# The Funniest Show You've Never Seen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784 "2011-02-18T04:52:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/1 "2011-02-18T04:52:26Z")
I dare anyone to watch this and not crack up. [Lookwell](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQ3HbB0c8Y). Written by Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel, starring Adam West. I’m pretty sure that someone will come along and say meh, and it will only serve as confirmation that they suffer from a severe humor deficiency, like those poor, misguided fools that revealed here recently that they didn’t find “Dr. Strangelove” funny. It’s all the rage in…Minnesota ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/2 "2011-02-19T00:54:00Z")
C’mon dopers! Where’s the love (or hate even)? Kirk Cameron’s nipple gets to a 3rd page and this can’t garner one response? “Maybe Bob Conrad takes his honorary badge for granted, but I don’t.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/3 "2011-02-19T01:47:31Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > C’mon dopers! Where’s the love (or hate even)? I counter your claim with the opinion that [Faux Baby](http://www.strike.tv/show/faux-baby/) is the funniest show you’ve never seen. Especially the second episode. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/4 "2011-02-19T02:02:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Kirk Cameron’s nipple gets to a 3rd page and this can’t garner one response? You got something against KC’s Nipple? 😛 Friday night is when I watch the shows from Thursday night. I’ll check out Lookwell and that baby thing this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/5 "2011-02-19T03:06:21Z")
_Police Squad_ was funny. _Sledge Hammer_ was funny. _Andy Barker, P. I._ was funny. _Lookwell_… doesn’t appear to be on this list. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/6 "2011-02-19T08:24:46Z")
Thanks for the tip **elfkin477** , I’ll check it out. And **EM** , if you’re a fan of Police Squad, as I am, I can’t understand how you wouldn’t like Lookwell, they have a similar deadpan style, IMO. Do you like AW’s Batman? “Perhaps if you watched more television, you’d be better at your job.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/7 "2011-02-19T08:57:34Z")
I’ve never watched **The Office**. I hear it’s a stitch. But as with **Lost** and **Heroes** , it’s really important to get in on the ground floor and I missed it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/8 "2011-02-19T09:30:34Z")
This show was only one episode; it never aired on television, as the sponsors passed on it when it was made, back in 1991. It was too hip for the room, and it’s something that I thought would be much appreciated here. “Work on those exercises, you’ve got a Forrest Tucker quality.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/9 "2011-02-19T17:47:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > This show was only one episode; it never aired on television, as the sponsors passed on it when it was made, back in 1991. It was too hip for the room, and it’s something that I thought would be much appreciated here. > “Work on those exercises, you’ve got a Forrest Tucker quality.” It wasn’t a sitcom. It was an extended late-night skit. There really is a difference. You need characters for a sitcom; unfortunately, everybody on the show was a nullity who played off Adam West and had no personalities of their own. That’s fine for a skit, where the whole point is to feature the guest star, but it doesn’t work for a series. It’s overwhelmingly obvious why this wasn’t picked up. There wasn’t a show in it. Were some of the individual lines amusing? Sure. So what? That’s what you say about a skit. Which this was. In fact, it was three late-night skits thrown together back-to-back. Individually they would have worked if spaced far enough apart on Late Night. Together, they reinforce their stupidity. It’s an exercise in how not to write a sitcom. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/10 "2011-02-19T17:54:33Z")
Hey, that title line is misleading! I’ve seen the pilot of Lookwell! It seems like a concept that would have worked way better as a film than a weekly show… ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/11 "2011-02-19T18:01:01Z")
I nominate [Childrens Hospital](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childrens_Hospital). I saw the show for the first time last night and spent the entire time howling. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/12 "2011-02-19T18:31:23Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > …That’s fine for a skit… It could have just stayed a skit. The parody started to get repetitive and predictable after the first few minutes. (The “Brannigan”-“Brennigan” etc. thing was great the first time, but over and over?) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/13 "2011-02-19T18:41:43Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > It could have just stayed a skit. The parody started to get repetitive and predictable after the first few minutes. (The “Brannigan”-“Brennigan” etc. thing was great the first time, but over and over?) That’s a common device - don’t call me Shirley; coffee/cigarette? yes, I know. To me it brought the funny, but, as always, ymmv. Children’s Hospital is a pisser, for sure, I’ve seen 'em all; love the “Do the Right Thing” dance sequence/closing credits bit. “The working class mind is strange and unpredictable.” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/14 "2011-02-19T19:16:56Z")
Sorry, another “meh”. I think he was unintentionally funnier in both Batman and intentionally so in [An American Vampire Story](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251582/). This was not even funny for 22 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/15 "2011-02-19T19:25:26Z")
Batman’s humor was most certainly not unintentional. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/16 "2011-02-19T21:52:17Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > Batman’s humor was most certainly not unintentional. OK, that’s fair. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/17 "2011-02-19T22:19:22Z")
i’ve never watched a full episode of “it’s always sunny” so i guess that’d be my rebuttal to this thread. and the moral of the story for the OP is… never tell dopers what they have/have not seen, especially in the superlative. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/18 "2011-02-19T23:18:47Z")
No doubt; a softer sell would’ve been a bit more effective. “My pillow is a sidewalk.” ---
**Author:** ![GrazP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@GrazP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrazP)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/19 "2011-02-20T10:49:45Z")
I agree totally, this show was extremely funny and should have been picked up. It jsut goes to show you that Hollywood is made up of a bunch of assholes with no taste. On occasion, they hit it right, but television just sucks. Anything of quality is against their religion. I thought the best line was (I’m paraphrasing), “Sargeant such and such knows who you’re with and would like to know if you’d like to join him in reality?” This would have been a smash and such a great vehicle for Adam West. This would have topped BatMan in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784/20 "2011-02-20T16:22:48Z")
I liked Lookwell since I’m a big fan of Adam West. I don’t know how well it would have fared as a regular show; having a single episode makes it precious, like a fly in amber (or something). Faux Baby is a cute idea, but I’m just not into baby humor. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-funniest-show-youve-never-seen/571784.md?page=2)