Wonder Showzen (2005–2007) User Reviews

One of the Best Comedy Shows of All Time

[gavin6942 · 9/10 · 9 September 2008]

"Wonder Showzen" is everything it set out to be: outrageously funny while at the same time standing against everything right and good in this world. Abortions, sex changes, atheism, child abuse... alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide... if they haven't touched upon it, it probably hasn't been invented yet.

Obviously, the show isn't for everyone. Kids shouldn't be watching this, most likely. Religious people or conservatives may be grossly offended. Vegans might be a bit upset. So, if you're uptight about anything, just stay away. If you're jaded like me, though, you'll love this.

My only complaint is that the shock value wears off quickly and the show's jokes get repetitive once you catch on to their targets. The first episode is by far the funniest, with the following shows being funny but more derivative of the opener and not nearly as original. That, and after you hear "a cougar in Wyoming is having a nightmare", there's really nowhere else to go.

Delightfully Devious!

[EvelPlatypus · 9/10 · 31 January 2009]

Wonder Showzen, the brainchild of PFFR (Vernon Chatman and John Lee), is THE most offensive thing I've ever seen, and I've seen every episode of South Park! It's so obscure, that you can't help but laugh. It's pretty shocking what these kids say, but that's what gave it the extra zest! Wonder Showzen is considered legendary for it's use of children (for example, in the intro, they have a picture of a crying child on Santa's lap) and it's use of obscure stock footage (for example, the have footage of a fox deteriorating) all used in a creative and dark way. The main amount of the show was amazing and clever, but there are two episodes in particular that are just not sub-par with Wonder Showzen, Mathmatics and Clarence's Special Report, but besides that, the show is pure genius.

There are only two shows I've enjoyed from MTV, Beavis and Butthead and This. Such a show like this must be experienced...unless you're easily offended.

Direspectiful,Shamful and You Gotta Love It!

[Se7en14 · 9/10 · 7 August 2006]

We all remember the days of Sesame street, watching and growing up with it. Learning new stuff stuff everyday from the show, teaching kids how to count, spell. It wasn't long before i saw wonder showzen. I caught it one night at a friends house, kinda pondered as to what that kind of "show" was doing on that late, until i started seeing the jokes and realizing that this wasn't just any kind of show. I had done some research on the show and i began to just fall in love it with it. This was the kind of show that wasn't afraid to do anything, and when i say anything, i mean ANYTHING!! come on where else would you see a kid dressed as Hitler walking around asking people questions, as to who's more offensive. Or the Jewish J and Arab 8 who fall in love, and showing them pornographically in sexual positions. It's everything like Souht Park but 10x more, this show crosses every line there is, and it does it remarkably. Each week the show has it's regular "puppets" like Chauncy, and the news caster who has almost like a thousand eyes, and of course Clarence, the puppet who annoys the hell out of anyone, and isn't afraid to do it, it gets so bad people actually attack him on the street.

The Show has many memorable segments including Beat Kids, Clarence on the Street, D.O.G. O.B.G.Y.N., a regular cartoon and many many poor. The kids on this show are foul offensive and you sometimes wonder how the hell they got there in the first place! But this show never takes it self seriously, in fact if you take things way to seriously or a joke sometimes offend you steer clear of this show. Mainly this show pokes fun at religion, the government, people, Just about anything. I'd recommend Wonder Showzen to just about anyone looking for a fun comedy with some great laughs and all around Rotten Humour. This Show is definitely not for Children no matter how cute the box may look, keep your kids away from this. This is one show I love and will recommend a lot.

Chekc it Out Sometime

i have an idea, let's not cancel this one.

