Mr. Show with Bob and David, also known as Mr. Show, is an American sketch
comedy series starring and hosted by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. It aired on
HBO from November 3, 1995, to December 28, 1998.
Cross and Odenkirk introduced most episodes as semi-fictionalized versions
of themselves, before transitioning to a mixture of live sketches and pre-taped
segments. The show featured a number of alternative comedians as both cast
members and writers, including Sarah Silverman, Paul F. Tompkins, Jack Black,
Tom Kenny, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Brian Posehn, Jerry Minor, Scott Aukerman, and
Dino Stamatopoulos. It was nominated for four Primetime Emmy
Awards, as well as a Golden Satellite Award.
Format Each episode of Mr. Show consists of a
series of sketches, each one transitioning to the next by a link in a
manner reminiscent of Monty Python's Flying Circus. For example, a minor
character in one sketch might return as the major character in the next. Often,
common themes or story lines are returned to at different times
throughout an episode. As a premium cable show, its audience was limited.
DVD editions, however, have opened the show to a broad new audience.
Every episode begins with an individual introducing the hosts. This role was
filled by Mary Lynn Rajskub in the first two seasons. After her departure for
personal reasons, the introduction was made by a random character from that
week's episode. Episode titles were mostly quotes from
the episode. For example, "Bush Is a Pussy" is a writing on a T-shirt worn by
one of the characters. One of the exceptions is "Eat Rotten Fruit from a
Shitty Tree", which is a line in a song within the episode that was eventually
performed as an instrumental. Certain lines of dialogue are often
repeated by different characters during the course of a single show.
At the end of each episode's credits, a random celebrity is listed in the
"Special Thanks" section. Examples include: Rick Dees and Greg Maddux.
Themes The show contains a strong, confident
contrarian viewpoint, little respect for traditionalism and at times satirizes
organized religion and global capitalism. Vanity Fair noted that the
series had mocked "satanism, teenage suicide, cock rings, hermaphrodites,
after-school specials about mentally challenged parents, and the Ku Klux
Klan." Many of the show's sketches were
constructed with a strong critique of modern television in mind, whether it be
local news, sitcoms, commercials, infomercials, reality shows, or music
videos. Contributors
Mr. Show's main cast for the entire run consisted of David Cross, John Ennis,
Tom Kenny, Bob Odenkirk, and Jill Talley. Cross, Ennis, and Odenkirk
appeared in each season. Kenny left the show after the third season, returning
for one episode of season four. Talley appeared in all episodes but four
towards the end of the third season, which she missed due to pregnancy. Jay
Johnston, a featured performer throughout the series, was credited as a
member of the main cast for the final episode of the show.
= Main cast= David Cross
Bob Odenkirk John Ennis
Tom Kenny Jill Talley
Jay Johnston = Featured cast and frequent
collaborators= = Writing staff=
= Contributing writers= Tom Kenny
Brent Forrester Brian Posehn
Reception Mr. Show with Bob and David was
nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music
or Comedy Program at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards, losing to Dennis Miller
Live, and also received a nomination for the song "How High The Mountain" in the
category of Outstanding Music and Lyrics. The following year it was
renominated for Outstanding Writing, losing this time to The Chris Rock Show,
and also received a Creative Arts Emmy Award nomination for lighting director
Simon Miles. At the 9th Golden Satellite Awards in
2004, the show's third season DVD set was nominated for "Best DVD Release of
TV Shows." In 2010, prompted by the announcement of
IFC's plans to re-air Mr. Show, it was included in a short list of "TV's
greatest cult comedy series" by The Onion AV Club.
Related projects = Run Ronnie Run=
Mr. Show also spawned a spin-off movie, Run Ronnie Run, which was shown at the
2002 Sundance Film Festival. but went straight-to-DVD. In an April 2004
article in Chunklet magazine, Odenkirk noted numerous problems they had had
with the film, blaming the film's director, Troy Miller, who "chose to
freeze us out, hold us at arm's length and not let us influence the movie
nearly on the scale that we should have."
