For those of you unfamiliar with the Upright Citizens Brigade, they are a sketch comedy troupe who work hard to conceive of the ridiculous and to make it funny. These guys (and girl) aren't hard to find, just go past Mad TV, Monty Python and Saturday Night Live and then suddenly hang a hard left at the edge of reason... then keep going until your sides hurt from laughter... or until a small child enters the room. Then you'll want to watch something else for a while. This is truly funny, but it's not the kind of funny you want children exposed to - mainly because a lot of things get exposed in the process of being funny. Censored, yes, but old-lady, bra-less, shirtless breasts swinging free are the kind of thing that's fairly easy to discern even when heavily pixelated. Be warned. Be very warned.
Mind you, Upright Citizens Brigade is not just about the comedy; it addresses some of the truly tough and controversial topics that face people in this age, such as prejudice against astronauts, psychics used by the police, the commercialization of religion and the "SuperCool" (also known as "Pixie Sticks") epidemic that has old and young alike cracking straws. Sometimes comedy's not pretty, my friends. Sometimes comedy's just not pretty.
The Upright Citizens Brigade is an intelligence organization dedicated to undermining society through the proliferation of chaos, with no government ties and unlimited funds... and comedy ensues. We see the Upright Citizens Brigade and their antics in their secret hi-tech underground lair and, from there, we see monitors displaying various "operations" designed to spread chaos around the globe. The Second Season is the season that featured the Wu-Tang Crew accidentally dropping in on the Upright Citizens Brigade, while digging a path to their own new underground lair. This episode, by the way, features some fly ho-ma's, and, for that matter, so does this entire season, if you know where to look. There is the older, busty "SuperCool" addict who takes off her top in a couple of the episodes, the younger, yet bustier jewel thief who has to hold her stolen goods against her, um, goods to keep them from hurting while she's running away from the cops - and the psychic's probing mind, and three wild and rarely seen animals which only appear to be ho-ma's wearing bikinis in the woods. You'll want to watch this season closely if you're into the ho-ma's. No doubt.
Be warned, however: while Upright Citizens Brigade is so stupid it's funny, it's also not a show you can explain to someone. You simply have to have them watch it. The jokes don't translate as well when simply described. Also, while Upright Citizens Brigade: The Complete First Season features free-swinging digitized male genitalia as a main theme in one episode, The Complete Second Season does a 180 and has much more female free-swinging digitized goodness. Season two is still not a show for the kiddies.
For those of you who may already be familiar with the Upright Citizens Brigade, but aren't sure if your favorite episode(s) were in Season Two or not, the following episodes are the 10 episodes to be found in Upright Citizens Brigade: The Complete Second Season: Master Dialectician, The Bomb Squad (full of themselves and making demands of their own), Mogomra vs. the Fart Monster, Real World, Eli's Face Therapy, Infested with Friars (a pied-piper-like story that narrowly avoids a tactical nuclear strike. Whew!), Spaghetti Jesus (an irreverent look at people who see Jesus' visage in everything they see... I don't think even Monty Python would have ventured into this territory.), Big City, Hurricane (think Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy meets HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey) and the final episode, SuperCool.
If you're hunting for a show that promotes family values and good, clean fun, the Upright Citizens Brigade will be there by your side to arm you with the throwing stars and poo sticks you'll need to take them out. If, however, you're tired of the throwing star cartoons, throwing star sitcoms and throwing star soap operas that seem to be the only thing on television these days, then Upright Citizens Brigade: The Complete Second Season may be just right for you!
