Back in November of 2002, I had the pleasure of seeing the FUNNIEST comedy show EVER. Featured in it were the cast of HBO’s now defunct (but forever memorable), “MR. SHOW.” The two main stars, David Cross and Bob Odenkirk are comic genius. Now, appearently, NEW LINE CINEMA gave them some cash to do a full length film of their trailer trash character, RONNIE DOBBS. Ronnie is a guy who seems to always be the one that get’s caught on that t.v. show, “COPS.” But Bob and David sort of expanded it where Ronnie get’s caught in international cities as well, like Berlin, London, Oslo, Helsinki (i think you get the point…) So, at this point, Ronnie becomes so famous that no one will areest him anymore…the cops NOW want his autograph, therefore rendering Ronnie useless. Well that was the idea of sorts, i believe.

But, in the comedy show, they sort of morphed that character into a plain trailer trash-type guy (from Texas) whom the Republican party picks to represent them in the upcoming USA elections. And, low and behold, the guy wins! Of course he doesn’t know anything about politics or budgets or anything period! He’s just a puppet. And the military pretty much runs the show but they are in fact taking oders from a huge corporation (doest this sound VAGUELY familiar?) that is slowly destroying the earth’s atmoshere, as well as transporting dirt to mars. Turns out, they have been secretly terraforming mars and needed the White House under their control to fully impliment their sceme of ruining the earth for habitation and then charging EXORBITANT prices for humans (and their pets) to move to mars. To me, this sounds like a funny movie. But it wasn’t so funny to New Line Cinema. If you go to their website (www.boband david.com), you’ll see the disclaimer below, which appears to be aimed at people who may own bootlegs of said movie. I own a copy but, as i’ve said before, it won’t play in my systems. From Bob and David:

*****

“Run Ronnie Run – seriously, let’s put this thing to bed. Better yet, let’s kill it as it sleeps peacefully. If any situation called for an act of euthanasia, this is it. Both Bob and I agree that all in all, the movie is not that great. While it definitely has some very funny moments, the current cut of the movie that is out there being screened and traded on the internet, just isn’t that good. There are very specific notes for a different cut (that Troy Miller, the director is enthusiastic about) ready to be input, which we all feel would make the movie, tighter, funnier, and generally more enjoyable all around. And I truly believe that the drama around New Line’s decision to not release it (which Bob and I have unfortunately contributed far to much too) has only served to heighten expectations to a level that the current cut of movie cannot live up to.

So, please everybody, let’s put our petty differences behind us for once, and let us all band together for a common good. Please stop wanting to see the movie, asking about it, or online chatting about it. Perhaps the sooner we put this national nightmare behind us, the sooner Bob and I can get working on our next project (Hooray For America – The Movie?) Let’s kill Run Ronnie Run once and for all.”

Yours forever, Bob and David *****

Now, those of you who caught COUNTING CROWS on tour last year here in the USA caught the “MR. SHOW LIVE” comedy skits before they were booted off that tour. Below is the letter Adam Durwitz (that dude with the deadlocks) wrote the fans in the official C.C. newsletter:

Hello everybody, it’s me Adam Durwitz from The Counting Crows with news about Mr. Show Live.

Understandably, those of you who don’t live in the handful of places we are visiting are upset, offended, and deeply insulted. “What the fuck?!” you say, “What’s wrong with Boulder Colorado? We have breakfast and motels and hot spots too.” Well, there’s nothing wrong with Boulder, in fact we hope to go there the next go ’round. That’s right, I said “go ’round”. So you guessed it, there will be a second tour.

You see everybody, this tour was about proving to the Booking Agents that Mr.Show Live was a viable product for them. We wanted to do a tour that would, A) Prove that we are a low-risk, high-return show, and B) Not cost Bob and I money to put up. So, we planned our routing accordingly, doing just enough shows, in as easy a route as possible, to ensure that we have a successful run that doesn’t cost us money. The result is the tour we have now. We have always planned on doing a more extensive tour which would take us through the parts of the country we missed the first time, which obviously is the remaining 90% of the country and lower Canada. We will come to you!! Promise.

So don’t fret Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, and Inner Pacific Northwest, and everyone else (North Dakota) we will come to your town. A tight, well-oiled, greasy machine of song and dance and laughter and pants. Probably in late spring, early summer of next year. Although let’s be honest, we’re not going to fucking North Dakota.

Yours in Christ, Adam Durwitz (from The Counting Crows)

*****

See what I mean? These guys are great and I wish everyone could have seen the “Hooray for America” live comedy show that I saw last year. If you live in Europe and have never heard of these guys (or you are from socially retarded areas in the USA like Valparaiso, Indiana…), you must do yourself a real favor and hitch a ride to this wagon. You won’t be sorry. Of course you won’t be better for it, but you won’t be sorry.

Mike Randle