Stella and a short-lived animated series on Cartoon Network about a sheep… Where’s the conna-a-a-ction? (Yikes, that was a stretch)

While typing up the title to this post, i realized that the word short-lived has been an adequate adjective for many a series discussed on this blog. This is no coincidence. It seems that anything the Stella boys get involved in is doomed to be cut quickly, for better or for worse. One such project is the Cartoon Network series “Sheep in the Big City,” which lasted only two seasons (2000-2001).

I’ve long held “Sheep” in my mind as one of those shows that remains precious and beautiful in the memory, a fragile and legendary relic of untold beauty. You know what i mean? It’s among those shows that you see as a young child and hold in your memory for years because you know that there is something peculiar, atypical and incredible about it. Another series like this (for me) is “Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?” also a Cartoon Network show. Stella and Clone High (see post on one seasoners) also occupied the “obscure and/or important tv shows: DO NOT FORGET” chamber of my mind until i was able to locate DVDs for both and committed them to a more immediate section of the brain.

I saw “Sheep” when it aired in 2000, and must have known immediately (although i was but an innocent and doughy-eyed 8-year-old boy) that it was something to cherish. I’ve held onto “Sheep” for over a decade now, and a recent wikipedia search revealed why it was so precious to me: David Wain was a writer on the show. When i came across this detail the mystery was solved, the perplexing question answered. Of course “Sheep” is genius, one of the Stella boys was involved pre-Stella (as we’ve discussed, their work goes downhill after the Stella days).

This brings me to the present. Here i sit, a devoted Stella-phile (what kind of jerk would use a phrase like that?), with another show i’ve held so dear for so long included in Stella’s domain. I must see it. But alas, “Sheep” is all-but-nonexistant. No dvd sets exist, no episodes have surfaced in my internet searches and it is unavailable on itunes (although i’ve read that it was available at some point in the past). I have no way to see the precious gem, right? Well… in ways i cannot detail here, i’ve gained access to the series, and i plan to watch it immediately (this would be immediately after i finished Arrested Development, but there’s no need to do that now. Thanks Austin). I sure hope it’s as amazing as i remember it. It’s got to be, especially now that i know Wain was involved. My expectations are high, let’s hope they’re met.

Rant Continuation: Stella projects without Stella

While i’m on the topic of the Stella boys doing projects without each other (see previous post), let me take the opportunity to say that a lot of what i’ve seen from the Stella boys in the years after the series has been mediocre at best, mundane and unwatchable at worst.

I’ve already talked at length about Michael and Michael Have Issues, in which Wain played no part whatsoever, so let’s move on to other projects the boys have worked on.

Sho directed and wrote a film, “The Baxter,” a drama which, from what i remember, was melodramatic and overacted (Sho played the lead part). Of course i watched it when it came out, shortly after Stella in 2005, so maybe i shouldn’t lambast it too heavily without a fresh viewing.

I haven’t really seen much of what Black has been doing, but i’ll assume it’s been more talking head stuff. I did see him as a judge in a cooking reality show my girlfriend was watching… Needless to say, i hung my head in shame.

Wain’s probably been the most busy, and i wish i could say i’ve loved what he’s been doing, but i can’t. “The Ten,” a comedy film about the ten commandments which he directed and co-wrote with Ken Marino (a fellow State alum who surfaced for a cameo in Stella) was highly forgettable. And “Role Models” was just plain boring. He’s got another film in development, “Wanderlust,” which is an Apatow production. But it’s starring Jennifer Aniston so i wouldn’t hold my breath. I haven’t seen his internet series “Wainy Days” or the Adult Swim series “Children’s Hospital,” which he’s heavily involved in as a director and “developer,” but both have been receiving praise from certain audiences so they might be worth viewing. If he does this Wet Hot sequel then we might have something to look forward to.

Of everything i’ve seen, Showalter’s “The Michael Showalter Showalter,” a faux interview show on the website College Humor, has been the only entertaining project. Most episodes are genuinely funny, like when he mistakes Andy Samberg for Adam Sandler or forces Michael Cera to sign Juno memorabilia, so it’s worth watching.

