The first two seasons of "Mad TV" were good

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > General Bullshit > The first two seasons of "Mad TV" were good

Jukeboxblues: Jul 29, 2015; Grimey Drawer

This one is alright. Not sure what season its from though. It would be funnier without the laugh track but what are you going to do, American TV and all that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYg9BFKIj38

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:40

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 21:47

Caesar Saladin: Aug 15, 2004

lol fuckin MadTV was embarrassing garbage all of the way through, I can't believe what I'm hearing

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:42

Code Jockey: Jan 24, 2006; 69420 basic bytes free

It's sad to hear about the mismanagement, people used to talk bad about the show but you could tell there was a lot of talent in it

My parents and I would watch the new episodes when they aired and I remember we all liked it a lot at the time, I can still hear the "You are now watch-ing MAD t-v... MAD" in my head

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:42

gnarlyhotep: Sep 30, 2008; by Lowtax; Oven Wrangler

The lady who did the Oprah impression was loving amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wIKW5ALTfI

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:43

TontoCorazon: Aug 18, 2007

mind the walrus posted:

Phil LaMarr loving carried those seasons.

Also yes

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:43

gnarlyhotep: Sep 30, 2008; by Lowtax; Oven Wrangler

And Dot, on Oprah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVlfhbkW71o

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:45

Uncle Wemus: Mar 4, 2004

just like the magazine the best part was the Spy Vs Spy parts

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:53

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

Asterios posted:

Some of the funniest people in the world wrote and acted on that show, and you'd never know it because the showrunner was a man who did not understand comedy at all. His name was David Saltzman, and I think he used to work in sports.

Some of the most talented improvisers in the country would get hired on MADtv as either writers or actors. Key & Peele, Andy Daly, Rich Talarico (who writes for both K&P and Review), Ike Barinholtz (who is amazing on The Mindy Project), Tami Sagher (incredible writer)...just so many amazing comedians in one place. My favorite writer, a guy named Chris Cluess, was an old school guy from the National Lampoon and Cheers and Night Court and stuff. Cluess served in the Korean War, and I think he just won an emmy for The Simpsons.

But anyway -- so you get it, some of the finest comedic minds in the country were all working on this show. And every tuesday morning we'd have a table read where we'd go through 45 sketches. There were always a ton of incredibly smart and funny sketches in this phone book-sized script.

Then David Saltzman would get in a room, pick the worst and dumbest sketches, and that'd be that.

Everyone who worked there saw it as a steady paycheck, and nothing else. Like, I got hired in season 11 right out of college, and by that point everyone knew: this show will never be good. So they'd all try and have as much fun as they could then go home and try to get better jobs. Try and get their movies sold, or audition for movies, or cartoon voices, or anything else. One time I heard Mo Collins give a speech at ImprovOlympic where she said, "I worked on MadTV for 7 seasons and I audition and nobody knows who I am." I felt super depressed.

The show could have been good! But Saltzman was such an incredible political operator...for some reason FOX always trusted him. I think it's because he reported to FOX's "Late Night" department, and the majority of that department was one show: MADtv. Unless you count "Talk Show with Spike Ferinstein" -- which I do!

This is pretty much every hunch I had about the show but never really cared to dig into. Mo Collins, Nicole Sullivan, Will Sasso, Andrew Daly, Aries Spears, and all of those guys and more were obviously more talented than the material they worked with, and I was always puzzled that the show managed to keep on the air despite being so... well.. dumb.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:54

TontoCorazon: Aug 18, 2007

extra stout posted:

kenny rogers ones made me laugh a lot as a teen or whatever but you all forgot to mention their single best skit - the olive garden

You are so wrong.

https://youtu.be/qqE7ZxH7BJE
Still makes me laugh so hard.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:55

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqE7ZxH7BJE

It's a fun compare/contrast with Mr. Show's Pallies. Neither one is really better than the other because one uses audio dubbing the other uses edits, but they're the same basic joke. I personally go for the Sopranos one more because of all the little details and how much footage they clearly shot to in order to get the jokes to land, but Pallies has that amazing thumbs up gag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n-rGnI9XNo

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:59

Uncle Wemus: Mar 4, 2004

Asterios posted:

Some of the funniest people in the world wrote and acted on that show, and you'd never know it because the showrunner was a man who did not understand comedy at all. His name was David Saltzman, and I think he used to work in sports.

