Regular Show, “Just Set Up Chairs”

Identifier: Season 1, Episode 2
Air Date: Mon., Sep. 13, 2010 (8:15 PM ET)
Network: Cartoon Network

Clearly, Rigby is the ringleader when it comes to bad behavior. Even when Mordecai tries to do the right thing, and keep Rigby on task, the raccoon just can’t handle it. In fact, his inability to focus on simply setting up chairs for a children’s party was one of the funnier aspects of the episode. Once it got into the expected absurdity, “Just Set Up Chairs” failed to capture that same level of lunatic humor that “The Power” did last week. Or maybe I just wanted more of Pops.

I can already tell that I’m going to enjoy his complete and total insanity. Insisting that it was his birthday, even though his was just a week prior, was just the tip of the iceberg with this guy, I think. We got a couple of new characters as well, with Muscle Man and High Five Ghost, which is a ghost … with an arm and hand sticking out of the top of its head. You know, for high-fiving, man! I can totally get behind that.

Right now, the show is riding mostly on the charm and likability of Rigby and Mordecai. They’re stupid and lazy, but they’re not evil. They just make terrible decisions, but we can’t help it. We just like them anyway. I think I just needed the video game to do more than summon a giant floating demon head. Though, I did laugh when Rigby distracted it by hitting it with a small stone. When it’s over-pixelated smile turned upside down, that was visually just perfect.

The scene with the horse answering the door before the clown came out alluded to something kids certainly aren’t going to get, which is one of the reasons I still think of this as an Adult Swim show, despite it not being nearly that blue. The sensibility and comedic style just screams those late hour bits of nonsense (and yes, I’m sure the fifteen minute running time helps put me in that frame of mind).

While the show is better than this episode, or at least it’s premiere was, there were still enough funny moments to remind us why we stuck around for another week. Hopefully, they didn’t use up all their good material and they remember that with this premise, the more ridiculous they go, the better it’s probably going to be.