There are some very important people in the world that need to be interviewed. In a sentence, that’s the premise behind Dropout’s show “Very Important People” hosted by Vic Michaelis. Everyday household names such as “Augbert” and “Tommy Shriggly” were interviewed by the quite professional Michaelis in season one of the show, but the season two debut was released on Nov. 7, featuring a delightful new spin on the comedy-interview format.
Ever since rebranding from CollegeHumor in 2023, the comedy streaming service, Dropout, has increasingly mastered a blend of improvised yet structured comedy shows. “Very Important People” takes this blend one step further. Comedians are given makeup and cosmetics to appear as an entirely different person and must make a character on the spot to go alongside their appearance.
It takes an incredible amount of talent to look in the mirror, see someone (or something) entirely unrecognizable and then turn that into a compelling character. Yet, the first episode of season two, featuring comedian Anna Garcia, did not disappoint and keeps the magic alive from the first season. In fact, she helped kindle that magic as she played European pop star Princess Emily in the first episode of season one.
After laughing and saying, “What the fuck is on my head?” Garcia emerges from the cosmetics room looking like a pile of rocks. It’s scary how great it looks. With a full-body scan producing a perfectly fitting 3D rock suit, Garcia is indistinguishable from a cliff.
Before the comedian enters the interview in costume, they have a minute or two to come up with their character and Garcia runs through quite a few options. After shouting “Who is this?” while looking in the mirror, she comes up with ideas for her character so quickly, it’s shocking. So many characters came and went in the leadup to the actual interview with Michaelis, including a poorly made action figure, and even just “Rock Man,” whose one line is “I’m gonna knock you unconscious.” Garcia finally ended up on the loveable hotheaded fourth grader, Zeke Aaron McKinley.
As Michaelis greets the rocky Zeke (who starts the interview by hiding in the corner), Garcia goes fully into character and creates a backstory for a fourth grader who—through a tiny red genie from a lamp—gets three wishes, the first of which was for the biggest candy bar. Zeke’s wishes only get crazier from here, with his second wish being, “I wish for my brother to come back from the army.” In classic “Very Important People” fashion, Michaelis and Garcia both broke into laughter after that line and a “Please Stand By” reset the interview. I’ve always found those little fourth-wall breaks in the show make it feel unique. For a few minutes, you’ll learn about Zeke, maybe even start to believe in their backstory a little bit, but then Garcia will have a line that breaks everyone into laughter and sends the show off the rails.
The final wish from the genie? “I wished to become rocks, and then it happened,” explained Zeke. Now, viewers can start to piece together a backstory for Zeke which Garcia has impressively made up on the spot. There’s great comedically-timed dialogue throughout the interview, with one standout happening early on. Michaelis says to Zeke, “We were just here to talk to you sort of about the day in the life of a fourth grader.” Zeke replies, “Totally! Before or after rocks?”
With such an interesting interviewee, it’s worth talking about the equally interesting interviewer. A strong point of the show in general — and of this episode — is Michaelis’ ability to weave pointed introspective remarks and quips about larger issues into the interview. Michaelis’ role is used in a more literal way in this episode, especially in the challenge halfway through the episode, “Are You Smarter Than Vic?” Although perhaps not quite as effective as other ad-break segments in the first season, the simple challenge was enjoyable and gave Garcia ways to expand upon Zeke’s character. There’s even a meta moment afterward when Michaelis says, “Being an actor means that you disappear into a character.” Zeke follows up with, “Like you do when you do this show.”
Fourth-wall breaks like that really set this show apart. Every episode thus far has struck a comedic and aesthetically interpretive balance that encourages laughs and eyebrow-raising curiosity. Although, the later stages of the episode get a little looser. The boob jokes and stage performance bits are great, but pretty disjointed and I wish there was more time to learn about Zeke as a person, I’m not sure where the stage performance bit even came from. Likewise, occasional moments of Zeke saying words way beyond fourth-grade level such as “dehumanizing” and “brooch” do occasionally break the immersion. But I don’t want that to reflect negatively on Garcia’s performance. She was phenomenal and every episode has moments where the comedian gets lost in their own character. That’s the fun of improv.
Zeke’s interview comes to a close in one of my favorite endings from the show thus far. Zeke just throws in “I killed a kid” when standing up for a monologue to his class. Michaelis is rightfully stunned, and the camera work is exceptional with careful panning and zooming on Michaelis’ face to capture this. Meanwhile, as is frequently the case in “Very Important People,” at the very end, Zeke finds a way to damage the set.
With a star-studded list of guest comedians to come in future episodes of the show, season two of “Very Important People” is looking to be incredibly promising. Likewise, the “Last Looks: Zeke Aaron McKinley” episode also released on Dropout covers the cosmetic process behind Garcia’s transformation. The talent of the Dropout staff is worthy of praise , and the “Last Looks” series sheds light on the behind-the-scenes energy of the company. The next 15 episodes of season two will be worth watching.
Rating: 4.1/5