Some of the most talented improvisers in the country would get hired on MADtv as either writers or actors. Key & Peele, Andy Daly, Rich Talarico (who writes for both K&P and Review), Ike Barinholtz (who is amazing on The Mindy Project), Tami Sagher (incredible writer)...just so many amazing comedians in one place. My favorite writer, a guy named Chris Cluess, was an old school guy from the National Lampoon and Cheers and Night Court and stuff. Cluess served in the Korean War, and I think he just won an emmy for The Simpsons.

But anyway -- so you get it, some of the finest comedic minds in the country were all working on this show. And every tuesday morning we'd have a table read where we'd go through 45 sketches. There were always a ton of incredibly smart and funny sketches in this phone book-sized script.

Then David Saltzman would get in a room, pick the worst and dumbest sketches, and that'd be that.

Everyone who worked there saw it as a steady paycheck, and nothing else. Like, I got hired in season 11 right out of college, and by that point everyone knew: this show will never be good. So they'd all try and have as much fun as they could then go home and try to get better jobs. Try and get their movies sold, or audition for movies, or cartoon voices, or anything else. One time I heard Mo Collins give a speech at ImprovOlympic where she said, "I worked on MadTV for 7 seasons and I audition and nobody knows who I am." I felt super depressed.

The show could have been good! But Saltzman was such an incredible political operator...for some reason FOX always trusted him. I think it's because he reported to FOX's "Late Night" department, and the majority of that department was one show: MADtv. Unless you count "Talk Show with Spike Ferinstein" -- which I do!

now thats a drat shame

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:02

Asterios: Apr 17, 2008; So long, Skorpex!

https://www.presidentbaby.com

mind the walrus posted:

This is pretty much every hunch I had about the show but never really cared to dig into. Mo Collins, Nicole Sullivan, Will Sasso, Andrew Daly, Aries Spears, and all of those guys and more were obviously more talented than the material they worked with, and I was always puzzled that the show managed to keep on the air despite being so... well.. dumb.

FOX was always trying to replace it with something. There wasn't a single season where they weren't trying to get another sketch show up, or a talk show, or anything. But they could never get their poo poo together, and MADtv actually pulled a decent rating. If you were waiting to watch SNL at 11:30, there was no reason not to watch MADtv at 11, even if you kinda hated what you were watching. What else were you gonna watch -- the news?

When I was there, Youtube wasn't even a thing -- I had to do all my research by videotaping giant chunks of TV in 6 hour blocks -- so it's not like people had a ton of options. If you wanted to watch comedy on Saturday night, you could watch MADtv, or some stand-up special on Comedy Central, or nothing.

The timeslot and programming tactic was more clever than the actual MADtv show.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:03

Junkyard Poodle: May 6, 2011

Cocaine's one hell of a drug.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:05

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

Asterios posted:

FOX was always trying to replace it with something. There wasn't a single season where they weren't trying to get another sketch show up, or a talk show, or anything. But they could never get their poo poo together, and MADtv actually pulled a decent rating. If you were waiting to watch SNL at 11:30, there was no reason not to watch MADtv at 11, even if you kinda hated what you were watching. What else were you gonna watch -- the news?

When I was there, Youtube wasn't even a thing -- I had to do all my research by videotaping giant chunks of TV in 6 hour blocks -- so it's not like people had a ton of options. If you wanted to watch comedy on Saturday night, you could watch MADtv, or some stand-up special on Comedy Central, or nothing.

