Creators
Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder
Cast
Jonathan Katz”¦”¦”¦Dr. Katz
H. Jon Benjamin”¦”¦”¦Ben
Laura Silverman”¦”¦”¦Laura
Will Lebow”¦”¦”¦Stanley
Julianne Shapiro”¦”¦”¦Julie
DVD Release Date: November 21, 2006
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 160 Minutes on 2 Discs
The Show
Some people enjoy stand-up comedy, but just don’t enjoy sitting there staring at someone talk. They get fidgety or antsy and just want to hear the routine, but want to see something more going on. Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder came up with a great way back in the nineties for stand-up to be brought about in a completely different way”¦through the art of animation.
And it’s not just normal animation either which makes the show even that much more fun to watch. An interesting animation technique called “Squigglevision” was used for the episodes of Dr. Katz. With squigglevision, there would be no real movement by the characters in the show other then their eyes and mouths. Their positions and stances would only change from shot to shot when the camera switched characters or places.
The series took advantage of the use of animation to have comedians sit down with a therapist and do their acts through the means of making it their everyday life experiences. Meanwhile, Dr. Katz had enough trouble with his non-caring secretary Laura and his live-at-home 23-year-old son Ben.
This is one of those shows that has truly withstood the test of time and is really fun to watch even some seven years after it’s gone off the air. It’s still funny because you weren’t watching a show that had much of a storyline so you’d remember it and always know what’s going on. No, you are watching a bunch of stand-up comics tell you their material as a bunch of messed-up lives. And to me, the show is even better now because I’m older and get more of the jokes being told then when I was a teenager.
Disc One
Bystander Ben – Guest stars Steven Wright and Kevin Meaney
Real Estate – Guest stars Rita Rudner and Barry Sobel
Glasses – Guest stars Dom Irrera and Emo Philips
Office Management – Guest stars Carol Leifer and Ray Romano
Bees and SIDS – Guest stars Dom Irrera and Louis C.K.
Drinky The Drunk Guy – Guest stars Ray Romano and Janeane Garofalo
Disc Two
Sticky Notes – Guest stars Judy Tenuta and Garry Shandling
It Takes Some Getting Used To – Guest stars Bill Braudis and Lew Schneider
Particle Board – Guest stars Eddie Brill and Marc Maron
A Journey For The Betterment Of People – Guest stars Todd Barry and Sandra Bernhard
Theory Of Intelligence – Guest stars Brian Kiley and Joy Behar
Henna – Guest stars Fred Stoller and Kevin Meaney
ESP – Guest stars Ray Romano and Tom Agna
The Video
Straight up Full Screen format as a lot of animated series are presented in. With the shaky animation and shotty drawing, it was never meant to look like the best show ever. But that’s one of the things that made Dr. Katz unique and it transfers well to DVD.
The Audio
The show is heard in Dolby Digital Stereo and sounds just fine. The main focus in this show is the dialogue since there’s no real action or much going on, and it sounds perfect.
Special Features
Checking In – Follow-up calls from Dr. Katz to a few of his former patients Emo Philips, Joy Behar, and Steven Wright.
Commentaries – A couple episodes have commentary from the creators Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder joined by Laura Silverman.
DVD Previews – Previews of some Comedy Central DVD’s.
Comedy Central Quickies – Short clips from The Colbert Report, Mind Of Mencia, and RENO911!
The Inside Pulse
As I said before, Dr. Katz really has withstood the test of time because you’re getting the stand-up routines of a bunch of comics all in one place. The problem comes with the severe lack of special features that make this DVD set worth more of a rental than a buy.
