Rating: Summary: Funny In Places - No, Wait - Actually, Brilliant Review: I have come to appreciate the show's first two seasons greatly. Despite several reviewers here commenting that the show peaked in this third season or in the fourth ... to me the episodes here lack some of the inspiration of the previous two seasons. The first two seasons seem to me to have more great meaty material pound-for-pound. That's not to say there's not a lot of very funny stuff here. But not as much. The shows seem a bit less focused, the sketches a bit less pointed. As also happened to Monty Python, an obvious inspiration for Mr. Show. David Cross remains an especially great performer, and there's much to like here. Certainly the high points here are up there with the other great sketch comedy shows of our time - Monty Python, SCTV, Kids in the Hall. Okay, that was the original review. I've since been watching these episodes repeatedly for months, and they've grown on me a great deal. It's true that most of the episodes have a few dud sketches. But the bulk of this material is so on point, so brilliant. You can hardly cultivate such a level of disdain for religion or for organized stupidity in general as these guys seem to naturally posess. I totally buy into the mindset of Mr. Show and find it even a bit more cutting, more socially constructive than Kids in the Hall or even Monty Python (though each of those shows is great and did influence this one). In retrospect this third season is probably stronger than the first two were. This show is apparently an acquired taste, as many great things are. I recommend that you try to acquire the taste for this. It brings joy to my life and tears to my eyes, no kidding.
Rating: Summary: Very funny; but you might not like it Review: I really love the Mr. Show series. The sketch comedy is absolutely great, but many of my friends haven't enjoyed it as much as I have. The humor is a mix of corny and intellectual, and the stories aren't as fast moving as some comedy today. If you are patient with your humor, you will like this, and if this seemed to slow for you, try Chappelles show intead.
Rating: Summary: Warning -- Mayostard will expire before Mustardayonnaise Review: I was lucky enough to catch a couple reruns of Mr. Show on HBO several months ago, having never heard of it before. Needless to say I was hooked! It's definitely a different kind of sketch comedy and it's not for everyone. It's often dark and the humor isn't always 'obvious'. I think that's why I like it so much...it doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator. Notably funny skits include "Pre-taped Call-In Show," "Fuzz: The Musical," and "East Coast/West Coast Ventriloquist Feud." Buy Season One too!!!
Rating: Summary: Warning -- Mayostard will expire before Mustardayonnaise Review: I was lucky enough to catch a couple reruns of Mr. Show on HBO several months ago, having never heard of it before. Needless to say I was hooked! It's definitely a different kind of sketch comedy and it's not for everyone. It's often dark and the humor isn't always 'obvious'. I think that's why I like it so much...it doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator. Notably funny skits include "Pre-taped Call-In Show," "Fuzz: The Musical," and "East Coast/West Coast Ventriloquist Feud." Buy Season One too!!!
Rating: Summary: FANTABULOUS!!! Review: I went up Heaven's Chimney FOUR times already!!!
Rating: Summary: I don't get it... Review: I'd never seen Mr. Show before but recently borrowed the third season DVD from a friend because I'd heard good things and wanted to check it out. Well, I watched the first three episodes here and I scarcely cracked a smile. I think David Cross is a very funny dude but I just didn't think much of the sketch comedy going on here. None of it seemed all that clever, well-written, or well-acted. I was at least expecting something more edgy and better written than SNL but what I saw here completely fell flat. This seemed to me like amateurs trying to emulate SNL and doing a very mediocre job of it. Maybe this is one of those things you have to watch a lot of before you start to "get it" because it certainly didn't work for me.