= Mr. Show Live: Hooray for America!= In September 2002, original cast members
Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, John Ennis, Brian Posehn and Stephanie Courtney
toured in a show called Mr. Show: Hooray for America!!!. The two-month stint
included "distillations" of some of Mr. Show's sketches, such as "The Burgundy
Loaf", and new material. In the stage show, the large fictitious
mega-corporation Globo-Chem sponsors David's stage persona to run for the
presidency of the United States. The tour included 16 large cities and
college towns in North America: San Diego, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia,
New York City, Boston, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Eugene, Portland, Seattle, and
Vancouver. = Hollywood Said No!: Orphaned Film
Scripts, Bastard Scenes, and Abandoned Darlings from the Creators of Mr. Show=
In September 2013, Grand Central Publishing released a Hollywood Said
No!, a book of rejected scripts and unused Mr. Show sketches. The audiobook
version included full cast readings by former Mr. Show performers and writers.
One of the rejected scripts is the original version of Hooray for America!,
which had earlier been adapted as part of the Mr. Show Live tour.
Legacy While the show was never viewed by a
mass audience due to its premium cable broadcast, it remains a highly
influential piece of American sketch comedy. Many involved with the show have
gone on to become staples of the American comedy landscape.
The Sarah Silverman Program was written by and stars Sarah Silverman, and
features Jay Johnston and Brian Posehn. Arrested Development features David
Cross as regular character Tobias Fünke; the series also had guest spots filled
by Mr. Show alumni, such as Bob Odenkirk as a marriage counselor, Jerry Minor and
Jay Johnston as gay cops, and John Ennis as a mall security guard. Jack Black had
supporting roles in Mr. Show. Cross and Odenkirk would go on to work with Black
on producing a show for HBO for the comedy band Tenacious D which would also
feature Mr. Show alumnus Paul F. Tompkins.
In January 2011, IFC began airing 90-minute blocks of Mr. Show, The Ben
Stiller Show, Action and The Larry Sanders Show three times per week. The
programming block was often hosted by Mr. Show writer and actor Scott
Aukerman, who also conducted new interviews with the shows' contributors
and younger comedians who have been influenced by the shows.
= David's Situation= Odenkirk and Cross reunited in 2008 to
create the HBO pilot David's Situation, which was shot but never aired or picked
up. The network gave the pair $400,000 to shoot a pilot, which appeared to go
well during the taping; however, while Cross and Odenkirk were editing the
episode, they felt it failed to "capture that same energy on screen." In an
interview with Vanity Fair, Cross said, "We told them that we didn't want to do
this show, we'd rather do Mr. Show 2.0. And they were like, 'Yeah, O.K., that's
great, but the thing is, we don't have any more money for this year. But we'll
figure out something next year.' And we never heard from them again."
= Comedians and shows inspired by Mr. Show=
Comedy duo Tim & Eric have said their program Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great
Job! was highly inspired by Mr. Show. Odenkirk served as the producer on
Awesome Show as well as Tom Goes to the Mayor and The Birthday Boys.
Other sketch comedy shows whose creators have cited Mr. Show as an influence
include Portlandia, Key & Peele, Kroll Show, Inside Amy Schumer and Human
Giant. Episodes
The four episodes of the first season premiered in November 1995. The second
season aired a year later, for six episodes, which continued into December.
The third season included 10 episodes, spread out from September to December
1997. The ten final season episodes aired from October to December 1998.
Revival In April 2015, Netflix acquired Mr. Show
and put in an order for four half-hour episodes and one hour-long "making-of"
special. The announcement was a followup to a Twitter post from Paul F. Tompkins
teasing about "something new coming from the Mr. Show gang in the new year." W/
Bob and David premiered on November 13, 2015.
Characters Odenkirk and Cross mostly avoided using
recurring characters a la Saturday Night Live, but some characters made repeat
appearances: References
External links Mr. Show at the Internet Movie Database
Mr. Show at TV.com