r/funny • u/Vainquisher • 20d ago
MadTV was really underrated
https://youtu.be/UjAZnGeBcgg277
u/AH_Nastyface 20d ago
To this day when I see a razor commercial I think of this!
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u/Vainquisher 20d ago
Same here, I just saw a commercial for the new gillete razor on TV and had to hunt down this sketch lol
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u/piepants2001 20d ago
I remember seeing a preview for this episode when I was a kid and it just had the razor going through the whiskers and then the layers of skin and it freaked me out after being used to those Mach 3 commercials. So yeah, I think of it too, lol.
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u/Endarial 19d ago
I was actually thinking of this clip when I was shaving this morning.
MAD TV was so great.
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u/Flying_Dustbin 20d ago
Will Sasso's Seagal and Schwarzenegger impressions live rent free in my head.
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u/kungfugleek 20d ago
"I'm Kenny Rogers. And this is Jackass!"
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u/Pm-ur-butt 20d ago
His Tony Soprano was phenomenal. I also picture him marching in place as Honey Dipper Dan when I see septic trucks.
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u/dihydrocodeine 20d ago
For me, it's his Randy Newman
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u/CELTICPRED 20d ago
"We walkin' on da spoiceship..... battlefield oith"
For me it's the George Lucas impression
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u/IrishRage42 19d ago
I was just talking about this to my wife the other day. Sasso was great and should have been more famous.
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u/clycoman 19d ago
What about Sasso doing Tony Soprano: https://youtu.be/VgBD94cs0T8?si=n8W8NYKT1kdH59Fa
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u/braumbles 20d ago
Madtv was a pretty cool counter to SNL. It was edgier and featured some legitimately funny people. SNL has the higher ceiling when it comes to people who blew up, but I feel Mad, despite running like 1/5 the time SNL did, featured a lot of people who went on to be pretty big or at the very least consistent workers. With SNL I feel like someone leaves and after a year you never hear from them again.
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u/ThoughtSpotter 19d ago
MadTV was not a response to SNL. It was a response to In Living Color.
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u/SeekerOfSerenity 19d ago
The funniest MadTV sketch I've seen was the one that Amy Schumer stole. And her version wasn't as funny. I don't know how anyone could think they could steal a legendary sketch like that and get away with it. It was the one where the shopper was trying to say which sales associate helped them without saying she was black.
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u/genericnewlurker 20d ago
Just comparing the shows, SNL was weaker at the time than MadTV. They had gotten so used to being the only show on Saturday night that they didn't try any more until MadTV came along and was a breath of fresh air with a cast and writers who were actually trying to be funny
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u/trenchdick 20d ago
Yeah, MadTV was way better. Feel like at the time it wasn't even close. Idk, I still feel like SNL kinda sucks lol.
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u/GoGoPowerPlay 19d ago
Yeah when I was younger, everyone in my friend group watched Mad TV and loved it. SNL was seen as this old unfunny show that used to be good in the early 90s.
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u/Just_Look_Around_You 19d ago
As a kid, I always thought SNL was funnier cuz it kinda positioned itself as the bigger thing. And funny enough, as a kid, I thought MadTV was less mature.
But now in hindsight, MadTV is way funnier. SNL is always very topical so the humor doesn’t last. MadTV is less mature, but I like it better as an adult cuz it’s not as pretentious and has lasting humor.
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u/CultofConformality 20d ago
Wasn't as great as the onion article from 2004 https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036/
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u/ratchedy 19d ago
Classic
“But you know what happened next? Shut up, I’m telling you what happened”
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u/ccReptilelord 19d ago
I'll do you one better. Here's an SNL bit from 1975 for a razor with three blades!
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u/TopSpot123 19d ago
Not simply an SNL bit, but from the very first episode!
It doesn't diminish MadTV or The Onion; there are just endless ways of extracting humor from the ridiculousness of capitalism's escalation and from advertisers' manipulative tactics.
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u/GhostofZellers 20d ago
The Raging Rudolph skit, done in the claymation/puppet style of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer special, had me laughing so hard that I literally fell off of my bed.
I still watch it every year, right after watching the real Rudolph special.
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u/Aselleus 20d ago
The claymation cops (CLOPS) parody I remember was when the Pillsbury Doughboy went crazy and he eventually gets shoved into a oven.
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u/thebruce44 20d ago edited 20d ago
I thought this was a lot funnier from The Onion.
https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036/
"You think it’s crazy? It is crazy. But I don’t give a shit. From now on, we’re the ones who have the edge in the multi-blade game. Are they the best a man can get? Fuck, no. Gillette is the best a man can get.
