Everything Tom Segura Does in Bad Thoughts Tim Robinson Does Better

I don't hate Tom Segura. I've seen some of his standup routines, and he can make me laugh. But there's something lost in translation between the standup and his new sketch comedy show Bad Thoughts.

Take, for example, the Steven Seagal bit.

The joke is a lot more than the impersonation—it's Segura commenting on how ridiculous Seagal is. Because it's ridiculous that Seagal was a cop in real life. It's ridiculous that he's always bullshiting people with his martial arts crap. It's ridiculous that he pretends to be some spiritual master, incredible assasin dude. But that's the funny thing, that's actually the way Seagal acts in reality.

On the second episode of Bad Thoughts, there's a parody of a behind-the-scenes look at 'Seagal' on the set of a new movie. And it is terrible. All the parts that worked well enough as a standup bit are not there anymore. Bad Thoughts shows us the whole thing produced, cast, costumed, and flattened into visual mediocrity. Suddenly the joke is no longer “imagine how ridiculous Seagal is,” but “here’s a guy dressed like Seagal saying dumb shit.” It’s no longer your imagination making the joke better; it's the show telling you the joke, loudly and without nuance.

Yes, he's way too old and out of shape to be an action star. Yes, it's weird he's friends with Putin. Yes, the way he flips people around with fake martial arts is dumb. But I can open YouTube and see that, and I can find videos of people commenting on that, making it funnier. I don't need a bad impersonation that loses any sense of reality.

Also, who is that joke for? Do the hip kids know who Steven Seagal is? Do the dads who know him actually enjoy this kind of comedy? The Venn Diagram intersection here is basically a dot.

Anatomy of a Joke

That's just one example of why I thought the show didn't work. The first sketch shows a suave assassin monologuing about his code, and how he doesn't shoot women or children. Of course, he accidentally shoots an innocent woman. Then, he shits himself. And Segura decides to drop his pants and show us. He keeps pushing the joke, making it dumber and dumber and bigger and bigger, and you hope for that pay-off. Then the next sketch starts.

For some reason, I kept on watching, expecting the sketches to suddenly be funny. But I didn't laugh once. That's not hyperbole. I didn't even chuckle. I kept waiting for the joke to land, because sometimes it drags. And keeps dragging. Sometimes you have to wait for the next episode for the actual joke to land. And then nothing happens. It's a dick joke, a sex joke, or a shit joke.

To his credit, Segura really looks deep into the weird cabinet of jokes to find something you weren't expecting, a twist that sends the sketch a in a completely different direction. But damn, it's always has to be an edgy joke. Even if the premise takes you from an alien invasion to a virtual reality game, the joke is "someone fucks someone HAHA".

My Problem is the Marketing

That video explains how these terrible thoughts are so depraved, even Segura's closest friends warned him not to make the show. Every single piece of marketing focuses on how the show is so depraved and boundary-pushing in the nastiest direction possible. Another video even has his mother calling the show "an insult to humanity."

Bad Thoughts is sold as boundary-pushing, raw, unfiltered, unapologetic. And sure, it's full of sex and poop and violence. But is that dangerous comedy? It’s just crass. It’s not really pushing boundaries, it's regressing to the type of jokes you made in high school. We saw the exact same thing 15 years ago with Movie 43, and we all know that one sucked.

Where's what they promised? The way Netflix talks about it, it's as if they went inside the mind of GG Allin. If you don't know who that is, he was a pretty infamous punk rocker who used to cover himself in shit, perform naked, fight the audience, and he promised he would die on stage (he died from an overdose, but his friends took pictures with his dead body, so close enough).

Here's a quote from him, tell me if that doesn't at least remind you of what Netflix is selling with Bad Thoughts:

I’m trying to bring danger back in to rock ‘n’ roll and there are no limits and no laws and I break down every barrier put in front of me till the day I die.

Going back to Segura's thoughts, there’s no real danger to them, no vision, no rage, they're not even shocking. But worst of all, they're not funny. His show doesn’t test the edges of what's acceptable to make you confront yourself or society. It’s just trying to make you giggle with dicks and diarrhea. Some people like that, sure, but let’s not pretend it’s boundary-breaking.

Watch I Think You Should Leave Instead (rewatch it, even)

Unfortunately for Segura, his show brings to mind the other very famous sketch comedy show on Netflix: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. And, for me at least, Segura's show comes out losing in that comparison.

To be fair, they're not trying to do the same thing. It is very clear the humour is different; however, some of the situations for the sketches are similar, and the human brain likes connecting the dots, so here we are.

What really hurts Bad Thoughts is that, while sketches start in similar ways, what they end up accomplishing is completely different. Robinson uses the situation to build social tension to a point where it can't be sustained anymore, and then comes an almost poetic meltdown that always doubles down. Segura, on the other hand, takes that situation to tell a fart joke.

I Think You Should Leave actually explores the weird, uncomfortable social contracts we sign just to appear normal. The comedy dances around that implicit line that separates well-adjusted from the weird. It tries to determine what is allowed to be normal, and what happens when that balance is broken. Every joke is born in that moment when the social mask breaks, and the ugly, maladjusted part of us shines.

So every sketch traps Robinson in that position where he knows he stepped over the line, and that his real self is exposed, and he doesn't quite know what to do. Keep going, go back, freeze?

Take a look at this sketch. Tim Robinson's character is at a dinner with a guy he admires. At one point, he chokes on his food, his friend tries to help, but Robinson doesn't want to call attention to himself, so he keeps choking. It's stupid, but something like that happens to me once a month.

If Segura had the same premise on his show, the twist would be that the characters is actually choking on a ghost dick.

That's just a very clear example of how it always turns out (also, one my personal favorites from the show). I Think You Should Leave is funny and it digs into that awkward part of every little social interaction. It tries to say something and succeeds.

On the other hand, Bad Thoughts wants to shock you, and the best it can come up with is throwing literal shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.