History Main / Stella

[[redirect:Series/StellaUS]]

''This is about the US series "Stella". For the UK series on Sky, see {{Series/Stella}}.''

->''"Hiring you boys based on your performance in the potato sack race was the worst decision I ever made!"''
-->'''~ Some C.E.O.'''

->'''Michael Black:''' The gall -- the unmitigated gall -- of those girls!
->'''Michael Showalter:''' "If you wanna change things, run for board president." Yeah right!
->'''David Wain:''' They think they're so funny!
->'''Black:''' So funny I forgot to laugh!
->'''Showalter:''' I ''remembered'' to laugh; but I didn't, because it specifically wasn't funny.
->'''Wain:''' Yeah, like the Irish Potato Famine.
->'''Showalter:''' When they said that, it literally ''was'' the Great Irish Potato Famine.
->'''Black:''' Such a great famine.
->'''Showalter:''' I love that famine.
->'''Black:''' Can I say something, though? About the nature of tragedy? I think it's so sad. By definition, tragedy is sad.
->'''Wain:''' Y'know, I've... I've never been a fan of tragedy.
->'''Black:''' Like war! Like war, right?
->'''Wain:''' I hate war.
->'''Black:''' Like, that's what the sixties were all about. Like, people don't understand: that's what we were doing back then.
->'''Showalter:''' It's like when Bob Dylan said "I have a dream," that's what he was talking about!
->'''Wain:''' What about Madonna? I mean, is she "Like A Virgin" or is she a "Material Girl?" I mean, this girl's had more reinventions than Thomas Edison!
->'''Black:''' I know -- she's had more boyfriends than ''Madonna.''
->'''Showalter:''' I like english muffins.
->'''Black:''' ''Totally.''
->'''Wain:''' Let's go to that board meeting!

Watching ''Stella'' is a jarring experience. Featuring three guys from ''TheState'', one of whom teaches romantic comedy screenwriting at NYU, one who is a permanent fixture on VH-1's ''[[ILoveTheExties I Love the <decade>s]]''' series, and another who plays The Warden on ''Superjail!'', you can only watch it expecting a very specific, very strange sense of comedy. Stella is about as close as American television gets to absurdist {{Britcom}}s like ''FatherTed'', ''BlackBooks'' and ''{{Spaced}}'', while still maintaining its own sense of pseudo-Borscht Belt Vaudevillain shtick that only Americans can appreciate fully. The comedy of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain is definitely not for everybody, and if it's for anybody at all, they're not really enough to keep a television show running for very long.

''Stella'' did not start out as a television show, but as a live stage variety show with the three comedians performing small segues between acts. Eventually, they began filming short films on their own starring the characters of themselves ''not actually as'' themselves, and they developed a demand. Most of the shorts feature cameos by well known comedians, deeply disturbing humor and plenty of gay subtext. Not surprisingly, the show had a single half-season on ComedyCentral, a slavishly devoted cult following and a reputation for being one of the most intellectually stupefying experiences ever made for American television.

The concept is simple: Michael, Michael and David are wacky, surreal versions of themselves who live in a fabulously well appointed Brooklyn apartment, dress in business suits in all occasions and don't appear to do anything at all to pay for it. They spend their time in wacky sitcom plots, most of which are derived from 1980s era culture, and spend 22 minutes per episode making most other artists of RandomHumor look like amateurs. They are not meant to be likable characters at all. That is exactly what they planned.

This show is ''about'' deconstructing tropes, so this list is far from conclusive. Just about any trope that applies to sitcoms, romantic comedies or 80s teen flicks is used in ''Stella'' to some degree. In this regard it is similar to the 2001 comedy ''WetHotAmericanSummer'', which the trio and many of their fellow ''TheState'' alumni are also responsible for.

