Country Music Fans Really Hate Tom Segura’s New Comedy Series
After so many years of one-sided mockery, “Where are the bodies, Garth?” has given way to “Where are the jokes, Tom?”
Netflix deliberately marketed Bad Thoughts as a show that wouldn’t be for everyone — not even for Segura’s mother, who delivered the worst review of the series in a crowded field. However, as the general response to Bad Thought since its May 13th premiere has demonstrated, the audience for the show is pretty much reserved to the part of Segura’s fanbase that enjoys watching him regurgitate his old bits in between half-baked blue humor sketches.
One of the most prominently featured vignettes in Bad Thoughts is Segura’s extended parody of embattled country music singer Garth Brooks, a continuation of one of his longest-running Your Mom's House podcast jokes that Brooks is secretly a serial killer. But as the country music world grapples with the possibility that Brooks may be a real-life monster due to the ongoing sexual assault lawsuit against him, country fans agree that Segura isn’t the satirist for such a sensitive moment in country music history.
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In a recent Saving Country Music article titled, “Garth Brooks Jokes Don’t Land in Tom Segura Comedy Series,” a writer by the name of Trigger expressed how unimpressed he is with Segura’s payoff to a years-long ribbing of the “Friends in Low Places” singer, as readers lamented that the old joke may be beyond saving.
“As a country fan, a comedy fan, and maybe even as a Garth Brooks fan, you were hoping this could result in some fun laughs,” Trigger wrote in his negative review. “But unfortunately, Tom Segura’s Bad Thoughts doesn’t deliver. And forget the tie into the country music universe and Garth Brooks, the series of six 20-minute-or-so episodes really just isn’t that funny at all except for in fleeting moments.”
In Bad Thoughts, Segura’s clear Brooks parody Rex Henley kidnaps several of his fans and moves them to a remote town, hoping to mine their misery for a new hit song. But, as Trigger pointed out of the Rex Henley arc, “Despite the insane premise, it might be some of the most tame moments of the series.” Trigger said of Bad Thoughts beyond the Brooks digs, “The rest of the series involves so many scenes with human excrement, buttholes and bad sex comedy, it just doesn’t hold up or offer any sort of social commentary like the best comedy does.”
In the comments section, fans agreed with Trigger’s assessment of Bad Thoughts, even taking some country-themed digs of their own reviews. “I’d rather listen to the new Morgan Wallen album then watch this trash,” the top commenter snarked.
“Comedy is pretty dead today. Everything ends up either stale & cringe or edgy & ironic,” another Saving Country Music lamented. “And people being incredibly thin-skinned & easily offended doesn’t help either. And by that, i mean EVERYBODY, and NOT a specific group of people.”
Another said asked, “Where are the jokes, Tom?”
However, there were some country fans who felt that Segura’s parody, as tasteless as others found it, was just a fraction of what the real-life Brooks deserves. “Garth is a horrible person because of the sexual abuse allegations against him that are completely true. He deserves to be ridiculed hiliariously (sic) and I quite enjoyed it,” one such detractor argued.
But, ultimately, Segura’s rip on Brooks in Bad Thoughts isn’t based on any possible real-life bad behavior. It’s just the punchline for a joke that he’s been telling since 2018, and much like Brooks' career, the bit may have finally run its course.