[kjosentoin · 4 April 2005]

i won't bother elaborating on how funny and witty i find this show. and i don't think i can really advise anyone to or not watch it based on other shows they like. i just wanted one more voice to be written in something permanent,,, y'know,,,, like digitally,, in some database somewhere. that way, when the time comes to cancel this show, which is just around the corner i'm sure, i can be heard. and all the lords of demography out there who reign over the most important elements of decision making (e.g. which commercials we will get to see,what shows will air and at what times, etc.)will be able to guide their wands not so blindly this time, and actually hear me as a slight statistic when i say "HEY, THIS SHOW IS SO FUNNY THAT IT MAKES ME LOSE CONTROL OVER MY BOWELS". ---- so please, for the other 5 people who enjoy wonder showzen, cast your vote like how i did and vote yes on "hey, don't cancel this please.... please.... for the love of god, what else are you gonna play instead?, that one real world episode where the kids get drunk again?"

One of a kind.

[Apathet1c · 10/10 · 29 May 2017]

Watch this if you like offbeat, "offensive", existential, absurd humor. It truly is an achievement how every episode can have so many layers and provide non-stop entertainment. It's an assault on everything that anyone holds "sacred" and it's brilliant!

It's baffling how 12 years ago this show aired on MTV, especially if you consider that MTV in 2017 is more conservative(not in the traditional American sense but more in the preachy, self-righteous, social justice sense with the stuff they churn out to "protect" the people they consider "vulnerable" while condemning specific groups of people). This show holds nothing back and presents everyone and everything under the same light. There is a segment about the police in one episode that says everything there is to say about the subject through children voice overs that would cause riots if it was aired today. There is another episode that has a character named Middle America (who gets thrown a watermelon with black-face if you pay attention) and a segment with hillbillies presented as complete idiots. Anyway, my point is that everything is fair game for this show and that's the way more shows should be.

The show presents very realistic, "dark", controversial subjects in an absurd, creative way that sometimes borders on unintelligible. Heed the warning at the start of the show and stay away if you're easily offended.

I'm not even American but I don't like the way everything seems to become more P.C. as years go by, since it makes it difficult to find entertainment that pushes the envelope and, more importantly, is apolitical and "nihilistic" in a sense.

I'd love for this show to air again, just to witness the massive triggering of the masses.

Thanks for the best show on TV.

[act123 · 10/10 · 9 December 2007]

I never heard of Wonder Showzen until the other night, when I randomly found it on the shelf at the local rental place. A quick glance at its description on the back of the cover sold me instantly. What I didn't expect was how funny it was. Sickly funny. I've never seen a show so blatantly and brilliantly awful. It's anarchy at its finest, packaged neatly in a vintage Sesame Street vibe that only kids born between 1969-1979 can really understand. Watching this brought back memories of watching The Electric Company and Sesame Street through the mind of someone mentally ill tripping on acid. LOVE IT. I don't think anyone could top the genius of Wonder Showzen. In a way I'm glad there were only 2 seasons of it, because it would have been a shame to see it go downhill and lose its sense of vitriol and vim. Highlights include "Beat Kids!" and educational films with kid commentary (saying gems like "DADDY!" when a slaughtered pig appears on screen) and Muppet-ish puppets in pornographic situations - it's everything a cynical adult secretly thinks about kids' TV, but manifested with unabashed glee. GET IT.

Only people with brains and a sense of humour will enjoy this

[hwajar · 10/10 · 19 June 2006]

Everyone else will say it sucks. Seriously, I haven't enjoyed a new show like this in quite some time. This show makes me believe in Teevee again. A scathing satire of children's educational teevee, the show simultaneously mocks and cherishes many childhood (and adult) ideals, like cooperation, imagination and diversity. I like a show that's not afraid to take risks, and I wish there were more shows that had as much heart and balls. PS-Anyone saying this show is mean-spirited is probably not paying attention. It is cynical, but cynical and mean-spirited aren't the same thing now, are they? Recommended only for people who don't suck a big one. Everyone else stay clear.

It's Like Sesame Street on CRACK! I'm serious

[monkeycrap97 · 10/10 · 4 July 2006]

Sex, drugs, racism and of course you ABC's. What more could you want in a kid's show!

