For the 52nd and final week of 2018 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks series hosted by Wanderer. We close the year with a simple subject for TV in TV comedies. There’s shows that many people like to watch as I’m going to focus on TV sketch comedies. Here are my three picks.
1. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
From 1969 to 1974 comes the mother…. or father…. Or…. Godfather…. YES! YES! Godfather of sketch comedies. Five British men and an American animator create a show that is undoubtedly one of the silliest, stupidest, offensive…. STOP THAT! STOP THAT! Let’s try that again…. A show with dead parrots, cross-dressing lumberjacks, silly walks, upper-class twits of the year, philosophical footballers, fish-slapping contests, and all sorts of shit. There’s two kinds of people when it comes to Monty Python. Those who love and those who hate it. The ones who hate it are practically fucking dumb.
2. In Living Color
From Keenan Ivory Wayans comes one of the greatest sketch comedy shows ever made as it gave audiences more of the Wayans in Damon, Shawn, Marlon, and Kim as well as introduce audiences to Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx. A show that for the first three-four seasons had no boundaries in what they wanted to do and who they wanted to insult. Yet, it was too much for FOX to handle prompting the Wayans to be gone after the fourth season leading a fifth season that had Foxx, Carrey, Tommy Davidson, and David Alan Grier to carry on with all that was left. Yet, it is one of the best as it had no bounds in what they wanted to do whether it had gay film critics, a pyromaniac, gossiping old ladies, music video parodies, an ugly-ass woman, and all sorts of shit.
3. House of Buggin’
From John Leguizamo comes a sketch show that only lasted one month from FOX before they cancelled it and later turned it into MAD TV with the only white guy from Leguizamo’s show to appear on the series. Yet, it was a show that was severely underrated as it focused on attracting a Latino audience where it was a place for Leguizamo to do funny things that also included Luis Guzman as a regular. It had all sorts of silly stuff involving gang members, a Mariachi band saying insulting things, parodies, and all sorts of crazy shit that was pretty much ahead of its time.
© thevoid99 2018
I never saw your third choice and I wasn't that big a fan of In Living Color but Monty Python was a genius program. It's skits didn't stick 100% of the time, but sketch comedy never does, but when it did they were wildly inventive and often hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI also picked one of the great sketch shows as well as two classics of the genre.
The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966)-Brilliant comedy that still holds up today. Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) is the head writer on The Alan Brady Show (played by series creator Carl Reiner) along with his team Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) & Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) and lives with his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) and son Richie in New Rochelle, New York. The show follows the clan’s various adventures and misadventures with insight and humor.
The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978)-Sketch comedy driven by the comedy queen and her merry band of clowns usually comprised of Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vickie Lawrence and Lyle Waggoner. Some of the better known skits include The Family (which was eventually spun off as Mama’s Family), As the Stomach Turns, and the classic Went With the Wind among many, many others.
WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982)-Program director Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) arrives for his first day of work at elevator music playing radio station WKRP in the title city and turns the place on its ear by changing it to a Rock n Roll format. Along for the ride is a colorful assortment of characters including curvaceous receptionist Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson), DJs Dr. Johnny Fever & Venus Flytrap (Howard Hessman & Tim Reid), goofy but lovable managing director Mr. Carlson (referred to as The Big Guy) and other wacky characters. Quirkily humorous and the classic Thanksgiving episode “Turkeys Away!” is a must see.
Love your first two choices. Truthfully, I didn't watch a whole lot of Monty Python, but what I've seen cracked me up. I was a huge fan of In Living Color. I totally forgot Leguizamo had a sketch show. Can't remember if I saw any of the episodes. Probably not.
ReplyDeleteIn Living Color is the only one I'm familiar with. I haven't even heard of the other two.
ReplyDeleteOMG I love Monty Python! I can't believe I forgot to include them in my list.
ReplyDeleteI love Monty Python and I loved this skit especially since my dad was a Lumberman and I grew up on a sawmill. I love In Living Colour and always watched it. This skit was hilarious. I do t know the last one but I had to laugh at the skit you have here.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any of these but I loved the Monty Python movie(s) I've seen so it should be worth checking out the first one.
ReplyDelete@joel65913-Many people didn't see House of Buggin' as I was one of the few that saw it when it was on TV and enjoyed it. I'm Hispanic and I love John Leguizamo.
ReplyDelete@Wendell-If you didn't see House of Buggin', I'm sorry you missed it as it was pretty damn funny. I tried to find other sketches on YouTube that would've been a better representative but couldn't find very much.
@Brittani-You've never heard of Monty Python? There's a lot of stuff you need to see.
@Becks-That is a damn shame. I'll have to slap you with a big fish.
@Birgit-There's not a lot of skits from House of Buggin' on YouTube which sucks as there's so much funny stuff that John Leguizamo did but I think part of the reason is that it wouldn't be accepted in today's ultra-PC world.
@Sonia-The show is hilarious as you could find many of their skits on YouTube.