Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Series / TheState

Go To

1[[quoteright:347:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_states_3140.jpg]]
2
3->''"And Now For A Special Television Event..."''
4
5Probably an essential key to understanding Gen-X American college humor, ''The State'' was Creator/{{MTV}}'s first true SketchComedy. Featuring a cast/crew of eleven twentysomethings which first coalesced as an improv/sketch group at NYU, it brought some of the most gleefully Dadaistic comedy in history to the airwaves. The show ran for four seasons before the creators made an ill-advised decision to jump to CBS (who canceled them after one special). A surprising number of the group have since gone on to greater things, frequently working together on such movies as ''Film/WetHotAmericanSummer'' and ''Film/RoleModels'', and shows such as ''Series/{{Reno 911}}'', ''Viva Variety'', ''Series/{{Stella|US}}'', Stella's SpiritualSuccessor ''Michael And Michael Have Issues'', ''Series/ChildrensHospital'', and ''Series/WetHotAmericanSummerFirstDayOfCamp''.
6
7----
8!!This show features examples of:
9
10* AllLoveIsUnrequited: The skit about high school students meeting in the hall.
11* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Subverted and Inverted. Doug is embarrassed by his dad for seemingly no reason other than he's a teen and unconsciously believes rebellion and being misunderstood make one cool. His dad is actually one of the coolest, most down-to-earth people in the world, to the point where his friends quickly prefer to hang out with his dad over him.
12* BerserkButton: Anything to do with the BurgerFool is one for the employees in the sketch "Service with a Smile".
13* BitingTheHandHumor: Many sketches parodied or outright mocked other MTV programs:
14** their "Free Your Mind" anti-bigotry ad campaign, for pirates versus clowns, people with tape on their face, and "smokers are people too".
15** An [[UnpluggedVersion Unplugged song]] called "You'll Always Give Me a Boner".
16** an MTV Sports episode for golf.
17** One sketch involves Creator/MichaelIanBlack complaining that The State doesn't get to be in the audience of Unplugged, pointing out the (supposed) employees who kept them out sitting in Unplugged's audience.
18* BlatantLies: The sketch in which a husband denies he's cheating on his wife, even as his mistress storms in on them. Avoids ImplausibleDeniability because his two-faced fast talk actually ''works''.
19* {{Bowdlerize}}: "Tenement", an adaptation of a Eugene O'Neill-esque one act play, which replaces all the original profanities with {{unusual euphemism}}s.
20* BreadEggsMilkSquick: One "Hi, we're The State" sketch, in which the cast goes over all of the good deeds they do, and points out that they don't do any of the terrible things possibly attributed to them. Except sell babies on the black market ("...and we're not even sure it's really all that bad.").
21* BreakingTheFourthWall:
22** Many sketches have the cast members address the audience directly. Michael Ian Black is usually the spokesman for the group.
23** Inverted by a sketch which actually ''showed'' the fourth wall -- and blocked the audience's view.
24* BurgerFool: "CHICKEN ''SANDWICH'', '''CAAARLLLL!''' WHAT ARE YA, ''DEAF''?!"
25* TheCameo: Several, including an appearance by Gilbert Gottfried, and a split second of Alice Cooper walking through the background of a shot.
26* CasanovaWannabe: Barry and Levon... ''aww, yeah!''
27* CharacterCatchphrase:
28** Deconstructed with "Louie, the Guy Who Says His Catchphrase Over and Over Again." In his introductory sketch, his whole shtick is asking for someone to provide a substance and then joyously declaring, "I wanna dip my balls in it!" while holding up a pair of golf balls. Everyone finds him hysterical, but he suddenly begins to doubt that his catchphrase is funny anymore. The crowd convinced him that it will ''never'' get old.
29** Played straight with Doug, and his "I'm outta here" in increasingly bizarre inflections.
30* CoveredInGunge / FoodFight: "The Pope's Visit" is just an excuse for some of the cast to throw food (and cooking oil) all over each other and the set while shouting in bad Italian accents.
31* CrossCastRole: With only one woman, happens ''a lot''. Occasionally lampshaded.
32* CulturalCringe: In one sketch, Michael Ian Black admits that his birth name is "Michael Ian Schwartz," which he says he changed because he's "ashamed of being Jewish." (In reality, it was to avoid being confused with another Michael Schwartz).
33* {{Deconstruction}}: ...of the usual sketch-comedy tropes, such as RecurringCharacter and CatchPhrase.
