Big Dumb Animal

Matt Braunger uses his physical size and booming voice to chronicle his own lack of grace. He leans into the role of an overgrown adolescent, a single guy pushing forty who is still trying and failing to keep pace with younger crowds. The self-deprecation works because he plays the oaf so earnestly, turning stories of his own terrible choices into case studies on the general stupidity of men.

Filmed at The Bell House in Brooklyn for Comedy Central, the 2015 hour serves as a catalog of specific public humiliations.

Braunger, a few years removed from his stint on MADtv, recounts breaking down in a mall food court, earning the nickname “Peaches” while drunk at a bingo night, and the medical liability of ordering a quiet Jägerbomb. A standout routine examines a deeply misguided stranger attempting to hit on a woman from across a crowded morning bus, uniting the other commuters in shared awkwardness.