Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Jimmy: The True Story Of A True Idiot’ On Netflix Attempts To Bring Eastern Comedy To A Western Audience

Western audiences get a taste of Eastern comedy with the Japanese series Jimmy: The True Story of a True Idiot. Premiering last Friday, the show follows simple-minded Hideaki Onishi as he meets comedy legend Sanma Akashiya, changes his name to Jimmy, and transforms into a comedic superstar. Presented in Japanese with English subtitles, all nine episodes are now streaming on Netflix.

JIMMY: THE TRUE STORY OF A TRUE AMERICAN IDIOT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The show begins with series producer and Japanese comedian Sanma Akashiya gamely attempting to introduce the audience to Hideaki Onishi’s “Jimmy” character. Akashiya explains that younger viewers are unfamiliar with Jimmy’s antics, so the two provide the audience with a brief tutorial before Jimmy begins reading the opening voiceover.

The Gist: The show follows the purportedly true story of how Onishi went from being a dim-witted athlete kicked off his high school baseball team to joining the renowned comedy talent agency Yoshimoto Kogyo. While there, he meets burgeoning comedy superstar Sanma Akashiya (“Young Boss”) and instantly becomes obsessed with the comedian’s innate charisma.

Onishi is given a minor line in a live comedy show and it… well… goes awry. Hoping to make people laugh, he yells out c*nt, completely derailing the scene and broadcast. As you can imagine, management isn’t thrilled with the R-rated ad lib and fires Onishi. The episode ends with Sanma dramatically coming to his new mentees defense as he pulls the old “if he goes, I go” routine.

To call Jimmy: The True Story of a True Idiot tonally inconsistent would be an understatement. The show spends the first 90% of the episode delivering some of the most exaggerated, over-the-top humor imaginable before abruptly switching to an emotional interaction between Onishi and Sanma. Due to the lack of foreshadowing and extreme tonal shift, the scene feels jarring and unearned. It takes a deft, nuanced touch to go from a barrage of dick jokes to intense sobbing and True Story of a True Idiot does not have it.

Sex and Skin: Oddly enough, we catch a few glimpses of Jimmy’s butt in Episode 1. There’s also a surprising amount of raunchy (and overtly misogynistic) humor throughout the pilot.

Our Take: Episode 1 clocks in at about 55-minutes, which is entirely too long. The series is as broad and unsubtle as it gets, attempting to skate by on sophomoric humor that feels out of place in 2018. I found the show to be incredibly odd (and not in an endearing way), but I’m admittedly not overly familiar with Japanese comedy.

I did enjoy the show’s use of the theme from The Sting as de facto act breaks.

Most Pilot-y Line: In terms of exposition and breaking the fourth wall, it doesn’t get much more “pilot-y” than Sanma Akashiya’s opening explanation.

“There’s a gap between what we know and what society knows. So, I don’t think this series will work. We’ve already filmed it. We’ve already passed the point of no return. So we’re going to have to do this, and we’re going to have to explain to the viewers of this show exactly what kind of guy Jimmy is, right?”

Parting Shot: The final two scenes of the episode feel like they were lifted from an entirely different show. The majority of the pilot centers on mean-spirited humor that relentlessly and unsympathetically mocks Onishi’s obvious mental limitations. The final five minutes suddenly and inexplicably tries to inject the episode with pathos. It feels inauthentic and out of place.

A post-credits scene features the real Sanma and Jimmy providing some behind-the-scenes commentary about the episode.

Our Take: Skip it. Jimmy: The True Story Of A True Idiot isn’t my cup of tea, but if you’re a fan of Eastern humor, slapstick comedy, or Hideaki Onishi, maybe this particular true story of a true idiot is for you.

Stream Jimmy: The True Story of a True Idiot on Netflix