Bobby Lee says the MadTV cast were “looked down on” in Hollywood

It's probably Lorne Michaels' fault. Seriously

R1 I think so too. What’s funny is that MadTV was always funnier and wittier and more risqué than SNL but always treated as secondary.

MadTV and SNL had very little in common. MadTV was not live. Nor was it live to tape. They had the opportunity for multiple takes and to sweeten certain sketches with editing and in post.

Jealousy, bitches.

R3 wrong. MadTV was Live! Just because some of the sketches were pre-taped doesn’t mean it all was.

SNL isn’t all live either.

Lorne blacklisted anyone on MadTV at the time. I may try to find the article but he was a real ass about it.

I still look for over a half-dozen of the MadTV alum, and see them so seldom.

Alex Borstein is the big winner.

Mad TV was funnier and Lorne can’t make me forget that.

No it wasn't R5. It was taped in front of a live audience, but there were multiple takes and editing.

many suspect it's because they lampooned celebrities ruthlessly and their skits played both sides of the political minefield. but fox at the time was rather anti-pc on a lot of their shows offending the delicate sensibilities of many.

r6 positioning themselves against snl likely didn't help much either.

r7, Ahem...

SNL was doing those lame-assed Burt Reynolds on Jeopardy skits while MadTV was doing Hollywood Squares with John and Patsy Ramsey in the center square competing against the likes of Wayland Flowers and Madame.

MadTV was way funnier. SNL is so stale.

Will Sasso was always good and he's been working steadily lately. I just saw him in the series Loudermilk, costarring with Ron Livingston. He's getting better looking with age, too.

I always loved Mad TV and preferred it over SNL.

With SNL, I feel like I’m always missing the joke. Like there’s a secret no one has let me in on.

Like Will Ferrell’s cowbell skit, which everyone considers some genius classic hilarious skit. So many people have made me sit through it and watch it and I never fucking understood why it was so hilarious.

I thought Kristen Wiig was funny. I loved her campy sense of humor and how she loved to parody the 1940’s and Broadway stars.

But I also fucking loved Stephanie Weir.

R14, I love Will Sasso! He was good on the tv series Mom, too.

As for you r15, I feel sorry for you. Remember, the next time you have a fever, the only prescription for it is more cowbell.

Mad TV was funnier than SNL.

Team Mad TV

Mad TV was great. Wasn't it shown on Fox? I know a lot of people at that time considered Fox to be a shitty channel that only had b-list tv shows. The Mad Tv cast always had this air about them like they were the outcast misfits, as to where SNL all the cast members thought they were great. I think Lorne Michaels was like a mean girl to them.

Debra Wilson is fucking amazing.

Wasn’t FOX pretty established by 1995 with shows like X-Files, The Simpsons and Married With Children?

[quote] "Wasn’t FOX pretty established by 1995 with shows like X-Files, The Simpsons and Married With Children?"

Yes. FOX premiered in 1986. "Married..." started in 1989.

Damn it. "Married..." started in 1987. Pardon moi.

This is revelatory? Everyone knows this.

The Tracy Ullman Show was on Fox, IIRC. The Ullman Show featured little sketches of The Simpsons.

I think because Lorne wields so much power and the show is such a long-running institution there's a better support system in place for SNL performers. Not all of them though. There's definitely a caste system and there's plenty of ex-SNLers you never hear from after they leave the show.

Fox never put much support behind Mad TV and was only concerned with putting out a late night show for as little money as possible. They let Debra Wilson go rather than give her a minimal raise after being the show's MVP for many seasons.

In general though, sketch comedy players seem to have a tough time transitioning to more traditional TV/movie roles. What makes them shine on SNL or Mad TV doesn't always translate. Look at Gilda Radner. A huge star on SNL and so beloved but she never did anything of significance after the show ended. Yes, some of that was due to her cancer but the few movies she did before her diagnosis were forgettable and didn't seem to know what to do with her. Jan Hooks did a couple years on Designing Women after SNL but then mostly did guest shots and voiceover work. It's also baffling to see which SNL cast members break out after they leave the show. I never would have guessed Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell would become the huge Hollywood stars they became based on their work on the show.

