Some days it’s tough being a Venture Bros. fan. You get sucked into this smart, hilarious, and even complex show, only to have years in between seasons. Don’t get me wrong … it’s completely worth it, but the waiting can be torture. That’s why I was so excited when I heard Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick were putting out a short mockumentary-style special for the end of August. It might have only been eleven minutes long, but those eleven minutes were packed with hilarity, especially for fans who can catch the in jokes.
In classic Behind the Music form, From the Ladle to the Grave: The Shallow Gravy Story tells the history of Hank’s band with bullshit weaver Dermott and robot/percussion instrument H.E.L.P.eR. It’s all very over-dramatic, with Dean’s fake newspaper as the band’s only source of media attention and season four’s homeschool prom as their biggest gig ever. It’s fun to see where some of these interviews for the documentary take place — Brock is on assignment with Shoreleave (casually cleaning the blood off his knife as he talks to the camera) and H.E.L.P.eR. is at the strip club. Of all the inside jokes, the big running gag of the special is hinting at who Dermott’s father is, only to have Rusty put two and two together at the very end. Sure, we’ve known for practically a year, but seeing the look on old Rusty’s face when he figures it out … priceless. In case you were wondering, the spot-on narration was done by Bill Hader.
There’s a lot of funny dialogue and narration in From the Ladle to the Grave, all reflecting the sardonic and yet strangely optimistic style we’ve come to love about this show. It ends with a surprisingly impressive and entertaining music video, which you can download for free through iTunes. The worst part about the special is that’s it’s so short … such a tiny taste of what the fans are hungry for as we go into the fall season without the show. Here’s hoping Astro Base GO! gets to work on the fifth season so we don’t have too long to wait.
All the best quotes:
“This is a story of failure and triumph. Then some more failure. And triumph. Then explosion and more failure. Followed by double triumph. This is the story of Shallow Gravy.” — Narrator
“Young Hank Venture started life as the better-looking son of Doctor Thaddeus Venture.” — Narrator
“Two young travelers on the same road paved with hard rock dreams, fate drew them together as if one was a magnet that was attracted to trouble and the other was negatively charged trouble.” — Narrator
“Hank and Dermott discovered they shared a father that day … and his name was rock and roll.” — Narrator
“Dude, I got that ca-single. It was like 30 minutes of one song that sounded like an exploding car made out of basses. Awesome!” — The Viceroy (affiliation withheld)
“Then tragedy struck. In a freak accident during a freak battle on Hank’s lawn, H.E.L.P.eR. was mortally wounded in a car accident.” — Narrator
“Car accident?! Dude, that car was blown up on purpose. And plus, there was a guy in the car! Who cares about a fucking robot?!” — The Viceroy
“H.E.L.P.eR.’s a family member. And when you lose a family member, what do you do, cry? No, you rebuild him! That’s the Venture way!” — Rusty
“The road was a harsh mistress, and with the price of fueling a gigantic antique car hauling a band with a 900 lb. drummer, it was also a short mistress.” — Narrator
“I never found my father, but I found my brother … in rock! The world will know the names Hank Venture and Dermott Ficktel.” — Dermott
“Wait, Ficktel? And-and he’s… seventeen. No, no, that’s-I-um … this interview is over!” — Rusty
Clacked by Katie Schenkel 
on Aug 29, 2011 @ 00:10 EST5EDT
