Was the original SCTV cast the greatest comedy ensemble in television history?

Andrea Martin!

So many memorable characters.

I always liked the women more than the men. Andrea and Catherine were comic geniuses. Levy was very funny but a little schticky. I liked John Candy, but Joe Flaherty got on my nerves. Not a great performer.

Arguably yes

Looking for the episode John Candy smuggles a corpse past his landlord

Love Catherine O'Hara.

Their themed episodes were amazing. The Solid Gold Telethon is still one of the funniest things I've ever seen. A lot of really biting, witty social commentary in their that was ahead of its day, too.

Today is Moscow! Look at shoes!

I loved that show. Yes, for my kind of sense of humor, SCTV was the absolute best.

I have scoured the internet for one of Catherine’s more obscure characters she played on SCTV. It is a Valley Girl. Dumb as a box of bricks. Flipping her blond pig tails back and forth. It was one of those shorter form “insert” type of things that lasted about 20 seconds each. Pure brilliance.

How could you, Mrs Dinkie!

I wish I could be anorexic for a week.

To mother Theresa: really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree.

Someone compared Ronan Farrow on his MSNBC show to Catherine O'Hara as Brooke Shields and I can only think of the two together now,

Absolutely hilarious. Beautifully written and acted.

Dave Foley in drag was the best thing ever. Someone even created a Pinterest page

Not from the original cast, but still one of my favorites.

It's a shame that we will probably never get to see the SCTV reunion which was filmed in May of 2018. I attended the event and Martin Scorsese was the director (he even came out to a standing ovation).

I don't know what happened with it. Maybe it's the licensing of songs. Maybe someone in the SCTV cast changed their minds. Maybe someone forgot to take off the lens cap. Who knows? But it's going on four years so I don't think it's coming.

Does anyone remember John Candy as threatening wood working host Paul Fist-In-Your-Face making an 'eight legs, like a spider!' stool?

Sometimes I think I dreamt it.

I found a couple of Sunrise Semesters with that character but not the one about the 8-legged stool.

I found it!

One of my favorite ongoing skits: "Pre-Teen World," which was their parody of PBS's "Zoom."

Catherine O'Hara always wrote these skits, and the running joke was that the boys on the show were incredibly uncomfortable being on television (while the girls were almost TOO comfortable).

I'd never seen Pre-Teen World before. Not only funny, but so authentic--it's like I'm back in junior high.

The answer is yes, OP. Every Christmas I go back to whatever I can find of them on YouTube, especially Catherine O'Hara's Joey Heatherton/Lola Falana characters.

I wonder if the delay/shelving of the Netflix special was connected to Andrew Alexander stepping down in 2020 over "institutionalized racism" at SCTV.

I always thought that SCTV was just 😑.

The original cast of Saturday Night Live ( 1975-1979) was the best.

R22, no element of your post rings a bell! There was going to be an SCTV special on Netflix?

Monty Python?

R24 just do some googling. The special was filmed in 2018 (a NYT correspondent attended and wrote about it), Alexander stepped down in 2020. In 2021 he wrote on Facebook or Twitter that the special had been shelved, but Netflix responded by saying it's just delayed. No news since.

This was a great cast, especially Catherine O'Hara. She's continued to do great character acting through her entire career including the Christopher Gest movies and Schitt's Creek. My brother and I used to watch this clip over and over and howl at O'Hara.

That’s really good.

Loved loved loved SCTV. One of my favorite running gags was kind of like "Change ONE letter, change the essence." Example: [bold]Cosby,[/bold] Stills, and Nash, with Bill Cosby doing his weird muggy thing while the other guys did their parts straight. Another was Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young--with BING Crosby doing his iconic "BuhBuhBuhBuh" stylings applied to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." Fucking genius.

We sibs also loved Rick Moranis as Michael McDonald rushing from studio to studio in his ancient, beat-up Ford Fairlane (or was it a Galaxie 500?), running up to the mike just in time to add his distinctive vocals. If you remember there was a period where MMcD was on every other artists' records. Perfection.

Oh, and Andrea Martin's pitch-perfect "Don't cry for me Rawalpindi..." from INDIRA!

