Dr. Katz Professional Therapist: Encyclopedia II - Dr. Katz Professional Therapist - Format

Dr. Katz Professional Therapist - Format

The show focused around the title character, Dr. Jonathan Katz, who was voiced by, and visually based on, the comedian of the same name. Dr. Katz was a professional psychoanalyst who had famous comedians and actors as patients, usually two per episode. The comedians' therapy sessions generally consisted of them doing their onstage material while Dr. Katz offered insights or simply let them rant, meanwhile, therapy sessions featuring actors and actresses offered more interpersonal dialogue between Katz and his patient to better suit their predisposition.

Interspersed with these scenes were scenes involving Dr. Katz's daily life, which included his son, Benjamin Katz (H. Jon Benjamin), his secretary, Laura (Laura Silverman), and his two friends: Stanley (Will Le Bow), and the barmaid, Julie, voiced by the show's producer, Julianne Shapiro. In later episodes, Todd (Todd Barry), the video store clerk, became a usual counterpart to Ben.

Each show would typically begin with Dr. Katz and Ben waking up and beginning a plotline shared by the two. These plots included events like Ben attempting to become a radio personality, believing he's in possession of ESP, and the moral conundrum he suffers after receiving a chain-letter. The development of these plotlines would occur fragmentedly throughout the episode alongside the segments between Dr. Katz and his guests.

Much of the show's content, particularly dialogue between Katz and Benjamin, was improvised through a process called "retroscripting", in which a vague outline is developed but the actual dialogue is ad-libbed. This style, as well as Squigglevision, would reappear in Home Movies, a cartoon that features many members of the Dr. Katz cast and crew.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Format", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki