Trying to convert a stand up comedian’s act into a television show is notoriously difficult. It’s hard to translate from stage to screen successfully because a comedic persona on screen and a comedy actor’s persona are two profoundly different things. Trying to capture a funny stand up in a sit-com is notoriously difficult and the list of successes is much smaller than the list of failures. You can add Legit to that list as Jim Jefferies manages to make a fairly innocuously bad sit-com that plays to his strengths while offering nothing of note.
Jefferies stars as a thinly veiled version of himself being as much of a vile degenerate as possible. He’s trying to be a good sibling to his disabled brother (DJ Qualls), of course, and his sad sack of a roommate (Dan Bakkedahl) but Jefferies is not a good person. He gets into wacky situations each week, of course, and learns his lesson by the end. All the while he says some profoundly mean-spirited and horrible things throughout that are supposed to pass as comedy.
One can see where the show is coming from. Jefferies is hilarious as a standup for this actual brand of comedy but it works better on stage than it does on screen because there’s no audience interaction. This is a show that really wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants Jefferies to be this antihero who just happens to say awful things when the problem is that there isn’t that wink and nudge about it. It wants us to root for the bad guy throughout and yet give him some sort of redemption when he learns a lesson each week.
It makes for an awkward viewing experience as it’s trying to be a version of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia but without the self awareness. It leaves it an awkward mess of a television show, nothing more.
The director’s cut of the pilot episode, deleted scenes and a gag reel are included.
20th Century Fox presents Legit. Starring Jim Jefferies, DJ Qualls. Running time: 286 minutes. Not Rated. Released: February 25, 2014.
