The best Chicken shop dateIt is those with guests who submit to oblivion by Amelia Dimoldenberg.
Photo illustration: Vulture; Photo: Amelia Dimoldenberg via YouTube

Well, it happened. Andrew Garfield came by Chicken shop dateAmelia Dimoldenberg’s comedy interview show on YouTube, in which she subjects celebrity guests to a simulacra of awkward first date conversations and well-delivered reprimands. There’s been quite a bit of lore leading up to this meeting, with Garfield and Dimoldenberg sharing two fleeting public encounters that were so packed with chemistry. — he’s a fan, she’s a fan; both exchange cat-and-mouse flirtation on the red carpet where she is a correspondent — that it almost made too much sense to actually get him on the show, especially now that he has a movie to promote. Build-up meets payoff as Garfield finally goes through the full Dimoldenberg experience, and, as you’d expect, the resulting encounter is suitably charming. (Dimoldenberg: “I knew you would do this.” Garfield: “What, be aware of all your ‘moves’?”)

It’s a clever twist on Garfield’s part, as he’s an actor currently doubling down on his reputation as a vulnerable beanpole, despite being fiercely private about his personal life since splitting with Emma Stone nearly a decade ago. The actual date passes uneventfully (like most Chicken shops), and Garfield plays the whole “we actually could have gone on a real date” thing a little too often for my liking. But the appearance ultimately makes something clear about Dimoldenberg as a public figure. She has now served for ten years and almost 100 terms Chicken shop dateand as this whole news cycle with Garfield indicates, she’s preternaturally good at creating stories around the show. When a Chicken shop date The arc is running its course, she’s proven herself to be the kind of artist who can survive it and, like some sort of rom-com Hydra, produce much more in its place.

Dimoldenberg plays a specific game on Chicken shop Datewhich usually involves walking guests through the series of questions you’d expect on an actual first date (horoscope, pets, “what’s your type?”, etc.). Except, of course, that everything about the date is designed a little off-center. Instead of a café or a restaurant, Dimoldenberg meets her guests in ‘chicken shops’, the quintessentially British genre of cheap greasy food shops, and rather than playing the interview straight, she adopts a heightened, edgier version of herself. What unfolds typically follows the rough format of flirty banter, but Dimoldenberg’s gamble lies mainly in creating the conditions for awkward moments that destabilize her guests. When she really sits on it, the effect is like the stab of a knife. That’s how you get that viral bit from the Jack Harlow spot where she responds to his banal interest in little free libraries – “never done that, I just like to walk past them” – with “Can you read?” It’s a delightful beat made even funnier by the fact that Harlow already comes across as a guy who is Real in itself.

Dimoldenberg’s approach ensures that most types of guests get memorable beats through a persona refined to a T: a dry, feline conversationalist who constantly shifts between seemingly disinterested and desperate, enthusiastic and irritated, curious and cutting . (To Manchester babyface rapper Aitch, whom she dated for a while: “You look a bit like a shrimp.”) Over the years, as Chicken shop date has grown in stature, as has Dimoldenberg’s development as a character on the show, as it brings in guests who don’t necessarily fit the fantasy template of a date. Paired with Cher, Dimoldenberg immediately takes on the role of a younger person seeking dating and life advice from an elder stateswoman. (She: “I had a terrible kiss with a guy once…” Cher: “English?” Her: “Yes.”) Paired with Sabrina Carpenter and Jennifer Lawrence, she commiserates about the misery of dating. But the show maintains its true freshness when the guest sticks to the general fantasy template of a date; i.e., straight, younger guys. There is debate about how ‘good’ Chicken shop guests are the ones who can effectively challenge Dimoldenberg in terms of outdoing her character — or, in the case of Eric André, outright breaking the show. But I’ve always thought the best guys are the ones who fade into obscurity. The show really pops when it towers over its guests, as in the case of Paul Mescal, the Irish hunk whose public persona is defined by an eagerness to disappear. Mescal, who exudes a shy energy in front of the camera, doesn’t quite seem to know how to parry Dimoldenberg’s jabs so effectively; we’re barely a minute into the episode before he’s caught choking on his drink out of nervousness.

Dimoldenberg has spoken elsewhere about her influences, which are easily discernible in the show itself. Chicken shop date possesses the flat comedic aesthetic of mockumentaries such as This is a spinal tap And The best of the show. Leslie Knope, Amy Poehler’s character Parks and recreationis an important reference point, and you can see parts of it in how her personality is someone who is just as in on the joke as the joke is on her. Zach Galifianakis Between two ferns is perhaps the most direct analogy in terms of conceit, but there is a notable difference in the way Galifianakis is funniest as a sour troll who sucks at the knees of others, while Dimoldenberg is her most interesting if it’s hard to tell whether she adheres to kayfabe or actually. be himself. That porosity is evident throughout Garfield’s appearance, adding to the episode’s fantasy rush. He repeatedly tries to steer the conversation to focus on Dimoldenberg’s experience with the show and her personality, to which she responds by alternately answering seriously and changing character. All this further illustrates the extent to which Chicken shop date is somewhere in the late stages: there’s enough mythology within and around the show’s conceit that the meta-show is just as interesting as the show itself.

The Garfield episode marks the end of this particular storyline for Dimoldenberg, a story that has taken place in locations far beyond. Chicken shop date. It probably won’t be the last of its kind, but it does raise an interesting question about whether the YouTube show can run forever. On Chicken shop dateDimoldenberg plays a character who is unapologetic and uncompromising in her pursuit of a partner, and here we see Garfield emerge as one of many possible Mr. Bigs in the fictional sitcom universe she’s been cultivating for years, not quite rejected at the end, but not quite promoted to primary love interest. (“I think we should be friends,” Dimoldenberg says in the final minute. “Okay,” Garfield replies sheepishly.) The show can and will continue beyond this point, because there will always be more celebrity guests with projects to work on to close, but as for the Dimoldenberg character, it’s fun to think about where else she could get it from. It’s not a great thought experiment, since the line between Dimoldenberg as a person and as a persona is pretty thin to begin with. In many ways she reminds me of how Stephen Colbert played his fake-right-wing personality The Colbert Report year: loosely, with a wink, but with determination. When he finally shed the guise to take over Late eveningit felt like it was a long time coming, but it also didn’t feel that long.