Despite not being totally bowled over by the first season of this show, I saw enough that I liked to make me come back to it for more. The season is strongest in the first half and not quite as good in the second but it generally is better than the first season was for several reasons. The first is that everything feels a lot tighter and carefully put together. Manic humour is one thing but it is very easy for it to be manic and imaginative to the point of it being silly and less funny as a result. This season has a good handful of moments like that – bits that don't work and are just too silly and "wacky" but it has a much stronger collection of bits that get the mix right and are funny and imaginative. My personal favourite is the infomercial that turns into some weird sort of domestic abuse situation but there are many similarly imaginative bits such as Rap the musical, Jeepers-Creepers Semi-Star, NAMBLA and so on.
This tighter season means that the material is stronger and all the actors are better for it because the "less silly" material allows them room for smaller touches and comic timing. Some of the bigger sillier stuff doesn't do this and I did feel like they got lost in the silliness of it all – the musical number about San Francisco being one bit that simply didn't work for me at all. As before the delivery of the lead two is great and they seamlessly move between characters and perform their characters with commitment. Odenkrik is very good but for some reason Cross seems to have the better, more subtle characters and he generally caught my eye more often – perhaps just because these characters suit his style more.
Overall season 2 of Mr Show gave me enough improvement on season 1 to make me come back for more when I get the chance. While some of it is still silly for the sake of being silly, more of it gets the Monty Python type of silly humour – the type that is imaginative and funny so that the silliness doesn't hurt it. Still an acquired taste but funny if you get it.
