The State 

Each episode contains 30 minutes of extremely bizarre and funny sketch comedy performed by THE STATE, an 11 member sketch comedy troupe who wrote and starred in various sketches seen throughout the program.

Creators:

Kevin Allison, Jonathan K. Bendis, Michael Ian Black

Stars:

Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Robert Ben Garant

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Kevin Allison	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Michael Ian Black	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Robert Ben Garant	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Todd Holoubek	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Michael Patrick Jann	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Kerri Kenney	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Thomas Lennon	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Joe Lo Truglio	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Ken Marino	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
Michael Showalter	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995
David Wain	...	Various 27 episodes, 1993-1995

Storyline

Each episode contains 30 minutes of extremely bizarre and funny sketch comedy performed by THE STATE, an 11 member sketch comedy troupe who wrote and starred in various sketches seen throughout the program.

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Plot Keywords:

sketch comedy | violence | surrealism | stupidity | stereotype | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

January 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

The State: Full Frontal Comedy

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The cast was extremely reluctant to write material for recurring characters, but pressure from the network forced them to do so. When the character of Doug and his catch phrase "I'm outta heeeere..." began to catch on, Michael Showalter, who played and created Doug, conceptualized the second season sketch in which Doug gets annoyed by everyone finding his rebellious slogan charming.

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Quotes

Barry Lutz: Dr. Crank, in your many years of primate research, you've developed...
Dr. Crank: Uh, research is such a restrictive term. I feel I've opened up a whole new arena of experimentation which I call "Monkey Torture".

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Sketch Comedy Shows (2014)

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Soundtracks

Boys and Girls - Action!
by Craig Wedren and Eli Janney

User Reviews

MTV's best contribution to sketch comedy

1993 was arguably the year that Saturday Night Live "got the bad news from the Dr" (i.e. that it was dying), so "The Edge" began to fill that vacuum, and pick up where the recently canceled "In Living Color" left off. Though while In Living Color focused on an "urban"/black-centric audience and pushed the envelope by testing how low toilet-humor could get on prime time, The Edge pushed the envelope by breaking the accepted formulas and definitions of what comedy was. This was a show dedicated to the MTV generation of the 90s, which was struggling to find its own identity. The show often capitalized on and poked-fun at this theme (i.e. the "Doug" character, who rebelled against his cool father and the fact that his own catch-phrase "I'm outta here" was becoming main-stream). Many of the sketches were what could really only classify as alternative, such as the Cereal Commercial, Snuggle Bear and International signs...yet at the same time hilarious. As luck would have it, the MTV execs and lawyers finally let their greed subside enough to release the entire series on DVD, so the efforts of the writers and actors can be enjoyed and appreciated by the next generation of comedy aficionados.