34* DeepSouth: "The Inbred Brothers"
35* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud
36* TheDitz: The Inbred Brothers
37* DontExplainTheJoke: One sketch consists primarily of David Wain stopping to explaining the premise that "anything that isn't true is funny".
38* DVDCommentary: On every episode and deleted scene. Quite informative and entertaining usually. And with 11 members, there are quite a few combinations of commentary groups.
39* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Later recurring character Doug is shown bouncing on his bed with his friends in a not-for-laughs connecting scene before getting called downstairs by his father.
40* EmbarrassingFirstName: Last name, in the case of Mr. Magina.
41* EverybodyLaughsEnding: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujIZdgrhuWA Spaghetti with Bumblebees]] sketch. Goes on just long enough to be [[OverlyLongGag uncomfortable.]]
42* {{Foreshadowing}}: "Hey Steve, you're the coolest. I'm glad you don't have a terrible secret that would threaten your status here in high school."
43* FormerTeenRebel: Principal Wheeler of Doug's high school. As a youth he was involved with [[NoodleIncident mysterious disappearance of the Westbury High Mascot.]]
44* GagPenis: An infamous appearance on MTV Spring Break's ''Shut Up and Laugh'' where the cast acted out a scene, supposedly from Shakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', that contained an uncomfortable amount of focus on the ludicrously tight leotards worn by the cast. Somehow, even Creator/{{Kerri Kenney|Silver}} had a bulge under her skirt -- and someone else had a bulge that went ''around his leg three times''.
45* GoodOldWays: The Old-Fashioned Guy thinks he's this, when in fact he's more... [[CloudCuckooLander eccentric.]]
46* HalfWittedHillbilly: The show had a recurring sketch called "The Inbred Brothers", which had two guys in union suits doing dumb things: falling down, eating leaves, lighting themselves on fire, etc.
47** Also the people appearing in the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPycAhBP370 Little Brown Dog Food]]" commercial.
48* HalloweenEpisode: The first (and only) episode aired on CBS was ''The State 43rd Annual Halloween Special''. Most of the sketches in the special have nothing to do with Halloween, with much of it devoted to the troupe's usually surreal and off-the-wall brand of humor, complete with mock interviews with Music/{{Sting}} and [[Music/TheCars Ric Ocasek]] reminiscing about growing up with The State's previous (non-existent) Halloween specials.
49* HamToHamCombat: The argument in "Hepcat" between Hepcat and his father, in which each line of dialogue is a melodramatic showstopper, despite not following from the previous line.
50* HollywoodBoardGames: PlayedForLaughs when two of the boys play the strip version of ''TabletopGame/{{Battleship}}'', totally no homo, of course. One of them comments that the game would be more enticing if they actually wanted to see each other naked. They still have a good time.
51* IAmWho?: Parodied with a sketch where the proprietors of an orphanage tell an orphan that he's actually a super-powered alien named Tozog. [[spoiler:He's not. They ''never'' are.]]
52--> "Walk it off, Tozog!"
53* IgnorantAboutFire: A recurring sketch was "The Inbred Brothers", a duo from the DeepSouth who would continually do stupid things. One was having his arm set on fire and not knowing what to do about it, and the other was a fire IN A BOAT.
54* InherentlyFunnyWords: "Maybe you should try... pants!"
55* InnerMonologue
56* JuxtapositionGag: "Taco Mail", "Slash Infestation", etc. etc. etc.
57* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: Played with in the "Grandma's Potato Chowder" sketch. It would seem that he ''doesn't'' know what they mean. [[spoiler:He knows all too well.]]
58* AllPeriodsArePMS: "PMS", in which Kerri Kenney's character transforms, in rapid succession, into several ''male'' members of the cast.
59* MonochromeCasting: Ten white guys and one white girl.
60* MuppetCameo: Played with in one sketch. Characters call out for help with simple tasks (like counting to 10 or tying their shoes) and a ''Series/SesameStreet''-like muppet appears to help out. The character then kills the muppet, so they can [[LetsMeetTheMeat eat it]].
61* TheMusical: The "Porcupine Racetrack" skit.
62* MustHaveCaffeine: "Coffee Family"
63* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Everybody in the troupe (yes, ''including'' Kerri) has been naked in at least one sketch. A few sketches in fact had ''everybody'' naked at once.
64* {{Narrator}}: Voiceovers on the show -- especially for the commercial parodies -- were frequently provided by Larry [[WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|1985}} Kenney]], [[RealLifeRelative Kerri Kenney's dad]].
