Fatboy is America as perceived by everyone in the world except Americans in this coarse and shallow satire. Fatboy is loud, obnoxious, ignorant, selfish, and, of course, fat. He equates freedom with freedom to dominate and passes through three imperial stages: brutal greed, corruption of justice, and over-consumption leading to his downfall. Fudgy, his wife, seems to represent the population: she worships sex and violence to distraction and hates Fatboy but stays around as long as he brings home cash.
All the characters are grotesque and most the lines are stuffed with swearing and delivered with a yell. This is appropriate given the style of the show but it begins to grate after a few minutes and continues relentlessly. The audience seems a little uncomfortable and unwilling to laugh — partly because the jokes are thin and partly because they’re delivered so oppressively. Some people will find this show quite funny, but they’re a niche.
All in all this is a very simplistic portrayal of American attitudes, accurate perhaps but lacking depth and delivered with all the subtlety of two aircraft carriers colliding at sea. There is nothing daring or non-obvious in the commentary, and very little of interest remains if the politics is ignored. Just as Fatboy is too brash to appreciate his situation, so it seems is the scriptwriter.
2/5
Bernie Greenwood
