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'''''Mr. Show with Bob and David''''' is an American [[sketch comedy]] [[television series|series]] starring and hosted by ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' writer/actor [[Bob Odenkirk]] and [[stand up comedian]]/actor [[David Cross (actor)|David Cross]]. It aired on [[Home Box Office|HBO]] from November 3, 1995 to December 28, 1998.
'''''Mr. Show with Bob and David''''' is an American [[sketch comedy]] [[television series|series]] starring and hosted by ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' writer/actor [[Bob Odenkirk]] and [[stand up comedian]]/actor [[David Cross (actor)|David Cross]]. It aired on [[Home Box Office|HBO]] from November 3, 1995 to December 28, 1998.


Cross and Odenkirk introduced most episodes as heightened{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} versions of themselves, before transitioning to a mixture of live sketches and pre-taped segments. The show featured a number of [[alternative comedy|alternative comedian]]s as both cast members and writers, including [[Sarah Silverman]], [[Paul F. Tompkins]], [[Jack Black]], [[Tom Kenny]], [[Mary Lynn Rajskub]], [[Brian Posehn]], [[Jerry Minor]], [[Scott Aukerman]], and [[Dino Stamatopoulos]].
Cross and Odenkirk introduced most episodes as heightened versions of themselves, before transitioning to a mixture of live sketches and pre-taped segments. The show featured a number of [[alternative comedy|alternative comedian]]s as both cast members and writers, including [[Sarah Silverman]], [[Paul F. Tompkins]], [[Jack Black]], [[Tom Kenny]], [[Mary Lynn Rajskub]], [[Brian Posehn]], [[Jerry Minor]], [[Scott Aukerman]], and [[Dino Stamatopoulos]].


It was nominated for four [[Primetime Emmy Awards]], as well as a [[Golden Satellite Award]].
It was nominated for four [[Primetime Emmy Awards]], as well as a [[Golden Satellite Award]].

Revision as of 01:58, 6 October 2013

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 originUnited States
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes30 (and 2 specials) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkHBO
ReleaseNovember 3, 1995 (1995-11-03) –

December 28, 1998 (1998-12-28)

Mr. Show with Bob and David is an American sketch comedy series starring and hosted by Saturday Night Live writer/actor Bob Odenkirk and stand up comedian/actor David Cross. It aired on HBO from November 3, 1995 to December 28, 1998.

Cross and Odenkirk introduced most episodes as heightened versions of themselves, before transitioning to a mixture of live sketches and pre-taped segments. The show featured a number of alternative comedians as both cast members and writers, including Sarah Silverman, Paul F. Tompkins, Jack Black, Tom Kenny, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Brian Posehn, Jerry Minor, Scott Aukerman, and Dino Stamatopoulos.

It was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as a Golden Satellite Award.

Description

Each episode of Mr. Show consists of a series of sketches, each one transitioning to the next by a link. For example, a minor character in one sketch might return as the major character in the next. Often, common themes or story lines are returned to at different times throughout an episode. It is regarded by sketch comedy aficionados as perhaps the best of its era,[1] though as a premium cable show its audience was necessarily limited. DVD editions, however, have sold briskly, opening the show to a broad new audience.[2][3]

Format

The show contains a strong, confident contrarian viewpoint, little respect for traditionalism and at times mocking or satirizing organized religion or global capitalism. Vanity Fair noted that the series had mocked "satanism, teenage suicide, cock rings, hermaphrodites, after-school specials about mentally challenged parents, and the Ku Klux Klan."[4]

Many of the show's sketches were constructed with a strong critique of modern television in mind, whether it be local news, sitcoms, commercials, infomercials, reality shows, or music videos.[citation needed]

Conventions

Every episode begins with an individual introducing the hosts. This role was filled by Mary Lynn Rajskub in the first two seasons. After her departure for personal reasons,[5] the introduction of was made by a random character from that week's episode.

Episode titles were mostly quotes from the episode. For example, "Bush is a Pussy" is a writing on a T-shirt worn by one of the characters. One of the exceptions is "Eat Rotten Fruit from a Shitty Tree", which is a line in a song within the episode that was eventually performed as an instrumental.

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).

At the end of each episode's credits, a random celebrity is listed in the "Special Thanks" section. Examples include:[citation needed] Rick Dees (in the first episode) and Greg Maddux (in the third episode).

Contributors

Mr. 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 season. Kenny left the show after the third season, returning for one episode of season four. Talley appeared in all episodes but four towards the end of the third season, which she missed due to pregnancy.[citation needed] Jay Johnston, a featured performer throughout the series, was credited as a member of the main cast for the final episode of the show.

