5x04 Rafi and Dirty Randy

[9.3/10] “Rafi and Dirty Randy” is absolutely not fair. It is essentially an episode of an entirely different show, which uses The League’s production team and which stars some nominally recurring characters from its show, but which otherwise is its own thing. The episode is more of a spiritual cousin of Pineapple Express than something that feels of a piece with The League’s usual output.

Written by and starring Jason Mantzoukas and Seth Rogen, the episode sees the titular duo embarking on a trip to Los Angeles to avenger their fallen compatriot, the less-than-tastefully named Spaz. In the process, they make a scene at a library, steal Kevin’s car, get arrested in L.A., meet up and party with some of their adult film buddies, “infiltrate” an eleven-year-old’s birthday party, and confront and conquer an adult film mogul’s empire.

All the while, the episode is dripping with the raunchy, insane, hilarious improvisational energy that garden variety episodes of The League would kill to be able to muster. Mantzoukas and Rogen are perfect foils to one another, and absurd bits like their sitting on the hood of the car during the cross country trip, or their bullet-wasting duels, or their inexplicable need to soil, impregnate, or ignite everything they come across work with an outsized tone that really clicks. At the same time, their normal (by their standards) conversations with Officer Will Sasso, skin flick mogul Kevin Nealon, or one another are uproariously funny on their own, especially when the two are just “not on the same page.”

It’s a kind of whirling dervish of “yes and” comedy that makes good on the tastelessness that The League aspired to, while adding a timing, energy, and charm, that the regular series just can’t match. My kingdom to have this version of the show every week.

Overall, this is a welcome respite from The League’s usual doldrums, whose only major failing is that it exposes what a more talented team could do with these twenty-two minutes each week.