After critics and others who like to stay on top of these sorts of things first saw the trailer for The Millers, many shared a sentiment expressed by our own Todd VanDerWerff—namely, a “general sense of sorrow” that co-star Margo Martindale had “left FX behind for fart jokes.” That sense, lingering like a fart that “some people think are funny,” as Martindale’s character avows in the pilot, drifted inevitably into the show’s panel at the TCAs, where creator Greg Garcia was asked about it today. And not surprisingly, Garcia seemed as concerned about what his fart jokes are doing to his show as Martindale’s character is about what her farts are doing to Will Arnett’s posh bachelor pad.
“People laugh at these things,” Garcia said in what should really be CBS’s official motto, adding that, while there’s “a run of fart jokes” in the pilot, he doesn’t think another fart joke appears in the next eight or nine episodes, as comedy is all about the element of surprising farts. “I’m not saying it won’t, because fart jokes are funny,” Garcia continued, citing as evidence a recent screening he attended of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles where everyone from Martin Scorsese to Morgan Freeman was laughing at the universal language of farts. “There’s really no arguing the fact that farts and shit jokes are funny and they have their place on TV once in a while, “ he said. For example, every Thursday, after The Big Bang Theory.
One place you should not expect a fart, however, is in the pants of Beau Bridges. “I will never fart on your show,” Bridges declared in a rare moment of lucidity, after our TCA reporter Erik Adams noted he spent much of the panel talking about where to get Sea Hunt T-shirts and chlamydia—which are two things that are unexpectedly funny, but are not farts. However, maybe don’t rule out a very special episode where Beau Bridges finally farts, probably during sweeps week.