Dying is easy - comedy is hard!

...that's a quote attributed to everyone from Oscar Wilde to George Bernard Shaw to Edmund Gwenn (Santa Claus in 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street, if anyone cares), and something to keep in mind every time a comedy troupe is finding a way to translate its voice into a new medium (in this case, Halifax's comedy troupe Picnicface and their new TV show on The Comedy Channel).

For my part, I thought the show's first episode was pretty successful! I laughed a lot, and more than I typically do for most TV comedy pilots (which, to me, always feel a bit shaky and tentative, no matter how veteran the performers - confidence comes from finding an approach that plays to the team's strengths, and even the best seasons of SNL rarely have started off as stong as they ultimately become). I think the show has a lot of promise, and even provides some of the best bits (like "The Box" parody "The Button") from the library of viral videos they've been creating over the years. For myself, I'm looking forward to watching the show find its groove - I think Picnicface is (are? Are they singular or plural? Damn me and my grammatical overthinking...) a pretty rare talent, and the most likely heir apparent to Kids in the Hall that I've seen in years!