Creatures of myth and magic are more than just far fetched fantasies to spice up a campfire tale. They are a window into our collective soul, and archetypes that provide us with metaphors to better understand and explore what it means to be human. They have been with us since humans began telling stories. And who amongst us hasn’t thought, after learning of their fantastical existence, “How, exactly, could I get it on with them?”
That is the premise of the internet show How to Date a Magical Creature. In each episode, host Toby Vanilla (Alex Holland) sits down for a frank discussion with such luminaries as Medusa, Santa, and even Death itself to discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of mackin’ on the mythical.
“…host Toby Vanilla sits down…to discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of mackin‘ on the mythical.”
Given the current state of things, it is more important than ever for comedy to be in our lives. A brief respite from the fact that the world is a nightmare and everything is terrible. An escape valve that will allow us to continue on with our miserable existence without exploding on our loved ones. But, this series somehow makes everything worse. Now, I’m not suggesting that this series is as bad as racial injustice, a pandemic, or incompetent leaders. But it isn’t very good. A bit like getting a hangnail on your broken foot. And while on the continuum of horrible things How to Date a Magical Creature isn’t nearly as awful as other things going on in the world, the amount of suck in this series has a physical mass so dense it warps time. There is no other explanation as to how each episode is under 10-minutes but somehow feels like hours.
First of all, it’s improvised. And improv is like jazz. Very few people are good at it, and chances are you don’t know any. The utter audacity and hubris one must have to say to themselves, “Just roll the cameras because everything I say is comedy gold” is almost heroic. Though one wonders if they actually showed this to anyone before putting it on the interwebs. As I am a critic, and therefore criticize, I can not help but think how much this series would have been improved if just one person during the production of How to Date a Magical Creature took the time to show it to someone who wasn’t a friend. This series is a perfect example of what happens when friends and family are too supportive.
"…utterly fails in every aspect, from conception to reception."
