[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mrshow_l_9209.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:240:Creator/BobOdenkirk and Creator/DavidCross]]

->''"Hey everybody, it's Bob and David!"''

''Mr. Show with Bob and David'' was a highly influential SketchComedy series starring and written by Creator/BobOdenkirk and Creator/DavidCross. The show aired on Creator/{{HBO}} for four seasons (1995–98).

It is noted for its edgy, cynical, and oftentimes cruel sense of humor as well as the way the sketches would transition into each other, much like an episode of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. The show filled its ranks with performers and writers from the alternative comedy scene, and served as a career springboard for many up-and-coming comedians. Due to airing on a premium cable network, the show never obtained a great deal of popularity, and was eventually dumped into a poor time slot before getting canceled. However, the show earned a loyal cult following and has proved to be one of the more influential comedy shows in recent decades.

After its cancellation, the show was spun off into the feature film ''Film/RunRonnieRun'', starring one of its recurring characters. The film spent years in DevelopmentHell before getting dumped straight to video.

In 2015, the show received a short-lived {{Revival}} on Creator/{{Netflix}} in the form of ''W/ Bob and David'', which reunited a large portion of the original cast.

Not to be confused with ''WesternAnimation/TheMrMenShow''.

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!!This series provides examples of:

* AbusiveParents: A recurring theme in "Operation Hell on Earth." Bob and David talk about how their parents were this growing up, and how they want to raise their daughter Superstar better. Then they [[StageDad demand that she keep on working her tap dancing]]. She grows up to be even more screwed up than them. [[spoiler: She later gets revenge, coming back for her younger self, ordering Bob and David to tap]].
* AcmeProducts: [=GloboChem=] and its holdings produce thousands of products, with 83 new products being developed every minute, ranging from a cardboard box designed to hold paper bags to powdered biscuits and an undisclosed tech company.
* AlmostDeadGuy: Larry and all victims of IDS (Imminent Death Syndrome).
* AmusementParkOfDoom: The Devastator, a rollercoaster that is fatal to those who ride it. A news show covers it like it's a natural disaster, with local residents all afraid they'll be killed by it, then inexplicably showing up and standing in line for it.
* AnachronismStew: The Founding Fathers sketch about the origins of the American Flag's pattern, where they invent a design in order to make sure [[ItMakesSenseInContext no one ever defecates on it]]. It features Lincoln talking with a Brooklyn accent, also claiming to have slept with [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Playmates]]. [[SophisticatedAsHell They also swear a lot]].
-->'''Thomas Jefferson''': Dogpile on Gwinnett!
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: America's plan to blow up the moon is nearly derailed after the chimp picked to press the detonator [[UsefulNotes/SignedLanguage signs]] the question: "Why?" [[spoiler:Solution? Get a chimp who can't sign.]]
* ArmouredClosetGay: Wyckyd Sceptre. Too bad they're too dumb to realize they're this.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In the Hanged Man sketch, after Bob's character finds out David's (who he tried to murder) might have actually stole his newspapers...
-->'''Bob''': How many years did I have what I thought was innocent blood on my hands? How many nights have I laid awake sleepless unable to tell anyone what I'd done? How many of your ''stupid poems have I had to listen to?!''
* AsbestosFreeCereal: What's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrWXEG_-F-Q Fairsley Difference]]? The homespun grocery chain, Gibbons, is driven out of business by competitor Fairsley Foods' slick ads boasting about horrible conditions the competitor's stores did not suffer from, such as stores always being on fire, homeless people defecating in the aisles, and [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial customers' children being abducted and sold into homoerotic slavery in Pakistani whorehouses]]. They never say these things '''are''' true of Gibbons, so [[MetaphoricallyTrue they aren't actually lying]].
* AuthorityInNameOnly: One sketch is opened with a ribbon-cutting by the Mayor of Television.
* AttackOfThePoliticalAd: Charles [=McHutchence=] and Harrison Greeley III, two rich, successful men who aren't running for office, keep doing this to each other for no particular reason beyond self-promotion. When Reverend Dwight Anders speaks out, they eventually team up against him and drive him to alcoholism.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: After two guys get into a fight at a bar ("I'm in it for the long run, I'll marry your stupid ass!"), they get married and spend their marriage insulting and fighting with each other. After one of them finds out the other lied, they briefly separate, apologize and make up... then resume fighting [[spoiler: until one of them dies as an old man]].
* BadBadActing: Moe Phelps teaches the cast this. Also "Natural Born Drunk: The Ronnie Dobbs Story", although a bit more subtle.
* BadNewsInAGoodWay: The Bad News Breakers, two adorable little girls who are brought in to give people terrible news.
--> '''Bad News Breakers:''' Your wife is cheating on you!\\
'''Bob:''' Awww... who wants ice cream?
* BaldOfEvil: The ratings child alien.
** David is accused of this when he [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything comes out as bald.]]
--->'''Jill:''' David... I accept you, but I don't accept the choice you've made.\\
'''David:''' It's not a choice, Jill. God ''made'' me this way.\\
'''Jill:''' Then I reject God.
* BasementDweller: Don Pratt lives with his mother.
* BestialityIsDepraved: The end of the [[spoiler: Biosphere]] sketch. Also, the final thoughts of [[spoiler: Derwin in the Lifeboat]] sketch.
* BitingTheHandHumor:
** The commercials that Bob and David made to advertise their new time slot of Mondays at midnight criticize the shittiness of the slot.
