Strong and Moving!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

One of the amazing things about UCB was its use of running gags. The only negative comments I've ever heard were from people who had only seen a couple episodes. Jokes get better with age. Many of the same jokes coincided with other sketches. The brand of comedy surely wasn't for everyone. But the parody of Searching for Bobby Fischer and the cyborgs...OH, the CYBORGS!Definitely a show that must be viewed the whole way through (at least the first season) for full appreciation. Anyone who doesn't find the Ass Pennies episode downright hilarious has no place watching sketch comedy to begin with.

The Funniest, smartest, and most original show ever on television. It's a crime that they took this show of the air, but Comedy Central has no problem showing you 12 reruns of SNL in a day. If you haven't seen the show, do yourself a favor and pick up season 1 on DVD. You will never laugh harder in your life.I really hope they follow up with seasons two and three. The show only got funnier over time. One of the best ones is the cyborg episode from season one. The show trumps every other show that is or was on Comedy Central. Saying no to this show is saying no to America, and babies. But mostly America.

Opinions of this show seem to be split right down the middle. I for one loved it. Finally we had OUR Kids in the Hall, and without those annoying Canadian dialects and cross-dressers! But, like anything with any true integrity on Comedy Central, the UCB just didn't get recognized as the flaming orb of comic brilliance that it was. This was probably the best original show Comedy Central has ever produced. But on a station full of ridiculous, second-rate, low-brow programs like Strip Mall and Strangers With Candy, a show like this has no audience. A show with this much genius should have started a dynamite run on HBO, where it would still be going strong today, as a nice way to kick back and have some laughs after the serious and hard-hitting prison drama of Oz. And if you ask me, Comedy Central should temporarily hault their endless imagination and ability to crank out mind-numbing dreck, and take a moment to figure out just what Comedy Central means. Shouldn't the phrase "Comedy Central" denote that this is the place for ALL comedic tastes, and not just little independent ventures and Britcoms? Why don't they expand their range and give those of us who don't proudly sport homemade mullets something to watch? Oh well, I can dream, can't I?

Some of the things people say about this show crack me up:"I have yet to laugh, or chuckle, or even smirk at this poorly-conceived, idiotic, dull television show."This from a guy who goes by the name "Tug." Hmm. Sure, okay. Love the big-word abuse. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover up the fact that you don't realize how much thought is required to understand this show. Hey, you tried.Indeed, this show is not for everybody, but as a writer/comic myself (only by leisure; I'm an engineer by trade,) I have to have a great deal of respect for the talents of Besser, Poehler, Roberts, and Walsh. I almost get the feeling that these are the heros of legend that are destined to succeed Monty Python (okay, there is no such legend, but we engineers like to think so.)While their style is not the most original ever (many writers have succeeded in the "outrageous" style of comedy in the past, "Kids in the Hall" and Weird Al come readily to mind,) they take this style to the next level.I think the first thing one will notice is the lack of a laugh-track, which gives the mission of UCB an ironic seriousness. Not only that, but laugh-tracks have a bad habit of pointing out with big signs where the jokes are, removing any and all need for complex thought on the veiwer's part. I'll never understand why Monty Python used it.The situations they come up with are ones of sheer beauty. Prime examples are the waiter training session at Bradwick's, the Bucket of Truth (already a classic to us fans,) and UCB's advice on how to break curfew ("You guys gotta kick my ass and take a crap on me!")Tying these all together at the end of the show is a nice touch. I think it's pretty obvious that they realized just how easy this is to do, and so they take an almost "Seinfeld"-like approach and have each of these situations have total consequence on each other.Then there's the great hidden camera scene during the end credits, where one of their characters takes a stroll through real life. Wonderful stuff.All-in-all, the show is hideously clever, and ridiculously well-executed. It's been ages since we had a sketch comedy that actually made us think in order to get the jokes, sometimes even requiring us to watch the episode a second time (some will rebuke with "Kids in the Hall," but keep in mind the laugh-track, not to put the show down in any way.)I only pray that Comedy Central doesn't threaten to cancel the show again like they did last Spring.One more thing: my apologies for trashing on Tug like that.