The State

Back when MTV was not only still cool but also relevant to the current generation, there was a troupe of go-getters called The State who put on a sketch comedy show called The State. The execution wasn't always very great, but the ideas were genius. Not if you were into HAHA I'M LAUGHING JUST LIKE YOU comedy; more thought-provoking surreal, much like Monty Python. The actual show, that is: not like the hackneyed quotes idiots keep spurting off like they think they're funny. In terms of the nineties (a good decade it was), I would relate it to Kids in the Hall in style and brilliance. Much like KitH, The State got canceled after only a few seasons and most of its cast haven't been able to find meaningful employment since. But some of the cast of Reno 911!, Stella, and people you might know as random schmucks on I Love the 90s got their start from this show.

"Call me old fashioned ... but I think we should worship the sun and moon as powerful gods, and fear them."

They had a brief shot after MTV with a Halloween special on CBS, the The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special, but CBS sentenced it to Ratings Hell and nothing ever happened again. Not their best work, but memorable for a few sketches and the Sonic Youth performance at the end. And the formerly-known Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, before The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, before Craig Kilborn even opened The Daily Show. Actually, The Daily Show owes a lot of itself to the people and styles that came of age on nineteen-nineties MTV. YouTube has some grainy copies of the Halloween special starting with here.
 
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