While HBO continues to congratulate itself (deservedly so, we’ll admit) over the steamrolling successes of Sex and the City, The Sopranos, and Six Feet Under, it has neglected one of the most gifted and talented kids in the family. Showcasing the wonderfully reckless comedy of Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, the network’s Mr. Show series married the satirical edge of the best Saturday Night Live with the kooky, free-associating abandon of The Kids in the Hall. Unabashedly acerbic, stridently goofy, and somehow self-effacing at the same time, the duo’s freewheeling sketches are amusing on multiple levels and mysteriously dovetail into something like a cohesive “story” by each episode’s end. Like the best comedy, you just gotta see it, which is why it’s a pleasure to see the first and second seasons of Mr. Show given the same DVD treatment as the aforementioned HBO superhits. In addition to compiling all of the series installments, the set includes in-character audio commentary tracks and a must-see bonus segment featuring Ronnie Dobbs, Cross’ drunken-white-trash-fugitive alter-ego (whose feature-length tribute Run Ronnie Run is reportedly being held in limbo by the confused suits at New Line). With Will Ferrell no longer appearing live from New York every week, this set may come in awfully handy.
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