![]() Peppered throughout Pera’s series are moments of intense, unexpected emotion, and no episode proves this better than Season 2's “Joe Pera Helps You Write an Obituary”. This isn’t a show that’s easy to categorize, and this early episode is a thematic and stylistic forecast of what’s to come. There’s so much this episode does right: we get Joe walking around a snow-frosted forest, jack-o-lantern in hand, the introduction of Sarah ( Jo Firestone), and the endearing wholesomeness of Joe's Halloween celebration with his Nana ( Nancy Cornell) and Gene. It’s a casual, contemplative drive in which Joe characteristically quips about the simple pleasure of the afternoon. At his friend Gene’s ( Gene Kelly, but not that Gene Kelly) suggestion, Joe goes on an autumnal drive in order to regrow his soul (carving Jack-o-lanterns, claims Gene, costs you a fraction of your soul) in his 2001 Buick Park Avenue. While the series' first two introductory episodes are fantastic in their own right, this third episode makes new ground in the show’s adventure into the strange. You deserve this show.If there was any doubt before, “Joe Pera Takes You on a Fall Drive” proves that what you’re about to watch is truly something special. Whatever the reason, this is an absolutely gorgeous show, so quietly heartrending that it’ll take your breath away. Or it could be down to the performances, none of which betray the slightest hint of mockery. This could be thanks to Ryan Dann’s exquisite soundscapes, which are sad and spare and only surge up in times of true emotion, like when Pera bids farewell to a pumpkin by watching it tumble off a waterfall. ![]() It’s hard to say why, but the sight of this is actively moving. Then he telephones all the local radio stations to request it. At first he widens his eyes and bobs his head. My favourite episode of the nine currently available is Joe Pera Reads You the Church Announcements, in which Pera hears Baba O’Riley by The Who and is suddenly awakened – in a charmingly small way – to the transformational power of music. He’s a soft and soothing presence, a little like Bob Ross, and the series can often veer into something approaching ASMR in its meditative delivery. Joe Pera as a character is an island, and the fun of watching it is feeling his own worldview slowly align to yours. There’s only a veneer of an emotional arc – a lightly-drawn relationship with a colleague starts to burble up in later episodes – but even that feels unnecessary. We’re introduced into his world, and we watch him impart some folky, home-spun wisdom on a certain topic, then we leave him as we found him. Photograph: John Nowak/AdultswimĮach episode of Joe Pera Talks With You is 10 minutes long, which is just enough. When he marvels at a spinning dessert display, seduced by the sweet delights but knowing that as an adult he has to make healthy choices – it’s like you’re seeing it for the first time. When teenagers place a For Sale sign outside his home, and it looks for a moment like he’ll honour the wishes of the strangers who make him an offer, you go through all the dips and turns of his dilemma with him. He collects minerals.Īnother show would have painted Pera as a figure of fun, using his quirks as a weapon against him, but Joe Pera Talks With You has too much heart for that. ![]() As such, he’s found comfort in his own routines. He’s well liked by his local community, but he doesn’t quite fit in. A single man who lives alone, he finds enormous pleasure in tiny things: iron, sheet music, the sound of liquid being poured from a large container into a smaller container. Pera – a 30-year-old comedian with the voice and mannerisms of someone three times his age – plays a fictional version of himself a middle-school choir teacher living on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
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