Main cast

Writing staff

  • Bob Odenkirk (episode #101-#410)
  • David Cross (episode #101-#410)
  • Jay Johnston (episode #203-#410)
  • Bill Odenkirk (episode #203-#410)
  • Dino Stamatopoulos (episode #203, #206-#401, #403-#410)
  • Paul F. Tompkins (episode #203-#310)
  • Brian Posehn (episode #204-#205, #301-#408)
  • Mike Stoyanov (episode #301-#305)
  • Mike Upchurch (episode #301-#310)
  • Scott Aukerman (episode #401-#410)
  • Jerry Collins (episode #401-#407)
  • B.J. Porter (episode #401-#410)
  • Eric Hoffman (episode #406-#410)

Contributing writers

Reception

Mr. Show with Bob and David was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards, losing to Dennis Miller Live, and also received a nomination for the song "How High The Mountain" in the category of Outstanding Music and Lyrics. The following year it was renominated for Outstanding Writing, losing this time to The Chris Rock Show, and also received a Creative Arts Emmy Award nomination for lighting director Simon Miles.[6]

At the 9th Golden Satellite Awards in 2004, the show's third season DVD set was nominated for "Best DVD Release of TV Shows."[6]

In 2010, prompted by the announcement of IFC's plans to re-air Mr. Show, it was included in a short list of "TV’s greatest cult comedy series" by The Onion AV Club.[7]

Run Ronnie Run

Mr. Show also spawned a spin-off movie, Run Ronnie Run, which was shown at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.[8] but went straight-to-DVD. In an April 2004 article in Chunklet magazine, Odenkirk noted numerous problems they had had with the film, blaming the film's director, Troy Miller, who "chose to freeze us out, hold us at arm's length and not let us influence the movie nearly on the scale that we should have."[9]

Mr. Show Live: Hooray for America!

In September 2002, original cast members Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, John Ennis, Brian Posehn and Stephanie Courtney toured in a show called Mr. Show: Hooray for America!!!. The two month stint included "distillations" of some of Mr. Show's sketches, such as "The Burgundy Loaf", and new material.[10] In the stage show, the large fictitious mega-corporation Globo-Chem ("We own everything, so you don't have to!") sponsors David's stage persona to run for the presidency of the United States.[11] The tour included 16 large cities and college towns in North America: San Diego, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Eugene, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver.[12]

Hollywood Said No!: Orphaned Film Scripts, Bastard Scenes, and Abandoned Darlings from the Creators of Mr. Show

In September 2013, Grand Central Publishing released a Hollywood Said No!, a book of rejected scripts and unused Mr. Show sketches. The audiobook version included full cast readings by former Mr. Show performers and writers. One of the rejected scripts is the original version of Hooray for America!, which had earlier been adapted as part of the Mr. Show Live tour.[13]

Legacy

While the show was never viewed by a mass audience due to its premium cable broadcast, it remains a highly influential piece of American sketch comedy. Many involved with the show have gone on to become staples of the American comedy landscape.

The Sarah Silverman Program was written by and stars Sarah Silverman, and features Jay Johnston and Brian Posehn. Arrested Development features David Cross as regular character Tobias Fünke; the series also had guest spots filled by Mr. Show alumni, such as Bob Odenkirk as a marriage counselor, Jerry Minor and Jay Johnston as gay cops, and John Ennis as a mall security guard. Odenkirk plays the recurring role of Saul Goodman on AMC's critically acclaimed series Breaking Bad. Jack Black had supporting roles in Mr. Show. Cross and Odenkirk would go on to work with Black on producing a show for HBO for the comedy band Tenacious D which would also feature Mr. Show alumnus Paul F. Tompkins. Additionally, Mr. Show cast member Tom Kenny went on to achieve huge success voicing the title character of SpongeBob SquarePants and remains one of the most prolific voice-over actors in the industry. Kenny told an interviewer, "I was on location with Mr. Show when I got the call that SpongeBob was moving forward. I had a fake beard on, and it was 100 degrees, and I thought, 'All right!' I was dressed like a wizard and we were shooting in a stable, and it smelled like poop. A recording studio sounded real good to me."[14]

In January 2011, IFC began airing 90-minute blocks of Mr. Show, The Ben Stiller Show, Action and The Larry Sanders Show three times per week.[7] The programming block was often hosted by Mr. Show writer and actor Scott Aukerman, who also conducted new interviews with the shows' contributors and younger comedians who have been influenced by the shows.[7]

David's Situation

Odenkirk and Cross reunited in 2008 to create the HBO pilot David's Situation, which was shot but never aired or picked up.[4][15] The network gave the pair $400,000 to shoot a pilot (which was shot on the Everybody Loves Raymond soundstage), which appeared to go well during the taping; however, while Cross and Odenkirk were editing the episode, they felt it failed to "capture that same energy on screen."[16] In an interview with Vanity Fair, Cross said, "We told them that we didn’t want to do this show, we’d rather do Mr. Show 2.0. And they were like, 'Yeah, O.K., that’s great, but the thing is, we don’t have any more money for this year. But we’ll figure out something next year.' And we never heard from them again."[16]

Comedians and shows inspired by Mr. Show

Comedy duo Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim have said their program Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! was highly inspired by Mr. Show.[17] Odenkirk would go on to produce Awesome Show as well as Tom Goes to the Mayor.