Sandler’s style of comedy worked very well in the 90s and felt fresh.

Chevy Chase was the shows first huge breakout.

I thought everyone in the cast was so very talented. It has always bothered me that they couldn't seem to get work after the show. Mo Collins and Michael McDonald especially - they both cracked me up.(Plus, he was hot).

To be fair, MADTV has an Oscar winner among their alumni, which I don’t think SNL has been able to achieve yet.

Loved mad tv. Michael McDonald was the will Ferrell of mad tv but of course he got no respect or work afterwards

I was mad about Andrew Bowen.

MadTV fan here too. Those people deserved better careers after the show ended.

MadTV was so much better than SNL. Shame to hear the cast was blacklisted.

MadTV had so many great segments. One of my favorites is the gay football thing kiss.

Yes, that's the classic, R36. Surprised nobody has brought that up sooner.

Love Ike Barinholtz!

Mad TV was ghetto...SNL was still at least a little funny back then. Not as crude as Mad TV.

Will Sasso is a hot daddy.

In retrospect, MadTV was funnier than SNL. But when it was on tv, I remember being let done by it, because I was comparing it to Mad Magazine which I thought was so much funnier.

Oh please, r40, when MadTV was ghetto it was intentional and it was hilarious doing it.

*let down by it*

In Living Color owns both these shows.

[quote] I still look for over a half-dozen of the MadTV alum, and see them so seldom. Alex Borstein is the big winner.

Don't forget Key and Peele...

Key and Peele did pretty well afterwards.

I loved some of the skits, like “Lowered Expectations,” (Alex Borstein did a great Bjork!!!!) and ANYTHING spoofing Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. Those skits were amazing. Debra Wilson did a great cracked-out Whitney! SNL was never this edgy….

Also loved the music video spoofs.

Definitely less PC and more offensive in some skits, but others were just smart and edgy—and fun.

The Sopranos spoof was brilliant. Will Sasso did the greatest James Gandolfini impersonation. And even the consistently brilliant Debra Wilson was cast as Dr. Melfi -- and she nailed it!

R53? That was fucking hysterical.

MadTV was also way more diverse than SNL ever was. It was diverse before diversity was forced and was much better because of it.

This pancake commercial was a hilarious play on racial/cultural stereotypes. Mad TV was hilarious!

Very true r55. It was never about, hey everyone praise us that one of our thousand cast members is Designated Minority now. And they played with race much more effectively than SNL.

MadTv was better with their pre-taped, rehearsed, memorized lines, and sketches that never got the true accolades that they deserved. SNL often sucked because of the "L:ive" terrified guest hosts which just failed miserably working on a live stage with no experience.

It's not just that. The writing was clearly superior for madTV skits.

Bobby Lee IS Christina Kang.

They got the weepy annoying music during montages down!

MadTv rocked!

If Lorne Michaels had something to do with it, it just adds to how utterly pathetic that man is. MadTV at least made me laugh. SNL never has. MadTV did a great job with those Laguna Beach/The Hills parodies, and whenever the comedian who played Britney came along, singing half her lines in Britney-voice it was very amusing.

I loved Terms of Improsonment with Streisand and Drew Barrymore

R62, see R52.

Debra Wilson as Whitney Houston was terrific.

This skit kills me every time.

Even though it was taped live and pre-recorded, they still kept live moments in. Mo Collins breaks character here and it’s hilarious.

R66, that was hilarious. Is she the same woman who played Oprah as an insane power-tripping narcissist? LOL

Bobby Lee is one of the most honest and unedited comedians. Very quick on the draw. I'm a big fan of his current Bad Friends with Andrew Santino the ginger hottie. They often talk about Bobby giving blowjobs when he was a teenager. Very bro, but in a good way.

The worst MadTV skit was better than the best SNL skit.

Nicolle Sullivan's Darlene McBride was BRILLIANT and foreshadowed the MAGAts.

^^^Nicole

Bobby Lee was the least funny cast member on that show, iirc.

Nicole Sullivan should be a much bigger star than she is to match her talent. Same goes with Debra Wilson.