The timeslot and programming tactic was more clever than the actual MADtv show.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the insight.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:12

gary oldmans diary: Sep 26, 2005

so much yelling and intentionally bad voices where acting would have been appropriate
reminds me of what the daily show was doing every bit in the last episodes of it i was willing to watch

hey i know lets have everyone talk really loudly all the time in a stupidly exaggerated character voice
clearly theyre frustrated isnt that funny

:ughh:

stop

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:16

Jukeboxblues: Jul 29, 2015; Grimey Drawer

Also Asterios, how did you go right from college to working for MADtv? That seems like a huge leap to me, considering the talent involved on that show. I know your role was only a researched but still. I assume you were doing stand up/improv during college and maybe they saw/worked with you and you got in that way. I know jack poo poo about the industry so forgive me if its a dumb idiot question. xoxo

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:26

Asterios: Apr 17, 2008; So long, Skorpex!

https://www.presidentbaby.com

Jukeboxblues posted:

Also Asterios, how did you go right from college to working for MADtv? That seems like a huge leap to me, considering the talent involved on that show. I know your role was only a researched but still. I assume you were doing stand up/improv during college and maybe they saw/worked with you and you got in that way. I know jack poo poo about the industry so forgive me if its a dumb idiot question. xoxo

During graduation week, I went for a walk along the Charles River in Boston at night. I noticed a girl ahead of me, so like any goon who knows he looks creepy, I started to walk in the opposite direction to give her some space.

And she shouted, "Asterios?"

It was this girl from my graduating class named Tamra Brown. We'd gone to school together for four years but I think we only exchanged like two sentences until that night. She'd lost her glasses, and was blind without them, so I helped her find them in the dark. She was incredibly grateful and we exchanged information but I never thought I'd see her again.

Then a few months later when I was living in LA, she emailed me. She said she saw me doing improv, and asked if I wanted to interview to be a production assistant on MADtv. I sent them my resume, and they saw that I'd interned at The Onion, and thought the experience working with writers would make me a good researcher.

Now Tamra Brown is a stand up in LA, and I believe she's doing really well. She's with a comedy troupe called Liquid Feet that's getting a lot of attention from the industry.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:37

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

Ah Emerson eh? Good on you guys. That's a tough game to play.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:44

Asterios: Apr 17, 2008; So long, Skorpex!

https://www.presidentbaby.com

mind the walrus posted:

Ah Emerson eh? Good on you guys. That's a tough game to play.

Back then Emerson would let in anybody, and our college degree was worth as much as a piece of cardboard with the word "pass" on it. Now I think it's hard or good or something.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:45

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

Well that's exactly what I meant by a hard game. I'm glad to see two people who played it well.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:53

Asterios: Apr 17, 2008; So long, Skorpex!

https://www.presidentbaby.com

mind the walrus posted:

Well that's exactly what I meant by a hard game. I'm glad to see two people who played it well.

Hah, true! Thanks.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 08:57

burritolingus: Nov 6, 2007; by Ralp

Asterios posted:

FOX was always trying to replace it with something. There wasn't a single season where they weren't trying to get another sketch show up, or a talk show, or anything. But they could never get their poo poo together, and MADtv actually pulled a decent rating. If you were waiting to watch SNL at 11:30, there was no reason not to watch MADtv at 11, even if you kinda hated what you were watching. What else were you gonna watch -- the news?

When I was there, Youtube wasn't even a thing -- I had to do all my research by videotaping giant chunks of TV in 6 hour blocks -- so it's not like people had a ton of options. If you wanted to watch comedy on Saturday night, you could watch MADtv, or some stand-up special on Comedy Central, or nothing.

The timeslot and programming tactic was more clever than the actual MADtv show.

So what finally killed the show?

# ? Aug 26, 2015 09:16

Dr. Dogballs Jr.: Jun 9, 2014; the angriest sex machine

Stupid as it sounds, Will.Sasso has proven through his vine compilations that he doesn't need writers to be a comedic genius for 7 seconds at a time. They're actually really good for loving vines

# ? Aug 26, 2015 09:17

Jukeboxblues: Jul 29, 2015; Grimey Drawer

Asterios posted:

During graduation week, I went for a walk along the Charles River in Boston at night. I noticed a girl ahead of me, so like any goon who knows he looks creepy, I started to walk in the opposite direction to give her some space.

And she shouted, "Asterios?"

