From the “no shit!” tag cloud comes this post about how musicians love HBO’s classic Mr. Show. If I was stuck on a tour bus for months, there’s nothing I’d rather rewatch.

Truth be told, Stereogum will take any opportunity to throw some love at Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, and their now star-studded (Jack Black, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt) cast of puppety oddballs. Mr. Show was the funniest sketch comedy of all time, and I was obsessed with it in college. I taped every episode on VHS and forced my friends to watch it. In silence.

From the Strokes article in a recent Blender:

ALBERT HAMMOND JR.: “I watched Mr. Show at 14, getting stoned. It changed my life as much as music did.”

14? Makes you feel old, doesn’t it?

And of course David Cross and his imposter are huge indie rock fans. Dave wore a Creeper Lagoon shirt in one episode. And a girlie-tee that said Princess on it at Siren Fest ’02, where I spent a good part of Sleater-Kinney’s set staring at him.

So with that Stereogum presents Mr. Show‘s three greatest fake rock bands:

1. Wyckyd Sceptre (Season 4)
Watch it! (YouTube)

2. Titannica (Season 3)
Watch it! (YouTube)

3. Smoosh (Season 3)
No YouTube! At Stereogum’s SXSW showcase, though, I spent the early hours during soundcheck trading quotes from this sketch with members of Rogue Wave and Aloha. Funny how some tweens took the name too.

Official Titannica merch is still available. Guess they sold out of Wyckyd Sceptre (I swear I saw tees on the “Hooray for America” tour.)

Mr. Show‘s a lot like your favorite indie rock band in that it was more fun when it wasn’t hugely popular. But something so awesome can only remain cult for so long. The complete series has been out on DVD for a while now. Pick it up if you like funny. But you probably already own it.

Your favorite sketch?