----
!This show provides examples of:
* AnAesop: Every single episode is ultimately about the power of friendship. Seemingly subverted, but also played oddly straight, every time.
* AlterEgoActing: Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain as "Michael Showalter", "Michael Ian Black" and "David Wain."
* AsideGlance: The most over-the-top, lampshaded versions of all time.
* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: "Write a song or build a bridge or write a song about a bridge."
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In one episode, the guys approach the camera to talk their dilemma over with the audience. During this, it cuts to the other characters looking baffled at their behaviour, not seeing a camera or hearing the viewers respond.
* BritishBrevity: The cable show had a total of 10 episodes, and is unlikely to ever be picked back up.
* ButtMonkey: David Wain's character. That he's the ButtMonkey AND TheCasanova is deliberate.
* TheCameo: Tons, with a particularly big role from Sam Rockwell.
* CatchPhrase: After locking eyes with a woman, David Wain will whisper, "What are we doing?" to prompt some immediate face-sucking.
** Showalter's "We don't HAVE.... this money."
** "I want you inside me." (always from a guy)
* ChekhovsGunman: At the end of the last episode made, "Amusement Park", it is revealed that [[spoiler: all of the characters that Phil Lord played in previous episodes (which were at first just a case of YouLookFamiliar) were actually all the same character, observing the three to prepare a "virtual reality" friendship test for them, that was commissioned by the girls.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The whole damn show, all the time, never turning off.
* CursedWithAwesome: David's bafflingly well-appointed, incredibly successful coffee shop making him miss his friends.
* DawsonCasting: One episode features the guys taking a paper route. All of the fellow paperboys (and girls) are easily in their mid 20's with no attempt to hide it. However, the kids who bully them are actually children.
* DeadAllAlong: Turns out to be the case of the mountain man in "Camping", after the guys mistakenly believe that they killed and ate him. The ranger informs them at the end that they were actually eating burgers and french fries ([[MST3KMantra just roll with it]]) and that they really ''did'' kill a guy, but he was just some loser backpacker, so nobody cares.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Showalter's general response to aggression, literally.
* TheGhost:
** A running gag is for one member to make an offhand reference to "Marcus." Another member asks, "Who the fuck is Marcus?" The original member just shakes his head in equal bewilderment, saying, "I know, I know!"
** Gary Meadows starts out at a ghost, but shows up several episodes later played by SamRockwell.
* GreenAesop: About the dangers of over-farming land. Wait, no. Over-farming the ''floor of your apartment.''
* HealingFactor: The guys.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: The extremely rare menage a trois version, no less.
* HorribleCampingTrip: The "Camping" episode nose-dives wildly into this within ''less than a minute'' of entering the woods.
* IncrediblyLameFun: When the boys couldn't go to the amusement park, they decided to improvise fun rides with what they had at their home; naturally, their alternatives don't quite match up to the real thing, but they make due.
* IneffectualLoner: Michael Showalter, nine times out of ten.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: And David Wain, to the point where some instances swap his name with a different one (see the end of "Paper Route").
* PornStache: Fake ones, purchased from a friend of the gang.
* ShoutOut: Twice to ''WetHotAmericanSummer'' in the Janeane Garafolo episode.
* StartMyOwn: Michael Black and David's response to Showalter working at a coffee shop.
* {{Troperiffic}}: Largely the point.
* ThrowingOutTheScript: Parodied in the second episode.
-->"You know, I was going to come up here today, read this fancy speech I had written, then I was going to stop in the middle, crumple it up, throw it away, start speaking from the heart. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to read from my prepared remarks instead."
* TwistEnding: As it turns out, [[spoiler:their landlord is really Mengele. The Nazi one]]. May also count as RefugeInAudacity.
** And that's just The Pilot- this trope is later parodied further in "Camping". Throughout the episode, they befriend a wise mountain man, but wind up "accidentally" killing and then eating him. At the end, the ranger reveals the twist that the mountain man was DeadAllAlong and that they had only met his ghost; his explanation is accompanied by hilarious altered flashbacks which show the mountain man wearing a white sheet signifying he was a ghost, as well as the trio eating hamburgers and french fries instead of the mountain man's cooked remains ([[BreadEggsMilkSquick they really did kill a guy, though]]). Finally in the last episode made, "Amusement Park", it is shown that the entire episode's events [[spoiler: were part of a virtual reality friendship test that was "so real, it was reality", as well as the accompanying revelation about Phil Lord's character shown under Chekhov's Gunman.]]
* WeaksauceWeakness: When she corners the trio, we find out the weakness of Janeane Garofalo's character is baloney from a sandwich Showalter had been carrying. Not to be outdone, she stops their getaway by hanging an "Out of Order" sign on their rickshaw, knowing they'd be too afraid/stupid to call her bluff.
* WordSaladTitle: The comedy group changed their name from Midnight Expressions to Stella, named after the unborn daughter of the club manager who gave them their first gig.

