The Half Hour

The centerpiece here is a family story that unravels in escalating absurdity: an overprotective father who drives out to Massachusetts to rescue his daughter’s broken car, only to tow a total stranger’s vehicle across state lines into Rhode Island. When the car door opens to reveal a lingering cloud of weed and a bong sitting on the front seat, a straightforward family favor turns into unintentional grand theft auto.

Bharoocha sells the mishap using physical act-outs and a high-strung, expressive delivery that reflects his background in theater. Outside of the family crisis, he aims his nervous energy at the indignities inflicted on cows, an intense terror of house cats that pet owners refuse to respect, and the practical utility of an acting degree.

Recorded at The Civic Theatre in New Orleans for the fifth season of Comedy Central’s showcase series, the set caught Bharoocha at an inflection point. He was already familiar to internet audiences as a third of the sketch group Dead Kevin alongside Jack Robichaud and Ryan O’Flanagan, and the special aired just as he stepped into a regular television role on Adult Swim’s surreal comedy Dream Corp LLC.