http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/nerveeditors/50greatestcomedysketches/01/
Worth linking to mostly because almost all of the selections include clips, and it’d be very hard for someone to be familiar with all of these already. Some very funny stuf there.
Well, they got #1 right.
I was just happy to see so much of The State on the list. Never cared for Monty Python, myself.
I looked at most of the videos, but I can’t believe that Moe, Larry and Curly did not make the top 50 for Slowly I turned (Niagra Falls)
Genius there I say.
SSG Schwartz
Biggest joke of all? I have dial-up, and can’t watch a single one! :smack:
I’m almost to humble to admit that for my 1982 high school talent show, a friend an I performed the Dead Parrot Sketch. Although we got huge laughs, our lamely contrived comedy paled in comparison to that of the MCs, who hilariously ripped on various personages of the student body. I only wish I had that on YouTube…
They missed the Lumberjack skit from Monty Python, and Pre-chew Charley’s from SNL. Then there’s Steve Martin’s King Tut on SNL. Or maybe I missed it.
Interesting list - quite different from other '50 greatest sketch" offerings I’ve seen before (which were probably more UK-centric)…
But what the heck is up with the pages? Alternate pages of the list appear on different websites… wuh duh fuh?
Eh, I thought the same thing but then realised that this list was a joint project of both sites. Keeping alternating pages ensures that each site gets a maximum number of hits.
There’s a sketch I was sort of hoping to see on this list because I thought it was hilarious and I haven’t been able to trace it: It’s an early SNL sketch that features a call-in show. The topic is particularly bland and no-one calls. Frustrated by the lack of calls, the host progressively makes the topic more and more controversial until it becomes completely absurd, ending with something like “commies eating American babies on school buses, I’m for it. What about you?” Does it ring a bell?
I’m not saying the uk one was any better, that was far too much little britain and not enough US stuff…
But this one is just 50% Saturday Night Live sketches… And the few I’ve seen (not easily seen in the uk), weren’t that good…
Who’s On First should have been #1, in my opinion.
Quite impressed that they had even heard of British sketch showThe Two Ronnies. But the “Fork handles” sketch is indeed a classic, brilliantly clever wordplay. The other one of theirs is the Mastermind skit (of the long-running British quiz show), in which the contestant’s specialist subject is “Answering the question before last”. Milked for innuendo in true Two Ronnies style.
No A Bit of Fry & Laurie, though. Not too surprising because it’s not that well known, but quite a few of their sketches would get into my top 50. The language sketch, the hardware store (“flushed grollings” etc.), Derek Nippl-e (that’s “hyphen E”), the haircut sketch, the Michael Jackson interview (if only for the moonwalk)…
Blocked by the Saudi authorities.
“Help! He’s being repressed!”
Also, the Pretaped Call In Show was the most sublime. Missing was Wanda, from In Living Color.
Hm, I’d never seen their version of that old classic. I still will always associate that one with Abbott and Costello, although I couldn’t say who created it.
I’m fond of Pass the Marmelade and America makes me laugh uncontrollably every time for some reason.
Holy cow, number 29, Sid Ceasar and Nanette Fabray’s Argument to Beethoven’s Fifth is as brilliant a bit of physical comedy as I’ve ever seen. They mime an domestic argument to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in one long take on live TV.
I hope they didn’t make some poor intern watch every episode of Fridays to pick a sketch.
What?
Actually, I agree with you completely.