Silly masks and strange voices are a vintage formula for funny.
As the hilarious nigh-vanity project of funnyman Jon Glaser (ex – “SNL,” “Late Night w/ Conan O’Brien”) debuts its third season on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim at midnight this Feb. 2, the premiere will be a testament to what has sprung up from the marriage of a ski mask and a funny voice.
Employing a variation on a character that appeared prior to and during his days as a writer and performer on “Late Night,” Glaser plays “Jon,” a witness-protection enrollee and reality TV star (and, yes, the quotations are part of the character’s name). A target of the Mirminskys, a Russian crime family, “Jon’s” face is obscured and his voice modified.
After his attempt to parlay his situation into a life of television fame, his wife leaves, files for divorce and begins dating a litany of Secret Service agents. “Jon’s” show naturally births a second reality show (“Yvgeny!”) about the mobster trying to kill him (Eugene Mirman), who is also trying to launch a career as a standup comic in New York City. This serves as the platform for “Jon’s” adventures, which have included a run for Dog Mayor of New York City, the trials of small-business ownership, pitching a line of jeans, tap-dancing from New York City to Maine, and the creation of the “First Wives Club”-inspired “Good Guys Club.”
While fame and the reality TV format have been frequent subjects in the show’s arc thus far, the true power of the show lies in the elevation of high-level material by the addition of seemingly simple gags such as the ski mask and vocal harmonizer. Nearly every line is quotable with or without the obfuscation, but the visual and aural hooks amplify the effect. Each episode is subtly orchestrated, many with shocking climactic twists and little regard for any sense of status quo. There is continuity and established relationships, but there are no rules. There are also a lot of catchy songs, seemingly composed on the spot by the star singing his way from pitches to conversations.
While the first season clocked in at just 105 minutes total, season two expanded episode runtimes from fifteen minutes to a half hour. The format change allowed for more elaborate plotting and established key notes, including “Jon’s” signature: the “Frrt” noise. Glaser spoke about the “Jon” character and what it may or may not represent in a recent interview with Interview Magazine:
The finale of season two saw “Jon’s” life spared by Sergei Mirminsky (Steve Cirbus) in a continuation of the family’s attempts to unravel “Jon’s” personal life. Season three already sports a new intro, as well as some new faces, including…Glaser’s. He’ll be pulling double-duty this season, playing an associate of the Mirminskys in addition to the role of “Jon.” But as “Jon” says, “Keeping it light…is out of sight,” and we’re looking forward to further meditations on friendship, fame and other figments of culture and society that make up the formula behind “Delocated.”