* DeadAllAlong: Turns out to be the case of the mountain man in "Camping", after the guys mistakenly believe that they killed and ate him. The ranger informs them at the end that they were actually eating burgers and french fries ([[MST3KMantra just roll with it]]) and that they ''did'' actually kill a guy, but he was just some loser anyway, so who cares?

** And that's just The Pilot- this trope is later parodied further in "Camping". Throughout the episode, they befriend a wise mountain man, but wind up "accidentally" killing and then eating him. At the end, the ranger reveals the twist that the mountain man was DeadAllAlong and that they had only met his ghost; his explanation is accompanied by hilarious altered flashbacks which show the mountain man wearing a white sheet signifying he was a ghost, as well as the trio eating hamburgers and french fries instead of the mountain man's cooked remains. Finally in the last episode made, "Amusement Park", it is shown that the entire episode's events [[spoiler: were part of a virtual reality friendship test that was "so real, it was reality", as well as the accompanying revelation about Phil Lord's character shown under Chekhov's Gunman.]]

* DeadAllAlong: Turns out to be the case of the mountain man in "Camping", after the guys mistakenly believe that they killed and ate him. The ranger informs them at the end

''This is about the US series "Stella". For the UK series on Sky, see {{Stella2011}}.''

* DeadAllAlong: Turns out to be the case of the mountain man in "Camping", after the guys mistakenly believe that they killed and at him. The ranger informs them at the end

* HoYay: The pre-Comedy Central shorts played this up a lot with an everpresent enormous dildo, but it was a precondition by the network that the so-called "gay humor" stop. They didn't stop and the thus the show did.

* TheGhost: A running gag is for one member to refer to someone named "Marcus." Another member asks, "Who the fuck is Marcus?" The original member just shakes his head in equal bewilderment, saying, "I know, I know!"
** Gary Meadows starts out at this but shows up several episodes later, and played by SamRockwell at that.

* {{Immortality}}: The guys seem to be Type III.

->'''Micheal Black:''' The gall -- the unmitigated gall -- of those girls!
->'''Micheal Showalter:''' "If you wanna change things, run for board president." Yeah right!

''Stella'' did not start out as a television show, but as a live stage variety show with the three comedians performing small segues between acts. Eventually, they began filming short films on their own starring the characters of themselves ''not actually as'' themselves, and they developed a demand. Most of the shorts feature cameos by well known comedians, deeply disturbing humor and plenty of gay subtext. Not surprisingly, the show had a single half-season on Comedy Central, a slavishly devoted cult following and a reputation for being one of the most intellectually stupefying experiences ever made for American television.

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: And David Wain, to the point where some instances swap his name with a different one (see the end of "Paper Route").

* TheCameo: Tons, with a particularly big role from Sam Rockwell.

* FaceOfTheBand: Michael Ian Black, most of the time. Also tends to be TheWisecracker

The concept is simple: Michael, Michael and David are wacky, surreal versions of themselves who live in a fabulously well appointed Manhattan apartment, dress in business suits in all occasions and don't appear to do anything at all to pay for it. They spend their time in wacky sitcom plots, most of which are derived from 1980s era culture, and spend 22 minutes per episode making most other artists of RandomHumor look like amateurs. They are not meant to be likable characters at all. That is exactly what they planned.