I looked down on them, and I was an avid Mad reader growing up. It was too obviously an SNL clone that had nothing to do with the peculiar wondrous mid20th century trove of progressive New York Jewish humor that was the Mad of Harvey Kurtzman and William Gaines.

Ike is hot.

Bobby Lee was great as the rez doctor on Reservation Dogs

R75 no. SNL wasn’t the first show of its kind. I’m sick of people acting like it was.

more about Bobby Lee and his blowjobs please

Is Bobby Lee gay?

MadTV definitely had a gay sensibility to it.

Like skits where Debra Wilson was Eartha Kitt Catwoman trying to steal her neighbor's power tools or having Ike and Josh make out.

Taran Killam started out on MadTV and eventually made it to SNL so not sure I believe the Lorne aspect.

R81 years later!

Nicole Sullivan was also on King of Queens and now does a little voice work.

Mo Collins played the hilarious Joan Callamezzo on Parks and Recreation. Now she is on Fear the Walking Dead.

Michael McDonald has had steady work guest starring in sitcoms. Nothing too stellar.

Debra Wilson has had some work problems it seems. She has that Kennan Thompson/Darrell Hammond problem from SNL: they stayed too long.

Phil LaMarr has a very impressive resume of voice over credits post MadTV (Green Lantern in Justice League, Scooby-Doo, Star Wars, Ben Ten, Robot Chicken, Harvey Birdman, etc.).

Alex Borstein is the biggest name to leave MadTV. From Lizzie McGuire to Gilmore Girls to Marvelous Ms Maisel to Family Guy, she has satyed busy.

Ike Barinholtz seems to be making a name for himself. He's been in a lot of SNL-type movies (Bad Moms, Bridesmaids, etc.)

Does Gilmore Girls count when she only shot the pilot and then was quickly recast?

Great The West Wing parody

Hilarious Gilmore Girls pardoy

The cast of mad tv was 10 x funnier than most of the snl stars. And interestingly the producers had a diverse cast long before twitter demanded it. Unlike the producers at SNL who had to be dragged kicking and screaming into adding non white cast members. Diversity isn't a requirement for humor I just find it notable because SNL has such a rep for supposed liberalism ( though I don't believe that Michaels is truly that liberal).

No love for Mary Scheer?

The ladies of mad tv deserved the careers of the ladies of SNL. Why is bland Kristen Wiig still cast in movies but we never hear from Stephnie Weir or Debra Wilson or Mo Collins? I'm assuming r6 is onto something.

Desperate Housewives! Hysterically accurate.

MadTV was always funnier than SNL.

Mad TVs original characters vastly outshine snls original characters. They were absolutely hilarious and seemed like the type of bizarre oddball you might meet in real life ( albeit an exaggerated version). Snls original characters just consisted of the actor or actress repeating the same stale catchphrase again and again before bursting into giggles.

Bornstein only makes about $5m a year for Family Guy while the voice actors for the Simpsons make $400K per episode (down from higher from other seasons).

Debra Wilson is wholly under-rated - actually reminds me a bit of DL's beloved Jan Hooks.

This is an incredibly fascinating topic

"[R1] I think so too. What’s funny is that MadTV was always funnier and wittier and more risqué than SNL but always treated as secondary."

I preferred MadTV overall during that era, but MadTV and SNL actually complimented each other really well. It was nice to have both.

MadTV was always very funny people doing very funny stuff. SNL often seems like they're telling me I should find it amusing because they say it is rather than actually being funny.

R88 I love Mary Scheer in fact I feel like the ensemble from the first season was near perfection.

I was a teen when MadTV started and worked closing shift at McDonald's. My brother used to record it for me and I came home to watch it late one Saturday night at about 2 am and they were doing a mock newscast. During the skit a crawl came on stating Princess Di had been killed. I thought it was part of the show and thought their really going to get heat for that until a few minutes later when the station broke in to cover it live.

Kay was there for us at the beginning of the pandemic. Thank you, Kay.

Phil Lamar's overly-energetic (coked up?) USB delivery guy is so goofy and corny and always made me laugh.

