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Sketch Comedy thread

post #1 of 51
8/2/08 at 9:38pm
Thread Starter 
The Upright Citizen's Brigade thread sort of became a catch-all comedy thread of sorts, but I figured we should have a place for it all to overflow.

I'm watching Season Two of In Living Color, my first time seeing the show. The first Magenta show sketch, with Pam Grier, is my favorite. "Get out of my way, bitch." It's sort of like Mad-TV, if Mad-TV was good-natured and had decent writers. Maybe I'm only associating the two because the MAD-TV theme song is almost an exact replica of the In Living Color theme song, and both annoy the shit out of me.
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post #2 of 51
8/2/08 at 11:31pm
Thread Starter 
David Allen Grier is the Dan Akyroid of In Living Color.
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post #3 of 51
8/2/08 at 11:48pm
There was a strange extremely 90s sketch show called "The Edge" which featured Tom Kenny, Wayne Knight and Jennifer Aniston. With cartoons by Bill Plimpton.
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post #4 of 51
8/2/08 at 11:54pm
Thread Starter 
Did a little research, found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo5isaiHO4o

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMjtxzppAfE

Interesting.
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post #5 of 51
8/3/08 at 10:33pm
Thread Starter 
Man, I fucking love Tommy Davidson as Spike Lee in Spike's Joint.

"You get a copy of School Daze with that."
"That's ok."
"It's free."
"It's free?"
"It's free."
"That's ok."

But Jim Carrey has the best line, when he asks why there aren't any white people on the wall and starts naming the most random white people. "Candice Bergnan, Fabian, that guy from Gilligan's Island..."

It's also pretty sad that it took me 14 episodes to realise that SW-1 is Shawn Wayans.
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post #6 of 51
8/3/08 at 11:27pm
It's not too sad Patrick, I'm not sure you were older than 2 when that show was on. In Living Color confused me when it first came on, because I kept expecting the band Living Colour to show up. I wonder if watching Jim Carrey tame himself in the last few years would make it awkward to watch his old characters, specifically Fire Marshall Bill? Oh, and I'm sure they were mentioned in the other thread but here's my list of must-watch sketch comedy shows:
Kids in The Hall
Mr. Show
The State
Ben Stiller Show

Of course there's the requisite SNL, my seasons of choice being in the 90s. I have a long standing theory about SNL the everyone thinks the seasons that occurred during their own adolescence/early teen years are the funniest. The older seasons being marginally less funny, and the newer seasons way less funny. Thoughts?
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post #7 of 51
8/3/08 at 11:45pm
Was season 2 of In Living Color when they introduced the Korean guy to the cast? That dude was great in FARGO.
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post #8 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
There was a strange extremely 90s sketch show called "The Edge" which featured Tom Kenny, Wayne Knight and Jennifer Aniston. With cartoons by Bill Plimpton.
I actually watched that. Odd that you don't mention Julie Brown, since she was sort of the star of the thing.

For me, the sketch comedy crown is shared by Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Kids in the Hall. I just loved the way Python episodes were constructed, with sketches often weaving in and out of each other, or interfering with one another. Kids I loved for its characters. They weren't catch phrases or gimmicks, but actual characters whose comedy was based on behavior.
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post #9 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:09am
Any fellow House of Buggin fans out there? No? Eh.
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post #10 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:10am
Actually, I did kind of like that show for the four minutes that it was on. It certainly deserved the airtime more than MAD TV.
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post #11 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:13am
So few people are aware of the sketch comedy prowess of Luis Guzman.
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post #12 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:15am
SCTV
Fridays
Hardcore TV
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post #13 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:25am
The classic Andy Kaufman appearance on Fridays. Real or put-on?

Probably a put-on. He was a master at this kind of thing.
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post #14 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:32am
Does anybody else remember a short-lived show created by Franken and Davis? I think it was in the very early eighties, probably after Franken left SNL. Steve Martin hosted the premiere. I see no mention of it on Franken's Wikipedia entry.
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post #15 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:36am
The New Show.
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post #16 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:37am
That's the one!

This has been bugging me for years. Thank you.
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post #17 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:38am
Martin did a fun riff on the Billie Jean video in that first episode.

Steve Martin and chimps and Marty Robbins. When I was 10 this was awesome.
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post #18 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Miller View Post
Of course there's the requisite SNL, my seasons of choice being in the 90s. I have a long standing theory about SNL the everyone thinks the seasons that occurred during their own adolescence/early teen years are the funniest. The older seasons being marginally less funny, and the newer seasons way less funny. Thoughts?
That sounds about right, and is probably the main reason I enjoy the Hartman/Farley/Myers/Sandler years the most. There were just as many bad sketches back then as there are now, but when it was good it was pretty great. I think the last SNL episode that really had me in stitches was the one Carrey hosted(assuming he's only done one).

