Hop in this Stranger's van

High school is hard -- especially so if you're a buck-toothed recovering alcoholic and drug addict pushing 50. Jerri Blank, played with an equal mixture of pity and pitifulness by comedienne Amy Sedaris, is the physical embodiment of what happens when you disregard those after school specials and D.A.R.E. visits as a teen. A self-described "boozer, loser, and user," Jerri moves back in with her family after a stint in prison, and ends up back at her old high school. Populated with such oddities as Chuck Noblet (writer and co-creator Stephen Colbert), Geoffrey Jellineck (co-creator Paul Dinello), and bass-voiced Principal Onyx Blackman (Greg Hollimon), Jerri's new life might even be stranger than her old one.\nComedy Central took a gamble airing this show, which seems innocent and coy on the surface, but actually deals with Jerri's former coke-whore existence with a cold frankness. Colbert and Dinello are hilarious as caring and supportive school faculty, but it's Greg Hollimon's Principal Blackman whose appearance and actions elicit laughs nearly 100% of the time. Sedaris, almost invisible in her Jerri costume and makeup, is a television comic talent on par with her brother David in the literary field, and despite "Strangers with Candy's" occasional dips into inane sarcasm and scatological humor, it hits its mark more often than not.\nExtras abound on this complete series set, but are mostly aimed at diehard fans of the show. Sedaris, Colbert, and Dinello provide off-the-wall commentary on nine of the 30 episodes, and the original unaired pilot episode is a neat find. Extras range from the trivial (an irreverent blooper reel) to the bizarre (a film strip presentation by Colbert and Dinello's characters, a compilation of the show's surreal end-credit dance-offs) and full-circle to the informative (a 45-minute Museum of Television & Radio interview with the entire cast).\n"Strangers with Candy" belongs in the same bin with many of Comedy Central's critically acclaimed shows that were cancelled due to either low ratings or mega-star meltdowns. With a big-screen version of "Strangers" arriving this summer, it's advisable for fans of this quirky, long-lost Comedy Central gem to revisit Jerri Blank and her spirit-lifting, always somewhat creepy adventures in high school.