I loved Mary Scheer’s Dixie Wetsworth and Mrs. Barone. Young Artie Lange was really cute!

vol. 10

I loved Will Sasso and Alex Borstein as musical duo Michael McCloud and Jasmine Wayne-Wayne.

Whenever I think of Anna Nicole Smith, it is Stephnie Weir that I see and hear.

MadTV always guaranteed laughs; SNL was not as predictable.

[quote] Alex Borstein is the biggest name to leave MadTV.

Really? Even over Jordan Peele, who won an Oscar and has major box office success with his films?

[quote] Debra Wilson has had some work problems it seems. She has that Kennan Thompson/Darrell Hammond problem from SNL: they stayed too long

I’m definitely a fan of hers but I think she pulled back from acting for awhile if not completely. She is an unusual woman. Almost a tad eccentric (in a cool way.) so I think it’s hard to know what she had planned for herself once she left MadTV. I do know she did a little bit of voice work for Family Guy but only for one episode I think.

Sorry but MadTV was way funnier and had better comedians. Michael McDonald, Debra Wilson, Stephnie Weir, Nichole Sullivan, Paul Vogt, Jordan Peele, and Michael Hitchcock come to mind.

They were way more consistent with the running skits. SNL would have one skit hit and then milk it to death by just reformatting the same lines for a new host (see: Census Taker, Christopher Walken family gatherings, etc.). "The Lillian Verner Game Show" was always my favorite.

R79 r80 Bobby's not gay but he told Santini on one of the eps of Bad Friends that the jocks in his high school in San Diego used to take him behind the bushes and make him suck them off, on about ten different occasions. He's very small, like 5'4". He swallowed too he said. Check out their podcast. It's quite addictive.

Mad tv had so many talented performers. SNL had its moments but only went after people or subjects that were safe to go after. They have a rep for being " nicer" than mad tv but they really weren't and could really be quite cruel. Just more willing to go after easy targets while mad went after everyone.

I remember seeing Debra Wilson in a dramatic role in a short film based on Le Ronde at a gay film festival sometime mid to late 90s. Basically followed a series of hook ups and guys on the DL who bring the AIDS virus back home. She was quite good. I don’t see it listed in her IMDB credits.

Bunifa in court...

MAD TV was way more relevant and current - This was from 15 years ago and still relevant.

You need to respect a sistah's job!

Do none of you know what IMDB is? Debra Wilson has has an incredibly lucrative career doing voiceover work for decades.

Bunifa on Trading Spaces...

MadTv was just so bizarre. Almost plays as a cast of outsiders.

Why Kenny Rogers became a drunk maniac, I’ll never know, but I’m glad it happened.

Also, Mo Collins is a genuinely nice person.

In America, anything that is sold as "the Canadian version of _____" is automatically uncool. I'm sorry I can't explain why, you either get it or you don't.

That’s right r114! The Kenny Rogers sketches were hilarious. There was no basis in reality for them like the cracked out Whitney sketches, but they were really funny.

If I am having an especially shitty day I will pull up the Stewart clips as they always make me laugh.

This was one of my favorites

Yvonne!

MadTV will always be special to old time DLers, because the show was like what DL used to be before the political straight women invaded: irreverent and very much not politically correct.

I'm another big fan of Ms. Swan, those skits were just the best. I could never understand why FOX didnt back up Mad TV, it was a gold mine. Of course the political played a part justt as it does today, NBC liberal, FOX conservative. Of course all are liberal now.

Bobby Lee was the worst part of MadTv. He was used to lower costs after the higher priced talent was cut.

[R123], nobody does Connie Chung better than our Mr. Lee.

Bobby was so crazy back then. He tells the story of the time he walked into Ike and Nichel's office and pulled down his pants and squatted on the ground and took a dump! I can't remember why though.

And on Crista's first day (before they had ever spoken a single word to each other) he walked up to her while she was eating, grabbed the back of her head, shoved it into his ass and farted in her mouth!!!!!!!! He said he got in big trouble for that and was almost fired!!! HAHAHAHA!

So maybe it was just Bobby Lee who was looked down on.

The Abercrombie skits are hilarious.

one of my favorites

Hollywood Squares featuring the Ramseys...

