Tenacious Dick

I watched all six episodes of the new Tenacious D YouTube show, Post-Apocalypto, at a screening in Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse on November 2nd. Jack Black and Kyle Gass talked at us live from Brooklyn; the Drafthouse simulcast the screening and Q&A across the country. Kyle and Jack said they put it on YouTube because iTunes told them it would have gotten an NC-17 rating if they’d tried to release it there. They’re definitely right about that.

Post-Apocalypto largely succeeds because of how crudely they left it. If they’d cleaned it up and toned it down, I doubt it would capture how raw and ridiculous this thing is. Much like how their song “Tribute” isn’t the best song in the world, it’s a tribute to it, this is a densely packed homage to the best apocalyspe and adventure stories of our time. With dicks drawn all over it. The songs themselves are pretty good and some are starting to grow on me, but I wouldn’t recommend listening to the album without watching the series first.

It has the crudely drawn animation and bad celebrity impressions South Park prides itself on, but done with Jack Black’s distinct voice. Jack does it all here. You’d expect him to write the dialogue, do most of the voices and sing the songs, but I was surprised to find he drew it all himself. Though having seen Post-Apocalypto now, it doesn’t seem so surprising anymore. It’s not just crudely drawn, it’s absolutely filthy.

The static images linger on each shot for three to five seconds. Jack has found a way to make everything look like a penis or vagina. Seemingly every monster, spaceship, rocket or dog head is shaped like a dick. You name it, Jack has prominently placed an exposed penis or a vagina on the surface. Even the Terminator is a sex doll in this world. There’s nothing animated Jack won’t put his dick in post-apocalypse. It’s like Jonah Hill’s dick-drawing ‘Super Bad’ character grew up to draw this thing.

Excessive penis imagery aside, Jack and Kyle Gass still play the lazy, video-game-golf-playing, late-on-the-rent, in-a-band duo they’ve been portraying for the last 20 years. The twist this time: They’ve survived the apocalypse and have to save the world. They defeati Nazis and monsters and Donald Trump Jr. with the help of a two-headed dog named Hope, Jack’s time-traveling son and the Terminator sex doll robot. Richard Branson and Elon Musk appear to party with and cuckold, respectively.

At the Q&A, Kyle and Jack were asked if this is the thing they’ve done that they’re most proud of. They said yes. I wouldn’t go that far. The first album and HBO show is their finest work. But I did think this was more successful than the more polished ‘The Pick of Destiny’. Maybe they should have called this “The Dick Of Destiny.”

I’d recommend watching it. What do you have to lose? They’re six 10-minute free YouTube videos. I was forced to watch all six episodes in a row, but I’d suggest skipping the binge and watching one or two at a time. There’s only so much cartoon dick you can take at a time. Unless you’re the Terminator robot. That guy can take endless cartoon dick.

Watch all six episodes on Tenacious D’s YouTube channel