PopSyndicate.com

IMPROV/IMPROVEMENT!

I was about 13 or so when The State premiered on MTV and I caught it off and on for the next four years, never really making an appointment to watch it, but, if it was on, it was entertaining enough for me not to change the channel and keep it on in the background while reading comics and not getting laid.

But, if you ask many other people my age their recollections of The State, they will go into horrific convulsions to tell you that it was the greatest thing to have ever been broadcast in the entire medium of television’s history. So it does have it’s fans and, yes, they have probably been clamoring for the series to make its appearance on DVD.

Prepare for the big letdown, kiddies.

Severely dated, The State, watching it in retrospect, is the type of “alternative” and “in-your-face” comedy show that Ben Stiller would have produced in Reality Bites. It’s so faux-edgy and day-glo irritating, with meandering skits that go nowhere and jokes that continually fall flat. The characters you loved oh-so-much? “Doug” is barely one joke. stretched out way too many times—it makes Saturday Night Live’s “the Rich-meister” character seem positively thought out and sublime in comparison. And what about “Barry and Levon”, the two 70s lounge-lovers in velvet leisure suits? That’s better left unsaid.

The only thing that really made me laugh? I spot-on parody/shot-by-shot remake of the end credits of The Cannonball Run. But, truth be told, all that did was reinforce my opinion that The Cannonball Run is one of the most underrated comedies of all time, causing me to go back and watch parts one and two to watch the stink of The State off my fingers.

Want to know why The State falls so flat? It’s the type of over-educated liberal arts improv humor that only NYU sperm-drinkers find funny amongst themselves, laughing silently to no one in particular in an empty warehouse theater located in Alphabet City. The whole sow is the reason why the rest of the world (except for said drama students, natch) hates improv: people in stupid, irritatingly quirky situations just screaming, with the “comedians” thinking that the screaming is the punchline of the joke.

But, if I still can dissuade you and you still absolutely must own The State, this is your metaphorical cream-dream. Four discs with four seasons, as well as an fully-packed bonus disc that includes the original pilot, over 90 minutes of unaired sketches, promos, outtakes, appearances at, GROAN, MTV Spring Break…here you go, take it, have a grand old time.

This isn’t to say though that I entirely hate the cast of The State. Quite the opposite, actually. Sure, the smug likes of Michael Ian Black, David Wain and Michael Showalter should do the world a favor and eat a bullet, but then again, you have real comedy talent in the personas of Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver, who, while their aforementioned counterparts went on to produce incomprehensibly unfunny dreck likeStella, they went on to create Reno 911!, perhaps one of the few funny original things that Comedy Central ever did that was, well, funny.

So, of course, as I admit this in writing right now, I just learn that Comedy Central has, of course, canceled it. Good job guys, now maybe we can make room for more reruns of Mannequin 2: On the Move
! But, as sad as this news is, it is tempered in the most bittersweet of ways with the release of Reno 911!, season six, on DVD. This show has never failed to bring the laughs, always trying to attain new heights (depths?) of insanely low-brow comedy, all at the expense of the Reno Sheriff’s Department.

Season six finds us with a few next cast-members and few old dead ones, and while it may take an episode or two to get used to it, they fit in perfectly and, especially in the case of crooked cop Rizzo, could have been fan-faves. Oh well, at least you get to see numerous instances of Nick Swardson’s Terry character get into all kinds of shenanigans—hey, Comedy Central…how about a Terry spin-off show?

You got fifteen hilarious episodes, numerous extended and deleted scenes (the extended time-share scene is worth the DVD price alone!), commentaries and Craig Robinson’s video for linoleum floors, which, I guarantee you, will be stuck in your head for days.

Goodbye Reno, it was nice knowing you. The State, I wish I never met you.

3