Mr. Show with Bob and David

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Mr. Show with Bob and David
Created byBob Odenkirk
David Cross
StarringBob Odenkirk
David Cross
John Ennis
Tom Kenny
Jill Talley
Jay Johnston
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes30 episodes, 2 specials
(list of episodes)
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkHBO
ReleaseNovember 3 1995 –
December 28 1998

Mr. Show was a sketch comedy series featuring former Saturday Night Live writer/comedy actor Bob Odenkirk and stand up comedian/actor David Cross. It aired on HBO from November 3 1995 to December 28 1998. Reruns can currently be seen on Comedy Central and TBS in an edited form.

Description

Each episode of Mr. Show essentially consists of a series of skits, each one transitioning into the next by way of a tangential, or sometimes direct, segue, called a link; for example, sometimes a minor character in one skit is followed as the major character in the next. Often common storylines or themes are returned to at different times throughout a given episode. The show is highly unpredictable and often quite absurd. It is regarded by sketch comedy aficionados as containing some of the best work of its era, though as a premium cable show its audience was limited. The DVDs, however, have sold well, and have opened the show up to a new audience.

Format

The format of Mr. Show is heavily influenced by the British sketch comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus, particularly in the linking of one skit to the next, a strong point for both shows, as it negates the tendency to expect each sketch to end on a punch line or similar high note (a common feature of more traditional sketch comedy shows such as Saturday Night Live). The interweaving of taped bits and stage-performed skits found in Flying Circus is prevalent in Mr. Show. Both shows depend greatly on absurdist humor and both avoid satirizing current events that would have quickly dated the comedy.

In later seasons, the show would satirize celebrities in an indirect fashion, by changing the name and some of the aesthetic idiosyncracies of the celebrity, while maintaining a transparently obvious parody. For instance, "Willips Brighton" was a character spoofing Brian Wilson, Marilyn Manson became "Norma Jean Monster," and Dr. Demento became "Dr. Retarded," along with dozens of other examples.

Similarly indirect were some of the show's socio-political messages. (Cross had always been very candid and forthcoming about his liberal views in his stand-up act, but far more subtle about them on this show.) In one sketch, news stories of violence around the world were stated in secondary importance to the top story about the president farting. In another, which was one of the only instances of nudity in the entire show, a topless woman reads a book to a group of children on television. Despite the clearly non-sexual content, the next sketch shows politicians watching it and talking about it being "trash."

The show contains a strong, confident contrarian viewpoint that at times mocks or satirizes organized religion, global capitalism, and America. Cynicism plays a heavy role in the show and there is little respect for traditionalism. Hence, the show tends to polarize people between those who love or hate it.

Conventions

Every episode begins with an individual introducing the hosts, Bob and David. During the first and second seasons, Mary Lynn Rajskub did this, while in the last two seasons Bob and David would be introduced by a character from a sketch in that given episode. In the opening dialogue, Bob is often dressed in a suit, while David is dressed down.

Every episode's title is taken from a line of dialogue heard during the episode, with three exceptions. The title of the first episode in season one, "The Cry of a Hungry Baby", does not appear anywhere in the episode but in fact came from a skit that was eventually cut from the debut episode. The title of the eighth episode in season three, "Bush is a Pussy", comes from a t-shirt worn by one of the characters. And the title of the sixth episode in season four, "Eat Rotten Fruit from a Shitty Tree", is a lyric from a song that only appears in instrumental form.

Certain lines of dialogue are often repeated by different characters during the course of a single show (e.g., "I was on the eighteenth hole!" in "The Biggest Failure in Broadway History" and "Who let you in?" in the episode of the same name).

Fake Special Thanks

In addition, at the end of each episode's credits, there is a random niche celebrity in the "Special Thanks" section placed there for fans to hunt out and not for the purpose of thanking. For example, the first episode's random special niche thanks credit celebrity was Rick Dees, and the third episode's was Greg Maddux. This is referred to as a "Fake Special Thanks".

Spin-Off Movie

Mr. Show also spawned a spinoff movie, Run Ronnie Run, that went straight-to-DVD though both Bob and David pulled out their proverbial Alan Smithees once seeing it after the editing process.

Cast

The show's main cast for the entire run consisted of David Cross, John Ennis, Tom Kenny, Bob Odenkirk, and Jill Talley. Cross, Ennis, and Odenkirk appeared in each episode. Kenny left the show after the third season to pursue other projects, and he returned for one episode of season four. Talley appeared in all episodes but four towards the end of the third season, which she missed because she was pregnant. Jay Johnston, who was a featured performer throughout the series, was credited as a member of the main cast for the final episode of the show.

Main Cast

Featured Cast

Writing staff

Contributing writers

Episode list

Main article: List of Mr. Show episodes

Characters

Relations to other shows

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Mr. Show with Bob and David.

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