Whenever President Curtis (Keith David) shows up on Rick and Morty, I always get excited. While all of Rick and Morty is a rapid-fire barrage of nihilistic jokes and meta references, the President’s dialogue often pertains to America’s past leaders, with jokes at the expense of FDR, JFK, Abraham Lincoln, and so on. (A particularly hilarious moment occurs in season 3 when Curtis once rattles off a list America’s greatest national embarrassments, including, “The Kennedy Sex Tunnels,” “The Truman Cocaine Lounge,” and “The McKinley Hooker Dump.”) Plus, with the full might of the United States behind him, Curtis often feels like one of the only characters who can go toe-to-toe with Rick Sanchez, even if he usually gets outmatched in the end.
So when I heard President Curtis was getting his own spinoff show (the first official Rick and Morty spinoff, at that) I got excited because I figured it would just be a lot more of that kind of deeply nerdy humor aimed at history buffs. Fortunately, that’s pretty much exactly what the show is and, as a character, President Curtis works totally independently of Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith. Created by Rick and Morty director Wes Archer and writer Tom Kauffman (who both helped create the originally-unnamed president), President Curtis premieres on Adult Swim on July 26, kicking off a 10-episode first season, and while the show does have a few shortcomings, its strengths are far greater than its weaknesses.
Curtis is kind of like having Batman as a president. This POTUS personally deals with threats to America, which include a rampaging Paul Bunyan and various other mythical beings infused with Americana. On these adventures, he’s accompanied by his new chief of staff, Banks (Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Stephanie Beatriz) and his top bodyguard O’Doyle (Community star Jim Rash).
With the same simple lines, bright colors, and blotchy pupils, President Curtis looks a lot like Rick and Morty, and it’s similarly fast-paced, both in story and dialogue. A nice addition which sets it apart from Rick and Morty is the patina of a classic sitcom, with a calm, instrumental introduction not dissimilar from Taxi’s theme song; plus a sequence that features Curtis singing in the shower at the end of each episode, which reminds me of Frasier singing “Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs” over the closing credits of Frasier. Throughout the first season, which takes place late in his first term as president, Curtis goes on a series of standalone adventures, though there are a couple of long-term plotlines being built in the background around him and his subordinates. These include Banks’ partly-robotic origins and O’Doyle’s heritage as a half-Leprechaun.
In keeping with his character, many of Curtis’ adventures have to do with American history. One episode includes Abraham Lincoln’s ghost taking care of some unfinished business. Another is about a previously-unnoticed clause in the Louisiana Purchase placed by Napoleon which may cause America to lose control of the territory. There are also a ton of jokes about past presidents: one great running gag throughout the season is that there are large numbers of Americans demanding that Lincoln’s head on Mt. Rushmore requires a giant stone top hat.
President Curtis goes so hard in that direction, especially in the pilot episode, that I wondered: “Who is this for besides history nerds?” I’m someone who loves this kind of stuff — I’m currently halfway through a biography about John Quincy Adams — so when it goes deep on American history jokes, I think it’s hilarious. (Like, in the first episode, when JFK mentions in an archival video that Texas is his “favorite place.”) But I wonder if that’s as entertaining to non-history nerds. That said, so much of Rick and Morty is pointed at sci-fi nerds so maybe it’ll work. Regardless, President Curtis is at its best when it doubles down on American history, which it doesn’t always do.
One small problem I had with the show came when it got a little too sci-fi. A few plots from season 1 could just as easily be given to Rick and Morty, instead of President Curtis, and those are the episodes where the show is less sharp. (One episode sees him venture into Hollow Earth, another has him visit a secret monster prison in the Bermuda Triangle.) Those episodes — which, I’d say, is only about three or four from the 10-episode season — feel almost like the writers had leftover ideas from the Rick and Morty writers’ room, so they gave them to Curtis instead.
Also, the supporting characters (namely Banks and O’Doyle) are not nearly as compelling as Curtis himself. Throughout the 10 episodes, whenever Curtis wasn’t on screen, I was bored. It also doesn’t help that the big, overarching backstories the writers are building are all about those characters. Over time, Rick and Morty drifted away from episodic stories to a more continuity-based format, before pushing back and eventually finding a middle ground. If President Curtis follows a similar path, it could mean more stories about Banks and O’Doyle, which would be a big mistake. Perhaps these characters will grow on me, but for now, they’re just killing time in between great stuff with President Curtis.
The good thing is, President Curtis really is a fantastic lead. Keith David, having headlined other awesome projects like Gargoyles back in the 1990s, is an incredibly strong actor with one of the most compelling voices in all of show business. And Curtis is the perfect type of character for a spinoff since he’s set apart from what Rick and Morty do on a day-to-day basis. When Curtis is on screen, you really don’t need Rick and Morty. He is a great character all on his own. And while I doubt this show can go for “100 years” like Rick and Morty, I’m in for at least four more years of President Curtis.
President Curtis premieres July 26 on Adult Swim and a day later on HBO Max.
