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| Source: Netflix |
Among the established stand up comedians starring in “Tires” are Shane Gillis playing Shane the Manager’s cousin, Stavros Halkias playing Dave the owner’s second-in-command, and Andrew Shulz playing a car salesman. Their involvement in the project especially made me hopeful but also hesitant about this new show - as did its 43% score on rotten tomatoes.
As is common among comedians, their standup plays with what is funny and what is offensive. I haven't loved every joke from them. After watching the show, my feelings are unchanged. A lot of the jokes ride the line of using offensive subject matter in an inoffensive way, or making a crude character's behavior the butt of the joke. However, some of the jokes I think are just ill-advised.
Shane Gillis, especially in his new special “Beautiful Dogs” on Netflix, has been able to really effectively capture jokes that have offensive elements without directly alienating the subjects in question. Jason Zinoman wrote for the New York Times about how Gillis has been able to skillfully appeal to a broad audience of people across the political aisle.
The ability to do this, and the extent of it, has been a topic of debate. If a joke has sexist or racist subject matter, is it always bad? Does the identity of the comedian or the audience matter? Some feel that the joke is always OK as long as it’s funny. Vice’s Aja Romano wrote about comedian Matt Rife getting drawn and quartered on social media after one of his jokes was deemed much worse than just offensive, but unfunny.
“Tires” began streaming May 23 and is about a chain of auto repair shops owned by protagonist Will’s father. Will, played by Steve Gerben, has recently been hired on as manager at one of the branches and has been really struggling to prove himself, beginning with accidentally ordering hundreds of tires. He’s working with a team that tends to be unprofessional and unhelpful.
The first episode of “Tires,” “The Initiative,” introduces our characters, with Will beginning an “initiative” to make women more comfortable at the mechanic and inviting a reporter to interview him on the plan. Unfortunately, his mechanics are sexist pigs and his initiative “plan” is largely just talking about wanting to make women more comfortable. The reporter calls him out directly.
The episode satirizes what a lot of women have seen and experienced, where a group or business will talk about women’s issues to boost sales but without actually talking to women about what would make the environment more equitable. At the same time the show endears the audience to Will’s genuine attempts to make his father proud and address a real issue in the auto industry.
The third episode, "Sales Contest,” touches on race when an elderly Chinese man and a young woman translating for him come in for a sale on oil changes. The manager, Will, is trying to upsell him and knows a small amount of Mandarin. His employees try to stop him, the audience wills him not to, but he won’t be stopped. He sings happy birthday to this man in Mandarin for no discernable reason while we all cringe. This is a good example of racial subject matter, an immigrant man speaking another language comes into the shop - but he isn’t the butt of the joke, the manager’s cultural incompetence is.
Not every joke lands though. The most strikingly disappointing joke in the show to me was in episode four, “The Rumor Mill,” when a graphic designer helps to make material for a bikini car wash, and draws Will surrounded by women in bikinis. He has buttons which make the cartoon women’s breasts bigger, and demonstrates this to the awe of the mechanics and car salesmen.
Then he says he can make Will “more Jewish” by pushing a different button, making the drawing’s nose larger. Finally he demonstrates making the girls “more Jewish” by pushing a button that makes all their noses bigger and the mechanics respond with disappointment, saying “Yeah, don’t do that.” The butt of this joke is that women with big noses, supposedly Jewish women in particular, are unattractive. It’s in poor taste and the show would be better if the bit was removed in its entirety.
The show is worth watching if you already love edgier type comedy. However, be prepared to run into familiar disappointments: shock value racism, casual misogyny, and some bottom-of-the-barrel sexual humor. Ultimately, I think the comedians starring in the show’s actual stand-up is better than what this show has to offer. At its best, it’s like a great episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” At its worst, it’s like a bad episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
At a Glance: Tires
Starring: Steve Gerben, Shane Gillis, Chris O'Conner, Kilah Fox, Stavros Halkias
Summary: Several crude goofballs run an auto shop. Poorly.
Rated: TV-MA
Distributor: Netflix
Rating: 4/5
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