The Man Show

If women ever watch "The Man Show," they watch it out of purely anthropological interest. Women can gather information on the bizarre customs and obsessions of men from the show, but most undoubtedly view the sketches and advice on the show as tasteless artifacts of tragically arrested development that civilization was supposed to eliminate. Men know that women feel this way, and men try to watch what they say and do in the public arena (and suffer when they don't). But the fact remains that men (or, at least, vast numbers of men) enjoy watching girls jump on trampolines, beer-chugging contests, lip-syncing monkeys, and adult film stars giving household hints. Where can men go for the kinds of entertainment you can only appreciate with a Y chromosome?

Into the breach step Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla, hosts and creators of "The Man Show." As Jimmy says, "We see [masculinity] going away, or at least being masked. That's part of the reason people respond to our show...people are like "Oh yeah! That's right! We're supposed to be men!" (For more bon mots from Jimmy and Adam see the interview here.) Jimmy and Adam begin their second season of crusading against the inhibition of masculine self-expression November 3 at 10:30 on Comedy Central, and if you've ever recited a dirty limerick, lit a fart, or watched a tape of "Baywatch" in super slo-mo, you'll want to be in front of your TV set watching.

Kimmel and Carolla act as fulcrums for the show's humor. Their extreme sarcasm and their super-dry delivery mean that if someone harasses you about watching the show, you can use the patina of irony to expiate your sin. The sarcasm also comes in handy when the show takes detours from bad taste into almost intolerably bad taste, which if you have ever had a feminist thought it will undoubtedly do. Those who truly believe, though, know that these guys mean every word they say, whether railing against the Oprahfication of America, giving advice on what job to get to impress chicks, or asking random women if they can get some. Mixed into this, of course, is a heaping helping of wondering why women do what they do, from piling up unnecessary chintzy pillows on beds and couches to buying vast rafts of superfluous shoes. In one truly memorable moment last season, they campaigned to eliminate "women's suffrage," garnering vast amounts of support from ignorant females who didn't know what "suffrage" meant.

Of course, "The Man Show" is not solely the domain of sketch comedy. It also includes such worthwhile diversions as the aforementioned monkeys lip-syncing dirty jokes, the "Juggy Girls" (a mammary-shaking dance troupe), risque songs and truly amazing beer-swilling ability from Bill "The Fox" Foster, Jimmy and Adam's answers to audience queries about how to be more manly, and "Household Hints from Adult Film Stars," which is probably the most witty exercise in truly terrible taste on television. And, of course, Jimmy and Adam have solemnly pledged to end each and every "Man Show" with girls jumping on trampolines, which is as good as it sounds!

By now, you should really want to know whether you want to watch this show or not (and if you're female, you should have known up in the first paragraph somewhere). If you can't stomach all this, go watch Lifetime. If, on the other hand, you're sick of acting like you shouldn't laugh at jokes about obsessive masturbation, routines involving midgets and dirty puns, or ruminations about what the hell is it women want anyway, click on "The Man Show." Stop repressing and start hooting and hollering. You'll be glad you did.

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