"Beware of others making these claims. They want to have sex with you, or THEY'RE A LAWYER!"
March 10, 2011 5:35 AM   Subscribe

Pretty much the entire run of HBO's Mr. Show is available on YouTube. One of the standout features of the show was it's treatment of advertising. Mr. Show did use the sketch comedy trope of strange products of dubious value, but it also satirized escalating political attack ads as well as the difference between the high road and the low road. Mr. Show also addressed public relations advertising. The show explored the use of shock to grab consumers' attention, and while send-ups of legal services advertising isn't unique, the technique certainly is. NOTE: some videos contain naughty words.
posted by Mayor Curley (106 comments total) 88 users marked this as a favorite
 
They did a great series of "commercials" about Mayo/Mustard combinations that was really funny Mundees Mustmayostarayonnaise.
posted by Blake at 5:40 AM on March 10, 2011


ahhhh, the 90's. Mr. Show best show, nuff said.
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 5:45 AM on March 10, 2011


This is excellent. Thanks very much.
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 5:49 AM on March 10, 2011


My wife can't watch the grocery store ones because that poor guy.

Also, there is no greater Mr Show sketch than The Pre-Taped Call-in Show
posted by DU at 5:54 AM on March 10, 2011 [16 favorites]


I couldn't help but think that mayo+mustard isn't something Americans wouldn't want to truly buy. I was right.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 6:06 AM on March 10, 2011


There is no greater sketch ever than The Pre-Taped Call-in Show.
A recent favorite, after working on many similar type tv shows Monster Parties: Fact or Fiction
posted by phirleh at 6:07 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]




IT'S PUMPKIN-INNY!
posted by grubi at 6:20 AM on March 10, 2011


Take it from me, I love you!
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 6:31 AM on March 10, 2011


DU: "Also, there is no greater Mr Show sketch than The Pre-Taped Call-in Show "

Probably #2 on my list right after 24 is the Highest Number (though, honestly, chosing a favorite Mr. Show sketch is like choosing a favorite flavor of cheesecake).
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 6:32 AM on March 10, 2011




Call In Show Genre Fight:
Mr. Show's Pre-Taped Call-in Show vs The State's Monkey Torture.
Discuss.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:36 AM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


God I love this show. Pre-taped call-in show is genius. For the record, I just want to say that life is precious. And god, and the bible.
posted by molecicco at 6:37 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Where are all the bags, honey?

They're in the BAG HUTCH!

No shit!
posted by notmydesk at 6:38 AM on March 10, 2011 [5 favorites]


Well that's just me David, I'm from the streets.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:42 AM on March 10, 2011


They're in the BAG HUTCH!

This phrase has entered my regular vocabulary to refer to wherever plastic and paper shopping bags are stored for reuse.
posted by molecicco at 6:42 AM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


It's really, really hard to explain to somebody why "this one sketch where this guy keeps knocking over a shelf full of thimbles" is so frickin' hilarious. But such is the beauty of Mr. Show, I suppose.

Also, besides the show, there is no greater resource for the discerning Mr. Show fan than Naomi Odenkirk's book Mr. Show: What Happened?! The entire history of the show in the words of the people who made it, complete with an episode by episode discussion. Gave it to my brother for Christmas one year... after reading it myself, natch.
posted by Rykey at 6:42 AM on March 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


The lie detector sketch beats all

Wow, Paul F. Tompkins looks a lot different now.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:50 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Kiss the pan!

*bonk*

PAN KISSES YOU, KISS THE PAN!
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 6:54 AM on March 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


All of the above sketches pale in comparison to The Audition. FUNNIEST SKETCH EVER!
posted by puny human at 7:01 AM on March 10, 2011 [9 favorites]


Let's just agree. They are all the best, except for that one sketch. That one is the worst.

(btw, make mine Monsters of Megaphone. Thank you!
posted by tittergrrl at 7:09 AM on March 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


"My great great great grandfather started this company with one single rickety leaky hand-crafted slave ship, and a simple motto: People Selling People to People."
posted by mondo dentro at 7:11 AM on March 10, 2011




I watched the shit out of it!
posted by shakespeherian at 7:15 AM on March 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


Also, a bit of a derail, but so worth it: David Cross had an absolutely stellar guest spot on Just Shoot Me as "Slow Donnie." Seriously elevated an otherwise generic sitcom for two epic episodes.

