‘I Have Nothing’ Is a Wacky and Moving Docu-Comedy

Comedians’ quixotic quests to delve into childhood obsessions or achieve strange dreams well outside their areas of expertise are typically relegated to the podcast format, and the Canadian series “I Have Nothing” (on Peacock) has that same ramshackle, worlds-collide style. Luckily it’s a TV show, because its premise is a visual one: the creation and performance of a pairs figure-skating routine set to Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.”

The comedian Carolyn Taylor (“Baroness von Sketch Show”) was a kid during the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, and those Games left a real impression, especially the figure skating. The Battle of the Brians, Katarina Witt, Gordeeva and Grinkov — the highest of highs. Decades later, with no connection to the sport whatsoever, Taylor hears Whitney Houston on the radio and is struck by a vision, one that she and perhaps only she can make real in the world. She wants to create a pairs program to Houston’s banger, and she can picture the whole thing: the jumps and the lifts, the footwork sequences, the open-armed glides and intense expressions.

So she decides to answer this calling, to choreograph a routine for Olympic-level skaters. She can barely skate and does not know any of the terminology, but she forges ahead. “Can’t this be a ‘buffoon makes good’ story?” she asks her pal, the comedian Mae Martin.

It can; it is; “buffoon makes good” is a perfect way to describe the six-part docu-comedy. Taylor goes right to the top and enlists the Canadian choreographer, broadcaster and skater Sandra Bezic as a mentor, and much of the show is built on Bezic’s expertise (and, seemingly, Rolodex). A few false starts feel like filler at the beginning. But by Episode 3, things are really happening, and somehow the Olympic champions Ekaterina Gordeeva and David Pelletier are on board to skate the program.

If you are a person who values preparedness, “Nothing” will fry the hair off your head with Taylor’s lack thereof — though eventually her madness reveals its methods. Much of the show is played for cringe, but everyone’s enthusiasm tends to melt that awkwardness. Several figure-skating legends contribute expertise and advice, and two Canadian skaters Taylor worshiped in her youth, Kurt Browning and Brian Orser, even get on the ice with her to help codify her ideas. The good nature on display here is genuinely moving, and the figure skating ain’t bad either.

SIDE QUESTS

• If you are craving more figure skating, the documentary series “Harlem Ice,” about the coaches and young skaters at Figure Skating in Harlem, debuts Wednesday, on Disney+.

• Pelletier is one of the main subjects of the terrific documentary series “Meddling” (on Peacock), about the 2002 pairs figure-skating judging scandal.

• “Baroness von Sketch Show” is available on the Roku Channel.