TALKSHOW with Spike Feresten

It's hilarious, really, and refreshing, and original and - absolutely - an acquired taste.

Scenes that work are funny... Scenes that fall flat are merely blah, rather than stupid.

The trouble with Feresten isn't his comedy; it's his difficulty creating any intimacy with the audience or the camera. He's got the irony down cold but the empathy not so much.

Feresten's not awful, and the show he has built around himself with video segments has a few laugh-out-loud moments. But he clearly needs to find his identity behind the desk.

As a talk-show host... he's a rank amateur who exhibits no discernible skills.

Pretty much everything gets tossed against the wall and precious little of it sticks, or even actually makes it as far as the wall.

Spike Feresten keeps emphasizing how bad and cheap and lame his new weekly show is on tonight’s debut... He’s right.