Dr. Katz is a comedic cartoon with stand-up comedian Jonathan Katz in the starring role of a psychiatrist who has more than his share of professional comedians as patients. This enables them to do their stand-up comedy routines as part of their therapy sessions. Dr Katz' 23 year old son, Ben, still lives with the good doctor and is chronically unemployed. Ben is constantly trying to start up a romance with Dr. Katz' receptionist, Laura, with no luck whatsoever. For example, when Ben meets Laura for the first time he asks her if she'd like to go out for coffee, and she does - leaving him to answer the phones. Laura receives a paycheck from Dr. Katz but in many ways is as chronically unemployed as Ben is. She has no interest in pretending to be busy, being nice to the patients, or at times, even showing up for work. For example, when Dr. Katz suggests that Laura to be nicer to the patients she replies "Do you have any idea what it's like to deal with crazy people all day?" In the series premiere, "Pot-Bellied Pigs", Dr. Katz rides Ben pretty hard about being out of work. Ben's solution to his cash flow problem is to buy two Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs and breed them in their small New York City apartment. When Dr. Katz asks Ben if he thinks this is a good plan Ben's response is "Dad, the ad says 'Stay Home, Make Money' ....these are good things!" The episode "Bully" is also one of my favorites in which Ben gets very upset when Dr. Katz throws away Bully, the stuffed bull from his childhood. Ben labels everything that belongs to him, and expresses fear that perhaps his father wants him out, too.
Dr Katz employs a novel animation technique called Squigglevision, which can be visually annoying to some people. In SquiggleVision there is virtually no lateral movement by any of the characters or objects, with only lips, eyes, and the like animated. However, the edges of the characters are in a constant state of zigzagging flux, and this gives the impression of movement. I highly recommend this unique comedy as one of the smartest and funniest offerings that Comedy Central came up with before they started trying to appeal to the least common denominator with stuff like "The Man Show".
