On talk show, Sykes has wrong target in her sights
TV REVIEW | Some funny stuff, but enough with the Bush jokes
I am not Wanda Sykes' biggest fan -- I find the "New Adventures of Old Christine" co-star to be too shrill and self-congratulatory to watch for long. Comedy doesn't require a side of smirk. And unfortunately, the bulk of the first night of her new talk show was devoted to stand-up that was relentlessly political. She may have killed at last spring's White House Correspondents Association dinner, but it was overkill on Saturday night to pile on George W. Bush. It's time to let the man golf again in peace.
The good news is that there's plenty of potential in Sykes' new show. Some of the bright spots:
(Fox)
10 to 11 p.m. Saturdays on WFLD-Channel 32
• A role for her "favorite drag queen," Portia, in presenting bits.
• A joke about Miss California USA Carrie Prejean's sex tape getting out. "That's the first law of porno-dynamics," Sykes explained. "A pair of fake boobs in motion stays in motion."
• An extended on-the-streets segment in which Sykes tried to recycle her old sex toys.
• The Wanda Bar, where Sykes invites three guests to have a few drinks and discuss less pressing issues of the day. Saturday night, the panel included Mary Lynn Rajskub from "24," Darryl "Chill" Mitchell" from "Brother" and Phil Keoghan from "The Amazing Race." They may not be A-list, but they're exactly who I'd invite to dinner. I loved how Sykes deferred to Phil as though he were the authority on everything from identifying ethnicities to peeing in space. And of course he'd choose to sip a nice red wine.
Maybe Sykes will ultimately find her place as the anti-Whoopi of a Bizarro World version of "The View." That, I would watch.