The State: The Complete Series – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews

The-State

Comedy fans rejoice! The State is finally on DVD! Louie, Barry and Levon, Doug, The Bearded Men From Space Station 11, Porcupine Racetrack and all your favorite sketches. Every single one, all four seasons, all 26 episodes, all in this one luscious box set.

The State was a sketch comedy show that aired on MTV in the early ’90s. The troupe was made up of ten hilarious men and one woman who have gone on to have huge success with shows like Reno 911, Stella and the brand new Michael & Michael Have issues. Well if you like any of those shows, this is where they all got their start and proved with out question their comic genius.

Each episode followed a Pythonesque style in tying most the sketches together often in very non sequitur ways. They were also a mix of filmed sketches and ones shot live in studio. The sketches were very off the wall and often played off the unexpected. Over the four seasons there are very few sketches that don’t work.

The State was forced by MTV to create reoccurring characters with memorable catch phrases. So they responded with Louie, a character that is only a catch phrase yelling, “I wanna dip my balls in it!” over and over as he holds two tiny white balls. There are only a few sketches that were topical at the time yet dated now (does any one remember MTV Sports?), but even these are still pretty funny, even if you don’t get the reference.

There is only one bad thing about this DVD set that needs mentioning. Many of the sketches featured popular songs of the time that do not appear on the DVD due to cost. Some of these sketches, like the pants sketch that featured The Breeders Cannonball, loose a little bit with the generic replacement music. However after a few viewings you start to get used to the new music, and if you never saw the originals then you won’t notice the difference.

The State still is one of the greatest sketch comedy shows of all time and it’s a dream come true to finally have it on DVD. If you’ve been holding your breath for years for this release or if you’ve never seen the show, this is definitely a box set to check out.

All us State fans need now is for Viva Variety to get released.

Episodes:

Each Season is contained on a single disc.

Season One Highlights include: Hormones, Chip’s Party, Mudwrestler, Eating And Swimming, Fluffy Soft, Gang Fight, $7,000 Pyramid, Old Fashioned Guy, Mouse Problem, Doug & Dad, Capt. Monterey Jack, Louie, Tape People, Crackers, Doug & Principal, Don Law, Pants, $240 Worth Of Pudding, God Is Dead, Grandma’s Potato Chowder, James Dixon and Louie II.

Season Two Highlights include: James Dixon, Choking, Piggy Shoes, Barry Lutz Show, Pre-School Narc, Get A Job, Jurassic Park, Copy Show, Superfriends, Eating Muppets, Bookworm, Lois & Clark, Barry & Levon, Doug III, Bologna Foot, PMS, Otto Bimini, Job Interview, Can I Go Play, Inbred Brothers, Headlines, World Records, Hepcat, Teacher’s Lounge and Unplugged.

Season Three Highlights include: Boy In A Barn, The Jew, The Italian and The Red Head Gay, Blueberry Johnson, Just the 160,000 of Us, Monkeys Do It, Sea Monkeys, Hits From The 70’s, Kabuki Doug, Toothbrush, Lincoln Logs, Staring Contest, The Popes-a Visit, Where’s the Mousey?, Tammy Wilkins: Notebook Artist, The Restaurant Sketch, Deathfight 5000, The Bearded Men Of Space Station 11, Origami, Louie & The Last Summer, Freaks, Kill Tim, The Animal Song, Booger, Booger And Fartybutt, The Funeral, Dan The Very Popular Openly Gay High School Student, Doug IV, Roughing It, Old Lighthouse Jeffers, Drugs and Porcupine Racetrack

Season Four Highlights include: Tenement, Monkeys Do It II, Taco Man, The Jew, The Italian and The Red Head Gay Part II, Laupin Variety Programme, Terrorist Situation, Free Market Economy, Cannonball Run, Great Moments, Prison Break, Bacon, James Dixon: Jedi Talent Agent and Adventures Of Young God.

The show is presented in fullscreen 1:33.1. Sound is in Dolby 2.0 surround. The looks pretty great. Not fantastic, but you don’t lose any of the funny. The sound is also fine, but the generic music put into replace the popular tunes leaves something to be desired.

Discs 1-4

Commentary: There is commentary on EVERY episode with various cast members giving their thoughts on the show, or just clowning around. Either way, these are all worth listening to.

Interviews: Each disc has interviews with the cast about various aspects of the show. Some take the interviews more seriously than others.

Outtakes: Each disc also has outtakes.

Disc 5:

Pilot: (17 min.) These are the first sketches ever shot by The State. Some of them were rerecorded for the series, but the ones seen here are different. Very funny. Also has commentary.

Unaired Sketches: (90 min.) You get a whopping 43 of these! Ranging from the pilot to season 3. Most of these are pretty funny, some even good enough to have been on the show. And some are just strange. There is also commentary for all of these.

Outtakes: (6 min.) What you’d expect, funny.

Special Appearances: (20 min.) Here you get their appearance on The Jon Stewart Show (’93), MTV’s Shut Up And Laugh (’96), Spring Break Safety Tips and MTV Christmas Party Video. The Jon Stewart appearance and the MTV’s Shut Up And Laugh are really runny. The others are okay.

Promos: (12 min.) Commercials for the show. There are all pretty amusing.

The State was one of the best sketch comedy shows ever and it’s a comedy lover’s dream that it’s finally out on DVD. So pull up a bowl of your grandma’s potato chowder, a big ol’ plate of muppet, lock your door, turn on your TV and laugh yourself silly!



Paramount and MTV present The State: The Complete Series. Created by The State. Starring Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Robert Ben Garant, Todd Holoubek, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter and David Wain. Running time: 514 minutes on 4 discs. Not Rated. Released on DVD: July 14, 2009. Available at Amazon.com.

Mike Noyes received his Masters Degree in Film from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. A few of his short films can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebnoyes. He recently published his first novel which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-Years-Mike-Noyes-ebook/dp/B07D48NT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528774538&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+days+seven+years