Loading...
From living with his deadbeat son, Ben, to his day-to-day dealings with his stunningly sarcastic secretary, Laura, join therapist Jonathan Katz as he picks the brains of your favorite stand-up comedians.
1995
Ben entertains a business venture that he knows will bring home the bacon: raising pot-bellied pigs--at home.
Dr. Katz is down in the mouth about his less-than-social life after Ben tells him that they're spending too much time together.
Katz goes to an open-mic night to sing, play guitar and embarrass Ben.
After a checkup shows that he's a prime candidate for a heart attack, Dr. Katz asks Stanley and Laura to help him shape up.
Dr. Katz worries that he and Ben's mother failed to provide their son with everything he needed to know about the opposite sex.
In the never-ending struggle to help his son grow up, Dr. Katz suggests that if Ben had his own car, jobs--and dates--might naturally follow.
1995
Ben gets his 15 minutes of fame when he witnesses a crime and is quoted in the paper.
Katz's ex-wife comes to visit Ben, prompting Katz to threaten to move out.
Dr. Katz doesn't see that he needs glasses.
Katz decides to throw an office Christmas party.
A bee traps Katz in his office, while his honey of a secretary offers stinging sympathy.
Ben thinks his dad may have a drinking problem.
A new tenant catches Ben's eye.
Ben disapproves of his father's sleep-over date.
Ben and his father think they're up to building a set of shelves in the living room.
Ben decides he wants to help people and begins mapping out a strategy to do so.
Dr. Katz piques his brain committing his theory of intelligence to paper for an adult-education class.
Disaster does little to color Ben's penchant for samples of hair-care products.
Ben prognosticates all over the place after watching a show on paranormal activity.
Streaming availability information not available
Jonathan Katz
Dr. Katz (voice)
H. Jon Benjamin
Ben Katz (voice)
Laura Silverman
Laura the Receptionist (voice)
Julianne Bond
Julie the Bartender (voice)
Will LeBow
Stanley (voice)
1996
Ben decides to go into the celebrity limo business. He moves into Katz's office to do this, which of course annoys Laura.
Julie sets Katz up on a blind date with her friend Beth, who makes her own clothes. Stan put in a good word for Katz, telling Beth that Katz's nickname was ""Scootch.""
1997
Ben wins $500 in the Sir Pay-a-Lot scratch-off lottery and takes Katz and Laura out to dinner. Soon enough, Ben and Laura both get drunk and start to act goofy.
Ben decides to write his memoirs, dedicated to the ""loving memory"" of his father.
Katz decides to keep a bowl of fruit at the office, but it goes rotten pretty fast. He talks about it at the bar, and Stanley pronounces ""fructose"" as ""fruck-tose."" Meanwhile, Ben considers a variety of career options, after being told by his dad that he's ""pissing his life away"". He tries cake decorating and makes a cake made purely of frosting; takes up roller-skating; considers being a truck driver; and asks if there's a job for what he used to do as a kid: put on a pair of dad's pants, pull them way over his head, and stumble around the house.
Ben wants to change his image, and he decides to get an earring, after considering developing a tic, or getting allergies, or dressing like a pirate and calling everyone Captain.
While rummaging around in search of his birth certificate, Ben comes across evidence of Katz's former life: as a hippie folk singer.
Katz gets Ben to play ""Guess Who,"" the old game from Ben's childhood. However, Katz accidentally sees Ben's card via the reflection in the TV, and he uses that information to win, without telling Ben that he had cheated.
Katz got practically no sleep because the air conditioner ""shimmies"" and keeps him awake. He asks Ben to fix it. Then, at work, Katz realizes he's forgotten his day planner and asks Ben to find it.
Katz wants to take up recording again, because he's writing a new song. Ben is opposed to the idea, until Katz tells him he can be the producer.
92-year-old Aunt Estelle (wife of Uncle Morty) dies, and Katz is asked to give the eulogy.