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like space shuttle getting a speeding ticket

[naturalborndirector · 10/10 · 9 December 2005]

The warning titles at the beginning say that some viewers may find this show offensive. & it's true cos the show which is based on the themes like perversion, sadism, nihilism, satanism, masochism, racism, pedophilia, necrophilia, profanity, discrimination, Nazism & outrageously relentless graphic or content violence simply can't be not offensive to some viewers. So, if you are middle age catholic priest, don't watch this show! It is a direct descendant of old violent MTV shows like Beavis & Butthead and Jackass. It is absurd and senseless nut intentionally so. It is an unconventional humor, politically, morally, ethically incorrect, like a guided missile which has lost all the guidance and cruises loose at the risk of striking the innocent. And at last Wonder Showzen is a mind-bending chaos the effect of which is something like lysergic journey or ether euphoria. five jokes in five seconds. War of the Colors. playing the first half backwards during the second half.

result is FUN+SATIRE+MINDBENDER – the mix that makes Wonder Showzen the cocktail you have never experienced before.

& KIDS, WATCH THIS SHOW!

Brilliant Show Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant

[ismasta · 10/10 · 11 May 2006]

Seeing this show gives me respect for MTV, though i imagine that MTV sees this random, edgy material as its main selling point and is much less concerned with the pertinent truths it expresses.

I write and play music for a living and this show gets me really emotionally riled up. For me, Wondsershowzen serves a completely distinct function from most TV. Instead of dulling or distracting the senses, (which can be often really nice at times), it awakens my spirit of right and wrong. It makes me very uncomfortable, but in a very comforting way.

I don't think a lot of viewers absorb most of this show's content, but if they do, kudos to television viewers everywhere.

Okay Adult Parody, But Has Its Problems

[jeremycrimsonfox · 6/10 · 28 February 2019]

Wonder Showzen is another one of those adult shows I am guilty of watching back when it aired. Hosted by a hairy yellow puppet named Chauncey, the show is an adult parody of Sesame Street that works somewhat in the vein of past shows like Comedy Central's TV Funhouse. However, as this is for adults only, it deals with many adult situations (like one episode having Mother Nature get a sex change operation, and another where imagination is treated like an illegal narcotic). In fact, the show airs a warning, not only at the beginning, but after each commercial break so parents who missed the warning would be informed of the show's nature.

Like TV Funhouse before it, Wonder Showzen does have some short cartoons, and like the series, they will have some adult themes. One cartoon, "Bible Brew", is basically a beer commercial that satirizes religion, while others are parodies, like He-Man being parodied as "He-Bro" and "H.O.B.O. Ops", which parodies G.I. Joe while making fun of homeless war veterans. These shorts are either a hit or miss depending on your taste in comedy.

While the series is okay, it does have some things that weigh it down. One of them is Clarence, a blue puppet who gets a segment each episode where he goes on the street asking people, some of them being hostile. This segment I felt was not funny and a waste of time, and hearing that the segment caused two of the show's staff (incuding co-creator John Lee) to be assaulted various times, makes me hate this. Another sketch I hate is called "Horse Apples", which is supposed to be a parody of Hee-Haw. The second-to-last episode would expand this into a full episode, and the final episode would be Clarence-themed, which is what I believe led to the series being cancelled, despite the Season 2 DVD having a contest where viewers can make cartoons for a possible third season (which was debunked, as Viacom cancelled the show, and the crew moved on to make Xavier: Renegade Angel for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block).

Wonder Showzen was a good show to me as a kid, but revisiting it now, I can see it had some flaws that kept it from being as well-remembered as TV Funhouse. I recommend watching a couple episodes to see if the show's humor will click with you.

