TV Review: IFC’s ‘Garfunkel and Oates’

Comedy-folk team Garfunkel and Oates bring their brand of raunchy-vs.-cutesy humor to IFC with a self-titled sitcom, falling in line with the likes of Flight of the Conchords and Broad City. Garfunkel and Oates, set to premiere Thursday, August 7 at 10 p.m., is directed and executive produced by former 2 Broke Girls director Fred Savage. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.

“Episodes have A and B story lines and thematic hooks (gag reflexes, pornography doppelgängers, women who don’t talk on dates), but the point is really the smart, deadpan jokes and the surprisingly elaborate and usually smutty songs.”
—Mike Hale, New York Times

"The series is cringe-and-giggle narrative comedy mixed with smart, snappy, sometimes raunchy Flight of the Conchords-style musical interludes."
—Danielle Nussbaum, Entertainment Weekly

“The first episode is the weakest of the three I've seen, with some good moments but too couched in the nominal premise of struggling performers trying to make it in show business… Things quickly improve, however, as the women get stranger and more idiosyncratic.”
—Robert Lloyd,Los Angeles Times

“Garfunkel And Oates can’t decide in which direction to go—naughty or nice—so it spends most of its time vacillating wildly between the two in hopes that there are enough good moments to sustain it.”
—Caroline Framke, AV Club

G&O feels less serious of intent, less urban or urbane than Broad City. But fun. “
—Joanne Ostrow, Denver Post