Written by Sean Merkel
It’s very easy to make a mediocre adult animated show. Just scratch up some uninspired characters and have them swear and make fun of minorities in front of a static background. Every few years someone releases a forgettable, mean-spirited cartoon whose primary demographic is 12-year-old boys.
Netflix’s new show Strip Law, created by Cullen Crawford (Star Trek: Lower Decks, The Late Show with Steven Colbert, Clickhole) is not that. Make no mistake, there are still crass jokes, swear words, and gore like any other “grown-up kid’s show,” but there is a degree of care and craft that is often lacking in other adult animated shows. The show even states that it is “proudly made by real, non-computer human beings” in the opening credits.
Strip Law is the story of Lincoln Gumb (Adam Scott, Severance), a perpetually down-on-his-luck Las Vegas attorney and his partners, magician Sheila Flambe (Janelle James, Abbott Elementary), niece Irene Gumb (Shannon Gisela, It’s All Greek), and disgraced lawyer Glem Blorchman (Stephen Root, Barry). The show follows them as they represent Sin City’s most insane defendants through civil and criminal litigation. The show’s first episode involves a workplace safety case of strippers being forced to eat car keys for patrons’ amusement, and it only gets weirder from there.
Adult animation is hard to do right. What is the right combination of high-brow and low-brow? How much gore before it becomes gratuitous? How do we make the audience care about the characters? Which jokes have been done to death and are no longer funny? For the most part, Strip Law avoids these pitfalls. However, the jokes are original and largely funny. No cheap shots are made at any vulnerable groups. Many of the jokes come from references to other media, either brief or extended, and range from the obvious to the appreciated, to the needlessly niche. Obviously, humor is in the eye of the beholder, so what one person finds hilarious might make another roll their eyes. Sometimes the delivery of lines that should be funny falls flat, but the jokes work for the most part.
Animation often lives or dies by its voice acting and Strip Law succeeds with its huge army of guest voice actors. However, these guests can overshadow the main cast. To be clear, Adam Scott and Janelle James are good voice actors (and great live-action actors), but there are multiple scenes where their energy pales in comparison to the person on screen directly before or after them. Adam Scott’s wry, deadpan style just doesn’t always work compared to bombastic personalities like Patton Oswalt, Keith David, and Paget Brewster, to name a few. The voice acting from the main cast does improve as the show progresses, but in the first couple of episodes, there are moments where it is obvious that the main cast of actors could use some improvement.
Current animated series have a habit of having characters make jokes at the audience — if there is something going on, it’s in the foreground. Strip Law, however, is brimming with gags and one-second jokes. The opening credits have a hundred little sight-gags and jokes, while the rest of the show awards the attentive viewer — the Italian/Irish bar having a neon flag with a stripe flickering between red and orange, Medieval Times right next to Knievel Times, and Lorem Ipsum sandwich shop, to name a few. There are plenty of great in-jokes and regular jokes that get replaced just as soon as you process them.
Another one of the great joys of animation is meeting characters with silly names, and from just the main cast, it’s clear that Strip Law loves itself a funny name. Notable names include Barry Chandelier, Dilterton Timble, Chancely Johnson, and Rocco Prosecco. At its best, Strip Law echoes shows like The Simpsons and Futurama (which are very clear inspirations) for how many great jokes the writers and animators cram into the scenes.
Strip Law is vulgar, crass, and unmistakably adult. The characters have adult problems like gambling debt and mommy issues and do adult things like have sex and practice law. They get into increasingly absurd situations which often do nothing to endear the audience to the good people of Las Vegas, Nevada. The jokes are rude, provocative, and don’t always land. The show has so many incredible voice actors that the main cast can sometimes feel flat by comparison. However, the show is filled with so many sight gags and little details that the human effort and care show through every frame. The show might be too gaudy, over-the-top, and bombastic for some, but hey, that’s Vegas baby.