65* NonverbalMiscommunication: The International Sign For Choking -> The International Sign For My Friend Is Choking, I Don't Know The Heimlich Maneuver, Can You Call For Help -> The International Airport Sign For I Did Not Understand Your Last Message, I Was Raised In The Mountains Of Japan And Am Not Familiar With All The International Signs -> Japanese Kabuki for My Friend Is Almost Unconscious -> Tibetan Dance for The Waiter Is On Fire -> The International Sign for [[ManOnFire I Am On Fire]] -> the Pueblo sign for I Hate Accountants -> The Accountant Dance of War -> The International Cry of It's OK, Big Misunderstanding, Everything's Fine, Except For The Guy At Table 4, Who's Unconscious -> signals to the busboy to get a stretcher for Table 4 -> the busboy gets Table 4 a year's supply of radishes -> the customer at Table 4 ''stops choking''
66* OpenMindedParent and ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Featured in the "Doug" sketches, much to Doug's consternation.
67* OutOfFocus:
68** Intentionally invoked by Michael Patrick Jann and Todd Holoubek; both preferred standing behind the camera to acting.
69** Parodied with one opening monologue by David Wain, where he states that he doesn't get as much screen time as other cast members, but enjoys expressing himself through his behind-the-scenes editing work... followed by the opening credits being very noticeably re-edited to feature him as much as possible.
70* OverUsedRunningGag: Parodied with Louie's constantly repeated CatchPhrase, "I wanna dip my balls in it!"
71* ReReleaseSoundtrack: Since ''The State'' was on MTV, they got to use a lot of popular songs during their run. Most of it had to be replaced with sound-alikes when the DVD came out. There was even an insert written by the members of the group about how they worked to make it as close as possible.
72* ReunionShow: the entire cast appeared in the Series/{{Reno 911}} [[TheMovie movie]], and a Website/YouTube sketch was created to promote the initial re-release of the program on iTunes.
73* RipVanWinkle: Parodied in "Short Coma". He was in a coma for one of the most eventful early afternoons in history.
74* SelfDeprecation: The show often brought up the "negative two-star" review they received from the ''New York Times''. And in fact, an early advert for the show featured their various bad reviews set to "I Started A Joke" with the cast in the background looking sad and depressed.
75* SexSells: Parodied in a sketch where a newspaper re-tinkers every headline to read "Porno Sex Addict Rocks New York".
76* ShoutOut:
77** The first two seasons' openings used an MTV version of CBS's Special title card.
78** The third season's used a version of ''Creator/ThamesTelevision'''s (seen in such programs as ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'', ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'', and ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula''.)
79* ShowWithinAShow: A good 35% of the sketches were ''The State'' pretending to be another show.
80* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Kerri Kenney is the only female in a cast of 11. This leads to her being in almost every sketch.
81* SoUnfunnyItsFunny: "Porcupine Racetrack", "The Bearded Men of Space Station 11"- neither have any jokes but are [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favorites]] ([[BrokenBase or]] TheUnfavorite).
82* SpinOff: ''Viva Variety'' started off as a skit on this show.
83* SummerCampy: A summer camp forgot to advertise, resulting in having only one camper for the summer. HilarityEnsues.
84* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: If you were talking about your favorite fabric softer and a talking teddy bear appeared out of the clothes, you'd probably scream and beat it with an iron, too.
85* SurrealThemeTune: "BOYS AND GIRLS! [[NoIndoorVoice ACTION! ACTION! ACTION! ACTION!]]"
86* TeamMom: Kerri Kenney, in one sketch.
87* TiredOfRunning: Played with in a sketch where a prison escapee turns himself in several years after the search for him has been called off. The prison still has the unguarded wide-open gate he walked out through.
88* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible:
89** InUniverse. Parodied with a sketch about a high-school cheerleader who wants to be the next Music/LaurieAnderson.
90** Lampooned in a sketch where the art community rallies around the idle notebook doodles of a bored 15-year-old girl.
91** Subverted with a sketch where a panel of snooty experts, asked to ''define'' "art", rapidly conclude that it's "like, paintings and stuff."
92* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Totally inverted in the "Where's The Mousey?" sketch, where we see ''what'' happened, as a huge stuffed mouse crashes onto a family's dining room table, while they keep shouting about "the mousey" but admitting they don't know why.
93* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway?: Lampshaded with poor Aquaman.
94--> '''Superman''': Aquaman... go talk to some fish! ''[[ButtMonkey (rest of the Justice League laughs)]]''
95----

Top