It’s a fine line between laughter and pain in ‘Nasdrovia’ and ‘Sextortion’

Spanish and New Zealand sitcoms at SBS On Demand prove that comedy is a universal language.

(L–R) ‘Sextortion’ and ‘Nasdrovia’. Source: SBS

Violence can play a big part in comedy. Watching a cat topple off a couch or a skateboarder crash and burn is classic YouTube fodder that most people from Kalgoorlie to Kazakhstan can appreciate.

Two new sitcoms screening at SBS On Demand may come from opposite ends of the world – Spain’s Nasdrovia and New Zealand’s Sextortion – but they approach decidedly serious situations with the same blackly comic tone, dishing out the hurt with painfully funny results.

Nasdrovia

‘Nasdrovia’ Source: Distributor

There’s nothing particularly funny about the opening moments of the Quentin Tarantino-esque comedy thriller Nasdrovia.

When viewers first meet Edurne (Leonor Watling), she’s on her hands and knees in a restaurant searching for a missing tooth while trying to staunch the flow of blood from her broken nose. Her ex-husband Julián (Hugo Silva) lies unconscious nearby.

As a thug walks up to Edurne and puts a gun to her head, she looks directly at the camera and breaks the fourth wall, explaining how she came to be in this precarious predicament.

The series then jumps back three months to the day when the divorced couple – both successful lawyers who defend the worst white-collar criminals – are celebrating their joint 40th birthdays.

Edurne is suffering a midlife crisis (“I don’t want to be dramatic, but I hate my life”) and ready for a change. It’s at a party held by one of their corrupt clients that she meets eccentric chef Franky (Luis Bermejo). After spending 10 years cooking in Moscow, he has returned to Spain and wants to open his own restaurant called Nasdrovia, but lacks the funds.

‘Nasdrovia’ Source: Distributor

Inspired by their love of all things Russian, particularly vodka, Edurne and Julián agree to be his partners and the trio proceed with the exciting new venture. However, a drunken pre-opening celebration goes pear-shaped when Franky is caught by two Russian mobsters urinating on their car. Thinking on her feet, Edurne offers the thugs a free meal at Nasdrovia to save him from a beating. Much to her consternation, they actually turn up on opening night, along with the rest of their gang, immediately taking a shine to the place.

Nasdrovia soon becomes the mobsters’ home away from home. An uneasy friendship develops between the restaurant owners and Boris (Anton Yakovlev), the charismatic but psychotic gang leader, who adores Franky’s herring blinis. Of course, viewers already know that this relationship is going to turn sour and lead them back to the disconcerting opening scene from the first episode.

The Spanish-language series (with plenty of Russian spoken as well) is based on the 2016 novel The Man Who Hated Paulo Coelho by Sergio Sarria, who also worked on the show as script coordinator.

“We tried to escape the traditional way in which comedy is done in Spain,” director Marc Vigil explains in an interview. “Even when funny situations happen, we tried to get viewers to never stop feeling that the characters are in danger.”

A six-part series of half-hour episodes, Nasdrovia is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

Sextortion

‘Sextortion’ Source: Distributor

The only violence in Sextortion is consensual but it still leads to a ton of trouble for the series’ protagonist, Darren Bellows (Thomas Sainsbury). He’s the figurehead of the fringe Conservative Unity Party founded and run by his father, the formidable Reverend Bellows (Mark Mitchinson).

When the six-part English-language series begins, Darren is about to give his inaugural speech to launch the party’s 2020 election campaign.

“I never wanted to be an important person,” he muses to himself. “I just wanted my dad to like me.”

That’s when he receives a text message containing an incriminating sex video featuring him, and his life spirals out of control. It appears Darren has enjoyed S&M sessions for the past 12 months with a dominatrix called Shona (Kathleen Burns), not realising he was being filmed. She plans to release the video to the public unless he accedes to her demands. However, it soon becomes clear that she’s not after money but wants something even bigger from the panicked political wannabe.

‘Sextortion’ Source: Distributor

Desperate to save the campaign, his marriage to Belinda (Natalie Medlock) and his relationship with his stern dad, Darren and his brother and campaign manager Hari (Stephen Tamarapa) try to find out who is the mastermind behind Shona’s extortion attempt.

But to what lengths are they willing to go to shut them down before the video goes viral? And does it even matter when the poll Darren commissioned says his party will receive less than 1% of the vote (give or take 1% for statistical error) on election day?

Sainsbury – best known for playing Constable Parker in Kiwi sitcom Wellington Paranormal – is no stranger to finding humour in politics. In 2019, he ran for mayor of Auckland as one of his comedy alter egos, ‘Fiona the wine reviewer’, and came twelfth with a respectable 2800 votes.

Sainsbury says politicians make great comedy fodder.

“I think it’s because they are... in positions of power,” he tells Stuff. “You’re punching up at people.”

Whether it’s a hypocritical pillar of society like Darren in Sextortion or the pompous middle-class lawyers Edurne and Julián in Nasdrovia, watching them squirm and suffer is funny. Maybe dark and unpleasant, but funny.

A six-part series of 15-minute episodes, Sextortion is now streaming at SBS On Demand.