Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
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| Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist | |
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| Format | Animated Sitcom |
| Created by | Jonathan Katz Tom Snyder |
| Starring | Jonathan Katz Jon Benjamin Laura Silverman |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 81 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 0:22 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Comedy Central |
| Original run | May 28, 1995 – December 24, 1999 |
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist is an American animated series that originally ran on Comedy Central from May 28, 1995 to December 24, 1999, starring Jonathan Katz, Jon Benjamin, and Laura Silverman. The show was created by Burbank California production company Popular Arts Entertainment (Tim Braine, Kevin Meagher, David Pritchard, Executive Producers), with Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder, developed and first made by Popular Arts for HBO Downtown Productions. Boston based Tom Snyder Productions became the hands-on production company, and the episodes were usually produced by Katz and Loren Bouchard. The show was computer animated in a crude, easily recognizable style called Squigglevision (a device Snyder had employed in his educational animation business) in which all persons and animate objects are colored and have constantly squiggling outlines, while all other inanimate objects are static and usually gray in color. The original challenge Popular Arts faced was how to repurpose recorded stand-up comedy. This is why all of Dr. Katz's patients are stand-up comics for the first several episodes. The secondary challenge was how to afford to animate on cable TV at the time. Snyder (a boyhood friend of Braine's) had Squigglevision, an inexpensive means of getting animation on cable, which could not afford traditional animation processes. A partnership between Popular Arts, Tom Snyder Productions and Jonathan Katz was formed and Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist was born.
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[edit] Format
The show focused on the title character, Dr. Jonathan Katz, who was voiced by, and visually based on, the comedian of the same name. Dr. Katz was a professional psychotherapist who had famous comedians and actors as patients, usually two per episode. The comedians' therapy sessions generally consisted of them doing their onstage material while Dr. Katz offered insights or simply let them rant. Meanwhile, therapy sessions featuring actors and actresses offered more interpersonal dialogue between Katz and his patient to better suit their predisposition. Dr. Katz is a very laid-back, well-intentioned man who enjoys playing the guitar and spending time at the bar with his friend Stanley and the bartender, Julie.
Interspersed with these scenes were scenes involving Dr. Katz's daily life, which included his aimless, childish 25-year-old son, Ben (Jon Benjamin), his uninterested and unhelpful secretary, Laura (Laura Silverman), and his two friends: Stanley (Will Le Bow), and the barmaid, Julie, voiced by one of the show's producers, Julianne Shapiro. In later episodes, Todd (Todd Barry), the video store clerk, became a regular character.
Each show would typically begin with Dr. Katz and Ben at breakfast and initiating a plotline. These plots included events like Ben attempting to become a radio personality, believing he is in possession of ESP, and the moral conundrum he suffers after receiving a chain letter. The development of these plotlines would occur in alternation with the segments between Dr. Katz and his guests.
The show would end in a similar way each week; while Dr. Katz was in a session with a patient, music signaling the close of the show would begin to play. Katz would acknowledge it by saying, "Whoops, you know what the music means... our time is up" or some variant thereof.
Much of the show's content, particularly dialogue between Katz and Ben, was improvised through a process called "retroscripting", in which a vague outline is developed but the actual dialogue is ad-libbed. This style, as well as Squigglevision, would reappear in Home Movies, a cartoon that features many members of the Dr. Katz cast and crew.
[edit] Original airing
The first episode of Dr. Katz aired on May 28, 1995. A total of 81 episodes were produced, though the final three -- "Bakery Ben," "Uncle Nothing" and "Lerapy" -- did not air in the United States, but were aired in Canada and overseas. Comedy Central began the show's sixth and final season on June 15, 1999, but ran only the first six episodes. The network chose to schedule nine of the remaining twelve episodes for a Christmas Eve marathon, which served as the show's finale. The final three episodes were not released until their inclusion on the 2007 DVD box set.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] References in popular culture
- In "Summer Sucks", an episode of South Park, another Comedy Central cartoon, Dr. Katz appears as Mr. Garrison's psychiatrist. After coming to the conclusion that Mr. Garrison is a closeted homosexual he is killed by the giant fireworks snake that is terrorising the town.
- In the Mr. Show episode "Bush is a Pussy", a Dr. Katz scene is played out between Katz and Kedzie Matthews, a spoof of a typical college comic, at the end of the episode.
- During a cutaway of the Family Guy episode "Saving Private Brian", Peter Griffin is seen talking to Dr. Katz. Peter makes a comment about the squigglevision style in which Dr. Katz is animated, saying: "What the hell is wrong with you? Your skin is, like, moving around or something", to which he replies, "I believe I'm having some sort of seizure."
- In the Squidbillies episode Government Brain Voodoo Trouble, the therapist (later clarified as "the rapist") is voiced by an uncredited Jonathan Katz.[1]
- In the Space Ghost Coast to Coast Season Four episode, "Brilliant Number One," Space Ghost was drawn in Dr. Katz's style briefly, while asking Peter Fonda, "What does this tell us about your childhood?"
- In the Space Ghost Coast to Coast Season Six episode "King Dead," which featured Benjamin as the guest, the Dr. Katz show is mentioned by name. Space Ghost is briefly shown in Squigglevision while stating "cable is important" a reference to the fact Dr. Katz was on Comedy Central and Space Ghost was shown on Cartoon Network, both of which were basic cable channels.
- In the direct-to-DVD parody film, Farce of the Penguins, Jonathan Katz appears as Steve, the owl who gives therapeutic advice for $275/hr.
- In the children's animated series Arthur, there was an episode where the children all proposed an idea for a TV-show episode, all of which were based on various animated programs. Arthur's idea had himself seeing Dr. Katz, complaining about his sister, D.W.
- On the sitcom Help Me Help You, Jonathan Katz appeared as Dr. Katz.
- In the movie Independence Day (1996) Harvey Fierstein, who plays Marty Gilbert, makes reference to his psychoanalyst, Doctor Katz.
- On the Duckman TV series, in one episode where the main character is working as a Highschool Teacher, when he sits in his office he talks to a painting on the wall, which is an image of Dr. Katz.
[edit] Comic strip
A comic strip of the same name was produced by the LA Times syndicate. One book collection was published, Hey, I've Got My Own Problems. Writers included Bill Braudis and Dave Blazek, with artwork by Dick Truxaw.
[edit] DVD releases
Season Releases
| DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | May 9, 2006 | 6 | Bonus features include cast and crew commentary, and several animated shorts. |
| Season 2 | November 21, 2006 | 13 | Bonus features include cast and crew commentary, and "follow-up calls" with previous guest stars. |
| The Complete Series | November 20, 2007 [1] | 81 | Bonus Features include a 28-page booklet with patients' "memories from the couch" and new drawings, as well as "An Evening with Dr Katz: Live from the Comedy Central Stage." |
