It’s hard to talk about televised sketch
comedy without instantly bringing up Saturday Night Live and
how much it does/doesn’t
suck. Ultimately, Saturday Night Live succeeds with
its audience because it goes for the simple and clean pop culture-savvy joke-joke,
and, theoretically at least, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with
the gut-instinct laugh.
Even amongst its alternative comedy peers which includes such cult
hits as The State, The Kids in the Hall and Mr.
Show With Bob and David, Upright Citizens Brigade managed
to differentiate itself by eliminating any post-1945 Celebrity imitation,
cranking up the surrealism factor, delving deep into more sinister and
uncomfortable territory and even finishes the whole package off with
some hidden camera pranks that come across less like jokes and more like
anarchic rioting. Without musical guests or bubbly 18-year-old hosts, Upright
Citizens Brigade concentrates on the bizarre and often grotesque.
 Set up like a more structured Mr. Show, each episode
of UCB (as the kids are calling it these days) features
a handful of seemingly unrelated sketches that, by the end of each episode,
ties into a rather satisfying whole. Closely resembling Hyperlink Cinema, Upright
Citizen’s Brigade is ultimately the Crash of
time-machine-fucking jokes.
The main plot is such: funded by unnamed sources with an unlimited
budget since the beginning of time itself, the Upright Citizens Brigade
is a group of four people hired to both observe and create chaos around
the world by any means necessary, usually orchestrating the actions of
others, Big Brother-style.
 Out of print for a time, Upright Citizens Brigade: Season One returns
to the pubic just in time for season two’s release, this time re-packaged
in plastic slimcases instead of the swank original cardboard gatefold.
Now with up-to-date promos and continuing with Paramont’s traditional
fuck-you to consumers with non-skippable previews and copyright notices,
season one runs ten episodes spread across two discs. Instead of checking
off each episode in a list, let’s concentrate on a few standout
episodes:
EPISODE 1: THE BUCKET OF TRUTH
Setting the tone for the entire season (if not the series), the Upright
Citizens Brigade travel into deep space in order to retrieve the bucket
of truth (an actual bucket). Used around the world to destabalize society,
it is known that whoever shall look into the bucket shall know unmitigated,
unadulterated, immutable truth. Its new target is an empty house begging
for some new tennants. The enticing Hot Chicks Room manages to attract a
small family; a husband, wife and newly missing daughter, who wanders
off to entertain herself with the hoodie-equipped, frighteningly effeminite
Unibomber.
EPISODE 8: TIME MACHINE
Spending most of their time cloning eachothers mothers and sabotaging
fortune cookies, the UCB observes a party gone horribly wrong, as the
host invites a man from the crowd to experience his time machine, which
happens to be in the bedroom closet, and requires bondage masks and bicycle
shorts for proper protection. Meanwhile, a Jewish man finds liberation
through a hole in the sheet, like eating pork, smoking, getting tattoos,
celebrating Christmas and sodomizing machinery. Repeatedly. And from
the archives: Albert Einstein records his struggles with both depression
and his masturbation habits.
EPISODE 10: LITTLE DONNIE FOUNDATION
Departing from the series’ usual brand of insanity, this docudrama
exposes the plight of Little Donnie, who is stricken with magnimus-obliviophallocytis.
To be more specific, Little Donnie has a giant penis and is not aware
of it. Unable to ride a bicycle without special devices, or even being
able to fingerpaint while standing up, follow Little Donnie as he rises
to triumph through adversity. Special guest star: J.D. Salinger.
 That’s not to say the rest of the episodes are clunkers, far
from it – each episode has frequent moments of brilliance, from CYBORG’s
hidden camera prank involving exploding chests (the true horror on the
unaware audiences’ faces is astonishingly cruel in the
best way possible) to the twisted logic of sticking pennies in your ass
for confidence in POWER MARKETING, the entire season is strong,
if not an aquired taste.
Presentation
Upright Citizens Brigade is full of little stylistic
touches throughout the season and is presented in an array of different
formats, from traditional television-grade video to aged 16mm film to
lo-fi pinhole cameras for public stunts, it’s no surprise that
the show is a mixed bag, a hodgepodge of soft haziness, film grain and
junky distortion. In summary: exactly what a low budget sketch show with
stolen shots should look like.
 The audio is equally non-descript, outside of its dynamic theme song – a
wonderfully deadpan track that seems a little too serious for a show
featuring dog poo on a stick.
Extras
A few episodes are equipped with commentary tracks, some with
just the four participants, one in character, and a few recorded in front
of a live audience. While the isolated and in-character commentaries
are worth listening to more for their comedy value than their information,
the live tracks have the upper hand, as audience member after audience
member asks the group actual questions and get back (mostly) actual answers.
An utter oddity that proves how a studio audience can make or break
a show, the Unaired Pilot features a few unaired ideas, which
are then hammered to death by an overenthusiastic group of chuckleheads.
Shot in the multiple camera style, it’s interesting to see how
different the pilot feels in comparison to what actually made it to air.
 Also included are two Live Performances of Little Donnie
Foundation and The Andre The Giant Song, which shows off
extended ideas that never made it to the series, a single Deleted
Scene about sniffing glue is a minte-long tidbit of silliness,
and the disc wraps up with Original Trailers, and Comedy
Central Quickies promo material.
OVERALL
Even more unhinged than its peers, Upright Citizens Brigade:
Season One is just as dark and sinister as it is outright goofy.
Each episode escalates to unexpected moments of lunacy, with something
you wouldn’t expect from most sketch comedy: unpredictability.
The show is a gem, and the DVD is solid.
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