Goodbye Everybody

Eh. I'm officially killing this blog. I want to thank all two of my followers for their support over the past two or so years. Thank you and I mean it sincerely. That's it. Roll credits...

Thunderbirds Are Spoofed

Even though it inspired Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s politically naïve spoof Team America: World Police, Gerry Andersen’s Thunderbirds still remains an obscurity in the U.S. However, in the rest of the world, Thunderbirds is considered a beloved institution as evidenced by these sketches below…

This is probably the first ever parody of Thunderbirds (as well as Andersen’s other programs: Super Car and Stingray). It’s clearly not the best sketch to appear on Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s proto-Monty Python sketch show, “Not Only But Also” but it does have it’s amusing moments (particularly Moore’s vapid portrayal of Johnny) and, like all of the Thunderbirds spoofs you’ll find here, it’s creepy.




This ran on an episode of Australia’s sketch comedy series The D-Generation. The selling point here is the eerie physicality of the cast and their amazing ability to mock that palsied way that marionettes walk.




Les Dennis is probably best known to most Americans for his appearance on a first season episode of Extras. Les Dennis is probably best known in the U.K. for his sketch comedy series The Les Dennis Laughter Show and multiple, nasty public meltdowns. Here’s a Thunderbirds sketch from an episode of Laughter Show..




I’ve saved the weirdest and scariest for last. I have no idea where this sketch comes from, what’s going on in the sketch, why they look like they’re embalmed, why their lower lips are so elongated and puffy or why that one character starts breakdancing. It’s all in Japanese but I implore you to stick around until the scene where a floating Thunderbird eerily lip-synchs to a Japanese pop song.

Saturday Night Live '80

I’m obsessed by the 1980-81 season of Saturday Night Live not only because it’s one of the absolute worst seasons of the show but because it’s one of the years that has been forcibly swept under the carpet in hopes that people will just forget or never rediscover it. It’s similar to Disney’s efforts to wipe away people’s memories of Song of the South or George Lucas’s attempts to pretend that The Star Wars Holiday Special never happened. It might fool some of the people but the nerds will always remember. The nerds will always remember.

Eddie Murphy was a featured player at this point and wasn’t included in the early promos. I’m still shocked Gilbert Gottfried was an SNL member. He’s so ill-fitting for that show.




I’m convinced that Ann Risley was the worst cast member to ever appear on Saturday Night Live. She was a lousy actress with very little background in comedy and according to various books on SNL was an unbearable diva. Her current obscurity speaks for itself.




Some sketches weren’t entirely cringe-inducing. This one repeatedly brought me to the cusp of laughter several times.




Gail Matthius’ Valley Girl character was one of the few re-occurring characters created during the 80-81 season. Much like the characters created on the recent version of SNL, this character seems to be created out of spite against the audience.






I really wish I could get the infamous Jack the Stripper sketch that aired on the Malcolm MacDowell episode but it’s still unavailable on youtube. Until then, here’s a pair of bland, mediocre and obvious bits.







Not from the 80-81 season but I’m hoping to eventually track down the Mad Magazine Theater sketch from one of the Ebersol seasons.

Quincy: Cartoon Coroner

I haven't seen this SCTV sketch since I was a kid and it's not nearly as funny as I remember it. Although I loved this line: "Another drug overdose. When will these ducks ever learn."

Yogi Bear: The Original Ending

Usually, I try to avoid posting things that "go viral" but this was really too good to resist. Everything about this is well-executed and smart plus I love the inappropriately upbeat music that plays over the closing credits.





Also, I always wondered was Boo Boo a bear cub or just a really short adult bear? And if Boo Boo was a bear cub was he Yogi's son?

Lost Dennis Potter Parody

Here's an odd rarity. It's a sketch spoofing the works of Dennis Potter (most notably The Singing Detective) that was supposed to air on an episode of Spitting Image but was cut for whatever reason.



It's not particularly funny but it's so aggressively jaunty I can't help but love it.

Mystos!

There have been roughly over 4 million parodies of those once ubiquitous Mentos commercials and only about three of the parodies have actually been funny. This sketch from an episode of MST3K is one of the three.




Two notable things:

(1) The smug face Mike Nelson pulls at the end

(2) This is also one of the three MST3K sketches that was actually funny.

..And A White Man Set Them Free

Boom. No more racism. Thanks again Fonzie!

Mumbly Auf Duetsch

I don't know why the opening for the German version of the long forgotten Mumbly Cartoon Show is creeping me out but it is.

Australia's Flimsiest TV

I can tolerate America's Funniest Videos mainly because it presents slapstick in its purest, most uncontrived form. But I always hated its moderately popular spin-off America's Funniest People which,like America's Funniest Home Videos, was adapted for television all over the world. This parody that ran on the Australian sketch comedy series Full Frontal aptly illustrates everything wrong about this insufferable and long cancelled program.

Ugh.

Here's Exhibit A in why ZAZ styled humor should only be crafted by the ZAZ team.



(Although, the screwdriver gag at least pays off in a moderately clever way.)

Apparently Nielsen made a ton of these Red Rock Cider ads back in the early to mid 90s. They aired in the UK only.

