Reno 911!

This has to be the craziest comedy there is. Moreover, it is good fun. I eagerly anticipated another show from the bunch that brought us "The State" and "Viva Variety." Finally, the talent is back! Each week we get to follow members of the Reno Sheriff department as they investigate every weird kind of crime there is. However, it is the officers themselves that are the most deranged individuals out there. From the obviously gay Dangle to the equally worthless Junior. One of the great things is that each character is given a detailed and unique persona. Some are stupid, some are jerks, all are funny. These are outstanding improvs being given the freedom and comedic vehicle to be at their best. I eagerly await each new episode and will buy the DVD the day it is released. BRILLIANT!

What's there to say about Reno 911 that hasn't already been said? It's one of the most laugh filled shows I've ever seen and one of my favorite comedies ever. What's makes this show even funnier is that the majority of it is improvised, it's just the actors doing what they do best. It's one of the few shows where the entire cast are almost equally funny. Everyone has their favorite but they're all hilarious. There's really not a weak link on the entire show. They just brought this show back after being gone for over a decade. They've also made a few movies and while those weren't quite as good as the show they're all still pretty funny and worth watching. I can not recommend this show enough.

And like that the six seasons of Reno 911! and it's spinoff movie are over and I'm a combination of saddened and relieved.

Saddened because it's a great show, relieved because the final season felt like a chore and really wasn't on par with the rest.

Now for those unfamiliar Reno 911! is a mockumentary show about the Reno police department which is made up of hilarious inept characters and the chaos that transpires during their job.

The trouble with Reno 911! is that it's quick fire dry humour, and though most jokes hit the mark (Many firmly so) a lot fail thoroughly as well and that's what prevented the show from being truly legendary. Had it been more consistent it would have easily been one of my favorite shows of all time.

Led by the excellent and criminally underappreciated Thomas Lennon the cast is on point until the final season when they suddenly replaced two cast members with a pair that simply didn't gel very well and damaged the final season.

Slapstick, silly and often satirical Reno 911! is a solid comedy show I would recommend to anyone and everyone under the appreciation that many jokes fall flatter than a dry fart.

Reno 911! You shall be missed, fantastic show.

The Good:

Excellent cats

Hilarious for the most part

The Bad:

No finale

Last season doesn't deliver

New characters fail to entertain

Things I Learnt From This Show:

At some point they ran out of ideas but chose to carry on anyway

Thomas Lennon needs more movie work

Reno 911 is a partially unscripted comedy in the form of the show cops. It gives you an inside look documentary style of the Reno police force. It's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. It's one of the rare comedies where every season is just as funny as the others. It just remains as clever and funny in every episode of every season. It's the definition of a cult hit show. It's actually so popular that after the series ended in 2009 they brought it back in 2022 and people still love it. The show is still just as funny watching as reruns as when they first came out! You can rewatch it as many times as you want and it'll remain funny to you. If you haven't yet seen this incredibly funny show then do yourself a favor and go watch as soon as possible!

Network: Comedy Central; Genera: Comedy/Sketch; Content Rating: TV-14 (for strong language and sexual content; Classification: Contemporary (Star range: 1 - 4)

Season Reviewed: 5 seasons

From the outset, a full-length parody of 'Cops' wouldn't sound like any groundbreaking comedy. With it's well known traditions and often copied style, 'Cops' has long been the subject of parody for years before arguably becoming a parody of itself. However, 'Reno 911!' does you one better. From Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kennedy and Ben Garant - the creators of 'The State' and the now forgiven and forgotten 'Viva Variety' - 'Reno' takes that 'Cops' mold (and 'Rescue 911!' title sequence) and populates it with a world of realized original characters.

In 'Reno' this comedy troupe has found a perfect cross between the improvisational sketch comedy series and the episodic televisions series. The show, as you might expect, is largely improved which can be good or bad (as seen in last year's disastrous 'Life with Bonnie'). The show's hit-and-miss laugh ratio is lower than it probably would be if it was scripted, but what we gain in the trade-off is this wonderful naturalistic dialog. The crew have an ear for recreating that often witty but just as often dull, monotonous and uncomfortable naturalistic conversation. If 'Reno' were any funnier it would be in the stratosphere. I love the opening title sequences.

