If you’ve turned sour from the lack of laughs on TV, take heart. There’s finally a hilariously dopey reality/competition show with a premise that’s as funny as the execution, “Fire Me … Please.”
All contestants need do is start a new job and do everything horrible they can think of to get fired the first day. But – and here’s the catch – they can’t be so outrageous that they get the boot too far ahead of the 3 p.m. dealine.
In other words, the best a contestant can do is the worst a contestant can do. It’s the polar opposite of “The Apprentice.”
Each week, two people begin similar jobs at different places. The one who can get fired closest to 3 p.m. without going past it wins $25,000. And each week there will be two contests (four new employees), which keeps the show really moving – and the laughs really coming.
The contestants are bound by three rules only:
* They cannot break the law.
* They cannot ask to be fired.
* And they cannot tell that they’re on a reality show.
Funnier even than the contestants’ outrageous behavior is the reaction of their fellow employees and their new bosses who realize that they’ve got a hapless loser in their midst.
What they don’t know is that hidden cameras have been planted all over the place to catch everyone’s reactions.
In the premiere, a guy named Kurt gets a gig at a Starbucks-type coffee place and immediately gets on people’s nerves by acting out. We’ve all met guys like this – the horrible unfunny halfwit who thinks he’s a laugh riot, and is just annoying and loud.
The place is managed by a nice middle-aged lady who obviously tries to give him the benefit of the doubt.
When nothing he does gets him fired and it’s getting closer to 3 p.m., he really puts the heat on until one of the young, strapping guys working there has to step in. By that time, tears were falling down my face I was laughing so hard.
Then there’s the hideous hat shop vs. the horrible clothing store incidents – wherein two really pretty women get jobs in Long Island boutiques, both with brassy blond managers.
One of the contestants who does everything wrong is told to leave but isn’t fired. The manager says she’ll call her (not!) and tell her when to come in next. Not good enough. The goal and the gelt are in getting canned.
The only thing wrong with “Fire Me … Please,” hosted by Dave Holmes, is that it’s only on for four episodes.
Next I pray that some network will be smart enough to import the equally funny Canadian show, “Just for Laughs: Gags.” Real life is really funny – especially when people are just, well, real.
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“Fire Me … Please”
[…] (Three stars)
Tonight at 9 on CBS/Ch. 2