Existential Slapstick

[haileris · 10/10 · 18 March 2007]

Brilliant. Sarte couples with Monty Python then does it again with Sesame Street. Nowhere else can racism, misery, homelessness, despair, dismemberment, inner childness, addiction, sadness, blasphemy and existential crisis be so damn entertaining. It is so wrong that it's right. This show is absolutely genius in a guerrilla theater kind of way: it works because it seems that the show's creators don't give a rat's about pandering to the masses. They're writing to entertain themselves. And that is why the sick and twisted thing works. If you are sensitive to the nasty truths about human nature, this show is not for you. But if you embrace the futility of it all, well kids, this might just be your kind of entertainment. Toxic amoral golden joy in tasty 30 minute bites. This should be shown in smarty ass colleges in the stead of Philosophy 101. Because it doesn't just go to the heart of the truth: it disembowels it and lights up a smoke after. I'd give it thirty stars if I could. In fact, scratch that. I give this sucker ****************************** out of **********. Amen

Worth watching...

[mazunderscore · 7/10 · 5 April 2007]

I'm torn about this show. While MOST parts of it I found to be HILARIOUS, other parts of it I found to be stupid and simply shock for shock sake. The off the wall parody of some of the cartoons are brilliant as indeed are a lot of the scenes with the children. However, I don't think it's clever getting little children to say rude things. It's not that I think "oh poor children, they're being exploited" - it's just that it's really not clever!! It's something that ANYONE could do, therefore making it as simple and pointless as making a paper airplane. In order to make this show better they would have to stick to the natural responses from children, which I think can be funnier than the scripted at time.

By far the funniest part of Wonder Showzen is Clarence, the blue puppet who wonders around the streets talking to and annoying strangers. It's really funny and it's mostly improvised. Seeing him in a long scene about the importance of patience test the patience of an EXTREMELY patient man, was by far the funniest scene in my opinion.

You should watch this show though because all in all it's very funny, even if it is stupid at times.

Funny...Sometimes

[TheExpatriate700 · 5/10 · 16 July 2011]

Wonder Showzen was a spoof of Sesame Street and similar children's shows, and more broadly represents MTV's attempt to launch an Adult Swim-type franchise. On both fronts, it had decidedly mixed results.

At times, the show is genuinely funny, with an audaciousness that would put even the most offensive Adult Swim shows to shame. For instance, the episode revolving around nature has a particularly gruesome joke regarding the fate of the castoffs from a sex change operation. Another memorable bit involves a young boy interviewing people while dressed up as Hitler.

However, the series just as often falls flat, becoming either tedious or annoying. For example, the skits where the puppet Clarence tries to interview people comes across just as annoying to viewers as to the people subjected to it.

Wow! never seen anything quite like it before

[Judexdot1 · 6 May 2005]

I'm disabled, and I watch a LOT of TV. The network stuff is usually pretty bland and tedious to me, re-running the same routines they've been milking since I was a little kid. The sitcoms are still telling the same jokes! So, I wander into all sorts of odd corners of cable, usually to little result. stumbled into "Wonder Shozen" on MTV2, and was quite impressed. Edgy, daring, weirdness from another zone entirely. it's often more strange, than innovative, but they are actually trying to create something here, and you gotta respect that. the "Kidshow" parody is an old idea, (heck, goes back to "Groove Tube" and such, at least), but having little kids asking Stockbrokers who they exploited today, was truly strange, (though I'd have liked to see more reactions from the brokers.) It's quick, and a lot of it falls flat. but the constant barrage of attempts, guarantees something will fly, eventually. Scattershot, but dedicated.

Subversive and Brilliant

[kjmiller-60942 · 9/10 · 23 August 2021]

To come out with scathing critiques of society is one thing. To be so absurdist while doing it, and to have the courage to make actual leftist points at the height of the Bush-era War on Terror is another thing. I miss this show and wish things like this could still be on corporate media.

Incredibly funny, though some parts aged poorly

[vdarabond · 8/10 · 21 March 2023]

I can't begin to explain this show to anybody who hasn't seen it. Sesame Street on crack is a good way to describe it, which has been said many times already here. My original watching of the show was 2021, so several years after the last episode aired; unfortunately I missed this show in it's prime considering the children on the show are all my age now.