But that’s about it. It seems that they either hit their peak with the Stella series or are only interesting as the Stella trio, everything else is banal junk.

But Black’s coming to Athens (what?!!!) in September, and even though he won’t have his other 2/3 with him, seeing 33% of Stella live is an opportunity i will not be missing. So although the show will most likely be hit or miss, and certainly not as incredible as it should be, i’ll be there, if only to feed the delusional hope that Sho and Wain will jump onstage for a surprise reunion. And you know i’ll be giving him my spec script, if only so that he can laugh in my face and throw it immediately into the garbage. Not the recycling bin, the garbage.

Michael and Michael Have Issues, namely one: David’s not around

Two years ago, Comedy Central decided to give the Stella boys one more shot at television comedy. Well, 2/3 of the Stella boys anyway. In 2009, Comedy Central produced Michael and Michael have issues, which focused around, you guessed it, Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black. It suffered a worse fate than Stella.

From the start, it appeared that the station had little hope for the show, as they only produced seven episodes, a clear sign that they believed it would go nowhere. They were right. Nobody watched the show and it was dumped after an extremely brief season.

This was probably for the better. From what i can recall, Michael and Michael was bad. The show offered a faux behind-the-scenes look into the production of a fake sketch comedy show hosted by M&M, which i believe had the same title as the actual show. The thing is that the sketches, which took up roughly 2/3 of the show, were terribly unfunny. I can distinctly remember a particularly grimace-inducing sketch involving a pants store. What i couldn’t figure out about M&M was how bad these sketches were. The guys have obvious talent in the sketch comedy field (The State, an MTV sketch show of the 90s of which the Stella boys, along with the future cast of Reno 911, were creators, writers and stars remains a celebrated and classic sketch show) so they should have been able to put together some funny bits.

My understanding of Michael and Michael is that the sketches were supposed to be bad, so that the behind-the-scenes bits detail an intimate look into the workings of a bad show. If that’s the case, then yes it’s very clever and it all makes sense. But, the sketches were 2/3 of the show, so 2/3 of bad television (purposefully or otherwise) makes for bad television. From what i can remember, the behind-the-scenes stuff was much funnier and bore a slight resemblance to Stella. But the laughs, when they did come, were few and far between.

All of this is probably due to the fact that David Wain is nowhere to be seen. He doesn’t even show up as a guest star or for a minor cameo. That’s bad news. The Stella boys work as a threesome, a trifecta, a troika, and to quote Wain in Stella, “The troika kicks ass.” But when the troika is missing a horse, it will inevitably falter and fail, even amongst the most dedicated Stella fans.

Also, on a bizarre side note, when you look at Michael and Michael Have Issues on IMDB, the videos on the show’s page are for some other show starring Michael Cera and that nerdy guy from Greek. Apparently IMDB doesn’t even want to offer you the chance to see such disappointing fare.

Yay! Running Gags! And exclamation marks!

The running gag, a staple of sitcom comedy. Stella’s got plenty. But of course, in keeping with typical Stella fashion, the running gags on this series are particularly esoteric and mostly inaccessible to anybody unfamiliar with Stella comedy. So, in order to try to make the show a bit more stomach-able to outsiders, and make my upcoming script read-through at least partly intelligible, i thought i’d explain two of the gags that run the length of the series and that i’ve incorporated into my script in some way. So let’s make a list, because lists rule!

1. The camera glance.

– The simplest and probably funniest Stella gag, this consists of the boys simply glancing into the camera. At some points they may smile, wave or wink, but a simple glance will suffice. While this may seem unprofessional and amateurish, the frequency with which it occurs in Stella (most, if not every, episode) and the blatant purposefulness of the gag makes it absolutely hilarious. While most series go to great lengths to establish the realism of the show and make the universe believable, Stella has no interest in maintaining realism. The show prides itself on breaking the 4th wall, and the camera glance provides a simple and potent opportunity to do so.

