The first episode of Stella (http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/stella/index.jhtml)
Dumb comedy dressed up in a suit.
The comedy here is manic, random, and nonsensical. It was extremely funny, though I don't know how long they can do this type of humor. It seems like either they would wear out their welcome or they or they would run out of good ideas. But the first episode was hilarious, and I hope I have another show that I will look forward to seeing each week.
About the Show
Stella features the comedic trio of Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain as three characters whose travels through everyday life are unlike anything else on television. With a perfect blend of cleverness and absurdity, Stella satirizes everyday experiences like finding an apartment, hanging out at a coffee shop, going camping and trying to meet women. What are common, normal situations for most people quickly end up in the most unexpected realms when these guys are at the helm.
Even though they're always dressed in suits, their maturity level doesn't always fit their attire. These modern day Marx Brothers spread their non-sensical comedy to everyone they meet and everywhere they go. Their sensibilities are tinged with both sarcasm and wit; the characters, and the show in general, find a way to be both smart and sophomoric.
Stella
Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain make up the unique three-man comedy group, Stella. The Black/Showalter/Wain co-venture began in 1997 as a weekly nightclub comedy show that quickly became New York's premier showcase for alternative and mainstream comedy. Running for seven years at Fez in New York's Greenwich Village, the trio hosted such regular guests as Janeane Garofalo, Ben Stiller, David Cross and the Upright Citizens Brigade. The show has been praised by Time Out, The New Yorker and Entertainment Weekly.
Stella has spawned a series of short films online at www.stellacomedy.com (one of Entertainment Weekly's top ten Web sites of 2001). As a comedy trio, they have performed at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and hosted the NBC show Late Friday. Stella's live performance special, Comedy Central Presents Stella, aired on Comedy Central in 2004.
The three have been writing, producing and performing comedy, together and apart, for sixteen years. They met at New York University in 1988, where they helped create the sketch comedy troupe The State which went on to a successful television run on MTV as well as a prime-time special on CBS, a book, State by State with The State, several tours and a comedy album for Warner Brothers Records. After The State, Michael Ian Black co-created the Comedy Central series Viva Variety and was a regular on the NBC series Ed. He as well as Showalter and Wain, was also seen on VH1's I Love the 80's and I Love the 70's.
Showalter and Wain co-wrote and co-produced the feature film Wet Hot American Summer, (Wain also directed) a comedy about the last day of summer camp in 1981, starring Black, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper among others. The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001 and was released theatrically that summer. It is now a regular midnight movie at theaters across the USA.
I've been trying so hard to keep from seeing that pilot, even wehn it was illegal to do so. I just have to make it to Tuesday like a good child
here's a sample of Stella i made from the DVD
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fkyzerweb.net%2Fftpsites%2FTomG%2FStella%2Fstrip01.jpg&hash=b9bf929f6352fbd9a05d6cb47eb616d4c191990e)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fkyzerweb.net%2Fftpsites%2FTomG%2FStella%2Fstrip02.jpg&hash=3cb68598db665bc6bdf1c2efddfe505ff307d45f)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fkyzerweb.net%2Fftpsites%2FTomG%2FStella%2Fstrip03.jpg&hash=cb7b9abb089754efca5a336be8607adaea11d874)
ALSO, it's not so much 'random" as it is just good ol' absurdity
There is a free DVD of it included in the current Spin magazine.
They had a funny set in a Comedy Central Presents, but I'm not sure how a show about them would turn out...
Only time will tell.
Quote from: SleuthALSO, it's not so much 'random" as it is just good ol' absurdity
it only works cos they hav funny lookin faces.
I'll have your kneecaps
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi5.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy154%2Fpubrick%2Fstella1.jpg&hash=19c2d8443d87316911169013de5b7f87fa077785)
see
I'll skin your hands
the show's not on the site anymore.
BUT just the clip convinced me, these dudes are my new favorite gay comedian trio. :yabbse-thumbup:
Damn, I thought this might be a "Stella Street" topic.
http://www.totalcress.co.uk/stellastreet/information/gallery.html
Tonight after Reno (a The State powerblock!)
damnit, I keep editing this post
I guess all of the videos (that had all of the shorts from the Stella DVD [not the pilot DVD] and then some) aren't online anywhere anymore
Quote from: Sleuthdamnit, I keep editing this post
I guess all of the videos (that had all of the shorts from the Stella DVD [not the pilot DVD] and then some) aren't online anywhere anymore
yeah, i almost caught u saying the ARE. what a jip.
oh well, i guess i hav no option but to hate them now.
I'll cane your ears
has anyone seen the Stella shorts they made? they were all online till just recently i guess, but my roomate has a dvd of it. i watched a handful and they're pretty funny/absurd, though awfully low-budget. i got the dvd of the Stella pilot a week or so ago when they screened the new Showalter movie The Baxter http://www.thebaxtermovie.com/ in Rockefeller Center. Black, Showalter and Wain along with Joe Lo Truglio and Ken Marino were there to introduce the film. i hope the show does well, and i hope i get tv before the next episode comes on.
