On paper, Only Murders in the Building is everything that’s wrong with contemporary TV comedy. Rather than engage in the risky business of outright hilarity, the streaming era prefers to hedge its bets when it comes to the artform, prioritising high-concept plotting, emotional sincerity and hype-securing big names over actual laughs. Only Murders isn’t just excessively starry – Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez lead the cast as a trio of true-crime podcasters (Martin is also the show’s co-creator), while guests include Meryl Streep, Nathan Lane and Tina Fey – it also presents a novel fusion of media satire, thrillingly twisty whodunnit and sensitive exploration of loss and loneliness. In other words, there’s a lot going on here that could feasibly make up for a script that can’t quite deliver the comic goods.
And yet – plot twist! – Only Murders in the Building is screamingly funny. In fact, it’s the funniest thing on TV at the moment (or, rather, now being drip-fed on to a streaming platform). If you like comedy of any stripe, you will like – and perhaps even love – this show.