2. The celebration – “Yay! Boo! Yay!”

– Another gag that graces at least 3/4 of the Stella episodes, ‘the celebration’ is a gag in which all three of the Stella boys celebrate an event (from the minuscule to the outlandish) by shouting out “Yay!” and throwing their hands into the air. A particularly funny exhibition of this gag is during “Novel.” When the boys finish their novel and talk about taking it to a celebrity author to read through it, this (paraphrased) exchange takes place:

Wain: Now to take the book to Jane Burroughs.

All Three: Yay!

Sho: But what if she hates it?

All Three: Boo!

Sho: But what if she loves it?

All three: Yay!

The gag, again brilliant in its simplicity, enforces the three men’s inherent childishness and their disregard for any attempt at realistic dialogue, emotions and interactions. It’s hilarious.

So there you go, two gags that seem quite childish and frankly stupid, but when in the sure hands of Stella they become comedic gold. Here’s hoping that when i handle them they’ll at least glimmer faintly.

Stella Movie: What? What? Wit?

Is a Stella movie on the way? No chance.

But are Michael, Michael and David returning to theaters? Probably not, but … rumors circulate.

In 2001, years before the Stella series would enjoy its brief tenure on the television screen, David Wain directed a largely unsuccessful film titled “Wet Hot American Summer.” Much like Stella, the film is absurd, ridiculous and genre-exploitative. I’ve seen it. As you may have guessed, it’s hilarious. As you also may have guessed, the humor is very audience-specific. Yet while the film only earned around $300,000 when released, it has in the last decade become something of a comedy classic. So much so in fact that many of the cast members, and Wain himself, have expressed interest in doing a sequel, if for no other reason than to goof off together again.

So now you’re thinking, “Big deal, a bunch of washed up would-be actors from some flop 10 years ago want to try to jumpstart their careers a decade later.” Not so! And get out of my blog. Check out the cast list: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Bradley Cooper, Amy Pohler! (And of course the Stella boys.) Now wait a second, these people are stars (well maybe not David Hyde Pierce, sorry man), and they want in on a Wet Hot sequel. I say they give it to us, if only so that i can get my Stella fix indirectly.

Of course what will really be a great day indeed is when the Stella boys just announce that film we’ve all been waiting for with baited breath. Arrested Development, another series that struggled to survive and was eventually axed, is getting the big-screen treatment, so what gives? Stella’s next in line i believe. What does AD have that Stella doesn’t (besides a stronger, larger fan base, nationwide recognition and a superstar cast)? But until the day comes that we see Stella on the marquee, and we may be waiting a long time, we can at least ebb our Stella hunger with another Wet Hot installment. So make the film already, although i don’t mind if you don’t invite Bradley Cooper.

One Seasoners: Only the good die young

Stella was an inventive, fresh and unique television series, which is exactly why it was cut after one season. Broadcast television is a medium mostly unrewarding to programs with individuality and bold ideas. Stella provides a perfect example of what i’m talking about, and it’s certainly not the only brilliant show to be cut down while in its prime.

Stella, like many one-seasoners, was cut for economic reasons. Nobody (except myself and a handful of other lucky souls) watched the darn thing, so it was shot down after 10 episodes. This was the economical thing to do, but oh how i wish more episodes existed. I could (and do, much to any fellow viewer’s chagrin) recite verbatim every line of every episode. I know every joke, every gesture, every “Yay!” I laugh before the punchline, i smile with anticipation for what i know will come next. I need more Stella. Needless to say, the Season 1 dvd set that i own has been worn with constant use.

Another brilliant one-seasoner that i’ve watched enough to devote every line to memory is MTV’s 2002 animated series “Clone High.” Much like Stella, Clone High skewered genres and cliches with reckless abandon. The show, structured like a high school melodrama, followed the trials and turmoil of a group of high schoolers. But as the title suggests, these were not James Van Der Beeks and Katie Holmes, they were clones, of historical figures no less!

