Not everyone will find it funny. And some bits just didn’t land. But at its best, the sketches on Mr. Show were pure comic gold.

Mr. Show was a highly satirical and often vulgar sketch comedy show that aired on HBO from 1995 to 1998. It was created by and starred Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, who are now better known for more current shows: Odenkirk as Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Cross as Tobias Funke on Arrested Development.

The quirky, irreverent, and over-the top comedy is what made Mr. Show so great. Some of the sketches also are textbook illustrations of concepts from game theory. Arguably this is coincidence, as Odenkirk and Cross probably did not consciously design sketches for use in economics classrooms.

But perhaps the game theory is not so coincidental. There is arguably a reason for why edgy comedic sketches end up being good case studies for game theory. The connection is this: game theory is all about considering situations with a given set of players, rules, and payoffs. Good comedy is about pushing the borders of those constraints, with the players being crazy and colorful characters, the rules being concocted and cleverly satirical constraints, and the payoffs being the unexpected, dark, and surprise twists that deliver the comedic payoff.

Some sketches never make it on-screen, which is the subject of Odenkirk’s and Cross’s new book. Below are the sketches that did make it on air in Mr. Show and contain themes from game theory.

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"All will be well if you use your mind for your decisions, and mind only your decisions." Since 2007, I have devoted my life to sharing the joy of game theory and mathematics. MindYourDecisions now has over 1,000 free articles with no ads thanks to community support! Help out and get early access to posts with a pledge on Patreon. .

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Video: Mr. Show Change for a Dollar



Game theory concepts: Principal-agent problem, corporate organization charts, top-down hierarchy, corporate culture

Setup: Someone walks into a convenience store and requests change for a dollar. The inept employee ponders the decision and concludes this is way too difficult of a decision for him. He decides he should ask his boss. Consider the equilibrium if everyone transferred responsibility…

Video: Mr. Show Pre-Taped Call-In Show



Game theory concepts: Learning in games, k-level thinking, repeated games

Setup: In a standard call-in program, viewers can call in to a live program and talk to the host about the current topic. This sketch is about changing one of the rules: what if the show was pre-taped, so the viewer would have to call a week in advance before the program aired? This is one of my favorite sketches: do watch until the end for the final payoff.

Video: Mr. Show On the Spot News



Game theory concepts: Pre-emptive strategy, perverse incentive, sensationalism, credibility

Setup: A news station is covering a tense but peaceful protest. The news would be much more exciting if a riot broke out, and the news reporter plays a hand in making the story more interesting. The sketch continues with implications of a news station creating interesting stories. One of the YouTube comments offers this insight, “This is brilliant because it frames a current issue with journalism as a business and public interest. Media stations have to create news at times in order to keep their audience, which is sold to advertisers for revenue. Thus a phenomenal humorous portrayal of deception and private interest vs. public interest currently in the media.”

Video: Mr. Show The Last Donut



Game theory concepts: Arms race, minority game

Setup: This sketch makes fun of hipsters long before being a hipster was fashionable. Hipsters demonstrate two concepts in game theory: first, they want to do something that other people aren’t doing (a game where you win by choosing the unpopular choice is a minority game). Second, as alternative fashion gets popular, they have to adapt to choose even weirder choices. This becomes an arms race to do even more impractical things and resort to even older, obsolete technology.

Video: Mr. Show The Recruiters



Game theory concepts: commitment contracts, Bertrand competition, sports recruiting, race to bottom

Setup: College and professional sports recruiters are supposed to bring the best talent to their teams. But to avoid an all-out war, there are rules on the kinds of gifts and promises the recruiters can make. There are also limits on communication and age. This sketch is about what would happen between two sleazy recruiters if there were no restrictions.

Video: Mr. Show Guitar School/Imminent Death Syndrome



Game theory concepts: one-shot game, repeated games with unknown ending point

Setup: This is a long two-part sketch. The first half is about a kid who wants to learn guitar. Apparently he only has a few weeks to live, so the guitar teachers are really nice to him. The entire sketch is about how we are nice to people who are about to die, but we are often very mean to people who are in good health–but obviously will die at some fixed point as well. The second half of the sketch continues with a discussion of “imminent death syndrome.”

Video: Mr. Show Dr. X Annual Save the Earth Telethon



Game theory concepts: Credible threat, free riders, tragedy of the commons

Setup: A mad scientist Dr. X threatens to blow up the Earth every year, unless he receives $30 million which he raises in a humorous telethon. To show his threat is credible, Dr. X. is willing to blow up cities along the way. Dr. X seems to have thought of everything, including a visible escape pod.