Is It Cake? Host Mikey Day’s Worst Season 1 Puns

As the final buttercream smudge is Windexed off the bulletproof glass of the Mona Lisa, there’s no better time to visit (or revisit) Netflix’s deliciously deceptive Is It Cake? Spawned from a Twitter trend and designed to be devoured, the show is a borderline infallible entry into today’s quick consumption, meme-defined society. With a surefire premise and a cast as colorful as the cakes they’re crafting, the show’s only questionable decision lies within its host.

Mikey Day (Saturday Night Live) approaches his hosting duties with the brooding, borderline humorlessness of Jim Carrey in The Cable Guy. With a presence as stiff as his quips, his attempts at comedic levity land less like an ice breaker and more like a slap to the forehead.

A Playful Admission

“Man, I Should Have Watched Baking Shows Before I Did This.”

Though far from his worst effort, the line itself is tethered to a visual gag that offers a succinct takedown of his casting qualifications and hammers it home with the subtlety of a Family Guy joke.

As Day emerges on-screen reading the fictitious “Learn How to Cake,” his line read here is akin to him explaining an already obvious visual pun. Where both gags would have worked in isolation, the layering of the same joke in two formats is overkill.

An Existential Inquiry

“I’m Mikey Day, Or Am I Cake?”

There was no doubting whether or not this joke was coming. The question was how long Day could go without saying it. The answer is one episode, which is quite frankly longer than expected considering the show’s comedic nuance.

Ending the second episode with the show’s most obvious joke is a blessing and a curse. Sure, Day couldn’t help himself. Sure, it could have landed as a fun, final line to the series. But under a positive light, it was now burned and viewers no longer had to wonder when Day was going to ask them whether or not he was cake.

Magical Allusions

“Much Like Harry Potter, It Is The Golden Chosen Child.”

Comparing Justin Ellen—the show’s youngest baker and literal high schooler—to Harry Potter isn’t entirely unbelievable, but it is without much impact. With a lifeless stare, Day unleashes his cinematic simile to summon Ellen to his culinary fate.

The line invokes a smattering of nervous laughter and general confusion from the gallery. Though Ellen’s cakes weren’t always convincing, his youthful exuberance was contagious. Day’s attempt to cut through the tension with comedy only really serves to heighten the awkwardness of competing in an empty studio and progressively lands flatter the more comfortable he becomes.

Burying The Lede

“You’re Not Familiar With Their Work, But You’re Familiar With Their Hearts…And Now You Will Crush Them.”

Serving more than just cakes, Jonny Manganello is an indelible part of the show. Whether he’s competing or jokingly chirping along from the gallery, his presence is playful and prominent. As he picks the competitors for his second go-around, Day attempts to fill the awkward silence left after his accusations of cherry-picking with more accusations.

With Manganello stating the obvious—his unfamiliarity with the two women he chose to bake against’s work—Day volleys back with a similar beat, spinning it with minimal rotation as a hammy quip hiding malicious intent. The forced “aws” and audible groans serve a sour reality to Day’s semi-saccharine attempt at diffusion.

Product Placement

“Aight: It’s The Baker’s Beer. Warning: Aight Causes Sterility”

Towards the middle of the series, there’s an episode that plays as an ongoing gag for the fictitious, “non-product placement” beer, Aight. From riffing on the beer during its initial unveiling to doing an actual commercial for it mid-episode, Aight just keeps coming.

Cutting an ad out of the blue for the faux brew is a fun callback, but tacking on a warning for comedic purposes comes off as too much. The commercial is its own joke. The add-on warning feels like Day’s attempt to prolonge a 15-second advertisement into a 30-second spot. Dabbling in the absurd, there’s an ocean of thematic batter for Is It Cake? to test in season two, hopefully with more restraint.

Learning Along The Way

“I Guess With Fondant…Anything Is Possible.”

Day’s open obliviousness to the confectionary world is one note. From reading the aforementioned “Learn How to Cake” to legitimately asking questions, Day learns as he lords over the stage. The contestants even find a way to poke fun at his paid naivety by making up fake terminology and feeding it to him.

With fondant firmly set as the sole term in his decorative toolbelt, Day had to wait for his moment to strike. Criticizing contestant Nina Marie Charles’ decision to make a chip-filled bowl into a cake, Day looks into the camera, says his one-liner, and tosses a cake chip into the air that lands with as much grace as his terminology-based quip.

Don’t Call It A Comeback

“He Didn’t Find The Radio, But He Found His Way Back Into The Competition.”

After being the only contestant in his group to incorrectly identify the cake in “Find That Cake,” youngster Justin Ellen was left bare and ripe for Day’s picking. Far from an unpopular opinion, Day’s comedic effort here wasn’t exactly a home run.

Riffing on the radio Ellen was unable to claim as a confection, Day found a way to tie the appliance into Ellen’s ongoing competitive life. To the pleasure of no one, Day siphoned out Ellen’s nervous giggles and let the awkwardness afterward speak for itself.

Don’t Say It

“You Guys Seem Like The Experts But It Looks Like April…Fooled You. Looks Like It’s April Fools Day Here.”

Canadian cake artist/contestant April Julian is the competitive heart of the show. Balancing shrewd decision-making with a heartfelt longing for home, Julian showcases her craft and drive in a way no one else does.

It’s not just that Day made the “April Fools” joke. He did it twice, consecutively. Drawing grimaces from contestants and judges alike, Day’s painfully obvious gag landed to rapturous silence, which he then used as a platform to tell it again. A joke that’s certainly haunted Julian throughout her life, Day found a way to make viewers as exasperated with its lack of creativity as the dessert chef herself.

Prop Comedy

“Why Do I Have A Blowtorch? Because Things Are Heating Up.”

Kicking off the penultimate episode of the series, Day arrives via the cake wall with a welder’s helmet on his head and a blow torch in his hands. Flanked by the two previously determined finalists, Day’s dramatic entrance was a literal play on the show’s rising intensity.

Drawing an immediate, “oh my God,” from the ever-vocal Johnny Manganello, Day’s prop pun was audibly panned on set and resonates just as sadly through streaming. Though it wasn’t the first time the show used a prop for comedic purposes, it was the most viscerally agonizing attempt at humor.

Let’s Get Literal

“You Weren’t Sure. You Took A Stab At It, But You Stabbed Right.”

There’s no questioning Day’s affinity for knife play. The way his eyes light up when he brandishes that sleek, sharp steel and submerges it into a counterfeit cake is undeniable. It took him less than one episode to make a pun so bad it would go unopposed as the series’ worst.

Capping off the inaugural “Cake or Cash” bonus round, Day gift-wrapped the contestant’s fruitful blind guess with a pun so cheesy it stopped production. Accentuated with a record-scratch, Day stabbed his blade into a cake replica money bag and told a dad joke so literal that the host himself had to issue a statement over its impact. “That catchphrase is not gonna take off,” he said.