Mr. Show with Bob and David

i just saw these guys live in Philly, and their show is one of the greatest things to ever grace the television set. the shows are all remarkably written, with scenes and themes flowing in and out of one another. there are a lot of modern sketch-comedy shows that i consider ground-breaking, such as "The State", "The Kids in the Hall", "TV Funhouse", and even "Saturday Night Live". However, "Mr. Show with Bob and David", despite its short, four-season lifespan, does the best job of re-inventing sketch comedy, in a form that is like no other. Lots of characters, lots of childish, scatological humor, lots of laughs, all packaged into one hell of a show that for all of its silliness is extremely intelligent.

The comparison to Monty Python is inevitable (both Bob Odenkirk and David Cross have acknowledged their debt to their predecessor in interviews), but make no mistake: "Mr. Show with Bob & David" is refreshingly original and brilliantly funny. There have been so many hilarious moments on the show that it would be impossible for me to name a particular favorite. The sketches are so finely crafted that even when the jokes fall flat (which is extremely rare), they're still quite engrossing ("Coupon: The Movie" is an example). I've been watching the show faithfully since its second season and each new episode only leaves me wanting more. The show's strong ensemble cast featuring John Ennis, Jill Talley, Tom Kenny and especially Jay Johnston are part of what makes the show work so well.

Being on HBO, they're pretty much able to do what they please, but while there is plenty of profanity (not an issue for me at all), they are in no way reliant upon cussing for laughs. In fact, one of the more memorable sketches involved a take-off of "Goodfellas" being edited for television in which the cuss words were replaced with such phrases as "mother-father" and "Chinese dentist".

HBO deserves to be praised for recognizing the talent of Bob & David and keeping the show on the air in spite of its small - albeit fiercely loyal - number of viewers.

The next time HBO airs a "Mr. Show" marathon, don't just watch it, tape it!

If you want to see one of the most groundbreaking skit comedy shows ever, look no further than Mr. Show. Wow. Each episode is a work of art, every skit amazingly flows into the next. Filmed skits, flow into live skits, back and forth... absolutely amazing. Also, if you want to see some great character work, look no further. Bob Odenkirk and David Cross are some of todays best comedic character actors', and the supporting cast is unbelievable. Also the fact that it was on HBO, the show was able to get away with more. Its so great. They only made 30 episodes, and now they are on hiatus while filming the First "Mr. Show" movie. What a great show.

How can you quantify perfection? It is a standard to which everything else must be compared. Okay that makes a better diamond commercial than a comedy review. Bad skits are few and far between. The pace of the show doesn't allow for anything to drag out too long. For Mr. Show, nothing is sacred ("...we have a saying around here: Get used to it Hitler..."). While it may offend some viewers, who cares! The writing is near comedic genius. The originality of each episode is truly refreshing. My new goal in life is to distribute Mr. Show tapes to unsuspecting friends with the tenacity of a very tenacious thing.

This is by far the funniest show on all of TV right now. The writing only gets better every episode. Thank God for Mr. Show!