Customer Reviews

Mr. Show: Complete Collection

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most folks ahve never heard of this show, but an easy favourite, along with The Kids in the Hall.

Weird, oddball humour. Hard to describe.

Quality is certainly better than what you'd get from a broadcast, but nothing spectacular. Every episode has commentary, which are pretty funny.

Over a decade after its cancellation, Mr. Show still stands as one of the most innovative sketch-comedy series ever created. Clever writing, a solid cast, and a refusal to ever deliver the 'safe' joke are what made this series great and its focus on absurdist, rather than topical, humour is what has allowed it to age so gracefully.

The price of pushing the envelope is that a lot of the jokes fall flat, but they succeed more often than not and there is always at least one bit per episode than will have you in stitches. That said, the sense of humour here is definitely singular and newcomers may want to think twice before investing in the Complete Collection. If you enjoy Odenkirk or Cross in any of their other roles, or like the sound of a modern, American Flying Circus, then this series is worth a shot.

Extras
Bob, David and the rest of the cast went all out here, delivering commentary tracks on every single episode. There's plenty of information here about how the show came together, but the real treat of these commentaries are the portions that are delivered in character. The jokes here are often as funny as the episodes themselves and fans of the show really owe it to themselves to give a listen. There's not a lot of behind-the-scenes features here, but we do get some clips of the Mr. Show stage show and a cast reunion that's sure to delight fans.

Presentation
The transfer on this disc is serviceable, at best, but the fact is no one watches sketch comedy for the visuals. More frustrating is a menu that never lets you get to the episodes with a single click. A 'Play All' option would've been really nice.

Bottom Line
For fans of Mr. Show, this set is everything you could possibly ask for and purchasing it should be a no-brainer. Newcomers may want to buy the seasons one at a time(don't worry, all the extras are there) just to be sure they'll enjoy this unique style of comedy.

This is the epitome of "free-flowing" comedy! Fresh (even though it's been off the air for years), clever (there always seems to be purpose with every barb) and balanced (even when you say to yourself "ooooh, I can't believe they said that..." then they hit you with a semi-sweet moment).

I bought this collection for a two reasons. First and foremost, David Cross is a brilliant comic and I find him to be extremely talented and very funny. Second, I had never heard of this show, let alone seen a single episode and I was therefore very curious to check it out.
I found the quality of the series improved as the seasons unfolded and there are some pretty funny skits, but overall, there are some hits and several "misses" along the way. Not bad, but a "Best Of" collection might be worth thinking about.