Fantasy football fans, rejoice! FX’s The League will be back for fifth season of hilarious antics from our favorite fantasy football players, Rodney Ruxin (Nick Kroll), Andre Nowzick (Paul Scheer), Pete Eckhart (Mark Duplass) and the whole MacArthur crew – Taco (Jon Lajoie), Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi), and Jenny (Katie Aselton). And if fans have any say, chances are Ruxin’s deranged brother-in-law, Rafi (Jason Mantzoukas) will also be back for more.
As seen on Deadline.com, the decision to renew The League was an easy one. “The League is flat out one of the funniest shows on television,” according to Nick Grad, Executive VP of FX’s original programming. Grad continues by saying “we hope to have it on our schedule for many years to come.”
The semi-improvised show centers on a fantasy football league comprised of four longtime friends, Ruxin, Andrew, Pete, Taco, and Kevin, along with Kevin’s wife, Jenny. The season follows the characters’ daily lives while they compete against one another to win the coveted “Shiva Bowl.” The worst two players go to the “Sacko Bowl,” to determine the league’s ultimate loser. Dead last must partake in some humiliating punishments, such as when Andre was locked out of the following year’s draft , where unbeknownst to him a man named “Dirty Randy” (Seth Rogen) made porno in his apartment, loosely based on Andre’s life. The real fun comes during the football season, as the each member of the league tries to stack their teams for victory, using the most unsavory, deceitful, and downright dirty trading tactics.
Don’t be dissuaded from watching if you have no interested in fantasy football. If you appreciate awkward, outrageous, and raunchy humor, you’ll still find this show amazingly funny. Some might compare it to humor on FX’s other hit It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, but The League is slightly more refined. In contrast to It’s Always Sunny’s dimwitted, self-centered bartenders, the main characters in The League have “real” lives, jobs, families, and normal, if not high, intelligence levels – with the exception of the character aptly named “Taco”. In spite of their upper middle class American lifestyles the group somehow manages to get in wildly absurd and inappropriate situations, in which utter hilarity ensues. It’s safe to say that pretty much any topic is fair game on the show. Episodes have been based on various types of boners, such as “the fear boner,” the importance of a woman’s kegel exercises, what to do when you get a racist piano, and let’s not forget the creepy recurring Tickle-Me-Elmo esque character, Mr. McGibblets. All of it, no matter how outrageous, proves hysterically funny.
No words can truly do The League justice, it’s just something you absolutely should tune in to. I strongly suggest spending your holiday break catching up on the first four seasons and Netflix makes this terribly easy to do. Don’t miss out, join The League today!
The ever so creepy Mr. McGibblet’s comes to life