As far as the "crap vs. quality skit ratio", I've still got to go with Mr. Show. So much great stuff. Python was certainly genius as well, and the Ben Stiller Show started out really strong but ran out of steam really fast considering it didn't even last a whole season.

I've never been a big Kids in the Hall fan, but I have to admit when it was funny, it was REALLY funny.
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post #19 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:57am
I must be the exception. I loved the Meyers/Hartman/Carvey years, and I was a full-grown adult at the time. When I was an adolescent, we got the Randy Quaid/Anthony Michael Hall cast. I'm certainly not gonna fall over myself praising that business.
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post #20 of 51
8/4/08 at 1:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Miller View Post
I wonder if watching Jim Carrey tame himself in the last few years would make it awkward to watch his old characters, specifically Fire Marshall Bill?
It's weird. He can't even play a straight character without mugging it up. After this, it's gonna be fucking odd to watch Eternal Sunshine aka that one movie where his jaw doesn't stretch like a rubber man.
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post #21 of 51
8/4/08 at 1:01am
Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo cracked me up as a kid, but that season where most of Spinal Tap was in the cast is my favorite material.
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post #22 of 51
8/4/08 at 1:16am
I remember Harry Shearer sharing the cast with Martin Short. There was some great stuff there.
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post #23 of 51
8/4/08 at 1:41am
And I loved a lot of Short on SCTV.
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post #24 of 51
8/4/08 at 2:04am
It was a little disconcerting to me when Short showed up on SNL. He seemed a little out of place at first, especially when he ported Ed Grimley over. I was just used to him being supported by a different cast. I felt the same way when Mark McKinney showed up. The difference, of course, is that Short did some great work in his SNL years, whereas McKinney was definitely slumming.
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post #25 of 51
8/4/08 at 2:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
...whereas McKinney was definitely slumming.
This is how I feel about Amy Poehler currently on SNL.
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post #26 of 51
8/4/08 at 2:18am
I haven't seen any of her SNL stuff, but I'll take your word for it. I can't bring myself to watch the show anymore. I loved her on UCB.
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post #27 of 51
8/4/08 at 2:19am
Thread Starter 
Was she a writer for UCB? If so, why is she not writing for SNL?
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post #28 of 51
8/4/08 at 2:20am
Her one-legged character just isn't worthy of recurring status, so I wish they'd stop trying. She's good on the news.
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post #29 of 51
8/4/08 at 2:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
Was she a writer for UCB? If so, why is she not writing for SNL?
It's my understanding of the show that everybody has to write stuff for themselves if they want any screen time. She must be writing something, unless things have changed.
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post #30 of 51
8/4/08 at 2:59am
No matter how much acclaim Poehler receives, she's never been able to top being Andy Richter's little sister.
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post #31 of 51
8/4/08 at 3:01am
Just throw bricks on to the sinking ship, why don't you.
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post #32 of 51
8/4/08 at 3:08am
Richter leaving Conan will be seen as a bona fide Comedy Catastrophe in 50 years.
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post #33 of 51
8/4/08 at 3:15am
On the one hand I like that Richter leaving gave Max and Joel Godard more time to be creepy. But boy was that show at its best when Conan and Andy had each other to play off of.

The staring contests, by God the staring contests.
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post #34 of 51
8/4/08 at 3:17am
I've never talked about this with you guys, so I just gotta ask: does everyone agree that Mad TV is painfully unfunny? I swear to Christ, no joke, I can watch five hours of that shit and not even smirk (marathons and nothing else to do, before anybody asks). How the fuck did it go on for so long?

No, seriously, how?
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post #35 of 51
8/4/08 at 3:31am
Isn't it still on? I only ever saw the first episode.

I sort of felt bad for Phil Lamar when I saw him for 30 seconds with pretty much no dialog in STEP BROTHERS. Horatio Sanz had more screen time!

In a way I'm thankful for Mad TV though. Without it I'd have never heard Artie Lange tell his splendid tale of buying cocaine while he was in pig makeup for some shitty sketch on the show.
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post #36 of 51
8/4/08 at 3:35am
You know, I take that back, 'cuz the skit of Pacino and De Niro at the ice cream store was pretty great.

One skit out of 12 seasons isn't good, though.
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post #37 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:57pm
I have friends that like MADtv and defend it against mid-level SNL on a constant basis. Eugh.

On a different note, Fuck Yes Mr. Show. They went high and they went low, and nailed both.
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post #38 of 51
8/4/08 at 12:58pm
Speaking of In Living Color I loved Damon Waynes' convict character who tried to act sophisticated by using big words but the wrong big words.

"Let me testiculate on the issue for a moment."

