Season Review: Digman! Season One

Overview:

Rip Digman, a disgraced archaeologist with delusions of grandeur, struggles to dig his way back into the “arky” community’s good graces and put his past trauma to rest. Rip’s bold personality exposes him to a wealth of lucrative opportunities, but his return to archaeology and adventure isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Rip struggles to live up to his own legacy while he attempts to get to the bottom of the deepest and most dangerous artifact of them all–his psyche.

Our Take:

Comedy Central used to be a quality home for alternative animated content, whether that was South Park, the revival of Futurama, Ugly Americans, or even one-season misses like Moonbeam City. Recently, Comedy Central has felt like a graveyard in terms of original scripted content and most of its more promising series have migrated over to Paramount+ with subpar material like Fairview being left behind. Digman!, a series about archaeological adventures in a heightened world where this profession is treated like a rock star, doesn’t initially sound like anything special and it’s got a lot working against it. That’s why it’s such a fortunate delight that Digman! doesn’t just exceed expectations, but it’s one of the funniest animated shows that’s currently on television. 

Digman! is an absolute joy and one of the biggest surprises to come out of 2023 so far. It’s an animated series that feels genuinely different, which is so hard to accomplish these days. There’s something to be said for Digman! playing to the beat of its own drum and the exceptionally strong first impression that it makes with its freshman season, which is hopefully only just the start of a lengthy life for this new animated comedy classic.

It often feels like every profession and genre have already been mined for comedic worth in some animated context, and yet Digman! is the first to really lean into the heightened world of adventure that’s on display in films like Indiana Jones, National Treasure, Sahara, and other swarthy tales. In fact, Andy Samberg ostensibly does his Nicolas Cage impression for his Rip Digman voice, which works well as an exaggerated base for the show’s protagonist that can be chiseled into something more refined and with deeper nuance over time. The basic structure for each episode of Digman! involves Rip and his enthusiastic young assistant, Saltine (Mitra Jouhari), traveling somewhere to recover a special relic, only for antics to ensue. Rip frequently loses his composure and gives into baser instincts while Saltine attempts to bring him back to his senses.

Digman! is careful to not let its episodes fall into a predictable pattern and there’s a diverse range of stories and objectives that Rip and Saltine tackle over the course of the season. There are some really fun random stories that involve finding special cultural confetti or unique cryptids that snowball into National Treasure-esque generational conspiracies. The globe-hopping aspect of Digman! helps the series stay fresh and it takes advantage of its animated status. Stories are grandiose and impossible in scope, which is necessary for this genre. There’s also some really rewarding commentary on deeper issues, like organized religion, where Digman! flexes its thoughtfulness and gets to provoke thought in addition to being silly through extended digressions on yetis. Rip’s constant PTSD flashbacks are definitely played for laughs and become increasingly hilarious as the season progresses, but they do still hint at a painful past that involves actual trauma.

A comedy like Digman! could easily fall apart and struggle with what it wants to say after the pilot when in the wrong creative hands. The best thing about Digman! is that it’s created by Andy Samberg and Neil Campbell, the latter of which is also the program’s showrunner. Campbell’s past credits include Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Comedy Bang! Bang!, as well a few choice scripts in acclaimed animated series, having penned solo episodes for both sad-com Moral Orel as well as The Simpsons (Season 26’s “The Musk Who Fell to Earth), which feel like the perfect inverse of Digman!’s sensibilities.

Digman! episodes heartily riff on Indiana Jones, but the series also indulges in many of its own ridiculous ideas and isn’t afraid to push each concept and stereotype to the nth degree. Digman! also effectively juxtaposes radical adventure relics like man-eating plants with bureaucratic red tape that work together to create odd, unpredictable comedy. It doesn’t take long for Digman! to establish its unique voice and style of comedy, which is a major testament towards the show’s writing and structure, even if the broader concept isn’t anything remarkable at first glance.

Digman! even finds the time to quickly address the moral quandaries of Rip’s type of work, only to literally kill it so that the show can officially move on. Digman! concentrate on the comedy while it’s still able to say that it’s at least had a conversation about some of the higher-minded and problematic questions that are associated with the plundering of archaeological relics from their rightful homes. This may sound like it’s a cop out, but Digman! handles it in the right manner–with Samberg and Campbell perhaps both learning a thing or two from the more-thoughtful final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine that they were both coming off of–while also continuing to build upon the comedy’s heightened sense of humor where flippant fatalities are as fair game as any other punchline. Rip literally punches a baby to death in one scene and somehow it’s not the most offensive display that’s ever been committed to television. That’s the power of Digman!

Digman! has a reckless attitude with how it handles its self-aware jokes and meta commentary on exposition and backstory that really works in it favor and helps it stand out. There are some especially ridiculous, nerdy non-sequiturs that frequently made me laugh out loud. Episodes tap into the same chaotic energy of The Harper House, China, Il, and there are even traces of South Park or Futurama at times with how simple, well-intentioned ideas snowball into consequences that have global paradigm shifts that risk throwing the world into anarchy. There’s an economy of diverse gags within the first five minutes of the pilot and this is not an example of a series that requires several episodes “before it gets good.” That being said, Digman! only improves as its season progresses–something that bodes well for its longevity and future. 

It can be easy in a series like Digman! for Samberg’s star power to overtake the narrative to the point where the supporting cast lacks much substance. Digman! fortunately avoids this pitfall, but there’s also an all-star cast that helps bring the show’s characters to life. Digman! assembles an exceptional voice cast of comedic legends that includes a lot of former Saturday Night Live and Brooklyn Nine-Nine talent, but also some really unexpected and inspired casting decisions that make a big difference, like Edgar Wright. If nothing else, it sounds like everyone is having so much fun voicing these characters.

The dynamic between Rip and Saltine very quickly comes together and becomes the show’s secret weapon. There’s really natural chemistry between Samberg and Jouhari and it’s actually a bit of a relief that Jouhari voices Saltine rather than giving the role to Melissa Fumero and just blindly leaning into Brooklyn Nine-Nine nostalgia. Tim Robinson’s Swooper, the ancillary yet overly enthusiastic idiot, also slowly grows on the audience. In fact, one of the best sequences from the whole season involves Swooper’s complicated history over the acquisition of his gondola license. He, and the rest of the supporting cast, come across as real characters rather than stereotypes and tools to help prop up Samberg’s Rip. Even Fleety, the mascot-esque marsupial companion works much better than he should. There’s some appreciated serialization and obvious character development that plays out as Rip, Saltine, and Zane all have larger goals that help contribute towards and strengthen the more standalone episodic chaos. 

Digman! unearths treasure right from the start of its expedition. It’s a tremendous animated comedy that could become one of the biggest hits of the decade with the right support. Everything about Digman! succeeds and attempts to break new ground, but its status as a cartoon on Comedy Central begs the question of what sort of future it really has. Digman! deserves to thrive and perhaps it will be given an extended life on Paramount+ or somehow excel on Comedy Central. Digman! is a hilarious comedy that has a lot to say as well as a manic tone that will take it to very special places. With any luck it will have a long enough life where it’s able to push its rich concept and wild ideas as far as possible.

‘Digman’ premieres on Comedy Central on March 22nd at 10:30pm (ET)