Recent winner of Hollyweb’s ‘Best Comedy’ Award InSAYSHAble is a real comic find and it’s easy to see why the series created by and starring Amy Matysio has won a string of accolades.
Meet Saysha Grabinski – a hopeless romantic at heart but a sociopathic liar in the flesh, she prides herself on never completing a days work despite the regular jobs her temp agency send her on. The seven part series follows a week in the life of Saysha with each episode focusing on a single day in her week from hell; I say it’s a week from hell but you quickly get the impression that this is all relatively normal for Saysha. The premise is straightforward with Saysha being fired from her latest job, her continual failings to see what she’s doing wrong make Saysha a delightfully selfish character.
Over the course of the series Saysha insults a room full of fellow job applicants, has a failed attempt to attract a man at the gym with her best friend Fran (Christina Sicoli), she lies to an apparently single dad about having her own child and has a disastrous half day working at a animal control call centre.
Despite the easy to see sketch show set up, the writers have been smart enough to keep a running story arc in the shape of Jack, her very own Mr Right even though he doesn’t quite know it yet.
A real credit to the shows production is the sheer quality of the end result, everything from the varied locations, to the remarkable audio and practised, effortless editing make this another fine example of a female driven comedy that is at the forefront of high standards.
Saysha herself is a well developed character that proves just because a web series is by definition short doesn’t mean you can cut corners when it comes to fleshing out your cast. The enjoyable narrative compounded with the high production values make this not only easy to watch but highly recommended viewing for those considering making a comedy series of their own.
The series is directed by Jeff Beesley who has helmed episodes of the popular Canadian TV shows Little Mosque on the Prairie and Corner Gas which goes along way to explaining the shows adherence to televisions broadcast standard, as well as the polished look to the whole thing.
The final episode ends on a teasing cliffhanger that could lead quite nicely to a second batch of episodes. While I do consider myself a new found fan of the work of the talented Amy Matysio, I can’t help but feel the concept might not have the mileage to keep going in its current guise. That said, thanks to some strong writing and performances Saysha and her haphazard lifestyle could fit any number of set ups and I hope she returns to our computer screens soon.
The only real thing working against the show is that its not the sort of comedy with broad appeal – though in the land of online comedy, broad is often flawed. Saysha’s brash, cringe inducing antics will without a doubt turn many off, but the people who do stick around will be precisely the kind of audience your web series wants to attract. Invested fans who will love your series and share it with friends.
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