Oh good lord, it's a kid's show

Imagine if when you were six years old you'd found some of your daddy's mescaline in the medicine cabinet, took it, ate 10 Oreos and watched "Sesame Street." That's "Wonder Showzen," MTV2's usually demented, often scatological, always brilliant kids' show knock-off created, directed and voiced by the members of obscure indie rock band PFFR.\nThe format of "Wonder Showzen" is not unlike that of "Sesame Street," "Barney & Friends" and their ilk. Real live kids between the ages of five and 12 interact with a host of puppet pals, and then there's the occasional cartoon, public service announcement or trip to the local farm/factory/zoo. The difference between those shows and "Wonder Showzen" is that pretty much everything on "Wonder Showzen" would either make no sense to children, or horrify them into submission. The vast majority of the humor is better left unspoiled, suffice it to say that when one child is asked to explain what love is, she plaintively responds "A neurochemical con job."\nExtras on the two-disc set of "Wonder Showzen's" first season include selected episode commentaries by writer Gordon Lish, former Presidential candidate and stand-up comedian Dick Gregory and Screamin' Stephen J. Hawkins (a guy impersonating Stephen Hawking's electronic voice), a special "Storytime with Flava Flav" and auditions and out-takes featuring many of the kids in the show. There's also a bonus mini-poster with puppet ringleader Chauncey urging the kiddies to "Hang in There" (noose and all).\n"Wonder Showzen" occasionally offers up a cartoon or sketch that's so outlandish, antisocially politically incorrect, or hideously flagrant that it verges on uncomfortable, but for the most part the comedy is spot-on and painfully hilarious. When a young boy in a Hitler costume asks a random man on the street wearing a cowboy hat "Whose hat represents more oppression, yours or mine?" it's clear we're not dealing with run-of-the-mill comedic talent. When the man in the cowboy hat unflinchingly responds "They both represent a fair degree of oppression -- you just killed a lot more people a lot quicker," it's pretty obvious we've got greatness (or is that blood?) on our hands.