With an eye toward innovative subversion, David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, the duo behind HBO’s fabled series Mr. Show with Bob and David, are taking the concept of product placement to satirical new heights with their feature-film debut, Run, Ronnie, Run. “We have a scene in a Wendy’s where we’re just vomiting. We have this long conversation about why you would make square burgers,” says Odenkirk. “It has nothing to do with the plot.” Adds Cross, “We were paid by a few companies not to be associated with the movie in any way.”

Fans of the twosome will recognize this tangential brand of humor as trademark fare from the partners’ ambitiously absurd sketch-comedy program— a cult hit which aired from 1995 to 1999 and finally gave the colonials an answer to Monty Python.

“It was a lot of fun,” says Cross, “but after four years it became not worth it anymore. We’d spend every day in a windowless, airless room, only to then be relegated to Mondays at midnight.” Bitter? Party of one? Your table is ready, sir.

Actually, Cross’s tone suggests burnout more than lingering resentment. Consider that both men worked on Ben Stiller’s underrated Fox series in the early 90s prior to launching their own showcase on cable television. Besides, if nothing else, Mr. Show proved a crucible for the central characters in Run, Ronnie, Run, including the film’s namesake, Ronnie Dobbs—the most arrested man on a reality-based law-enforcement show called Fuzz.

New Line Cinema plans to release the comedy sometime in the coming year, but Odenkirk is already keeping his expectations in pre-emptive check when it comes to fringe critiques of the on-screen chicanery. “I can’t wait to get those reviews from, like, Movie Time Nightly: ‘I couldn’t stop laughing! I’d never seen a movie before, and these images really seemed to move across the screen.’”