It’s really not even close, right? “The Comedians” is not good, so that brings down that hour with “Louie”. ABC has a couple of decent ones on Wednesday night, but come on. “Veep” and “Silicon
Valley”, two of the funniest shows on TV, have been paired on HBO, returning
Sunday, April 12th, for their fourth and second seasons,
respectively. I’ve long been a fan of “Veep,” which starts with four episodes
as perfectly conceived and executed as ever, and I’ve come around on “Silicon
Valley”, a show that ended strong last season and returns remarkably confident
for its sophomore outing. That’s the key word for both of these shows—confidence.
Creators Armando Iannucci and Mike Judge know what they think is funny and know
how to craft that into relatable, character-driven comedy. Both of these shows
are defiantly smart—refusing to talk down to their audiences when it comes to
politics or the tech world—and brilliant in the way they craft humor from
plot-driven situations instead of merely crafting setup-punchlines for their
great casts. It’s no coincidence that HBO has chosen April to launch their
highly touted HBO Now program, which allows people to stream current shows on
Apple TV or smartphones without a monthly cable subscription. This is the month
of HBO all-stars with “Game of Thrones”, “Veep”, and “Silicon Valley”.

The night starts with “Silicon Valley”, which picks up
shortly after the end of last season (which was just released on Blu-ray and
DVD, by the way, along with the third season of “Veep”, for those of you who
need to catch up or like to collect your favorite shows). Pied Piper just blew
everybody’s mind at the Techcrunch: Disrupt presentation, leading to dozens of
bids to invest in their compression software. Life is good for the boys, but
fortunes are quickly reversed by two major events. First, their investor, Peter
Gregory, passes away, as Judge and his team needed to write the real-life
passing of Christopher Evan Welch into their series. Losing Gregory (and the
explanation of his death really is one of the best scenes in the series yet,
turning real tragedy into something hysterical) forces the Pied Piper gang to
look elsewhere for the bulk of their funding, a decision that leaves them
totally adrift when Hooli gets back in their business.

“Silicon Valley” has become a show about the intersection of
intellectualism and male relationships. The guys of the Pied Piper group are
undeniably brilliant, and yet they’re young enough to do childish things to one
another and get fascinated by an app that just texts the word “bro” to other
people. They are a modern take on “Revenge of the Nerds” if the characters in
that movie were also eventual millionaires. Judge captures how these socially
awkward creatures have become some of the most important and popular people in
the world. But that doesn’t mean they know how to swing a bat or talk to girls.
And even the successful ones are socially stunted. Chris Diamontopoulos is a
fantastic addition this season as a multi-millionaire who lucked into his tech
fortune and now wields it like a frat boy who won the lottery.

The cast of “Silicon Valley” was great last season, but they’re
much more confident this season in the three episodes that were sent to press.
Thomas Middleditch and T.J. Miller have a few scenes in the premiere in which
they try to reverse-“neg” their competition that had me laughing out loud,
while Martin Starr and Kumail Nanjiani have developed a reluctant friendship
comedic chemistry that’s just perfect. There’s sort of a “fill-in” character
for Gregory this season on whom I’m not yet sold after three episodes, but the
saga of Pied Piper still promises to be one of the most interesting, and
hysterical ones of the Spring.

In a strange and beautiful way, “Silicon Valley” and “Veep” together seem to amplify each other’s strengths. They’re both about smart people forced to put out fires constantly to succeed. They’re both commentaries on the fact that it’s often the idiocy of others that holds us back. 

Selina Meyer was made President at the
end of last season, but still has to run a campaign for the next term or risk
being an 8-month wonder. If Meyer and her team thought putting out fires from
the Veep office was tough last year, imagine trying to do so as the leader of
the free world while also running for re-election. Everyone on “Veep” this year
is gloriously stressed out.

As is always the case in Iannucci’s world, tension leads to
some of the funniest moments on the show, particularly from Anna Chlumsky and
Tony Hale, who just get better every year. Hale’s Gary, who now seems a bit
more redundant due to the increase in assistants that comes with the Oval
Office, is one my favorite TV creations of the last decade. He has a scene with
Louis-Dreyfus in episode two that is priceless, and surprisingly emotionally
effective. As for the star of the show, there’s no one better in the comedy
department on TV. Louis-Dreyfus often has find a way to make clearly scripted,
yet brilliant, lines like “Gary, your
inner child needs to grow an outer man
” sound like something that Selina
Meyer would come up with in the moment, without dwelling on the brilliance of
the joke. She is crafting one of the best comedy performances in the history of
TV here. On the current best comedy on TV.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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