Wednesday, July 16, 2014

H. Jon Benjamin and Coach McGuirk

I thought I would take a second to recognize the miracle that is H. Jon Benjamin's voice. A lot of people know how he's put it to good use in the (finally) Emmy-nominated show Archer. A slightly smaller group watch Bob's Burgers, which is more light-hearted and nearly as good. Two other brief but successful non-appearances were him as the convenience store dude in Family Guy and the magical Master in the Adult Swim show, Venture Bros (see below for more on that)

He has also appeared a few times in front of the camera. Benjamin had his own short-lived show, Jon Benjamin has a Van, and appeared several times on Important Things with Dmitri Martin (which was canceled too soon).

However, one of his most overlooked performances is also one of his best: Coach McGuirk on another old Adult Swim gem: Home Movies. He was an alcoholic soccer coach determined to do anything but instruct his team on soccer. Think Sterling Archer if he was overweight and nearly unemployed.

McGuirk is mostly defined by his relationship with the main character, Brandon Small, for whom he is an often-misinformed mentor. It was hard to choose one clip, but this sums him up nicely. If you have Netflix, check out Home Movies; all 3 seasons are on there. There is an endearing innocence to the whole show and the coach is always funny.



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