Some highlights:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
posted by shiu mai baby at 7:24 AM on March 10, 2011 [7 favorites]


Try this link to get the full episodes (it's just the first link sorted with the longest videos appearing first).

But first, watch Titannica.
posted by vverse23 at 7:27 AM on March 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


Some of my personal favorites are Van Hammersly, and the house for the blind.
Also, as hilarious and brilliant as the show is, just as hilarious (and sometimes hilariouser) are the commentary tracks. The best are when there's a sketch they don't like, Paul and Jay provide alternate dialogue.
posted by cottoncandybeard at 7:28 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Operation: Hell on Earth, featuring the multicultural militia.
posted by electroboy at 7:29 AM on March 10, 2011


Hail Satan!
posted by Eideteker at 8:09 AM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


It's Crack, it's great; it gets you really high.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 8:12 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


I hope you should all take the time to listen to this month's Pod F Tompkast, if only to hear PFT's take on fan's telling him how much they love the lie detector sketch.
posted by Old Man Wilson at 8:14 AM on March 10, 2011


Each of the last three years, my fantasy football team name has been:

-Fat Top Tony & The Purple Canoes
-Coupon: The Movie
-Electric Sports Bra
posted by AloneOssifer at 8:24 AM on March 10, 2011


Weeklong Romance still makes me guffaw, after seeing it a hundred times. Odenkirk's delivery of "--the MOST people!" is just pitch perfect.
posted by Freon at 8:28 AM on March 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


I was so completely absorbed in Mr. Show in the late 90's that I & my friends had a particular code (that just happened to develop) we talked in referring to Mr. Show episodes - for example, to express happiness, we might just yell out "Pit Pat!" I was happy that my radio show this week was about bags so I could play the "Bag Hutch" commercial!

To this day, one punchline from the Thrill World sketch never fails to make me laugh out loud: "Two whole minutes UNDER WATER!"

I need to read that book!
posted by dickenbock at 8:30 AM on March 10, 2011


David Cross had an absolutely stellar guest spot on Just Shoot Me as "Slow Donnie."

Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot......PIE!
posted by briank at 8:31 AM on March 10, 2011 [7 favorites]


Ya buncha cajolies!
posted by ORthey at 8:37 AM on March 10, 2011


Wait, I mean, this is all I have. I don't know, sh-should I have more? I mean, you, what's goin' on here? You're askin' me a lot of questions here, you know. I mean, what is this? Some sort of shampoo court? I mean, I don't know. [to the rest of the line] I don't know if you're watchin' this but everybody's seeing this guy's shampooing me. [getting worked up] I mean, you know, last time I checked it was okay to travel around Europe and get as much shampoo as you wanted! You know, *what* happened to my shampoo rights?!
posted by porn in the woods at 8:37 AM on March 10, 2011


The moment in change for a dollar where David Cross spontaneously busts into a weirdly beautiful sort of mini-aria for no reason just gets me every time. The whole sketch is deliriously and wonderfully weird and perfectly captures why no other show is quite like Mr. Show.
posted by ORthey at 8:44 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


What a collection of assholes!
posted by Iridic at 8:46 AM on March 10, 2011


Thousands? Clock?
posted by grubi at 8:49 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Y'all are brutalizin' me.
posted by Falconetti at 8:52 AM on March 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


NOTE: some videos contain naughty words.

Well I have NEVER....EVER...EVER...EVER...EVER....NEVER...
posted by Hoopo at 8:58 AM on March 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


The whole sketch is deliriously and wonderfully weird

Reminds me of my own personal favorite Mr. Show line, in the It's Insane, This Guy's Taint episode (easily my favorite episode, from start to finish). "At first I thought you were really going to freak out when you saw this. It defies all medical logic, really. The first time it happened I was like, 'Huh?'"
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:06 AM on March 10, 2011


I am always torn, when watching the sketch aboutblowing up the moon, whether the best moment is:
The CS Lewis, Jr. song "Look out moon, 'cause America's gonna get ya" or
The old man talking about how when he was a boy, blowing up the moon was just a beautiful dream, but now it's science fact.

Either way, it was all great until the monkey spoiled it.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:08 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Dino Stamatopoulos may be the most underrated comedy writer of the last 20 years. His turn as Starburns in Community may well go down as the thing most remember him for, but he wrote the bulk of the favorite sketches mentioned above, and has at least half a dozen other great shows to his name.
posted by SpiffyRob at 9:13 AM on March 10, 2011 [6 favorites]


There is no greater sketch ever than The Pre-Taped Call-in Show.

