Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Doing The Most With Phoebe Robinson’ On Comedy Central, Where The Writer And Podcaster Tries New Things With Celebrity Buddies

In Doing The Most With Phoebe Robinson, writer, comedian, podcaster and former Decider recapper Phoebe Robinson goes on location with acting and comedy friends to try new things, like a high-ropes course of K-pop. Some of the guests include Whitney Cummings, Kevin Bacon, Amber Ruffin, Eric Nam, Tan France, Gabrielle Union and Hasan Minhaj. 

DOING THE MOST WITH PHOEBE ROBINSON: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Phoebe Robinson and Whitney Cummings are looking at a horse yawning; when the horse moves its head, Phoebe instinctively steps back.

The Gist:  In the first episode she goes to the Shadow Hill Riding Club with Whitney Cummings. There, she meets Cummings’ own horse, King, but in general tries to get used to being around all sorts of animals, from goats to llamas to miniature horses. As she says while getting her makeup and hair done, she did not get exposed to many farm animals when she was a kid.

It shows at the farm and stables; as Phoebe and Whitney talk about Whitney’s upbringing and the fact that she trusts animals much more than she trusts other humans, Phoebe is constantly backing away from the nose of one animal or another; when a miniature horse puts his nose near the women’s crotches, she’s taken aback. Whitney is unfazed, saying that, at his height, that’s where his head basically goes.

Then Whitney introduces Phoebe to a few horses around the stables, including one that seemed to act like a white woman curious about her hair; in other words, the horse went for Pheobe’s weave. Then we are introduced to King, who was a dressage horse before Whitney bought him, and his desire to always be performing matches hers.

Before we see Phoebe very tentatively getting on King to ride a horse for what seems to be the first time ever, the two friends spoon as Phoebe asks Whitney 3BQ, or “3 Big Questions”. The most revealing of which was how Whitney decided to stop trying to please everyone and just go her own way after her father died.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Doing The Most With Phoebe Robinson is a cross between a late-night talk show and one of Comedy Central’s myriad participation comedy series. Klepper, CC’s second attempt at a series starring Jordan Klepper, comes to mind.

Our Take: In all of her endeavors — whether her standup, her podcast turned TV show 2 Dope Queens, or her various books — Phoebe Robinson takes on a very effective persona, one of a millennial that’s just sort of casual and acting like she’s hanging out with you, but underneath is just as anxious and messed up as you are. She’s not trying to hide how neurotic she is, but she she still covers it well under a slather of jokes and vocal fry.

That’s why the format of Doing The Most fits her persona well; it shows her trying to joke her way through these things that she’s uncomfortable and perhaps frightened of doing, but you know the anxiety roiling just below the surface. But she’s also warm and friendly, and that helps the people she interviews open up a bit and relate on a human level.

Yes, it helps that she’s buddies with a lot of them, like with Whitney Cummings in the first episode. But, because she’s not afraid to look vulnerable and a lot of silly, it helps the people she’s with bring their guards down. It’s funny when Phoebe is essentially afraid of every animal’s nudge and hoof; this is the type of place where little kids pet and feed the animals, and the thirtysomething, city-raised Phoebe Robinson runs away from these animals like she’s allergic.

But she’s also great at improvising jokes as the situations arise, like when she equates the goats coming up to sniff them to the girls who crowded young Justin Beiber as he came out of a hotel. It’s that eye towards pop culture that has always made Phoebe’s comedy effective, and it works well here. It’s this combination of warmth, risk-taking, quick wit and abject fear that makes for a winning formula for Robinson.

Sex and Skin: Nothing.

Parting Shot: As Phoebe and Whitney watch King walk around, Phoebe says, “Look at that booty!” Whitney replies, “I know! He has an amazing tush.”

Sleeper Star: It’s more or less a one-person show, so there’s no sleeper star here.

Most Pilot-y Line: This is more of a quibble, but we hope Whitney isn’t beating to death the joke from her last comedy special, where she had a sex robot made in her image. We see the robot a little bit in this episode, and we think that gag is just about done.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Phoebe Robinson has such a warm and winning presence as host of Doing The Most With Phoebe Robinson that it makes the series a very easy watch.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Doing The Most With Phoebe Robinson On Comedy Central