It was this girl from my graduating class named Tamra Brown. We'd gone to school together for four years but I think we only exchanged like two sentences until that night. She'd lost her glasses, and was blind without them, so I helped her find them in the dark. She was incredibly grateful and we exchanged information but I never thought I'd see her again.

Then a few months later when I was living in LA, she emailed me. She said she saw me doing improv, and asked if I wanted to interview to be a production assistant on MADtv. I sent them my resume, and they saw that I'd interned at The Onion, and thought the experience working with writers would make me a good researcher.

Now Tamra Brown is a stand up in LA, and I believe she's doing really well. She's with a comedy troupe called Liquid Feet that's getting a lot of attention from the industry.

Oh nice. What a strange chance meeting. I think I also heard something about her on Put Your Hands Together. That troupe name sounds really familiar and a lot of LA comics go on that show, so it could be possible. I could be remembering that wrong though.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 09:28

Uncle Wemus: Mar 4, 2004

did Saltzman think the skits he chose were funny or was he trying to sabotage the show

# ? Aug 26, 2015 09:38

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

burritolingus posted:

So what finally killed the show?

Well it ended in 2009 and Asterios makes a good point that YouTube wasn't really as much of a "thing" for young people between 2006-2009. Like yeah it existed and changed the internet landscape overnight, but by 2009 the whole "culture" of YouTube personalities and original comedy was taking root and suddenly there were easy options for comedy for idiotic young people on a Saturday night who I imagine were a heavy demo for MadTV. I'm sure it wasn't the driving factor, but there's no way it wasn't a factor.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 09:41

Evil Agita: Feb 25, 2005; Lord Fool, give me another chance. I'll prove my strength to you!

omg OP you like something? u weak gently caress, lol just lol

# ? Aug 26, 2015 09:47

eSports Chaebol: Feb 22, 2005; Yeah, actually, gamers in the house forever,

why would i watch MadTV when the first two seasons of In Living Color are on FXX with great comedians like Keenan Ivory Wayans and James Carrey?

# ? Aug 26, 2015 09:52

burritolingus: Nov 6, 2007; by Ralp

mind the walrus posted:

Well it ended in 2009 and Asterios makes a good point that YouTube wasn't really as much of a "thing" for young people between 2006-2009. Like yeah it existed and changed the internet landscape overnight, but by 2009 the whole "culture" of YouTube personalities and original comedy was taking root and suddenly there were easy options for comedy for idiotic young people on a Saturday night who I imagine were a heavy demo for MadTV. I'm sure it wasn't the driving factor, but there's no way it wasn't a factor.

That makes sense.

eSports Chaebol posted:

why would i watch MadTV when the first two seasons of In Living Color are on FXX with great comedians like Keenan Ivory Wayans and James Carrey?

Hell yeah.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 10:34

Millions of Crows: Mar 31, 2010; take a look overhead

Is saltzman to blame for all the Mrs Swann sketches?

# ? Aug 26, 2015 10:39

burritolingus: Nov 6, 2007; by Ralp

Millions of Crows posted:

Is saltzman to blame for all the Mrs Swann sketches?

Remember when they did a huge, multiple episode story arc with her featuring a bunch of different guest stars?

# ? Aug 26, 2015 10:42

Dave Concepcion: Mar 19, 2012

i remember david herman being funny, it don't actually want to go on youtube to check because the memory of something being funny is usually worth more than going back and finding out it's actually poo poo

# ? Aug 26, 2015 10:44

Asterios: Apr 17, 2008; So long, Skorpex!

https://www.presidentbaby.com

burritolingus posted:

So what finally killed the show?

Options, I think. If you can timeshift watching SNL, then you're never gonna watch MADtv. Or, if you're waiting to watch SNL live, you can watch streaming internet internet content to fill that gap.

The entire strength of MADtv was in its positioning -- borrowing audience from SNL from 11 to 11:30 (seriously, the viewer drop off from the first half of the show to the second was huge.) When MADtv was your only option, it did well. When people got options, they tuned out.