One of my fondest memories is trying to show this sketch to my wife when she was drunk. She was sooo confused.
posted by lumpenprole at 9:14 AM on March 10, 2011


Rykey, I've watched that thimble sketch many times and it still makes me laugh so hard I cry. I watched it on DVD with "commentary on" and one of the guys said that it took like 10 minutes to put all the thimbles back each time, making the studio audience watch and wait, making them even more invested in the thimbles' safety. For some reason that makes it 10 times more funny to me.
posted by chowflap at 9:14 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


NOTE: some videos contain naughty words.

The money goes to Swears For Cares.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:24 AM on March 10, 2011


This year, the winter storms have left us overstocked!
posted by almostmanda at 9:24 AM on March 10, 2011


The CS Lewis, Jr. song "Look out moon, 'cause America's gonna get ya"

...'Cause buddy don't ya mess... with God's Ameri-cuhhhhh...

As much as I love this show, it's depressing to see how accidentally prophetic it was. "And God, and the Bible" has become political discourse, the C.S. Lewis Jr. song and the rash of country songs inspired by 9/11 are indistinguishable, and "Let's blow up the moon" could have been straight out of the Bush administration's foreign policy playbook.

Ah well... at least I can laugh my ass off at the made-up stuff.
posted by Rykey at 9:35 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


I hold particular fondness for the Bad News Breakers. I can only hope that if I have to get bad news, it's broken in such a manner.
posted by kafziel at 9:36 AM on March 10, 2011


"I'm saying, pack your bags, cause we're headed up my mom's ass!"

I remember trying to describe this sketch to a coworker and just laughing the whole time while he looked at me like I was an idiot. "no, it's funny" I said, "they follow a rope into the guy's mom's ass and there's, like, a museum!"
posted by phelixshu at 9:37 AM on March 10, 2011


This is a great post, what with the price of beef going through the fuckin' roof.
posted by codswallop at 9:40 AM on March 10, 2011


for example, to express happiness, we might just yell out "Pit Pat!"

We adopted a cat someone had abandoned at the ASPCA. His name was "Kit-Kat", despite being entirely gray. We renamed him Pit-Pat, after the magical pansexual non-threatening spokesthing!
posted by notmydesk at 9:45 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


I have dubbed my own homemade burger the "Ding Dong King Kong Sing Song Burger" because of Mr Show
posted by Hoopo at 9:55 AM on March 10, 2011


Rewatching some of these sketches, it's funny to note how many of these sketches are based on the same trick of pushing a single funny idea past the point where it's not funny, then STILL pushing it until it becomes funny again. Another example: The Audition

This was one of Mr. Show's signature comic conceits.
posted by meadowlark lime at 10:10 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


My base in Minecraft is named Fuck Mountain. I'm in the process of crowning all 4 sides with giant hollywood style signage saying "FUCK" I've got 2 done, so far.

I've started a throne room for myself, who I declare as "King Shit" :)
posted by symbioid at 10:20 AM on March 10, 2011 [6 favorites]


Imagine how surreal it is reading these comments without ever seeing the show.
I'm a huge fan of David Cross, but I'm almost reluctant to break the spell...
posted by aquanaut at 10:21 AM on March 10, 2011


Headed over from the Wisconsin thread - This thread is making me smile - I need that. Thanks for the break! Thanks for the post!
posted by symbioid at 10:21 AM on March 10, 2011


Is this something you'd have to have a television to understand?

Notice I didn't say "tv", because "tv" is a nickname and nicknames are for friends and television is nooOOOo friend of mine!
posted by orme at 10:32 AM on March 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


I've started a throne room for myself, who I declare as "King Shit" :)
posted by symbioid


Fuckin-A!
posted by orme at 10:33 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


How can SNL not even be this good? I tuned in for the Paul Rudd show and the first skit was about a family that kissed each other on the lips too much. The skit went nowhere with it.
The skits here actually got some movement and can go places you won't expect.
posted by skepticallypleased at 10:37 AM on March 10, 2011


All these goats are retarded.
posted by TrialByMedia at 10:46 AM on March 10, 2011


I'm a huge fan of David Cross, but I'm almost reluctant to break the spell...

