5 out of 5

Creators: Tim Heidecker, Eric Warheim

Not too much you’d not expect from T & E by this point, but it gathers up the best elements from previous seasons and delivers ten solid episodes.  The gross is there, but there’s something a bit more inventive about it… I don’t know how often you get to say ‘inventive’ in relation to vomit and poop gags, but by bringing in some of the experimentation from season 1 and the creepiness from season 3, ‘Awesome Show’ tosses off its expected shackles and figures out how to make old jokes feel fresh again.  The recognizable faces (Dunn, Liebe Hart) have even found their proper place in the show, having earned enough status to not just be included as outsider artists but as in-on-the-gag regulars.

While there are inevitably moments that will make you cringe (man milk, bloody boogers) and those that have you almost hiding your eyes in discomfort (Tim’s sexy video), it’s just packaged properly.  I don’t know if they recognized this as the last season of ‘Awesome’ at the time and thus brought their best sketches to the table or something, like things they were sitting on, or perhaps working on commercials and their movie just greased the gears a’fresh.  I can’t say.  But every bit lands, and pardon me for using this word in relation to Awesome Show, but there’s a sense of moderation to everything – the wacky edits, the guest stars, the batshit weird stuff, the songs – I feel like previous seasons could be typified by leaning toward a type of sketch or look over another, and season five feels free, and thus fresh from start to finish.

The extras are, by this point, the norm, although we’re lacking any Awesome con footage, just extended bits and deleted scenes and goofs, which are all actually worth watching.  I wish they had done a little bit more for Richard Dunn – who apparently passed in 2010 – beyond the retrospective here, which has no narration, just clips (including some pre-Awesome Show stuff, it looks like), but by the same token I suppose it’s respectful to just leave the work there as it is.

But what do you care, if you bought this DVD you probably own them all already anyway.