*** In one commercial, David asserts that the show will try to infiltrate the homes of Americans while they aren't watching. "Mondays at midnight! A busy work night when everyone's asleep. Who watches television on Mondays at midnight? ''Exactly!''"
*** In another, Bob and David try to decide when they'll get together to create ''Mr Show.'' David suggests Monday at midnight, and Bob likes it, because that way it will be "just for us!"
** A Season 1 episode ended with a fake network promo for "Creepy Peeping Videos," an exploitative hidden-camera show--of the type HBO commonly aired at the time--featuring John Ennis in drag as an abusive nanny.
** In the very first episode, David transitions out of a sketch to start bitching about the fact that HBO only gave them enough budget to film in a restaurant rather than a real studio, saying that they "spent more on ''Series/FraggleRock''!" He then transitions back into his sketch dialogue.
* BlackComedy: Very frequently, just about anything of shock value gets used as a joke on this show.
* BlackComedyCannibalism: One sketch involved the lone survivor of a plane crash who lived by eating the bodies of all the victims, becoming morbidly obese in the process, and he's comically satisfied instead of traumatized (he compares human flesh to "[[TastesLikeChicken delicious chickens]]").
* BlackComedyRape: Due to a new cost-saving measure at Pendleton State Prison, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKE9W0O8bX8 convicted rapist Larry Kleist]] is able serve out his term while living a semi-normal life -- he just had to take out ads in the local paper announcing himself, put signs on his lawn, begin every phone call with "Larry Kleist, rapist" (when he works as a ''telemarketer''), and be accompanied everywhere he goes by an assigned, state-licensed, "public warning engineer", who wears sandwich boards saying "I'M WITH A RAPIST" and follows his car in a van blaring out warnings on loudspeakers.
-->'''Kleist:''' ''[On phone]'' Hello! Insurance is my game, Larry is my name! Raping was another game of mine. Have you considered -- hello? ''[hangs up in disappointment]''
** Then later in the same episode, we learn that the program has been extended to other types of convicts:
--->'''Journalist:''' Tom Boutineer, Cappington News and Views, Pedophile! ...I sodomized my nephew.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Happens in the Law School sketch.
* BlameGame: The ''Coupon: The Movie'' film executives. After one executive accuses another of greenlighting the movie, they all chant his name. After Bob is accused, he chants his own name along with them.
* BlindDriving: In "Blind Girl", after the genuinely blind Steven ditches his pretending girlfriend and his potential romantic rival, he triumphantly peels away from the apartment building in a red convertible. Two seconds later, he's killed in a fatal collision.
* BodyHorror: The Titannica skit has the titular band visiting a teenager who survived jumping into an acid vat. Needless to say, the results weren't pretty.
* BookEnds: A lot of the episodes were circular in nature, and the last sketch would tie into the opening of the episode in some way.
* {{Bowdlerization}}: PlayedForLaughs in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CpAE9c1lN8 this Goodfellas parody, ''Pallies'']]. Three mafiosos swear profoundly at the dinner table, but the swear words and obscene gestures are poorly dubbed over.
-->'''Anthony:''' The both of youze can grab onto my BOOKS, you mother-father Chinese dentist.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Just about every other sketch. Each episode begins with the hosts addressing the audience, which quickly gets sidetracked into the first sketch. In the first episode of the series, David transitions almost seamlessly from his dialogue in a sketch to start bitching about the poor location that HBO gave them to tape their show, then transitions right back into his sketch dialogue.
* {{Brownface}}: Bob plays an brown-skinned Indian man with a funny accent in "Operation: Hell on Earth."
* BrickJoke:
** The "package" at the beginning and end of "Rudy Will Await Your Foundation."
** A lot of the episodes contain jokes which seem to tail off without an ending, only for the ending to burst into another sketch later in an episode.
** At the opening of one episode, David Cross grabs a banana and jokes, "Hey, who wants a banana?" as a pointless aside. At the end of the episode, some space apes watch the opening and freak out when David waves the banana around.
* BunnyEarsLawyer:
** Grass Valley Greg ''appears'' to be this [[spoiler: until it turns out he's bankrupt]].
** Philouza, parodying Mozart as a basketcase genius in ''Film/{{Amadeus}}''.
* TheCakeIsALie: In one sketch, this trope is pulled on John to get him to come their interventions. ''[[RuleOfThree Three times]]''.
* CampGay: Jack Black, of all people, plays one in the subway sketch, Tom Kenny plays one in Operation: Hell on Earth and another at the end of the Third Wheel sketch, David Cross plays one in Wee Time Toddler Wear, the same one in the Nostradamus sketch and another character in the "What To Think Network/Good News" sketch... this trope comes up quite a bit.
* CampStraight: Toddy in Wee Time Toddler Wear is just as campy as his co-workers, but is angered by Nostradamus's advances, saying, "Oh no! NO! I ''know'' what you're thinking! Hey look, I've got a wife and three ''[[PrecisionFStrike fucking]]'' kids, OK?"
* CandidCameraPrank: The end of the [[spoiler: Progressive Priest]] sketch.
* CasanovaWannabe: Lyle in the Biosphere sketch.
* CastFullOfWriters: Bob and David wrote almost the entire first season. Subsequent seasons have many of the additional cast members join the writing team.
* TheCatCameBack: A sketch [[DirectedByCastMember directed by David]] in the finale. Two friends who haven't seen each other a while, after having met at a bar, say their goodbyes to each other, but unintentionally keep running into each other on their way home, much to their irritation. Once [[spoiler: Jay doesn't run into Bob, he realizes something is wrong. It turns out Bob somehow died that night]].
