• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 1, 2018

Comedy comes in a variety of forms.

One of the most thought-provoking observations I ever heard on the subject of comedy came from a literature professor in college who declared gleefully that the scene in Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel “The Secret Agent” in which a would-be suicide bomber blew himself up in a park before he reached his desired destination was “the most humorous scene in all of fiction.” Yes, he really said “all of fiction.”

I eventually came to understand that he was referring to the comedy inherent in the absurdity of the situation -- that this anarchist had every intention of making a big impression on the world with this act of terror, but all he really did was make a mess for the cleaning and landscaping crew in the London park where he accidentally detonated himself.

Maybe the scene was humorous by virtue of its absurdity, but at the same time, it did not exactly elicit guffaws or otherwise fill you with a sense of comedic enjoyment.

I thought of all this while watching the first two episodes of the new season of the FX series “Atlanta” because this is the kind of show that causes one to try to analyze it rather than simply enjoy it.

A consideration of this show begins with wondering whether this show is supposed to be a comedy. It is a half-hour, as comedies tend to be, and the auteur credited with the whole thing is Donald Glover, 34, who is (or was) a comedic actor (he was a member of the cast of “Community”), a stand-up comedian, rapper/recording artist (under the name Childish Gambino) and all-around genius and wunderkind, if you are to believe all the hype that gets spewed about this guy.

Moreover, I was under the impression that the show’s first season was billed as a comedy. Here in the present day, however, the word “comedy” is conspicuously absent from the publicity materials for the second season of “Atlanta” provided by FX (according to an admittedly cursory look).

In the show, Glover plays a ne’er-do-well named Earn who manages (or attempts to manage) the career (or supposed career) of his rapper cousin whose rap name is Paper Boi. This was the underpinning for Season One and it continues in Season Two, which starts Thursday night.

Episode One of the new season is subtitled “Alligator Man,” which refers to a man who owns a pet alligator. This reptile figures into the only comedic moment in the entire half-hour, providing a visual punchline of sorts that could qualify as comically absurd.

If the comedy in Episode One of the new season of “Atlanta” was difficult to spot (or absent entirely), then the situation improves in next week's Episode Two -- subtitled “Sportin’ Waves” (a reference to one character's hairstyle).

In this episode, the environment of a Millennial-run office -- the headquarters of a fictional white-run record company in Atlanta -- is depicted in savage satire. The entire office is staffed by young white people who stare in awe at Paper Boi and Earn when they visit the place -- as if a pair of extraterrestrials had just strolled into their midst.

At a meeting, a white managerial type talks to them about building Paper Boi's “brand.” He then attempts to play a new cut from a demo Paper Boi has just recorded, but no one can get the state-of-the-art wireless technology in this office to work.

While the mostly white Millennials in this office mill around doing little work, but playing a lot of ping-pong, Paper Boi is telling Earn how he plans to pistol-whip a neighborhood thug to death.

The scene is intended to convey the separation between races in some sectors of society -- in this case, African-American rappers from the street and the white people who can grant them entry into the music business.

The point is made, but the comedy is virtually nonexistent. A the risk of daring to attach expectations to new TV shows that some people evidently feel are outmoded, I have to wonder how some TV shows get made today when the last thing they seem designed to do is attract and entertain audiences.

Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” -- both the city and the TV show -- is a dreary, sad place. Why would anyone want to pay it a visit?

The second season of “Atlanta” starts Thursday night (March 1) at 10 Eastern on FX.