The State was a half-hour sketch-comedy television show, broadcast on MTV from 1993 to 1995. The show combined kooky characters and bizarre scenarios to present sketches that won the favor of its target twenty-something audience. The cast consisted of 11 twenty-something comedians who created, acted, wrote, directed, and edited the show. Several memorable characters were created for the show, and for a short time their catch-phrases entered into popular lingo (see below). Often, the cast would appear as themselves and address the audience to promote fake "contests" or to deliver mock public service announcements. Much like Monty Python, The State's sketches were sometimes "linked" to each other in some way. A punchline or image that ended one sketch often provided a lead-in to the next. As with many MTV shows, each episode featured clips of popular alternative music of the time, used as background music to various sketches.

The cast was extremely reluctant to write material for recurring characters, but pressure from the network forced them to do so. When the character of Doug and his catch phrase "I'm outta heeeere..." began to catch on, Michael Showalter, who played and created Doug, conceptualized the second season sketch in which Doug gets annoyed by everyone finding his rebellious slogan charming.