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: In a rare sketch comedy example, the swear jar from "Please Don't Kill Me".]]
* ClipShow: Has three mid-season specials that are this. Basically, a recap of the previous season and a preview for the next.
* CloudCuckoolander:
** John Baptiste Philouza.
** Also, F.F. Woodycooks. Now who wants ice cream?
* ClusterFBomb: Throughout the whole show, but most notably in the Globochem commercials sketch.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: In one sketch, criminals are released early, as long as they have to tell everyone they meet what crime they committed. Larry Kleist, a rapist tries to make cold calls about insurance, but everyone hangs up on him when he introduces himself as "Larry Kleist, rapist." Larry complains: "People don't seem to be interested in insurance these days. I think the industry is in a slump."
* ComingOutStory: The beginning of "Peanut Butter, Eggs and Dice" in a parody of "The Puppy Episode" of ''Series/{{Ellen}}'', in which David comes out as bald, in an attempt for ratings.
%%* CompanionCube: Red Balloon.
* CouchGag: During the theme song at the beginning of the episode, the phrase "Hey everybody! It's Bob and David!" or a variation is spoken by one of the cast members in the audience. For the first two seasons, it's Mary Lynn Rajskub. The third and fourth season openings are spoken by a character from one of the sketches from the episode.
* CreditsGag: Most-to-all of the credits gave "Special Thanks" to notable people not involved with the show.
* CreepyChild: The Ratings child (a.k.a. Lucien) an alien who gives content warnings (common on HBO) for the show.
* CrossOverPunchline: A stereotypical 80's comedian introduced in an episode is shown on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DrKatzProfessionalTherapist'' doing the show's typical shtick of having a comedian deliver some of his punchlines at a psychiatry session.
* CrunchTastic: When you see the New UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, you'll say "San Frantastic!"
* {{Cult}}: Followers of "The Bob" who are going to go up "[[TitleDrop Heaven's Chimney]]". David has to be deprogrammed.
* CureYourGays: The "Good News" show on the What-to-Think Network. An obviously gay man claims he is cured, but then "relapses" back a few years later, then continues to go back and forth.
* DamnedByFaintPraise:
** NAMBLA does this to themselves when they attempt to bolster their public image with an ad campaign reminding the public that they're not serial killers.
** Crossing over with SoOkayItsAverage, most people's in-universe reactions to ''Coupon: The Movie'' range from: "It's a movie!" to "I watched the shit out of this!"
* DawsonCasting: In-universe example: Three parents host a show called "No Adults Allowed" in which they play teenagers talking about all the things they should/shouldn't be doing. They then accuse the "real" teenager who won't go along with their show, accusing their generation of being [[{{TheSlacker}} slackers]].
* DetonationMoon: The Blow Up The Moon sketch. It actually does happen in the "You're Fired!" sketch.
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:Ronnie in Terry's in the [[ShowWithinAShow movie]] version of Ronnie Dobbs' story]].
* DiseaseBleach: The host of the "Pre-Taped Call-In Radio Show" is shown to have had his hair gradually fall out over the couple of weeks that his show has been on the air as a result of the stress of dealing with oblivious callers who don't realize that the show isn't aired live.
* DisneyCreaturesOfTheFarce: The animated animals who assist Lyle in the Biosphere sketch. Also the birds that accompany John Ennis on [[spoiler:what he thinks is]] his date.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Odenkirk plays a character who once tried to murder a man because he thought he was stealing his newspapers.
* TheDitz: A slow character Bob plays three times. Although not referred to by name in the show, [[AllThereInTheScript the commentaries state his name is Droopy]].
* DontExplainTheJoke: See SoUnfunnyItsFunny.
-->'''David''': I'm sorry, it makes total sense. You have soil, worms live in soil, worms would have an apartment guide if they...
* DVDCommentary: The show's UsefulNotes/{{DVD}}s all contain creator commentaries. Many of them feature the cast members performing impromptu bits in various characters.
* EleventyZillion: The Philouza sketch features the "Eleventy-Twelfth President of the United States."
* EpicFail: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrlS9_n8GX4 The Pre-Taped Call-In Show]]"
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The audience gets so disgusted with the pro-NAMBLA psa during The Awards for Advertising American Ads that even a member of NAMBLA takes offense.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Lucien the ratings child has a deep man's voice, despite being a kid.
* FairWeatherFriend: In the "You're Fired" sketch, the junior executive (David) who got fired by the boss (Bob) was at first being defended by his co-workers, but because the boss chose to promote everybody else but that guy as reward for aggressive behavior, they abandon him just to enjoy the spoils themselves.
* FakeBrit: Bob a few times, most notably as Terry Twillstein and Ernie. The latter might be one in-universe. David becomes a ''very'' fake one (in-universe) at the beginning of "A Talking Junkie" which irritates the other cast members.
* FanDisservice: This is the Womyn's Solidarity Collective's reaction to Bob and David taking off their shirts and dancing to club music.
* TheFantasticTropeOfWonderousTitles: The mid-season (between seasons 3 and 4) clip show "Mr. Show and the Incredible, Fantastical News Report." To a lesser extent, the mid-season (seasons 1 and 2) special "Fantastic Newness."
* FantasticRacism: "Racist in the Year 3,000" is about the last white human in the universe, who's equally racist against all manner of aliens because they're not white either.
