Post by affrosponge88 on Jul 7, 2013 17:02:04 GMT -6
"Hank's Sex Tape" Review
"Sex is not a dirty thing. Sex is not a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults." -Hank Kingsley
Insecurities are in all of us. Even celebrities are defenseless against them. Hank Kingsley is a deeply insecure man, which is often why I find him to be the most sympathetic character on the show. After all, you can't have "sympathetic" without "pathetic." Sure, he can be an enormous asshole, and he rarely gives thought to anybody else but himself, but that easily describes almost everybody else in the series. We only notice it with Hank the most because he's lower on the totem pole. He's everybody whipping boy. We see "Hank, the Asshole" but we also see everybody treat him like shit. And we're never given a clear answer on what came first: the asshole or the shit?
"Hank's Sex Tape" doesn't shed light on the answer to that question, but it does pose another one just as interesting: how far is Hank willing to go to become more of a celebrity? Hank has always been living in the shadow of Larry Sanders, something that even he's not delusional about. He has no problem taking any side jobs as a spokesperson (as we see in the seminal episode, "The Hankerciser 200"). For Hank, every side job is something he can call his own. He is the star and there's no Larry Sanders to take his spotlight. It's telling that the first question he asks is "who did I beat out for the job?" when the Southern Orange Growers representative, Irene, offers him the position of being the new spokesperson. Of course, the only person in the way of Hank's success is Hank himself, and that's never been more evident than in "Hank's Sex Tape."
After the taping, Phil (the head-writer on the show) and Jon Favreau find themselves rummaging through Hank's office late at night, completely stoned. While looking for food, they come across a tape entitled: "Hank's Birthday." The show then cleverly jumps forward in time to the entire staff (sans Hank, Larry, and Artie) in the writer's room the next day, all huddled around the television, watching "Hank's Birthday." At this point, the viewer learns that "Hank's Birthday" is a misleading title, because in actuality it's a sex tape involving Hank and two women helping Hank celebrate his birthday. For as awkwardly funny as the tape is, it also sheds light on the dynamics between Hank and his two coworkers, Larry and Artie. In once scene, it's clear that Hank has scripted the girls' to ask him who the "boss" is, and after replying with "I'm the boss" the girls obediently remark that "Larry is not the boss," making it clear that this tape is Hank's idiosyncratic sexual fantasy, and nobody else's. In what might be the funniest line in the episode, Hank also gets noticeably upset when one of the girls mentions Artie, to which Hank replies: "We talked about this! Don't bring up Artie. The snake doesn't like Artie." Hey now...
When Hank walks in on all of his coworkers watching the tape, he gets righteously and amusingly offended ("Shame on you. Exactly what point did you realize this was not 'Hank's Birthday?'). Unfortunately for Hank, Phil has already made a few copies that already started circulating Hollywood's back channels. This sends Hank into a frenzy first, and then a depression. Seemingly drunk during the taping of the next day's show (something that Ed McMahon was guilty of from time to time), Hank's depression culminates with him telling Henry Winkler to go "fuck himself,' when Hank mistakes Winkler's naivety for mocking. (All during a commercial break, of course.)
Later, when Larry views the tape for the first time with Artie, he instinctively fixates at the (enormous) size of Hank's penis before jumping to how this will affect the show. Larry and Artie inform Hank that Larry is too sick to tape the promos they were both supposed to shoot the next day. This is all just a plot though, to get Hank out of the promos in case the tape becomes a viral hit. When Hank arrives in the studio the next day, he is naturally upset and accuses Larry of lying. While this may be true, Larry accurately points out that they wouldn't have even been in this situation had Hank not "screwed" over the show by carelessly leaving a sex tape around his office for seemingly no reason.
