comedy

If you weren’t an avid MTV watcher back in the 1990s, you’ve probably never heard of The State, but large portions of it were repeated ad nauseam around the halls of my high school, no matter how inappropriate, or whether or not we grasped the finer subtleties of the depths of its occasional depravity. When I wasn’t bellowing out The Lumberjack Song in the science halls between classes, that is.

Perhaps way ahead of its time, or just in the wrong place at the wrong time, The State was notoriously mishandled and prodded by MTV during its initial run on TV. Maybe a sketch comedy show never really fit in with the whole Beavis & Butthead crowd, but we loved it, and we’ve been waiting for over a decade to get it on DVD. After further complications and many missed release dates, the entire series of The State has actually, finally, truly come to DVD. I wouldn’t believe it if I couldn’t see it in front of me. Its relative obscurity places this firmly in that land of ‘cult classic’, and absolutely one of the best sketch comedy shows to ever exist. Have you seen SNL lately? How many talk show parody / blind date sketches can you fit into 90 minutes?

As an ensemble of eleven people, The State was an incredibly well-honed group, with every member featured well enough in any given episode to really establish a sense of camaraderie through ridiculousness. You might recognize a bunch now on Reno 911, or as a voice on SuperJail, or spitting out pithy, emotionless commentaries about the 80s on VH1.

While the sketches are mostly timeless, a few require some knowledge of how MTV was run back in the nineties – which makes them even more awesome for me. Ironically, MTV pushed The State to include as many hip, popular MTV references into their shows as possible – but MTV’s later inability to properly license many of these references is one element that held back the release of the DVD. While initially very distracting, there are a few sketches that require heavy blurring of shirts, faces and walls full of posters. Eventually, they fade out of notice, but I’m dying to know what parts of my teenagerhood are secreted behind the giant blurs that dominate the screen, and why we can’t have them. Purists should also note that the music that MTV initially insisted be included (to appeal to their demographic) has also been replaced – though by the composer of the show’s theme song, so all is not lost to a lack of forethought.

Four seasons of the show are spread across four discs, with insightful and hilarious commentary, deleted scenes and outtakes from every episode. Critics have pointed out certain seasons as stronger than others, but even across hours of watching them all at once, I feel no unevenness in the humor. A bonus fifth disc includes a treasure trove of extra material : the unaired pilot episode, 90 minutes worth of never-before-seen sketches with full commentary, plenty of outtakes (which are always great on shows with such spontaneity), commercials, and four non-episodic appearances of the ensemble during their early MTV days. It’s genuinely encyclopedic, and as I slowly recall every sketch as it plays, it’s awesome to see some new ones. It’s like finding a whole album of lost songs by your favorite band before they started to suck. I’m talking to you, 1980s Jethro Tull and mid-2000s Barenaked Ladies.

The State informed my sense of humor, which is frankly awesome. You deserve to have some of this awesome for yourself, too. This is a part of my DVD collection that has been waiting to be filled for years, and it’s been handled exceptionally.

Through the hallowed halls of sketch comedy, there are a few select television series that stand far above the rest. Of course, above them all, shining down on the rest like some kind of huge-footed beacon of hilarity is Monty Python’s Flying Circus, without whom much other sketch comedy would not have been possible. Over here, across the pond, my all time favorites come neatly packaged in a convenient trinity : the oft forgotten The State (which ran for a brief period on MTV, who never know a good thing when they see it), Kids in the Hall, and Upright Citizens Brigade. SNL should have quit while they were ahead.

UCB has a special place in my brain because the UCB Theater in NYC is frequented by none other than Jesse Falcon, one of the head honchos of Marvel Toys. You can sometimes see Jesse on various ‘I Love the 70’s’ type retrospective shows on VH1, dispensing his unique perspectives on things past or popular, but when he’s not doing improv on stage, he’s making action figures. In fact, I was told by Jesse that the Nick Fury action figure from an early series of Marvel Legends is based on Ian Roberts, one of the founding UCB members and co-star of the UCB television show, which lasted for three seasons on Comedy Central. Now, the first two seasons can be yours.

Yes, the bus driver with the enormous butt, Officer Lunatic, Little Donny, the problem with astronauts, and the beautiful ape-woman. All yours. It all might not be for everyone, but their particular brand of absurdist humor, mixed with straight-faced crassness and intellectualism, with a fair amount of public stunts thrown in, will probably have something for everyone.

As always, any TV-on-DVD set can be judged solely on its completeness and its secret stash of bonus features. Seeing as how these are billed as ‘the complete first’ and ‘the complete second’ seasons, we can rest assured that nothing is omitted. During the commentary track on the first episode, we can even hear the UCB lamenting that the original commercial breaks were not included. So, what do these have by way of additional material?

Any great TV show will include the original, usually unaired pilot episode, which is included in the first season. Episode commentaries are offered up on a handful of episodes, many of which were recorded live before an audience for the second season. Additionally, we get an in-character episode commentary from Little Donny, whose peculiar affliction shall remain unnamed here, but is immortalized in a song that you do not want to be caught idly singing. Which I almost was. We get deleted scenes, a selection of live performances, and the feeling that we’re getting a package that’s completely full of everything that they could possibly fit in. With a third season on its way to DVD still, I think that we can expect a whole lot more.

Each season has ten 23-minute episodes, collected in the order in which they originally aired. In the UCB’s particular brand of comedy, we’ll get characters, jokes and references that run through the entire series, beyond the episode in which they first appeared. Watching them in sequence isn’t essential, but there’s always that divine pleasure of picking up on an in-joke that can be added.

The first season was re-released this week (after an initial release in 2003), accompanied by season 2, and at an average price of 20 bucks per season, it’s an excellent investment in hours of pure entertainment. Plus, Amy Poehler. Who can resist that?

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