Let me start off by saying this show made me holler and actually gasp at some parts because I was surprised it made to air. Yeah, the jokes are offensive, but I think to watch something like this you have to have some form of critical thinking skills. Keep in mind the voice for Chauncey is also the voice of Towelie on South Park, which kind of adds to the experience for me. There's jokes about every sociopolitical topic imaginable and they rip on literally everybody and everything. You have characters like the letter N and her addiction struggles or the letter 2 who stages her live suicide. There is a whole episode that gets played in reverse halfway through the running. You will see animals giving birth and decaying and you will hear children talk about how love is a neurochemical con job. At some point, the main character is a slave owner in an episode about the olden times. This is peak surreal humor at it's finest.

My only real issue I tend to have with it is some parts of the show are either too much secondhand embarrassment or just aged way too poorly for me. An example for the embarrassment portion are the Clarence bits, where one of the puppets goes around and bothers locals and tends to be an incredible nuisance. He has harassed homeless people, joggers, babies in carriages, people on the phone and to some, I can see the humor in it, but it physically makes me cringe and I just feel bad for the people. I actually skip these parts every single time on my rewatches. The last episode of the series was incredibly boring for me and I was a bit disappointed, but there is absolutely no overarching plot so skipping episodes isn't detrimental or anything. Just choose an episode and enjoy, like a wine on your day off.

As offensive as this show may be, and I watched it knowing full well I will probably see things that will shock and disturb, there are just some jokes that aged incredibly poorly. The Nature episode comes to mind; Mother Nature wants to get a sex change and even though I was laughing when Chauncey was doing the dirty with her lady parts, I still felt that it was just overall transphobic and not actually how legitimate trans people act. Even the satire of the situation couldn't really save it like it does with a lot of other jokes on the show.

Overall though, I wholeheartedly consider this one of my favorite shows. My all time favorite scene is when a young girl goes around asking Wall Street businessmen when they sold their conscience and asking them when the revolution comes, where they will hide. There are so many notable scenes and characters and it's one of those shows that you'll find a new joke each time you watch it again. Please, for the love of whatever holy deity you believe in, watch this show if you like things like South Park or Eric Andre (both shows do connect to this one in a way!)

goodly laughs funnily many me

[Gone_Fiction · 10/10 · 23 June 2006]

I love this show. My girlfriend was gonna get an abortion until we both watched Wonder Showzen one night. Luckily, she killed herself before the baby was born. Though technically I think it was considered a murder-suicide.

My first thoughts upon seeing Wonder Showzen? Now I know what God watches when He jerks off all the time.

Wonder Showzen is to television what a toaster in the bathtub is to my self-esteem.

You know how George W. Bush makes speaking gaffes all the time? Tyler wouldn't. Tyler's good. Tyler cuts his nails. He's Tyler. He's good. Tyyyllerrr...

I have seen the heavens

[dmanmotherf · 9/10 · 10 June 2005]

I walk home from my Confermation and turn on the TV cause I just quit my religion. I turn on the guide and turn to MTV2 looking for Friday night programs like Wildboys. I just missed but I caught something better, Wonder Showzen my friends. It is the most demented and hilarious thing since the fu*king creation of human life. I highly request the show and tell all my friends about it and they all say the same thing, "I never fu*king heard of that show, are you fu*king high or something." And I say no I've only see the heavens, and it is fu*king crazy and great, and then they want some of my weed. So no one really knows about it so we must announce it to the whole fu*king world. So we all live in peace and harmony.So watch it fu*king now.

Perfection

[GothGirlEnthusiast · 10/10 · 19 April 2021]

Satire at its best.

Just go and watch it.

Would strongly recommend if you enjoyed Moral Orel!

Where was I

[fervidnox · 9/10 · 22 October 2018]

I have no idea what or where I was, or what my actual intentions could be, but, ya, I still really have no idea Peace to Yu my brother in arms

Been waiting for this since Meet the Feebles

[slyscape · 10/10 · 19 June 2006]

I was plagued by nightmares involving Sesame Street and the Muppet Show during my childhood. I loved the programs, but when I slept, I'd dream about muppets not unlike the ones on TV...but not quite the ones on TV.

