Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist | |
---|---|
Genre | Adult animation Animated sitcom |
Created by | Jonathan Katz [1] Tom Snyder |
Voices of | Jonathan Katz H. Jon Benjamin Laura Silverman Will LeBow Julianne Shapiro |
Theme music composer | Tom Snyder Shapiro Music |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 6 |
No. of episodes | 81 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | Tom Snyder Tim Braine Nancy Geller |
Producers | Loren Bouchard Julianne Shapiro Jonathan Katz |
Running time | 22–24 minutes |
Production companies | HBO Downtown Productions Popular Arts Entertainment Tom Snyder Productions |
Original release | |
Network | Comedy Central |
Release | May 28, 1995 – February 13, 2002 |
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder for Comedy Central. It originally ran from May 28, 1995, to February 13, 2002. The series starred the voice talents of Jonathan Katz, H. Jon Benjamin, and Laura Silverman. [2] The show was produced by Popular Arts Entertainment, HBO Downtown Productions, and Tom Snyder Productions. The series won a Peabody Award in 1998. [3]
The show was created by Burbank, California, production company Popular Arts Entertainment (executive producers: Tim Braine and David Pritchard), with Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder, developed and first made by Popular Arts for HBO Downtown Productions. Boston-based Tom Snyder Productions became the hands-on production company, and the episodes were usually produced by Katz and Loren Bouchard.[ citation needed ]
The show was animated in a crude, easily recognizable style produced with the software Squigglevision (a device Snyder had employed in his educational animation business) in which all persons and animate objects are in color and have constantly squiggling outlines, while most other inanimate objects are static and usually shades of gray. [4] The original challenge Popular Arts faced was how to repurpose recorded stand-up comedy material. To do so, they based Dr. Katz's patients on stand-up comics for the first several episodes, simply having them recite their stand-up acts. The secondary challenge was how to affordably animate on cable TV at the time. Snyder (a boyhood friend of Braine's) had Squigglevision, an inexpensive means of getting animation on cable, which could not afford traditional animation processes. A partnership between Popular Arts, Tom Snyder Productions and Jonathan Katz was formed, and thus, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist was born.[ citation needed ]
The first episode of Dr. Katz aired on May 28, 1995. A total of 81 episodes were produced, with the sixth and final season (of 18 episodes) beginning on June 15, 1999. Only the first six of the final season's episodes were aired on Comedy Central immediately, though they did air in international markets. After a five-month delay, another nine episodes ran during a Christmas Eve marathon. The final three episodes were broadcast for the first time in the United States on February 13, 2002, during an event dubbed "Dr. Katz goes to the Final Three."
A comic strip of the same name was produced by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate from March 1997 to January 2000. One book collection was published, Hey, I've Got My Own Problems. Writers included Bill Braudis and Dave Blazek, with artwork by Dick Truxaw.[ citation needed ]
In 2007, Comedy Central presented An Evening with Dr. Katz: Live from the Comedy Central Stage, a live-action special taped in front of a live audience at the Hudson Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, featuring Jonathan Katz reprising his role as Dr. Katz. Comedians Maria Bamford, Kathy Griffin, Andy Kindler and Paul F. Tompkins appeared in person as celebrity "clients"; Jon Benjamin and Laura Silverman reprised their respective roles from the animated series. This special was included in the "Complete Series" DVD compilation. In January 2008, live performances were presented over two nights as part of SF Sketchfest in San Francisco, California. On the first night, Jonathan Katz's guest list included Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn and Bob Odenkirk. The surprise guest that evening was Robin Williams. At the end of the "session" Katz revealed that he had multiple sclerosis in real life. [5]
The show returned to SF Sketchfest in January 2015. This performance, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the program, featured Katz with Jon Benjamin and Tom Snyder again portraying his son and therapist, respectively. The patients for this production were Ron Funches, Pete Holmes, Morgan Murphy and Emo Philips. [6] Also in 2015, live performances took place at the Moontower Comedy & Oddity Festival in Austin, Texas, on April 23 and 24. Staged therapy sessions included Andy Kindler, Emo Philips, Maria Bamford, Dom Irrera, Dana Gould, and Eddie Pepitone. [7] The show was again staged at SF Sketchfest in January 2016. The patients who booked "appointments" that night included Janeane Garofalo, Andy Kindler, Maria Bamford, The Sklar Brothers, and Chelsea Peretti. [8] As part of the 16th Annual SF Sketchfest in San Francisco there was a live performance on January 20, 2017. Katz did a short stand-up comedy set Guest "patients" included Kevin Pollak, Natasha Leggero, Tom Papa, Moshe Kasher and Scott Aukerman. [9] Leggero joined Kasher's session midway through for couples therapy. The two are married in real life.[ citation needed ]
An audio-only version of the show was produced for Audible. The first three episodes were released in June 2017 and were released Thursdays. It ran for 15 episodes. Guests have included Ray Romano, Sarah Silverman, and Ted Danson. A full-length audiobook titled Dr. Katz: The Audiobook was released as an Audible exclusive in 2018 featuring all-new content.[ citation needed ]
Dr. Katz is a professional psychotherapist. He is a laid-back, well-intentioned man who enjoys playing the guitar and spending time at the bar with his friend Stanley and bartender Julie. [10] Therapy sessions - normally two per episode, with the patients played by well-known comics and actors - anchor the show. [11] Those that feature comics generally consist of onstage material contributed by the guest, while Dr. Katz offers insights or simply lets them talk. Therapy sessions that feature actors contain more interpersonal dialogue between Dr. Katz and his patient.[ citation needed ]
Interspersed between therapy sessions are scenes involving Dr. Katz's daily life, which includes his aimless, childish 24-year-old son Ben (Jon Benjamin), his uninterested and unhelpful secretary, Laura (Laura Silverman), and his two friends: Stanley (Will LeBow) and bartender Julie, voiced by one of the show's producers, Julianne Shapiro. In later episodes, Todd (Todd Barry), a video store clerk, becomes a regular character.
