Bert Kreischer and Lilou Lang in Netflix's 'Free Bert.' Tom Griscom/Netflix Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text Friends and longtime podcasting partners Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer took opposing approaches to their recent Netflix comedy series. Segura used his opportunity to deliver 2025's Bad Thoughts, a vignette-driven sketch show in the vein of I Think You Should Leave that steered into everything that is amiably off-putting and in-your-face about Segura's stand-up/podcast persona. It isn't autobiographical, but it's a snapshot of a disturbed - meant, as I'm sure it would be taken, as a compliment - brain. Bad Thoughts might be a show primarily for established Tom Segura fans, but man if you're a Tom Segura fan, it's on-brand. Related Stories TV 'Finding Her Edge' Review: Netflix's YA Ice Dancing Drama Could Use More Passion and Drive TV Bert Kreischer on Bare Chests, Box Office Bombs and His New Netflix Comedy Free Bert The Bottom Line New depth but not new humor from the popular comic. Airdate: Thursday, January 22 (Netflix)Stars: Bert Kreischer, Arden Myrin, Ava Ryan, Lilou Lang, Christine Horn, Chris Witaske, MandellMaughan, Sophia Reid-GantzertCreators: Bert Kreischer & Jarrad Paul & Andy Mogel On the surface, it appears that Kreischer's new Netflix half-hour, Free Bert, aspires to something more like what Dave did for Dave "Lil Dicky" Burd or Bupkis did for Pete Davidson (or, I suppose, what Showtime's Dice tried doing for Andrew Dice Clay), wherein it takes a comic with a specific and established persona and says, "What if we showed you the human behind the schtick? What if there's a real person who is simultaneously more relatable and, perhaps, funnier without the artifice?" Or perhaps what Kreischer is doing with Free Bert is almost a parody of that genre of comic-centered storytelling, taking a semi-autobiographical approach to revealing that Bert Kreischer is his schtick and his schtick is Bert Kreischer, and screw anybody who doesn't get that. It's hard to tell for sure, because although Free Bert is successful on some level, telling a neatly arced story over six half-hour episodes that resolve in a way I found strangely satisfying (still setting up a possible season two), it's not especially funny. And when Free Bert is funny, it's actually funny because of three teenage girls who are Kreischer's co-stars - which is fairly generous of Kreischer as a co-creator, but may not deliver what his fans are hoping for or open the door to a new fanbase. Kreischer co-created Free Bert with Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel, who mined somewhat similar "Real person behind the facade" territory with the barely remembered 2019 Netflix comedy Huge in France (and slightly more tangential fame terrain with Fox's very short-lived The Grinder). The series begins with Kreischer performing at Rob Lowe's birthday party. Lowe professes to be Kreischer's biggest fan, but he's actually a fan of Kreischer's most familiar gimmick, which involves proudly removing his shirt and performing his material topless. After a set during which Lowe urges Kreischer to tear off his shirt more than a dozen times, the Unstable star offers him some wisdom. "What if you cut all the other stuff way down?" Lowe asks. He's referring to the jokes in Kreischer's routine. Kreischer is still pondering the implications of Lowe's suggestion when he returns home to where his wife LeeAnn (Arden Myrin, while the real-life LeeAnn is an executive producer on the show) is preparing their daughters Georgia (Ava Ryan) and Ila (Lilou Lang) for their first day at a prestigious new middle school. There's wariness because previous schools haven't worked out, in large part because of Bert's antics. Georgia has struggles making friends and Ila has an unspecified learning disability (the real Ila has dyslexia, but it isn't specified here). LeeAnn wants Bert to go along to get along, tamping down his more brazen instincts. Georgia, easily embarrassed, wants him to disappear. Ila wants her father to be himself, which is the advice he follows, until that advice leads the entire family to the brink of being kicked out of the new school thanks to a kerfuffle Bert starts with middle school queen bee Kiersten (Sophia Reid-Gantzert) and her insufferable parents (Chris Witaske's Landon and Mandell Maughan's Chanel). Forced to choose between being himself and protecting his family, Bert decides to change and in no time, he's become buddies with Landon and two other key members of the school's board, while Georgia has stolen Kiersten's boyfriend (Braxton Alexander) and found some popularity. It seems that an important lesson has been learned, much to the chagrin of Ila, who can't respect her newly shirted father. But who is Bert Kreischer when he wears a shirt, and is that