Everyone is funnier when they’re tripping on shrooms (not that I would know, I’ve never done them myself *cough*). However, not everyone can reach the level of pure, unadulterated absurdity like Bryan Cranston just did in The Studio.
Titled “CinemaCon,” the newest episode of Apple TV+’s comedy sees the return of Cranston’s Continental Studios CEO Griffin Mill, who gets way too high, goes insane for some nacho cheese, wears a headband with a pair of glowing penises on it, and falls into a gondola on The Venetian’s waterway in Las Vegas.
And it’s the funniest thing that’s happened on TV this year.
At the beginning of the episode, Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) and the rest of the Continental Studios team land in Las Vegas to rehearse for their big presentation featuring the company’s slate of upcoming films. The only problem? Griffin doesn’t want to rehearse and hides in the back of the theatre to avoid people.
Matt tracks him down and tries to convince him to get onstage, but Griffin isn’t in the mood to do anything. Instead, he asks Matt a somewhat out-of-pocket question: “How old do you think I am?”
“Sixty-five?” Matt guesses.
This answer pleases Griffin, who nods his head before going on to confess: “That’s the target. I’m… 82.”
His crisis over his age isn’t the only thing sending him spiraling. Apparently, a board member is trying to sell the studio to Amazon. To stop it, Continental needs to outperform this year, which means the next day’s presentation is even more important than everyone thought.
It’s a lot of pressure for anyone to handle. Thankfully, Matt is throwing an all-night rager so everybody can let loose, complete with an “old Hollywood style buffet,” which means a platter of cocaine, chocolate-infused shrooms, and ketamine.
Unfortunately, Matt gets the dosage of the shrooms wrong, causing everyone to get way too messed up. However, no one gets quite as high as Griffin, who disappears from the party.
The team freaks out, because if Griffin doesn’t kill it at CinemaCon, they can kiss their jobs goodbye. They need to sober him up ASAP, but first, they must find him.
Party goer Dave Franco provides the first clue, informing everyone that Griffin just ate a fistful of nacho cheese with his bare hands, then dipped from the party.
With this information, the team is hot on his trail, following the smears of nacho cheese he left throughout the hotel. Next, they find him in the lobby of the casino wearing a headband with a pair of glowing penises on it and eating lobster.
“Ah, protein,” Griffin mumbles as a lobster tail dangles from his mouth.
He disappears again, only to pop up outside licking an ice cream cone with the finesse of a toddler. And finally, Griffin falls into a gondola, passes out, and eventually wakes up in front of The Venetian, seemingly unaware of the chaos he just caused.
“I have arrriivedddd,” he slurs, before announcing: “This will be where I disembark, Mr. Gondolero.”
Ultimately, the former head of the studio Patty Leigh finds Griffin (Catherine O’Hara) and sells him out for revenge, calling a local entertainment reporter to tip him off on Griffin’s disorderly behavior.
Will the presentation go as planned? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out. For now, all we can say is hats off to you, Cranston. What an episode.