Quote from: themodernage02has anyone seen the Stella shorts they made?
sleuth will hav ur kneecaps, hand-skin, and ear wax.
i guess i meant 'anyone else'. yeah, they were online like a week ago at collegehumor.com but now they're gone. i guess with the show coming on they might've been concerned with bandwith.
I downloaded 16 of the shorts before they moved to collegehumor.com. Their bandwith (on the old site) kept on crashing, so I never could get them all.
But, yes, they are hilarious. The pilot is very tame compared to the shorts. I didn't see one black dildo. Unless I went to the bathroom then. Confirm?
No, they've said they aren't going to do that anymore
1) because they can't on CC
and 2) because they are tired of it
I guess they aren't selling the DVD anymore either (suckers)
related reading (http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=798)
I caught a CC rerun of the first episode and noticed that a few lines here were missing that were on the Spin magazine DVD (spoilers):
-When the one with the glasses (I only know Michael Ian Black) burns sage near Mueller he says "This is real good for your chakra" (paraphrased)
-When the glasses guy goes to the blond woman's apartment and says "I have some open heart surgery to perform," Edward Norton's retort, "Man, I admire that!" is cut.
-When Mueller has the heart attack, one of the three tells them to stop making small talk, then he makes some small talk himself.
Were these lines in the original broadcast?
I just watched the original version, and I'm sure the Edward Norton line was cut, but I don't remember if the other two were there or not. The televised version had a shorter ending too, so that Comedy Central could use their own credits and whatever
Ah, forgot about the ending. There was an "epilogue" where they go on a boogie-boarding trip.
No, that was on both versions, they just cut it really short for TV
HILARIOUS eyes wide shut reference on tonites otherwise lackluster episode.
Quote from: modageHILARIOUS eyes wide shut reference on tonites otherwise lackluster episode.
I thought there were some great gags in this episode, but the EWS one made me laugh for a really long time since I really didn't see it coming.
I really liked the "Do you remember what you said?" "No. *Thinks* Yes, I was just being condescending." "It moved me." "I don't see how." The expressions in the show are so beautiful.
Quote from: modageHILARIOUS eyes wide shut reference on tonites otherwise lackluster episode.
someone show me this reference..
^^ yes please
shhhh.... (http://www.stellashorts.tk/)dont tell anyone...
Quote from: PubrickQuote from: modageHILARIOUS eyes wide shut reference on tonites otherwise lackluster episode.
someone show me this reference..
I don't have it to show, but what happened was they invited the girls for a sleep over and they did all kinds of fun stuff like playing twister and doing each other's hair, and then in one of the scenes all the guys wear the mask Tom Cruise wore and the girls wear elaborate masks similar to the girls' masks in EWS, and it plays the weird music while you see them watching a man and woman having sex.
I don't think the rest of the episodes live up to the first. They're funny, but the first one captured something that I think they're trying to recreate in the subsequent episodes, and it doesn't gell quite as well.
Even so, its better than 99% of the dreck out there, and I do like it, so I will continue to watch.
Quote from: PubrickQuote from: modageHILARIOUS eyes wide shut reference on tonites otherwise lackluster episode.
someone show me this reference..
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comedycentral.com%2Fimages%2Fshows%2Fstella%2Fvideos%2Fstella_m5_109_sleepover.jpg&hash=c731435786fd88e66f8c57503448d26ab58c6b97)
watch the clip
Sleepover here: http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/stella/index.jhtml
Quote from: modagewatch the clip Sleepover here: http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/stella/index.jhtml
awesome. for once the joke is they're
not making funny faces.
right sleuth? :crazyeyes: :yabbse-wink:
i loved the shorts. i will steal the frist season when it comes out on dvd.
Ok... so here I am... I sit down to watch the newest episode... and they play MIND OF FUCKING MENCIA. POSSIBLY THE WORST SHOW ON COMEDY CENTRAL.
Maybe I missed when it was the end of the season, but why, God, why?
yeah, last week was the season ender...and no word on if it's gettin another season or not so...fingers crossed...
showalter said they were doing 'okay' in the ratings (about halfway through the season). he also said that some people HATE them and go on the comedy central (and other) message boards just to rant on how its the worst show on television.
Its no Curb.
Quote from: modageshowalter said they were doing 'okay' in the ratings (about halfway through the season). he also said that some people HATE them and go on the comedy central (and other) message boards just to rant on how its the worst show on television.
this is from the Gothamist interview with Michael Ian Black (http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/08/25/michael_ian_black_actor_writer_comedian.php)
How is Stella doing?It's going well in the respect that we have made 10 episodes that are funny. It's going poorly in the respect that no one in America is watching them. I shouldn't say nobody, dozens of people are watching on a weekly basis.
How can we change that?If you've got several 100 Nielson boxes you can change it very quickly.
So what does the station...What is the prognosis?
Yeah.We are on life support right now. But you know, they've got very good medicine these days, so you never know.
Perhaps The Baxter will help...No, I think the opposite is true; unfortunately we are going to drag The Baxter down.
Quote from: WalrusMIND OF FUCKING MENCIA. POSSIBLY THE WORST SHOW ON COMEDY CENTRAL.