Wait until you find out that there isn't a razzleberry waterfall...
posted by mintcake! at 10:56 AM on March 10, 2011


Hey, everybody, it's Bob and David!
posted by grubi at 11:01 AM on March 10, 2011


It's really, really hard to explain to somebody why "this one sketch where this guy keeps knocking over a shelf full of thimbles" is so frickin' hilarious. But such is the beauty of Mr. Show, I suppose.

In the DVD commentary, we are reminded that the sketch was performed live in front of an audience, and that between each part of the sketch, all those thimbles had to be reset by hand. When you're watching that sketch, pay special attention to the mounting frustration and exasperation of the audience.

That's what's so funny about it.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:04 AM on March 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


I always feel weirdly sad calling it "the Thimble sketch" instead of "the Man Who Climbed Mount Everest sketch." "The Man Who Climbed Mount Everest sketch" is too long, though, so you end up doing exactly what the family in the sketch does and heartlessly ignoring that poor clumsy S.O.B.'s achievement.

There are only a few times in my life that I have laughed so memorably hard and for so long that it was painful and I was breathless, and yet well and truly brimming with brutally endless amusement. The first time I saw that sketch, that was one of them.
posted by heatvision at 11:08 AM on March 10, 2011


For those of you who can't get enough of C.S. Lewis, Jr.: another patriotic hit for you to enjoy.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:12 AM on March 10, 2011


Jeeper Creepers, Superstar!
posted by JHarris at 11:17 AM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


How can SNL not even be this good? I tuned in for the Paul Rudd show and the first skit was about a family that kissed each other on the lips too much. The skit went nowhere with it.

The key is that SNL is live and done pretty much within the week and it's up to the actors to battle for sketches, write their own or wither and die. It always amazes me how many big names have been part of the SNL cast that were hardly in any sketches, Sarah Silverman, Gilbert Gottfried, Bruce McCullough (although he rehashed a few Kids in the Hall films), Robert Downey Jr. , Damon Wayans, Ben Stiller.
posted by phirleh at 11:23 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


24 is the highest number.
posted by borges at 11:24 AM on March 10, 2011


My god, I have forgotten how many of these sketches are really great. I wasted a lot of work going through various youtube clips.

As mayor of the Altered State of Drugachusettes, I declare this post to be... awesome!

I'm gonna go eat some oranges.
posted by molecicco at 11:35 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


I tuned in for the Paul Rudd show and the first skit was about a family that kissed each other on the lips too much. The skit went nowhere with it.

Wanna know the sad thing? That's a recurring sketch.

Wanna know the really sad thing? It's one of the better recurring ones.
posted by SpiffyRob at 11:38 AM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Brush rhymes with comb! since someone already mentioned chicken pot pie
posted by emelenjr at 11:38 AM on March 10, 2011


My shoes hurt this post.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:39 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


This post makes my pants tight.
posted by Challahtronix at 11:42 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Bruce McCullough (although he rehashed a few Kids in the Hall films)

Bruce did just two films on SNL after KITH; he also wrote for SNL throughout the 85/86 season, before KITH.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:58 AM on March 10, 2011


Bruce McCullogh also knew a whole hell of a lot of Daves before KITH.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 12:37 PM on March 10, 2011


Yes, but SNL used to be good, right? None of the sketches here have to political or current events related, even there pretaped stuff is rarely this good.
posted by skepticallypleased at 12:46 PM on March 10, 2011


How can SNL not even be this good?

SNL is on an advertising-driven broadcast network, so it has to fit within the bounds of broadcast censorship.

Much more importantly, the fact that it's ad-driven means that it can't be truly edgy. I don't know what the point is in doing topical humor (which was a large part of SNL the last time I saw it) when you're not allowed to offend anyone except the absolute fringe.

Most everything also has to have the broadest comic appeal owing to it being ad-driven, which tempers the humor a lot. If it has to appeal to everyone including dim people, it's not going to be really funny to anyone except the dim people. That's why you get so many returning characters, I think-- the not-bright people who are watching aren't put off because they're already familiar with the concept and don't have to expend any mental energy getting into the sketch. Then those same people can beat the recurring character's catch phrase to death with their friends and you can sell them merchandise with "Wow! That's a big booger!" on it or whatever it the current one is.

SNL has done some really funny stuff, but the hit to miss ratio is really, really terrible. The schedule they labor under is only part of it.
posted by Mayor Curley at 12:52 PM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Yes, but SNL used to be good, right?