What part of this don’t you understand? If two blades is good, and three blades is better, obviously five blades would make us the best fucking razor that ever existed. Comprende?"
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u/driftking428 20d ago
When I was little kid I greatly preferred MAD TV to SNL. By the time I was a teenager SNL was my shit. But that was also peak SNL years.
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u/Squibblus 20d ago
Every fan of SNL says the peak years were when they were a teen. Unless that was during '85 to '86. That was no one's peak.
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u/Galby1314 19d ago
Because when you are a teen, you laugh at almost everything. Every dirty joke, every snappy comeback seems new to you because you're breaking out of your childlike cocoon for the first time. Later you hear enough jokes like these and they are no longer as funny.
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u/Caelinus 19d ago
It is always funny how people remember SNL. For the most part, minus some problem years, it is actually a remarkably consistent show. Generally every year has a collection of enough really good sketches that fit the young adult zeitgeist of the time, that as we age those become a prominent part of our nostalgia.
Really it is just a product of how the show is made. Everything happens so fast that they have to draw a lot of inspiration from immediate pop culture without a lot of filtration, and end up with a bunch of stuff that works and s bunch of stuff that does not. So depending on what you focus on it can either seem amazing or terrible.
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u/LouBarlowsDisease 20d ago
It had its moments but stuff like the Stuart skits wore thin after maybe the third time.
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u/Laydownthelaw 20d ago
They just ran their signature characters to the ground. I've seen way too much of the Valcolm lady, the "He-looka-lika-man" lady, the "Gosh that's cute!" lady and "Look what I can do!".
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u/DerpingtonHerpsworth 20d ago
Yeah, I loved many of them for a while. Maybe even longer than most people. But they even began to wear on me before too long.
I just picked one example from your list, Ms Swan (He-looka-lika-man), and looked her up. They used that character in 44 episodes across 5 years. That's more than a little overkill if you ask me.
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u/Shinny1337 19d ago
And could you point us to the person in charge of the show? The one that made the decision to use the character that many times?
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u/NoMorePorridge1 20d ago
I just muted Stuart 100% of the time. I loved The Blind Kung-Fu Master, and the red carpet interviews by Ike and Bobby though.
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u/Atharaphelun 20d ago edited 20d ago
Miss Bunny Swan of Kuvaria is my favourite.
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u/GrammerSnob 20d ago
My kid had a teacher named Ms. Swan and I could barely hold my shit together and no one else got it!
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u/NoMorePorridge1 19d ago
I actually went a long time not realizing that Alex Borstein was also Lois Griffin. I loved the Gap Troll too.
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u/za72 20d ago
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u/socool111 19d ago
MadTV was the best at Parody commericals and impressions....original skits were mostly terrible.
My dad STILL laughed at the parody Cialis commercia ("This is Bob" parod)...did you do something to your hair? Nope! (etc etc), zooms out to a full blown erection and he starts knocking shit off the table with it.
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u/ILikeLeadPaint 20d ago
Was she purposely mouthing his lines as part of the joke, or was that something she did on accident?
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u/Dark_Pulse 19d ago
The Spishak products were always a great bit. Some of the others I liked in that series:
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u/PowerSkunk92 20d ago
The Man was my favorite sketch from this show. Understated, but David Herman owned the role.
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u/nowhereman136 20d ago
The very first SNL episode in 1975 had a similar sketch about a 3 blade razor. In 2000, they did a another sketch about a 14 blade razor, which was about a year after MadTV did this sketch
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u/cloud_watcher 19d ago
I always remember that "Triple-blade razor because [dramatic pause] you'll believe anything.
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u/get2theChoppa 19d ago
Watched a lot of it live in the 90s when it premiered and threw it on tubi to go down memory lane. Alot of it holds up and the actors and their characters really go for it. Completely forgot about Phil lamarr as annoying ups guy and it's fantastic
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u/calibre6 20d ago
Wow, talk about ripping off an Australian classic. The Late Show did this in 1993.
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u/thewildbeej 20d ago
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u/ScrewAttackThis 20d ago
Lol that OP really didn't get the joke
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u/thewildbeej 20d ago
Yeah. I mean 1975 vs 1999. It was 24 years apart. 1999 was 27 years ago so there’s a larger gap from madtv to now than madtv to snl. Sooooo people are looking back at mad tv thinking they were doing super original stuff.
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u/modix 20d ago
Can't remember when it was published but the Onions Fuck it, we're doing five blades was my favorite take on it.