You'd never see this on SNL

Medium

Antiques Roadshow

R103 To be fair, Alex B was a LOT more identified with MadTV than Peele.

Miss Swan Sex Line

"Why you treat me like a piece of meat?"

Michael Mcdonald is gay right just more private about it? There were some seasons he seemed more muscled and with a nice ass, which I enjoyed as a teenager!

Thanks for all this crazy ass posts! I paid little attention to MadTV and SNL but I remember thinking MadTV was, well, mad. I think I expected it to be based on Mad magazine, the Bible of my youth.

Alex Borstein's "Ms. Swan" character would never pass today... not just cultural appropriation, but the east-Asian equivalent of Black-Face. I'm surprised she doesn't get ANY heat for that these days, what with cancel culture and everything.

Debra Wilson has done a shocking amount of video game voice work. She's so attractive and talented I'm curious whey she's made this obvious decision to do more "behind the camera" work than in front of the camera work.

And I'll be honest, looking at imDB, I'm shocked that the show ran until 2016. In my mind it's very much a 90s show. I guess I stopped watching long before it went off the air, though I have no idea why. I loved the show. Of course, I stopped watching SNL a long time ago too.

Anyone remember "Fridays", with Melanie Chartoff and Larry David, and pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards?

I loved that show, but it only ran for three years in the 80s.

Bjork: “One leg is Easter, One leg is Christmas, you come and visit me in between the holidays!”

Nicole Sullivan as Ashlee Simpson. MadTV didn’t hold back with skewering her!

I'm surprised nobody has posted any of their brilliant music video parodies. SNL would have never done something like this.

That's not Nicole, r140.

Josh Meyers is the hotter Meyers brother, but it doesn't look like he's done much work since MadTV, especially the last 5 years. I wonder why. Is their family independently wealthy aside from Seth's success?

God these women are SO frau just over the top giggling, bedazzling, talking about being winos..... but Michael was hot. 10 years ago though but it's hard to find recent stuff of him.

Paul Vogt is amazing

Michael McDonald does a lot of directing now. He worked on Cougar Town for much of its run as well as directing quite a few episodes of Mike & Molly and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Lots of other guest directing credits, mostly on sitcoms. He still acts though. He had a major part in the recent Halloween Kills and still looks good.

[quote]Alex Borstein's "Ms. Swan" character would never pass today... not just cultural appropriation, but the east-Asian equivalent of Black-Face. I'm surprised she doesn't get ANY heat for that these days, what with cancel culture and everything.

She got some heat for it during the original run of Mad TV but that was pre-Twitter and SJWs so the backlash was limited. I remember an article where she was pretty snarky about the complaints and said the character was based on her grandmother and not intended to be Asian. Sure, Alex.

[quote]And I'll be honest, looking at imdb, I'm shocked that the show ran until 2016

The original run on Fox late night was from 1995-2009. It was revived on the CW network in 2016 but only lasted 8 episodes. It aired in prime time and never found an audience though there were a few funny moments and many original cast members returned for guest appearances.

Bobby has transcended MadTv and is now more famous than MadTv.

R148 how did Bobby end up on And Just Like That?

It's ironic that Bobby Lee, the least talented from MadTV should be complaining so loudly. IMO, the problem with MadTV was that once the core A Team left (Sullivan, Borstein, Wilson, McDonald, Sasso, LaMarr, Jones, Collins), it really went from brilliant to unfunny. And Bobby Lee is NOT funny. Anyway, as everyone here seems to agree, it really was brilliant once.

I've mentioned this on previous MadTV threads, but my uncle works in Hollywood and knows Seth MacFarlane quite well through animation work. MacFarlane works with a number of MadTV actors and the story that was relayed to my uncle was that SNL played wickedly dirty when it came to MadTV talent. The story I was told was that one of the female performers (I believe it was Nicole Sullivan) got a stand-up gig at some fancy Hollywood event that would have put her (and MadTV generally as she was affiliated with it at the time) in front of a lot of important people. Apparently higher-ups at SNL got her booted from the event. While it probably could have been a coincidence, she was replaced by an SNL comedienne which seemed too convenient to be coincidence. And those kinds of things happened a lot to people affiliated with MadTV.