** Also towards [[{{TheSlacker}} slackers]] in "The Biggest Failure in Broadway History." To the point where they have their own crappy drinking fountains and they get hosed at "No Slackers Allowed" locations.
* FatCamp: A rival camp for the Dalai Lama and the monks. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext They compete against each other]].
* FingerInTheMail: Parodied in a sketch in which a kidnapper calls the wealthy father of the boy he's kidnapped and demands to know whether he received his son's toe in the mail to prove his serious intent. Except he forgot to mail the toe. And he appears to have accidentally removed his ''own'' toe, instead of one of the kid's. And he's already released the kid. And the police are able to track his call while he's dithering about all of this. The kidnapper ends up trying to sell the father his own toe for $50.00. Obviously, [[StupidCrooks he's not a very effective kidnapper]].
* FlippingTheBird: "This is BULLSHIT!"
* FoodFight: At the end of "It's a No-Brainer," featuring a catholic and satanist engaging in a {{Creator/Nickelodeon}}-style food fight.
* ForeignerForADay: A man gets the government's approval to make his home (in Montana) its own country, dubbing it "New Freeland." He eventually grows bored with it, so after "visiting" America, he's amazed by it and decides he wants to become a citizen. He later co-hosts an Olympics event featuring other leaders of newly-formed countries.
* FormerChildStar: Josh Fenderman from the final episode, in a parody of Corey Feldman. Superstar could count as well.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Occasionally...
** When Josh Fenderman and Honesty in Motion perform, Jay Johnston is seen holding a saxophone, but suddenly just claps along with the song, as he probably realizes the song doesn't have a saxophone in it.
** In "Jeepers Creepers," the "first stone" that hits Jeepers Creepers ricochets into the crowd and bounces off a woman's head, causing her to cartoonishly keel over. This was a ThrowItIn.
* FunnyForeigner: Both landlords in "Please Don't Kill Me." The new landlord, Shumul, was apparently based off of David and comedian Greg Behrendt's landlord at the time.
* TheGenerationGap: Parodied. After David shows up late for the show, Bob claims it's because he's from "the late 70s" whereas he's from "the mid 70s." David furiously refers to Bob as "Pops" and that his generation is of "one year later."
* GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: In both sketches "Downsizing" and "Spunk."
* GlobalIgnorance:
** In the pilot episode, David reveals that Bob believes that there are only five U.S. states, and one of them is called "Chim-Cham."
** In another episode, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7dwkpxUpG0 a group of college students on an MTV show]] claim to have traveled all over the world, showing a crayon map of the places they went in Europe. "Europe" is drawn in the shape of the continental United States, divided up into countries such as "Germany" and "Europe."
* GoodShepherd: Father Jim from the first episode. Might be a case of GoodIsDumb, as he's a bit of a pushover [[spoiler: which results in his friends pranking him, getting him on a CandidCameraPrank]].
* AGoodNameForARockBand: Indomitable Spirit, although the armless former member reveals they were originally called "Flat Top Tony and the Purple Canoes" (which is the episode's TitleDrop). Also Wycked Sceptre.
* GoryDeadlyOverkillTitleOfFatalDeath: ''The Return of the Curse of the Creature's Ghost'', where no one knows what exactly to be afraid of. The curse? The creature? The creature's ghost?
* GoshDangItToHeck: Used in the "Pallies" sketch in a parody of when movies are edited for television.
-->Anthony: "I'll tell you what, the both of yous can grab one of my '''BOOKS''' and '''MOTHER-FATHERS, CHINESE DENTIST'''"
* GospelChoirsAreJustBetter: In the Third Wheel Legend sketch.
* HearingVoices: Four people in a subway trying to help a man's relationship trouble are revealed to be "The Four Voices Within." They are: an old lady, a Japanese man, a biker and a gay guy.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Bob and David are this. Well, [[HoYay maybe not so much...]]
* HiddenWire: The flower the undercover cop wears (after leaving the bathroom) in "Bugged Drug Deal." See IncrediblyObviousBug.
* HideYourPregnancy: Jill in most of the third season, but averted in "Fuzz: The Musical" and "Philouza."
* HilariousOuttakes: The show has these, but it's also parodied during "Young People and Companions" in which there are outtakes for a news show. Notably the couple whose son is missing laughing over their slip-of-the-tongue.
* HollywoodSatanism: The Hail Satan Network, which acts pretty much like an actual gospel show.
* {{Hypocrite}}: In one sketch, a couple invite another couple over in hopes that one of them will watch them have sex, because they want a baby and can't have sex unless their fetish for exhibitionism is satisfied. The other couple are open, but start making demands that their own fetishes be satisfied as well. The husband of the first couple snaps, "Look, this isn't your ''sick, weird'' thing, alright?"
* ILoveTheDead: The reason James Whitcroft thinks he saw a monster party in the graveyard.
* IceCreamKoan: At the end of the Progressive Priest sketch, Father Jim gives us one of these
-->'''Father Jim''': When life gives me lemons, I make lemonade. When I ask someone for a glass of water and they give me a glass of sand, I turn it over, make a sand castle and then pretend I'm the king. If somebody throws a rock at my head, I pretend that the bruise is a faded tattoo, and that I was once a sailor and ran a sweatshop in Singapore... I'm not too proud of that time in my imaginary life.
* ImAHumanitarian: A few sketches. One in which the only survivor of a plane crash reveals that he ate all of the other survivors only hours after they landed.
