Joe Pera

A man named Joe

Joe Pera. That is definitely the name of a man far taller than me. If I had to like...explain joe pera, I would use this small line from this article found on him in 2021:

"...with a rigid back hunching at the neck, he has the appearance of a large turtle, only slower. His fashion is basic suburban dad — Asics, glasses, comfortable khakis — and his dry, gently absurdist material focuses on cold-button subjects like what to have for breakfast."

Yep, that's him alright. At his like...absolute core. For me to truly discuss this guy, I'd have to talk about how I first stumbled upon him. I feel like I came across him the same way most people did, through a single youtube video that kickstarted my genuine love for his personality.

Covid Lockdown and the Joe Pera pipeline

2020. Stuck at home. Animal Crossing. Civil Unrest. Very late nights. Constant youtube binges at 3am. It was truly a perfect storm for me to find this man. This video saved my entire year. I mean it.

At the very height of me watching the most unhinged shit imaginable (Skins UK, what a bad time to binge that show, dear god) I needed some kind of cleanse from the bleakness of it all. This was also the same time I came across the admittedly beautiful and horrific peice of media called Everywhere at the end of time. Yes, I listened to the full 6 1/2 hour album. No, I was not okay. Moving on.

From the first note, I knew whatever I clicked on was going to do something profound to me. The animation alone put me in a slight comfort. The style was slightly unhinged, but the voiceover along with the soundtrack kept me at ease throughout it all. It was...entrancing. To think it was released 7 years ago as of me typing this now. It's insane. His dialogue, with the cheating of stephen hawking over jarring visuals that just...melded together so well. It just did not make sense. Especially from adult swim? Like, come on. What a perfect combination.

Immediately after, I watched the pandemic special that he made with adult swim that very same year, "Relaxing old footage with Joe Pera", The amount of times this video was watched in 2020 is...embarrassing. Loved it. So so much. Tree Tv. We need it to exist, seriously.

A little show called "Joe Pera Talks with You"

Ah boy. When I realized he had a WHOLE SHOW like this? I was floored. At the moment, I did not have like...access to adult swim.com, buuut I was able to nab a hbo max account, so I did what any sane person would do, and binged the first two seasons instantly. So. Damn. Good.

The show takes place in the comfortably small town of Marquette, Michigan. Joe Pera basically plays himself, obviously more to an extreme though. His character is a middle school choir teacher, living with his grandmother and dog, along with a whole town full of wacky, more adult swim-esque characters to interact with him through his daily task. There so many mundane moments in this show, that all have the ability to really warm your heart, and still catch you offguard with a random scene of joe pretending to be asleep in his neighbors bedroom, as they're clearly drunk and trying to get some "fun-time" in while the kids are in bed. It could also just center around joe straight up watching youtube videos with his girlfriend all night long till the sun starts to pop back up through the horizon. Maybe even a silly little moment with joe discovering the greatest song ever, Baba O'riley by The Who, and calling multiple radio stations just to keep on hearing that damn song.

The third season of the show premiered in 2021, and the show was sadly cancelled (along many other shows around that time) in 2022. I remember feeling...quite heartbroken about the news. I'm quite sure it wasn't adult swims decision, but the big suits up top probably brought the hammer down on the show for whatever reason helps them sleep at night. It was a shared pain that multiply news sites touched on.

"Joe Pera Talks With You was not a show that celebrated the little things. It was a show that said, these things we’ve been told are little are not. They are massive. Going out for breakfast with someone you love, dancing to your new favorite song, telling a friend they’ve been good to you—those are the big, beautiful things, the things that give a life meaning."

Thankfully, he hasn't just stopped releasing new things. He now has a podcast! Drifting Off with Joe Pera releases on the first sunday of every month and is such a treat to the ears. Just like the show, he touches on various topics, with the casual interview here and there, and witty, classic joe styled humor sprinkled in all over. I really hope you give it a listen. I'm listening to one of the recent episodes right now as I type this. It is 2am, so it helps.

It's just. There are pieces of media, you hope will put a feeling like this in you. Joe Pera talks with you did that. It's changed alot in my life. In many ways. I will never not recommended this show to people. I think everyone deserves to witness everything it has to offer. Rid of cringe. Rid of irony. Rid of sarcasm. Give way to being genuine. Being content. Being okay.