Improvisation bleeding into caricature takes on celebrity figures is a lost art. It was all the rage in the sketch comedy days, but libel and loose interpretations of these stars are what stop the larger comic form. Adam Ray, caked in makeup and wearing a bald cap, is likely the funniest thing to come from those Kill Tony Clips and beyond. Podcast circuits feel inevitable for the survival of stand-up comics now, and few are doing anything fresh with them. An information overload affects the very ecology of comedy. But Adam Ray is Dr Phil: Unleashed, is a return to an older style of comedy. Not some nonsense about what comedy was or could be, the interpretations of what is and is not offensive are not the point here. This is a style of comedy that went the way of ventriloquism. It just needed the right spark.
That is what Ray gives. A spark to a sub-category of comedy which felt lowly by its end. His Dr. Phil impersonation feels so outlandish despite the already ambiguous and controversial life of Phil McGraw. Cameos from the most unlovable celebrities, from Jelly Roll to The Rock, opens this special. It is all to lead into a punchline which, more than anything, is an endorsement from the real Dr. Phil. Ray is phenomenal. Not just in the comedy but in the layers he brings to it. From an impersonation of Dr. Phil doing an impersonation of Nicolas Cage booking a table at a restaurant from the little “mmkay” to end every other sentence. These are the little flickers of work which separate an impression from an impersonation. But in extending a one-trick, clipped YouTube shorts character into a feature-length special, a difficulty arises.
Can a caricature last for nearly an hour? Yes, because the little flourishes Ray continually gives his Dr. Phil character, leaning into the catchphrases of the real man, is a blurring of the fourth wall in a non-fictional setting. Where he does not quite break down the point of the real Dr. Phil show and all its controversies, he does settle into the playful hate of a crowd exceptionally well. It runs dry pretty fast but the sub-hour is the right format for this. McGraw is quite the funny man, and the fair game he seems to have accepted is being turned into a caricature. This acceptance adds a positive layer to the improvised bits and pieces, rambling they may be, a punchline comes through in inevitable form.
Fairly absent fun with Dr. Phil is what you get with Adam Ray is Dr. Phil: Unleashed. It is not as though Netflix is going to drag this one out – but perhaps a format closer to the usual show would work that much better. Pretty slim stuff follows and with Patton Oswalt trying his best to narrate a day in the life of Dr. Phil, the show comes apart. Much of Adam Ray is Dr. Phil: Unleashed feels more like a taster session, an advertisement for the episodes already available. A Star Wars quiz and a cheap bit of music to mark a theme before it, are all vaguely reasonable, light bits of entertainment which play up the pop culture of the times. It works, but not for long.
