In the documentary attached at the end of the W/ Bob & David Netflix revival, performer Scott Aukerman described the effect that Bob Odenkirk and David Cross had on sketch comedy as "a generational shift in comedy." Indeed, the creators of other sketch shows like Key & Peele, Portlandia, and Human Giant all list Mr. Show with Bob and David as an influence. When one thinks about it, it's almost hard to believe where sketch comedy would be without this show.
For the most part, sketch comedy before the 90's definitely felt a lot safer. Sure, Monty Python was known for its surreal style of humor, and Saturday Night Live made its fair share of sketches that pushed the envelope. However, beyond that, sketch felt a little more upbeat, lighthearted, and good-natured, with a feel reminiscent of older comedy teams from the 1950s and before. Mr. Show operated much differently, and while the fact that it aired on HBO limited its audience, it was given much more freedom to do whatever the writers pleased.
The format felt like an American version of Monty Python, with each scene transitioning from one to the next via some sort of link that made it feel seamless. A character who appears at the end of one sketch may be at the beginning of the next one. One sketch turns out to be a television program a character in the next sketch is watching, or a story from a book they're reading. The transition would happen so fast too that if you looked away for a moment, you're in a completely different scenario that has a completely different style and feel than the one you were just watching. It was always fun to see where the show would take us next.
It was a unique, surreal experience, especially considering - unlike other sketch shows - there weren't any recurring characters that appeared over the course of multiple episodes. While a sketch show, it was almost as if each episode was set in its own, distinct universe. Cross and Odenkirk would appear at the beginning of each episode as themselves, but still heavily fictionalized, and the openings would essentially be an entire sketch by themselves, with the events of one opening never carrying over into the opening of the next episode. Some episodes contained transitions that indicated part of the episode - or in some cases, the entire episode - was the dream of one random character, or part of a television program a new character was watching.
The show contained a lot of heavily antagonistic type of humor. Characters would often insult each other, scream, throw temper tantrums, or try to one-up one another. One such sketch that comes to mind is one in which we see two separate commercials for two different grocery store chains, one owned by Cross and the other by Odenkirk. While the former's commercial plays like a normal advertisement, the latter's consisted of nothing but smear tactics, which causes a series of closures by the former as well as multiple commercials from both in which they respond to what the other has to say. The show often had this cruel nature in regards to how characters treated one another. In a more grounded, narrative-driven series, this would have been a major turn-off. But in a sketch show, the style works brilliantly, especially given the over-the-top nature of each sketch.
Even how the show handled such mundane topics was always a blast to watch. Little day-to-day occurrences would blow up into massive ordeals. And while characters would get into heated arguments over the situation, no one ever questioned how ridiculous they all sounded. One sketch involves a character going into a store asking for change for a dollar, which results in the cashier asking his boss for permission to make the change, who in turn would then ask his boss for permission, and so on and so forth, till the situation is rung all the way up the ladder. It's totally silly, but never once does the character asking for change ever question why it's taking so long for such a simple request, and has no problem accepting how the series of events plays out. He's in for the ride, and the audience is expected to play along.
While this was the first major starring project for both Odenkirk and Cross, I first discovered both actors through other programs. Odenkirk was through Breaking Bad, where he always provided plenty of comic relief, but still giving a mostly grounded performance, due to the nature of the show. Cross was through Arrested Development, which was also another totally ridiculous show, but required him to mostly deliver awkward, uncomfortable lines of dialogue with a totally straight face, clueless to how poorly he worded a sentence. Their comedic skills were clearly top notch, and they were both highlights of their respective shows, but at the same time, they could only do so much, given the nature of each program.
Seeing the two of them here though is an extreme change of pace. The two are at their most unhinged in Mr. Show, and both get to take their bizarre senses of humor to such extremes that when you see them in other movies or shows, they feel almost neutered. They're clearly having their most fun on Mr. Show, made especially more obvious by the natural chemistry the two have with one another. Going into this, I was curious how well Saul Goodman and Tobias Funke would really work with one another, but after seeing this, it's almost sad to see them in other programs where they're not working together.
The show had a strong supporting cast that - while also great - unfortunately never made it as big as its two stars, including Jill Talley, Jay Johnston, and John Ennis. But it's also notable for being the early projects for other future stars, including recurring appearances by the likes of Jack Black and Sarah Silverman. The most notable of all the future stars is Tom Kenny, known to audience these days for his voice acting work, especially as SpongeBob SquarePants. In a rare live action role, Kenny still gets to employ a lot of the goofy voices he became known for (you can even hear hints of SpongeBob and some of his other notable characters from time to time). However, here is equally as antagonistic and dark as his co-stars, and knowing the type of roles he became known for later on in his career, this is a real treat to see. Out of all the major supporting players, he is easily the most fun to watch.
As mentioned earlier, the program was briefly revived on Netflix in 2015, now known simply as W/ Bob & David. It contained the same cast and most of the same writing staff, though the structure was slightly different than the original run. Most sketches - while all tied together - didn't transition the same way as the original show did, and mostly would revolve around one over-arching theme (for example, it begins with a card game in which a group of friends discuss their future career paths, and the rest of the episode showed each career path played out). While not so much a surreal experience as the original show and it eased up slightly on some of the darker humor, it still had all the same energy of the original run, and it was just as fun.
Mr. Show - as well as W/ Bob & David - is some of the finest sketch comedy around, and easily a treat to watch, especially for those with a darker sense of humor. Cross mentioned in an interview that he and Odenkirk would definitely like to do more Mr. Show revivals in the near future, citing scheduling conflicts as the main stalling factor (in particular, Odenkirk's strict schedule surrounding the Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul). This is excellent news to hear. Because when the two are ready to do more, they'll be welcomed back with open arms.
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