DavidWain-related stories
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 9:32AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Web, Adult Swim, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Two very unique comedies will get a time slot on an equally unique cable network.
Conan O'Brien's "Conaco" production company and actor Rob Corrdry both scored spots on Adult Swim for two new live-action sitcoms.
O'Brien's company won a spot for Eagleheart, a show about a fading TV star who wins a chance for glory once more on a production in Texas, but constantly clashes with the low-level TV exec in charge of the show.
Corrdry's medical drama spoof web series
Childrens' Hospital will also go to Adult Swim. The channel will show re-edited versions of the episodes that aired on TheWB.com as well as produce new ones. Corrdry originally pitched the show to
Comedy Central, but negotiations broke down with the network, probably because the show didn't have enough bimbo strippers and shirtless fat guys to fill their quota (cough,
Secret Girlfriend, cough).
Posted Jul 21st 2009 3:00PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Video, Reality-Free
The Kevin Bacon Game used to be the ultimate litmus test to gauge your level of connectedness in Hollywood. You just tried to link up your name to King Bacon and if you were three links or more, you couldn't even get a Melrose Avenue street bum to spit on you for a quarter.
That game has officially been replaced by something much narrower and definitely much cooler. It also puts me a link away to the Hollywood machine, which bumps me up to not having to pay that bum to spit on me.
I recently got an advance copy of
MTV's long awaited DVD box set of all four seasons of The State and found this personal connection in a sketch from the third season called "Fan Names."
Continue reading TV Squad's connection to MTV's The State
Posted Jul 15th 2009 8:35PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
When
Michael and Michael Have Issues premieres tonight at 10:30 PM on Comedy Central, it'll be a return to sketch comedy of sorts for Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter. The pair started out with
The State on MTV, as
this week's boxed set release reminded us. Their most recent TV project,
Stella, the show, with former
State member David Wain, wasn't really sketch as much as it was an exercise in absurdist slapstick.
Comedy Central has been showing episodes from the single season the show lasted in the run up to
Michael and Michael Have Issues, and it has been a pleasant reminder of Stella's brief experiment with a half-hour TV comedy. It's hard to imagine keeping that premise going - Wain, Black, and Showalter free associating with different guest stars season after season. But it's been fun to watch it again.
Continue reading Hoping for a healthy dose of sketch comedy from Michael and Michael Have Issues
Posted Jul 14th 2009 3:05PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
TV bloggers get a lot of free DVDs to review. They range from the dull and drab to titles that some people would run over someone on the way to the movie store to get.
It's very rare, however, for anyone to get their grubby little hands on a title powerful enough to reverse the polarity of the universe and restore order to chaos. I managed to score that very thing a week before anyone could and I didn't have to sell my soul, my first-born child or any of my bodily objects to get it.
Continue reading The new State DVD: You'll wanna dip your balls in it!
Posted Apr 20th 2009 6:07PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Music and Variety, Interviews, Reality-Free
Get ready to utter the biggest "At last!" since NBC put the
Knight Rider remake out of its long and winding misery.
TV Shows on DVD reported
MTV's official announcement earlier this morning that the entire sketch comedy series will hit store shelves on July 14th. That was followed by a trailer release of the DVD on
The State's official site. It's going to have full commentary from the cast, four interview features on the troupe's origins and the show's many catchphrases, some unaired sketches and outtakes. It sounds like this five disc set will be chocked full of
Stately goodness. You'll want to do a lot more than just dip your balls in it. Please keep those things to yourself.
Founding
State member, writer and
Role Models director
David Wain was nice enough to give us his first interview (via IM, no less). He talked about the work that went in to getting things to this stage, why the announcement first appeared on cast member
Joe Lo Truglio's site and what he and the rest of his crew hope to accomplish with their DVD.
Continue reading David Wain tells us: The State DVD is on!
Posted Apr 20th 2009 10:05AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
There seems to be some mixed messages on the status of
The State DVD. Those of you who are sitting on the edge of your computer chair, chewing your fingernails down to the marrow know this isn't really new news.
This time, however, there seems to be disagreement within the ranks of the comedy troupe.
We reported earlier this month about
State member and recent
Reno 911! addition
Joe Lo Truglio announcing a release date for the long beleaguered DVD of the complete series. The following week,
the group's official site, run by writer, director and cast member
David Wain according to their
FAQ, denied that any date for the DVD's release has been set.
Continue reading Another colossal exclusive! The State restates the state of The State DVD
Posted Feb 5th 2009 5:02PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
If you grew up watching MTV in the '90s, then you probably remember
The State. If you don't – and you're an American between the age of 30 and 35 – do a YouTube search for "I wanna dip my balls in it" and let the memories flood right on back.
I credit the irreverent MTV sketch comedy show with keeping me from slipping into a full-blown depression during my teenage years, aka the angsty, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains-drenched years.
The State ran from 1993 to 1995 and helped launch the careers of some of my favorite comic actors, writers and filmmakers, including David Wain (
Wet Hot American Summer,
Role Models), Thomas Lennon (
Reno 911,
Balls of Fury) and Michael Ian Black (
Stella,
Ed). All 11 members of the comedy troupe reunited recently to perform new material at SF Sketchfest in January. The
A.V. Club talked to State alums Wain, Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver this week about the reunion and about their future plans. Among the things that came up in the interview was the status of that promised complete-series DVD.
Continue reading Hey MTV, I want The State on DVD already
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