Avenue 5, episode 1 review: more ideas than laughs in Armando Iannucci’s space comedy
Space tourism has always carried a strong whiff of the absurd. Sir Richard Branson abseiling down his Virgin Galactic spaceport in the New Mexico desert while trying to glug champagne. Elon Musk sending one of his Tesla cars into orbit, with the stereo programmed to play David Bowie’s Space Oddity on repeat. The founder of Cirque du Soleil paying $35m to become the first clown in space. Only this month, Japanese fashion mogul Yusaka Maezawa advertised for a new girlfriend to join him on a trip to the Moon. He received 27,722 replies from women who had completed his “love diagnostic” questionnaire, which included a question on what they would do if Maezawa passed wind in front of them.
To this list we can add Herman Judd, the idiot billionaire in Armando Iannucci’s new space comedy series Avenue 5 (Sky One). Played by Josh Gad (most famously the voice of Olaf in Frozen) as a preening narcissist with a tiny brain and Branson’s hair, he’s along for the ride on a luxury space cruise owned by The Judd Corporation. Hugh Laurie is Captain Ryan Clark, a man radiating calm authority; if this weren’t British satire, he would be played by Tom Hanks.
The eponymous ship is taking wealthy passengers on an eight-week tour around Saturn, but things go awry when it is knocked off course during an attempt to set a record for the biggest yoga class in space. Clark must impart the news that it is going to take them three years to get home.
It is an intriguing premise, but anyone expecting it to be up to Iannucci’s usual standards is going to be let down. In space no one can hear you scream, “but this isn’t as funny as The Thick of It!” It feels unfair to compare everything Iannucci does to his previous work – the man can’t be expected to turn out rapid-fire political insults for the rest of his days – but it is easier to define Avenue 5 by what it isn't than by what it is.
It feels like a mishmash of different styles. There is broad sitcom, with Rebecca Front as an I-demand-to-speak-to-the-manager-style nightmare, and a bickering married couple (Jessica St Clair and Karl Bornheimer) spitting venom at each other over the breakfast buffet. They are either American or playing American, as this is an HBO co-production aimed first at a US audience. Nikki Amuka-Bird does the awkward British comedy thing, the kind you’d find in Motherland and W1A. Zach Woods (anxious optimist Jared in Silicon Valley) is the best thing here as Matt, the nihilistic head of passenger services who could have escaped from Iannucci’s US political vehicle, Veep. “If it’s any consolation, he had very few loved ones,” he tells the horrified passengers as the body of a dead astronaut floats past the window.
It is a sci-fi show in as much as it is set in space, but the setting is a means to an end: marooning a bunch of people and seeing how they cope with calamity. A disaster movie where everyone is too busy being sardonic to really panic. There are occasional references to the real world – “This must be the worst disaster since Google folded,” says Iris (Suzy Nakamura), Judd’s ruthless fixer – but the sets are retro, referencing the Fifties and the Eighties.
There is a reason, I thought at the midway point, why this is on Sky One rather than the broadcaster’s usual showcase for HBO series, the classier Sky Atlantic. And does Laurie really have to do an American accent? But then, a neat twist. Captain Clark turned out to be a non-heroic Brit in the Hugh Laurie mould. His role was a sham: the ship was captainless and he had been hired simply to look reassuring and motivate the crew. This was news to everyone including Judd.
“Are you Australian?” Judd asked when Clark’s accent slipped. Clark: “I’ll tell you what I am: English.” An appalled Judd: “That’s so much worse!” Judd swiftly dubbed him Captain Not-America, a nicely Iannucci-ish line. With this reveal, the writing seemed to shift up a gear.
The show was strongest when everyone in a position of power was revealed to be terrified and terrifyingly incompetent, a theme in all of Iannucci’s comedies. The only person on board with a clue what they were doing was chief engineer Billie (Lenora Crichlow), although Front’s character clearly considers herself to be the Unsinkable Molly Brown of this particular ship. There was just enough in the closing minutes to hint at something better to come. I’m not giving up on it.