Sooo much more clever and less uneven than SNL.

Replace Harold Ramis with Martin Short and Rick Moranis and that's my number one ensemble.

the Reunion

Struck by Catherine O'Hara's resemblance to Reese Witherspoon in R27's clip.

"What's your preference-- beaks or cheeks?"

I’d say so, yes.

Eerily accurate, down to the football player walk.

[quote] The original cast of Saturday Night Live ( 1975-1979) was the best.

Not really. The cast of SCTV was definitely more versatile and talented.

This is a tour de force. From Andrea Martin’s boogeying at the beginning, Catherine O’Hara’s Grace Slick eyes and drugged out Martin Short at the end, it’s a great look at the chasm between the 60s and the 80s.

M of A

John Candy really did do the best Julia...

I don't buy that the SCTV film is delayed. It's been four years.

What other comedy show could do a dead-on spoof of Ingmar Bergman - only to have Bergman himself say he found it hysterically funny

My all time favorite was the Godfather spoof with the original SCTV cast. It never gets old. Here's the first clip.

Martin Short, I don’t care for him. Never thought he was that funny.

R15 Jackie Rogers Jr. is the love child of Mick Jagger, Faye Dunaway and Andy Warhol.

Here's the second Godfather Clip.

Lola Heatherton with Mother Teresa…gold!

Stephen is starstruck...

"with Peter Pan Collar"

We had a chain of piano/organ stores where I grew up named Carma Lou's House of Music. Edna resembles her so it's probably funnier to me than you,

John Candy as Divine in an Andy Warhol, John Waters production of Peter Pan. I loved Catherine O'Hara the most, however.

When they brought back 3D movies a few years ago I thought of Monster Chiller Horror Theater in 3D everytime. They really do do that weird motion waving in and out so much.

First, thank you all for not lambasting me for citing Dave Foley, as I apparently got my Canadian comedy ensembles mixed up. (He's from Kids in the Hall not SCTV).

Secondly, I agree with R25 that Monty Python's Flying Circus is the greatest comedy ensemble.

I would have loved to have seen the touring production of "Godspell" which had Andrea Martin in the ensemble. She had been very pleased with her audition, and was sitting there when who should walk in but Gilda Radner. Of course Gilda got the role she thought she might be up for, but Andrea was in the ensemble, and has praised Gilda for her comic genius.

I've had the pleasure of seeing Andrea many times on stage, in comedies, dramas and musicals, including her scene-stealing role in "Pippin". An injury in rehearsal for a very bad Nathan Lane play saved her from going on with it. I'm sure she had better things to do with her time than toss around naked dummies complete with cloth penises. I've run into her twice, once asking her the time at a salon while waiting for our hairdressers, and another time, she asked me at a New York City subway station how to get to a certain stop. Love her book "Lady Parts".

I went backstage after Fiddler to see a friend of mine, r52. Andrea exited past me out the stage door in her mink and I was struck how beautiful she was.

I dressed as Edith Prickley one year for Halloween, and people kept thinking I was a variation of the church lady.

The brilliance of Catherine O'Hara as DL's favourite evangelist, Tammy Faye Baker.

No wonder Time magazine referred to SCTV as "comic assassins"!

I loved the soap opera spoof Days of the Week. I swear two of the characters were based on Another World's Rachel and Vivian the maid. (Mojo I believe.)

Knock yourself out, r56...

Lucy

Homelier You

New York Rhapsody

Interesting, R56. I always thought they were based on Kay and Esther on The Young and the Restless. I guess rich and frosty old lady with rock-stupid maid must be a well-worn soap opera trope.

Who could forget "Indira" with Slim Whitman? "Don't Cry for Me, Rawalpindi"..

I love you for that R60! I never saw that one. Amazing.

Thanks to this thread, YouTube keeps suggesting more SCTV. This one is hilarious for those of us who remember both disco and Perry Como.

It's not a competition, OP.

