Dave Beaudrie, Kevin Caliber, and Brook Hubbs Job Guys is an episodic series about two hit-men, Dominick (Kevin Caliber) and Herman (Brandon Fisher). Their lack of rudimentary organizational skills forces them to hire an executive assistant, or secretary, Janet (Leesa Durst), to help them run their business.
Our duo discovers after dispensing a beating to Bill, instead of Phil, that they need help. After an extensive search from a sloppily written ad in an adult newspaper, the pair ultimately hires Janet for help. Luckily, she is what they need with a robust get-er-done attitude and an even strong backbone to stand up to our heroes and their shenanigans.
As to our pair, Dominick is the suave, good-looking killer paired with Herman, the no-so-good-looking crazy, loose-cannon. Their contrast in style makes them the perfect…duo?
Job Guys is a 12-episode series, running 8 to 12 minutes each. It follows the newly formed trio as they attempt to build a successful crime-for-hire business. Of course, their attempts lead to less-than-spectacular results. They are first hired to “clean out” a garage and “babysit” a target, which turns out to be a job to clean out a garage and babysit FOR a target.
Beaudrie and Hubbs take full advantage of what the episodic format has to offer. There is an excellent overall story in place with an arc that involves the trio being blackmailed. The format also allows for an episode or two to be used to tell a side story, like when Dominick is hired as a bodyguard/eye-candy for a famous pop-star.
“After an extensive search from a sloppily written ad in an adult newspaper, the pair ultimately hires Janet…”
As a low budget comedy, the filmmakers make good use of their limited resources (e.g., minimal sets and locations) and OK use of off-the-shelf special effects. They also employ some exciting camera techniques to mix things up visually.
My only issue with the Job Guys is the comedy. It’s not bad, but it leans heavily on being silly and wacky, which can become tiresome over the two-hour total runtime. The jokes are pretty basic, presenting humorous ideas without consistently landing a great punchline or laugh. One of the problems that come with humor that relies heavily on silly premises is that unless you can pay it off a genuinely big, laugh-out-loud moment, you run the risk of losing your audience.
In a perfect world, what you want to do with comedy is to hook in our audience and make them want to connect with your protagonists. Build sympathy, then give them a problem everyone can relate to, even though we are not aspiring criminals. Making a connection with our lives, feelings, and emotions. Once you’ve made that connection, flip it on its head and then do something silly with it.
Don’t get me wrong. Job Guys is fun, tame, humor. Leads Caliber, Fisher, and Durst are wonderful in their respective roles, and they’re having fun telling these stories. With the field of comedies so crowded, you’ve got to stand out from the crowd. It’s essential to make a significant impact on audiences, or you’re going to get lost or worse…forgotten.
"…take full advantage of what the episodic format has to offer."
Hi! Appreciate the review. Correction that Brook Hubbs is the director and Dave Beaudrie is the writer. (The review has it reversed.) Mr. Hubbs’s name is also misspelled a couple times. Thanks so much for watching the show!