George: This all very insane and illegal, isn't it?
Ray: It's very illegal. And insane.
George: I like insane.
An HBOSitcom that first began airing in September, 2009. It stars Jason Schwartzman as Jonathan Ames, a non-licensed private detective who believes he can help people. After breaking up with his girlfriend Suzanne and discovering that she was the only thing he had, Jon puts an ad on Craigslist hiring himself out as an investigator. He attempts to juggle this life with working for a magazine run by George Christopher, a middle-aged man who is actively attempting to recapture his youth through drugs and sex. Jon's best friend, Ray Hueston, is a comic-book artist with relationship issues who begrudgingly helps Jon in his exploits any way he can.The series was cancelled in 2011 after its third season.
Affably Evil: Jon starts a friendly conversation with the man who's taken hostage the woman Jon's been hired to find. They end up smoking pot together before the cops bust in.
All Lesbians Want Kids: A lesbian couple hit up Ray for sperm in a coffee shop. Like you do. When he obliges, they turn around and sell his sperm on the black market to all the other lesbians in the neighborhood, all of whom are also desperate to reproduce.
Always a Bigger Fish: Jon, Ray and George escape a violent thug accidentally when they crash into the back of a police car...while high...
Amateur Sleuth: Jon becoming one of these is the premise for the show.
Author Avatar: Jonathan Ames is the name of both the creator and the main character.
Badass Bookworm: Jonathan becomes one of these for all of thirty second when he uses a few Groin Attacks and a large tree branch to save Louis Green from some drug dealers.
Blackmail: In one episode, Jon is hired to get back a sex tape from a woman who serially seduces men and blackmails them with the evidence. In another, Jon is blackmailed into throwing his boxing match against Louis Green when someone finds George's Viagra bottle.
British Brevity: Though not British it fits the trope well since so far 3 seasons have been made and each has had only 8 episodes.
Brother-Sister Incest: Season 3 ends with Jonathan embarking on a relationship with Rose and deciding to not tell her that he has discovered she is his half-sister.
Chekhov's Gun: In the first episode of season two, Jon helps a cop by breaking into an S&M club and erasing it's member database before a police raid (said cop is on the member database.) In the season finale, a favor from said cop helps Jon solve a case.
Cloud Cuckoolander: Jim Jarmush, full stop. His apartment is completely bare so he can ride laps on his bike in it.
Most Writers Are Writers: Though, while Jon is a novelist, Ray is a webcomic writer, and George is Jon's boss at a publishing company, writing isn't much of a plot point until season one's final two episodes.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In "The Case of the Stolen Skateboard", after going through all that trouble to return a child's skateboard to win favor with his single mom, it turns out not only is the mom is uninterested, but Jon costs George a shot at romance and the ending strongly implies that Jon has the shit beaten out of him by skater punks.
One Hit Wonder: In-universe example, Jon's first and only novel makes him one of these. The second season highlighted his anxiety about his sophomore attempt, which gets rejected. But by the third season, he's promoting a published work, which seems to be getting acclaim in the publishing world.
Promotion to Opening Titles: Heather Burns, who plays Leah, Ray's girlfriend in season one and ex in season two got this halfway through the second season. She doesn't get her own little animation bit, though, they snuck her name into the top-right corner of the screen during Ted Danson's bit.
Properly Paranoid: Richard Antrem has very little reason to believe that his wife Priscilla is having an affair when he hires Jonathan. She is having one, and with George—who is also Antrem's nemesis and publishing rival—to boot.
Shout Out: Frequently made to great authors and books.
Sitcom Archnemesis: Petty, pretentious and unbearably smug Louis Green (John Hodgman), a literary critic who panned Jonathan's first novel and never passes up an opportunity to belittle him or insult him.
George has a rival in the form Richard Antrem (Oliver Platt), editor of GQ magazine. Cranked Up to Eleven when after George leaves his post as editor of Edition to focus on his restaurant a few episodes later Richard opens his own restaurant specifically to try and drive George's out of business.
The Shrink: A type one sends Ray into an extremely short-lived bout of self-awareness, which in turn causes depression. Said shrink goes on to "solve" all of Jon's issues in under five minutes, although it might've been because he knew Jon wasn't there for advice and wanted him to cut to the chase.
The Stoner: All three main characters are almost constantly stoned, usually while in risky situations. They alternate between this and Erudite Stoner, depending on the circumstance.
Surprise Incest: Jonathon and his girlfriend find out that they're half-siblings. Left hanging due to cancellation.
They Fight Crime: A failing novelist, a comic-book artist, and a wealthy magazine editor, all of whom are stoners.
Throwing The Fight: George does this in the appropriately named episode "Take A Dive".
Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Ray is a childish selfish person with an infantile obsession with his own penis (basically the centerpiece of his web comic), who mooches off his girlfriend, cheats on her with an older woman at one point and is often intoxicated when he is supposed to be watching her children or his infant son.
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