-->''"Hiring you boys based on your performance in the potato sack race was the worst decision I ever made!"''
--->'''~ Some C.E.O.'''

* AnAesop: Every single episode is ultimately about the power of friendship. Seemingly subverted, but also played oddly straight, every time.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The guys convince a condo board that they would, in fact, be appropriate candidates for a $3 million Manhattan apartment.

* TooGoodToLast

* {{Wangst}}: Whenever they're sad by something, the Stellas literally mope. It's fairly disturbing.

* {{Immortality}: The guys seem to be Type III.

This show is ''about'' deconstructing tropes, so this list is far from conclusive. Just about any trope that applies to sitcoms, romantic comedies or 80s teen flicks is used in ''Stella'' to some degree. In this regard it is similar to the 2001 comedy ''WetHotAmericanSummer'', which the trio and many of their fellow ''TheState'' alum are also responsible for.

* AsideGlance - The most over-the-top, lampshaded versions of all time.
* AnAesop - Every single episode is ultimately about the power of friendship. Seemingly subverted, but also played oddly straight, every time.
* BreakingTheFourthWall - In one episode, the guys approach the camera to talk their dilemma over with the audience. During this, it cuts to the other characters looking baffled at their behaviour, not seeing a camera or hearing the viewers respond.
* BritishBrevity - The cable show had a total of 10 episodes, and is unlikely to ever be picked back up.
* ButtMonkey - David Wain's character. That he's the ButtMonkey AND TheCasanova is deliberate.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}} - The whole damn show, all the time, never turning off.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome - The guys convince a condo board that they would, in fact, be appropriate candidates for a $3 million Manhattan apartment.
* CursedWithAwesome - David's bafflingly well-appointed, incredibly successful coffee shop making him miss his friends.
* DawsonCasting - One episode features the guys taking a paper route. All of the fellow paperboys (and girls) are easily in their mid 20's with no attempt to hide it. However, the kids who bully them are actually children.
* DeadAllAlong - Turns out to be the case of the mountain man in "Camping", after the guys mistakenly believe that they killed and at him. The ranger informs them at the end
* DontYouDarePityMe - Showalter's general response to aggression, literally.
* FaceOfTheBand - Michael Ian Black, most of the time. Also tends to be TheWisecracker

* GreenAesop - About the dangers of over-farming land. Wait, no. Over-farming the ''floor of your apartment.''
* HeterosexualLifePartners - The extremely rare menage a trois version, no less.
* HorribleCampingTrip - The "Camping" episode nose-dives wildly into this within ''less than a minute'' of entering the woods.

* IneffectualLoner - Michael Showalter, nine times out of ten.
* PornStache - Fake ones, purchased from a friend of the gang.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg - And David Wain, to the point where some instances swap his name with a different one (see the end of "Paper Route").
* ShoutOut - Twice to ''WetHotAmericanSummer'' in the Janeane Garafolo episode.

* TheCameo - Tons, with a particularly big role from Sam Rockwell.

* {{Troperiffic}} - Largely the point.
* TwistEnding - As it turns out, [[spoiler:their landlord is really Mengele. The Nazi one]]. May also count as RefugeInAudacity.

* {{Wangst}} - Whenever they're sad by something, the Stellas literally mope. It's fairly disturbing.
* WordSaladTitle: The comedy group changed their name from Midnight Expressions to Stella, named after the unborn daughter of the club manager who gave them their first gig.

<<|AmericanSeries|>>

* AlterEgoActing - Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain as "Michael Showalter", "Michael Ian Black" and "David Wain."

* HoYay - The pre-Comedy Central shorts played this up a lot with an everpresent enormous dildo, but it was a precondition by the network that the so-called "gay humor" stop. They didn't stop and the thus the show did.

* TheCameo - Tons, with a particularly big role from Sam Rockwell. Comic genius.