Welcome to Mayne Street

What is the funniest show you are not watching on television? Mayne Street. It's an ESPN production, it's not about sports, episodes are about four minutes long and it's only available online.

The web series stars Kenny Mayne as himself: an oddball sports reporter whose dry wit makes him seem more suited for a good British sitcom than SportsCenter. You can subscribe to the video podcast, but you'll find a nice set of extras at the ESPN.com video page for the show. Here's one such extra introducing the cast of characters.

Kenny Mayne came to fame in the late 90s when his humorous style of describing the daily sports highlights began to upstage the actual events. While other sports anchors might describe a homerun by saying a player "hit one deep", Kenny Mayne was saying things like, "Your puny ballparks are too small to contain my gargantuan blasts! Bring me the finest meats and cheeses for a clubhouse feast!"

He has talent and humor to spare, but ESPN hasn't known what to do with him. His most recent roles have been doing offbeat NFL features and hosting ESPN's horse racing coverage. All that feels like a waste. This new idea of turning Kenny Mayne into the show itself may be just the thing. I can get my Kenny Mayne fix and don't have to endure professional athletes in the process.

If you like what you see, you may want to check out Sports Night on DVD. It aired for two seasons on ABC from 1998 - 2000. It's groundbreaking television by Aaron Sorkin. Each episode fits in a 30-minute slot, but you can't really call it a sitcom. It's more of a comedy/drama that is character driven. No laugh track. Quick dialogue. Romance. Smart. Thelma put me onto it, so you know it's good and it's not about sports. A lot of the style and even some of the cast of Sports Night ended up in Sorkin's next show: The West Wing.

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