Mr. Show with Bob and David aired on HBO from 1995- 1998.
It featured a roster of writers and performers many of whom became icons of comedy such as Scott Aukerman, Sarah Silverman and Jack Black to name just a few. The show was a mixture of live performances and pre-taped segments. Something else that made Mr. Show stand out is that each sketch was loosely connected narratively to the next.
In Season 2 Episode 3 “The Biggest Failure in Broadway History” (Nov 29 1996) The game PGA Tour Golf II (EA, 1992) appears twice as part of a running bit where a character has just reached the 18th hole just before the TV/game is switched off and they lose their progress.
No adults allowed, No slackers segment
The scene goes like this…
A group of parents trying to connect with the teen demographic disguise themselves as teenagers, (for instance Bob Odenkirk dressed as a teen but still sporting a full beard and bald head covered by a toupee.) in a public access style show called “No adults allowed”
The parents try to get their real teenage son (David Cross) involved in the show, but he misses his cue. The enraged parents bust into a green room where a bunch of stereotypical teenagers/slackers are hanging out. David Cross as a “slacker” teen is playing PGA Tour 2 on the Genesis.
The enraged parents turn off the TV/game, and Cross’s character exclaims that they were on the 18th hole, (quite the time investment)
and goes on to explain how teenagers are misunderstood and are actually productive to society in their own way e.g. “Homemade fudge for the blind” He explains in the next pre-taped segment how slackers are discriminated against.(Kinda takes the comedy out of it when you break it down like this, but trust me it’s funny.)
What’s up with that screen?
The image on the TV’s screen looks a little strange, the picture seems to have been enlarged/scaled up to fill the TV’s screen more. This isn’t how the game would normally look.
I speculate this was done to better communicate what was on screen. It was part of a “live” segment so was likely done for the benefit of the audience. Due to the scaled-up image, it’s a little difficult to tell what Course it is, but chances are it’s not the 18th hole.
Jeepers Creepers- semi-star segment
The scene goes like this…
In a parody of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Jeepers Creepers (Jack Black) the Jesus stand-in is seen playing PGA Tour II instead of attending to his followers. David Cross in the role of a slacker-a-fied Judas, tries to reason with him; unplugging the TV in the process, Jeepers Creepers cries out “I was on the 18th hole!”
Was he on the 18th hole?
In actual fact, he was on the 3rd hole on the TPC Sawgrass Course.
Were you expecting such attention to detail in a sketch comedy show from the mid-90s? Most likely not, does it really matter, no. Was it at least somewhat interesting? Probably.
In the game
- The 3rd hole on Sawgrass is 162 yards, par 3.
- The 18th hole on Sawgrass is 440 yards par 4.
What’s up with that TV?
Jeepers Creepers was a taped segment, so the second appearance of the game isn’t scaled up and looks more like it should.
Also of note is that what appears to be a Konami Justifier (light gun) is on top of the TV along with what seems to be a Sega Genesis game case.
But wait there’s more…
Neither the Genesis nor the game are mentioned by name in either sketch. The game cart used in the sketch is the actual PGA Tour Golf II. cartridge. Although it is hard to see the label, the title can just be made out along with EA’s distinctive yellow tag on the side of the cartridge.
In S1 E3 during the “3rd Wheel Legend” sketch, in which David Cross’s character has tagged along on their best friend’s honeymoon cruise.
Cross’s character complains “They don’t have Sega Genesis on board only Nintendo…”
So what was the point?
The sketches in Mr. Show depicted the stereotype slacker/stoner “dude” type character. Similar characters appeared throughout the 90s and early 2000s and were even part of Sega’s own marketing in the ’90s. For instance in commercials and promotional material for the Sega Saturn in the US.
In the timeline of video games, Mr Show was on an interesting intersection where home consoles were becoming more powerful and there was an industry-wide shift to 3D games. The episode aired in late 96, so by this point, the PlayStation and Sega Saturn were both out with Nintendo 64 having been released in September of that year in the US.
So it’s interesting that they used a golf game from 1992,
perhaps it was all they had access to, or it fitted the mood of the sketch rather than having the latest system. It could also have been for licensing or commercial reasons, and this is usually the case, and why movies and shows tend to avoid showing gameplay and the actual brand names of games and consoles.
It could also be what communicates better on screen, it could be argued that a 2D sprite is easier to read than a 3D polygon. I also think the joke has a wider appeal with golf as it doesn’t require an understanding of level progression or video games. “I was on the 18th hole” effectively communicates the time spent to accomplish the task.
Bonus Area
Not a Game on Film, and it’s already well documented by this point, but still worth mentioning, as it relates to Mr. Show.
The film Run Ronnie Run premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
The film was based on a recurring sketch character from Mr. Show – Ronnie Dobbs. It was directed by Tory Miller (an executive producer on Mr. Show) and written by David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Scott Aukerman, B.J. Porter and Brian Posehn. The film also starred many cast members from Mr. Show, such as Tom Kenny.
Nintendo was also at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival promoting its newly released Gamecube and Game Boy Advanced Systems.
This leads to the now widely seen picture of Bob and David playing Super Smash Bros Melee.
The photos were taken by Canadian photographer George Pimentel.
There are several pictures from the event.
One picture captures Bob and David on the “Great Bay” stage. They are playing a timed 2:00 minute game, with no stock.
The Game Cube is shown to have a controller in each port, but only Bob and David are in the picture, however looking at the screen, player 1 is a CPU Link, and Player 2 is Yoshi seemingly controlled by David Cross, player 3 is Kirby and is likely controlled by Bob Odenkirk, player 4 is another CPU that’s Captain Falcon.
Another picture from the same event shows them at Melee’s character select screen. All the characters are “HMN” controlled characters.
Another person is just out of frame with only their hands visible.
Assuming they didn’t swap controllers the mystery 3rd person would be player 1 and the unseen 4th person would be player 4. The current character selection shows Link(P1), Ness(P2), Yoshi(P3) and Pikachu(P4)it’s still set on a 2-minute fight, and is on the “Ready to Fight Screen.”
So now you know.
And so closes another game on film.