# I'm with Busey **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-with-busey/478542 "2008-12-24T14:58:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Buddha\_Clause](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@Buddha\_Clause](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buddha_Clause)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-with-busey/478542/1 "2008-12-24T14:58:48Z")
Does anyone here remember the show I’m With Busey? It was about a writer who followed around Gary Busey and learned his philosiphies on life. I remember this show as being one of the funniest things ever when it was on and then it was gone and I heard nothing about it ever since. It seemed to be before it’s time because the show was stocked full of absurdity that reminds me a lot of the insanity of reality TV shows that you see on VH1 and Soup clips these days. So does anyone remember this show? I remember watching the show and not knowing if it were real or not because on one hand Busey would say the most ridiculous things and it seemed pretty genuine and not entirely unbelievable due to his track record of saying ridiculous things. But on the other hand it was too damn crazy to possibly be real. Also what happened to it? I thought it was the greatest thing on television and it ran it’s one season and then I never heard about it ever again. Did nobody watch it or was it a conscious decision of the creators that one season was enough? Where are the DVD’s too? I would watch the show again to see if it was exactly what I remember or if nostalgia has set in but you can’t find it. It’s like the show didn’t exist it’s hard to find any details about the show (wikipedia had a little bit and said the show was an improvised comedy show and Busey played a conscious caricature of himself but in my mind it doesn’t all add up). So can anyone here give me the straight dope on this show? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-with-busey/478542/2 "2008-12-24T16:07:53Z")
I _think_ that there were two seasons of the show, with only the first season ever hitting the airwaves (or it might have been three seasons, but only two made it on the air). From everything I’ve been able to gather, Busey really was just slightly hamming it up for the camera, and he is, IRL, about that nutty. (We’re talking about a guy who went to Turkey to star in a movie where he played a doctor who murdered Iraqis for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs and selling them to wealthy Jews. That doesn’t exactly score you a lot of points in the “sane” department, if you know what I mean.) ---
**Author:** ![Buddha\_Clause](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@Buddha\_Clause](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buddha_Clause)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-with-busey/478542/3 "2008-12-24T16:20:20Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I _think_ that there were two seasons of the show, with only the first season ever hitting the airwaves (or it might have been three seasons, but only two made it on the air). From everything I’ve been able to gather, Busey really was just slightly hamming it up for the camera, and he is, IRL, about that nutty. (We’re talking about a guy who went to Turkey to star in a movie where he played a doctor who murdered Iraqis for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs and selling them to wealthy Jews. That doesn’t exactly score you a lot of points in the “sane” department, if you know what I mean.) The word is that he was hamming it up, but the idea of a crazy guy hamming up his crazy consciously doesn’t make sense to me. It’s a Catch-22, for it takes some amount of sanity to realize you are insane. So do you think the show was cancelled due to lack of viewers or was there other reasons for this show to have been seemingly wiped off the earth? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-with-busey/478542/4 "2008-12-24T16:36:31Z")
> [@Buddha\_Clause](#): > > The word is that he was hamming it up, but the idea of a crazy guy hamming up his crazy consciously doesn’t make sense to me. It’s a Catch-22, for it takes some amount of sanity to realize you are insane. Not necessarily. One just has to _stop_ holding back on all the things which run through their mind that they never vocalize. > [@](#): > > So do you think the show was cancelled due to lack of viewers or was there other reasons for this show to have been seemingly wiped off the earth? It was probably low ratings, though its possible Busey could have said or done something which the producers thought was too controversial and pulled the plug. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-with-busey/478542/5 "2008-12-24T20:53:21Z")
> **[I'm with Busey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_with_Busey)** > > I'm with Busey is a mockumentary television show which aired on Comedy Central in mid 2003. It revolved around a young writer named Adam de la Peña, who met and befriended his childhood idol, actor Gary Busey. > The show has only one season, and the popularity of the show was limited, It has developed a cult following in the years after its cancellation.\[citation needed\] > The show focuses on Gary Busey teaching Adam de la Peña about life. In one episode, for example, de la Peña complained to Busey... ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-with-busey/478542/6 "2008-12-25T00:55:51Z")
If you’ve ever seen the episode with Andy Dick, I don’t think you could have any doubt that the show was intended to be satirical. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-with-busey/478542/7 "2008-12-25T02:55:42Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > If you’ve ever seen the episode with Andy Dick, I don’t think you could have any doubt that the show was intended to be satirical. I liked the early eps of IWB, but that one just jumped the Dick.