‘The 1% Club’ (2024) Prime Video Series Review - Mental Exercise With Patton Oswalt

I always feel a bit anxious when someone prefaces a question with, "This is easy stuff. Any fifth-grade student can give you an answer." My fear comes from the thought, "What if I can't answer the question? What will the other person think of my intelligence?" Fortunately, I haven't been in a situation where I had to admit defeat because I didn't know the answer to the supposedly easy question. This means that if I were a contestant on The 1% Club who got eliminated for failing to answer a 90% question, I would have vanished to another planet. No need to turn off the lights on my seat. I would have disappeared like water evaporating in the hot sun.

For those who are unaware of The 1% Club, a 90% question is a question that almost 90% of Americans can answer without breaking a sweat. As the round progresses, we move from 90% to 80% to 70% and so on until we arrive at the 1% question. What I found baffling about this show was that there were contestants who got eliminated during the 90% round. All they had to do was figure out which air balloon picture was real (look at the reflection) or solve other such undemanding questions. Patton Oswalt, a genial host, never derides any contestant, however. He cushions embarrassing moments with a heavy dose of goodwill and humor. He even knows how to gracefully move on from bad jokes coming from contestants who desperately try to be humorous.

The participants, unlike the models of beauty pageants like Miss Universe, don't want to "change the world." You have a single mom who wants to enjoy herself, a bride-to-be who wants a photo booth at her wedding, a woman who wants a Brazilian butt lift, and a "supervillain." The easy-breezy chats between the host and the contestants create a relaxed atmosphere. Yet, after three 45-minute-long episodes, I ended up feeling exhausted.

The unvarying cheerful noises of The 1% Club dull your senses. Whether someone wins or loses, the tone remains the same, so you don't feel particularly impressed by those who win all the rounds. By the time you reach the end of an episode, you feel like taking a nap or lying down. The monotonous mood reduces everything to meaningless noise. The show, for all its brain-teasers, leaves you less stimulated and more indifferent. Furthermore, I don't think the show accurately measures the intelligence of the participants. For instance, there were times when I couldn't answer a 40% question, but I could answer a 10% or 5% question. What does this mean? Am I partially smart, or are the questions not properly ordered? Can Oswalt or any winner provide an explanation?

Final Score- [4/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times
Note: All three episodes are screened for this review.
Premiere Date: May 23, 2024, on Prime Video