MovieChat Forums > Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995) Discussion > The 26 greatest episodes in Dr. Katz his...

The 26 greatest episodes in Dr. Katz history


According to me anyway. I just finished the box set today and this is where I rank them:

26. Family Car
Season 1
Episode 6
Patients: Anthony Clark and Andy Kindler

This one makes the list just for Kindler’s session on the couch.


25. Pullman Square
Season 6
Episode 2
Patients: Ed Crasnick and Teri Garr

Ben refuses to let the corporate fat cats tear down the stores he went to as a youth to build another mall. He also refuses to go to jail for his “movement”.


24. Wisdom Teeth
Season 6
Episode 3
Patients: Margaret Cho and Paul F. Tompkins

A trip to the dentist proves even more painful when Dr. Katz mistakenly doesn’t give Ben any pain medication afterwards.


23. Cholesterol
Season 1
Episode 4
Patients: Dave Attell and Laura Kightlinger

Dr. Katz wants to get healthier but can’t seem to get Ben excited about it.


22. Big TV
Season 6
Episode 10
Patients: Dom Irrera and Al Lubel

When the old TV dies, Ben decides to use his fathers credit card to purchase the biggest, most expensive television he can find. The 2 days it is actually in the house are the greatest 2 days of his entire life.


21. Waltz
Season 5
Episode 14
Patients: Sussie Essman and Ron Lynch

Vic’s Video Store makes it’s inaugural appearance in the series and gives Ben a place to go outside the apartment. Unlike most additions towards the end of a series, this one actually worked.


20. Everybody’s Got a Tushy
Season 1
Episode 5
Patients: Larry Miller and Ray Romano

Dr. Katz is concerned that Ben has no social life when this should be the “hungriest” time of his life.


19. Bees and S.I.D.S
Season 2
Episode 5
Patients: Louis C.K. and Dom Irrera

“I think I’m fallin hard for Dr. Katz.”


18. Earring
Season 3
Episode 4
Patients: Jack Gallagher and Kevin Nealon

Ben decides to change his image by getting his ear pierced.


17. Miles Away
Season 5
Episode 8
Patients: Mitch Fatel and Patton Oswalt

Ben visits his cousin in Arizona and gets depressed by how successful she is. Dr. Katz misses him, Laura is the happiest she’s been in years, and Patton Oswalt tells a funny story about listening to Pink Floyd by himself in his apartment.


16. Guess Who
Season 3
Episode 6
Patients: Ritch Shydner and Jon Stewart

Dr. Katz cheats at a board game against Ben. He’s so distraught that he talks to his therapist about it who reminds Jonathan that Ben is a “giant pain in the ass”. He still feels bad.


15. Movies
Season 5
Episode 2
Patients: Sam Brown and Patton Oswalt

Dr. Katz and Ben get into a rut of going to the movies all the time. Neither one of them can do a good Brando impression.


14. Big Fat Slug
Season 3
Episode 11
Patients: David Cross and Caroline Rhea

Ben examines his slothdom.


13. Metaphors
Season 5
Episode 5
Patients: David Duchovny and Brian Regan

An addiction to coffee grips both Katzes and hyperactive behavior ensues.


12. Wild Weekend
Season 4
Episode 9
Patients: Don Gavin and Robert Schimmel

Ben wants to do big get-a-way weekend with his father but they wind up staying at home and eating lots of food. Thank goodness they filmed it for posterity.


11. Walk for Hungry
Season 6
Episode 15
Patients: Jon Stewart and Wanda Sykes

When Ben finds out Laura is doing a walk for the hungry he feels very charitable. “Let’s go walkin’ for hungry!”


10. Fructose
Season 2
Episode 3
Patients: Marc Maron, Bob Odenkirk, and Emo Phillips

Ben realizes what he should do about finding a career and moving out of his father’s apartment: Don’t.


9. Ben Treats
Season 4
Episode 5
Patients: Jim Gaffagan and Julia Louise-Dreyfus

Ben wins $500 on a scratch ticket and decides to take the most important people in his life out to dinner. Jim Gaffagan’s bit about a Manatee going on The Rikki Lake Show is comedy gold.


8. Memoirs
Season 4
Episode 1
Patients: Louis C.K., Ron Lynch and Fred Stoller

Ben writes his memoirs while Louis C.K. flips off kids who have crappy looks on their faces.


7. Henna
Season 2
Episode 12
Patients: Kevin Meaney and Fred Stoller

One should never use too much Henna when dying one’s hair.


6. Trash Day
Season 4
Episode 4
Patients: Dave Attell, Lew Schneider, and Fred Stoller

A patient catches Dr. Katz in an embarrassing situation which leads to both he and Ben to question their sanity.


5. Bakery Ben
“Lost” Episode
Patients: Dave Attell and Catherine O’Hara
Guest Appearance: Steve Sweeny

After his first day of work ever, Ben is relieved be “set free” once he’s fired.


4. The Particle Board
Season 2
Episode 9
Patients: Eddie Brill and Marc Maron

Father and son bond over the weekend construction of a lopsided shelf. Eddie Brill doesn’t understand why the phone company feels the need to advertise phone books.


3. Uncle Nothing
“Lost” Episode
Patients: Kevin Brennen and Louis C.K.


Ben resorts to drinking Zima after learning Laura is engaged. Louis C.K. wonders how politicians resist the temptation to blow everything they’ve worked so hard for…on purpose.


2. A Journey for the Betterment of People
Season 2
Episode 10
Patients: Todd Barry and Sandra Bernhard

In Ben’s zeal to change the world he accosts an old family friend and takes his message “on the streets.” After one day, he realizes he has given more then any one man should and retires.


1. Thanksgiving
Season 5
Episode 18
Guest Appearance: Carrie Fisher
Patient: Dom Irrera

Ben’s mom appears for the only time in the series as she and Laura come over for Thanksgiving dinner. Ben decides to cook the turkey and almost burns the apartment down in one of the funniest scenes in the history of television. In a lot of ways, this episode would have been the best way to end the series. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!”


http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=17736926

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26--interesting number!

I typically like the "story" segments more than the sessions, but I have to say that any episode with Dom Irrera is instantly placed into the top of my list... hands-down my all-time favorite guest on the show, always guaranteed to go into hysterics. I'm laughing now just thinking of when he showed up to the session in fancy Cuban heels.

As for the rest, any episode with Ben getting in over his head is great, too (which is almost all of them). I think I'd have to put "Wisdom Teeth" towards the top just for the scene where he tells Dr. Katz to kill him to end his pain.

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I freaking LOVE Dom Irrera on this show, his character was brilliant! I adored the subtle homoeroticism, like when Dom says he wants to lay on top of Dr. Katz like a pancake, lol.

Great choices, fantastic show.



Sigs suck, and so do people who use them.

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My unadulterated joy at finally getting hold of the boxset for Xmas (after building up a fairly watchable bootleg collection a few years ago) has been tempered by my anger at the censorship. Censorship is always guaranteed to make my blood boil, but why on earth would anyone (even self-selecting, 'we know what's good for you' censors) consider it a good idea to black out the middle finger moments in the otherwise excellent Memoirs episode?! I thought it was a technical fault, at first! It's a contemptuous decision. I suppose I should expect more interference in this classic show as I get through the subsequent discs. A message to the censors: f@*k off!

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

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this is agreat list, thanks

-
Shuji Terayama forever.

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