What We Do in the Shadows: The Campaign

July 30, 2023 5:58 PM - Season 5, Episode 4

Colin runs for office; Nandor makes a new friend; Nadja reconnects with her roots.

There are a lot of guest stars roaming around Staten Island this episode. Alexander, Nandor's new gym friend, is Robert Smigel, and Vanessa Bayer returns as Evie Russell, the emotional vampire. The Supreme Council of Energy Vampires: Hannibal Burress, Aparna Nacherla, Gregg Turkington, and Jo Firestone.

I don't know what it says about me, but I thought Laszlo looked fantastic in his furry Kangol and board shorts. Nandor also does some glamorous snack buying at the movies with Alexander.

Vulture recap
AV Club recap

posted by gladly (11 comments total)

I waited for Nandor to literally turn into a green eyed monster, alas and alack, ‘twas not to be.
posted by oldnumberseven at 6:51 PM on July 30, 2023

Don't forget Martha Kelly! They really went all out for the Supreme Council of Energy Vampire - an A+ scene. This season has been really excellent so far.
posted by coffeecat at 8:40 PM on July 30, 2023 [9 favorites]

It was interesting that the subtitles I had referred to the energy vampires by the actors' names. I wonder if they were canonically themselves.
posted by Marticus at 9:31 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

in the past with the vampire council they had a bunch of celebrities playing “““themselves””” so it makes sense to do the same with the energy vampires
posted by DoctorFedora at 1:07 AM on July 31, 2023 [7 favorites]

I died at Hannibal Burress' exchange about being late, no he was here the whole time but not listening, could someone catch him up?

Nice to see Evie again!
posted by the primroses were over at 4:49 AM on July 31, 2023 [12 favorites]

I love when Evie and Colin feed on the same crowd. They're so deliciously evil with their flashy eyes.

I forgot to mention that Nadia's new Antipaxian family decides that Laszlo is the King of Pigs. I think Laszlo would be charmed if he thought about it for a second.
posted by gladly at 6:32 PM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]

Ah Nandor. What do you call it when someone has ADHD... but at a 1000-year timespan instead of 60-year?
posted by rebent at 5:25 AM on August 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

There’s Still Life in What We Do in the Shadows’s Energy-Vampire Gag
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:02 AM on August 3, 2023

"It could also be under Sounds and Haptics."

I haven't laughed so hard at a TV show in months; that scene was comic timing perfection.

The Nandor stuff was too silly, and while I like the Antipaxos family potential the Laszlo story was pretty shallow. They killed it with the rest, though.
posted by mediareport at 4:15 PM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Thrilled to see Aparna Nancherla as the mute-mic energy vampire! She weaponizes her quietness to great effect in her comedy -- I feel like she's constantly mumbling a little aside that, a second late, I register as the most devastating line I've ever heard -- so I loved that it was incorporated to the bit here.
posted by grandiloquiet at 10:40 AM on August 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

After we watched this episode my partner and I went to a zoning and development town hearing where the facilitator was not audible. People in the crowd told her to talk into the mic, she said she was talking into the mic, it went on and on. It was amazing how precisely it matched the episode. We were awestruck.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 5:20 AM on September 14, 2023 [3 favorites]