[7.4/10] Well here we are, at the final episode of Mr. Show’s original run. Oddly enough, it’s the first episode of the show I ever saw (or at least partially saw). I can remember flipping through channels at my dorm room, landing on what I think was a rerun on Comedy Central, and being fascinated by the “I had a chance to say goodbye sketch,”
And it’s a great representative sketch for Mr. Show! It has the combination of a high concept premise, some awkward down-to-earth humor, and the type of gag escalation that proved to be the show’s trademarks. The continuing series of chance encounters between Bob and Jay, the awkward hugs, the franticness when the impromptu rendezvous stop, and the final dark button of an exchange with “I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye” “I did, a lot” is classic Mr. Show in a nutshell.
The sketch that followed it, with John Ennis yelling at Bob for doing amateur pornography with his wife, and realizing that everyone in the office was in on it, is less spectacular, but still amusing. It’s a nice bit that it connects to the opening of the episode, and the way that the other three guys are wrapped up in production details and disputes over shooting locations while John is still coming to terms with his spouse being a part of this miniature smut empire is a solid gag.
I even like the connector that both brings those bits together and closes out the series. The idea of the guy with the clipboard whose only job is to tell people to wrap it up, in increasingly outlandish situations, is another out of left field Mr. Show ideas. And the denouement of him just walking out of the studio and smoking a cigarette after wrapping up the season is a lovely way to go out.
The rest of the episode’s sketches are hit or miss. The opening corporate retreat comedy skit is solid enough, though really only gains steam as it goes to increasingly bizarre places with the otherwise anodyne comics ripping on awkward personal stuff. The “Harmony in Motion” bit is a pretty stale riff on Behind the Music-style docs, but it gets in some good jabs about musicians’ naivete and ends up crossing the line twice in terms of the humor of the doc using the same clip over and over again.
The skit where Bob had a crazy week of events when he and his girlfriend were broken up was solid, if not overwhelming material. The parade of people wandering by and punching him in the face made for some good slapstick, and him returning time and again to his girlfriend’s tex mex cooking class was a nicely mundane contrast. The Marlyin Manson pizza restaurant didn’t do much for me, and the whole “rule-breaking artist has rule-heavy fast food restaurant” was cleverer than it was actually laugh inducing.
But still, this is a great episode to stand in for the whole of Mr. Show, with some amusing themes, clever links between sketches, and weird but ambitious humor. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed with the show, since its cast and crew and reputation led to it being a little overhyped for me. I found some transcendent sketches, but also a fair number of weak stretches as well.
That said, it’s still a very funny sketch comedy show, one that is content to go big, go weird, and really reach for some out there humor in a way few other shows have. It’s hard to believe that I finally got back to where I started, more than a decade after I first stumbled on the show, and I’m glad to have watched this seminal, oft-hilarious series.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-08-06T02:06:49Z
[7.4/10] Well here we are, at the final episode of Mr. Show’s original run. Oddly enough, it’s the first episode of the show I ever saw (or at least partially saw). I can remember flipping through channels at my dorm room, landing on what I think was a rerun on Comedy Central, and being fascinated by the “I had a chance to say goodbye sketch,”
And it’s a great representative sketch for Mr. Show! It has the combination of a high concept premise, some awkward down-to-earth humor, and the type of gag escalation that proved to be the show’s trademarks. The continuing series of chance encounters between Bob and Jay, the awkward hugs, the franticness when the impromptu rendezvous stop, and the final dark button of an exchange with “I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye” “I did, a lot” is classic Mr. Show in a nutshell.
The sketch that followed it, with John Ennis yelling at Bob for doing amateur pornography with his wife, and realizing that everyone in the office was in on it, is less spectacular, but still amusing. It’s a nice bit that it connects to the opening of the episode, and the way that the other three guys are wrapped up in production details and disputes over shooting locations while John is still coming to terms with his spouse being a part of this miniature smut empire is a solid gag.
I even like the connector that both brings those bits together and closes out the series. The idea of the guy with the clipboard whose only job is to tell people to wrap it up, in increasingly outlandish situations, is another out of left field Mr. Show ideas. And the denouement of him just walking out of the studio and smoking a cigarette after wrapping up the season is a lovely way to go out.
The rest of the episode’s sketches are hit or miss. The opening corporate retreat comedy skit is solid enough, though really only gains steam as it goes to increasingly bizarre places with the otherwise anodyne comics ripping on awkward personal stuff. The “Harmony in Motion” bit is a pretty stale riff on Behind the Music-style docs, but it gets in some good jabs about musicians’ naivete and ends up crossing the line twice in terms of the humor of the doc using the same clip over and over again.
The skit where Bob had a crazy week of events when he and his girlfriend were broken up was solid, if not overwhelming material. The parade of people wandering by and punching him in the face made for some good slapstick, and him returning time and again to his girlfriend’s tex mex cooking class was a nicely mundane contrast. The Marlyin Manson pizza restaurant didn’t do much for me, and the whole “rule-breaking artist has rule-heavy fast food restaurant” was cleverer than it was actually laugh inducing.
But still, this is a great episode to stand in for the whole of Mr. Show, with some amusing themes, clever links between sketches, and weird but ambitious humor. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed with the show, since its cast and crew and reputation led to it being a little overhyped for me. I found some transcendent sketches, but also a fair number of weak stretches as well.
That said, it’s still a very funny sketch comedy show, one that is content to go big, go weird, and really reach for some out there humor in a way few other shows have. It’s hard to believe that I finally got back to where I started, more than a decade after I first stumbled on the show, and I’m glad to have watched this seminal, oft-hilarious series.