* IncrediblyObviousBug: In a sketch, an undercover police officer uses a variety of very poorly disguised cameras and microphones in an attempt to bust a criminal. He also has an incredibly bad habit of slipping into police jargon.
* InsistentTerminology: One skit concerns a group of mobsters getting into a discussion about numbers, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkP_OGDCLY0 and how 24 is the largest one]].
* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Parodied with Indomitable Spirit.
* {{Jerkass}}: Several characters
** The (adult) adopted son.
** The uninvited party guest in the first episode.
* KavorkaMan: David plays several of these, including Ronnie Dobbs, Lee from "Our Secret Love" and Derwin from the Lifeboat sketch.
* {{Keet}}: Also several:
** David (playing a version of himself) comes off this way at times. As well as a few of his characters, like Grass Valley Greg.
** The Charlie Callas-esque "Johnny" from Dr. X's telethon.
* KentBrockmanNews: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAzzhsR8YLg Channel 6 "On the Spot News"]] goes one step further and actually makes the news. A reporter instigates a riot at a protest by throwing something at a police officer. Another reporter is shown starting a wildfire before reporting on it, only to be promptly shot by a colleague. She reports on his murder while finishing him off mid-broadcast. And then we cut to a news reporter doing double duty as a sniper.
* KitschyLocalCommercial: Don Pratt's... whatever his service is.
* TheKlutz: Thomas in "The Story of Everest" keeps tripping backwards and knocking over the thimbles. It's made into a silent film, ''The Story of the Story of Everest''.
* LampshadeHanging: ''Incredibly'' self-aware, many of its jokes were based on mocking the common tropes.
* LeatherMan: One sketch features a band playing Fire Island, with an audience completely consisting of leather men.
* LieDetector: The subject of a season 3 sketch. A job applicant is subjected to a lie detector test during an interview. At first he's asked standard questions ("Have you ever drank alcohol to excess?" "Have you ever taken an illegal drug?"), but then he's asked even more outlandish and improbable questions. The applicant, who always answers "Yes" to every single question, begins confessing to being addicted to every hard drug ever known, stealing "space plans" from NASA, killing a man with his mind, and [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial eating a train piece by piece after derailing it with his penis]]. All the while, the machine's silence indicates that he's telling the truth. At the end of the test, the interviewers, revealed to be employees of a shoe store, hire him. The applicant says he loves shoes. BZZT.
* LookBothWays: What Ernie (Odenkirk) should have done as he's crossing the street noting that the traffic light has "really changed."
* LookMaIAmOnTV:
** In an award show, one of the presenters, who is stationed in the audience, suddenly becomes amazed when he can see himself and his fellow presenters on the big screen. He begins shouting and waving at the presenters onstage trying to get them to acknowledge him.
** One sketch has a news crew reporting on a roller coaster that's killing people, to the point where [[RefugeInAudacity people are leaving town and boarding up their doors to try to get away from the roller coaster]]. Naturally, when the news crew is reporting from the line, all those people are there and waving at the camera.
* LoonyFan: Adam Jimmy in the Titannica sketch.
* LostAtSea: The Lifeboat sketch.
* LoveMartyr: Possibly Terry for Ronnie.
* MaleGaze: Parodied with their mascots, the Mr Show Objects.
* MegaCorp: Globochem is a corporation that owns 29% of the entire Earth and has holdings in everything from fast food to telecommunications. its slogan is even "We own everything so you don't have to!".
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: In the Lifeboat sketch, one of the audience members from the [[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]-esque show (who's lost at sea with them) tries to tell everyone how to handle their situation. He tells the pregnant woman "You need to respect the baby, because life is precious, and god, and the bible." Also the episode's TitleDrop.
* MissingEpisode: Invoked and parodied. Bob and David bill the beginning of one of their episodes as their "Lost Episode," so they can trot it out years later to much fanfare. At the end of the episode, they have all the cast members say "goodbye" to the tape of the episode, then give it to their security guard so he can lose it. He tosses the tape into outer space in a ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]'' parody.
* MistakenForDying: Flip flops during the IDS sketch. When characters think someone is dying, they let them fill out their goal and offer praise and attention for free, but feel cheated when they find out the person isn't dying. Said person suffers from "Imminent Death Syndrome"--it's also used as to describe how all sorts of "talented" successful people supposedly suffer from the disease as a TakeThat.
%%* MisterDescriptor
* MonsterMash: The sketch ''Monster Parties: Fact or Fiction?''
* MundaneMadeAwesome: "Coupon: The Movie"
* TheMusical: One episode includes an entire musical based on an old traveling salesman joke.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: The Streakers sketch.
* NegativeContinuity: Understandable as this is sketch comedy (and if you consider recurring sketches to be in order). Ronnie [[spoiler: dies of entitilitus]] in the first episode but [[spoiler: is alive and well]] in FUZZ: The Musical.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
** Bob Odenkirk's God is a very thinly veiled impression of New Hollywood movie producer / 70s libertine Robert Evans.
** Daffy "Mal" Yinkleyankle, which Music/WeirdAl actually praised in an e-mail to Odenkirk.
** Blueberry Head is a not particularly kind parody of comedian Creator/CarrotTop.
** [[Creator/SidAndMartyKrofftProductions Sid and Marty Krofft]] are parodied as Sam and Criminy Craffft, who produced a controversial children's show in TheSeventies called ''The Altered State of Druggachusettes''.
