Crossballs: Over the Top? Or is “The Top” over? Discuss.
Filed Under Improv
Despite complaints from the left and the right, I have a hard time seeing anyone who appears on the show Crossballs getting all that upset. Mainly because I can’t believe they would still buy the show as real after seeing some of the exaggerated positions the fake guests take. On a show about vegetarians/animals, Matt Besser appeared as a German concerned about the purity of the German Shepherd breed. Incredibly funny and completely over the top. Though I saw a couple of smiles from the real experts, it appeared to be more from disbelief in the person rather than the context. They’d continue to debate despite this and other rather obviously demented positions.
I think Crossballs gets away with this because the host Chris Tallman is so willing to play the straight man to all of this. Any time one of the other players on the show makes an extreme statement, he’ll pipe right in with a “You’re wrong” or an “Are you serious?” that assures the real guests that they have another reasonable person in the room.
Suckers.
I love this programme, I’ve recently seen all of them and I’m sure I’ll watch them lots of times. It’s extremely funny and all the cast are very talented but I don’t think I would have bothered watching it if Matt Besser, whom I adore, wasn’t in it. For me he’s the absolute best thing about Crossballs. I love everything he’s ever done. I wish they’d had the opportunity to make more, though the difficulties there are obvious.