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"The State" More at IMDbPro »

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25 reviews in total

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11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
skit comedies don't often come like this, 23 December 2001
Author: buyjesus from pouhgkeepsie, ny

despite glaring pythonisms, the state was the best Post-python era sketch comedy show ever. Founded back in the "golden" age of MTV when Jon Stewart and 'alternative' music reigned the airwaves, the state came out of nowhere as a smart, funny, innovative, and inventive masterwork. At times delightfully dirty, the show was mistaken by many for being low-brow. But like all great things comedic, the base humor came from somewhere sincerely genius. Witness the brilliance of a man delivering tacos rather than mail, or the incredibly popular gay student, or 20 year old pet sea monkeys. This often overlooked gem in television history could really benefit from some sort of re-release by MTV, who has to date released one short compilation video. Their lovely art spoke wonders to many of us growing up in the 90's in a way that no other television show has. It gave us a reason to watch television, which is scarce in this day and age.

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
now but only a fond memory, life without the state is worse than living in a sideways house, 9 September 1999
Author: sickboy-11 from morristown, TN

The state has been off the air for even years now, but even still i manage to quote it on almost a day to day basis even by accident. to say that the state was the funniest television show ever created is a gross understatement.. may blueberry johnson, mean ass sal & frankie the pig, figgy, emmet & lyle, berry & levon and everyone's favorate's "the jew, the italian and the red head gay" rest in peace, for they will always live on in our hearts.

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
All around funniest show on this earth, 6 February 2002

Author: Xander007

Not only is The State the most amazing show ever, but it featured some of my longest laughs ever, such as "Love and War" where Timmy and his father race home. The skits are so weird that they're perfect. A skit about origami suddenly ends on 8 members of the cast running in their underwear. If only it was back on TV, and it's so sad that shows like Saturday Night Live are even aired when there should be a show like this. My favorites are "Staring Contest" "Love and War" "Taco Man" "Prom Photos" and "Tammy Wilkins: Notebook Artist". Check em out.

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7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
One of the best TV shows EVER!, 5 December 2000
Author: jthompson-5 from Los Angeles

"The State" was a brilliantly funny sketch comedy show that ran on MTV in the mid-90's. By far the best and smartest show that has ever graced MTV. Each cast member was extremely talented (especially Thomas Lennon) and every skit was about a million times funnier then anything that has been on "Saturday Night Live" in the past 10 years. There is a VHS tape that is available with about an hour and a half of "The State" skits on it. But this tape does not even come close to representing the best of what ran on the show. I hope that one of these days MTV will get their act together and either re-run all of "The State" episodes or put them out on tape. Or, an even better scenario would be for "The State" to get back together and have a TV show again. By far one of the best shows EVER on TV.

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9 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Incredibly great or Aquaman, go talk to some fish, 7 September 2001
Author: changingshades (jon_dye_is_god@hotmail.com) from St Petersburg Florida

Forget about the Kids in the Hall. Ground the Flying circus. Fill up the vacant lot. Kill Mr. Show. and remember that SNL SUCKS. This sketch comedy show is the greatest of its kind. It had the most original premises for the its sketches and all the people involved were quite talented. I cannot put into words how much I loved this show. I was fortunate enough to have taped the episodes when they came on and am still able to watch them. Unfortunately, others are not so lucky. This show had some wonderful bits that many will never get to see. Bits like Barry Toink, The hand Signals, Grape Soda, even Please kill Tim. Many may have the mistaken impression that because of the spin off of viva variety was so bad, that its base material the Laupan variety hour and by extension the state itself was as flat and stale. Nothing could be further from the truth. This series is the greatest. Even though MTV made them have reoccurring characters, that is the main down fall of most sketch comedy shows, the state transcended this obstacle and made the funniest character in recent history. And even though he was out of here, Doug is an archetype for our times. Louie while being extraordinarily cheesy knew how to play it, and Barry and Levon gave cool a whole new groove. Mere words fail me when I try to describe my affection for this show, but I must tell you, not a week goes by that I do not tell someone new about how funny this show was.

Just remember, never watch the CBS special, and that blue muppets have the most meat on them.

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
I love these guys!, 22 August 2006
Author: FeverDog from Center of the Universe

All of their projects ("Viva Variety," "Wet Hot American Summer," "Reno 911!") are brilliantly bizarre (the "Trainspotting" bit in WHAS is classic). The State is where it all began so where's the DVD? MTV needs to give me what's needed so I can show my friends why I quote "I'm Doug, and I'm outta heeeeere" and "It ain't no sofa, it ain't no couch. It's a LOVE SEAT, aw yeah!". Better, run them on Comedy Central with "Just Say Julie," the other great, lost MTV skit show.

