I spent three weeks earlier this year convalescing after a particularly painful surgery. While I was confined to my couch/bed, the whole experience turned out to be wonderful. During this time, I was appropriately medicated and I spent a lot of time doing three things.

1. Making the PS2 games God of War and Black my personal bitches.

2. Catching up on some long overdue movie viewing (particularly Al Pacino and John Wayne flicks)

3. Finally watching some shows people kept telling me I would love.

Under the influence of narcotics, I fell in love with Wonder Showzen. It was silly, dangerous and subversive. After the drugs wore off, I continued to love it. I think it may be one of the greatest shows ever to air on MTV. Also under the influence of painkillers I found myself watching Robot Chicken on Cartoon Network. Again, I became a huge fan and still love the show even now that I’m clean and sober (well, as much as I can be). The episode where Voltron gets “served” by the space alien had me laughing so hard my stitches literally hurt.

Finally, I tuned into The Andy Milonakis Show… and I fucking hated it. I just could not get into it. Sure there were a few moments I thought were inspired. However for every bit like that, there were easily ten more that sucked. To make matters worse, I formed this opinion prior to coming down from the drugs. Watching an episode of this show was like a bad trip, only less interesting.

So it’s not without a fair amount of hesitation that I dropped The Andy Milonakis Show – The Complete Second Season into the home theater to review. I wish I could tell you I liked it, but there just isn’t enough medication in the world to make me write those words and genuinely mean them. Overall, it’s not terrible. I’ve definitely seen worse, however sifting through the crap to find the few kernels of corn is a chore.

Here’s a sample skit:

Andy bites into a really chewy piece of taffy and all of his teeth come out. As he cries out for his lost choppers, the guy on the TV selling platinum teeth (Paul Wall) hears him and climbs out of the TV to come to his rescue. Andy’s new teeth can bite through anything and he decides to use his teeth for good. Soon, Ralphie (his next door neighbor) is crying for help after getting his foot stuck in a blender. Andy and Wall run next door and bite off all his limbs in order to free him.

That, my friends, is one of the inspired skits. That’s one that actually made me smile.

Sample skit two:

Andy sits on his couch with three empty buckets in front of him and a molded rubber head piece on his head. A professional drum track begins to play and Andy starts hitting the buckets in an attempt to mime what he hears. Ralphie runs in and dances. This goes on for a minute or so. End of skit.

That, my friends, did not make me laugh. It was just fucking stupid.

The thing about Andy Milonakis is that he can be very funny. He’s especially gifted when talking to people on the street. His random questions when approaching innocent city dwellers usually get me laughing with no problem. My favorite skit of his involves him standing on the sidewalk behind a table with blenders, hairdryers and other appliances. He’s wearing fake horns, a shirt that says “The Devil” on it and is carrying a clipboard and a pen. He starts yelling out that there is free stuff for whoever wants it but they have to sign the attached contract giving him their immortal soul. The reactions of the people who approach him are hilarious! His retorts are also really funny, especially when he gladly accepts a signature, hands over an appliance and then sends the person on their way with a hearty, “See you in Hell!”

Another consistently funny thing is Andy’s ability to rap. He’s actually not terribly bad but his lyrics are pretty goddamn funny. In the extras there is a rap video with highlights from Season Two and Andy strutting with his “crew” in tow. I watched that about three times I loved it so much.

However the thing that kills the show is really the repetition of the skit ideas. That gets really monotonous and the sheer stupidity of some of them leaves you wishing episodes were only 15 minutes long so he could cut the fat a little more. One of the repeated gags that at first I thought was funny, the tormenting of food delivery men, gets to be really old by the end of this set because he does it so fucking often. Once is funny. Twice, I still might giggle. By the fifth or sixth gag, it just seems like he needs it to fill the time.

Where Wonder Showzen also employs silly gags and looks for shocked reactions from people on the street, they do it in a truly dangerous way. There are times watching that show where you wonder why someone hasn’t just started kicking the puppeteers’ asses. The Andy Milonakis Show is much less dangerous and will most likely be forgettable to all in a couple of years.

Presentation
This show looks very good and I can’t really complain about the sound either. There’s nothing here you’d want to hear in surround sound anyway.

Extras
Well, you have some stuff here that is worth watching. First off, there is a commentary for every episode. This is not much different than what you got on the first season set. It’s the entire cast sitting down and generally goofing off. For instance in the skit with Paul Wall mentioned above, the commentary consists of Ralphie rapping in the background while Andy just says things like, “Wow! That would hurt!”

Next up, we have un-aired skits that were mostly unaired for a reason. There are a few things in here though that are fun. The very first skit is called Andy’s Neighborhood and is another instance where he walks around and fucks with people on the street. That one has some great stuff in it.

The funniest thing on this set though is in the outtakes. Watching Ralphie trying to say the word “preposterous” had me laughing out loud. Particularly funny is his insistence that he’s saying it right and his increasing frustration with the guy asking him to say it again.

Finally, you have the Season Two Music Video which as I said above, I really loved, and some Previews for new sets coming from MTV.

The Bottom Line
The Andy Milonakis Show – The Complete Second Season is just not my cup of tea. I admit that I may be missing the joke entirely, but for me it’s just too hit and miss to spend you time on, when you can hold out another hour and see Wonder Showzen later. If you’re interested at all, try to find it on MTV2 first before you spend the money to rent or buy this.