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

Jill Talley, people

sorry to resurrect this old thing, but i just watched the bob lamonta story and laughed my ass off... this seemed like the best place to post about it.

Since they met on the Ben Stiller show, much of the show's precursors can be found in the Odenkirk sketches from there

the dice and sponge sandwich KILLED

― sunny successor, Wednesday, October 31, 2007 7:22 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^

my favorite odenkirk from the ben stiller show is - besides manson, obv - val the background singer who is fluent in two languages: english and legalese.

Taint Misbehavin'

Was Odenkirk's Hillbilly Industries from Stiller of Mr Show?

stiller

The Bob Lamonta story is definitely one of the more tedious (bar the kid who says "they gave me some beer and frozen peas", and maybe the principle) of the skits on the show, if you ask me, but I tend to be PC that way.

*the principal

MY SHOES HURT

mehlt you are a philistine

if you can't laugh at that sketch what can you laugh at?

'scuse me?

I'm sorry if I don't find half assed, easy mental disability jokes funny.

I've watched Mr. Show enough to know what I like, there are skits I've seen more than 25 times.

That pales in comparison to the Taint sketch, Mustardayonaisse, fuzz the musical, philouza, pre taped call in show, dream of a lifetime, change for a dollar, grass valley greg

and so on and so on. . .

MY SHOES HURT

have you tried pulling your socks up?

BAM

Oh wait I just remembered that...haha nevermind.

o man the mustardayonaise/mayostard thing

also I never said the skit was bad, per se, but one of the more tedious skits (it has some moments, e.g. my shoes hurt) but for reasons I mentioned above, i.e. structuring skits around lazy, projected stereotypes of mentally disabled people, which aren't really funny to begin with, and aren't any funnier when translated into a sketch, makes for a tedious sketch that has little to built itself from.

The thing is Bob and David aren't really that great comedians, they're just really good at putting together and presenting skits where all the small details come together. In skits like these (and so many others) the presentation is better than the jokes themselves (cf. the skit preceeding the fad 3 once, with Dylan the asshole purist, which is essentially all detail with no joke, and is one of my very favourite sketches). When you look at the heart of the Bob Lamonta sketch, there really isn't anything funny at the centre of it, although it's easy to be mistaken that there is.

Sorry to pontificate, but I don't much care for being called a philistine.

its structured around a basic cable biopic format - the retards are characters

Yes, but I'd argue that's presentation (which is admittedly done really well), and it has little to do with the actual jokes though, which are essentially "retard this, BJ and the bear that". This is a skit with all structure and no inside, or actually, it's like an apple with a rotten core, looks fine, seems fine, but I can't get past the really bad jokes that are in the centre.

there are a bunch of biopic based non-retard jokes that are really hilarious - for one the fact that hes a marathoner w/a mustache - should be noted too that the dice sandwich is before the retard reveal and is still so funny

Yes, yes, maybe I'm being confusing - I'm starting to feel like the pre taped call in show host - but I think that just further corroborates my point. It's the jokes that satirize bio pic moustache marathon runners that are funny, but those are the 'details', as opposed to the straight up comedy, as in the uttered jokes about retard this retard that, which are what I find not funny.

Either way, it's not high end Mr. Show, I'll leave it at that.

I'm not clear on what the difference is between "details" and "comedy." But I agree that the retarded parents thing is not very funny.

I mean I guess some of their sketches are funnier for the peripheral jokes than the central jokes, but that's their style. E.g. the repeated shot of Josh Fenderman doing the dance is far funnier than the actual Josh Fenderman story. Not sure why that doesn't qualify as "comedy" though.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to get at.

I was thinking about this after watching seeing Bob And David's stand up comedy and realizing that I don't find it funny at all, in spite of loving Mr. Show. Depsite what Bob might say about the better skits being the low budget ones (easy for him to say, as he would find himself to be really funny), it's the gestalt that counts, the periphery being as, often more important that the central jokes. I find approaching the skits in a kind of decentred way is more rewarding that looking at it as a vehicle for stand-up style comedy that you could get on an audio recording.
Take The Dylan skit at 7:30 here, which is a skit without a centre, all periphery without an origin that its supposed to be serve.

i love the bob lamonta sketch more for the "brave choice" satire surrounding it, which i think rescues the "bad retarded caricatures" jokes from what it would be on something like mad tv. still, i will be magnanimous and recognize your right not to like it as much as their other sketches. my two favorite sketches from the show are the story of everest and the pre-taped call-in show. however, the greatest mr. show moment of them all was at the end of the lost episode.

Take The Dylan skit at 7:30 here, which is a skit without a centre, all periphery without an origin that its supposed to be serve.

I wouldn't really even call that a skit. It's only about 60 seconds -- more of a transitional piece between skits. Monty Python used to do very similar things, and so did vaudeville acts for that matter. Plus the Dylan character shows up elsewhere and I think it's pretty clear that the "center" is just a spoof of a literary snob type who can't stand base pop culture -- maybe an easy target, but done well I think.

Besides, I think a lot of their comedy is more about certain television and film narratives as narratives than the content of those narratives.

this sequence is funny imo:

'everest' might be the best thing they ever did. i nearly died watching that for the first time!

i'm shocked that out of this entire cast, only Jerry Minor moved on to Saturday Night Live

Bob and Dino wrote for SNL and Sarah Silverman was a cast member.

They all moved onto tiny roles in Arrested Development.

i'm sad jay johnston hasn't had a better career- he was as funny doing slapstick (everest) as he was playing a guy in a suit and tie (like as the record exec trying to convince wykyd sceptyre that they were gay).

Jay Johnston is the best, I agree.

yeah, he's good on the sarah silverman show, but having him play one character, and not use his knack for physical comedy, is kind of a waste of talent.

i mean, the bit in the "tex mex" sketch in mr. show where he punches odenkirk is hilarious. just that punch is as funny as the rest of the sketch.

Choo-Choo the herky-jerky dancer

i dunno, i can't separate the punch from the sleazy look he gives jill talley. and how about the saxophone player in "honesty in motion" ??? another johnston moment where he's not even the center of attention, but he's the funniest part about the sketch.

Jay Johnston is indeed the greatest.

Choo-Choo the herky-jerky dancer

― i'm shy (Abbott), Tuesday, February 17, 2009 9:55 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

I say this all the time

That, and "quarters; mostly quarters"

'Pallies' --> 'The Fairsley Difference' --> 'The Story of Everest'

is the absolute high point of the show. If only they could've gotten a better SNL-y restaurant sketch in there like The Burgundy Loaf or something in there instead of the lameass clumsy waiter thing and the connection with Rapist Coming Don't Get Raped would be pretty much the perfect Mr. Show episode.

fore I die I'm gon fuck me a fish

i am a tele-vision set—peter o'toole

i'm the hated milk machine
no one likes me now
i was doing what i'm told
he was trying to be bold
why can't people keep their willies out of holes

where do i go now
where do i go now
this is the knocking song
in days of auld lang syne