Uncle Morty's Dub Shack is a television series produced by the cable network

ImaginAsian TV ImaginAsian Entertainment, Inc was a multimedia company founded by Michael Hong and Augustine Hong and a group of investors that recognized the emerging importance of "all-things Asian." Based in New York City, its main attraction was a televis ...

from 2004 through 2006. Written, directed by and starring Trevor Moore and James Matison ("Jimbo") and also starring John Chou, Aladdin Ullah and Patrick T. McGowan, the show ran for two seasons, though there is conflicting information about how many total episodes were produced. Moore left his role as writer/director for the majority of the second season, but returned for on-camera roles. The show centered on a ramshackle audio studio run by Matison's fictitious Uncle Morty (McGowan), a grouchy old man suffering from hearing loss. When Morty is assigned to create English dubbed versions of poorly made Asian B-movies without scripts or translations, he enlists Matison and his out-of-work friends (Moore, Chou and Ullah, all using their real first names) as voice actors. Each episode features approximately 12 minutes of original sitcom footage, intercut with 10 minutes of an Asian film with new and unrelated replacement dialogue of a humorous nature. The sitcom section frequently featured animated sequences. After the show initially wrapped, several episodes were recut with different pairings between original segments and the movies featured. Films featured included Chinese kung-fu movies from the 1970s such as

Fist of Fury ''Fist of Fury'' is a 1972 Hong Kong action martial arts film written and directed by Lo Wei, produced by Raymond Chow, and starring Bruce Lee in his second major role after ''The Big Boss'' (1971). Lee, who was also the film's action choreogra ...

and Taoism Drunkard, as well as Bollywood films from the 1990s such as

Kyon This is a list of the characters featured in the ''Haruhi Suzumiya'' franchise, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito, which contains a multitude of other secondary, and minor characters who are introduced throughout the cours ...

and Dand Nayak, plus a single Japanese film, Blowback 2: Love and Death.

Guests

The show featured frequent guest stars, including comedians Master Lee,

Aziz Ansari Aziz Ismail Ansari (; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series '' Mas ...

and Mike Dobbins, actress Elaine Kwon, and punk band

Peelander-Z Peelander-Z is a Japanese-American punk rock band formed in 1998 and based in Austin, Texas. They bill themselves as a "Japanese Action Comic Punk band hailing from the Z area of Planet Peelander". While the founding members of Peelander-Z were ...

Reaction

ImaginAsian TV had limited coverage (restricted to a few major metropolitan areas), so the show remained largely unknown throughout its run. However, several major press outlets ran favorable reviews of the show, including the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

'' and

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

. Most compared the show to a faster-paced ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...

''.

References

{{reflist 2000s American sitcoms English-language television shows 2004 American television series debuts