Abe has a crush on Cleo, who’s dating JFK. Abe’s best friend Joan has a crush on him, but he’s too thick to see it, and his other best friend Ghandi has ADD. The show was pure genius, and hilarious, but as you may have guessed, it appealed to quite a specific audience. Also, the ADD episode (one of the best), in which Ghandi battles and eventually comes to terms with his disorder, raised quite a few eyebrows among the ADD community and those with reverence for the real Ghandi. Stateside, the ADD episode got the show pulled prematurely, after only 7 episodes were aired. In Canada, however, the entire season was run before the show got plugged, which is also why my dvd set of the show has an option for French titles and audio.

Stella and Clone High, two genius one-seasoners, two beautiful centerpieces of my dvd collection, two short-lived series leaving the viewer wanting more.

Gary Meadows, Mustache Dealer

 

In the pilot episode of Stella, MM&D must find a way to trick Don, their former landlord, into allowing them to re-rent their apartment. With a flash of brilliance, Black devises a way they can gain access to the apartment unrecognized. The exchange goes along these lines:

Black: David, do you still know that guy that makes fake mustaches?

Waine: Gary Meadows? Yeah, but i–

Black: Trust me, just trust me.

All three of the Stella men then turn to smile into the camera, and Black even waves.

This scene introduces the viewer to the facial hair purveyor Gary Meadows. Gary (only referenced to in the pilot) provides MM&D with their means of entry to their paramount goal, regaining their apartment. With Gary’s imitation staches pasted securely on their faces, the three men are able to waltz free of fear into an off-limits area, and come one step closer to fulfilling their singular goal, getting their apartment back. The mustaches on their faces liberate and empower the men, and they ascertain (briefly) their rental space with little effort.

Of course, during a celebratory jumping circle, MM&D’s cover is effectively blown when their mustaches fall from their faces. After this mishap they must go through further efforts to regain their apartment. But the mustaches are important tools nonetheless, as they provide the men access to a forbidden zone. Gary Meadows is the provider of these tools, the ultimate key holder.

Gary’s importance is reinforced and intensified in a later episode, Office Party, when our intrepid protagonists once again require the comfort and benefit of completely disguised identity. In this episode Gary appears briefly onscreen (played magnificently by Sam Rockwell, who adds tremendous comical depth to the character) when MM&D enter his domain to receive their goods. In this scene the audience comes to understand that in the Stella universe, mustache dealing is a lucrative and not-altogether wholesome enterprise. Mustaches are the illegal goods of the Stella world, and Meadows their comically stereotypical dealer. He guards his “stache” with the zeal and sternness of any true crime series drug dealer (“Turn around. Turn around!”) He is as shady as any pusher you might come across when watching crime films. His abode is dirty, smoky and mysterious. Men sit immobile and dazed on his couch, sporting huge mustaches. Gary Meadows is a mustache dealer, and one of the best.

The character of Gary Meadows serves to further isolate the Stella world from the real one. The ridiculous notion that dealing (and wearing) fake mustaches must be carried out secretively and with extreme care, and that dealing mustaches is an enterprise at all, is completely acceptable in the absurdity-ridden world of Michael, Michael and David. In Stella, fake mustaches are hip, exciting and allow the wearer to live as someone else, if only for a few hours. What many in the real world seek when using illegal drugs, MM&D gain with a trip to Gary Meadows, mustache dealer.

“Who iiiiiis it?” It’s Stella, with a tv pilot

The first of (remorsefully) only ten television episodes to ever live under the Stella moniker, episode 1: Pilot, is as hilarious a twenty minutes as you will find anywhere, and perhaps the season’s best. This first outing (in this series, anyway) for the Stella troupe (Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Waine, for those not yet indoctrinated) offers the viewer the comedy team’s unique comedic style without restraint.

In the first 30 seconds of the series, as Sho (as only the truest of fans can refer to him) and David bicker over listening to Funk Rock vs Funk Rock, Black gives the two an ultimatum that has been overused in our culture beyond meaning, “If you two don’t shut up i am going to drive this car into a pole.” To which the two reply, with childlike (an adjective that will apply to many gestures, exchanges and actions throughout the series) attitude, “Do it, do it.” He does just that. We then see Black emerge from the vehicle bloody and scarred, only to say (as David and Sho walk away still arguing), “Hey guys, wait up.”