** In the "Teardrop Awards" sketch, Willips Brighton and Horace Loeb are ''very'' thinly veiled versions of Music/BrianWilson and Music/EricClapton, respectively.
** Marilyn Monster is obviously Music/MarilynManson.
** The band Smoosh, comprised of brothers Ian and Clive Shropshire, bears more than a passing resemblance to {{Music/Oasis}} and brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher.
* NoEnding: A lot of sketches on their own are like this, as all the sketches (much like ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'') are linked together -- the end of some sketches is the beginning of the next sketch. As comedy sketches are often hard to end on a high note, this arguably helps the show. However, the writers have noted that they sometimes had to spend just as much effort figuring out how to link sketches in this way as they spent on writing the sketches themselves.
* NoIndoorVoice: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LafMgjmBV2k Bob Odenkirk has a reputation for this.]]
* NoInfantileAmnesia: David apparently remembers his parents arguing when he was a baby in "Operation Hell on Earth."
* NoodleIncident: Pretty much the whole point of the Weeklong Romance sketch in the finale. Some events are described in more detail but a few details of Odenkirk's life during the weeklong break-up are left to our imaginations.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: This is what Ernie goes through in the first episode.
* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo: During the Josh Fenderman sketch, a director is referred to as being "the best thing to come out of Hollywood since sliced bread, not to mention its sequel ''Sliced Bread II: Electric Boogaloo''.
* OneHitWonder: In-universe, "Superstar Machine" by Li'l Davey Cross.
* OverlyLongGag:
** The "Story of the Story of Everest" sketch involves a character repeatedly falling into some shelves and knocking over his mother's thimble collection, again and again and again. In the commentary, the cast recalls how agonizing it was to reset the stage each time.
** "Legend of the Third Wheel" has one with David Cross's song
** "Change for a Dollar," a sketch entirely composed of convenience store employees calling their superiors to authorize a request for change and making noises as they think.
** David eating the pretzel in the Intervention sketch.
-->'''David''': Now I need a beer...
** Indomitable Spirit trying to explain to Bob's character why he was kicked out of the band.
** "The Audition," in which David plays an actor whose audition is asking if he can use a chair for his audition. The casting directors can't tell if he's actually asking them a question and repeatedly interrupt him.
* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YraqJ7KDm7c Van Hammersly]], billiard champion, has made a series of videos that educate through the use of billiards. His tapes cover such things as Hollywood's Golden Age, the 1974 Kentucky Derby, Mass Transportation, your G.E.D.[[note]]simply viewing this tape qualifies you for a high school diploma[[/note]], Renaissance Paintings, oceanography, corn futures, belly dancing, December 7th 1941, billiards, rock lyrics, and many more. They are simply the best teaching-by-billiards tapes you can purchase, which is why they've earned the TBB Gold Seal of Approval.
* OscarBait: The Dewey Awards, which are specifically given to actors who play mentally challenged characters. Terry's movie in the first episode might have also been this.
* TheOtherDarrin: Tammy (Ronnie Dobbs' wife) is played Mary Lynn Rajskub in the first episode and Jill Talley in "[=FUZZ=]: The Musical", as Rajskub was no longer involved with the show.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Edmund Premington is introduced as "a hunter, an explorer, a novelist, and an adventurer; a travelliare, an explorist, and a noveller."
* PissTakeRap: Bob does this at the beginning of "A Talking Junkie," not too long after he claims to David that he raps because he's "from the streets." He also plays a character who does this in the "Monk Academy" sketch.
* PointyHairedBoss: The boss at the end of the Downsizing sketch. Odenkirk's character in the first half, to an extent as well. Most likely, David's character in the same sketch [[spoiler:for about a minute, after Odenkirk's character is fired... then he is as well]].
* PoliceAreUseless: "Drunk Cops." Also, in FUZZ: The Musical, the cops who are playing themselves don't handle the fight between Ronnie and Terry, two cops who are on duty come in.
* PredatoryBusiness: The Fairsley sketch.
* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: The music duo Three Times One Minus One is a parody of this (particularly the WPCBCN--The White People Co-Opting Black Culture Network). The host of the "Video Soul" show they appear on fits this trope even more.
* PunnyName: "Mr. Show" sounds like "missed the show."
* RagsToRiches: Ronnie Dobbs, in both the first episode sketch and TheMovie.
* RatingsStunt: Parodied: During the VerySpecialEpisode / ComingOutStory, Bob goes "Here comes the highest rated moment in television!" Of course, the result is hilariously underwhelming and quickly forgotten.
* RealTrailerFakeMovie: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLnoLmCqT30 Coupon: The Movie]]''
* RedOniBlueOni: David is usually the red to Bob's blue.
* RevengeOfTheSequel: Parodied with Return Of The Curse of the Creature's Ghost
* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: Mountain Dougie. See ForeignerForADay.
* RockOpera: Parodied with ''Jeepers Creepers'', "The Biggest Failure in Broadway History."
* RogerRabbitEffect: See DisneyCreaturesOfTheFarce
* SarcasmBlind: In one sketch, Sharwood writes angry letters, using sarcasm. The people who receive it take it at face value.
* SayMyName: Movie!Terry does this while holding [[spoiler: the corpse of]] movie!Ronnie. The actual Terry Twillstein said that his scream lasted for two hours and "set a new record for screaming."
* ScaryBlackMan: The Men's Club of Allah.
-->"When you need security, look for the symbol of the friendly, scary black man. The Men's Club of Allah."
