Review by C.J. Bunce
You can try to put your finger and what Tracy Morgan is going for in his new series Crutch, now streaming on Paramount+, but you’ll probably get it wrong. Despite what you may have read, it’s not The Cosby Show–that show was a product of its time and fraught with its own kinds of controversy. And like Ray Romano’s Everybody Loves Raymond, it’s not really about the kids, although Morgan’s character Francois/Frank “Crutch” Crutchfield allows his adult kids to come home to live while they get their lives sorted out. No, this show is about Morgan’s ability to harness all kinds of humor. This is a few steps away from his Saturday Night Live “I’m Brian Fellows” personality by way of generating belly laughs. But it’s authentic, grounded in the kind of series we haven’t seen for a while, the kind that may have begun with Red Foxx in Sanford and Son. Like the neighborhood barber shop in countless movies, including Do the Right Thing, this is about the microcosm of living in 2025. It happens to be Harlem, but it could be anywhere neighbors actually speak to each other. It’s an easy show to just sit down and absorb, like King of Queens or Newhart, and the cast performs old school in front of a live studio audience–another thing Morgan excels at.
Crutch is a widower and empty-nester who is just at the point of enjoying life and making new plans when his son Jake, played by Jermaine Fowler, decides that instead of taking a high-paying law job just out of law school he is going to work for legal aid and take on pro bono casework. And that means a mix of millenial generation happenings mixing with Crutch’s Gen X world view. At the same time Crutch’s daughter Jamilah, played by Adrianna Mitchell, is coming back to town with her twins–only she doesn’t plan to go home, as she’s had a falling out with her husband.
You can spot many old tropes as the generation gap is stretched and jabbed at. Crutch is a little bit of the dad on Father Knows Best, even if his adult kids aren’t having it. Maybe all the ribbing has elements of All in the Family, today’s shows allow more language, but the mean spirited comedy won’t be found here. This is what you might call a “wholesome” show, with an honest, hard-working guy who lost his wife just trying his best to help his kids, all while being heckled by his sister-in-law Antoinette, played by Kecia Lewis, and nosy neighbor Miss Pearl, played by Luenell. Both Antoinette and Miss Pearl converge to conjure LaWanda Page’s similarly funny and outrageous Aunt Esther, pointing back to that Sanford and Son reference.
And it doesn’t stop there, as Crutch runs a business with his old pal Flaco, played by Adrian Martinez. Martinez is a standout in everything he’s done, from Stumptown to Awkwafina is Nora From Queens to Only Murders in the Building, but here he seems to harness Jack Black’s style of humor. He’s a really nice guy if not a little daft like Tom Poston on Newhart. And it works.
Keep your eyes open for appearances from other familiar personalities, including Arsenio Hall and Cedric the Entertainer.
It’s funny, it’s fresh, and it’s refreshing. And it’s a great break from network series trying too hard. And we can’t get enough Tracy Morgan comedy. Splice Crutch into your weekly routine to slip some good laughs into your week. Crutch is now streaming on Paramount+.