I thought Joe Flaherty was hilarious. So I disagree with somebody's post above who didn't like him. I also loved Dave Thomas. I wasn't (and still am not) a big fan of Martin Short; he nearly ruined the show, for me. Just seemed like a big ego who thought he was clever. Never would have predicted Eugene Levy would be one of the most successful members with one of the longest careers - but his Sid Dithers was hilarious. "San Franciskie? So how did you came? You drove or did you flew?"

R14 I love Kids In The Hall, I'd rank them up there with the best TV comedy ensembles of all time. Too bad Dave didn't age too well...

YES.

I am thrilled to see the love for SCTV.

Love Andrea and Catherine. Andrea was soo great on “Great News” a show that never got the love and number of seasons, it deserved!!

[quote] Not really. The cast of SCTV was definitely more versatile and talented.

I absolutely loved SCTV but this isn’t a comparison we can really make. The original cast of SNL performed live. That changes the entire dynamic of the show.

Unlike SNL the sketches on SCTV actually had a point, and were structured, rather than watching a lot of stoned people with half-baked ideas.

Love this Rhoda parody from the first ep of season 3

[quote] Unlike SNL the sketches on SCTV actually had a point, and were structured, rather than watching a lot of stoned people with half-baked ideas.

That’s rich — yes I’m quite sure the SCTV cast completely abstained from use of any controlled substances lol. Especially John Candy — a saint!

Once more for the cheap seats — SCTV was written and produced completely differently than SNL. There’s no way to compare the two. The SNL cast was performing live, in front of an audience, and each had to perform multiple skits, consecutively, all in that manner.

SCTV skits could be written longer and more complex, and the actors could shoot them scene by scene, and take by take until it was perfect. And they could spend an entire day shooting one skit.

No comparison.

I remember when SCTV started showing in my area (DC) after the success of SNL. I assumed it was an SNL ripoff. I'd never heard of Second City. I couldn't have been more wrong. Quickly discovered it was beyond hilarious. Thanks for all these clips!

Once more for the cheap seats — SCTV was written and produced completely differently than SNL. There’s no way to compare the two. The SNL cast was performing live, in front of an audience, and each had to perform multiple skits, consecutively, all in that manner.

You know that the comics on SCTV were all experienced live sketch comics, right? That was where they came from. I think it's possible to compare the talent of the two groups, regardless of whether one was performing live and one wasn't.

R73 - you’re right about the differences in production; and how that impacted the scope of what was possible on the two shows — although I doubt there was budget or time for SCTV to spend an entire day shooting one skit.

But when you look at the output of both shows in aggregate I do think overall SCTV showed a higher level of smarts and humor in more of their writing and comedic ideas than SNL

Actually, the SCTV group were all remarkably straight. There was drinking and smoking but that was pretty much it. There really wasn't a Belushi among them. Not sure where you got the idea that John Candy was a prodigious drug user, but he wasn't.

In his book about SCTV, Dave Thomas write that when they got picked up by NBC, they were told to put all their drug humor in the first half hour and all their sex humor in the last half hour. He said he realized at that moment that NBC had absolutely no idea what they had actually bought when picking up SCTV, since there was basically zero drug humor and very little sex-based humor on the show.

[quote]You know that the comics on SCTV were all experienced live sketch comics, right?

Most of the sketches from the first season were some of their best from the Old Fire Hall days of Second City Toronto.

My favorite show of all time, and it's 95% perfection. I agree the women were the most versatile, and I idolized Andrea Martin for decades. I was a bit disappointed when I read her autobiography, since she didn't go into much depth about her characterizations, but then I recall watching an interview with her and Catherine O'Hara where they said that the preparation for a character was intense (writing, makeup, costumes), but then after the performance they 'put it away' and went on to the next one.

A few years after the official DVD box sets came out I slowly got them all, including the “early years” and Christmas specials disc. I was a young high school kid in the 80’s when they aired in the US. I watch them from time to time and the whole show still fascinates me.

But it really wasn’t until a few years ago I even realized all the shows aren’t on those DVD sets. And many unseen (to me) episodes pop up in bits in YouTube, etc. I wish there was some way they could all get released or all be watchable in one format.