Rating: Summary: Heavy-handed and Dull Review: I'm a big fan of sketch comedy like Python, KITH, UCB, Exit 57, & SNL. I loved Seasons 1 & 2 of Mr. Show. The sketches were fresh, witty, and edgy, but most of all, they were fun -- fun to watch, and you could tell Bob & David & the cast had fun performing them. Season 3, however, seemed like work. It certainly felt like work to me, sitting through heavy-handed, indulgent, and overly-long sketches like the Satanic Evangelists and Hunger Strike. There were some bright spots, to be sure, but they were all sketches included as extras on the Season 1 & 2 DVD in the "Best of Mr. Show" newscast. Aside from those previously-viewed sketches, episodes 1-8 made me laugh about 3 times total, with "Sleepy Devil Breakfast Soup" accounting for 2 of those. Episodes 9 & 10 were much better, but by then I had already soured on this season. The extras from the Aspen Comedy Festival were funny, but short. The "Best of" compilation "Fantastic Newness" wasn't nearly as clever as the newscast from Season 1-2. I guess true Mr. Show fans have to own this DVD to complete the library. Anyone else is better off saving their money, or investing in a second copy of Seasons 1-2.
Rating: Summary: Heavy-handed and Dull Review: I'm a big fan of sketch comedy like Python, KITH, UCB, Exit 57, & SNL. I loved Seasons 1 & 2 of Mr. Show. The sketches were fresh, witty, and edgy, but most of all, they were fun -- fun to watch, and you could tell Bob & David & the cast had fun performing them. Season 3, however, seemed like work. It certainly felt like work to me, sitting through heavy-handed, indulgent, and overly-long sketches like the Satanic Evangelists and Hunger Strike. There were some bright spots, to be sure, but they were all sketches included as extras on the Season 1 & 2 DVD in the "Best of Mr. Show" newscast. Aside from those previously-viewed sketches, episodes 1-8 made me laugh about 3 times total, with "Sleepy Devil Breakfast Soup" accounting for 2 of those. Episodes 9 & 10 were much better, but by then I had already soured on this season. The extras from the Aspen Comedy Festival were funny, but short. The "Best of" compilation "Fantastic Newness" wasn't nearly as clever as the newscast from Season 1-2. I guess true Mr. Show fans have to own this DVD to complete the library. Anyone else is better off saving their money, or investing in a second copy of Seasons 1-2.
Rating: Summary: Worth every penny... Review: I'm a relatively new fan of Mr. Show, and after seeing the first and second seasons I was anxiously awaiting the third. This DVD definitely does not disappoint. I have to disagree with what one reviewer commented on though. I feel as though this season is a lot more polished than the first and second...they seem to have hit their stride during the third season and it really shows. If you're a fan of groups/shows like Kids in the Hall, Upright Citizens Brigade, or Monty Python, you definitely must see this, as well as the first and second season DVD.
Rating: Summary: The polar opposite of The Wayne Brady Show and its ilk.... Review: If you desire sketch comedy that is more than the same three lame re-occuring characters wrapping themselves in layers of refried concepts, then feast your eyes, ears and most importantly cerebral cortex on this Show of Shows, Mr. Show. Discovering this television series in the bowels of the largest pay cable distributor HBO years ago made me and my college roomates feel like part of a comedy cult that had truly been blessed to watch two "unconventional" looking comedy geeks surgically destroy any logical conventions of traditional sketch comedy without making anything that unfolded in each episode feel the slightest bit forced or funny at the sake of being cheap. Comedy shows had been abstract to the point of absurdity before Mr. Show, rolled one scene into the next before Mr. Show and tackled deep societal issues before Mr. Show, but none in my opinion have acheived such hilarity simultaneosly working on as many comedic levels as this show is constantly juggling, never letting any of these concepts override the others. The greatest thing about this show is watching its evolution from aspiring greatness in the first two seasons to disgustingly brilliant by the time the third season's sizeable budget lift occured, finally letting the props and sets shine as much as the comedy always did. The genius of a sketch such as "Druggachusettes" would have always been funny, but the adult 70's cartoon lunacy of the elaborate prop and costume creations this season afforded turned the sketch's wordplay into neon-colored wackiness. Quite simply, this show is for anyone who likes to laugh hard both as an outward display as well as having inward cranial explosions, marveling at the amount of satirical information a piece of media can throw at you at once while just being plain ol' DAMN HEE-LARIOUS. This collection will prepare you nicely for the fourth season, of which is an even inconceviably more incredible final season in its perfection of the Mr. Show "formula" we have grown to be astonished by! Tera Dulu to all!
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