Why We Need ‘Joe Pera Talks With You’ More Than Ever

Adult Swim‘s output can be categorized as many things: surreal, experimental, often only coherent to those completely baked at an ungodly hour. But gentle? Well, yes, ever since stand-up Joe Pera aimed to literally send viewers to sleep with his 2016 animated special, the network has become the home of TV’s most ASMR-friendly comedy. 

In a way, the live-action successor Joe Pera Talks With You is Adult Swim’s most subversive offering. Any language stronger than a goddamn is bleeped out (Pera, playing a fictionalized version of himself, even apologizes for that utterance); there’s not even a hint of bare flesh – the chilly climate of its Michigan Upper Peninsula setting means the inherently charming cast are rarely seen without a chunky sweater. And each roughly ten-minute episode is shot at a glacial pace: it’s hard to believe it shares a home with The Eric Andre Show. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a series which appears to exist on an entirely different plane to everything else, its third season doesn’t attempt to make sense of the real-life events that have occurred since its second. “It’s 2018 and the economy is booming,” a furniture salesman in the opening episode explicitly states. In Pera’s universe, the word ‘corona’ is still synonymous with the kind of beer ill-tempered manchild Mike (Conner O’Malley) and his bros sink every football game. 

Sure, it would have been interesting to see Joe’s doomsday prepper girlfriend Sarah Conner (Jo Firestone) reacting to all the chaos – her underground bunker no doubt has its fair share of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. However, despite its knowingly mundane scenarios, Talks With You has always offered a sense of escapism from the outside world. Who hasn’t wanted to take a trip to Tahquamenon Falls and delight in the water that “looks like root beer” after watching “Takes You on a Fall Drive,” for example? Or enjoy a leisurely Sunday morning assembling the “perfect bite” in a small-town diner on seeing “Takes You to Breakfast?”

For the most part, Talks With You could have been made at any point over the last 50 years: remember that the ‘new’ song which gave Joe so much unbridled joy in “Reads You the Church Announcements” was The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.” Swerving all things COVID-19 therefore makes total sense. The fact we don’t have to deal with one of its lovable residents turning into a raging anti-vaxxer also comes as sweet relief, obviously.

So instead of talking with us about self-isolation, PPE and flattening the curve, Joe gets to ponder the smaller life matters slowly and softly once again. Examining the contents of Midwesterners’ second fridges, exploring the most appropriate DVD to keep his choir class entertained, and living through the agonizing dilemma of buying a new chair are just a few of the subjects explored this time around in the familiar manner of a meditation tape. 

Helping to kick off the nine-part new season, the latter quest typifies Pera habit of finding depth and melancholy in the most seemingly innocuous of situations. On the surface, Joe is simply helping best friend Gene (Gene Kelly) to decide between a classic rocker recliner and ergonomically-designed chaise relaxer. “Are you ready America? Let’s do some sitting,” the much older of the two in body, not necessarily spirit, adorably announces while walking through the hallowed doors of R. Gale Furniture.

But Gene isn’t merely looking for a new place to park his behind. His checklist includes somewhere he can “unpack the last 60 years” on, and perhaps reflect on his mortality, too. As he tells Joe out of nowhere, it’s the last chair he might buy. One of the many special things about Talks With You is how it often leaves such an emotional curveball hanging in the air for just a few seconds before resuming normality. The show might be free of Adult Swim’s trademark cynicism, yet it’s never overly-sentimental. 

The other two chapters available for screening also find a similar level of pathos and humor in the everyday. “Listens to Your Drunk Story” largely shifts things to his other half’s perspective as she recalls the Wine Wednesday she’s been invited to by kind-hearted neighbor Sue (Jo Scott). In most other comedies, Sarah would have become the butt of the joke for her obvious timidity, social awkwardness and exhaustive knowledge of self-defense weapons. Here, she’s fully accepted into Jo’s small but increasingly raucous circle of friends, subverting the car crash outcome you expect from her inebriated state in Joe’s kitchen. 

In fact, Sarah and Debin Jaconski-Hammershunk – the kind of brilliantly silly name which could have been lifted from Toast of London – hit it off so well that they’re chatting like old pals in “Talks With You About Legacy.” Here, it’s Joe who’s feeling out of place while watching the NFC Championship Game at the chaotic Melskys household. “You’re scaring the bookworm,” warns Mike’s dad as the middle school choir teacher visibly flinches at all the boorish noise. However, ‘bookworm’ is about as insulting as it gets. The Melsky men are fully aware their guest isn’t on their wavelength yet they never treat him like a pariah because of it. 

It’s this natural kindness that makes Talks With You the most comforting shows of recent years. Nothing much ever happens. But nothing really needs to. You’re just happy to be in the company of a man who’s unfathomably polite, eternally respectful and able to find an infectious sense of wonder in the tiniest of things. If ever there was a motto for 2021, it’s ‘Be more Joe Pera.’

Jon O’Brien (@jonobrien81) is a freelance entertainment and sports writer from the North West of England. His work has appeared in the likes of Vulture, Esquire, Billboard, Paste, i-D and The Guardian. 

Watch Joe Pera Talks With You on Adult Swim