Purely Joyful Movie!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

A Brilliant Conflict

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

They say that Saturday Night Live used to be a very bold, risqué, hilarious satirical piece. That was apparently back in the day before I was old enough to know the difference, because I can remember exactly ONE SNL sketch that was genuinely funny or that hit the mark with parody. (And it was the former, not the latter.)MADtv, however, was another story altogether. Its appearance was quite propitious: 1995, right in the midst of that that idealistic Golden Ascendancy when Middle America was growing fatter and richer with its lower-class Playgirl Playmate in the White House, an exploding appetite for cheap outsourced consumer goods, the 90210-lifestyle poisoning teenagers' imaginations to the point of lethality, pop music about to produce its most horrific bunch ever in the form and/or image of the ex-Mousekateers... and no more good satire show that hit home just how HORRIFIC this all was!Enter MADtv, which lampooned the peculiarities of 1990's and 2000's politics, lifestyles, habits, entertainment and everything else under the sun in America. Finding ripe targets was in itself pretty easy: in retrospect (though some certainly saw it even then and were laughed off as loonies, or worse, as John Birchers) it is difficult to argue that almost anything that went on politically, economically, socially or culturally in America during those decades was a *positive* development. (The lone exception might be the disappearance of 1980's hair styles and clothing.) But what made MADtv so brilliant was its unabashed sense of humor about just how ridiculous everything was.Taken at face value, most of the parodies on MADtv are tastelessly vile, but even this aspect is so skillfully executed as to appear a subtle, genius commentary on the tastelessness and vileness of 90's and 00's American society. MADtv never rose to the prominence of SNL, and perhaps we ought to be thankful for that: MADtv never succumbed to the temptation to start taking itself seriously and trying to one-up the figures it sent up in their own fields.Whether it's Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Bill O'Reilly, the Clintons, Oprah Winfrey... MADtv just hits to the heart of it all. At a time when the most ridiculous elements in America were becoming its most serious spokesmen, we had MADtv to show us the madness of it all. So sad so few listened, and so sad we no longer have it with us to help us laugh at how much worse it gets every day.(Don't hate. Despite my location I grew up in the U.S. of A. and things are not much better over here...)

I was flicking through the channels late one night and I saw this really funny sketch on the TV that had me in stitches.From that sketch I became addicted to MADtv and didn't miss a single episode.My favorite sketches are E-Harmony,Stuart,Nicole Parker,Barack Obama and all the other presidents of the USA they have had, Coach Hines and many others.I have seen nearly every episode ever made on MADtv.I watch youtube clips on the show and they never fail to make laugh non stop.I also catch the repeats they air on TV now the show is over and I feel sad the show has ended because it was sooooooooooo funny and was one of my favorite shows.10/10 is my rating

I have to say,Mad TV is so bloody hilarious,especially with physical comedy.Yes,it was offensive(and still is),but at least it's not the cheesy Fast Forward Show or the so-called comedian Will Ferrall(no offense to the fans of him,but this is what I really think of him)and Mike Myers does pathetic kids movies now like Shrek,though the only movies I ever liked were Austin Powers(they were all comically classic).The greatest things about this show was how over-the-top it was in oh-so-funny ways.The mockery and satirical parodies from music,movies,TV shows,video games,toys,real-life problems,bathroom humour,to practically everything,and I MEAN EVERYTHING.When watching the show,it was like reading Mad magazine put on television virtually,it was fun.There isn't anything else to talk about this show because of how genius everything is in this show.One more thing,I thank the show so much for doing a take off of the High school musical film in a humorous version.That film was campy.

For the first couple of seasons, MadTV was the best sketch comedy to be seen on television since the original Saturday Night Live. It was anarchic, unpredictable, off-the-wall and, most of all, fresh. The ensemble cast was great, the claymation segments were gut-bustingly funny, and even the recurring shticks, such as the "Lowered Expectations" dating service videos and "Cabana Chat," were loose enough to allow a lot of variation.Then something bad happened.The cast changed -- not a problem in and of itself, except that several very versatile performers were replaced by performers who were not as versatile. (The crucial element in ensemble sketch comedy is every actor's being able to play a straight role.) Much worse, the writing changed. Suddenly MadTV was succumbing to the same phenomenon that had plunged recent seasons of SNL into cringeworthy humorlessness: the Recurring Character.You knew exactly what you were going to see every week on SNL: A Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch. A sketch with those two loser club guys. A cheerleader sketch. The same actors came back week after week and did the same characters over and over, long past their expiration dates.MadTV was doomed when it became apparent that every one of its episodes was also going to be the same: A Vancome Lady sketch. A UBS Guy sketch. A Stuart sketch. A Swan sketch (what an offensive character, not to mention singularly unfunny). A James Brown sketch (Aries Spears doesn't even do James Brown well). A sketch featuring whoever that lady who can't sit still or pay attention to anything is supposed to be. Enough, already! The only advantage MadTV had left over SNL was that it showed two sketches in between each commercial break instead of only one.Oh, how I long for the days when a simple dressing-down of an executive assistant by his boss could blow up into a manic exchange featuring such over-the-top lines as: "God? God is not here! Your report was so insanely disappointing, it drove God away!" Alas, it is not to be.