Not really, no. There's a reason the episodes on the DVD releases are often less than half of their original running length. It has always been mostly high-concept crap that milks one joke far too long and goes nowhere, performed by some athlete squinting at cue-cards and still fucking up his lines. It's very often quite painful to watch, and has always been thus.

And I say that as a huge fan of SNL.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:55 PM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Sys Rq: " It has always been mostly high-concept crap that milks one joke far too long and goes nowhere, performed by some athlete squinting at cue-cards and still fucking up his lines."

To be fair, the central conceit of SNL has always been "Let's see if we can write and produce an hour and a half of sketch comedy in a week" which is, to say the least, super-hard to do.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 1:11 PM on March 10, 2011


SNL has done some really funny stuff, but the hit to miss ratio is really, really terrible.

Personally, I find Andy Samberg's own hit-to-miss ratio much better than the show's as a whole. I don't watch much anymore, but the last time I watched was the Gwyneth Paltrow & Cee-Lo Green episode where he did the Pee-Wee Herman short that had me doubled over and also cracked me up with his part in the Shakespeare Previews sketch. But then, I also LOVED Hot Rod.
posted by Hoopo at 1:16 PM on March 10, 2011


That's it. I've seen enough.

Kid, you got the goods.
posted by Eideteker at 1:31 PM on March 10, 2011


I love this thread.

And its companions.
posted by Eideteker at 1:35 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


To be fair, the central conceit of SNL has always been "Let's see if we can write and produce an hour and a half of sketch comedy in a week" which is, to say the least, super-hard to do.

Yeah, I know. The biggest problem, I think, is the guest host thing. When the bookings are good, they're great. When they're not, they're awful. I jut don't understand their bookings sometimes. SNL pretty much has its pick of the litter. They could get anyone they want. They really want Michael Phelps? Realy? I mean, sure, he was probably a big ratings draw at the time, but that just meant there were millions of people tuning in to see SNL sucking harder than ever.

(To their credit, some of the athletes aren't bad. Derek Jeter, for example, was outstanding. Wayne Gretzky, though: Not so much.)

But anyway, yeah, a weekly live 90-minute network sketch show will never be as good as a half-hour pay cable sketch show.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:39 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


They really want Michael Phelps? Realy? I mean, sure, he was probably a big ratings draw at the time, but that just meant there were millions of people tuning in to see SNL sucking harder than ever.

SUCKING LIKE ON A BONG AMIRITE
posted by shakespeherian at 1:46 PM on March 10, 2011


"Just having a chatty pee, David!"
posted by yerfatma at 1:49 PM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Payton Manning was so much better than Tom Brady that it almost made me question my football allegiance. But not really. Still: Given the opportunity to hang out with one, I can't say for sure I'd choose the Pats' messiah.
posted by SpiffyRob at 1:50 PM on March 10, 2011


Sys Rq: "When the bookings are good, they're great. When they're not, they're awful."

That's true. I've just learned to run the balance sheet in my head: in exchange for putting up with Miley Cyrus, I got three Jon Hamm episodes.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 1:54 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Just watched an old episode of "The Ben Stiller Show" (co-starring Odenkirk). There's a skit called "Manson" (in which Charles Manson takes on the role of Lassie) with a character named Van Hammersly (Odenkirk's character from the above Mr Show bit.

Nift!
posted by grubi at 4:06 PM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Mastering the Josh Fenderman dance is one of the items on my personal bucket list.
posted by Neilopolis at 4:19 PM on March 10, 2011


This thread is nature's President.
posted by JHarris at 4:23 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


NEW San Francisco!
posted by JHarris at 4:23 PM on March 10, 2011


Y'all be brutalizin' me.

Legend, legend, the third wheel legend... always in the way!

Sulu the iguana, Dr. Zaius the pot-bellied pig, and C3P0 the snake.

David, I've got a grown man heah with a puppet performing a lewd an lavicious dance on his lap! Boys, shut 'em down!

WHO SPEAKS ILL OF PORNOGRAPHY???

I own, or have owned, all the Mr. Show DVDs at once time or another. I can keep doing this as long as it takes, entirely from memory.
posted by JHarris at 4:28 PM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Check it out, I got a man who's hooking me up with a real life albino!

"Take it from me, I love you!"

I made mah own money, which I would use to pay myself for groceries I gathered in the woods!
posted by JHarris at 4:35 PM on March 10, 2011


just one more
ALL HAIL MENOCU
there i'm done
posted by JHarris at 4:37 PM on March 10, 2011


Truly, one of the greatest shows of all time.