Katz puts his back out while putting on his shoes, and Ben, as usual, is a wealth of help. He eventually becomes Katz's primary care-giver, though, driving him to work, carrying him into the office, and turning him over to Laura, warning her that he's heavily doped up on medication.
Katz thinks Ben is watching too much TV, which he is. But he says TV influences people.
Katz gets a new phone system at the office with all kinds of great features, supposedly. He has Ben call it, but finds that calls are being forwarded to Laura's house.
While in the bathtub, Ben gets a phone call. It's Ann Howard, from high school, and there's a five-year reunion coming up. The only thing is that Ben is afraid to go
Dr. Katz buys an Electric Bike because he always wanted one but never got it as a kid. They find that a $1,000 bicycle isn't all fun and games, when it breaks as Ben drove it down stairs. They soon learnm that some inventions just were never meant to be.
Apparently not having learned from his previous experience with journalism, Ben goes to a broadcasting school audition.
Katz finds a chair sitting outside on the curb and takes it home (""You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff people throw away."" Ben: ""You mean crap?""). However, he realizes his folly and sends Ben to take it to the dump, which proves to be difficult, because the dump is no longer open to the public (""It's all digital now"").
Katz gets a phone call from Sharon Meyers, a woman he dated briefly two years ago, when she was also his patient. She was very attractive, and a dancer (""She was a Rockette. She can kick her own face,"" Ben says).
Katz takes a class in making African ritual masks.
Katz and Ben decide to reorganize their closet space, and they hire a company to do it.
Ben wants to take a bike trip to Nova Scotia, and he and Katz discuss the great outdoors. Several plans are offered, but what they wind up doing is sitting around the house all weekend. Ben gets the whole thing on tape, thanks to Laura's camcorder.
Ben wins first runner-up in a WFEN radio contest to ride in the traffic helicopter. He hopes the real winner can't make it and he gets all psyched up for the possibility.
While watching the news, Ben and Katz learn that a mailbox in their neighborhood was struck by a car driven by a bald Caucasian male in his late 40s. Ben assumes it was his dad, despite dad's protests that while he is in his late 40s, he is ""balding,"" not bald.
Katz wants to do something big for Ben's 25th birthday, but Ben doesn't want any fuss.
Laura starts taking a lot of time off, but won't say why. Ben is curious and so is Katz, and they speculate.
1999
Jeff Goldblum and Ted Alexandro are patients; Ben considers joining the military after being called a "sissy" by a boyhood chum.
Teri Garr and Ed Crasnick are featured; Ben opposes gentrification of his old neighborhood and tries to form a grass-roots movement to stop it.
Margaret Cho and Paul F. Tompkins are featured; Ben has his wisdom teeth pulled, and Dr. Katz nurses him back to health.
Dom Irrera and Mitch Hedberg are featured; Ben and Dr. Katz explore past-life regression, and Katz learns he was once a barmaid in the Old West.
Tom Hertz and Al Lubel are featured; Ben throws a big party, and asks his father to make other plans.
Wanda Sykes-Hall and Jon Stewart visit the doctor; Ben joins a walk for hunger in an attempt to impress Laura.
Greg Behrendt and Ian Bagg are featured; Dr. Katz and Ben "help" Laura buy a used car.
Carol Leifer and Kevin Meaney are featured; Ben is convinced his father is about to remarry after Katz has a couple of dates with a gastroenterologist.
Merrill Markoe and Dana Gould visit the doctor; Ben cares for a neighbor's rooftop pigeons as a snowstorm approaches.
Mitch Hedberg and Matt Siegel are clients; Katz takes up gardening as a hobby, but Ben discovers his secret motivation.
Dom Irrera and Al Lubel take the couch; Ben buys a big-screen TV to replace their failed set.
When the paper doesn't get delivered for a few days, Ben observes that Katz is hooked on the news. Katz denies it and bets him that he can go longer without news than Ben can go without talking.
Dr. Katz is skeptical of a new therapy technique suggested by Ben.
Dr. Katz hosts a radio show.
Dr. Katz applies his expertise to a criminal trial.
Ben gets a job at a bakery.
