 “Pick
an episode. Any episode. They’re all equally stupid!”
The episode menus for The Andy Milonakis Show - The
Complete First Season feature the star and co-creator
repeating these nine words ad nauseam. Milonakis couldn’t
be more right. Each of these eight episodes is equally
stupid. This may well be the stupidest show I’ve ever
seen. The good news here is that stupid does not always mean
bad. There’s just enough over-the-top, absurd, inane,
ridiculous, and subversive humor that it actually does work
to make this show worth viewing if you’re into that
sort of thing.
Andy Milonakis, after gaining a following in creating his
own kind of Internet nonsense, was discovered by Jimmy Kimmel
who witnessed his online exploits and gave him a spot as a
frequent guest on his own show, Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Kimmel grew to love this man-child (Milonakis is now 30, but  could
easily pass for 15) and thus they created The Andy
Milonakis Show. This show, a weekly compilation of
short sketches, depicts Andy’s life in his Lower East
Side apartment as he hangs with his friends, torments his
neighbors and delivery men, and engages in games with a multitude
of inanimate objects.
Like most sketch comedy shows, The Andy Milonakis
Show has moments that work and others that do not.
This is very much a hit or miss show; the jokes that are funny
are truly gut-busting while the jokes that are not funny will
simply leave you shaking your head in disbelief. Perhaps the
best thing about this type of show is that when one skit doesn’t
work, you don’t have to wait long for the next one to
come along, particularly with this show, where the average
skit is around a minute long.
There are five primary characters on this show: Andy, his
best friend Ralphie, his neighbor Larry, an older woman named
Rivka, and Andy’s dog, Wubbie. Andy and Ralphie spend
lots of time doing really  stupid
things like badly rapping, playing games with food, and tormenting
people in the neighborhood. Some of the best moments on the
show are when Andy goes out into his neighborhood randomly
approaching people and saying completely random, bizarre things
to them. He’ll approach a total stranger and say something
like, "Your face makes me want to pour soy sauce on my
head and join the army." Sometimes they laugh, sometimes
they get mad, and other times they're incredulous.
Andy also loves to have fun with inanimate objects; he pretends
they are real beings. One really funny bit had him playing
with a jar of creamy peanut butter and a jar of jelly. He
had them falling in love, which caused the jar of chunky peanut
butter to become very sad. Andy solves this problem by  introducing
the chunky peanut butter to a jar of salsa. He then makes
a peanut butter and salsa sandwich on heart-shaped bread and
eats it. Yes, it’s truly bizarre, but it’s also
quite funny to see.
At the end of every episode, there’s a skit involving
a celebrity guest. In this season we see Biz Markie, Lil’
Jon, Snoop Dogg, John Stamos, The Black Eyed Peas, Fat Joe,
Carson Daly, and Rob Schneider. The best bits are the spots
with The Black Eyed Peas and Stamos. In the first, Andy gets
excited when he sees a can of black-eyed peas in his cupboard,
so he takes it out and opens the can only to have the musical
group come out and start performing on his kitchen counter.
Andy then eats them because he’s hungry. The Stamos
appearance had Stamos get stuck in a tree. A fireman has to
rescue him. It’s funny because instead of a cat getting
stuck in the tree, it's John Stamos. Then he's rescued and
he comes down from the tree and he has rabies so somebody
shoots him. Hilarious.
Video
It looks very good. Colors are bright, blacks are
black, details are very clear. This isn’t a high budget
show and the special effects are very low-tech, but that’s
part of the charm of the show and it comes through very well
on these DVDs.
Audio
It sounds fine. Dialogue is generally crisp and easy
to understand despite lots of on the street shooting. Music
sounds better than expected; very rich and vibrant.
Extra Features
For a smaller, low-budget show like this, I was very impressed
with the plethora of extra features included in the set.
 Commentary
on Episode 1 by New York Daily News Reporter Richard Huff - This commentary isn’t particularly interesting to
listen to, but I appreciate that they included it. Huff does
nothing but trash the show throughout the entire track. He
has nothing insightful to say and clearly does not understand
why some of the material he is watching is funny. I like that
they included this track because it’s always strange
to hear a commentary track where the commentator has nothing
good to say about the program in question. I think it’s
great that the producers appear to not care what the critics
are saying about them.
Commentary on Episodes 2-8 by Andy, Ralphie, Rivka and
Larry - These commentaries are certainly more entertaining
to listen to, but at times they’re a little pointless.
In one episode, Andy and Ralphie freestyle rap throughout
the entire proceedings and say absolutely nothing about the
episode. But the rapping is somewhat amusing so I can’t
really complain. In another, they speak gibberish for several
minutes at the start of the episode before finally talking
about what's on screen. And in another, there’s an alternate
angle option available where the listener can view what the
participants are doing while they record the track. The best
part of this particular track is that Ralphie attempts to
eat an entire large pizza during this episode. Funny stuff.
Unaired
Skits (21:35) - This is just what it sounds like, 25
skits which were not good enough to make it on the show. There
are a few laughs in here, but it’s generally pretty
evident why these skits didn’t make the cut.
 Featurette:
Andy Goes to Hollywood (5:18) – I don’t think
this one is accurately titled because it’s more the
story of Ralphie, Rivka and Larry going to visit Andy in Hollywood.
It’s not especially funny because it’s mostly
an excuse for Andy to be a jerk to his fellow cast members.
Extended Scenes (6:23) – This is just two
extended scenes and I’m not really sure why they were
included because they didn’t seem much different from
the scenes that did air.
Ralphie Outtakes (3:16) – These are typical
outtakes, but they’re actually kind of funny because
Ralphie and Andy have a good time whenever Ralphie screws
up.
Previews (7:24) – Previews for other MTV and
Paramount DVD sets: Jackass The Box Set, Beavis
and Butt-Head The Mike Judge Collection Volume 1, Wildboyz
The Complete Second Season, Viva
La Bam Seasons 4 & 5, and Ren
and Stimpy The Lost Episodes. I can’t say
I’m particularly excited by any of these releases.
Also inside is a brief episode guide, but I would have liked
to have seen a chapter guide, which would be useful in finding
specific skits.
Parting
Words
I was curious about The Andy
Milonakis Show but I really wasn’t sure whether
I would like it, so I’m happy to say I actually did.
Sure, there are plenty of moments that just do not work, but
those that did are truly funny and more than make up for those
that aren't. That said, this show is not for everybody so
I’d recommend you rent it before you buy it.
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