Adult Swim has targeted three types of viewers: stoners, atheists, and people who can’t sleep, and Mike Tyson’s Mysteries satisfies all three. The 11-minute show surrounds an animated Tyson, more or less solving obscurities with his adopted Asian daughter, Yung Hee; Marquess of Queensberry, the flamboyant ghost of John Douglas; and a sexually depraved, sardonic pigeon, voiced by Norm Macdonald.
While the former heavyweight champion is the star of the series, and perhaps the lure to the show, each team member wonderfully plays off one another, creating a silly, exciting, and touching dynamic.
Tyson’s character is not so much dumb as he is obliviously quirky, and often times confuses normal expressions and logical behaviors, such as turning the “fight or flight” feeling he has, into ‘flighting’ and fighting, politely exclaiming “excuse me, fight or flight coming through!” as he punches men, women, and an old lady on his way to rescue Yung Hee from Robert Redford.
While the show often takes its opportunities to break the fourth wall, it also recognizes its basic construct that is similar to many animated, ”team” shows, such as Family Guy or Scooby-Doo; and they play this out in the episode released the week of 2016's 4/20, where guest star Snoop Dogg rips off Tyson's team.
Mike bumps into Snoop watering his exotic desert plants, and invites Tyson to see his “succulents,” to where Mike replies, “no thank you, I’m into women.” Snoop then shows him his incredible Pigeon coop, architected to bring the messages of people-in-need.
As the similarities rack up, Snoop Dogg introduces Mike to his Unsolved Situations team: a child scientist prodigy, a mountain lion, and his “main man,” Ross Matthews. Snoop then reveals he is in the process of making an animated series about his adventures, called Snoop Dogg’s Unsolved Situations, managed by Tyson’s agent, Deezy.
While Mike speaks up about Snoop stealing “his thing,” Dogg assures the seemingly naïve Tyson that they are following completely different paths. As the episode continues, a member of the Unsolved Situations team goes missing, and they call Mike and his mystery team to, like always, help save the day.
As ridiculous - and often times left unresolved - as the missions might be, Mike Tyson’s Mysteries is as endearing, exciting, and hilarious, as it is TV-MA. You can stream some of them on Adult Swim here.