Outlandishly well-written comedy

H_Frank

Some of the things people say about this show crack me up:

"I have yet to laugh, or chuckle, or even smirk at this poorly-conceived, idiotic, dull television show."

This from a guy who goes by the name "Tug."  Hmm.  Sure, okay.  Love the big-word abuse.  Unfortunately, it doesn't cover up the fact that you don't realize how much thought is required to understand this show.  Hey, you tried.

Indeed, this show is not for everybody, but as a writer/comic myself (only by leisure; I'm an engineer by trade,) I have to have a great deal of respect for the talents of Besser, Poehler, Roberts, and Walsh.  I almost get the feeling that these are the heros of legend that are destined to succeed Monty Python (okay, there is no such legend, but we engineers like to think so.)

While their style is not the most original ever (many writers have succeeded in the "outrageous" style of comedy in the past, "Kids in the Hall" and Weird Al come readily to mind,) they take this style to the next level.

I think the first thing one will notice is the lack of a laugh-track, which gives the mission of UCB an ironic seriousness.  Not only that, but laugh-tracks have a bad habit of pointing out with big signs where the jokes are, removing any and all need for complex thought on the veiwer's part. I'll never understand why Monty Python used it.

The situations they come up with are ones of sheer beauty.  Prime examples are the waiter training session at Bradwick's, the Bucket of Truth (already a classic to us fans,) and UCB's advice on how to break curfew ("You guys gotta kick my ass and take a crap on me!")

Tying these all together at the end of the show is a nice touch.  I think it's pretty obvious that they realized just how easy this is to do, and so they take an almost "Seinfeld"-like approach and have each of these situations have total consequence on each other.

Then there's the great hidden camera scene during the end credits, where one of their characters takes a stroll through real life.  Wonderful stuff.

All-in-all, the show is hideously clever, and ridiculously well-executed. It's been ages since we had a sketch comedy that actually made us think in order to get the jokes, sometimes even requiring us to watch the episode a second time (some will rebuke with "Kids in the Hall," but keep in mind the laugh-track, not to put the show down in any way.)

I only pray that Comedy Central doesn't threaten to cancel the show again like they did last Spring.

One more thing: my apologies for trashing on Tug like that.

score /10

H_Frank 6 October 1999

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0589216/