Mr. Show with Bob and David: Genius or Overrated?

the segues are hit or miss, sure (especially how they just make the sketch into a news segment as a seeming last resort), but the truly inspired ones make up for it, in my opinion. i'm thinking ones like information jimmy, or TTOMO into the sad song awards.

gimme another space beer, gleep glop

so is adult swim and youtube why there hasn't been a non-snl sketch show in so long? (not counting madtv or whatever britain turns out) there's a lull after sctv but late 80s thru the 90s you get in living color, kids in the hall, ben stiller show, the state, mr. show and probably some other obscure things i'm completely forgetting. that's alot of talent churned out there.

― balls, Sunday, April 29, 2012 9:33 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

the whitest kids u know has its fans

also seems like improv/sketch people are more likely to try to get on sitcoms these days than they are to start the next Human Giant show.

xpost, the saddest fact

i saw mary lynn rajskub do stand-up on one of those john oliver comedy central stand-up shows and it was SO. BAD. i like her in general but it was just a long meandering story with no jokes and no point and her doing her uncomfortable/nervous thing.

i watched a few eps recently and some of it was really funny and some of it was so 90s, overall ingenius show

this is tru tho

c) David Cross turning out to be such a dickbag that i almost don't want to laugh at him even when he's funny out of spite.

― some dude, Sunday, April 29, 2012 10:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what a foul monster

what did david cross do to you guys? you hate him cuz he's a corny indie fuxxor or whatever?

have you heard his standup?

I think the actual answer is

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Amber+Tamblyn+David+Cross+MONTBLANC+Presents+ZW3XFoKxkm2l.jpg

mr. show is the greatest

thought this was pretty funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIWLMMHGAS8

he has a beard now.... GET HIM!

xposts

I've never really understood actually ~hating~ david cross.

hes just a really h8ful person

saw david cross live and he killed
he spent half the show giving swag that people had given him at festivals and what not to the audience members
just a real nice guy.
no idea why people think he's such a dick

I saw him live years and years ago and the most annoying thing about it was that there were bands opening for him and when he came onstage to do his act the crowd remained standing like we were at a rock show. it was so weird.

he seems like an allright guy to me.

i said he's a dickbag, not a dick. i don't know why that seems like an urgent distinction, but i think i mean i don't know whether he is a nice person IRL, i just think he comes across as kind of pompous and humorless about a lot of things when speaking onstage/in interviews.

he looks plump and happy. i think i've just heard the one cd (on sub pop?) and one stand-up special. thought they were fine. in a patton kinda way. i laughed. i like him when i see him on other things. except for the godforsaken chipmunks movie.

i like the virgin mary desert rape bit. i remember that one.

but jeez just try and forget seeing him now cuz he did so much great stuff on mr. show. you can't take that away from him.

He's hit and miss. His acting is usually pretty funny. But his stand-up… I dunno, seems like most of what I've seen is "I mean, FUCK. 'Oh you don't believe in fucking Jesus?' NO MAN! And, and and… here's a fucking story. Go fuck some more kids in the ass and come back and tell me about your fucking invisible man in the sky, ok?"

That tripping clip was pretty dead-on about what it's like to trip, but… was there a joke in there? It was a good performance though, I'm giving him all that.

Out of like ten sketches, ONE may be slightly funny. On the whole, kind of a dud.

your percentages are wrong

cross' elephant story was painfully funny and demolished the room

I saw him open for Aimee Mann and Michael Penn on their "Acoustic Alchemy" tour and he killed. This show was in Alexdandria, VA, which is trade association and nonprofit HQ central for the US. He did a bit about walking through town, seeing the National Snack Food Association, and going in to their offices to ask why there's no honey mustard popcorn that was just amazing.

lol Alexdandria

He's hit and miss. His acting is usually pretty funny. But his stand-up… I dunno, seems like most of what I've seen is "I mean, FUCK. 'Oh you don't believe in fucking Jesus?' NO MAN! And, and and… here's a fucking story. Go fuck some more kids in the ass and come back and tell me about your fucking invisible man in the sky, ok?"

haha yes this is otm

i mean he's this close to being a gen x bill maher

can only assume you are misunderstanding Bill Maher's politics

i...wasn't saying they share views?

not sure what you're getting at then. the main thing I associate with Bill Maher is reactionary libertarian politics, being a sexist asshole, a sanctimonious atheist, and generally ignorant jerk. Cross isn't really any of those things.

can't really envision Cross hosting a "chat show" or whatever either

apart from the "Mr. Show Water Cooler" sketch I guess lol

Doesn't he have a rep for being a "sanctimonious atheist"? I remember about 6-7 years ago - this local blog i used to write for, one of the other writers reviewed a performance of his and was bothered by the fact that he made fun of Mormons. It turned out the writer was Mormon, and David Cross actually replied in the comments (i think) and restated that he thought Mormonism was dumb.

xpost PRE-TAPED CALL-IN SHOW!! Funniest 4 minutes in televised history imo.

he is sanctimonious abt a great many things

yeah i was gonna say, that was kind of the meat of my comparison (xpost)

I think Cross's brand of inflammatory rhetoric is a different strain from Maher's "All religions are stupid, I'm gonna make an entire 'documentary' about it" approach

xp

yeah, that's why i said he's almost a gen x equivalent, not the exact same thing. sorry for using words.

Maher is only 8 years older than Cross, dunno where this generational divide is being drawn here

maybe we could delineate that in depth

I think they have fundamentally different approaches - Maher wants to be taken seriously for his "ideas", he craves legitimacy. Cross knows he's not a legitimate arbiter of anything and mines this for laughs, his sanctimony is part of an overly aggressive schtick afaict

they don't have to be 30 years apart in age for one to be generation x and one not. anyway as was already pointed out, the comparison was mainly made on the basis of their having smug condescending attitudes towards sheeple that don't share their views. maybe you agree, maybe you don't, but we don't really have to board lawyer the point to death.

I say Baby Boom lasted from D-Day to Gulf of Tonkin resolution.

With one Generation X exclave during the period between JFK getting shot and the Beatles appearing on Ed Sullivan.

the comparison was mainly made on the basis of their having smug condescending attitudes towards sheeple that don't share their views

but...this includes like 90% of America

They could at least be funny about it, since that their chosen profession.

someone on my facebook irl used the term sheeple the other day, first time id seen it in the wild

but...this includes like 90% of America

fwiw what I meant here was that 90% of America has smug, condescending attitudes about people who don't share their views, this is hardly some sort of unusual characteristic unique to Cross and Maher

you're not a professional comedian, though