Upright Citizens Brigade: The Complete Second Season

Season Two of the Upright Citizens Brigade, a short-lived, cult sketch show on Comedy Central, has finally been released to red-hot reception among its beloved fans and comedy nerds.

Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, and Ian Roberts furthered the success of humor popularized by MTV's The State: cleverly subversive, often-arbitrarily silly terrain met by appreciation among those hungry for comedy that flew below the radar and carried less-than-mainstream appeal. Although the show only lasted for two seasons, the UCB has found a second life as an underground theater showcasing New York's freshest, most progressive comedy, simultaneously seeing its in-house talent find success on Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and Human Giant.

Without fail, that golden touch rings loud and clear on Season 2 of the Upright Citizens Brigade. The fictional Upright Citizens Brigade four agents (played by Poehler, Besser, Walsh and Roberts) remain in a type of underground bunker where they attempt to "undermine society" and encourage "chaos," a curriculum vitae that dictates every episode. Each show broadly focuses on an overarching theme or narrative attached to an oeuvre of obscenely forthright absurdity - a mediation on religion, for example, is pontificated through an unseen character called "Spaghetti Jesus." We encounter episodes that raise genuine critical questions regarding the war on drugs, international poverty, and the consequences of industrial overdevelopment. ...All this while unabashedly employing sound bytes such as "Your uvula's made of bubble wrap" and "Crane Wars, Crane Wars, Crane Wars!" Thus, in its own right, the program does a fine job at elevating its comedy to a level of intellectual awareness that helped it stand out and garner a cult audience when, in 1999, America was still reeling from Cameron Diaz accidentally styling jizz in her hair.

If there is any problem with the Upright Citizens Brigade, it's that the fluidity between sketches - and episodes, more over - can become slightly overwhelming. Although the sketches - whether they reoccur in an episode or not - are almost always executed with comedic sophistication, the overlapping has the ability to mildly dilute the larger concepts. We are often transported from sketch to premise to parody without warning, and, although it doesn't necessarily damage the viewing experience, a more clear-cut narrative path might have better suited the show.

Nevertheless, Season Two of The Upright Citizens Brigade is one of the finest pieces of underground comedy in recent history. The rare sensibility of creators Poehler, Walsh, Roberts, and Besser can undeniably be credited for laying down the foundation that allowed beloved contemporary siblings like Superbad, Wonder Showzen, and 30 Rock to thrive with or without a mammoth following.