| Who Needs Fresh Air: -- Andy Richter Controls the Universe: The Complete Series |
| Written by EJ Feddes |
| Thursday, 02 July 2009 10:00 |
You know, Summer just isn’t as much fun for us indoorsy types. We have allergies and a severe lack of pigmentation, and a game of beach volleyball could, frankly, prove fatal. We’d like to think we’re not alone, so that’s why we’ve set out to find some great DVD box sets that you can enjoy, while staying inside where it’s comfortable. Because, after all, Who Needs Fresh Air?
This week, we’re looking at a long-awaited recent release, Andy Richter Controls the Universe: The
 Complete Series, collecting all 19 episodes, including five that were never aired on FOX.The series originally aired for two short seasons in 2002-2003, and then disappeared in a fog of network incompetence. This is seriously one of my most wanted box sets for years. I’ve been making do for the last few years with recorded copies of the series as it ran on Canadian television. It turns out that Canadian TV stations aren’t really that careful with sound sync. Also, they fill the bottom of the screen with weather bulletins as often as possible. It’s just glorious to be able to watch the show without a radar map of
As you can guess, the show stars Conan O’Brien’s former sidekick, Andy Richter. The TV Andy is an aspiring novelist who works as a technical writer for Pickering Industries. There are occasional fantasy sequences, hence the part where he “controls the universe”. It’s a little like Scrubs, right down to the lead character’s voiceover narration. Actually, Richter and Scrubs were in development at the same time, and Scrubs just made it to air sooner.
The fantasies are legitimately funny – in one, Andy imagines impressing Wendy by donning a Superman suit and crushing coal into diamond with his bare hand. Then, he rewinds and presents
 here with a teddy bear instead, which he then crushes into a diamond with his bare hand. Rewind again, and he heals a wheelchair-bound old woman with his touch. He then grabs her head and… crushes her into a diamond with his bare hand. Delightfully, it wasn’t just the fantasy scenes that brought surreal humor to the series. After all, the scene where Andy boxed a kangaroo wasn’t a fantasy. And then was the never seen Tim Stalin, from Accounting. (“Yes, that was the worst Stalin I could think of.”) And then there was Andy’s girlfriend who talked incessantly about what various animals could do if they were the size of other animals. Hee.The cast was great, and they gelled so quickly. Jonathan Slavin (currently being awesome on Better Off Ted) played Andy’s neurotic officemate Byron, in one of the great “weird guy” performances of all time. Andy’s boss, Jessica, is played by Paget Brewster, who is one of the funniest women on TV. It’s kind of a shame that she’s currently starring on the decidedly unfunny Criminal Minds. Then there’s James Patrick Stuart as Keith, Andy’s handsome friend and co-worker. He’s basically successful all the time, and things come easily to him because he’s handsome. (Stuart’s doing voice work on just about every animated project in existence these days.) Finally, there’s Irene Molloy as Wendy, the receptionist. Wendy started out as the object of Andy’s crush, but soon after became Keith’s girlfriend, which turned out to be funnier. She has this great goofy energy, and manages to get some of the best lines in the series.
Andy makes for a really likeable lead – he’s just enough of a loser that you can feel sorry for him, but he’s smart and funny enough that you’ll enjoy spending time with him. And he pulls off even the most absurd sequences expertly. You’ll see him as a cockney porridge vendor, a talking cow, and as himself, only with his arms and legs surgically removed as he awaits death by hungry rats.
The plots are a nice mix of familiar sitcom tropes and sheer insanity. Friendship is tested when Andy and Jessica compete against each other for a big prize, only the competition is question is a poetry contest in a maximum security prison. Nobody likes the new boss, but there’s also a possibility that he’s faking cancer so he can sneak off to see a prostitute. Even the one episode that involves a smartass kid ends up revolving around a prototype jetpack. It’s great fun, and it was just a couple years ahead of its time. This was just before Arrested Development, The Office, 30 Rock, and others – this was back when people still watched That 70’s Show, for Pete’s sake.
The standout episode is “Crazy in
The series was created by Victor Fresco, who’s since gone on to write for My Name is Earl, and then create the aforementioned Better Off Ted. He has a distinctive writing style, probably moreso than anybody working in TV comedy right now. You can just spot a Fresco script. (Oh yes, there will be livestock.)
There’s a fascinating array of guest-stars here. Besides Conan, look for June Lockhart, Cedric Yarbrough (
This is one of my favorite series, and I’m so happy to finally have it collected. And yes, it’s much better than going outside. Eww.
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