As God is my witness that is a reference to Central Tech. Toronto’s “dumb” highschool circa 1987. It’s for people who’s best subjects were shop or typing, or other tech courses.
The best thing about taht sketch is that O’Hara actually wrote the sketch. I always remember one of her guess answers “ABBA”. T=I thinit was the way she said it with tears in here eyes knowing that she shouldn’t answer but can’t help herself.
Flaherty is great in the Night School Hi-Q: “Well Alex Make me eat a bug if I am wrong and jump on my head but…”
Alex: “Do you have an answer?”
“No.”
Half-wits was teh otehr game show that killed me.
Alex: “Name an Italian food,”
Martin short (ginning and glassy-eyed): “Swedish meatballs!”
Alex: “Swedish Meatballs… unbeleivable… Where the hell do you think Swedish meatballs come from?”
John Candy Buzzing in: “Spain?”
oop. posting under the influence is not the best way to have proper spelling or coherant thoughts :smack: … I’m sure you got the idea though.
What does deduct mean Alex?
“The Fella Who Couldn’t wait 'til Christmas” is my favorite I must say.
Here’s another favorite quote:
Candy: I’m a hustler.
Levy: Well I walk pretty fast too, but I don’t brag about it!
Catharine O’Hara kicks ass.
I wanna bear her children!
What was so terrific about the performances at the Old Firehall in the 70s and 80s was the way the comedians fed off of each other. Much of the improv didn’t spark, but when it did it was magnificient, and more often than not it was due to the interactions between the comedians and with the audience.
When I watched SCTV, I never expected it to be continually funny or polished. Instead, I expected something more akin to the improv from the Old Firehall – play with your partners, bring the audience in on it, see if anything happens, and run with it when it does.
Anyone know who came up with the opener with the T.V.s being tossed en masse? A classic, self-referential T.V. moment if ever there was one.
According to Dave Thomas’s book SCTV, that would be John Candy.
Y’know, Alex, I got me a Phillips screwdriver out in the car; I can go get it and fix that buzzer problem right up, if you want…
The apartment building that the TVs were thrown from was my grandmother’s building! No, they didn’t use her apartment–she lived on a lower floor–but it was her building. Kind of fun to see that.
I don’t think it was mediocre. It’s just different from what TV audiences usually expect. It’s a much more low-key humor than one usually sees, and it’s a purer form of improv than one ever sees on TV.
My favorite:
The Melonville elections, with Mayor Tommy Shanks, in a mental institution, his campaign slogan being “Get me out of here.” Vote for Vic Hedges because “Nobody’s perfect.” And the same episode has the Brock Linehan interviewing Linda Hopkins, but working off research done for a completely different person.
IIRC, Andrea Martin told an interviewer she was pregnant at the time, and they were constantly looking for skits and costumes that hid her belly.
The one this I miss from the DVD set is that for some reason they couldn’t legally include was Lee Iococa singing “Tie a yellow ribbon round the Dodge Omni”
I know I’ve seen it in syndication but for some reason it isn’t here.
Other great moments
Bud Abbot and Lou Costello hosting the Saturday Midnight Special Live from Istanbul.
Merv Griffith returns to Mayberry
The Extended edition of the Merv Griffith show where Merv, Hall 9000 and Orson Bean go into space, Kill Speilberg and confront the evil Lucas.
Diff’rent Folks starring Hank Bain. “Why not Pop”
The Irwin Allen show. A talk show in which Irwin’s guests are attacked by killer bees or runing across the set in flames or trapped in a tidal wave.
The 1984 show. “So until next time, goodnight slick, and see ya weirdy”
Francis Bacon and William Shakespeare in Shake and Bake. The backstage scenes during Hamlet where Bacon keeps firig actors so Shakespeare has to kill off the characters, ending with Will sarcastically asking if he should just kill off the entire cast.
And so on…
Question for owners of the box set(s): Has the episode where Dave’s brother Ian Thomas came on with his group and did a great live rendition of “Pilot” been included on any of the DVDs? It’s the only televised performance by the Ian Thomas Band. It’s been so long since I saw it, I can’t remember what sketch it was part of. Don’t think it was “Fishin’ Musician”; it might have been the dance show hosted by Eugene Levy as a high school nerd. I think it had something to do with Bob and Doug wanting to videotape it, and Ian wrecking the camera at the end.
Anybody? Bueller?
It’s on there. Ian astounds Bob and Doug with the fact that he talks just like them, he just hides it when dealing the music industry people. The sketch was basically just Bob and Doug looking for a good ‘topic’.
Hooray! Thanks! I know what I’m buying next!
That was Bob and Doug trying to get a good topic for their show. With music videos becoming popular, they wanted to make a video for their show, and Ian Thomas was the subject.
If I recall correctly, NBC felt that musical guests were somehow necessary in a sketch comedy show–after all, SNL had them; so should SCTV. But the SCTV folks didn’t want to just break the rhythm of the show so a band could play on a stage, as SNL did. They worked the musicians and their music into the sketches themselves. Thus you had Ian Thomas making a video for Bob and Doug, Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics on “The Fishin’ Musician,” and Dr. John playing music in the bar of “Polynesiatown,” among others.
And you reminded me–Eugene Levy’s high school dance show made me laugh!
“What school do you go to?”
“Um, Central.”
“That’s a really boss school. What grade are you in?”
“Um, twelve.”
“That’s a really boss grade.”
Sure, it sounds idiotic, but it had me on the floor at the time.
That’s because it was really funny. The genius of SCTV was the use and reuse of characters, the interplay between the different skits and performers. Someone, before the days of DVD gave me the most horrible tapes of the half-hour shows, which destroyed all that wonderful continuity that helped the build and make things funnier as they went along. If it had been anything else, I wouldn’t have wasted my time with it, but I watched every ghost-riddled, snowy, wavy frame of them.
Yes, they sound dumb, but within their context (the cheap tv station and small town) they were hysterical.
And I’m going to give a shout out to Lola Heatherton, one of my all-time favorite characters! Thank you Catherine O’hara!
There just isn’t enough praise or appreciation for this group and the influence they’ve had on some of the best writers and performers out there. Andrea Martin always tackled everything full-throttle didn’t she?
I just saw the set yesterday afternoon and knew I wanted it and the first, and the third and anything they care to put out. It is rare that a show is blessed with so much talent, but this is something that will always resonate with performers, writers and some audience somewhere.
Bit of a hijack, but according to the Second City website, they’re working on another Canadian sketch show.
Thought its geared toward teens and called LMAO TV ( :rolleyes: ).
Still, may be interesting to keep an eye on.
Wow, someone beat me to it. A thread about SCTV that is.
When I started seeing commercials about it being released on DVD I thought, cool, I loved that show when I was a kid. Then my wife ordered one from Netflix. I was SO disappointed. Only one or two skits I liked. Everything else sucked. The bit with Rick Moranis playing Woody Allen and Dave Thomas playing Bob Hope. What the hell was that about? I mean, comedy wise. Not funny in the least.
I couldn’t watch the whole DVD, just the first episode and half of the second. The only reason I didn’t stop it earlier is that I wanted it so bad to be funny.
I want to give it a second chance, and may watch the second DVD, but I know it’s just wishful thinking on my part, and I was much more easily amused as a kid 
My favourite was John Mellencamp (back when he was still Johnny Cougar) as Ed Grimley’s alter ego in their Nutty Professor parody.