# I miss the early days of Comedy Central **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709 "2011-08-22T22:28:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/21 "2011-08-23T14:00:43Z")
I loved _Almost Live_! Periodically I will call someone an Ineffectual Middle Management Suckup and I either get a blank stare or a laugh because they think _I_ came up with the “title.” I tend to forget, at this distance, which skits were\* Almost Live\* and which were _Kids in the Hall_. Bring me smelts and a Coke! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/22 "2011-08-23T14:49:03Z")
Rose-colored glasses, I guess. My memories of early Comedy Central was replayed HBO comedy specials from five years before and four showings of _Amazon Women on the Moon_ every day. MST3K and Dr. Katz was fun but it was definitely not pure gold from wall to wall. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/23 "2011-08-23T14:52:40Z")
No channel is “pure gold from wall to wall.” Whoever made that claim? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/24 "2011-08-23T15:09:54Z")
Sorry, hyperbole. “I don’t remember it being nearly as good as some of the claims in this thread.” ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/25 "2011-08-23T16:51:47Z")
Despite the fact that _Make Me Laugh_ never did, I too miss some of the shows that are long since gone. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/26 "2011-08-23T17:12:51Z")
Am I the only person who misses the robot fights? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/27 "2011-08-23T17:17:51Z")
I don’t miss the robot fights, but I don’t consider that “early days” either. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/28 "2011-08-23T17:21:16Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I never liked the Drew Carey version of _Whose Line_. It really annoyed me that he always seemed to be fighting the premise. My feelings exactly - in fact, his version of _Whose Line_ got me to hate him even more than the last couple of seasons of his sitcom. ugh. I do wish there was a greater variety of standup - I feel like I keep seeing the same ones over and over and over. Much as I love Gabriel Iglesias, when I can recite his jokes with him, I’ve seen it too many times. I enjoyed _Win Ben Stein’s Money_ - smart and funny. But the “roasts” can just go away. Crude, unfunny, totally stupid, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/29 "2011-08-23T17:25:12Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > And what was that gameshow? I think it came on in the evening (7ish). _[Clash!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash!)_? Ooh, reverse interrobang. ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/30 "2011-08-23T17:32:53Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > And what was that gameshow? I think it came on in the evening (7ish). Perhaps you’re thinking of “[Clash!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash!);” the show I popped in to mention. I’ve looked off and on for clips on the net since, well, there was a net. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/31 "2011-08-23T17:39:16Z")
_Worst Girlfriend in the World_ Well, the sex was good… > [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > And what was that gameshow? I think it came on in the evening (7ish). Clash? It was always two teams of three squaring off, each team a group who were in some way the complete opposite of the other. People Who Think the World Is About to End vs People Who Just Bought Real Estate, that sort of thing. I still remember a lot of one-liners from Stand Up, Stand Up. Sometimes when discussions of what is or isn’t sexually appealing come up, I’ll refer to Allan Havey’s notion of why he doesn’t like Hustler: (Pretending to look at a magazine, puzzled) “What is that, a sunset?” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/32 "2011-08-23T17:39:27Z")
Not the early days really, but I miss Win Ben Stein’s money and Beat the Geeks. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/33 "2011-08-23T17:43:02Z")
Memories have gotten hazy, but it seems like, in those very first weeks (months) of The Comedy Channel, the programming consisted entirely of clips from comedy movies. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/34 "2011-08-23T17:44:13Z")
It was almost entirely clips, but it included clips from standup acts, television shows, and movies. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/35 "2011-08-23T18:44:35Z")
Didn’t Rosie O’Donnell host a show featuring stand-up comedians? I seem to recall she had very big hair. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/36 "2011-08-23T19:47:00Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Didn’t Rosie O’Donnell host a show featuring stand-up comedians? I seem to recall she had very big hair. It was on VH1. Stand-up Spotlight. It’s actually where I knew her from. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/37 "2011-08-23T21:58:42Z")
Have you noticed most comedy channels go like _this_ while some comedy channels go like _this_? > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I enjoyed _Win Ben Stein’s Money_ - smart and funny. It was occasionally amusing, but the biggest problem I had with it where those interminable and lame category titles: Jimmy Kimmel: …and finally _She was only a farmer’s daughter, but she never forgot how to hoe._ Contestant: I’ll take _She was only a farmer’s daughter, but she never forgot how to hoe._ It wasn’t funny _once_, why does the contestant have to repeat it in full?! In the time it took Kimmel to recite the category and for the contestant to repeat it, a _Jeopardy!_ contestant could have run through all of _Potent Potables_. Jesus Fucking Christ! AAGH! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/38 "2011-08-23T22:02:49Z")
\*Clash \*is what I was thinking of! ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/39 "2011-08-23T23:48:04Z")
Loved the British Whose Line. To this day some of the songs the Red Headed woman (name escapes me) and Mike McShane came up with still get stuck in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709/40 "2011-08-24T00:02:31Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Loved the British Whose Line. To this day some of the songs the Red Headed woman (name escapes me) and Mike McShane came up with still get stuck in my head. Josie? She has black hair, but she and Mike always did the best music. I like the American show just fine, mostly because Ryan, Colin, and Wayne were a rock-solid core group. The British show was wildly uneven due to the random make-up of performers, although that meant it could be funnier as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-miss-the-early-days-of-comedy-central/593709.md?page=3)