Television series
Human Giant
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
- Dip in and out
Human Giant is MTV sketch comedy from the late 2000s featuring Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, and Paul Scheer. It's absurdist and silly, built on character work and deadpan delivery rather than topical riffing. Chaotic, frequently hilarious, occasionally uneven—exactly what you want from three comedians with total creative freedom and no one watching.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love sketch comedy built on escalating absurd premises and deadpan commitment, where a bit about a fake stunt or a mundane situation gets pushed until it becomes genuinely unhinged.
Skip it if you want sketches with tight, recurring characters or a steady narrative thread, since this is a loose run of standalone bits that can feel scattershot from one to the next.
What it asks of you: It runs in short half-hour stretches across two seasons, so you can dip in and out, but you need to be willing to laugh at a sketch that goes nowhere sensible and keep moving.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Chappelle's Show2003
Peak Dave Chappelle doing character sketches, musical guests, and social commentary. The third season exists and holds up. Raw, fearless, criminally entertaining.
But The subject matter and some of the language hasn't aged equally for everyone. Also, Dave left during his peak, which can feel incomplete.
The State1994
MTV sketch comedy from the '90s with a similar anarchic energy. Doug, Bobby, and the gang doing character work, absurdist humor, and genuinely weird bits. You can feel the influence Human Giant absorbed.
But Occasionally it coasts on pure silliness with no landing. The '90s MTV aesthetic is very *of its time* in ways that don't always translate.
Stella2005
Three comedians (Michael Showalter, David Wain, Michael Ian Black) making absurdist comedy with the same reckless freedom. Low-budget, character-driven, deeply committed to every weird idea.
But The production values are intentionally cheap and it can feel slight. Some sketches are genuinely uncomfortable in ways that don't pay off.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Human Giant
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy1996
Both are sketch groups pushing sketch comedy to its limits and collapsing genre boundaries. Both trust the audience to keep up with absurdist logic without explanation.
A sketch troupe (The Kids in the Hall) making a feature film with the same absurdist commitment. It's structured like a narrative but operates entirely on sketch logic. Weird, genuinely funny, committed to its own stupidity.
But It's a film trying to be a sketch show, which means the pacing is sometimes off and the premise wears thin by the end. It feels more like an extended SNL episode than a real movie.
More like this (7)
Upright Citizens Brigade1998
Four comedians doing sketch comedy built on improv principles and character development. Smart, physical, warm underneath the absurdism. The DNA is different but the joy is similar.
But Shorter than you'd like—only three seasons. The later episodes feel more polished and lose some of the rough energy.
Portlandia2011
Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein doing sketch comedy with the same commitment to character and local specificity. It's warmer and more grounded but has that same ability to make one joke into a five-minute bit.
But It skews indie and precious in ways that might feel affected. Later seasons lose momentum and rely on celebrity cameos.
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!2007
If Human Giant is absurdist, this is maximalist absurdism. Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim making comedy that feels genuinely broken in the best way. Committed, bizarre, genuinely funny.
But The humor is deliberately gross and confrontational. Some sketches feel like they're testing your patience rather than entertaining you. The aesthetic is aggressively ugly.
Saturday Night Live1975
The template for everything. Live sketch comedy with a rotating ensemble, musical guests, and genuine stakes. Uneven by design, but the best bits are immortal and worth discovering.
But There's ninety minutes of material every week and maybe thirty of it works. The live element means some sketches die in real time. You have to sift.
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson2019
A more recent sketch show with that same commitment to character absurdism. Every sketch feels like it's building to something, even when you're not sure what. Frequently hilarious.
But It can feel hermetically sealed—the humor is so internal and character-specific that you're either in on the wavelength or you're not. Some episodes feel padded.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force2000
Same anarchic spirit and commitment to character over plot. Both understand that comedy can be about *presence* rather than punchlines. Animation allows it to go weirder without budgetary constraints.
Adult Swim animated absurdism featuring three talking fast-food items. Structurally sketchy—no plot, just situation comedy. Deadpan, weird, occasionally genius. Influenced by live-action sketch but executed in animation.
But The animation is deliberately cheap and static. The humor is slow-burn and frequently lands nowhere. If you need a traditional narrative, this will feel like nothing happening.
Who Is America?2018
Both use character commitment and absurdist logic as the engine. Both understand that comedy is about *how* you do something, not what you're doing. Both trust weirdness over explaining the joke.
Sacha Baron Cohen doing character-based comedy, mostly unscripted, where the humor comes from sustained commitment to a bit and how people react to absurdity. It's sketch comedy without the sketch structure—characters meeting reality.
But It's sometimes cruel in ways that feel uncomfortable rather than funny. The stakes are real (actual people being pranked), which changes the moral calculus. Episodes are longer and less snappy than traditional sketch.
People
Cast
Aziz AnsariVarious
Rob HuebelVarious
Paul ScheerVarious