I worked with Phil on a commercial post MadTV and told him how much I appreciated the show. We somehow got on the topic of voiceovers, and he told me that he was going to concentrate his career on that because it was way easier, more lucrative, and more steady for him, especially with a family. Perhaps he convinced Debra that it was a good gig.

I also used to see Michael at the WeHo Starbucks patio enjoying watching the trade walk by.

"Oh yeeaaaah... gotta get a... pumpkin... nugget... ha... ha... ha..."

[quote] Paul Vogt is amazing

Agreed. This had to be written by a Datalounger

The Spears family go on the Dr Phil show:

I've always wondered why Mary Scheer hasn't gotten more and higher-profile work. I quite enjoyed her. Same with Debra Wilson, though I understand that she is off her fucking rocker. She performs well, though.

Arden Myrin was pretty hilarious in Insatiable.

[Quote] There was no basis in reality for them like the cracked out Whitney sketches,

Eh...

Debra Wilson is also fully tatted up, which doesn't help with casting:

Debra married a white man. I don't know if he took half her money in the divorce.

[quote]Also, Mo Collins is a genuinely nice person.

She really is. She went to my high school back in the day (not during my years), and when our beloved drama teacher retired, she came back and did improv with us at his retirement party, busting out her hilarious Jenny Jones impersonation, as well as many others.

Mad TV felt edgier than SNL at the time, and had many memorable skits over the years. This was always a favorite.

I've listened to a couple of Bobby Lee podcasts. The BJ stuff is not hot. He relates it to his low self esteem. Santino and Lee's young girl relative (?) tease him about possibly being bisexual. Whether he is or not, the old stories are sad.

Ike barenholtz was hawt.

R162 you're right. Utterly honest. What makes the podcast on YouTube work for me is the genuine fondness Bobby and Andrew have for each other. I'd give anything for a cute guy to look at me like Andrew looks as Bobby.

Early MadTV was as good as any SNL cast.

SNL has been up its own ass for so many years.

Bobby Lee was looked down upon because by the time he arrived MadTV had fallen, and his arrival didn't help

Bobby Lee also takes self deprecation to an uncomfortable level. I can imagine him alienating many an individual for whome he's auditioned. He and Brandon Routh auditioned for the same part once, btw, which is hilarious.

*whom

Team MadTV. Lorne Michaels can suck it. I don’t know why SNL keeps getting a pass when year after year it just keeps dying an excruciatingly slow death.

Oh gross, R159. That explains a LOT actually. Yeah, at this point she should just stay behind the camera. That's just sad.

R169 gasp!!! Not tattoos!!! My-lanta won't someone save that poor woman.

R163 Yes, Ike was hot as fuck. This scene just about made me nut.

Ike was in the Suicide Squad movie with Margot Robbie etc. His part was small though.

It's *a* Nicole, r142.

Can someone describe the distinction between the broadcasts of SNL and MadTV? Is SNL actually broadcasted live? I've never gotten that impression.

I feel bad for Lee because, although I don't doubt the industry stigma against MadTV at the time, his career was likely stunted by the fact that he's an Asian comedian (who, let's face it, isn't super attractive). It sucks and is completely unfair, but I just don't think American producers and audiences are comfortable with that kind of demographic outside of something like MadTV.

SNL is live, but they increasingly use a lot of prerecorded digital shorts. If SNL weren't live, we never would have seen Ashlee Simpson dancing a jig, or Sinead ripping up a picture of the Pope. MadTV was not live.

[quote] I feel bad for Lee because, although I don't doubt the industry stigma against MadTV at the time, his career was likely stunted by the fact that he's an Asian comedian (who, let's face it, isn't super attractive). It sucks and is completely unfair, but I just don't think American producers and audiences are comfortable with that kind of demographic outside of something like MadTV.

Or maybe it's due to Lee not being very good other than a few sketches where he's usually playing an Asian stereotype. Being Asian hasn't stopped Ken Jeong from being successful.