It's so weird to think about the internet growing as a video entertainment option over the course of just a few years. To put it in perspective: remember SNL's Lazy Sunday? It was kindof the first big corporate viral video hit, and when it dropped, everyone at MADtv went nuts for it. People don't remember this, but it was distributed as as a free iTunes video download. Not on YouTube, not on some streaming site, but as a big video file you downloaded to your computer or iPod Video.

It took a while to go from big quicktime files to where we are now, and that interim chipped away at the show. To save money, the last season or two was shot "Chappelle's Show" style. No studio sets, all sketches shot on location, tossed to from a home base where an actor or two would explain the thinking behind the piece. I wasn't there for the last seasons, but I think when I saw they'd switched formats to save on production costs, the writing was on the wall.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 11:55

starry skies above: Aug 23, 2015; by zen death robot

Thank you for the details Asterios!!

# ? Aug 26, 2015 22:02

Germstore: Oct 17, 2012; A Serious Candidate For a Serious Time

Fonzarelli posted:

lol fuckin MadTV was embarrassing garbage all of the way through, I can't believe what I'm hearing

but it was competing with mid-90s SNL so...

# ? Aug 26, 2015 22:07

Riot Bimbo: Dec 28, 2006

Who was the shithead responsible for constantly writing/adding that Edgy-for-network-TV try hard poo poo in the 2000s that could completely kill an entire sketch with one terrible EDGY line?

# ? Aug 26, 2015 22:17

spank my snatch: Jun 4, 2009

Sasso's Elvis will always be gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuOOy3qlV9Q

# ? Aug 26, 2015 22:17

PassTheRemote: Mar 15, 2007; Number 6 holds The Village record in Duck Hunt.

The first one to kill wins.

Asterios posted:

Some of the funniest people in the world wrote and acted on that show, and you'd never know it because the showrunner was a man who did not understand comedy at all. His name was David Saltzman, and I think he used to work in sports.

Some of the most talented improvisers in the country would get hired on MADtv as either writers or actors. Key & Peele, Andy Daly, Rich Talarico (who writes for both K&P and Review), Ike Barinholtz (who is amazing on The Mindy Project), Tami Sagher (incredible writer)...just so many amazing comedians in one place. My favorite writer, a guy named Chris Cluess, was an old school guy from the National Lampoon and Cheers and Night Court and stuff. Cluess served in the Korean War, and I think he just won an emmy for The Simpsons.

But anyway -- so you get it, some of the finest comedic minds in the country were all working on this show. And every tuesday morning we'd have a table read where we'd go through 45 sketches. There were always a ton of incredibly smart and funny sketches in this phone book-sized script.

Then David Saltzman would get in a room, pick the worst and dumbest sketches, and that'd be that.

Everyone who worked there saw it as a steady paycheck, and nothing else. Like, I got hired in season 11 right out of college, and by that point everyone knew: this show will never be good. So they'd all try and have as much fun as they could then go home and try to get better jobs. Try and get their movies sold, or audition for movies, or cartoon voices, or anything else. One time I heard Mo Collins give a speech at ImprovOlympic where she said, "I worked on MadTV for 7 seasons and I audition and nobody knows who I am." I felt super depressed.

The show could have been good! But Saltzman was such an incredible political operator...for some reason FOX always trusted him. I think it's because he reported to FOX's "Late Night" department, and the majority of that department was one show: MADtv. Unless you count "Talk Show with Spike Ferinstein" -- which I do!

This explains a lot. I always felt MadTV was very hit or miss.

Millions of Crows posted:

Is saltzman to blame for all the Mrs Swann sketches?

He's probably responsible for all those Stuart sketches as well.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 22:33

Gaunab: Feb 13, 2012; LUFTHANSA YOU FUCKING DICKWEASEL

i liked the bobby brown/whitney houston sketches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gntvP3dDknk

# ? Aug 26, 2015 22:39

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 21:47

Germstore: Oct 17, 2012; A Serious Candidate For a Serious Time

Will Sasso was really good in Drop Dead Gorgeous. You can go full retard.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 22:41

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > General Bullshit > The first two seasons of "Mad TV" were good

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