Series Review: "The G Word with Adam Conover" (2022).

"Our government, uncensored". This is The G Word with Adam Conover. This documentary series created by Jon Cohen, Adam Conover and Jon Wolf. This hybrid comedy-documentary series that pulls back the curtain on the surprising ways the US government impacts our everyday lives, from the mundane to the life changing. With his signature blend of irreverence and insight, Conover explores the government’s triumphs, failures, and what we might be able to do to change it.

American comedian, writer, voice actor, and television host, Adam Conover, is best known for creating and hosting the half-hour truTVshow Adam Ruins Everything, based on the CollegeHumor series of the same name. Conover was born in Smithtown, New York, to parents David O. Conover, a marine biologist, and Margaret Conover (née Howard), a botanist, and grew up in Wading River. His younger sister is Emily Conover, a science reporter who holds a PhD in particle physics. His parents' and sibling's degrees have led Adam to describe himself as "the only member of the family without a Ph.D." In 2000, he graduated from Shoreham-Wading River High School, where he became interested in the performing arts. He then attended Bard College, where, in 2002, he became an active member of the sketch comedy group Olde English. In 2004, he earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Bard College. In 2012, Conover began working as a sketch comedy writer and performer for the comedy website and YouTube channel CollegeHumor, where he eventually created the web series that would go on to become Adam Ruins Everything on TruTV. The first episode of the TruTV show, which aims to reveal untold truths and to dispel common misconceptions, premiered on September 29, 2015. Conover has said his character in the show is a comedic interpretation of the person he worries he once was and/or is. As he told The New York Observer, "It’s the reaction I’ve gotten my whole life: that I learn something and try to tell people in conversation, but when I tell them, they are annoyed." In December 2020, Conover announced that the show was no longer in production and that he was planning a new Netflix series about the federal government called The G Word, with a May 19, 2022 release date.

The show is funny and fast and informative, though (in its own spirit) you shouldn't necessarily take its myth busting as final, but rather as a spur to continue researching on your own. Like Adam Ruins Everything, the series is the next generation of Penn & Teller: Bullshit, taking no prisoners as it eviscerates sacred cows, popular misconceptions and urban myths with a surgeon's precision and a stand-up's biting wit. The well-informed, somewhat geeky series uses gags and witty banter to point out some of the painful truths behind the myths that guide common cultural habits. Hear what Mr. Conover has to say and you may no longer feel quite so self-righteous when you empty the back shelf of the pantry for someone's canned-food drive or toss those used clothes into a collection bin.

Simon says The G Word with Adam Conover receives: