I like how the creators would just invite their friends to play different characters without caring whether they had been on before. Mr. Show’s David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, and Brian Posehn each played two different characters, and Jon Lovitz played at least three.
Let’s see… Lovitz was one of the crazy guys in the asylum in “Our Fiftieth Episode,” the jumper in “Jumper” and Max Louis in season 5.
The cast of Mr. Show was “Chock Full O’ Notes,” Bob played a doctor in “Injury” (which I have never seen), David was Theo in “Houses of the Holy” and Brian was at the book reading in “Super Karate Monkey Death Car.”
Geek test!
One of my ex-girlfriend’s mothers was named Lisa Miller, so I always used to call her Svetlana Monsoon. Neither of them ever got it, thankfully.
Also in the crowd at that book reading: Ron Jeremy.
I hope the rest of the episodes get released. Season 3 was when the show was hitting its stride, and I’ll even vouch for some of the Season 5 episodes (after Phil Hartman was killed)–the ones with Johnny Johnson (Patrick Warburton) are all excellent.
Pantyhose!
The kid stealing Tierney’s phone always cracks me up. And according to Tierney’s website, she does participate in the DVD commentaries.
Saints be praised! I’d been TiVoing the episodes when they aired on A&E, but never had time to watch them. Now I can not watch them on my terms. There are still dozens I haven’t seen, including “Super Karate Monkey Death Car,” and the space episode.
Which season has the one where Lisa spends the entire episode trying to find out what Dave’s secret sexual fantasy is, and just gets more and more pissed off that he won’t tell her seriously – and at the end he reveals that his fantasy is getting her pissed off at him?
Which just makes her all the more hot. Damn. She could not be more my imaginary girlfriend.
To hijack the thread with something dark and depressing: I wasn’t aware until I saw Teirney’s website that Drake Sather had committed suicide last year. I guess it’s obvious that you don’t get a stand-out show like “NewsRadio” unless the writers can insert some dark humor into it. It just seems like too high a cost if you can’t have something “edgy” without its consuming the people involved.
Three-way, with her and the space prostitute.
I’ve always thought he was flipping off the camera in one take. That is he has his right hand in a fist and is resting his hand on it but his middle finger is extended up his cheek. I never had a VCR handy to get a close look though and for some reason I’d forget about it the next time that episode rolled around in the schedule so was never able to get a good look.
Oh man, I am so at Borders (or whatever) tomorrow. Great news. Great show.
I forgot how short the skirts were on this show.
And it’s not too long before Catherine strolls by and they refer to her as “sexy”, and she smiles and walks off, taking it as a compliment. 
I think my favorite episode was the one where James Caan was in the studio, brushing up for a role by watching Bill, and Matthew is just a complete star-struck spaz the entire time he is there.
Yeah, actually she does. I’ve listened to most of the commentaries now, and from the cast, I heard Dave Foley, Stephen Root, Andy Dick, Joe Rogan, Vicki Lewis, Maura Tierney and Khandi Alexander. So, all of them except for Phil Hartman.
I thought the commentaries were great. Some interesting stories about the making of one episode Bitch Session. The commentary was done by the writers, and the genesis of the story was that the other writers were bitching about Paul Simms in the office next to where he was sleeping on a sofa. They didn’t know he was there. So they were reminiscing about it and the fallout out of it, with one writer leaving the show (though he participated in the commentary) and another one writing this episode six months later.
There are also some funny stories about trouble that the cast got into. They were apparently banned from one awards show, SAG, I think, after stealing bottles of wine from other tables.
Former NBC president Warren Littlefield participates in one of the commentaries talking about the show from his perspective and perpetual shuffling of the show around the schedule.
Gee, can you tell I like commentaries? 
I retract my earlier comment about Maura Tierney not doing commentary. She does. Okay?
It’s mine, all mine!
I bought it the other day and have watched about half the episodes. I forgot how many good people did guest shots - I keep saying, “Hey, it’s John Ritter! Hey, it’s Bebe Neuwirth! Hey, it’s Jeaneane Garofalo!”
Dennis Miller even shows up in a quick cameo.
I keep laughing out loud, too. My kids think I’m nuts.
We bought it too. We’re on Disc 3 now, in the string of episodes that are all named after Led Zepplin songs. I never realized how many of the early episodes I hadn’t seen before. So we’ve been staying up late watching and cackling like fools.
And I think Dave Foley may be my new TV boyfriend.
Nuh-uh, he’s mine! He had me at “I’m Jerry Sizzler and this is my sister, Jerry Sizzler.”
In my opinion, the best commentary tracks are the Dave/Stephen paring and the Joe/Andy pairing. Therefore, the commentary for “In Through the Out Door” is nirvana. The fact that the cast got kicked out of the SAG awards, is hilarious as well as the stories about why.
Got it. Loving it. Sure beats the hell out of the 15MB .avi files I used to download over the last few years.
Has anyone else noticed, however, that the video quality seems kind of low for DVD? Or is it just my imagination?
-Joe
I haven’t noticed the picture quality being bad. It closely resembles a mid-'90s TV show, if that’s what you mean.
I haven’t listened to the commentaries yet. We’re watching all the episodes, then going back to do that. Those of you who have listened to them already, are there any particular standouts? Are they really informative, or do the commentators just josh around a lot? Both kinds of commentary are fun, but I really want to hear some meaty discussion of the show.
Not to turn this into a News Radio quote thread, but one of my favorite episodes was the one with the “Big Bonus” and “The Shaft.”
(Bill and Joe are talking near Matthew’s desk, who is living in fear of getting “The Shaft.”)
Bill: “Say Joe, who’s the black private dick who’s a sex machine to all the chicks?”
Joe: “I believe that would be Shaft, Bill.”
Bill: “And who’s the cat who won’t cop out, even when there’s danger all about?”
Joe: “Once again, Bill, I believe we are talking about Shaft.”
Bill: “They say that cat Shaft is one bad-”
Matthew: “SHUT UP!”
Jimmy (walking by) “What’s going on here?”
Bill: “I’m just talking about Shaft.”
Jimmy: “I can dig it.”
Good times… Good times…
EZ