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Entertainment May 3, 2017
You should be watching "Catastrophe."
Catastrophe is the dark comedy you didn’t know you needed. But, boy, do you ever.
Written by (and starring) comedians Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, the UK series is actually consistently laugh out loud funny — but not without realism or heart.
It follows American marketing man Rob (Delaney) who comes out to London on business and engages in a bit of extracurricular activity — or, let’s be adults, a six-night stand — with school teacher Sharon (Horgan)… that then leads to an unplanned pregnancy.
Both getting up there in age, they decide to just “give it a go” and what follows is the most realistic of romantic comedies, if you could even call it that. It’s certainly comedic as hell… but not necessarily romantic. Not in the typical sense at least.
The pair clearly seem to be into each other, but they’re not big on tossing that “L” word around. One of the more romantic – and hilarious moments – in season two comes when Rob defends Sharon after she’s been rejected by mom friend Samantha (Susannah Fielding).
Getting “dumped” by a friend is brutal. But then awkwardly running into them, like at the movie theater on date night, well, that’s even worse. But Rob goes right up to Samantha and rips her a new one, before ruthlessly spoiling the plot of the film for her and her husband. “Boom. Fuck you! That’s £30 plus babysitting money in the trash.” Hero.
I don’t want to mislead you, “Catastrophe” isn’t all full belly laughing. It’s a realistic depiction of a couple with their own problems that weren’t quite ready for what was thrown at them, really going through it. To quote Rob himself, emotionally, they’re a bit of a “dumpster fire.” But never not entertaining.
And Sharon is straight up hilarious. She perfectly vocalizes what it is to be a woman — like when you’re “friends” with one of those girls who just sort of lucks her way through life.
“She’s one of these people where, like, everything has gone her way. You know, and she thinks she did it. But, it was luck. You know, I just wish one bad thing would happen to her. Like, I don’t want her to get hit by a bus or anything. But you know, maybe she got arrested for tax fraud or if her dad got caught with child porn or something, you know just to knock the smug out of her.” I think about this quote more often than I’d like to admit.
Rob gets in plenty of laughs, too, especially with his spot-on, deadpan delivery. Like when he tries to assure a worried, pregnant Sharon that they’ll both get life insurance and assuage any fears he’ll kill her for the policy money.
“I’m not gonna murder you. I mean, when women get murdered, it’s like 85% of the time their husband that did it. They’d totally know it was me. Even if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t kill you — or have you killed.”
It’s super easy to binge, with only six episodes per season, and each one hovering at around 24 minutes per episode. And each season’s only gotten better. The cast is amazing, including Rob’s mother, Mia, played by the one and only Carrie Fisher.
Her guest arc on the (recently released) third season is one of the final roles she ever filmed, and it is the perfect swan song for the late Fisher (who will be dearly missed).
So… what are you waiting for? Get to streaming.
