Hail To The Chief

On NTSF: SD: SUV::, a parody of cop procedurals featuring a protagonist -- Paul Scheer's Trent -- who's basically the unholy offspring of Jack Bauer and Horatio Caine, it takes a pretty extraordinary performer to bring to life a character who must be not just the biggest blowhard on the show but just about the biggest blowhard imaginable. Enter Rob Riggle as the President Of The Navy.

Though the members of the NTSF squad are always fighting terrorism on a national (if not global) scale, the POTN is the most senior representative of the Executive branch that they ever deal with, which feels right: it's hard to imagine that, in this world, there's another President, full stop, who could possibly outrank the POTN. This is a man who doesn't just enjoy the authority he wields -- he luxuriates in it, obnoxiously throwing his weight around and treating everyone around him like peons. It's hard to imagine anyone but Riggle playing him; he excels at playing loud, explosive dicks (this commentator's ringtone is a custom job -- Riggle, from Step Brothers, screaming "POW!"), and the POTN feels like the role all those others were leading up to.

The latest episode shows us a new side of the POTN, as the challenge of delivering a commencement speech at the University Of Southern San Diego forces him to seek professional help in order to get through it without inserting derivations of the word "fuck" in every sentence. Or, rather, he is tricked into seeking help with the promise of a hot wing-eating/wet t-shirt contest, and is very disappointed to learn of the ruse. ("Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. No titties?" "No titties." "No wings?" "No wings." "NO TITTIES?!") British person Hobson Chips (Jim Piddock) isn't able to cure the POTN through hand puppet therapy, which quickly devolves into the puppet's making lewd remarks about the POTN's sainted sister and the POTN's propensity to suck his own dick. All seems lost until the sound of island rhythms at the ceremony relaxes the POTN enough to hula, and he gets through the speech with just one last, intentional "Fuck yeah!" And to top it all off, there's the promise of being sexually serviced by a a RoboCop-turned-cyberprostitute (Ed Helms) as his eventual reward.

Just as the existence of Adult Swim's half-a-half-hour series proves that, when it comes to comedy, less is almost always more, NTSF's judicious deployment of the POTN shows impressive restraint: he's a character you're always happy to see when he does pop up, not one whose overuse dulls his impact (I'm looking at you, Pam from Archer). And even though he's not in every episode, some of the show's best and most memorable moments revolve around him. Think there's no improving upon the clip above? Think again.

If I ever fail to laugh at Rob Riggle's scream, take me to the hospital, because I've had a stroke.