For 33 years, one of the most popular recurring parts of David Letterman’s two late-night shows was “Stupid Pet Tricks.” It was exactly what the name implied: people and their pets were invited to Letterman’s stage to show off the tricks their furry friends can do. The tricks were often really stupid, but always fun to watch, especially when things didn’t go right. Letterman even used instant replay to show a dog doing a flip or whatever. Now, nine years after Letterman left the air, his production company Worldwide Pants has put together a weekly half-hour series featuring nothing but Stupid Pet Tricks.
STUPID PET TRICKS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Initial shot: A shot of the Warner Bros. lot and the “Stupid Pet Tricks Offices,” which is a door attached to a large soundstage. Host Sarah Silverman thanks executive producer David Letterman for the opportunity to host this new series based on his classic. Late night/night show bit.
The essence: Dave responds by producing a top ten list called “People We Asked to Host the Show Before We Decided on Sarah Silverman.” One of the people on the list: Jake from State Farm. Sarah then leaves Dave and goes to a writers’ room full of talking animals.
Silverman Hosts Stupid Pet Tricks in front of a live studio audience, with an announcer, Toby Clark (in guinea pig form), and a band, Jacob Jeffries and the Stupid All-Stars. Every week, four mascots come with their people and perform whatever tricks people say they can do. Then one of them is selected as the stupidest pet trick of the week.
In the first episode we have LeRoy and Hercules; Hercules is a dog that can walk on a ball. Then there are Scout and Gizmo; Gizmo is a goat who can do agility exercises and walk on his hind legs. After Scout and Gizmo do their trick, Gizmo gives Sarah a little goat yoga session. Then we have Jennifer and Herbie; Herbie is a camel who can cross limbo. She nervously urinates on the rugs that have been laid for her, but no one seems to care. Finally, there are Omar and Monkey; Monkey is a dog who can perform CPR on Omar. Yes, you read that correctly.
Between each stupid pet trick, we see the “inside” of the SPT offices, where Sarah shows how difficult it is to match office mates, like when Larry the lizard and Bree the penguin couldn’t agree on the right room temperature. . Or when Madison the snake ate Drew the mouse; although, as Sarah says, she gave the show the opportunity to bring in Judd Apatow.
What shows will it remind you of? It’s 21 minutes (commercial-free) of Letterman’s Stupid Pet Tricks. We’re not really sure it reminds us of anything more than that.
Our opinion: When you really think about how Stupid Pet Tricks was on any of Letterman’s shows, the segment basically took almost as long as the segment on each current show. Stupid Pet Tricks The episode is dedicated to the real tricks. In each 21-minute episode, we get at least 5 minutes of tricks in the “SPT Offices,” as well as another three minutes dedicated to the “stupidest pet trick of the week” at the end. In total, there are about 12 to 14 minutes of actual pet tricks, so the show doesn’t need to be embellished much beyond what Dave did all those years.
Silverman is a fun host, of course; He’s been doing this for so long that he knows exactly how to tone down the usual edgier comedy of his and make things approachable and familiar. Although we do like how he includes some slightly risque things, like when he told Herbie “you’re beautiful from your camel nose to your camel toes.” She is good with the human participants and is able to accept anything they say on stage. And if the animals don’t cooperate (in the second episode, a horse is very happy to meet Sarah and a cat does what a cat does among strangers and tries to run), she has a line ready. It helps her love for animals to be reflected in all of her interactions with her pets.
The show is definitely aimed at families, as there is no obvious sarcasm in the way Silverman interacts with humans. Dave, especially in his early years, would notice if the human or animal did something unexpected; He wasn’t exactly hitting, but he also knew when to come in with a spicy line. Silverman shows the happy side of his character at all times here, and that works well in a format where the animals are the stars.
What age group is this for?: Stupid Pet Tricks It’s definitely a show for all ages.
Parting Shot: As the four groups of people and mascots dance, Silverman joins Jacob Jeffries and the Stupid All-Stars to sing, “If they can get along, we can get along.”
Sleeping star: Jeffries and his band channel the vibe of Paul Shaffer and The World’s Most Dangerous Band/The CBS Orchestra very well.
Most pilot line: None, really.
Our call: TRANSMIT IT. Stupid Pet Tricks is a fun way to continue one of the most popular bits from David Letterman’s 33 years on late-night television. Sarah Silverman does a great job as host and the show is something the whole family can watch and enjoy.
Joel Keller@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but make no mistake: he’s a couch potato. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.comFast Company and other places.