And remember the commercials MTV ran for it? The station rolled with the negative reviews the show received ("Significantly less than sporadically funny," Entertainment Weekly), quoting them while showing the cast, despondent. When the commercials for the show are just as memorable as the show itself, one wonders why the suits at MTV are just sitting on this. Surely at least one executive there loved this show when it aired.

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5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Best and Funniest Show Ever, period., 31 August 2000
Author: seltzer (douglasrturek@gmail.com) from Newington, CT

I used to watch the State religiously. It really was much funnier than anything else on TV. The cast had the advantage of being not just great writers of comedy, but good comedic actors as well. The only collection of skits available, Skits and Stickers, is well worth the price but it will leave you wanting more. When the State left TV, everything in the world became a little less funny.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Highly under-rated, 17 June 2002
Author: Adam Jordan from United States

I don't know why none of my current friends have never seen this show, but when I was in high school I watched it religiously. By far, the funniest, gut wrenchingest stuff ever. Someone mentioned the Sea Monkeys!! Blueberry "...I'm a frickin' blueberry!!!" There are so many things. The difference between The State and the current skit comedies is that The State was not taped in front of a live audience. Some of the ways they transferred from skit to skit are amazingly flowing... something welcome when you don't want to stop laughing.

The last thing I remember the cast of The State doing together was a live show for one of the Spring Break outings that MTV had. A straightlaced shakespearean play scene, with one exception... the ever increasing sizes of the phalluses in their tights. I think Shakespeare would have loved it!

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Much better now that I look back, 1 June 2003
Author: (leigh_not_lee@yahoo.com) from Fairmont, WV, USA

A few years ago when I offered comments about "Viva Variety" here, I mentioned its connection with the "occasionally hilarious" series "The State." Well, now I realize that "The State" was darn funny more often than just occasionally. The problem was mostly with the first season, really. That was the batch of episodes on which, according to a New York Times article, MTV imposed a dumbing-down to appeal to a supposed audience of sophomoric headbangers. And it showed: the early episodes featured (among a handful of gems) a lot of pointless surrealism-for-its-own-sake and even more running around & screaming to the accompaniment of MTV hits.

But then things started to look up. The eleven-member troupe apparently said "To hell with the network, we're going to do this our way" - which, unfortunately, is probably what led to the show's fairly early cancellation. But while they lasted, the remaining seasons showcased some brilliant stuff. The vacationers who went camping - inside a stranger's house (one camper found a grocery-store package of mushrooms on the kitchen counter, consulted a nature guidebook, and declared, "Good, these aren't poisonous"). The little boy who wrote the school nutrition pageant all by himself, only to face teachers and parents who dismissed his play for its weak characterizations and lack of subtext: "Clearly, you have never read Athol Fugard's 'Dimetos.'" And then there was the blind man who shared his story with a completely uninformed talk-show audience, including a doctor who had written a book called "Coping with Blindness" but neglected to print it in Braille. (The doctor, by the way, was played by Thomas Lennon, and I must give him a special mention as a standout actor; nobody could deliver a marvelously deadpan line quite like Tom.)

That's not to say that the show never reverted to its old screeching obnoxiousness. Overall, though, it often had this great quality going for it: multi-layered sketches. Instead of just coasting on one-joke premises, "The State" included amusing throwaway dialogue ("I have a very Eastern concept of what God is." "You mean, like Connecticut?"), quick allusions (While some students confessed to cheating on tests and the like, Shakespeare popped in and admitted he'd used a ghost writer) and visual gags (in the middle of an impassioned speech, one man dramatically removed his moustache rather than his glasses).

Keeping the laugh quotient high in a sketch comedy can't be an easy thing to do, so "occasionally hilarious" is probably quite an achievement. Watching it again, I see that applying that description to "The State" isn't enough after all.

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
One of the greatest sketch comedy shows ever, 2 August 2003
Author: michealjfox2003 from Compton

It takes a good sense of humor to understand the State. But those who do will say "the state is one of the funniest and most original sketch comedy shows ever. It came on MTV in the early nineties and immediately hooked many viewers with a spoof of the 'Snuggles' commercials which involved a startled woman beating the talking bear with her iron. And it only got better as time went by. The State understood that one of the most important elements of comedy is surprise, unlike many of today's comedies where the joke is telegraphed from a mile away, then explained to make sure everybody got it. They put the joke out there and left it up to the audience to get it. Of course they were on TV during what some consider to be a sketch comedy renaissance with Saturday Night Live in their prime and shows like Kids in the Hall and Mr Show following. Still shows of this caliber are missed in today's comedy void, the only show that comes anywhere near in quality is 'What the Hell is This', but you can only watch if you live in or around Atlanta, or go to their website.

For those of you who barely remember The State, here are some sketches that might remind you; Barry and Levon(the pudding pimps), Doug, The Popa, and monkeys doin it.

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