The entire cast is note-perfect. We have straight-laced Jonsey (Cedric Yarbrough), Garcia (Carlos Alazraqui), a racist, lonely, complex shell of a man, Clementine (Wendi McLendon-Covey) is the truck stop waitress turned cop "with a full dance card", Junior (Garant) is the incompetent, fully of stories, young cadet and Rainessha Williams (Niecy Nash) is the sassy, booty-licious femme-fetal cop. The show bounces all these characters off each other, matching them up in odd pairs and letting the nuances in them create the sparks. Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kennedy have given themselves the juiciest roles and approach brilliance in them. Kenney's Trudy Weigel is superbly dysfunctional beyond any simple description and Lennon's Jim Dangle is poised to be the breakout character of the show. Like Mr. Garrison in 'South Park' and Stewie Griffen on 'Family Guy', Dangle is a character than can get a laugh from me almost anytime he opens his mouth. It has a knack for creating scenarios where, in an odd way, the set-ups can be funnier than the punch line. Just the idea that Jim Dangle is going to show up to Trudy Weigel's house and "give her the thrill of her life" is funnier than ultimately seeing the Asian man she's hiding in her kitchen.

'Reno' knows its way around the 'Cops' traditions, making ample use of streakers with strategically placed edit blurs (also brilliantly hiding the faces of the cast doubling up), belligerent roadside pull-overs, hookers with bad wigs and crazy domestic disturbance calls that reveal fetishes best kept behind closed doors. But it also knows it needs to be more than that. The episode plots are as hilariously strange as it comes and veiled thinly enough to support any number of tangential gags. In one episode the group is put on suicide watch for Trudy Weigel and she flips out because they look disappointed she didn't go through with it. In another, they venture to the Burning Man festival and get lost along the way in full rave gear. In a particularly inspired episode they compete for 2 tickets to an execution with a suspect scavenger hunt.The bumbling officers get visits from the FBI, Homeland Security, British officers and in 2 classic episodes a religious tele-evangelist and Reading Ron (Brian Unger) featuring a show-stoppping bit with a cat on a roof. Watch continuously and you'll see running gags and continuity coming out in what otherwise seems like randomized chaos. These cops view enforcing the law as a happy side effect to the real joy of holding their power over the citizens of the burned-out Nevada suburb, abusing it gleefully and not above pulling guns on themselves.

'Reno 911!' was originally produced as a pilot for Fox and sat on the shelf for 2 years before Comedy Central came calling (and it became an almost instant hit). Sounds like something Fox would do. It's all for the best as 'Reno' on Comedy Central is given free range to do things every week that would have gotten them throw off the air at Fox. Jokes around rape, accidental shootings, cops planting evidence and screwing with the citizens (in a time when the media loves to put a wedge between cops and the people), red-necks & every racial demographic known to man, discussions on when it's appropriate to use the N-word, terrorists in the post-9/11 world (with the greatest of ease I might add, a subject most shows trip over themselves to run from) and everything else you might imagine would give a network suit a conniption fit are peppered well into the show. It enthusiastically leapfrogs from one set piece to the next in an attempt to offend anyone and everyone it can and getting big laughs with it.

I largely consider Comedy Central a dumping ground, but admire their drive to take chances - which is more than you can say for the networks. 'Reno' is a show that isn't crude for the sake of it or the edgy in appearance only. It is a gutsy, frequently hysterical series in which the gags are expertly delivered (and edited together) by a well developed cast of comic talents. A real screwball farce that roams freely around without politically correct borders or boundaries, the likes of which you just don't see much of on TV today. And you want, silly slapstick? 'Reno' proves that even the age-old kick-in-the-groin gag, if done well, can still be funny. An acquired taste, but well worth it.

* * * / 4