TVSquad

(S02E06) This is an early review, courtesy of Adult Swim Fix. The actually episode will air Sunday evening, as usual.

I never would have thought Robert Loggia and Tom Goes to the Mayor would be a good match, but his role in this episode as the owner of a waterbed store was just one of the things that made this episode probably the best one of the season so far. Loggia plays Lew, the owner of Lew's Waterbed Galleria, a store that's actually on the lake, so people don't pay local taxes. While Tom is hanging out on the boardwalk where the store is located, he runs into a street musician he calls "Saxman" (Tom Kenny). Saxman not only plays soprano saxophone, but he also plays a "digital chime box" with his feet. Tom loves the Saxman's music, and when he finds out the Saxman is going to be kicked off the boardwalk by Lew the waterbed man, Tom decides to let him stay in his front yard in a pup tent, even though his wife is out of town visiting her ex-husband and doesn't like Tom to have men over when she's away.

Tom decides to ask the Mayor for help, and the two decide that Tom and Saxman should create a video for the grand opening of Lew's store. Kenny's portrayal of Saxman is both incredibly funny and disturbing, and Tom begins to get weirded out by how close the Saxman wants to get to him. When they create the video, Saxman wants to do it shirtless, but only if Tom takes off his shirt, too. Later on, Saxman stands above Tom while Tom lays on his bed ("Let my sax notes massage your soul, brother").  Also, he craps all over Tom's bedroom.

The Mayor decides he doesn't like the video, but Tom convinces him to show it if he can come up with lyrics to Saxman's music ("What rhymes with 'consumer price rebate?'").

That evening as they sit in Tom's kitchen, Saxman convinces Tom that the only way he can get his chops in shape is to kiss another person, and since Tom is the only one around, they really have no choice. You know, it's not that he wants to kiss another man, there's just no other way. While in mid-kiss, Joy (Tom's wife) returns home and catches them in the act. That's when she grounds Tom, so he ends up not being able to go the waterbed grand opening after all.

I've been a fan of Tom Kenny for a long time, from his stand-up comedy to his roles on Mr. Show and various cartoons like SpongeBob SquarePants, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and Powerpuff Girls, but nothing he's done has made me laugh as hard as the greasy weirdo he played in last night's episode. The role could have easily been played as just some random freak, but Kenny kept everything seductive and low key, playing the ever-malleable Tom just as smoothly as he plays the saxophone. Loggia was also great in this episode, and it was great to see an actor of that stature willing to give himself up to the surreality and utter weirdness of the show.