The Whitest Kids U'Know: The Complete Series - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

The Whitest Kids U'Know: The Complete Series



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Oh my goodness, I honestly didn’t think that we would ever get a complete box set for The Whitest Kids U'Know, and I don’t think many other people did either. Especially since Trevor passed away 3 years ago. The group was infamous for putting out insanely crass, crazy, and pure early 2000s white-boy type of humor for ages, and were sort of legendary on the internet for their show. The rights have fluctuated a bit over the years, and from what Shout! Studios made mention of in an interview, this series almost wasn’t released at all. Digging deeper into interviews and comments made by the rest of the comedy troupe, this boxset may not be 100% COMPLETE with every single little sketch they ever did (some were banned and self-censored by the crew due to more modern sensibilities, but ARE included on the extras of this set), but it’s pretty stinking complete compared to anything we’ve gotten to date.

What can I say about The Whitest Kids U'Know? It was purely raunchy, loony, irreverent fun that was part of some of the most fun days of my late 20s and early 30s. Founded by Trevor Moore (may he rest in peace), Zach Creggar, Sam Brown, Timmy Williams, and Darren Trumeter, the show was purely a 5 man sketch comedy show (with the occasional guest star) that pretty much poked fun of everything and everyone known to man. NOTHING was off limits, from gags about European relations, war, gender, Hitler, and pretty much everything and anything you could possibly think of. Originally airing on Fuse, the show was a bit irreverent, but it wasn’t until they switched over to IFC where they were given carte Blanche to make anything they wanted, and the show literally skyrocketed to success in the indie comedy circuit. They were pretty much on every YouTube channel back in the day, with skits that get repeated pretty much every time my friends come over (the “Grapist” episode is still a stone-cold classic).

The series aired at a time when DVD was still king and they sharpened many of their jokes to reality (making gags off of “we have to censor this on TV, but buy our DVD and you get UNLIMITED nudity and cursing!), and winked and nodded at early 2000’s popular issues. That being said, the last season of the show is notorious for starting to fade out and die just a bit. The sketch show had gone gangbusters for 4 seasons by that point, and like most comedy shows (except for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which weirdly seemed impervious to failure), it started showing its cracks and seems. As much as I still want to love that last season, it’s just a hard slog to get through. I really loved the ongoing sketches (which were later edited into a complete feature film) known as The Civil War on Drugs, the rest was a bit frustrating.

Previously we got the first 3 seasons on DVD (and The Civil War on Drugs feature film) but the last 2 seasons have remained absent from physical media for the last 13 years, until now. From what I can tell reading between the lines and interview the cast really wanted to put out a complete series even before Trevor’s accidental death in 2021, but it was a rights nightmare that took years. Judging by a statement from Shout! Studios that “this series was only allowed to be released based upon a previous DVD contract” I’m guessing that it was a chore to get out here, and an even bigger chore for a Blu-ray release which will likely never happen due to rights. Well, and frankly, popularity. As much as I love The Whitest Kids U'Know this isn’t the same as Key and Peele or other legendary shows. It was very much a niche sketch comedy show that was shot on the barest of budgets. The cast was incredible and really pushed themselves to bigger and better comedic skits, but the series has always been for people “in the know” if you know what I mean.



Rating:

Not Rated




Video:

The show was always produced on a shoestring budget back in the early 2010s on a station that was not known for pumping out tons of HD content, so I’m not shocked that the discs look as rough as they do. In fact, they look better than I remember, as previous episodes streamed looked worse than old generation YouTube videos. The 1.37:1 framed image looks decent, with moderate to good looking clarity and crispness. Wavering and compression issues are pretty common, and colors look a bit faded due to the quality of cameras used back in the day. The later episodes look a lot better, as they were shot in a studio with better set pieces and more modern cameras, but at the end of the day don’t be expecting miracles from the video.







Audio:

The audio is a simple 2.0 Dolby Digital track, and much like the video, fares a bit weaker than we would have liked. Vocals are decently clean and clear, but the dynamics and breadth of the track is fairly constrained. Music comes through solidly, but there are times when I can tell that the mix is a bit boxy and rather harsh on the really loud bits. That being said, I didn’t notice any major issues, just the limited recording ability of the no budget show.









Extras:

• Audio Commentaries (Seasons 1-3, various episodes)
• Featurette with the boys
• Post Sketch Discussions
• Photo Gallery (Seasons 2 and 3)
• Bonus Sketches
• Banned Sketches
• Early Live Shows

Final Score: ​

I haven’t seen much of the sketch show since around 2010 so I don’t know exactly what sketches were not given to Shout! To put on the disc, but it appears that MOST of their work is complete in this box set, even the notorious self-censored skits, which are found in the extras. Overall I’m ecstatic that we get the vast bulk of Trevor and the company’s work on disc for the first time. The series is right up your alley if you grew up in that crazy sort of skate punk meets Fred Durst time period, with sketches that will have you dying on the floor laughing, staring in horror at the screen, or simply rolling your eyes at the stupidity. The DVD set looks and sounds about as good as you could expect from a Fuse/IFC production from that time period, but it’s definitely still watchable. Easily one of my favorite shows on disc.

EDIT: One small update. According to the boys, the first pressing of the box set suffered from a few skits being left out by accident, and Shout! Is working on repressing the discs and replacing them as we speak.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Trevor Moore, Zach Cregger, Sam Brown, Timmy Williams, Darren Trumete
Created by: Sam Brown, Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 MPEG2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Shout! Studios
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 1180 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 3rd, 2024

Recommendation: Awesome Watch

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[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I have never even heard of this show. It has peaked my interest so will look for it.