If you’re a blinker, you might have missed Tommy Wants His Mommy on the robust slate of this past spring’s NYTVF selections. Surrounded by dozens of other contributions, the quarter-hour short is summarized:
In the style of Dr. Katz [and] Life and Times of Tim, Tommy Wants His Mommy is an absurdly banal short following a 28-year-old slacker that moves back into his Mom’s house as she begins mentoring him in the family business, life coaching.
Sounds like precisely the kind of thing you’d skip over, right? Not because it sounds bad, but because it sounds derivative. “No way in hell is this roustabout Tom McDonald going to hold a candle to the likes of Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder, or Steve Dildarian,†you might’ve said.
Well, sure, I get being skeptical. Thing is: He does.
Created by, animated by, and starring McDonald and featuring dynamite voice work from Matt Decaro, Catherine Cohen, Kevin Bauer, Colby Smith, and Ana Lucia Seguin, Tommy Wants His Mommy is precisely the kind of three-jokes-per-minute (if you’re listening), bizarre fare we turn to when we’re high, drunk, suffering from insomnia, or just questioning the bounds of humor as established by our collective consciousness.
These 15 or so minutes have been among my favorites this month, viewed anywhere. Know what I think? I think some daring network should give us some more of stunted ol’ Tom … even if it means restricting his life-coaching window to the wee hours of the morning, when it’s as embarrassing to be watching TV as it is moving in with your mom and her weird boyfriend Tucker.
We see you, Tom!
Luke is executive producer at Big Breakfast and a watcher of many web videos. Send him yours @LKellyClyne.