For this week's Ranked!, we compiled our favorite sketch comedy shows. Did your favorite make the cut? Here are our twelve favorites:12. Human Giant
11. Robot Chicken
10. The Ben Stiller Show
9. The State
8. SCTV
7. The Carol Burnett Show
6. In Living Color
5. Chapelle's Show
Twenty-eight. That's it. That's all, folks. Twenty-eight episodes of Chappelle's Show that have left me with a hole in my comedic heart. That cause me to wake up in the middle of the night wondering what the hell happened? Where is Dave? Then I think, "Hopefully enjoying the fruits of his labor and knowing that some things will be forever imprinted on the world." Or at least in my mind. Phrases like, "I'm Rick James, bitch". Or characters like Ashy Larry. Memorable skits such as "Dave's Nigh Out With Wayne Brady" that demonstrates Dave's ability to take some very controversial topics and make them absolutely hysterical while turning Wayne Brady evil. Pure genius.
When I was awarded (and I do mean awarded) Chappelle's Show as the sketch comedy I would review, I kid you not, I was overjoyed. I giggled. I peed a little. I shed a little tear and then I poured some out for one of my most favorite shows that no matter what was happening in my world, my world would stop turning and I was all eyes and ears on the TV. To this day, I seek Dave out in the middle of the night. You know, those nights when sleep eludes you and all you can hear are the rather loud snoring of your loved one's around you.
In those moments there are few things that can soothe you. Few words that can make you smile every time you hear them. Few words that make you want to run out side in your underwear and yell it to the mountains.
"I'M RICH BIATCH!"
Dave, you are missed. --A Vapid Blonde
4. Monty Python's Flying Circus
I don't know when I first discovered Monty Python. Does anyone? I just know that the local PBS station would occasionally play Flying Circus late at night during one of it's multi-hour BBC blocks. The first skit I remember seeing was titled "The Dull Life of a City Stockbroker."
From that moment I was hooked.
Monty Python wasn't for everyone. It was distinctly British, often poking fun at urban and rural mores that were foreign to kids like me. It was proudly surrealist, educated, and stream-of-conscience, gleefully mashing naked organists, police officers, mechanical penguins, and Cardinal Richelieu into an alien melange that would sometimes make you go "wha?" before the joke sank in. But once you clicked into their wavelength, the genius was addicting.
The catalog of Python skits that have become cultural touchstones is as extensive as SNL's, and they only had 45 episodes. And I'm not just talking about lumberjacks, dead parrots, and silly walks. Monty Python taught us how to defend ourselves against fresh fruit. They taught us how not to be seen. They taught us how to win arguments. And they reminded us that NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition.
And they did all of it first. They impersonated women before The Kids In The Hall. They had animated interludes before TV Funhouse or The Simpsons. They mocked sports events and politics before Onion Sportsdome or Weekend Update. And they documented the lives of village idiots before Jersey Shore.
Now if you'll excuse me I have to practice my fish slapping and eat some spam before the Upper Class Twit of the Year Awards tonight.--CroutonBoy
3. Mr. Show With Bob And David
I have come here to praise Mr. Show. The HBO sketch comedy show that spanned 4 seasons and was hailed as brilliant by many, yet inexplicably managed to stay just outside of the limelight. Bob Odenkirk and David Cross's show felt like the love child of Monty Python and SCTV. Its comedy would swing from the simple to the absurd and often back again in a moments notice. It also helped that it was blazingly funny. Mr. Show was one of the first shows to feature future superstars Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, and Patton Oswalt, as well as comedy mainstays Paul F. Tompkins and Tom "Voice of Spongebob" Kenny to name a few.
I wanted to pick out my favorite sketch for this list, but Mr. Show had so many different flavors of comedy, it's hard to choose just one. There's the spot-on Sid and Marty Krofft spoof "The Altered States of Drugachusetts," the weird "Titannica," the mean-spirited yet hilarious "The Audition." But one of my favorites is one of Mr. Show's simplest sketches that demonstrates while Mr. Show could sometimes be batshit crazy, it never lost sight that people falling down is just plain funny.--Daddy Geek Boy
2. Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live will soon be wrapping up its thirty-sixth season.
Chew on that for a second. Saturday Night Live has been around for thirty-six years. Hell, it's been so popular that it's spawned eleven full-length feature films (and yes, It's Pat counts).
I could sit here and list the sheer volume of great comedians that got their starts as actors on Saturday Night Live. I could talk about the show's original cast, or some of the great casts in the '90s and '00s with Farley, Sandler, Ferrell, and Fey. But that would be too easy.
Let's talk Eddie Murphy instead.
Eddie Murphy was on Saturday Night Live for four seasons. And he was my first "must see TV" moment.
See, when I was in middle school, Eddie Murphy was a God. Everyone had the Delirious tape. His movies were awesome. But it was his characters on Saturday Night Live that we all talked about at school on Monday mornings.
It didn't matter if he was sending up Mr. Rogers, Buckwheat, Gumby, Stevie Wonder, or playing characters of his own, we were all in love. He could do no wrong. If your parents didn't let you stay up and watch Saturday Night Live, you spent the night at a friend's house.
Hell, Eddie Murphy was so funny he made us all believe Joe Piscopo was funny. That's no easy task, kids.--Chag
1. The Kids In The Hall
What can I say about the groundbreaking Emmy-nominated series The Kids In the Hall that hasn't already been discussed ad nausem? I still maintain that this sketch comedy gem remains one of the most innovative, bizarre, and fresh offerings out there.
Outrageously unique takes on drug culture, suburban angst, chicken women, and the endless possibilities of five men in drag made it some of the most disarming and subversive stuff out there. Whether they were French Fur Trappers rowing a canoe through the office corridors clubbing worker drones for Armani pelts while singing happily or crushing the heads of adversaries everywhere they dared you not to laugh while considering cabbage for headwear. Nothing was sacred enough not to take aim at and the serious talent behind and in front of the camera helped twist your mind enough to take the ride along with them.
In the spirit of full disclosure I will tell you that this brilliant farce holds an extra special place in my heart due to the fact that I started to fall head over heels in love with my husband while we watched endless marathons of KITH in the shoddy living room of his man cave. Whenever I hear the jingly guitar beginnings of "Having an Average Weekend," the theme song so brilliantly executed by Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, I'm immediately transported back to a time when I was young, in love, and laughing hard.--Dufmanno
