For a long time networks just wanted to buy imitations of other shows - i.e. Curb (the Enthusiasm or the Office). The word gets out that Hey, we want to buy something like that and every comedy producer just starts dreaming up ideas like that.

And with this show we're trying to be a little sillier. We can do a piece like one we wrote the other day called Ghost Busters Busters. Where would never do that in a million years on Mr. Show, but somehow on this show it's silly and stupid and a little more disposable, so we can do something like that.

We're having so much writing some of the sillier stuff that never would have been on Mr. Show. And that's not a knock on Mr. Show at all, because it's my favorite comedy show of all time. Even before I worked on it. It's just really refreshing to write something so stupid and say, We gotta do that.

Andy Kindler. Andy's set - somehow he slayed that night. But something weird about it that wasn't translating for the CD. I don't know what it was. But we listened to it and it wasn't the greatest audio recording - I mean, the quality of it was good. But we didn't want to put it on the record because it doesn't represent what Andy does.

The shows need youth. All of our comics are getting too famous to do the show regularly. The people who are regulars five years ago, a lot of them have moved on and can't do the show anymore. We can't really get Jim Gaffigan anymore, we can't get Nick Swardson anymore.

So the CD is a great way to get yourself acquainted with some people who in three years, maybe even one year, be really big.

With a sketch show, it's a bunch of people and they're being funny. In a way that you can't really explain it.

Some of the subject matter is a little less weighty. When we were writing for Mr. Show, we were talking about how is this going to stand up to the test of time. Every little piece had to be this brilliant comedy jewel.

There's two different disks recorded at two different shows. And they're two very different shows. The San Francisco disk was in front of 450 people and was a real professional show where people did their best stuff. So to some people that's going to be their favorite disk.

Comedy Central was really impressed by how quickly we got everyone to sign the releases for the CD. They've never seen anything that quick.

And there's a period where everyone's buying those and it's really bad because no one is Larry David or Ricky Gervais. And then they don't work and networks stop wanting to buy them, but because they wanted to buy them before the producer wanted to make them, the producers are still hanging on to wanting to make them.

I think one reason why our show is popular too is that we have relationships with all these people. They are our actual friends. We're not like show promoters where we're like, (sleazy) Hey, come on over and do a show.

: But the people on the CD are famous. Those people were coming out to see those people. I don't think they need that kind of intimacy with those people.