Seven Sketch Comedy Shows

Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series that ran from 1967-1969. This was an early appearance of many actors and comedians who later became famous, such as Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Eric Idle, who later became members of Monty Python. The program consisted of a series of sketches, often bizarre and surreal, frequently satirical with a disjointed style which was to become more famous in the more daring Monty Python's Flying Circus, which followed five months later.



Human Giant
The difference between good sketch comedy and great sketch comedy often lies in a troupe's ability to connect to whatever particular zeitgeist they find themselves in: Monty Python could only have ever happened in the late 60s in England and The Kids in The Hall were a product of Toronto in the late 80s. Of course, they have to transcend those limits to be great, but they also have to be a reflection of their times. Human Giant achieved this in the 2000s. Appearing on MTV, Aziz Ansari, Rob Hubel, and Paul Scheer were the kings of the burgeoning interweb comedy trend. Basically a couple of guys get a camera and some editing software and shoot a funny video. Like other interweb groups, they were fresh, charmingly low-fi, and full of energy. Unlike most other interweb groups, they were really good. With their seemingly endless collection of self-important goofballs and witlessly confident jackasses, they gently skewered pop culture like exceptionally talented class clowns who managed to bluff their way on to a major network. They only made two seasons of Human Giant, but those two seasons were quite funny.

The Kids in The Hall
The Kids in the Hall quickly established themselves as one of the most original sketch comedy groups in history. While the more popular Saturday Night Live was leaning more and more heavily on running recurring characters as far into the ground as they could, The Kids in the Hall were creating masterful character based comedy firmly grounded in the everyday lives of normal people. Sure, they had their share of outlandish characters and catchphrases, but they were always planted in the most mundane and common situations. The Kids in the Hall was always best when it mimed the endless struggles, insane and serious, of relationships, work, and life at the end of the 20th Century. A massive success in their native Canada. The Kids in the Hall remained a mostly cult phenomenon in the US. The show gave fans of smart original comedy some of the greatest and funniest characters ever created. A few examples: the Chicken Lady, Francesca Fiore, Bruno Puntz-Jones, Gavin, Simon and Hecubus. If you haven't seen it, you have to. Right now.



The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show ran for 11 seasons, a total of 288 episodes, on CBS, with the sole agenda to make people laugh. Anchored by incredibly charming and down to earth Carol Burnett, and featuring one of the greatest comedy duos in history in Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, it produced year after year of funny material. But what really drew audiences back week after week was how much fun the cast seemed to be having. Ask anyone who has watched the show what their favorite sketch was, and they'd probably say any one where Conway and Korman cracked each other up. Sure, it could be corny and sentimental at times, but the show proved that "family entertainment" doesn't have to be dumb entertainment. And for that it more than deserves its place on this list as one of the best loved TV shows of all time.

Chappelle's Show
It isn't by accident that most of the great sketch comedy shows are the products of a comedy troupe. Writing and performing even a bad show takes hours and hours of work. Trying to put together a great show takes that much more. Even if it were an average show, you'd still have to admire the work Dave Chappelle put into his brief but memorable Chappelle Show, but it was anything but average. Built upon the well-honed stand up of Dave Chappelle's earlier career, Chappelle's Show was a controversial mix of race, drugs, sex, and everything else on the star's mind. A singular vision, it presented Chappelle's unique take on the powder kegs of modern life. Watching Chappelle's Show is like taking a tour of modern American through the eyes of one guy. A ridiculously talented, balls-out hilarious guy. That persistent voice and sense of humor makes it unique on this list and in the sketch comedy world. here was one guy pouring out his mind and thoughts in the funniest way he could. Is it any wonder he burned out after just two seasons? He worked way too hard to give us one of the best sketch shows there ever was.

Saturday Night Live
It may be everyone's favorite thing to hate these days, but no matter how many more substandard seasons they let it run, nothing can diminish the electricity and pure comedic energy of the first few seasons of Saturday Night Live. SNL combined a murderer's row of talent and a youthful fearlessness that pushed at the confines and strictures of what TV comedy could be. The Not Ready for Primetime Players (the nickname John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtain, Garret Morris, and Lorraine Newman gave themselves) may have started as a bit of self-deprecation, but it became just the opposite. They were good for prime time. Too smart, too hip, and way too cool for TV. They made staying home on Saturday night what the cool people did-to-not watch SNL was to be out of touch and left out of the cultural discussion. Like Monty Python, they were comedy rock stars who instantly became household names. At least for anyone in the house under 25. Even after 35 years and through the light of the some great and many terrible seasons since, those first four years stand as one of the best moments in American comedy history.

Monty Python's Flying Circus
No list of sketch comedy shows would be complete without Monty Python's Flying Circus. Sketch comedy existed before Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam started Monty Python's Flying circus, but they made it an art form. With their brilliant satire, absurd yet instantly recognizable characters, and almost preternatural understanding of the tropes and tricks of television they created an entirely new form of comedy. Drawing on the social and cultural change around them yet maintaining enough distance to properly mock it, they made traditional comedy that was thoroughly modern. They were Oxford and Cambridge educated men who could riff on classical philosophy and Spam in the same episode. They were smart, stupid, clever, and ridiculous all at the same time. It's not without accident that they became comedy megastars and the acknowledged masters of the genre. Other groups have come and gone, some of them incredibly funny. But there will always only ever be one Monty Python. And they will always be the best sketch comedy group of the time.



On a side note, several names for the show were considered before Monty Python's Flying Circus was chosen. Some were Owl Stretching Time; Toad Elevating Moment; A Bucket, a Horse, and a Spoon; Vaseline Review; and Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot.

Now you know where I got the name Owl Stretching Time, from my comedic idols. (I actually wrote about Monty Python in my dedication of my thesis in college).