Comedy Central's Strangers With Candy, starring Amy Sedaris and featuring such actors as Stephen Colbert (in one of his very first TV roles).
Both were filmed in the New Jersey suburbs, both had the same level of basic cable production value, and both featured casts that resembled regular looking people and not glammed up super models posing as real people. Both would occasionally throw in fairly well-known celebrities in completely random cameo roles (LL Cool J, Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi in Pete and Pete; Andy Richter, Janeane Garafalo, Will Ferrell, Wynona Ryder in SWC)
While Strangers with Candy was naturally much more twisted and edgy given it's very different target audience and adult themed humor, they both reveled in absurdities and portrayed a general sense of 90s era alt-quirkiness. Pete and Pete had Artie, the Strongest Man in the World; SWC had Jerri Blank's father Guy Blank, portrayed by a real actor but always depicted frozen in place and never actually shown moving on screen.
I'd like to think of SWC as something of a spiritual successor to P+P, aimed at people like me who watched P+P as kids and then graduated to SWC in college.
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DickyBettsBass
9 years ago
Thanks for your interesting observation on Strangers with Candy! I'd heard of it, though I've never seen it, and I know Amy Sedaris by way of her brother David.
The series actually shared two prolific TV directors, Adam Bernstein (3 P+P episodes and the SWC initial short and series pilot) and Peter Lauer 4 P+P's and 18 episodes of SWC), and some 'alternative' guest actors: said Janeane Garofalo, Bebe Neuwirth and Heather Matarazzo. Intriguing links!
Another one to check out!
Dicky
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