Comedian Tim Dillon stormed onto Netflix at the start of October with his rendition of a trash TV talk show, This Is Your Country. And if viewers made it through the 47-minute-long rollercoaster experience, they’re probably wondering if they’re getting off the ride or if they’re going for another spin. Is it just a comedy special or a new Netflix series?
Unfortunately for Dillon’s fans and those who stumbled across the cynical comic’s dark and sarcastic humor, This Is Your Country is only one episode. Dillon said during the show that he and Netflix teamed up to put on a special ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. What he came up with was an emphatic nod to the late great Jerry Springer Show while a couple of audience members sported Kamala Harris and MAGA merch.
He also reminded viewers to vote after showering them with this generation’s dilemmas, like a guy begging his cousin to stop stacking cash from bullying paying men on OnlyFans, or another man explaining to his wife that he lost $200,000 investing in NFTs. There was also the segment where a furry attempted to convince a Mexican-born man not to move back to Mexico and abandon the American dream.
Although it was one and done, Dillon told the LA Times there were several other segments left on the cutting room floor. We saw snippets of them during the special’s credits. But, all in all, only five segments played out during the 40-plus-minute ride, which, according to Dillon, was the best of the best in providing satirical commentary on what’s going on in the U.S.
We wanted to represent America in the best way that we could. We thought that encouraging the audience to wear political shirts or make signs [would help] because we wanted to make something that felt very American, like where the country is at the moment. All the topics we chose were, I don’t want to say they’re all uniquely American, but they’re certainly American topics that are on people’s minds right now.
He also explained how This Is Your Country came to be. It sounds like the streaming giant gave him immense creative freedom, hence why the show was a pure reflection of his comedic taste. Dillon also maintained that the show was unscripted and real.
The conversation with Netflix was never like to do a comedy special. The conversation was ‘What do you want to do?’ Netflix wanted something from me that was a unique, unscripted thing. Initially, they bought something political and I wasn’t really into that, and I wanted to bring back ‘90s trash TV, which is what we did, and it’s a ‘90s trash TV talk show, so I don’t know if I would call it a comedy special. I mean, they’re gonna call it that on Netflix because I don’t think they have a term for it, but that’s kind of what it is.
For those who don’t know Dillon, he has one of the most successful podcasts in the comedy scene. He goes on weekly rants about the political and social happenings of the U.S. on The Tim Dillon Show. And if you like what you saw during This Is Your Country, you’ll be into the unfiltered podcast as well. Further, Dillon recently made a quick appearance in Joker: Folie À Deux, which is a completely different type of rollercoaster ride than This Is Your Country.