Shorts Review: Losing It with John Stamos featuring Chris Parnell

Spoilers Below

Now here’s a guest I know a little something about. Of course he’s Cyril on Archer, and even more recently Jerry from Rick and Morty – but I’m an even bigger fan of his work as Dr. Spaceman on 30 Rock and his decade-and-a-half on SNL. I even recall watching Chris Parnell way back when he was an NBC Exec in the butter shave episode of Seinfeld and a toy store employee in Jingle All the Way (which I only remember because The Ol’ Ball & Chain makes me watch it every X-mas.)

Anyway, I was thus quite excited to watch this episode of Losing It. It began rather awkwardly, with long pauses and hesitant exchanges between guest and host, as the two settled in and Chris began to tell his story. Like a lot of the previous tales, it started with the typical “I was awkward” set up, where (in this case) a goofy kid grew up into a square theater-camp-nerd adult, who eventually landed a chick, before messing it up. The story itself was entertaining and humorous, but there were a few other things that really made it work.

First, I thoroughly enjoyed the puppets. In the last episode (Shiri Appleby) the puppets were pointless and actually detracted from the story, but in this case their use was well executed. Perhaps it was because Chris’ lines were already pretty funny, in a geeky kind of way, and the puppets lip-synched right along. Like when a girl said she was going to show him her body, he said, “Fantastic…let’s see it.” When she said she was ready to get down he said, “Alright…tell me what to do.” He openly admitted how uncool it is to say things like this, especially so when it’s followed with a mid-hump pronouncement that, “Here I am, in my twenty-fourth year, having sex for the first time.” Seriously, that’s one of the most off-putting things a guy can randomly say during his first time banging a chick, short of, “I want you to tongue-punch my barking spider.”

Regardless, the episode worked. Parnell even added a bit at the end about how he had to later drive this girl home (several hours away) and cried the entire time. Just precious.

In the end this still wasn’t a terribly funny episode, but I think if you like Chris Parnell at all, you’ll enjoy it. If you like awkward stories of youth, you’ll also probably enjoy it. And if you’re just fond of looking at John Stamos’ handsome, chiseled face: you’ll obviously love it no matter what – so just watch.