In the "History Of Stella" feature included on the Stella first-season DVD set, irreverent Stella trio Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain recount a skeptical Comedy Central suit asking them if they could be funny without sucking on dildos or dry-humping each other. The executive's concerns were well-founded: Stella's videos have a way of devolving into gay sex as a lazy default gag. Thankfully, Comedy Central's no-dildos-or-gay-orgies dictum is one of those restrictions that spur creativity. Without the crutch of free-floating raunchiness to fall back on, the trio were forced to tone down the crudity and self-indulgence that intermittently marred their earlier work. At the same time, they preserved their loopy absurdism and finely honed chemistry.