My friends and I used to have a Mr. Show game. One person would come up with a quote, and the other person would extrapolate forward and backward to fill out the rest of the show. We were shockingly good at it.

Anyone here ever see the show in person? I'm curious as to how they put together the in studio with the on location stuff.
posted by Saxon Kane at 4:40 PM on March 10, 2011


You've opened my big asshole eyes!
posted by shiu mai baby at 5:05 PM on March 10, 2011


There's a DeLongpre Ave. in Hollywood that I drive past on a pretty regular basis. And after more than ten years here, I can only think of David yelling "OOH! OOH! DELONGPRE!!" from the audience of The DeLongpre Dannon Show every single time. (relevant bit at about 6:11)

So OK, I have a brush-with-Bob Odenkirk story. So A few years ago I was filling up my car at a gas station on Sunset (not at all far from DeLongpre Ave., come to think of it!), and this guy pulls in to the gas pump on the other side of me. And IT IS BOB. And I'm all internally giddy, because OMG BOB ODENKIRK EEEEEEEE but I manage to stay cool till I can figure out my legitimate way to talk to him, which I do: My ex-husband and Bob worked together at WIDB on a radio show back in the early '80s at Southern Illinois University. So I look over at him, and go "hey, Salukis!"

He laughs and asks if I went to SIU; I tell him no, but that the ex-Mr. Scody did, and they worked together on a sports/comedy show. I am pretty certain that Bob doesn't remember my ex all that well, but he is still very friendly. So while the cars are filling up, I ask him about his upcoming projects, etc. -- all while working very, very hard NOT to accidentally quote any of the approximately eight thousand Mr. Show lines I have stuck in my head or to mention that I once dressed as a jar of mayostard, as that would be Most Uncool -- and then the cars are filled and we say goodbye, and he says "say hi to your ex-husband for me... um, if you don't hate him, I mean."

At which point we each get into our cars and I think, EEEEE! BOB ODENKIRK! But I stay calm and head over to the line for the drive-through carwash, at which point I get out my phone and start making calls to whomever I can think of, because OMG BOB ODENKIRK!

And then I notice a car pull in behind me. I look in my rearview mirror. It is... Bob Odenkirk. And I am on the phone, with my window down, basically SCREAMING about having just met him. So I immediately HANG UP on whoever I was talking to and try to act all casual, like, oh yeah, just chillin' in the line for the carwash on Sunset, people. But every once in awhile I glance in the rearview mirror, and occasionally can see that Bob can see me looking back at him, at which point he does the sort of Raised Chin and Eyebrows of Basic Acknowledgment. Oh lord. The Raised Chin and Eyebrows of Basic Acknowledgment just makes it worse. Because now we're both sort of stuck in this goofy loop of being aware of being aware of each other, and all either of us wanted to do was wash our damn cars.

So finally -- finally -- it's my turn. I roll down my window, lean out to input the carwash code I got with my receipt, and of course fuck it up somehow so that the timing is wrong and my carwash starts before the car ahead of me is fully out of the wash, and so I drive in and trigger the big scary HONK HONK DANGER DANGER RED LIGHTS GOOD GOD, LADY and I glance quickly in my rearview and Bob Odenkirk, god bless him, is doing his very best to appear to be looking the other way and totally oblivious to the fact that I am an idiot who can't even wash her car right.

Needless to say, I did not stop to wipe down my windows or do the carvac once the wash was finished; I headed straight for DeLongpre to make my shameful getaway.
posted by scody at 5:10 PM on March 10, 2011 [17 favorites]




Shampoo train.
posted by puny human at 7:00 PM on March 10, 2011


Man, I KNEW I recognized Starburns from something!
posted by saul wright at 7:14 PM on March 10, 2011


Dino Stampolouspousahous just did a WTF with Marc Maron. It is a pretty good one and he is very sexual frank about how much he enjoys being beaten.
posted by Falconetti at 7:49 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Speaking of Bob, here he is playing a Dane Cook-esque standup comedian.

OMG thanks
posted by Rykey at 5:05 AM on March 11, 2011


You Mother-Father, Chinese Dentist!
posted by Saxon Kane at 5:33 AM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


« Older Premature birth-preventing drug faces cost spike   |   Read the Classics: "Top Twenty" isn't quite... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments