Steven Banks Home Entertainment Center

September 22, 2007 11:48 PM

Steven Banks Home Entertainment Center Is Online

Banks, currently the head writer for Spongebob Squarepants, was an aspiring actor/comic in the late 1980s when he started performing this hour-long one man show in a series of gigs around the U.S. Eventually, the show was filmed for Showtime & the special has gone on to attain cult status. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, as a fan of the special when it originally aired I was glad to see it uploaded, even in 10 minute snippets.

posted by jonson (17 comments total)

I watched this show so often when I was little that the poor VHS tape became unwatchable. I'd estimate someone in my family quotes from it at least once a month.

Thanks, jonson!
posted by lumensimus at 11:58 PM on September 22, 2007

lol i forgot i used to watch this show when i was like 12. i could never figure out what NRBQ meant. thanks for making me remember. <3 internet.
posted by knowles at 12:02 AM on September 23, 2007

I was kinda worried no one would remember it, I'm glad a couple people do! I was so stunned to see it online, it popped into my head for the first time in probably 15 years or more, and I had to google lyrics from one of his songs (the line about Marvin Gaye) to even remember the name of the show. Yay, internets.
posted by jonson at 12:08 AM on September 23, 2007

Wow. I too nearly wore out a VHS copy of this. I came home on break my freshman year in college and just had to show it to my college friends who were crashing with me. Not a one of them liked it, much to my disbelief.
posted by JeremyT at 5:17 AM on September 23, 2007

Count me as another of the huge fans who wore out more than one VHS. Thank you.
posted by buggzzee23 at 5:27 AM on September 23, 2007

That was excellent!!!

He's like Calvin at 30.
posted by brautigan at 6:35 AM on September 23, 2007

Oh ya, I had forgotten about that! It was one of those shows I was always happy to come across, but could never intentionally remember to watch.

I was doing a fair amount of standup and magic shows at the time, and remember being partially jealous and partially inspired by his ability to take a simple premise and make is so entertaining and funny.

Thanks jonson.
posted by The Deej at 7:35 AM on September 23, 2007

Never seen it before - but I just watched it through, curiously addictive. He seems to have stayed mostly on the writer's side of the camera subsequently. Shame.
posted by Sparx at 8:18 AM on September 23, 2007

I love that "every surface covered with a poster, sign, or bumpersticker" home decorating aesthetic --- it was a peculiarly eighties thing, wasn't it?
posted by jayder at 8:46 AM on September 23, 2007

Thanks a ton for introducing me to this, jonson. What a laugh riot -- I love that the foundation of the show is procrastination + underachievement + ADHD. That and all the bizarro shit that we people who live solo routinely do around the house.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:48 AM on September 23, 2007

Never seen it or heard of it before. Good stuff. Thanks.
posted by TrialByMedia at 9:05 AM on September 23, 2007

It's missing the Penn & Teller introduction! Great find otherwise.
posted by JT at 9:07 AM on September 23, 2007

Oh my goodness gracious, this is delightful!
posted by Greg Nog at 10:00 AM on September 23, 2007

Awesome. So awesome.

Just two days ago I saw a pic of Brigitte Nielsen and immediately remembered his improv'ed "I love you" song in which one of the lines asserted that he loved his girlfriend "more than Brigitte Nielsen's mammary glands."
posted by middleclasstool at 10:53 AM on September 23, 2007

This is huge in our family mythos. There are so many scenes that became family in-jokes. When we get together replaying the Steven Banks tape is a high point. Sadly the kids' spouses don't seem to share the glee. Thanks jonson. Great find!
posted by RussHy at 11:54 AM on September 23, 2007

This was a time and a character that really strikes home. I graduated college in 1986 at the peak of a recession. Many of us old college roommates banded together post college and lived together (off and on) until 1990. We all had like five shitty part-time jobs each. Most of us played in bands. Or did theater or stand up. Consummate slackers with big dreams. Banks was quite a hero to us.
posted by tkchrist at 5:34 PM on September 23, 2007

Okay, so I bookmarked it and just watched it. It makes sense that he's on Squarepants... reminded me of the Procrastination episode.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:09 AM on September 29, 2007