Episodes

Main article: List of Mr. Show episodes

the four episodes of the first season premiered in November 1995. The second season aired a year later, for six episodes, which continued into December. The third season included 10 episodes, spread out from September to December 1997. The ten final season episodes air from October to December 1998.[18]

Characters

Odenkirk and Cross mostly avoided using recurring characters a la Saturday Night Live,[19] but some characters made repeat appearances:

Character Actor Description
Ronnie Dobbs David Cross A white trash habitual petty criminal, regularly caught in the act on Fuzz, a COPS-like program.
Dylan David Cross a pretentious man clad in a long scarf, even in hot weather, and friend of Droopy. He shuns popular American culture and modern technology.[20]
Terry Twillstein Bob Odenkirk British television producer who discovers Ronnie Dobbs and tries to utilize him in a West End-like fashion.
Sen. Howell Tankerbell Bob Odenkirk an ultra-conservative Georgia Dixiecrat Senator
Fancy Pants Bill Odenkirk A dandy who makes occasional silent, walk-ons. First seen clad in Edwardian garb he makes his second appearance in a more Elizabethan style.
Droopy Bob Odenkirk A twenty-something slacker. He wants to work at a local museum, though he has few qualifications. He never went by any name during the show.
Three Times One Minus One David Cross and Bob Odenkirk An R&B duo made up of Pootie T. (Cross) and Wolfgang Amadeus Thelonius Van Funkenmeister The 19th and 3 Quarters (Odenkirk). They are sponsored by the "White People Co-opting Black Culture Network."
Kedzie Matthews Tom Kenny A hyperactive comedian whose humor is overblown..

References

  1. ^ Norris, Chris (2001). "Baldy McJew Goes to Hollywood". Spin (June 2001).
  2. ^ Sacks, Mike. (2009). And Here's the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft. Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 1582975051.
  3. ^ Spitz, Mark (2011). "The Oral History of Mr. Show". Spin (April 2011).
  4. ^ a b Vanity Fair article: "Mr. Pilot!: An Interview with Bob Odenkirk and David Cross."
  5. ^ Odenkirk, Naomi (2002). Mr. Show: What Happened?! The Complete Story and Episode Guide. Squaresville Books. p. 52. ISBN 0971359784.
  6. ^ a b "Awards for Mr. Show with Bob and David". IMDb. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
  7. ^ a b c O'Neal, Sean (December 2, 2010). "IFC adds The Larry Sanders Show, Mr. Show, other awesome shows".
  8. ^ "Run Ronnie Run!". Sundance Film Festival. 2002. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
  9. ^ Bob Odenkirk (as told to Henry Owings) (April 29, 2004). "Is Run, Ronnie, Run Overrated? You bet. Here's why". Chunklet (magazine). Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-02. Look, people are angry at New Line. Don't be angry at New Line. The only thing New Line did "wrong" was not defend us. But in their defense, they didn't know who we were! ... On the other hand, the person to blame is the director, who knew us, and knew how important we were to our own comedy, and chose to freeze us out, hold us at arm's length and not let us influence the movie nearly on the scale that we should have. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  10. ^ Adams, Sam (2002-09-19). "Mr. Show: Hooray for America!". Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  11. ^ Sullivan, James (2002-10-03). "'Mr. Show' time". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  12. ^ Sullivan, James (June 30, 2002). "Bob and David in 'Hooray for America!!'". Retrieved 2013-06-02.
  13. ^ Odenkirk, Bob, David Cross and Brian Posehn. Hollywood Said No!: Orphaned Film Scripts, Bastard Scenes, and Abandoned Darlings from the Creators of Mr. Show (2013). Paris: Hachette Audio. Audio
  14. ^ "The Oral History of SpongeBob SquarePants," Hogan's Alley #17, 2010
  15. ^ The Onion AV Club article: "David Cross."
  16. ^ a b Vanity Fair article: "David Cross Pleads Mercy for Insulting Your Best Friend Jesus."
  17. ^ Cracked article: "5 of the Funniest Mr. Show Sketches."
  18. ^ Mr. Show at IMDb. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
  19. ^ Odenkirk, Naomi. (2002). Mr. Show: What Happened?! The Complete Story and Episode Guide. Squaresville Books. p. 72. ISBN 0971359784.
  20. ^ In audio commentary,[specify] castmates describe Cross's first impression on them being reminiscent of Dylan.
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