Created by Vivienne Medrano
Directed by Vivienne Medrano
Voice cast:
Main
Stephanie Beatriz as Vaggie
Alex Brightman as Sir Pentious and Adam
Keith David as Husk
Kimiko Glenn as Niffty and Susan
Erika Henningsen as Princess Charlotte “Charlie” Morningstar
Blake Roman as Anthony “Angel Dust” and The Egg Bois
Amir Talai as Alastor the “Radio Demon” and Tom Trench
Recurring
Jessica Vosk as Lute
Brandon Rogers as Katie Killjoy
The Vees:
Christian Borle as Vox
Lilli Cooper as Velvette
Joel Perez as Valentino
Daphne Rubin-Vega as Carmilla Carmine
Jeremy Jordan as Lucifer Morningstar
Krystina Alabado as Cherri Bomb
Guest
James Monroe Iglehart as Zestial
Don Darryl Rivera as Travis
Sarah Stiles as Mimzy
Darren Criss as Saint Peter
Patina Miller as Sera
Shoba Narayan as Emily
Leslie Kritzer as Rosie
Hazbin Hotel has an interesting theology/mythology/campfire ghost story air to it. It’s sort of a mash-up of Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and Parke Godwin. It’s an afterlife with considerably more verisimilitude and a lot more entertaining than the ones portrayed in the various Goat Herders’ Guide to the Galaxy books.
Adam and Lilith were the first humans in the Garden of Eden. But Adam wanted Lilith to obey, rather than share, and she told him to get stuffed. Adam cast her from the Garden of Eden and ordered spare ribs. Lilith met and hooked up with a similar character of independent mind and free will, an out-of-work angel named Lucifer Morningstar. They became the Lord and Lady of Hell. Eventually, they produced a daughter, Princess Charlotte “Charlie” Morningstar. Flash forward 6,028 years.
Charlie is perky, cheerful, idealistic and sunny—exactly the sort of person you want to see in hell, except of course, she’s already there.
Hell, it turns out, isn’t a perfect place to afterlive, even if all the jazz musicians and science fiction writers are there. It’s got a problem with population. As the internet meme notes, there’s a reason why there’s a highway to hell but only a stairway to heaven. The vast majority of humanity end up in hell as demons. So hell has a population pressure problem.
Therefore, once a year (whose year isn’t specified, and won’t be when biblical scholars can’t agree on what a day is, let alone a year) Adam leads a host of extermination angels to decimate the population of hell. [The pilot episode, which I watched after the first eight-part season because why the hell not, actually does mention something I had wondered about: where do the already-dead-once-and-now-re-dead-ed souls go? One of the characters wonders that as well, and then the show goes on to grandly ignore the whole issue.]
Charlie comes up with a plan. If she shows that the souls in hell can be redeemed, then might they be allowed to go to heaven? So she and her girlfriend Vaggie (yes, Vaggie. Any questions?) build a hotel where souls can come and be rehabilitated. If she can demonstrate this, then she will approach Adam to petition for a change. Adam appears to be running the show up there, and as First Swinging Dick he has all the brutality, egotism, malice and hypocrisy of Trump, only without the charm. [No sign of old I Yam That I Yam, I’m Popeye the Saviour God. He’s MIA. Maybe he fetched up babbling anile ejaculations from a pine box while his “advisors” “interpret” him. Like in His Dark Materials. In that way, also like Trump!]
They assemble a team, of sorts. Not so much loyal followers as attracted by free food and usually with their own agendas. You have Angel Dust, a porn star. Sir Pentious is, as his name suggests, a cobra. Husk is a cat who is a cynical and world-weary bartender. (Charlie wants to ban drinking, but had to soften her stance on that point.) There’s Alastor the Radio Demon who speaks 1930s shortwave and has some extraordinary power. Then there’s Niffty. Let’s just say that you may have unhappy memories of her as a classmate in your middle school biology class. The character design is a marvel to behold.
Is it good? It’s easily the funniest afterlife comedy I’ve encountered since Parke Godwin’s Waiting for the Galactic Bus. It’s an absolute nasty delight, fresh, original, and clever. It’s a musical–a GOOD musical–about Hell. The songs are catchy, fun, and like some of the better musicals, advance the plot instead of having all the other actors stand around waiting for the singer to shut up so they can get on with it. Some of the voices are Broadway quality. (The first song is “A Happy Day in Hell” with the antiphon, “It’s a Shitty Day in Hell”)
It’s extremely fast paced, particularly during the songs, and you’ll find yourself going back to pick up on some of the sight gags and specific lyrics. The dialog is uproarious. Rude and vulgar.
Engaging? My wife and I found ourselves actually applauding at the end of some of the episodes. Almost in tears, we were laughing so hard.
This started as a single shot on YouTube in 2019. Someone at Amazon spotted it, and contracted creator Vivienne Medrano to expand it to an eight part series. It premiered this past month as the most popular new show in Amazon history, and has already been green-lit for a second season.
It’s pure fun, and an absolute joy. I plan to watch it all over again.
Now on Amazon Prime. The pilot can be found on You Tube, along with a spin-off series, Helluva Boss.