When a television show is edgy, people love to talk about “the line.” This apparently invisible scratch in the hypothetical dirt that represents a standard of decency, which, if crossed, indicates a total disregard for civility. FX’s new comedy Testees doesn’t so much cross the line as much as it says “fuck the line!” takes a big shit all over it, then leaps, Matrix-style, hundreds of feet in the air past the line.
Testees follows two roomies as they attempt to make bank by playing human guinea pigs at Testico, a medical testing company. For those unfamiliar with the process: medical testing facilities, at the behest of Big Pharm, pay a host of desperate, cash-starved masochists a load of green to take experimental drugs and report any consequences. Thus “testers” and “testees.”
It’s a legitimate biz, and if you’re strapped for cash, like I was last summer, you can be a testee yourself. Although I should warn you, I blacked out one afternoon and came to four days later to find myself hosting a wine and cheese function at the Scientology center in Vienna.
Of course, it’s no coincidence that Testees and Testico are so very close to the words testes and testicle (respectively). The show seems to operate on the principle that the most hilarious thing you can say about a dude is “he’s got girl parts.”
Indeed the first three episodes are devoted to challenging the main characters’ sexuality and gender roles. Not in any sort of socially relevant or expositive respect, mind you.
In the aforementioned episodes we see Peter (Steve Markle) displaying symptoms of pregnancy after an uncomfortably inserted anal suppository, Ron (Jeff Kassel) having gay sex with his lesbian ex-girlfriend (you read that right) and the two, in the presence of their closest friends and family, about to … well, I’ll let you find out if you really want.
Testees manages to mix the over-the-top humor of shows such as South Park, with the awkwardness of The Office. And remember that “line” we were talking about? No? Good, because forget the line, lines have no place here.
The show’s creator, Kenny Hotz (creator of Kenny vs. Spenny), plays the bit role of Larry, a co-testee who spends the first episode limping proudly around, parading his absurdly huge wang, a gift bestowed by a penis enlargement spray from Testico.
The show is funny, don’t get me wrong, but humorous premise aside, it is ostensibly about how much torture Peter can endure, and at a point, how much we, the viewers, can endure given the one-note jokes being repeated throughout the series.
Episode after episode, we see Peter getting the raw end of the deal, ending up with disturbing side effects, while Ron takes it all in stride, humorously going along with the ungodly consequences of radical medical testing.
This isn’t highbrow humor, and really what Testees has going for it is the willingness to go where other shows won’t. Steeped in homoeroticism, FX counts on Testees‘ audience to be a good deal like the shows protagonists: immature, single dudes who are wayyyy too comfortable around one another.
Luckily for FX, the frat-boy way of life is one that seems to be increasing at an exponentially frightening rate thanks to American Eagle, 10th Anniversary DVDs of The Big Lebowski and the affixation of bro to the beginning of a host of words (i.e., bromance, broner).
Ultimately, the success of this show depends on the devotion of its audience: the kind of guys who believe the Axe effect is scientifically proven and use the word “chill” as an adverb. Oh shit, come to think of it, that describes me to a tee.
Well, I can’t deny what I am. What do you say, bro? Let’s you and I get chill shirtless so I can smell your Dark Temptations body spray, sit awkwardly close and take a good long look at Testees. Then maybe we can watch TV.
TesteesFXThursdays, 10:30 p.m.