This Week in Joe's Basement

- Season 1

(1989)

A satire of "structural cinema" art film in which the host of a new TV series does nothing but sit in front of the camera and drink beer.

Host Joe Winston and co-writer Paul Pomerleau wander the streets of Chicago with the camera, asking strangers to tell them a joke.

Four people address the camera and deliver improvised, personal monologues.

A leisurely walk from his house to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, interrupted by various passers-by.

Chef Mark Audrain bakes Joe a birthday cake, aided by several very messy assistants.

Alone in a Dark Room - an atheist vision of life after death.

Host Joe Winston finds his friends being played by actors in the movie of their life. Silliness results.

Three monologues about encounters with authority figures, delivered in intense close-up.

Interviews with people on the streets of Chicago, asking black people "What do you think of white people?" and vice versa.

The crew of "Joe's Basement" retell each others' versions of a classic tale, until it becomes unrecognizable.

The Cigarette Man snarls his way through a long quest for a precious pack of cigarettes, opposed by a silent monster.

Michelle tells her early life story of running away from her London home, while Kate argues with her doubles.

Two situation comedy sketches, "Horror in the Bathroom" and "Love in the Void."

A visit to Kenwood Academy, a Chicago Public high school, for a series of discussions with high school teachers.

The show returns to Kenwood Academy, a Chicago public high school, for conversations with students there.

Joe eats from a can of dog food, to celebrate receiving his first ever piece of mail from a viewer of the program.

Joe and the crew answer phone calls and take requests from viewers from pay phones at an undisclosed location.

Joe offers a recipe for making a proper episode of This Week in Joe's Basement, including "skewed perspective" and "maniacal laughter."

Joe expands his "recipe" for an episode of "This Week in Joe's Basement" to include a "mad craving for cigarettes" and "A small, burrowing insectivore."

Host Joe Winston and his crew take phone calls from viewers, and perform skits they request, including "Paul's Butt."

Host Joe Winston presents a narrative short film about a student at an elite university and his troubled relationship with his professors and fellow students.

Host Joe Winston and his crew hit the streets of Chicago to search for more women to appear on "This Week in Joe's Basement."

Two TV sets come alive for a romantic encounter in "Video Dating," and a strange Eye Creature recites philosophy and drools.

A letter from a mysterious fan, who calls himself King Zeke, introduces a series of intense personal monologues by Juan Luco, Therese Sherman and John Harriman.

In "Remote Control," two students suspect a conspiracy on campus to transform students into mindless robots. One by one, their friends disappear, until a mute, video game-obsessed roommate reveals the true nature of the plot against them.

The "Joe's Basement" crew visits two suburban shopping malls, to ask teens why they hang out there. Conversations ensue about life, love, shopping and war.

Mark Audrain wins a bar bet from Joe and gets to host the show for a week. Eventually, the crew rebels and Joe gets control of the show back.

Mark Audrain explores how well he knows himself, as Kate searches for her Knight In Shining Armor. Answers come from a science lecture on brain anatomy, in which a dissected human brain bursts into song and dance.

The crew of Joe's Basement visits a shooting range, while a panel of experts tries to determine the identity King Zeke, the mysterious author of increasingly bizarre fan mail..

Regular contributors Katalina Groh, Kate Olsen and Michelle Heuer - straight women - compare notes with gay men about romance and relationships.

Michelle Heuer and John Harriman deliver monologues about their own misspent youths and troubled past.

A contest for viewers to "spot the liar" among three drunken party goers who try to recall what they did that evening.

The Joe's Basement crew take phone calls from viewers, while the resident Scientist delivers an often-interrupted lecture on the history of communication.

Some of the most popular segments from Joe's Basement are revisited, including the Mole, "Video Dating," Paul's Butt, the Science Lecture on the brain, Inner Conflict, the Cigarette Man and others.

Monologues by John Harriman, Juan Luco, Therese Sherman and Ed Russell, accompanied by the Moon Blob Song.

Home video, re-enactments of home video by actors, and man-on-the-street interviews all reveal people as they actually are.

The Mole and the Construction Worker try out a series of games and contests, while a pair of TV sets play poker, and experts weigh in on what it all means.

Host Joe Winston has gone missing - but the show must go on. Co-writers Mark and Paul search for him, encountering increasingly bizarre distractions as they go.

Actors playing Mark and Paul, co-writers of "Joe's Basement," finally find Joe and the crew is reunited in the basement.

Hugh Moore interviews Chicagoans about their belief in the existence of UFOs, while the resident Scientist checks out their theories against the claims of the little men who live in his underpants.

Host Joe Winston and the crew return to the streets of Hyde Park, to ask people who their greatest hero is.

Dreams and the people who are tormented by them, from host Joe Winston imagining an encounter with a female fan to several of his friends who are woken up by a camera crew and prompted to recall their own dreams.

Host Joe Winston suspects there is a mole in his organization, and launches a full-scale effort to root him out.

Host Joe Winston and the crew conduct man-on-the-street interviews with Chicagoans about the class divide in America. With dad poetry by Cosmo Campoli.

Host Joe Winston and his staff sit around the basement, trying to come up with ideas for the show, while a phone number on the screen urges viewers to call in with theirs. Nothing else really happens.

The Joe's Basement crew answers phone calls from viewers, and takes requests, including a mini-episode of "This Week in Joe's Bathtub."

A psychiatrist interviews a woman who badly wants to be on television, while a suburban Chicago man tries to prove that he is the Most Interesting Man in the World.

Host Joe Winston recalls some of his own misspent youth, facing down policemen after an explosion, and making a horror movie parody.

Joe shoos away his crew so he can write, but when they get into trouble at the neighborhood bar, he gets them to return to the basement to each tell their piece of the whole story.

A mad scientist duels with his future self, while the crew tours an early nuclear waste dump, and Kris Hipps recalls more conventional threats growing up in a small town.

Michelle Heuer accompanies host Joe Winston to advertise a party the crew is throwing in Chicago to celebrate the airing of 50 episodes.

The Joe's Basement crew is seen watching an old episode on TV as phone numbers on the screen solicit calls from viewers.

The Joe's Basement crew takes phone calls and requests from viewers, culminating in a rousing surf tune.

A viewer called "Sandwich Dan" volunteers to spin himself inside a laundromat drier, so the crew pays him a visit. Later, a street philosopher's model of the universe is set to music.

As they had done once before, the Joe's Basement crew hits the streets and asks black people "What do you think of white people?" and vice-versa.

The crew reviews highlights from a party which celebrated the 50th episode, and Anton demonstrates his automatic gin-and-tonic making machine, built entirely from string, tape and cardboard.

The crew invites some guests who've been filmed for previous episodes to gather at a local café and discuss plans for making the world a better place.

Host Joe Winston summarizes the first fifty episodes of the series, for viewers to vote on their favorites.

Gross moments from previous episodes, including Joe eating real dog food, and the musical number "Please Don't Eat My Brain."

The sad tale of a strange man who shows up at a university physics lab, day after day, and pretends to work there. Meanwhile, the show is shut down by the FCC.