And Madtv had only three good bits: Clops, Gump Fiction and Studio 69 on Van Nuys Boulevard. Honestly, who the hell is watching that show?
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post #39 of 51
8/4/08 at 1:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
And I loved a lot of Short on SCTV.
Speaking of SCTV, I never understood the Gerry Todd bits. That must've been before my time.
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post #40 of 51
8/4/08 at 1:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
Her one-legged character just isn't worthy of recurring status, so I wish they'd stop trying. She's good on the news.
I'd love it if they did away with recurring characters altogether. Recurring characters are such a comedy crutch- it's a lazy way to tell the same five jokes over and over again. It's the equivalent of a chud poster regurgitating the same bullshit 4chan memes over and over again, but photoshopped differently each time.
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post #41 of 51
8/4/08 at 3:36pm
Exception: Ted Koppel showing Buckwheat's assassination over and over again.
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post #42 of 51
8/4/08 at 3:52pm
I don't know if this is within the remit of the thread or not. But I've been getting back into the work of Chris Morris who is something of an enfant terrible in the British televisual world. He made a sketch show called Jam about half a decade ago and it's still one of the weirdest collections of sketches you'll ever see. Some examples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QqhsquqiY0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYFQZ...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZOvt...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCtG5...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6p5ORHRnXs

As you can see from the last clip there's a variety of influences in the work, but Lynch is a director who gets a lot of visual nods.
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post #43 of 51
8/4/08 at 4:42pm
Anyone else had the pleasure of watching professional sketch comedy live? About 9 or 10 years ago, The Kids in The Hall did a live reunion tour (with the whole troupe!). My friends and I caught it in DC, front row. The highlights for me were Dave Foley as Mr. Heavy Foot walking right by me, the Discussion on a roof with Beers finale, and of course the Buddy Cole monologue, which was a lot funnier live than it ever was on the show. KITH needs to get back together long enough to put out another incredibly funny movie like Brain Candy.
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post #44 of 51
8/4/08 at 4:48pm
I saw KITH live, and they did some great improv (when a table fell apart in the middle of a sketch) as well as some "greatest hits".
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post #45 of 51
8/4/08 at 4:54pm
I saw the KTTH reunion tour back in 2000, it was unbelievable.
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post #46 of 51
8/4/08 at 6:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
I don't know if this is within the remit of the thread or not. But I've been getting back into the work of Chris Morris who is something of an enfant terrible in the British televisual world. He made a sketch show called Jam about half a decade ago and it's still one of the weirdest collections of sketches you'll ever see. Some examples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QqhsquqiY0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYFQZ...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZOvt...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCtG5...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6p5ORHRnXs

As you can see from the last clip there's a variety of influences in the work, but Lynch is a director who gets a lot of visual nods.
I got a cd of his radio show for the CHUD exchange, it's fucking brilliant.
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post #47 of 51
8/4/08 at 7:28pm
The Dana Carvey Show was the last time Carvey was relevant/funny.

Don't know his show at all, but Harry Enfield's B&W educational films (that I discovered on the tubes) are awesome.

Revisiting the MUPPET SHOW (yes, a variety show) with my daughter on dvd, I find the sketch comedy bits to still be pretty damn funny.

What amazes me to this day as how funny Monty Python skits are in just audio-form. My buddies and I laughed for hours, listening to records of their stuff. The voices, momentum, and play on words... You can't say the same for other shows.
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post #48 of 51
8/4/08 at 9:10pm
RE: The Dana Carvey Show, I still crack up when I think about "Germans Who Say Nice Things".
"YOU'RE DA GREATEST GRRANDPA IN DA WERLD!!!"
"MISTER HOLLANDS OPUS IS DA FEELGOOD MOVIE OF DA YEARR!!"
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post #49 of 51
8/4/08 at 11:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 View Post
The Dana Carvey Show was the last time Carvey was relevant/funny.
Was that Stephen Colbert?!

I totally don't remember him being on that show. But then, I had no idea who he was at the time.

Edit:

Apparently, Steve Carell was on as well. I really don't remember this show at all, I guess. And according to the Wikipedia entry, Charlie Kaufman was a staff writer.

How did this go off the air again?
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post #50 of 51
8/5/08 at 2:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Miller View Post
RE: The Dana Carvey Show, I still crack up when I think about "Germans Who Say Nice Things".
"YOU'RE DA GREATEST GRRANDPA IN DA WERLD!!!"
"MISTER HOLLANDS OPUS IS DA FEELGOOD MOVIE OF DA YEARR!!"
I love Germans who say nice things.

"YOU ARE NOT GETTING OLDER YOU ARE GETTING YOUNGER!"
"IT WAS A PLEASURE BABYSITTING KEVIN!"

It's amazing to point out just how young Carell and Colbert must've been at the time. And they pretty much look the same now.
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