Adult Swim's "Too Many Cooks" Follow-Up Makes You Believe in Miracles
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Adult Swim's deranged sitcom parody "Too Many Cooks" took off on YouTube, but part of its charm came from imagining encountering it in its intended context: at 4 a.m., in a block of time innocuously marked "Informercials." It's a gag the network pulls regularly, and this week, it premiered the follow-up: "In Search of Miracle Man."
"In Search of Miracle Man" takes the paid programming conceit to heart, skewering religious organizations by establishing a shady imaginary cult that's hoping to find new members through TV. To help find the mysterious Miracle Man, the smarmy hosts tell us, all you have to do is send in cash.
There are a few good moments, but on the whole "Miracle Man" doesn't reach the same surreal heights as its predecessor. For one thing, one of the hosts is improv comedy veteran Matt Besser—you may not know his name but you've probably seen his face—and having a recognizable actor onscreen diffuses the initial believability that made "Cooks" so potent. All of the back episodes are online, however, and many of them—especially this incredible send-up of marketing bots and for-profit online colleges—are worth your time.