Irene, the Southern Orange Growers representative, arrives just in time to see Hank freaking out at a cardboard cutout at himself (subtly hinting at what I mentioned above of Hank being his own worst enemy) and Larry actually comes to Hank's rescue by lying and saying that Hank is actually rehearsing for a sketch for the show. Why does Larry do this? Is it because he actually feels bad for Hank? The Southern Orange Growers has nothing to do with Larry's show, so it seems to be the only reasonable answer. It's little moments like these that make it clear why an asshole like Hank can still look up to a narcissistic jerk like Larry. Larry even brings out the "big guns" by offering his office as a place where Irene can watch the show while she waits for Hank. What he doesn't realize is that "Hank's Birthday" is still playing on the television...
When all seems lost, Hank actually turns to God to help him out of his predicament. He needs that final tape that's still out there. To him, it's the only thing standing in the way between being a sidekick and being a star. When Artie, the only man behind the scenes that can actually get shit done, shows up with the tape, Hank is relieved. There is no longer anything to worry about. Hank arrives in Larry's office after the show to find Irene staring in shock at Hank's sex tape. He turns it off and starts to beg for the job. Irene not-so-subtly looks down at Hank's crotch and proposes to Hank to come with her up to her house. Cut to the commercial, and we see that Hank has gotten the job. Leaving us with one last final stab at Hollywood that The Larry Sanders Show returns to again and again, when Larry assures Hank that the commercial is actually pretty good, so good he asks "who'd you have to fuck to get this?"
Stray Observations:
-Besides Favreau and Winkler, Norm MacDonald was the other special guest, proving to be the "perfect" guest on a late night show with a hilarious anecdote on homeless people and dogs. This is true of him in real life as well.
-Hank's Fonzie impression is always a good laugh.
-Hank needs help from his agent when he tries to impress her with his avid reading and can't finish the title: "The Bridges of..." ("Madison County" his agent enthusiastically adds).
-Later on during the sex tape, Hank and the girls take on identities of characters from Gilligan's Island, with Hank as "The Professor," obviously.
-The only Brian scene we get is Hank planning Larry's murder.
-The only fault I could find with this episode is that at no point during the sex tape do we hear Hank utter "Hey Now!" which I just don't buy. Sure we don't see the entire tape, but this omission seems pretty glaring once you realize it.
"Sex is not a dirty thing. Sex is not a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults." -Hank Kingsley
Insecurities are in all of us. Even celebrities are defenseless against them. Hank Kingsley is a deeply insecure man, which is often why I find him to be the most sympathetic character on the show. After all, you can't have "sympathetic" without "pathetic." Sure, he can be an enormous asshole, and he rarely gives thought to anybody else but himself, but that easily describes almost everybody else in the series. We only notice it with Hank the most because he's lower on the totem pole. He's everybody whipping boy. We see "Hank, the Asshole" but we also see everybody treat him like shit. And we're never given a clear answer on what came first: the asshole or the shit?
"Hank's Sex Tape" doesn't shed light on the answer to that question, but it does pose another one just as interesting: how far is Hank willing to go to become more of a celebrity? Hank has always been living in the shadow of Larry Sanders, something that even he's not delusional about. He has no problem taking any side jobs as a spokesperson (as we see in the seminal episode, "The Hankerciser 200"). For Hank, every side job is something he can call his own. He is the star and there's no Larry Sanders to take his spotlight. It's telling that the first question he asks is "who did I beat out for the job?" when the Southern Orange Growers representative, Irene, offers him the position of being the new spokesperson. Of course, the only person in the way of Hank's success is Hank himself, and that's never been more evident than in "Hank's Sex Tape."
After the taping, Phil (the head-writer on the show) and Jon Favreau find themselves rummaging through Hank's office late at night, completely stoned. While looking for food, they come across a tape entitled: "Hank's Birthday." The show then cleverly jumps forward in time to the entire staff (sans Hank, Larry, and Artie) in the writer's room the next day, all huddled around the television, watching "Hank's Birthday." At this point, the viewer learns that "Hank's Birthday" is a misleading title, because in actuality it's a sex tape involving Hank and two women helping Hank celebrate his birthday. For as awkwardly funny as the tape is, it also sheds light on the dynamics between Hank and his two coworkers, Larry and Artie. In once scene, it's clear that Hank has scripted the girls' to ask him who the "boss" is, and after replying with "I'm the boss" the girls obediently remark that "Larry is not the boss," making it clear that this tape is Hank's idiosyncratic sexual fantasy, and nobody else's. In what might be the funniest line in the episode, Hank also gets noticeably upset when one of the girls mentions Artie, to which Hank replies: "We talked about this! Don't bring up Artie. The snake doesn't like Artie." Hey now...
