McBride madness: 3 must-see comedies from Danny McBride

Showmax is packed full of crazy comedies featuring funnyman Danny McBride. But be warned: He’s not everyone’s cup of tea…

Eastbound & Down S1-4

Besides co-creator and writer, Danny takes centre stage as lead character Kenny Powers, a disgraced baseball star who returns to his hometown. His life has more ups and downs than a rollercoaster but that’s okay, because Kenny knows how to deal with adversity. What he doesn’t know how to deal with is his fragile ego and that going from a famous hero to an average zero is a lot harder to accept than he’d ever imagined.

It’s a sport comedy by classification but there’s almost no sport … and it’s obviously loaded with Danny’s humour. There’s swearing – Kenny drops F-bombs in just about every sentence. And Danny is perfect as the egomaniac Kenny who, despite being an absolutely vile, detestable, misogynistic a-hole, somehow has us rooting for him as he tries to get back his fame and fortune.

All four seasons are on Showmax

Vice Principals S1-2

Danny plays Neal Gamby in this series he also created. Neal is ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, mean and nasty, not all that intelligent, and super belligerent. He’s not a nice guy, and that makes him utterly loveable as he tries to snatch the principal’s position at North Jackson High School when the current principal (cameoing Bill Murray) announces his retirement. But Neal isn’t in the running and when a newcomer is appointed ahead of him, it sends Neal on a downward spiral.

It wouldn’t be a black satire comedy if the laughs were squeaky clean. Instead, Neal and his co-vice principal Lee Russell (played annoyingly well by Walton Goggins) devise a plan to oust the new principal – and there’s no level too low that they will sink to. In fact, the duo are so devious, dodgy, despicable and downright horrible that it’s amazing they’re even likeable. They get up to all kinds of shenanigans including bullying, stealing, vandalism, framing people for murder … all in the name of getting a job that doesn’t actually mean anything to either of them. They just want the title of principal because they’re greedy, horrible little men.

Both seasons are on Showmax.

The Righteous Gemstones S1-2

Arguably Danny’s best work (he’s also the creator, writer and lead star) sees him taking on the world of US televangelism as Jesse Gemstone. He’s the eldest son of televangelism icon Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) and he’s everything that’s wrong with the industry – he’s rude and crude, he’s arrogant and egotistical, he’s not a man of the cloth and the lifestyle he leads is as debaucherous as you can conjure up in your mind. And yet somehow he’s allowed to get away with murder (literally) during the show.

It’s a satirical take on the world of televangelism – which is a billion-dollar industry in the US – and explores the morally and ethically corrupt families who’re leading it. The best thing is that most of the storylines are loosely based on real-life events – everything from money being stolen and hidden in walls, to murder, blackmail and worse! And just when you think you’ve seen it all on the show, the characters surprise you with something even worse, making you fall even more in love with their unspeakable, unforgiveable acts of crime.

Both seasons (so far) are on Showmax.