# Mad TV Arab "Price is Right" skit **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-tv-arab-price-is-right-skit/289849 "2005-02-13T07:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-tv-arab-price-is-right-skit/289849/1 "2005-02-13T07:17:07Z")
I’m watching Mad TV, and they’re doing this “Price is Right” skit that doesn’t seem to be much more than a poor excuse to show really bad Arab stereotypes. Anybody else see this? What’s the deal? The only thing I can think is that they’re trying to make fun _of_ people who make fun of Arabs by making it really over-the-top. I remember they used to do a character on SNL that was a completely blatant stereotype, the idea being to poke fun at ignorant people’s _view_ of what Arab people are like. But if that’s what Mad TV is going for, they’re doing a really lousy job of it. Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-tv-arab-price-is-right-skit/289849/2 "2005-02-13T07:35:14Z")
I’m still holding my sides in response to Horatio Sanz’s Kim Jong Ill. “Hey! We _did it!_” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-tv-arab-price-is-right-skit/289849/3 "2005-02-13T07:58:48Z")
I remember that SNL once did a “Sabra Price is Right” skit, staring Tom Hanks, parodying Israeli electronics salesmen in New York and their fluid pricing methods. I found it _very_ offensive, and also very funny. Adam Sandler, especially, was hilarious (he’s also the most Israeli-looking American I know). ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-tv-arab-price-is-right-skit/289849/4 "2005-02-13T14:13:50Z")
I saw the skit. The twisted “Price is Right” skit is something of a theme. They’ve done a caveman price is right. I think the point is for it to be really over the top. They had an Al-Jazeera news broadcast about three weeks ago with the same theme: Death to America. They’re not the funniest skits I’ve seen - the Ashlee Simpson skit was much funnier - but it’s still loads funnier than anything they’ve been doing on SNL. ---
**Author:** ![EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilHamsterOnCrack)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-tv-arab-price-is-right-skit/289849/5 "2005-02-13T14:25:44Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I remember that SNL once did a “Sabra Price is Right” skit, staring Tom Hanks, parodying Israeli electronics salesmen in New York and their fluid pricing methods. I found it _very_ offensive, and also very funny. Adam Sandler, especially, was hilarious (he’s also the most Israeli-looking American I know). Being an Israeli myself, and knowing all those electronics salesmen types, I thought that skit was HILARIOUS! I loved it. Sabra Price is Right was a _great_ skit. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-tv-arab-price-is-right-skit/289849/6 "2005-02-14T04:35:52Z")
SNL also did **The Iranian People’s Court** which was basically the same thing (even though, technically, Iranians aren’t arabs). It was just an excuse for all the characters to speak in a faux Middle Eastern dialect, i.e. lots of high-pitched yodeling and rolling consonants. They didn’t even bother with subtitles as the sketch was pretty short. It also ended with the defendent getting his hand cut off as punishment. I laughed. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-tv-arab-price-is-right-skit/289849/7 "2005-02-14T09:48:46Z")
> [@EvilHamsterOnCrack](#): > > Being an Israeli myself, and knowing all those electronics salesmen types, I thought that skit was HILARIOUS! I loved it. Sabra Price is Right was a _great_ skit. Yeah - I suppose I ought to be just as offended by the SNL skit, but I too thought it was funny. I’m not sure why. Maybe just because it was much more clever than the Mad TV sketch. Maybe because it was more specific, i.e. “This is what a certain type of American salesman of Middle Eastern descent acts like”, whereas the Mad TV sketch just kind of seemed like, “Look at all these crazy Arabs acting all crazy. They want to kill Americans. They’re really violent, ha ha.” Or maybe just because Tom Hanks is so funny. Or maybe it bugged me because it’s already been done. I saw the other Al Jazeera skit where everyone said, “Death to America” as a matter or course. That was mildly amusing, and it at least sort of had a point. It just seemed so vapid to do basically the same sketch, except it’s The Price is Right. I just didn’t see the point, other than Arab-bashing.