TV’s Moments of Joy – Happy ValenBirthiversary!

Mystery Team – OK, this isn’t actually TV.  It is, in fact, a movie on DVD.  But if you haven’t noticed, we’re pretty big fans of NBC’s Thursday night comedy lineup.  Thus, we have to recommend Mystery Team.  Community’s Donald Glover is in an Internet sketch group, Derrick Comedy, and they made this hilarious movie about boy detectives who should be getting ready for college, but still solve crimes for ten cents.  Glover steals the show (though his troupe-mates Dominic Dierkes and D.C. Pierson, both of whom have recurring roles on Community, are pretty great as well) as Jason “the master of disguise”.  Usually, these disguises simply involve a mustache.  Or perhaps a sombrero.  Or when he’s a hobo, a bindle and broken top hat.  It’s ridiculous, crude, and really funny.  And a whole bunch of NBC comedy stars come along for the ride.  The Office’s Ellie (Erin) Kemper plays a child; Aubrey Plaza, April from Parks and Recreation, is their client, and Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio) has a cameo; John Lutz, Kay Cannon, and Kevin (Dot Com) Brown from 30 Rock have great scenes.  Even Matt Walsh from Outsourced gets into the act, and even though we’re not fans of the show, he’s a funny man.  Toss in Saturday Night Live’s Bobby Moynihan as a grocery store clerk, and the cast list basically just looks like our DVR exploded.  It’s a lot of fun, and recommended if you’re not easily offended.  (When the Mystery Team hits a strip club, hilarity ensues!) Raising Hope–Is there a more perfect bit of casting this season than Amy Sedaris playing Martha Plimpton’s cousin?  We can’t find one.  Sedaris played Delilah, Virgina’s more worldly cousin (it doesn’t take much, does it?) who left town about 15 years ago and thinks Mamaw is dead, but only because that’s what Virginia told her to keep her from seeing how her own life was turning out the last time she was in town.  Well, Delilah returns to stake her claim on Mamaw’s “estate”, which is funny enough.  But she’ll take Burt going to second base–which is where he was going to go with her at the lake before Virginia stole him from her back in high school–in exchange for money or property.  Burt’s horrified, especially after Delilah tells them about her “aereola reduction surgery” (which left her with a “quarter inch pleat” in one of them; yikes!), but Virigina encourages him.  The “ghost” of Mamaw, thinking Delilah is pawing her dead husband in her bed, causes Delilah to run away screaming before much can happen, but Burt felt something…which he tries to illustrate to Jimmy by destroying the yolk of a fried egg.  Best line?  Sedaris hanging on the door frame and saying, “You ready to hand tenderize my she meat?”