* ShamefulStrip: Inverted during the Streakers sketch in which a streaker humiliates his rival by forcing him to put his clothes on.
* SharpDressedMan: During the between sketch hosting segments, Bob always wears a suit in contrast to the very casually dressed David.
* ShirtlessScene: While trying to host a "targeted at women" (read: sexist) daytime show, Bob and David both do this, believing they're catering to them.
* ShockCollar: David has to wear one of these in the second episode, as required by Senator Tankerbell, part of a program monitoring artists. He gets a surge of "low level" electricity if he steps on a stage.
-->'''David''': It's not low level, Bob. It really hurts.
* ShoutOut: Lucien, his costume, and his dubbed voice are all modeled after Balok from the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekS1E10TheCorbomiteManeuver "The Corbomite Maneuver"]]. He even reclines in a similar chair, offering Bob and David peculiar drinks.
* SirSwearsALot: Reverend Winston Dupree. Host of the appropriately titled "Swear to God"
--> "I have a question and I know you all have it too: What is up Satan's ass? All he wants to do is fuck us up, the dicklicker! Now the Lord said, 'I am the light of the world,' now he could have easily as said 'I am King Shit of Fuck Mountain! Why would you fuck with me?!'"
* SketchComedy: A serviceable representation of the genre.
* SkywardScream: See SayMyName
%%* {{Slapstick}}: Nancy in the Thrilling Miracles sketch.
* SleepingTheirWayToTheTop: The Law Firm/Blowjob sketch. A valedictorian has a law firm interview, only for his three potential employers, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick in the middle of talking about his potential career]] tell him they want him to give them a blowjob, much to his horror. When he tries to reject their offer, they reveal that society is built on blowjobs, from law to medicine to religion to even [[ShapedLikeItself prostitution]].
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: The show generally falls far, far on the cynical end of the spectrum.
* SmokingHotSex: A David character does this after his (male) best friend pretends to be a call girl (at his demand) after losing a bet.
* SmugSnake: William Vanlandingham III, leader of the fat kid's camp and enemy of the Dalai Lama.
* SoUnfunnyItsFunny: "Yeah, I tell ya, Jill's ingested so much soil [from not washing her vegetables], her stomach oughta be listed in the 'Worm Apartment Guide.'" ([[{{Beat}} Dead Silence]].)
** A lot of Kedzie Matthews' jokes are this as well.
* SoapOperaDisease: Entitilitus from the first episode.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The Red Balloon song. More so the music than the lyrics, but the lyrics are a lot more cheery than the actions on screen. Although "Red Balloon will send you straight to hell" is LyricalDissonance.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Had several of these, in terms of some of the same actors working together. ''Series/TheSarahSilvermanProgram'' had a few ''Mr. Show'' alum in leads and several actors made guest appearances. ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' was produced by Dino Stamatopoulos, Jay Johnston and Scott Adsit. ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' featured David in a lead but had several Mr. Show actors guest star (including Bob). ''WesternAnimation/TomGoesToTheMayor'' and ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'' were produced by Bob Odenkirk but also included several ''Mr. Show'' actors in guest appearances. The Netflix series ''W/ Bob and David'' brought back the original Mr. Show cast.
* StageDad: Bob and David are this to their daughter [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude Superstar]] in "Operation Hell on Earth." Also Jill plays a StageMom in the finale during the Josh Fenderman sketch.
* StealthPun: Unclear if it's intentional, but in the Progressive Priest sketch from the first episode, David's {{Jerkass}} character orders "Father Jim" to carry him across the room, which he obliges. So he's [[spoiler: carrying a Cross]], David even holds his arms out.
* StrawmanProduct: Used a number of times in various parody ads.
** In one ad war, mom-and-pop Gibbons Markets is repeatedly slandered by the massive corporate chain Fairsley Foods, which insinuate that rats infest the produce and your children will be abducted and sold into homoerotic slavery in Pakistani whorehouses.
** Mayostard, a bottled mayo-and-mustard combo, goes to absurd lengths to suggest that getting sandwich spreads from two different bottles is an unbearable waste of time and effort. Then a competing product, Mustardayonnaise, enters the picture. Then the post-credits gag introduces [[SerialEscalation Mustmayostardayonnaise]], because having to apply Mayostard and Mustardayonnaise is such an enormous time sink, it will cause you to miss your daughter growing up, graduating college, and then [[MindScrew growing older than you and dying.]]
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Several.
** John Ennis' date song ("Chirp-a-dee doo dah") sounds a lot like "Zippity Doo Dah"
** "I'm a party girl" for Barbie Girl, although it was more spoofing {{Music/Madonna}}.
** "Got a Good Thing Going'" for [[Music/TheBeatles A Hard Day's Night]] song.
* SwearJar: In "Please Don't Kill Me," the hosts have a swear jar which provides just enough money to save the world from the hosts themselves.
* TakeThat: All over the place...
** Inside The Actor towards ''Inside The Actors' Studio'' and James Lipton. David Cross mocked Lipton in his stand-up as well, which became humorous when he actually worked with Lipton on ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' and was forced to realize that Lipton was a pretty nice guy.
** Three Times One Minus One towards PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy musicians.
** The "Teardrop Awards" feature an AffectionateParody of Brian Wilson's weirder, childlike obsessive songs with Willips Brighton's "Mouth Full of Sores", but Horace Loeb's bad tribute songs and self-aggrandizing egotism are by comparison a ''vicious'' satire of Eric Clapton and "Tears from Heaven". He even writes a song for Brighton's son after killing him, and then reveals post-mortem that [[spoiler:he made one for himself, too]].