This segment introduces the viewer to the absurdist, cliche-deriding, childish, immature, genius, sharp, satirical, endearing, earnest and surreal humor that fills every second of the Stella comedy trio (they were three guys doing stand-up before anything else) and series. I know that’s a long list of adjectives, but every one of them applies with full force to what these three men present as entertainment. For the next 20 minutes (and 9 episodes that follow) the Stella boys, perpetually adorned in business suits (a sharp and hilarious mockery of corporate America and all of its trappings), throw twisted jokes at the audience with reckless abandon, cramming goofy faces, deconstructions of the fourth wall (staring and waving at the camera at every opportunity), bizarre jokes and visual gags into every frame.

The plot goes something like this:

The “three guys,” as they’re often referred to by the ignorant outside world not in on the joke, get evicted from their apartment (by their landlord, who, due solely to his German heritage, is considered a Nazi by Black) for playing funk rock to loud. They then, in a series of 2-3 days, become destitute vagabonds, apply for and succeed in securing a million-dollar co-op , reveal that they can’t afford such a ridiculously priced apartment (“We don’t have this money,” a line long-established in the Stella routine that resurfaces throughout the series), go back to the streets, disguise themselves in mustaches (a topic for a later post) and return to rent their old apartment. They then cause their landlord to have a heart attack when their true identities are revealed, kill him in an emotional and intense open-heart surgery and finally learn, thanks to Eliot Morganthol of the Lebenthol Foundation, that Don the landlord was indeed a vicious, murderous Nazi. For killing off the international criminal, Michael, Michael and David are rewarded with three months rent (conveniently assuring their residence for 9 more episodes),  a toaster, a wicker hamper from Pier 1 and fleece pullovers.

Did you follow that? The deliriously ridiculous plot provides ample opportunity for the three to skewer genre forms and norms, and provoke deep, real laughter from the audience.

Suspense: Don going to the dry cleaners to pick up a rug while MM&D wait anxiously in a tableau for him to return, sweating with fear.

Dance films: Our heroes secure the co-op through a blatantly fake dance scene that makes efforts to show the stand-ins dancing as them.

Melodrama: The three live as desperate hobos, in full, stereotypical hobo attire, hours after their eviction, sharing one single bean for dinner.

Romance: A subplot follows David’s swooning of the co-op realtor, their brief, passionate kiss, David’s rejection of the poor woman (Libby), his deep inner conflict during the surgery when Black says, in reference to the dying landlord whose chest he is elbow-deep inside, “It’s a shame when you have nobody to spend your life with,” his run through the rain to confess his love, his emotional speech at Libby’s apartment door (where it continues to rain on David, who stands in the hallway) and Libby’s ultimate rejection of David when it is revealed that Edward Norton (cameo!) is her husband. David’s supernatural desirability by the opposite sex is a common theme that runs the length of the series.

Hospital Drama: The surgery, in which the men operate with kitchen gloves, chip clamps and flashlights, goes horribly awry as MM&D pull out ribs, organs and various other body parts with indifference.

All of these conventions are forced into, and ripped apart in, one twenty minute episode. The episode ends in a full arc, Black drives a truck off of a cliff in the heat of another argument. The three climb back up the cliff and stumble up the road as the credits roll.

The Stella pilot is the beginning of a series as brief, exceptional and beautiful as a solar eclipse, and just as rare. Also if you stare at it for too long your eyes will burn.

The next 9 episodes continue the genre-, cliche- and expectation-smashing humor that bursts out of the pilot. And in every episode MM&D sport, alongside their suits, goofy grins that they make little to no effort to hide. They are having fun with such ridiculous and brilliant material, and they make it no secret. For 10 episodes, absurdity trumps the rules of logic and the standard sitcom, and three guys having fun onscreen translates into hours and hours of a delighted (and obviously too small) audience watching and rewatching their antics.

I realize that this is one long post, and you probably have already lost interest and won’t even come close to reading this far, but i can’t help it. i freaking love this show.