"The State" Season 1

Understanding Dad (Thomas Lennon): "Doug, your mother and I think you're on drugs."
Doug the Angry Teen (Michael Showalter): "No way, man! I'm DOUG, not BOB DYLAN hehehe."
Dad: "Doug, do you even know who Bob Dylan is?"
Doug: "NO, but I know he died of DRUGS, duh."'
Dad: *sighs* "Doug, Bob Dylan is alive and well. I produced his last three albums."
Doug: "Oh, you mean Uncle Robert? (...) Forget it. I'm outta... I'm outta heeere!"

- "The State"



Before MTV became a joke it actually HAD jokes in the form of "The State"- the great sketch-show incubator with a cast that, 16 years later, is still pretty much defining American comedy. You get Michael "The-Baxter" Showalter and Michael Ian Black, who you know from "Stella" and "Michael and Michael Have Issues" and "Wet Hot American Summer"- the latter directed by fellow cast-member David Wain who directed "Role Models" and "The Ten". Now "The Ten" featured practically every cast member from "The State": that means Ken Marino, whom you remember as Vinnie Van Lowe from "Veronica Mars", and of course Joe Lo Truglio from "Superbad" and "Pineapple Express", as well as Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon and "The State's" sole reigning female Kerry Kenney, and you know THEM from "Reno 911".
Look, I'll stop, it's an IMDB-full of talent- and I had never seen a single episode until right now, 'cause I was being lame in some other country in 1993! That means I'm unhip AND lucky to be finally devirginized by Louie (the "I wanna dip my balls in it!" guy!). The haircuts date them but the sketches don't (Watch SNL from five years ago and you'll catch yourself trying to remember who's Katherine Harris). Not everything is golden, but show me the sketch show that can claim that- and no, not even Monty Python, bub.



So what do you get in Season 1? Digs at MTV for branching off into "sports" (if only they'd known!), enough catchphrases to bury your moose in, Doug the angry teen, Captain Monterey Jack's rapping to the youth about "how to properly wrap your cheese", Sid and Nancy attempting to play Password, Pythonesque transitions between sketches, and the sadness of knowing all these kids are way, way older now- and so are you.
What don't you get? Apparently, the original nostalgia-inducing soundtrack has been replaced with sound-a-likes, but you'll know when The Breeder's "Cannonball" is supposed to be playing- create your own '90s mix and play it against the show, "Dark Side of the Moon" vs. "Wizard of Oz" style.

Go ahead. Dip your balls on this.
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OH, WOW. Now THAT wouldn't fly anywhere in 2009. We have lost so much comedy after the 'tarded started unionizing!