[quote]If Lorne Michaels had something to do with it, it just adds to how utterly pathetic that man is.

Lorne Michaels hired Taran Killam after he did MADtv and Jordan Peele has stated that he was offered a gig on SNL when his contract was up at MADTV but Fox/MADtv blocked him from doing it.

I'm still shocked he never tried to get Debra Wilson who has done more than just "ok" since she left the series.

SNL alums, when they do end up doing projects, also hire other SNL alums. It was always considered "prestigious" when someone was a cast member.

[quote]Being Asian hasn't stopped Ken Jeong from being successful.

You're right! Because Ken Jeong booked a minor role in Bradley Cooper's, "The Hangover" which launched his career (after he ran around with his dick out upon his own suggestion) that means ALL ASIAN ACTORS face NO FURTHER roadblocks in Hollywood!

Things are better now than ever before but Ken got lucky.

[quote]Is SNL actually broadcasted live? I've never gotten that impression.

The Live part is the draw. There is a 7 second delay just in case they need it but as R175 said, while the digital shorts are recorded obviously, the band, monologue, sketches, are live. They do record a dress rehearsal version of the show earlier in the day and you can find things that didn't make it to the live show on Youtube shortly after or while the episode is airing.

(They're extremely good at putting up things from the show on Youtube rather quickly. You can find the live monologue uploaded, usually, while the show is airing its second half.)

[quote]He said it was hard to even get auditions because they wouldn’t even see you because you were from MadTV, so some of them went back to standup comedy to almost start from scratch again.

The show was never "PR Approved." It pulled no punches. They said and did whatever they wanted to. Then again, "In Living Color" wasn't that different and most of their cast members went on to have successful careers after but they also came before "Mad TV" which started when "In Living Color" ended and they weren't seen as an alternative to Saturday Night Live. I'd also add that since "In Living Color" was first, the cast members had "street cred" that the MADtv cast didn't.

[quote] You're right! Because Ken Jeong booked a minor role in Bradley Cooper's, "The Hangover" which launched his career (after he ran around with his dick out upon his own suggestion) that means ALL ASIAN ACTORS face NO FURTHER roadblocks in Hollywood!

I suggested no such thing, so your hyperbole was unnecessary. Bobby Lee, at one point, was far more known than Ken Joeng because of his MadTV fame. Once MadTV was over, his career took a nosedive, and that could be because he's not that funny and lacks range. I've seen Joeng play many different comedy venues, from predominately black shows to white ones, before he booked Community, The Hangover, .etc. His comedy has far broader appeal than Lee's, which is why he's more successful in Hollywood. Joeng's Asianness wasn't something that hindered his success.

The first 3 or 4 years of MadTV were funnier than anything SNL was putting out during the same period.

[quote]The original run on Fox late night was from 1995-2009. It was revived on the CW network in 2016 but only lasted 8 episodes. It aired in prime time and never found an audience though there were a few funny moments and many original cast members returned for guest appearances.

That shortlived 2016 reboot was too neutered. I remember one skit featured an exasperated teacher who called one of her students mentally challenged. The old MADtv (just seven years earlier) would have used 'retarded,' which is funnier.

The MAD Tv skits seemed actually written and had an arc for the most part. SNL skits seem to be that someone says wouldn't it be funny if two people played in a sandbox - and nobody really works to make it actually funny or give it a point.....they just put it on the air and people stand around and read the teleprompter and then it's over.....

Every episode of SNL comes across as a bunch of desperate people trying to impress casting directors. In the early days of MadTV the sole focus seemed to be on making people laugh.

So, no love for 'Fridays" then?

R183 I love their spinach artichoke dip.

Of course there was always...

I loved MafTV, but Bobby Lee wasn't funny.

[quote]Can someone describe the distinction between the broadcasts of SNL and MadTV?

MadTV was entertaining. SNL... yeah.

r180

His storytelling skills could use some sharpening.

I've watched these clips and laughed hard - a LOT. Barely any of it could be done today -- the mentally challenged people, the fat people, the race stuff, and on and on. Yes, I'm in my 40s and of that generation when MADTV aired, so of course none of it seems that bad to me. IMO, it was trafficking in stereotypes and over-the-top caricatures, but none of it seemed sinister. And most everyone got skewered.