Ben learns of Laura's engagement.
Conan O'Brien uses Dr. Katz's jokes on TV.
1998
Katz seems to be losing energy and is sleeping later in the morning. He wonders if he's feverish, but in fact, he feels a little cold.
Katz gets a fanny pack to hold his cell phone, beeper, electronic organizer, and various other technological gadgets.
Katz brings up the job issue with Ben, and a series of metaphors ensues.
Katz and Ben try to decide on a movie. Katz wants to see ""Love Strings"" (a chick flick), while Ben wants to see ""Fire Power.
Katz gets a ticket for running a stop sign, despite his efforts to lighten up the cop (""That is a great color for you""). Ben asks, ""Why didn't you play with his mind?"" and suggests they contest the ticket.
Ben becomes enamored of Cindy, a telemarketer from Telepurchase. He mistakes her powerful sales skills for actual affection, and wants to have a private conversation with her, resulting in an angrily whispered argument between him and Katz.
Ben is surprised to get a letter from boyhood friend Lance Garcy. Turns out it's a chain letter, and Ben is quite awed by its power of causing tragedy to strike those who ignore it.
Katz gets a death threat, via Laura, who is unclear on the details; she didn't press for more information because ""I didn't want to make him angry--er.""
Ben's goes to visit his cousin Sarah, in an unnamed city, from whom he once stole money when he was 6 (""It was over a dollar,"" he says as he worries whether she's still upset).
Ben points out, ""When we spend time together over breakfast: boring,"" leading to a discussion of the old games he and Katz used to play when Ben was a kid. Katz asks him to take the London broil out of the freezer, and then goes to work. When he gets home, Ben greets him with a clue -- the first in a series of 54 -- for a game of Treasure Hunt
Ben begins rearranging the furniture in the apartment after picking up a book on Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese philosophy that teaches believers to arrange the objects in their surroundings to achieve inner peace. Dr. Katz is wary of Ben's new obsession with Feng Shui, but Laura finally finds something to talk about with Ben.
Katz is disturbed to learn that the city alderman he voted for is corrupt. He talks about what HE would do if he were alderman: ""I'd like to bring crime back into the streets and out of the home,"" and get rid of the ""criminal element"" (Ben: ""Criminal element? What, are you Batman?""). Ben immediately begins being his dad's campaign manager, despite Katz's insistence that he is NOT running. (Ben's platform: handicap parking for everyone.) He makes signs and harasses Laura, inviting her over to help with the ""campaign"" (he tells her he used air quotes on the word ""campaign"").
Ben wakes Katz up in the middle of the night, claiming to hear a noise. Katz hears it too, and they both think they're being burglarized. After first trying to scare off the burglar (""I'm sure glad they haven't outlawed semi-automatic weapons in the city yet!""), they give up (""Help yourself, take whatever you want, just lock up when you're done""). Turns out the burglar doesn't get in, but Katz and Ben over-react -- oddly, this time it's Katz who over-reacts more. They get new locks and bars on the windows, and Ben wants a hamster. Katz tells Julie and Stan that a home is burglarized every 15 minutes, and that he can't believe he called 911 and was told he had the wrong number. (Stan: ""Did you dial N-I-N-E-one-one?"" Katz: ""OK, you win, you're the stupidest guy in the bar."") Katz suggests a lower peephole, in case the burglar is a midget. Why? Because every horror movie he's seen has an evil midget in it. (Movies mentioned: ""Midget Killers,"" ""I'm Small and You're Dead,"" ""Too Small to Let
As Katz and Ben prepare to go to Katz's niece Rachel's wedding, Katz discovers that since Uncle Morty is dead, he'll have to dance with Rachel -- and he can't waltz.
Katz's wedding anniversary is approaching, so Ben wants to do something for him.
Katz is auditioning for a community theater production of ""Love's Retreat.
Katz's old ping-pong rival David Stanick calls and wants to play again -- for $750. Katz agrees and starts to train and worry.
It's Thanksgiving, and something big happening: Katz's ex-wife Roz is coming for dinner
