Yom Kippur Only Comes Once a Year Boys

How MTV's The State captured one of the year's best naps.

Back in the 1990s when MTV was awesome, they produced a short-lived comedy series entitled “The State.” Some of you may remember this show which starred the likes of Michael Ian Black, Ken Marino, and many other young, talented comedians.

I remember watching the show back when I was in middle school. Our group of friends then re-discovered it in college, watching bootlegged video cassettes of the show on repeat.

One of my favorite sketches was from season 4, episode 5, entitled Prison Break. In the sketch (which you can watch if you have a Paramount Plus subscription) the inmates at Lowell Maximum Security Prison Devise a plan to escape, because it happens to be Yom Kippur and all the guards are observing the holiday.

“You see that wide open gate over there?” One inmate named Jimmy Mulligan notes. “I’m going to walk through it. Yom Kippur only comes once a year boys!”

Pan to a shot of the guard, you guessed it, taking his Yom Kippur nap, as the inmates chop cabbage in the hot, September sun. As the guard peacefully naps in his hammock, mask over his eyes, Mulligan casually walks through the big open gate, finding his long awaited freedom on the other side of the gate.

The sketch teaches an important napping lesson: we all deserve that long-awaited Yom Kippur nap each year. But know there will always be a Jimmy Mulligan out there waiting to deviously escape while we do. Shanah Tovah boys!