The State

The State is an hysterically funny sketch comedy show that is most known for its shows on MTV. They have since gone off the air but MTV put together a collection of some of their skits.

This collection of skits from The State is absolutely beautiful. When the show went off the air I would often sit on my couch and cry. But then one day a friend bought me this tape. Since then my days have been filled with only joy and laughter. I have watched this tape well over 100 times, and have shared the beauty with countless others.

If you miss them like I do, find this tape and watch it. If you like Kids in the Hall, The Upright Citizens Brigade, Monty Python, or just enjoy laughing, find this tape and watch it. If you enjoy jokes about pudding or beards in space, find this tape and watch it. If you do not have a strange sense of humor or you don't enjoy laughing, then maybe you should just take a nap instead.

All of their projects ("Viva Variety," "Wet Hot American Summer," "Reno 911!") are brilliantly bizarre (the "Trainspotting" bit in WHAS is classic). The State is where it all began so where's the DVD? MTV needs to give me what's needed so I can show my friends why I quote "I'm Doug, and I'm outta heeeeere" and "It ain't no sofa, it ain't no couch. It's a LOVE SEAT, aw yeah!". Better, run them on Comedy Central with "Just Say Julie," the other great, lost MTV skit show.

And remember the commercials MTV ran for it? The station rolled with the negative reviews the show received ("Significantly less than sporadically funny," Entertainment Weekly), quoting them while showing the cast, despondent. When the commercials for the show are just as memorable as the show itself, one wonders why the suits at MTV are just sitting on this. Surely at least one executive there loved this show when it aired.

despite glaring pythonisms, the state was the best Post-python era sketch comedy show ever. Founded back in the "golden" age of MTV when Jon Stewart and 'alternative' music reigned the airwaves, the state came out of nowhere as a smart, funny, innovative, and inventive masterwork. At times delightfully dirty, the show was mistaken by many for being low-brow. But like all great things comedic, the base humor came from somewhere sincerely genius. Witness the brilliance of a man delivering tacos rather than mail, or the incredibly popular gay student, or 20 year old pet sea monkeys. This often overlooked gem in television history could really benefit from some sort of re-release by MTV, who has to date released one short compilation video. Their lovely art spoke wonders to many of us growing up in the 90's in a way that no other television show has. It gave us a reason to watch television, which is scarce in this day and age.

The state has been off the air for even years now, but even still i manage to quote it on almost a day to day basis even by accident. to say that the state was the funniest television show ever created is a gross understatement.. may blueberry johnson, mean ass sal & frankie the pig, figgy, emmet & lyle, berry & levon and everyone's favorate's "the jew, the italian and the red head gay" rest in peace, for they will always live on in our hearts.

one episode they redid this running gag skit of theirs only they did it as japanese kabuki theatre, complete with giant wooden shoes stomping around, kabuki mannerisms, painted faces, and japanese kabuki music. they did it well too. that's the kind of show this was. totally cool. another time they had people send in postcards their names, then they did a whole skit using their names. amazing.