They would speak gibberish and laugh and sing while eating each other and killing each other. They'd take a bite of their cute felt flesh and it would tear apart followed by arterial bleeding. NICE! But that was the past...I LOVE THIS SHOW! I saw Peter Jackson's MEET THE FEEBLES years ago and wondered why there wasn;t similar work out there. Well here it is, as sick, twisted and somehow socially potent the old Hobbit's vision.

If you like this show, and you haven't seen MEET THE FEEBLES, get it on Amazon or some such film source. You're in for a treat.

By the way, Clarence would totally kick Triumph's dog ass.

So bad it's not even funny!

[nlangella1 · 1/10 · 30 January 2015]

I remember watching some episodes from this show on MTV over my friend's house during the summer of 2002. The warning content they show is extremely disturbing. Even as an adult, I still find it disturbing. Just thinking about the infants screaming, while the moms cry out for their babies is spine curling. Just thinking about the sounds of infants crying, and mothers screaming for their babies reminds me of the Biblical historical event when King Herod I decides to massacre all of the infant boys under 2 years of age. After that dreadful content, they sing the disturbing kid's show theme, which was obviously a parody to kid shows such as the Seaseme Street. The kid's show theme is also disturbing. It sounds like the creepy carnival music that you hear in horror films and in real life

I've seen some pretty disturbing shows, but nothing like this. This has to be the most disturbing, controversial, and evil show I have ever seen. Only an audience who are white trash, or have no morals whatsoever, could watch this piece of garbage. Above all, this show is satanic! It is evil in many ways! How do these creators sleep at night, knowing they've made a show that puts a smile on Judas Iscariot's face while he's burning in hell? They really had no problem having kids star in this show, explaining where babies come, dressing up like Hitler, swearing, giving the middle finger, and showing how rude they can be to their elders? They really have no problem poisoning these kid's minds? I would not recommend this show to anybody. This show demonstrates how sinful Sodom and Gomorrah were.

F'in hilarious

[burke8 · 17 March 2005]

Just saw the premier of this show on MTV. I was completely surprised to that they had the balls to give it a go. Wonder Showzen is a crazy compilation of animated shorts and puppet skits. Honestly I can say that I have not laughed this hard since I don't remember when. This is a very bold statement considering how much of my life i waste away watching anything and everything on television. It's getting to the point where i'm tired of settling for the run of the mill bs thats become so popular. This nonstop laughathon was very refreshing. The show takes on any and every aspect of everyday life without any shame whatsoever. It's unceasing honesty left me on the floor laughing until it still hurts. Really, it still hurts.

The one that got away (from Adult Swim)

[jadekite22 · 10/10 · 14 March 2012]

Born in '92, I grew up a bit too late to enjoy MTV when the M was still accurate. However, I've recently gained some faux-nostalgia for the channel's heyday with shows like Daria as well as falling in love with musicians highlighted on Amp, such Mr. Oizo and Aphex Twin. I was just the right age when Wonder Showzen ran in 2006 and, wow, did it make up for the MTV I missed in 80s (as far as I know)!

Mocking the aesthetic of classic children's educational shows like Sesame Street, I was amazed to find this show(zen) appeared to be more than just a "parent's worst nightmare" blend of gross-out and shock- based humor, though it had plenty of that. The wonderful kid actors on segments like "Beat Kids" tricked me, in a good way, into thinking it has just as much heart, while the puppet ones nearly fulfilled my fantasy of an Oscar the Grouch/Triumph the Comic Dog team-up.

Wonder Showzen is undoubtedly one of those programs that people will envy you for if you're just discovering it for the first time, which isn't to say the laughter ceases after just one viewing. Since doing so myself, I've followed creators John Lee and Vernon Chatman through the their stints on Superjail! and The Heart, She Holler. While all their projects have their moments, this was by far the two's most successful one to date.