TheAgitator.com
“Just What Are You Sitting on, Douchebag?”
Sunday, April 13th, 2008Nerve ranks (and provides video for) the top 50 comedy sketches of all time.
It’s a pretty good list, though I can think of about 10 SNL parody commercials that I’d have included.
Like “Needs more horse.”
I think it should actually be titled “the 50 greatest comedy sketches that we were able to find video of”. Just having the videos available surely bumped lots onto the list, kicking off far funnier ones that couldn’t be found.
They list several without video.
The State’s “Pudding” skit is one that I can’t forget. After it originally aired, I couldn’t get it out of my brain - every time I saw something excellent, I thought “Awww Yeah, That’s the Pudding”
They had a lot of Monty Python in there but they missed stuff like the “Dead Parrot Sketch”, “Nudge, Nudge”, “Self-Defence”, “The Funniest Joke In The World”, and “The Lumberjack Song”…all of which probably should have made the list over some of the more obscure stuff.
Either that or they should have expanded the list to 100.
And here are all of those sketches that I named…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Lq771TVm4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT3_UCm1A5I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RKTSwAVaoU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvj1QGqfQyg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zey8567bcg
youtube seems tobe pulling all, or a bunch of them. All I keep getting is “Sorry, this video is no longer available”
Presumably this is the copyright holders demanding the clips be taken down?
In any event, I find it outrageously stupid…I would have to think lists like this and the corresponding clips lead a lot of viewers over to Amazon or similar sites to see if they can get DVD sets of previously unknown or forgotten shows. Somewhere along the way people went from doing everything they can to get all the free publicity and advertising they can to demanding their clips be pulled even when they were just named to the top 50 funniest comedy sketches of all time.
I guess the mentality is kind of like “if we don’t enforce our copyright, eventually there’ll be no reason for anyone to buy the DVDs.” And I suppose they’ve got a point…iTunes sells music videos for a buck or two, and I’ve never bought one because if I actually wanted to see a video I could just go to YouTube to watch it for free. But pulling stuff like the clips on that list does get pretty ridiculous because they’re killing free publicity for themselves as well. There’s a balance to be struck in there somewhere.
With all due respect, UCrawford - The Dead Parrot sketch was #1
. . . not that I’ve come here for an argument or anything . . .
Danno,
Whoops
I think the Kids in the Hall are seriously underrepresented in this list. I caught their new show in Merrillville, IN last weekend and it was refreshing to watch a comedy troupe that knows how to end its sketches (if only somebody at SNL possessed such a skill)… Two that I would’ve included are the Gavin chair-painting sketch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJY4OLxHaO8
and the faux-existentialist “Sausages” film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiGRpm6Tf3I
And as far as Monty Python is concerned, I thought they left off their greatest sketch of all, the Upper-Class Twit of the Year competition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSqkdcT25ss
Upright Citizens Brigade got hosed.
No sketch list is complete without The State’s, “The Jew, The Italian, and the Red-Head Gay,” and the funniest sketch of them all, “Taco Mailman.”