The Cry of a Hungry Baby

The premiere episode of HBO’s cutting-edge sketch comedy Mr. Show introduces recurring character Ronnie Dobbs. Dobbs, a Southern redneck character, does a PSA for the National Entitilitus Foundation, claiming that he’s dying of the mysterious disease. Then the show begins with Bob Odenkirk and Cross onstage. “”Well, America,”” Bob explains, “”You asked for it. You told HBO, ‘We want to see a sketch show hosted by two people we’ve never seen before.'”” “”And that’s us,”” adds David. They begin by taking suggestions from the audience, but things get ugly when one simple-minded audience member and his friend are thrown out for suggesting Bob and David play different characters, and perform scripted material. The “”centerpiece”” of the show is a sketch in which Terry reminisces about his discovery of Ronnie Dobbs. Terry was a cameraman for the reality TV show “”Fuzz,”” and noticed that in nearly every city where they filmed, the police would arrest the same violent drunken redneck — Ronnie — usual