ‘Woke,’ Waking Up to Racism Is a Lot Like Going Crazy