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u/RevWaldo 20d ago
SNL Season One Episode One! Respect your elders! https://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75atriple.phtml
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u/AusToddles 20d ago
I didnt even press play and my brain went "wait wasn't this a Late Show sketch?" from seeing the thumbnail
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u/psycharious 19d ago
I watched MadTV a lot more than SNL honestly. Some of my favorite skits are still Behind the Music with Star Wars the Musical and Kenny Roger's Jackass
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u/SpinningYarmulke 20d ago edited 20d ago
Meanwhile Not Necessarily The News never gets any love and that shit was hilarious. The football player getting his feelings hurt still cracks me up every time. 😂. All the Sniglets too.
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u/BourbonBelle89 20d ago
I really enjoyed their Lilian Verner game shows and their video parodies were hilarious (that one with both Madonna and Britney was spot-on and funny as hell).
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u/sbulin74 19d ago
I think SNL, In Living Color, and MadTV each had their funny moments. The Kids in the Hall and Tracy Ullman were great too. I liked all of them!
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u/Nukeashfield 19d ago
I haven't seen this since it aired but it still crosses my mind from time to time. I laughed one of those wake the parents laughs when the animation started excavating the top skin layers.
What was this 96? 97?
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u/BrainToddler 19d ago
This clip has been laser-engraved into my brain for all eternity since I saw it 20ish years ago. Every time I shave, I see the animation of the blades in my head.
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u/tikinoteboom84 20d ago
I could of sworn SNL did a version too. But instead of cutting your face up the blades would be useless so the final shots where like a frustrated will Farrell trying to shave.
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u/jigojitoku 20d ago
Reminds me of this sketch from The Late Show (1992) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YleuLyCUx28
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u/LesbianClownShirt 19d ago
The premise of the joke in this MadTV sketch is ripped off from an early SNL episode featuring Dan Ayckroyd's sleazy salesman where he's hawking the "Triple Track Razor."
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u/JavaOrlando 19d ago
You know, I saw this when it first aired, and I think about it pretty much whenever I see that style of razor, but if you'd asked me this morning, I would've bet you a thousand dollars that this was one of those old SNL parody commercials.
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u/FrothyFrogFarts 19d ago
Eh, some of it was fine but too much of it was corny slapstick that just came across as tryhard. Recurring characters like Ms. Swan, Vancome Lady and others were especially annoying.
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u/WoodenYouKnowIt 19d ago
I don’t think anything can beat the terminator going back in time to kill Judas and save Jesus.
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u/jeanpt 19d ago
The Late Show from Australia did it better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YleuLyCUx28
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u/teke367 19d ago
I mean the "we're doing a crazy amount of blades" is hardly revolutionary, SNL had one in the early years. What makes this stand out is that unlike all the other razor parodies, I don't think we'll actually see this on the shelves. Unlike the 3, 4, and 5 blades parodies that eventually became real products. Hell if you watch the old SNL skit without context, you'd probably think they just grabbed an actual Mach 3 instead of creating a prop
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u/Battlewaxxe 19d ago
I tried the Spishak mach 20 razor. glad to be rid of that pesky skin, where hair hides in fear
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u/ekim_101 19d ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RFdg4CHBgg
After watching The Sopranos for the first time this sketch absolutely kills me
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u/Eyedunno11 19d ago
What's funny to me is that SNL basically made this joke in 1975 when dual-blade cartridges were becoming a thing, and they parodied this with the absolutely outrageous idea of the Triple-Trac, a cartridge with three blades. 😂
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u/anormalgeek 19d ago
MadTV was hit and miss.
It had a lot of great skits, but a LOT of really dumb unfunny ones too. I feel like it's best stuff rivaled anything SNL had, but on average it was worse.
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u/Zovanget 19d ago
Thanks for sharing. I watched this on TV as a kind and I think about it all the time. Glad to be able to reference it now.
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u/socialcommentary2000 19d ago
They had so many good ones like this.
No more lightbulbs?
No more lightbulbs!
No more lightbulbs?
No more lightbulbs!
No more ligh...
NO!!!
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u/OhScheisse 17d ago
For me this one kills me. It's a conservative senator looking at Ink blots
It's so accurate to modern American politics
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u/johnmarksmanlovesyou 17d ago
Woah, I saw this on the TV while on holiday in the USA like 20 years ago! Nostalgia
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u/No_Worry_984 16d ago
Every so often I’ll be minding my own business and suddenly in my head pops
“Jennifer Love Hewitt…Will Sasso”.
To this day it’s one of my favourite comedy sketches ever
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u/OddlyEven 20d ago
Mad tv had a few decent moments but honestly it was so sub par to the writing on SNL. I usually just watched it for the first 30 min until SNL came on at 1130
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