The Twilight Zone meets Black Mirror with a dark comedic twist in comedian Tom Segura’s Bad Thoughts
Rod Serling’s classic anthology series The Twilight Zone has influenced generations of television writers, and a new Netflix series mines similar (albeit sillier) territory.
Created by standup comic Tom Segura, Bad Thoughts is described as “a six-episode series of dark and twisted comedy,” in which Segura “brings his unfiltered musings to life within a cinematic world where nothing is as it seems.”
While it’s not surprising that Segura’s pre-existing relationship with Netflix — for whom he’s produced several hit standup specials — would see his new show land there, Bad Thoughts’ road to Netflix was a circuitous one. Last year, Segura self-financed and self-produced a pilot, then shopped it around before ultimately selling to the streamer.
According to Netflix, “Bad Thoughts centres on Segura, who also serves as the show’s narrator, as he takes us through each episode in a series of vignettes. The twisted comedic sensibility of Tom’s standup is the core DNA of this series, where every story will unfold in a hilariously disturbing way only he could imagine.”
After debuting a trailer — which was indeed twisted — during his sold-out show at NYC’s Madison Square Garden, Segura discussed Bad Thoughts when he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“It’s a collection of short stories,” Segura explained. “Kind of like if you watch the old Twilight Zone, where they would kind of introduce a theme or topic. And these are all twisted, kind of messed up. Like, if there was a dark comedic Black Mirror, it would be kind of like this show.”
While discussing the show with host Jimmy Fallon, Segura also revealed how he came to decide on its title. “It’s called Bad Thoughts because basically every time I pitched one of these things, people were like, ‘You shouldn’t make that,’” he joked.
In addition to narrating, Segura also shows up in the series to play an array of different characters, all completely unrelated to each other. These include a balding IT guy who’s “sadder and fatter” than he is; a sheriff; a long-haired bearded guy he compared to music producer Rick Rubin; and a bizarre-looking French woman with horrifyingly bad teeth who is unrecognizable as Segura.
Meanwhile, he also joked that the feedback he’s received so far for Bad Thoughts has not been encouraging. “The only person that has seen any of the show is my mother,” Segura told Fallon. “And it’s not a good review. She literally said, ‘You have to change your name.’ She goes, ‘If people know it’s you . . .’ I go, ‘Everybody knows it’s me. It’s my show.’ And she said, ‘If the show comes out, I will never leave the house so people don’t see me.’ And she goes, ‘Is there any way you can get them to change it?’ And I’m like, ‘What? What do you mean?’ She’s like, ‘This is horrible. It’s so offensive.’ And I was like, ‘Honestly, I made it for you, Mom.’”
The series premiere of Bad Thoughts begins streaming Tuesday, May 13 on Netflix