Stephanie Weir's character Dot used to make me cry from laughing. And Debra Wilson was always great as Oprah. I think Stephanie was one of the best comedy/skit show performers ever.

Debra was awesome as Whitney. “I’m going to speedball my way to heaven, baby!”

Queen of the Night, I am!

How will I know? I won't!

I wonder what Whitney thought of Debra's impersonation?

You're no Miss America, r196.

R201, according to this interview (around 25 minutes in) Whitney apparently found the sketches funny

The straight guys watching football sketch was my favorite tv skit ever......it's posted above...... And Ike at the end lying down on the couch and putting his legs in the air made me fall on the floor.

^ You fell on the floor and raised your legs too I'm guessing?

Debra Wilson said that Whitney told her that she was funny.

Thanks again, Kay!

I think it's funny in talking about SNL and MadTV actors crossing over that it seems not a single soul has mentioned poor Jeff Richards.

Vol. 3

Because they punched down. All the time.

[quote]I think it's funny in talking about SNL and MadTV actors crossing over that it seems not a single soul has mentioned poor Jeff Richards.

Technically he was the first person to do it but he was only on 3 episodes of MadTV.

Whereas someone like Taran Killam did enough on both shows that he's remembered for both.

I detested Bobby Lee and his poor acting, and the stories above, such as at R125, convince me that he, at least, deserved to be looked down on. Little talent and personally repulsive = do not hire.

R212 Agreed. He seems stunted.

60+ bucks for the dvd per season. Might subscribe to a von so i can torrent all of it. Cheaper in the end.

vpn*

r214, I think all of the seasons are still on hbo max

I want the dvds tho. Love MadTV. Will prob dl via torrent via vpn so I don't get sued / arrested

Thanks though. Also, I'm in Canada so I don't think I even have access to HBO max

R217 Elder gay with hoarding issues.

I'm still in my 30s and said I would dl them via torrent ya fuckin retard.

r197 The Weirwolf

It’s disappointing to hear that Bobby was so immature with other cast members. People who think farting in others’ faces and defecating on things is funny needs to grow up. Small children think that’s funny but most adults don’t. It’s the lowest form of humor.

Random, but I remember reading the Mozart found scatological humor to be funny too. He must’ve also been emotionally stunted.

Does anybody remember when The Cure played live on MadTV?

[quote]People who think farting in others’ faces and defecating on things is funny needs to grow up. Small children think that’s funny but most adults don’t. It’s the lowest form of humor.

As weird as this sounds, I've found that the people who I've met who are like this as adults also tend to be kinda sociopathic in other ways. They get humour out of making others really uncomfortable, so I guess it makes sense in a way.

There are several episodes missing from each season on HBOMax, and most episodes are whittled down to under 30 minutes. I think only one or two musical performances remain, it's lousy. Why did Stephnie Weir spell her name like that

She was thinking about Googleability.

[quote] Oprah Winfrey (Debra Wilson) hosts a reading of The Vagina Monologues where she and former First Ladies Betty Ford (Alex Borstein), Nancy Reagan (Nicole Sullivan), and Barbara Bush (Mo Collins) read excerpts from the play

Why did so many of the posts get removed and replaced with the red "troll" thing?

[quote] To be fair, MADTV has an Oscar winner among their alumni, which I don’t think SNL has been able to achieve yet.

Actually, since you’re talking about an Oscar for writing (Jordan Peele for Get Out) then it’s only fair to include writing alumni, in which case, SNL’s Adam McKay won one back in 2016 for The Big Short.

And if we include ALL alumni, SNL’s music director Howard Shore won three Oscars for Lord of the Ring Trilogy.

Alex Borstein won an Emmy for Mrs. Maisel.

Alex Borstein has done well. She also has an HBO show under her belt: black comedy Getting On where she stars along Laurie Metcalf and Niecy Nash, who proves herself a deft dramatic actress. It’s a really good show if you haven’t seen it.

Didn't Niecy win an award for that show too r236?

How is Niecy's latest marriage going?