WILY TV 8/11/05: Mockumentary Madness

One of my favorite movies of all time is Waiting for Guffman. I enjoy all of the Christopher Guest mockumentaries, but Guffman really hits a chord with me for some reason. Perhaps its because I've participated in enough small-town musical productions to recognize a little of some people I know (and, to be fair, a little of me) in some of the characters. So, I don't see them so much pathetic as endearing.

I've written before about my fondness for Lisa Kudrow's HBO show, The Comeback. It mocks the whole celebreality phenomenon. (By the way, the last two episodes have been the best so far. When Valerie turned to the Lincoln Mercury dealer at the end of the Palm Springs episode and said, "I swear to God I will pull over and put you out on the side of the road," I thought I'd spray my half-chewed mouthful of string cheese all over the floor.)

So, last night I was flipping channels and decided to watch an episode of Reno 911! on Comedy Central, which is the retarded love child of Cops on Fox and the old Keystone Cops movies. I've caught a minute here and there before and thought it was funny. Last night, I watched an entire episode and I'm hooked. I know I'm late to the game on this one, but it is hilarious. Check out these clips for a taste. (My favorite is "Alien Shooting.") I'm so excited to catch up on all of the episodes of this show that I've missed. I see a re-ordering of my Netflix queue to include the Reno 911! DVDs in my future. (As an aside, right now I have Strangers with Candy, another former Comedy Central gem, in the primary position on my queue.)

What I learned yesterday on TV? It appears that I have an inexplicable and fundamental fondness for comedies that send up a familiar (but often ridiculous) aspect of life. I will call it Mockumentary Madness.