** "Good News" towards CureYourGays organizations.
** The show has done some rather mocking parodies of real celebrities, including Creator/DrDemento, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Carrot Top, and Music/TobyKeith.
* TechMarchesOn: Party tapes, DAT players, and probably more.
* TeensAreMonsters: The Chip-on-the-Shoulder Club.
* TheThemeParkVersion: San Francisco, having been acquired by the [=GloboChem=] Corporation, is transformed into New San Francisco, keeping all of the novel but potentially scary elements of the city -- hippies, gay people, Asians, etc. -- while making it squeaky-clean and non-offensive for the entire family.
* ThereAreNoGoodExecutives. Bit of a recurring theme in "If You're Going To Write a Comedy Scene, You're Going to Have Some Rat Feces in There." Particularly the "Downsizing" sketch.
* ThirdWheel: Jerry in the appropriate titled "Third Wheel Legend" sketch (and sings a song about it) to his two friends on their honeymoon. The husband likes having him around but the wife is annoyed. Bob [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall]] at the end of the sketch to reveal the writer in the audience... the sketch was written for their friend Geri, who is the third wheel between him and ''his'' husband.
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Outside the studio is a sign saying "TV Taping in progress; Shut up, bitch!"
** David also wears a t-shirt with the phrase "Shut Up Bitch!" in a sketch where he's very enthusiastic.
** "Men 'r' stupid. Women 'r stupider.' We need to get married. I did. Get in line! ({{Beat}}.) Get in line, you dumb bitch!"
* ThreeWaySex: According to one of the female scientists in the Biosphere, she's joining two of the scientists (who also had plans for New Year's) for a threesome. Leaving Lyle all alone.
* TitleDrop: The title of each episode is actually a line from the show that the writers select on a whim. However, sometimes the line is from a sketch that gets cut from the actual episode. The show also uses its own name very often due to its self-referential comedy.
* ToiletHumor:
** "America, you shit on us? I shit on you!" Too bad he ''can't''.
** Also, the eponymous sketch of "Rudy Will Await Your Foundation."
* TooHotForTV: Parodied with "The Car Wash Change Thief Action Squad: Too Hot For TV".
* TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket: The mayostard/mustardayonnaise featured a series of ads for products combining mayo and mustard in a single jar, like Hellman's [[http://www.hellmanns.us/products/dijonnaise_mustard.aspx Dijonnaise]]. In the end, a guy is shown missing out on the important moments in his life because the process of spreading mustard then mayonnaise was simply too time consuming. The first [=GloboChem=] sketch features Janeane Garofalo as a woman who simply can't organize the bags in her kitchen, shouting, "Help me!" at the camera. The solution is "bag hutch," a box to put bags in. The writers had to change the name of the product because "bag box" was already the name of a product that did the exact same thing.
* TransparentCloset:
** Wyckyd Sceptre, who insist that having all-male orgies is not gay at all, it's just a party.
** In another sketch, a "Scared Straight" councilor appears repeatedly on a Christian chat show to talk about his most recent lapse into "homosinuality".
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The incompetent drug bust leads to the dealer being put on trial. A "Next Week" preview comes up.
-->'''Announcer:''' Will Kevin Ferguson be found guilty? Tune in next week! And now, here's a scene from next week's show.
-->'''Jury Foreman:''' Your Honor, we the jury find the defendant, Kevin Ferguson, not guilty.
-->'''Announcer:''' Next week, on ''America's Dumbest Juries''.
* UnusualEuphemism: Happens quite a bit in the eponymous "It's Insane, This Guy's Taint" sketch.
* VerySpecialEpisode: Parodied with the ComingOutStory sketch, with an immediate trip to the "Ratings Man."
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Bob throwing up during the bloopers at the beginning of "Rudy Will Await Your Foundation" [[spoiler: which is the episode's [[TheStinger stinger]]/BrickJoke]].
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Ronnie Dobbs, usually.
* WingDingEyes: Happens in one of the links (the one between "Intervention" and "Car Wash Change Thief Action Squad") in which several people sport dollar signs at certain opportunities.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: The Intervention sketch. When one of them has a problem that needs to be discussed, most try to come up with a one-liner taking shots at said victim. And all of them are annoyed with Bob ''having'' interventions, to the point where they resolve that by [[spoiler: killing him]]. Bob still tries to help them with that plan.
* WhatWereTheySellingAgain: The commercial for [=GloboChem=]'s [=TechCorp=] features a man in a log cabin [[SirSwearsALot swearing]], getting gradually angrier as it zooms out until it's a shot of the world. It's not exactly clear what product/service [=TechCorp=] is.
* WholePlotReference:
** "Jeepers Creepers" is a parody of ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'', only with Jesus replaced by a 1990s slacker.
** "The Great Philouza" is ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'' with marching band music instead of opera.
* YouClonedHitler: A sketch in which after cloning has been perfected, Hitler clones are mass-produced in order to serve Jewish families. The Hitler clones, on their own time, frequent bars and talk about how hard it is to find dates.
* YouGotGuts: Riffed on in the "You're Fired" sketch. An angry boss keeps keeps firing his employees only to rehire them when they stand up for themselves out of respect for their guts,... all except one guy, who just gets repeatedly confirmed as fired.
* YourMom: One sketch involves [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXi1begBop0 a teacher taking his class on a field trip up his mother's ass]].
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