From AP Bio to Mr Corman, it seems the disaffected teacher has become a sitcom staple in recent times, and here is Flatbush Misdemeanours (Sky Comedy) with another one. This ramshackle newcomer is based on a 2017 web series created by and starring comedians Kevin Iso and Dan Perlman, who make a seamless transition to television here. Those who like their sitcoms with a bit of oomph may find this too laid-back, but underneath its low-key demeanour lies a fresh and charming series.
We follow childhood best friends Kevin and Dan, reunited as flatmates (if you can call them flatmates – Kevin is crashing on Dan’s couch, and briefly, on his floor) in the Flatbush district of Brooklyn, New York City. Dan is the teacher, presiding over lively teenagers who would mostly rather not be in his classroom, while Kevin is a painter who has recently moved back to the city from New Orleans and is trying to make his way as an artist.
On paper it may sound like your textbook zeitgeisty comedy (there are also jokes about working for Vice and references to Xanax), but it is far more than the sum of those parts. Gentrification lingers in the background, and the different roles played by each character in that tide of change are all far from straightforward. Kevin gets a job as a delivery driver/cyclist to make ends meet, but a drop-off goes horribly wrong when he accidentally destroys a drug dealer’s stash. Drew, the dealer, is not a forgiving man, and issues Kevin with a terrifying deadline to repay the money he feels he is owed. The rest of the opening episode sets up a series-long caper that manages to be tremendously daft, and occasionally thrilling. Although it operates on a very different frequency to Broad City, both embrace shenanigans and random occurrences that can send the characters off into the world to explore – whether they want to or not.
Flatbush Misdemeanours finds an unusual tone by blending its laid-back approach with this high-stakes central plot that shouldn’t fit, but somehow comes together to find an oddly pleasing balance. It is lo-fi and ambling, dry-witted and a bit mumbly, but every now and then a big belly laugh arrives, pulled from the wreckage of an increasingly surreal scene. Drew’s house is full of drugs and guns, but he also has a heavy interest in a puzzle video game, Untitled Goose Game, and has hopes to become a professional player. Dan returns home from a stressful day at work to find Kevin knocking back a bottle of vodka, in an attempt to avoid having to work out what he is going to do to avoid Drew inflicting some serious harm upon him, but all is not as it seems. A Gucci belt becomes pivotal to proceedings.
“No matter what I do, I’m done,” says Kevin, as scheme after scheme starts to fail him. Happily for viewers, that holds true, and it sends the story off on all sorts of tangents. The pair approach Dan’s stepfather Kareem (the standup comedian Kareem Green) for help, who knows Flatbush far better than Dan and Kevin do. Kareem is a scene-stealer from the off. We first meet him at a block party, for which he has borrowed his stepson’s couch, as he attempts to make Dan see him in a more fatherly light and treat him accordingly.
Away from Kevin, Dan has his own stuff going on. He needs prescription medication to get through a day at work. There is an ongoing bureaucratic drama about whether a door should be left propped open or not, that will become more significant further down the line. He has got a potential love interest in fellow teacher Jess, and student Zayna is proving a handful. However, he ends up getting folded into Kevin’s drama through a combination of loyalty and coincidence.
Any comedy about city-dwellers of a certain age is obliged to acknowledge a generational anxiety, but Flatbush Misdemeanours transforms its twitchiness into a minor paralysis, and turns it to its comedic advantage. Dealers and weapons aside, it is often relaxed to the point of falling over, and its bagginess will not be for everyone. But I immediately warmed to its set-ups, and the way it builds to what appears to be a deadly serious point, before deflating it with a ridiculous semi-punchline. The opener ends with a moment that stands in as a punchline for the whole episode, in fact. Everything might be pointless, but watching Dan and Kevin struggle through it turns out to be well worth the effort.