Joe Piscopo's Jerry Lewis's Thriller

I don’t want to be yet another person that takes a shot at a criminally easy target like Joe Piscopo, so I will say that this is surprisingly not horrible. Although it is way too overlong and the idea of an army of undead Jerry Lewises is more terrifying than funny.




Also, at one point in the 80s Joe Piscopo was going to play the son of Julius Kelp in The Nutty Professor 2.

50 Psalms by 50 Stars

At one time K-Tel parodies were ubiquitous fixtures on the comedy landscape. Leave it to SCTV to come up with one of the funniest (which unfortunately isn’t complete)…



Believe it or not, Martin Short’s impression of Jerry Lewis used to creep me out as a kid. I remember being incredibly unnerved by this fake ad. As a side note Jerry’s son Gary performed It Ain’t Me, Babe when they hosted an episode of Hullabaloo.




Speaking of Jerry Lewis, here’s footage of him being an asshole to some teenager.

The Closing Theme to Linus The Lion-Hearted

I've never seen an episode of Linus the Lion-Hearted but if it's half as funny as its closing theme then it has to be one of the most unjustly forgotten cartoons of the 60s. I just love the subtle sarcasm and mock solemnity of it. It's surprisingly smart. Particularly the dig at Emmett Kelly at the end.

The New Show

The New Show was the very short-lived (5 episodes) sketch comedy show that Lorne Michaels produced during his self-imposed exile from Saturday Night Live. As in most sketch comedy programs, The New Show was very hit or miss but it did contain an amazing assortment of writers and performers (John Candy, Jeff Goldblum, Dave Thomas, Buck Henry and Catherine O’Hara were some of the regular performers while George Meyer, Jack Handey and (supposedly) John Swartzwelder were just three of the writers). The New Show was very reminiscent of SCTV and should’ve been a success.


This sketch seems like it was wholly improvised by Candy and it’s incredible just how many laughs he can get out of mentioning a bag of flour.



I want to say that Handey wrote this but it’s almost not weird enough.




These two play like lost SCTV sketches. The Twilight Zonettes feels like it was written by Meyer.






If this sketch ever aired on SNL it would be considered a classic. Unfortunately it didn’t. I could’ve sworn I read something about Swartzwelder writing this sketch but Swartzwelder isn’t credited as a writer on IMDB for this show. Maybe Handey? *Update* It was actually written by Meyer (Thanks Sam).





Special Bonus: Here's the opening credits sequence for The Dave Thomas Comedy Show a summer replacement sketch comedy series from 1990. I've never seen this but from the looks of the opening credits sequence I don't think I missed much.

Norbert Smith: A Life

Harry Enfield is yet another great British comedian who is unfortunately unrecognized in the US. Norbert Smith: A Life is probably the one project he’ll be remembered for. Examining the rise and fall of a fictional actor, Norbert Smith: A Life was a mockumentary made in the days when the mockumentary was still a fresh and funny concept. The film has the right mixture of dryness, gentle absurdity and the period details are sometimes astounding. The film even goes the extra mile by recruiting some of the original Carry-On members to appear in the Carry-On parody.

Churchill: The Hollywood Years

I'm surprised that I just found out about this. The reviews for this movie have been almost unanimously awful but the cast is interesting and it's directed by Peter Richardson who made similar American action movie spoofs like The Strike and GLC on the old Comic Strip series. With Christian Slater and Neve Campbell headlining, it's weird this hasn't been quietly sent directly to DVD in the US.

The Fries Will Never Be Ready

I love Youtube if only because I can finally see stuff like this. These are the scenes that were deleted from Brain Candy and it’s easy to see why: they really don’t work. It’s also easy to see why they eliminated the Zendrik character. Dave Foley’s performance is too broad and it seems like he’s trying to pull off a bad Shatner impression. With that said, “The fries will never be ready” is a great line.




Here’s the original ending. Apart from some great gags and a terrific, downbeat (but far too abrupt) climax, you can see why they rewrote it. I’m guessing the Cats reference was a call back to earlier Zendrik bit.




Also, on an unrelated note, what is it about this site that is so appealing to Chinese spammers?

Dead Invisible People

This looks and sounds like a lost Mr. Show sketch but it actually appeared on an episode of The Jenny McCarthy Show. Apparently it was written by Jon Glaser (who appears as an invisible dead body remover).

Blinded By The Light

Believe it or not, The Vacant Lot was a sketch comedy troupe that was once considered to be an heir apparent to the Kids in the Hall’s comedy throne. Their current obscurity speaks for itself. Still, this sketch based around Manfred Mann’s largely incoherent hit Blinded By the Light still works even today. Particularly Rob Gfroerer’s outburst towards the end.




Here’s a remake of the previous sketch. I like this setting better than the poker game. Unfortunately this ending lacks the impact of the original.




Some of the other members of The Vacant Lot were Paul Greenberg who popped up as a cast member on MTV's Jenny McCarthy Show...




Also, notice Jack Plotnick, Brian Posehn and, surprisingly, Jon Glaser.



And finally, Nick McKinney was the brother of The Kids in the Hall's Mark McKinney.