Our quartet of sketch comedy-obsessed nerds pick their favorite skits from the most influential skit-based shows, and we vote on the BEST SKITS EVER! You’ll definitely want to dip your balls in this episode!
This show is brought to you by GEEK FUEL. To get a FREE Star Wars item CLICK HERE
Follow Laser Time on YouTube to catch new streams and fun videos, including this ode to video game farts!
SUPPORT TALKING SIMPSONS ON PATREON!
I watched tons of SNL from the 80s to current day. Never watched or even heard of Mr. Show until it was referenced many times on Gamesradar and LaserTime. Thanks to a LaserTime article ranking Mr Show sketches I found out that Pre-Taped Call in Show is my all time favorite sketch.
It inspired me to seek out other episodes and watch the netflix spirtual successor.
Norah Jones but something about that header image made me just realize how white as hell sketch comedy is, even with ILC and the occasional SNL member almost every sketch comedy person I can think of is jewish/white. There’s specifically very little Asian or Spanish people either, I remember watching “The Big Gay Sketch Show” back in the day and even that maybe had a token none white. Idk it’s not a political statement or inditement or anything but something about how WASPY(and Jewish) sketch is compared to other comedic platforms.
Ya know maybe it’s just that I’ve spent a lot time in standup clubs and acts tend to travel so even in un diverse places ive lived like New Hampshire or West Maryland I’d see comics of all races do standup all the time, meanwhile the Television sketch comedy farm leagues are largely Chicago Second City, UCB, The Groundlings and Canada which likely picks from a smaller pools.
richard prior show (cancelled its first week)
madTV
chappelle show
in living color
friends of the people
nick canon had a shitty show on MTV
can remember seeing the “Crushing your head” guy on tv a few times as well. I love the Devastator sketch from Mr.Show so I’m glad you guys played the music from the end of it at least.
–
Admittedly my first sketch show was All That ( which hardly holds up today except for the cooking with Chocolate skits) but here’s a so crazy that it exists clip of CHRIS FARLEY working with a young Kenan Thompson on All That. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rbnw-tmzVA
—
(Whispering) I thought Chris was hyping up something MST3K related for Laser Time this week?
I’ve always been a big fan of Mad TV. Every time I think of Randy Newman, I think of Will Sasso singing about Star Wars.
I don’t know if it count, but since you guys mentioned Animaniacs as counting, I think I’m going to have to say that Robot Chicken is my favorite sketch comedy show.
Would the lasertime crew cound Da Ali G Show as a sketch show? If so, that’s probably one of my top 5 favorites. Didn’t really catch it during it’s original HBO run, but after the Borat movie. Rented the series on Netflix and loved it. Ali G being my favorite of the three…always LMAO’d when he got a politician or authority figure to say stupid shit…my favorite skits include the one where he pitches his Ice Cream glove, and pitches it to future president Trump, or when he goes to the police training academy.
Growing up in Northern Ontario, Kids in the Hall was my and my friend’s crack. We referenced it WAY more than SNL and even The Simpsons. They were so experimental and off the wall, you learned to appreciate how creative even the most bizarre sketch was, whether you laughed or not. Mr. Tyzik was our spirit animal, we couldn’t go a day without playing CRUSHING YOUR HEAD vs PINCHING YOUR FACE.
I’m from Edmonton Canada, and that’s where they shot the first few seasons of SCTV. I remember watching them shoot a skit as a 7 year-old – got to meet John Candy and Joe Flaherty – even though I didn’t really clue in on how cool it was until a few years later.
Anyway, SCTV was the best.
“I’m a bad doctor…”
No one outside of Australia will care, but the best sketch show ever is ‘The Late Show’, which ran for 2 seasons on Australian TV in the early 1990s. Most of the cast went onto make the film ‘The Castle’.
My favourite sketch is Tony Martin dissecting the film ‘Jaws: The Revenge’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOPSecdbAqY
The Houseboat Horror review was better haha
Those THE STATE skits were great and I really need to watch that show in full sometime
You guys talk a lot about watching early Comedy Central, but I’ve never heard you pay lip service to “Almost Live”. That was the first sketch comedy show I can remember really getting into. My brother and I used to chase eachother around the neighborhood, making the Billy Quan “WHOOOAAAA” sound, and my dad and I still make Speed Walker jokes to this very day. Plus, it deserves extra credit for launching Bill Nye the Science Guy AND discovering Joel McHale! Maybe not the greatest show on the planet, but I’m always surprised how little it gets recognized.
REMEMBER KIDS: BE LIKE BILLY!
If you guys are ever in the mood for British Sketch shows, treat yourself to Big Train, It’s got Simon Pegg and Mark Heap! There’s a skit with The Man Formerly Known as Prince prowling in the African savannah hunting jockeys. Another show Mitchell and Webb Look is a great one as well.
I went through a period of loving a lot of internet sketch stuff in high school and there’s some really good stuff.
Those aren’t muskets were really good and stuff like the institute for pornographic nomenclature were really fast and funny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPwhZhJbvxY
and this is just very good absurd stuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kByUNE-XNOk
Hoping to hear about more sketch stuff on the next bonus time!
No love for Carol Burnett and Friends? 🙁 I realize it’s pretty old, and compared to most stuff today incredibly tame, but some of those sketches are absolutely hysterical, performed by some of the most talented comedians out there. The fact that they are all great friends made it even better.
Hey guys, I was also a big fan of the Adam McKay era of SNL ( Evil Boss skit rocks) and remember the Dr. Poop skit quite fondly. It really reminds me of the “Hospital” segment in the ’87 sketch comedy movie Amazon Women On The Moon. Are the Laser Timers fans? It’s hit or miss, but David Allan Grier really steals the show as Don “No Soul” Simmons. I believe it’s original release date is coming up soon in 30/20/10 and I think it deserves some love. Also, for the record: the Whipmaster is my favorite sketch of all time. I still laugh when I picture Bill Murray whipping wildly off- camera and then cut to Chris Farley’s face covered in blood red slashes. The look on his face is priceless!
Good choices, guys! I loved KitH, SNL, Mr. Show, but never watched the State (though I heard of it through the Nerdist Podcast) I think I need to scour the internets for this show now…
“The McLaughlin Group” is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I used to shout “Wrong! You all had Special K with Ba-nan-a!” to my friends randomly, only to get the most puzzled looks back at me. Glad to see you guys love it too. And I’m glad you also mentioned the first “Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker” sketch. I can still watch those sketches to this day and have to wipe the tears from my eyes because of laughing so hard. Great show dudes!