Most episodes begin with Dr. Katz and Ben at breakfast. The plots include events like Ben attempting to become a radio personality, believing he has ESP, or suffering from a moral conundrum after receiving a chain letter. The development of these plots alternates with the segments of Dr. Katz and his guests in therapy sessions.
Much of the show's content, particularly dialogue between Dr. Katz and Ben, is improvised through a process called "retroscripting", in which a vague outline is developed but the actual dialogue is ad-libbed. This style, as well as the animation technique Squigglevision, would reappear in Home Movies , another series on which many members of the Dr. Katz cast and crew worked.[ citation needed ]
Season 2 has a score of 81 on Metacritic, based on 6 reviews. [12] The show has won 5 awards, including a Peabody Award and a Daytime Emmy. In 2015, PopMatters asserted that the show was "Still Wise and Just As Funny" as it was when it first aired. [13] In 2016 Jonathan Katz noted "Dr. Katz has such a loyal fan base, even now." [14]
DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Information |
---|---|---|---|
Season 1 | May 9, 2006 | 6 | Bonus features include cast and crew commentary, and several animated shorts. |
Season 2 | November 21, 2006 | 13 | Bonus features include cast and crew commentary, and "follow-up calls" with previous guest stars. |
The Complete Series | November 20, 2007 [15] | 81 | Bonus features include a 28-page booklet with patients' "memories from the couch" and new drawings, as well as "An Evening with Dr Katz: Live from the Comedy Central Stage." |
The Best of Dr. Katz | December 2, 2008 [16] | Various Segments | Bonus features include excerpts from other Comedy Central series and a look back at classic Ben & Laura moments. |
There were also several VHS releases of series episodes.
The Bob Newhart Show is an American sitcom television series produced by MTM Enterprises that aired on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978, with a total of 142 half-hour episodes over six seasons. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a psychologist whose interactions with his wife, friends, patients, and colleagues lead to humorous situations and dialogue. The show was filmed before a live audience.
Home Movies is an American animated sitcom created by Brendon Small and Loren Bouchard. The show centers on an eight-year-old aspiring filmmaker, also named Brendon Small, who makes homemade film productions in his spare time with his friends Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis. He lives with his divorced mother Paula and his adopted baby sister Josie. He develops a skewed father-son-like relationship with his alcoholic, short-tempered soccer coach, John McGuirk.
Emo Philips is an American actor, stand-up comedian, writer, and producer. His stand-up comedy persona makes use of paraprosdokians spoken in a wandering falsetto tone of voice. The confused, childlike delivery of his material produces the intended comic timing in a manner invoking the "wisdom of children" or the idiot savant.
Short Attention Span Theater is an American clip show in which the hosts presented short segments of stand-up comedy acts and scenes from films airing on HBO and Cinemax. It aired from 1989 until 1994.
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Squigglevision is a method of computer animation in which the outlines of shapes are made to wiggle and undulate, emulating the effect of sketchily hand-drawn animation. Tom Snyder of Tom Snyder Productions invented the technique, which his animation studio Soup2Nuts subsequently used in Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist in 1995, and in Dick and Paula Celebrity Special, Home Movies, O'Grady, and Science Court.
Laura Jane Silverman is an American actress and the older sister of actress and comedian Sarah Silverman. She acted in Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic and The Sarah Silverman Program portraying a fictionalized version of herself. She also stars as Jane Benson on The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow and voiced Laura, the sarcastic receptionist on the animated comedy television series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. Her dramatic roles include guest appearances in House and Nurse Jackie.
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Science Court is an educational entertainment, animation/non-traditional court show from Tom Snyder Productions, which was aired on ABC's Disney's One Saturday Morning block from 1997 to 2000. The cartoon was "filmed" in Squigglevision.
Soup2Nuts was an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder. The studio is known for its animated comedy series, its use of Squigglevision, a technique of animation that reuses frames to make the animation look more kinetic, and for its style of improvisation in voice acting.
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Ron Lynch is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He has appeared in a number of movies and television shows, including Corporate, Corpse Tub, Another Period, Dope State, Comedy Bang! Bang!, and Portlandia. He has worked as a voice actor for several animated shows, including Home Movies, Bob's Burgers, and Tom Goes to the Mayor, and has made guest appearances on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, The Sarah Silverman Program, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Adventure Time, and Star vs the Forces of Evil.
Tom Snyder is an American animator, writer and producer known for the Squigglevision animation technique. His first success with this method was Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, starring Jonathan Katz.
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The second season of the animated sitcom Home Movies aired in the United States on Cartoon Network’s programming block Adult Swim from January 6 to March 31, 2002.Every Sunday and Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. Central time and 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Co-creators Brendon Small and Loren Bouchard, along with Tom Snyder, served as the executive producers for the season. Small and Bill Braudis acted as writers for the season, while Bouchard was director for each episode.
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