Review: Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time Episodes 1, 2 & 5

There’s something in the tea…

The Sundance Film Festival. Showcase of the industry’s brightest stars and most imaginative visionaries. The proving ground, for now, legendary works such as Memento, Precious, and Fruitvale Station.

And also this thing! Created by Peter Gulsvig, distributed by animation studio Cartuna, and premiering at Sundance as a nominee in the new “Indie Episodic” category, Tammy’s Tiny Teatime portrays a complex tale of mental illness and its tribulations both from outside and within. A gut-wrenching, soul-shattering tapestry which…

…ha, I’m just kidding. It’s really more of another crude gross-out comedy. The show is about innocent middle-aged Tammy (voiced by Rachel Butera) who shrinks down to play with her favorite toys, porcelain doll Donna (Butera again), tin soldier Thomas (Nate Corddry) and box turtle Babette (creator Peter Gulsvig), to hide from the responsibilities of her adult life.

Growing up in the era of Adult Swim and Fox animated sitcoms, the idea of cartoons pushing the boundaries of their “just for kids” stigma is not exactly groundbreaking. The look and title of the show is very much a callback to others like Pee-wee’s Playhouse, so that may catch the eye of adults who grew up on things like that. Luckily, the downer color scheme and creepy designs are coupled with some incredible comedic talent in the voice cast and writing team, who hit all the beats necessary to play around with Tammy’s mental breakdowns as chances to flesh out character dynamics and make full use of their setting, which is pretty limited. The bits are all pretty much just dialogue, meaning the characters have to really stand out to remain interesting and funny, and from what we’ve seen, they most definitely do.

I guess my main issues are that…well, they’re so short. Each episode seems like a great set up for a good ten or even twenty minutes of these characters bouncing off each other in hilariously pathetic ways, but I can see the benefits of this format, at least for now. Considering the premise is this all being Tammy’s imagination in her crumbling psyche, that opens up any number options to make stuff happen. But what’s important in any given series, especially comedies, is a connection to the characters and without that, even the darkest nightmares ever will fail to hit the mark as well as they could.

Which also brings me to the “Tammy’s Toons” part of the episodes. It gave me a similar feeling to Comedy Central’s “Trip Tank”, and maybe it’s the fact that it felt like they wanted me disturbed lessened the blow a bit. Though they do fit the tone of the show, so it’s not a huge deal.

Even if this show doesn’t get the award, I think it’s definitely something to look out for when it gets an official release. And don’t drink the tea.

Check out our interview with the producers of Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time here.