1993 was arguably the year that Saturday Night Live "got the bad news from the Dr" (i.e. that it was dying), so "The Edge" began to fill that vacuum, and pick up where the recently canceled "In Living Color" left off. Though while In Living Color focused on an "urban"/black-centric audience and pushed the envelope by testing how low toilet-humor could get on prime time, The Edge pushed the envelope by breaking the accepted formulas and definitions of what comedy was. This was a show dedicated to the MTV generation of the 90s, which was struggling to find its own identity. The show often capitalized on and poked-fun at this theme (i.e. the "Doug" character, who rebelled against his cool father and the fact that his own catch-phrase "I'm outta here" was becoming main-stream). Many of the sketches were what could really only classify as alternative, such as the Cereal Commercial, Snuggle Bear and International signs...yet at the same time hilarious. As luck would have it, the MTV execs and lawyers finally let their greed subside enough to release the entire series on DVD, so the efforts of the writers and actors can be enjoyed and appreciated by the next generation of comedy aficionados.

This show changed television forever. There has never been a more creative or a more daring show to grace the television screen than "The State". This group of geniuses single handedly put together the greatest thirty minutes in the history of tv. You can pick the best of the best from Saturday Night Live, through all of its glorious years, and they still won't measure up to these eleven. It amazes me that Comedy Central doesn't re-run episodes. It MUST be archived somewhere. Even better, put every episode on DVD and give something back to the thirsting fans. I'm sure there's some distributing company that feels our pain. This epic breakthrough in comedy is built solidly on the most random, idiotic, out of nowhere ideas. But the catch is, half the people on earth couldn't think of this stuff. Skits like Hot Pursuits, Porcupine Race Track, The Jew The Italian and the Red Head Gay, and "Were you Raised in a Barn?", and Louie are so unbelievably ahead of our time MTV didn't realize they had a goldmine in their hand. So if you've never seen it and want to, then please, join me in a cry for help, a cry for the beloved "State."

I don't know why none of my current friends have never seen this show, but when I was in high school I watched it religiously. By far, the funniest, gut wrenchingest stuff ever. Someone mentioned the Sea Monkeys!! Blueberry "...I'm a frickin' blueberry!!!" There are so many things. The difference between The State and the current skit comedies is that The State was not taped in front of a live audience. Some of the ways they transferred from skit to skit are amazingly flowing... something welcome when you don't want to stop laughing.The last thing I remember the cast of The State doing together was a live show for one of the Spring Break outings that MTV had. A straightlaced shakespearean play scene, with one exception... the ever increasing sizes of the phalluses in their tights. I think Shakespeare would have loved it!

I used to watch the State religiously. It really was much funnier than anything else on TV. The cast had the advantage of being not just great writers of comedy, but good comedic actors as well. The only collection of skits available, Skits and Stickers, is well worth the price but it will leave you wanting more. When the State left TV, everything in the world became a little less funny.