Forever Unclean

If there's one quality that all FX sitcom characters have in common, it's that they are gross. As Hannah of Girls or Cartman of South Park or Larry of Curb Your Enthusiasm can attest, when you're the protagonist of a show on a network that exists, more or less, outside the regulatory purview of the FCC, the people who write it are going to make you say and do really terrible things, often while partially or totally nude, and the cast of The League are no exceptions. Every episode finds one or several or all of them being dicks to one another, or to non-League members in their orbit. So when a story calls for the opening-credits cast of The League to be victimized, it takes some doing for another character to be even more appalling than they are. Enter Rafi!

Rafi (Jason Mantzoukas) is not in the titular fantasy football league (anymore), but he's still on The League because he's family: his sister Sofia (Nadine Velasquez) is married to Ruxin (Nick Kroll), which is what earned him the nickname "El Cuñado." Sure, it just means "brother-in-law" in Spanish, but a meaningful emphasis is all it takes to make "El Cuñado" sound insulting -- that, and the fact that it's attached to Rafi, which means it, like the man himself, is forever unclean.

Here are just a few things we've either seen Rafi do, or heard about him doing: tried to Roofie at least one girl; helped stage a pornographic film at Andre's apartment (Paul Scheer); sullied the body and dignity of Kevin's (Steven Rannazzisi) nanny; jerked off while shitting. In last night's episode alone, Rafi tried to teach his nephew aquatic "survival skills"; anally sodomized said nephew's swimming instructor; masturbated with a breast pump; and lustfully made out with his sister -- which, he proudly declared, made him hard. Of course Rafi exists outside the regulatory purview of the FCC: he exists outside of civilized society.

There are lots of gross sitcom characters who are much less lovable than Rafi to watch. Off the top of my head: Pierce Hawthorne (Community), Frank Reynolds (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia), probably whoever David Spade plays on Rules Of Engagement, but there's literally no way for any of us to know for sure. But Rafi is not just bearable but delightful because of what Jason Mantzoukas brings to the role. If you're a comedy nerd, you've heard him on any number of podcasts, from his own How Did This Get Made? to You Made It Weird to Doug Loves Movies, and therefore you know he's not just funny and a great improviser but a good dude who's friends with everyone producing the kind of comedy you want to consume in 2012. There are lots of disgusting pigs playing disgusting pigs -- Charlie Sheen has made a whole career of it -- but Rafi is funny because Mantzoukas isn't a disgusting pig. Just as it takes a very smart performer to make a dumb character compelling, so it is with...well, filthy sex offenders, I guess.

It takes a special kind of amoral pervert to stand out as the most grotesque subhuman specimen among the characters of The League. And Rafi is, indeed, just that special to me.