When Hank walks in on all of his coworkers watching the tape, he gets righteously and amusingly offended ("Shame on you. Exactly what point did you realize this was not 'Hank's Birthday?'). Unfortunately for Hank, Phil has already made a few copies that already started circulating Hollywood's back channels. This sends Hank into a frenzy first, and then a depression. Seemingly drunk during the taping of the next day's show (something that Ed McMahon was guilty of from time to time), Hank's depression culminates with him telling Henry Winkler to go "fuck himself,' when Hank mistakes Winkler's naivety for mocking. (All during a commercial break, of course.)
Later, when Larry views the tape for the first time with Artie, he instinctively fixates at the (enormous) size of Hank's penis before jumping to how this will affect the show. Larry and Artie inform Hank that Larry is too sick to tape the promos they were both supposed to shoot the next day. This is all just a plot though, to get Hank out of the promos in case the tape becomes a viral hit. When Hank arrives in the studio the next day, he is naturally upset and accuses Larry of lying. While this may be true, Larry accurately points out that they wouldn't have even been in this situation had Hank not "screwed" over the show by carelessly leaving a sex tape around his office for seemingly no reason.
Irene, the Southern Orange Growers representative, arrives just in time to see Hank freaking out at a cardboard cutout at himself (subtly hinting at what I mentioned above of Hank being his own worst enemy) and Larry actually comes to Hank's rescue by lying and saying that Hank is actually rehearsing for a sketch for the show. Why does Larry do this? Is it because he actually feels bad for Hank? The Southern Orange Growers has nothing to do with Larry's show, so it seems to be the only reasonable answer. It's little moments like these that make it clear why an asshole like Hank can still look up to a narcissistic jerk like Larry. Larry even brings out the "big guns" by offering his office as a place where Irene can watch the show while she waits for Hank. What he doesn't realize is that "Hank's Birthday" is still playing on the television...
When all seems lost, Hank actually turns to God to help him out of his predicament. He needs that final tape that's still out there. To him, it's the only thing standing in the way between being a sidekick and being a star. When Artie, the only man behind the scenes that can actually get shit done, shows up with the tape, Hank is relieved. There is no longer anything to worry about. Hank arrives in Larry's office after the show to find Irene staring in shock at Hank's sex tape. He turns it off and starts to beg for the job. Irene not-so-subtly looks down at Hank's crotch and proposes to Hank to come with her up to her house. Cut to the commercial, and we see that Hank has gotten the job. Leaving us with one last final stab at Hollywood that The Larry Sanders Show returns to again and again, when Larry assures Hank that the commercial is actually pretty good, so good he asks "who'd you have to fuck to get this?"
Stray Observations:
-Besides Favreau and Winkler, Norm MacDonald was the other special guest, proving to be the "perfect" guest on a late night show with a hilarious anecdote on homeless people and dogs. This is true of him in real life as well.
-Hank's Fonzie impression is always a good laugh.
-Hank needs help from his agent when he tries to impress her with his avid reading and can't finish the title: "The Bridges of..." ("Madison County" his agent enthusiastically adds).
-Later on during the sex tape, Hank and the girls take on identities of characters from Gilligan's Island, with Hank as "The Professor," obviously.
-The only Brian scene we get is Hank planning Larry's murder.
-The only fault I could find with this episode is that at no point during the sex tape do we hear Hank utter "Hey Now!" which I just don't buy. Sure we don't see the entire tape, but this omission seems pretty glaring once you realize it.
