is SCTV not the greatest TV comedy ever?

www.drtonguestoys.com/

Dr. Tongue's 3-D House Of Pancakes was hilarious.

Count Floyd: "Oooooh, wasn't that SCEH-RY, KEEDS? You know, zee see-rup and zee way eet just.. sneaks up on you like that in 3-D... ahem, um, yes SCEH-RY, AOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW AAAOW AAAOW HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!"

(kingfish, did the store buy the rights to use the Dr. Tongue trademark? That's great!)

Has anyone mentioned the awesome SCTV fan site at http://sctvguide.ca/index.htm ? The episode guide is excellent.

SCTV was never live, and, well there are MANY differences between it and SNL. This isn't the best analogy, but...

SNL : Rolling Stones :: SCTV : Velvet Underground

SCTV may have had less popularity, but many people who saw SCTV were inspired to start their own unique comedy careers (Conan O'Brian, MST3K, etc.). Not saying SNL at its peaks wasn't influential, but it has been following the same exact formula since 1975... and SCTV episodes generally had a much better hit/miss ratio. SCTV also eventually ended (in 1984, although many of the actors and actresses went on to greater and lesser things).. whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you to decide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Euu_F5w9E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS5rAXkcwOQ

one of the most formative things i'd seen on TV when i was a little lad

Gerry Todd closes with Michael McDonald doing backing vocals on Christopher Cross's "Ride Like The Wind"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDojwQ8cJC4

Love this show!!! Watch clips on youtube constantly and thought their musical guest were way cooler than SNL's at the time.

Scorcese documentary on 'em on Netflix in the works

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/martin-scorsese-direct-sctv-reunion-documentary-netflix-1101710

i had to explain what SCTV was to j0rdan the other night

The tickets for the Netflix interview/town-hall/whatever (what they're filming for the documentary--see above) go on sale tomorrow. I'm curious about the cost, but there's nothing on Ticketmaster, just a box for pre-sale codes.

i already had a soft spot for marty but this just puts him on a whole different level of awesome

friggin luv it

eh

He'll surely find room for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZE6yHtw0k8

is SCTV not the greatest TV comedy ever?

yes, that is correct

At its best, I'd put Larry Sanders ahead of it and nothing else.

sketch comedy shows are always pretty uneven and scattershot. sketches are, by their nature, throwaways, based on one or two gags or a premise that can be exposed in 30 seconds. if you don't like one sketch, there will be another along in a couple of minutes. it's not easy, but for that very reason, people forgive a lot of bad filler if there are some good laughs from time to time.

there have been far more situation comedies produced, where there is a chance for character development and storylines. the actors have a chance to act. the writers have a chance to stretch. there is less need for gags. the best have an organic life that is very satisfying, but maybe not as many guffaws.

it's a matter of taste.

Which is why I added the "at its best"--SCTV had a long run and various cast members (though it was much more stable than SNL), and to a degree it was one show on Canadian TV and another on NBC. But I think you can take a block of at least a handful of seasons and match it against anything. The best sitcoms have ups and downs too, even in-season. Ultimately it comes down to what's funniest, and of course that comes down to taste. For me, SCTV for a few seasons was funnier than All in the Family or Mary Tyler Moore or Seinfeld or anything.

The only show in the past three decades that's had me laughing until tears came was Whose Line Is It Anyway? I would still hesitate to call it the funniest tv comedy ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdisnEpp8Rg

Watched a couple of episodes a couple of nights ago - The Last Polka and another one I forget the title of. Holy shit that was funny. We were crying with laughter. Rick Moranis - what a brilliant comedy actor he was!

This turned up on my FB wall this morning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIHWuz7_cJ0&feature=youtu.be

Far from Moranis at this best, but not bad--he's basically stealing from Bill Murray. (I thought at first he was doing Skip Bittman, but the comments say Gerry Todd.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIHWuz7_cJ0

The pronunciation of "Japaneece" is the kind of detail that makes for a perfect performance.

I wish "canadian gaffes and practical amusements" was online

I saw The Passion of Anna last night, which prompted me to look up Whispers of the Wolf on YouTube, which led me to conclude that Count Floyd is the greatest metaphor for teaching grade school ever: you hype a topic--"Oooooh, erosion--this is gonna be so interesting!"--it turns out to be stupefyingly boring, you come back and try to pretend it wasn't, then you just kind of throw your arms up and let loose with an "Ah-Ooooooooooh" as distraction.

haha that is a v good analogy

Yeah, good analogy and good recommendation, thanks.

Nice to hear:

http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/11/20/catherine-ohara-awarded-the-order-of-canada/?fbclid=IwAR3ZiGzQ60cbxducL9AemNGpNnOxn9_nmio1P8HxLUVSaCG7zUt91KInYmQ

yikes, Andrea Martin out of the new Taylor Mac play after breaking ribs:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/andrea-martin-injury-prompts-cast-reshuffle-broadways-gary-1191960

oh no, that’s horrible

Andrea is in the new film Diane starring Mary Kay Place though.

Felt like seeing this again. DT's Richard Harris is next-level:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2xWQr4VaUA

kudos to Juul

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2020/03/02/sctv-designer-juul-haalmeyer-receives-icon-award-from-canadian-costume-alliance-caftcad.html

What's the status of that get-together with Scorsese?

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/bob-and-doug-mckenzie-return-to-edmonton-as-statues-during-covid-19/

Topic: global pandemic.

https://i.postimg.cc/m27fpHJT/john-catherine.jpg

Her birthday (71), anniversary of his death (1994).

Anyone know what ever happened with that Scorsese doc?

Still waiting on Scorsese to pull his thumb out and finish it, aiui. I give it less than 1% chance of happening solely under his name. If he'd hand it off to someone else to finish it with a co-director credit, that would be nice. This May will be seven years since the reunion.