Two favorites that immediately come to mind:

Edith Prickly dancing with Pierre Trudeau at Studio 54. She gets a call on the club’s phone (the guy in roller skates with the phone on a tray for her crashed on the dance floor) from Guy, who tells her to come back to town right away. Andy Warhol uses the phone right after her. She convinces Trudeau to go with her to the Mudd Club before she takes the red eye back to Melonville.

Neil Simon’s Nutcracker Suite with scenes interspersed with a promotional appearance on the Sammy Maudlin Show where Sammy keeps calling Marsha “Pamela” and she’s a hysterical mess. Then the Christmas tree catches in fire.

When Bobby Bitman attempted to have his own show when Sammy Maudlin quit for a while, and it was a disaster. And he sobbed in front of the audience admitting it.

When Bobby Bitman’s younger brother attempted a comedy routine on Bobby’s show with a giant phone and it bombed and he had to talk the audience into clapping.

SCTV celebrated “cringe” moments in the pop culture of the time.

The show was my favorite as a nerdy, fatally self-conscious high school kid — and besides loving the humor SCTV demonstrated how with hairstyle, clothes and attitude just how malleable your appearance could be.

This sound incredibly stupid, but the show gave me the idea and the confidence to overhaul myself when I went away to college - since nobody there would know how I was “supposed to” look and act; so I spiked my hair, bought a bunch of new wave t-shirts & loud Jams shorts and actually started talking to people.

Omg, R60, I'd complety forgotten about that sketch; I had SUCH a crush on Eugene Fodor after seeing him on Johnny Carson. Every Friday I scanned my new TV Guide for Fodor appearances.

Shame how his life turned out; he had such promise.

[quote]When Bobby Bitman attempted to have his own show when Sammy Maudlin quit for a while, and it was a disaster.

I believe that was William B. Williams. That you may have forgotten him shows what a total second banana he was.

Does anyone remember a parody performance of Donna Summer's On The Radio? In my foggy memory it's a sad downtempo version, may have been a drunk Lola Heatherton/Catherine O'Hara, but also getting Linda Lavin/Andrea Martin vibes.

[quote]I wish there was some way they could all get released or all be watchable in one format.

That prick Andrew Alexander will never permit it.

spoofing Ordinary People as a camera commercial

I like the parody of acting students as much as the Ricardo Montalban jokes.

Wow, Fodor had a bad end

Catherine/Katharine

r37, what was your video? It's been removed already.

Wow, reading this really makes me want to see the show again. Why isn't the show available for streaming somewhere in the US? Can't find it anywhere, through apparently it is streaming overseas. Frustrating to just see a few clips on YouTube.

I did not watch when originally broadcast here in the states, but a high school friend loved the show and always encouraged me to tune-in. I'm so glad she did.

There are so many skits that are just genius.

This thread's a delight.

I just started watching YouTube uploads thanks to this thread. Rick Moranis had me in stitches, his Woody Allen, David Brinkley, Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett are brilliant.

The original show that I remember had 90-minute episodes. Sometimes, jokes would refer back to something that happened an hour ago. There would be several related sketches, that stretched over the 90 minutes. Very hard to syndicate in the original format.

The 80’s “new wave” style dog food ad, and Andrea Martin’s Brenda Vacarro Tampax ad parody are two of SCTV classics.

Lo and behold I looked for them on YouTube and someone has not only uploaded them here, but preceded each with the ads they are parodying!

R97 In the early 80’s the actual Brenda Vaccaro ad was re-edited after her breathing on it became late night talk show joke fodder. This only made it look surreal and bizarre. SCTV seems to be parodying all that here. Poor Brenda!

R97 I'm a young'un and I never knew that dog food ad was a parody of a real ad. It was funny on its own.

Dave Thomas's Bob Hope impression was scarily accurate, right down to the way Hope used to glare into the camera during a close-up.

[quote]Dave Thomas's Bob Hope impression was scarily accurate,

I once saw a Jeopardy episode in which it was stated that Hope himself said that Thomas did the best job of imitating him.

Pierre Polyvore, or whatever his name is, looks and sounds like he's being played by Dave Thomas.

R100 It was brilliant.