Lance Armstrong gave everyone with only one testicle a bad name. Byron Lane found a lump, and rather than a statistically hyperactive biological passport, the result was Last Will & Testicle, a comedic webseries leading up to the removal of his tumorous gonad.
Tumorous, yes, but unfortunately not that humorous. The series is all just a bit one note—there is a lot of hysterical laughing at the mention of his impending surgery—and you wish that each episode were more than just another perverse reaction to Lane’s condition.
So it isn’t very good, but is that going to matter? The series had a very successful Kickstarter, has garnered the support of various luminaries, and a has assembled a decent cast, including The Mindy Project’s Beth Grant.
All of which has less to do with the show itself and a lot to do with a subject matter, which—in a week where the world has lost both David Bowie and Alan Rickman—has become an even more inescapably depressive fact. Cancer is horrible, we know.
And so you’ll really want to like this. Because it tries to demystify lumps and surgery and cosmetic replacement testicles. It does, in a way, show how stupid people can look if they get weirded out by the thought of some testes becoming estranged. And you’ve got to give props to the creator for going beyond-Brando in his “preparation” for the role.
But—not that I’m suggesting that Lane is asking for one—it feels pretty superficial to give something a free pass wholly on account on it being a conversation around the Big C. To be sure, Lane isn’t Lance, but if a little less critical leeway was given in that case, we’d have been saved a whole load of drama.
Screengrab via Byron Lane/YouTube