Glad to know that I'm not the only one. Five minutes of that shit and I was begging for repeats of Joe Rogan/Doug Stanhope-era Man Show.
On the subject of Stella, I'm amazed that the show wasn't cancelled before all 10 episodes ran. I love it but after that first episode, I knew most people would think it was the worst thing they'd ever seen. They need to be caught up to, kind of like how it happened with Ben Stiller.
Comedy Central should run the DVD shorts on the "Secret Stash" one night and see how they play; the fact that they have to hold back because of standards and practices (slightly) hurts the show.
After reading that interview, I'm still quite hopeful that a second season will come out.
I watched every episode of Stella religiously, so I hope there will at least be a DVD...
But they usually use facades in interviews in an Andy Kaufman sort of way, so I really hope most of what Michael Ian Black said was just to play with our minds...
Sign a Petition to save Stella here
http://www.petitiononline.com/stella06/petition.html
I'm 7,885.
Maybe they'll even release a DVD of the first season. I'm hopeful.
This Sunday from 7am - 8:30am, they're airing Pilot, Coffee Shop, Campaign and Paper Route.
...it was exciting at first, but now I know why people have TiVo.
I saw David Wain on the subway last week. He got on the same car I did. He got off the train before I had worked up the nerve to say something to him.
Quote from: hacksparrow on March 03, 2006, 07:40:06 AM
He got off the train before I had worked up the nerve to say something to him.
at the time, i probably would've been like "hey lookin' forward to season 2 of stella!" but then i'd regret it cause they've now revealed the shows been cancelled. :(
The threshold for ratings for a show to be successful on cable is lower than on network TV. Were Stella's ratings really that bad?
well for some reason it was enough for them to release their first season dvd this fall.. but i don't get why they didn't renew it.
Quote from: Cinephile on March 13, 2006, 12:40:32 PM
well for some reason it was enough for them to release their first season dvd this fall.. but i don't get why they didn't renew it.
This has been confirmed?
both have been confirmed, yeah.
go to their official site. :yabbse-undecided:
I just saw michael ian black doing supposedly his first ever stand up tour or something. he was funny but he was surprisingly "normal"! his delivery was very similar to the stella stuff--the giddiness and he just had really funny body language, but his material was about really really traditional subjects like having a kid and his upbringing and a huge bit about college and then about myspace. he had a nazi routine in the beginning about doing PR for them but I don't know, maybe my expectations were impossibly high, but it didn't even feel shocking, it felt sort of predictable. Anyone else seen his standup yet? It's not bad at all, but I just expect something a lot edgier and fresher from him.
http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5732
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg163.imageshack.us%2Fimg163%2F3558%2Fstellas13ra.jpg&hash=dd14734f42d168e199c8b47a5197da073e6bcba9)
It's been awhile since we posted a Stella update, but now Comedy Central has announced the first season of Stella will be released on September 12. The set will contain all 10 episodes (215 mins) on two discs, plus tons of bonus features including "History of Stella" documentary, "Comedy Central Presents - Stella," deleted scenes, extended takes and bloopers! Sorry, pricing information hasn't been announced yet.
I like my cover better.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg303.imageshack.us%2Fimg303%2F5%2Fstella7mn.jpg&hash=ed9e1875aac6c5431a353d20ec00c96a59f43f92)
fixed.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi11.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa175%2FLeven321%2Fstella7mn.jpg&hash=b17afc8b1e88cdc082c446209b83ad7239ef8add)
fixed.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xixax.com%2Ffiles%2Fcine%2Fstella7mn.jpg&hash=7d64cab53de2b98adc7c2003b3fd40a2f6024cee)
fixt.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi5.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy154%2Fpubrick%2Fstella7mn1.jpg&hash=ea2cab211eb19b8547b8b6fd03cb9dff69f017ba)
fiCHGRRRDDDD
(https://xixax.com/files/picolas/Image2.jpg)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftheoscarsite.com%2Fwhoswho2%2Fhunter_k.jpg&hash=bcf172f787c6ca89d0f57891c8638ce146ce0f0a)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.amazon.com%2Fimages%2FP%2FB00008978P.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg&hash=7b6d753ab3a9f0a14bcf615f3004a5b85da2b3db)
Quote from: pete on June 05, 2006, 01:05:26 AM
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftheoscarsite.com%2Fwhoswho2%2Fhunter_k.jpg&hash=bcf172f787c6ca89d0f57891c8638ce146ce0f0a)
(https://xixax.com/files/stella.jpg)
wow.
i think they would be proud of this thread.
To those who bought the DVD, is the first episode as aired or the extended cut?
I think it's as aired since it runs the same amount as the others... what's the difference?
Quote from: Walrus on September 14, 2006, 02:48:00 PM
I think it's as aired since it runs the same amount as the others... what's the difference?
http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=7804.msg192801#msg192801
Not a make-or-break deal for me, but of course I'd like to have the extra footage.
They don't have the full cut, but they do have those deleted scenes.
"The Michael Showalter Showalter"
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1756809
It's really great - check out a bunch of them on collegehumor.com
Wainy Days (http://www.mydamnchannel.com/channel.aspx?episode=42)