In my 20s, I would relax by watching shows like The Wire or having a horror movie marathon, but since I had kids, my definition of a relaxing hang is “under 90 minutes and, please, nothing too stressful.” Basically, that leaves me with PBS cooking shows (America’s Test Kitchen for life) and reruns of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
But this past weekend, I decided to try This Is a Gardening Show, the new Netflix docuseries hosted by Zach Galifianakis. Because what’s a gardening show, if not just a prequel to a cooking show?
Galifianakis’ brand of comedy isn’t always for me, but This Is a Gardening Show tamps down his signature uncomfortable silences and deliberate awkwardness, instead showing off the performer’s genuine side and revealing his passion for nature. From the first few moments of the series, Galifianakis makes it clear that, as a longtime gardener, he finds great joy and peace in the practice, and that understanding the natural world is essential for society to function and thrive. (“The future is agrarian,” he repeats like a mantra throughout every episode.)
The funny chats with kids are a highlight in this series.
On the show, experts give Galifianakis tips on how to plant a successful tomato garden, graft a bud onto an apple tree or forage safely for non-poisonous plants — all skills that someone who watches gardening shows would find interesting. At 15 minutes per episode, we never get too granular with the details. The show is not trying to be instructional so much as it’s a platform for Galifianakis to discuss conservation and sustainability through a framework of just kinda being silly, especially when he’s interviewing elementary school-age children, which he does in every episode.
He seems genuinely delighted by the kids, who offer their opinions on fruits and vegetables, join him as he bobs for apples or just want to discuss the work of Ryan Reynolds. (This is a recurring theme that ends with Reynolds making something of a cameo in the show’s final episode. Leave it to Deadpool to insert himself into a post-credits scene.)
The kids mainly serve as comic relief, and their presence is one of the reasons the show feels so comforting and charming. The comedian’s typical sarcastic and absurdist persona is still present, like when he eats carrots off the top of a clearly rotting compost heap. Or when he talks about how, without passing along the knowledge of sustainable farming, “a lot of us are gonna die,” and then dryly tells his off-camera producer, “We’ll just add a laugh track.”
Is This Is a Gardening Show really a gardening show, though? I guess technically it is: It’s a show about why we garden, and it introduces us to people who garden. And even though Galifianakis is in just about every frame of the show, he gives the spotlight to the kids, farmers, composters and food historians he interviews, because they’re the ones who can lead us to the agrarian future he envisions.