USED to love it?

Remember the one about the freak show? MEDIUM HEAD BOY!

LOL

I still say the "I'm Doug, and I'm outta heeeeeeeeeere" thing, normally to the bemusement of those around me.

Is she the blond or the brunette? The brunette looks guilty, to me. Shifty eyed and furtive.

I often say "Wha'm I doin'? Wha'm I doin'?" from the hillbilly brothers sketch, when confused.

I like ending parties like the Hormones sketch: "Do you know what time it is? Yeah it's really late. So go."

I'm a charmer!

I like to say, "You oughta try wearing PANTS!"

7: maybe you should take your own advice!

TOOTHBRUSH! You came back!

And look, you started a family!

Now that's not the Jane I know. The Jane I know would put a big old smile on her face, march right back into that boss's office, take off all her clothes, put on a monkey suit, douse herself in gasoline, jump out the window, get into a tiny box, and declare with bravado, 'The game is up, Moriarty. Drop the pistola and let the orphans go.'

Let's get milk-faced and hum like rabbits.

When people are named Carl, I want to screech at them "CYEEAAAAAAARRRRRRLLLLLLLL!"

Suddenly, I feel old.

Huh, I don't remember that sketch, Will.

I sure could use some help counting to four.

You may ask, "Barry and Levon, where'd you get $240 worth of puddin'?" Never you mind—it's not your concern.

IT'S NOT FUNNY! IT'S DANGEROUS!

I frequently find myself thinking "Yes, Bob, while you were out you missed the most exciting six hours in human history!"

Given that I spent '94-'95 living with pop-culturally obsessed people who watched TV nearly 24/7 and given how we all wanted to write sketch comedy at the time (didn't everyone?), it's odd how vague my memories of The State are. Kids In The Hall, yes; MST3K, absolutely; but if Heebie hadn't posted this video, I wouldn't have remembered The State at all.

I was televisionless in '94-'95. It's true -- in high school, I requested that my parents take away the TV for reasons that are totally opaque to me now, and they complied. What a horrible, horrible kid I was. To my sister and brother: For the billionth time, I'M SORRY.

Not one of you people wishes to dip your balls in it? For shame.

Really? What were your reasons at the time?

Don't apologize for who you are, jms.

It was part of a long war with my family where I was perpetually cutting off my nose to spite my face. Now I have no nose! And no memory of television in the mid nineties.

24: I yam who I yam.

Yams are very delicious.

If you are tv-less, you cannot drive yourself crazy yelling at tvs during conventions.

Centurion: We have a warrant for the arrest of Jesus of Nazareth. Are you Jesus of Nazareth?
Jesus: He just went that way. He's got a short-sleeved shirt and a tie and he's yelling something about his balls.

The state never did much for me, personally. I was at a middle level of TV watching in the mid 90s. Kids in the Hall was the main sketch comedy show I liked.

It seems like the people in the state are just funny enough to support a few seasons of a comedy show that is moderately popular among college students. I mean, aren't some combination of those people behind Reno 911 and that fake European variety show, and a bunch of other Comedy Central schedule fillers?

I mean, aren't some combination of those people behind Reno 911 and that fake European variety show, and a bunch of other Comedy Central schedule fillers?

I never found the later shows quite as captivating as The State.

You know what else I loved? Did you all watch Austin Stories, with Laura and Howard and Chip? SOOOO GOOD. (And this was a few years before I moved to Austin, so I wasn't just rooting for the home team.)

I remember the state being the worst comedy show ever apart from thye pudding sketch, but this clip was moderately funny.

I was televisionless in '94-'95.

I haven't had one since before then. I very rarely miss it, but more recently the interwebs have conspired to keep me a bit more up to date with pop culture, but also the improvement in (rare) shows pretty much coincided with dvd distribution of same, which is vastly superior to cable scheduling anyway. So there is that.

32: But now you are able to see the humor in the orphan sketch? It's okay to grow.

the worst comedy show ever

That would be Meet the Press.

33: We live in the golden age of long-form dramatic television. Soon, the whole genre, though, will leave the networks and be distributed only on DVD and the web

Hey, I actually knew Laura from Austin Stories back in undergrad!

36: Exactly: I really don't miss anything much by not having a television.

37: Really? SHE'S SO COOL. Was she cool?

A game show parody that's not merely mildly funny but actually truly repellant is Hooker Howiewood Squares. "Homeless Howiewood Squares" was better in most respects, but it's been taken down from YouTube except for a few minutes' worth.

She was way cool.

That's funny because it's NOT TRUE.

Heebie, here's her website:

http://laurahouse.com/

That should help you continue your fandom in a satisfying manner.

I will make her mine.

13: We wouldn't want him to DO HIS JOB.

I love that sketch.

The State was hilarious, or so I thought at the time. I'm glad to see it's still hilarious. But for fake game shows, SNL had them covered with the Celebrity Jeopardy series and Wedgie Fever.

Not bad, but the funniest State sketch of all was Monkey Torture.

People, LOL is banned. HA! is the acceptable alternative.

48: Fo' swipple, my whipple.

It seems like the people in the state are just funny enough to support a few seasons of a comedy show that is moderately popular among college students. I mean, aren't some combination of those people behind Reno 911 and that fake European variety show, and a bunch of other Comedy Central schedule fillers?

I loved Viva Variety. I own the Stella DVDs. And yet, I've never gotten into Reno 911. We had dinner at Perilla (Top Chef Harold Dieterle's restaurant) on a trip to NYC and Michael Showalter was at the next table. We spent most of our time figuring out if we could approach him without being total dorks. We finally approached him and made dorks of ourselves anyway, but he was very gracious about it.

I loved Viva Variety. I own the Stella DVDs. And yet, I've never gotten into Reno 911.

Hmm, I could never get into Viva Variety, but Reno 911 kills me.

But for fake game shows, SNL had them covered

I'm not convinced SNL and the state were playing in the same league.

The best SNL fake game show was "Stand up and Win." It doesn't seem to be on the web, though.

Quien Es Mas Macho is a personal favorite, although the Sean Connery in Celebrity Jeopardy always gets me.

I'm sorry sir, that wasn't grizzled, that was wistful. Tate Mitchum, you can take a commanding lead here!

54: I like Laurie Anderson's version. "Que es mas macho, pineapple o knife?"

"Si, correcto! Pineapple es mas macho que knife."

Well I had a dream, and in it I went to a little town, and all the girls in town were named Betty.

32: I remember the state being the worst comedy show ever

Never heard of it before this post, but the bits that made it to YouTube are pretty funny.

No, the worst comedy show ever is this.

Laura House claims to be fluent in Norwegian.