The jaws skit was done by Dan Aykroyd, not Chevy Chase.
--FG
07/15 |
I must say this is VERY unimpressive list.
--JK
02/27 |
What? No Martin and Lewis? They were classics!!
--rb
12/03 |
What about "Chapelle's Show's" classic sketch,"Clayton Bigsby,Blind White Supremacist?"
--BBB
10/06 |
No Marx Bros.? And don't tell me they didn't do sketch!
--DD
08/31 |
Notably absent is the ORIGINAL sketch of the Carol Burnett show of the Elephant Sketch with Tim Conway, Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman.
I have only found the "Mama's Family" version with Dick Van Dyke on the internet.
--reb
08/14 |
Homey the Clown anyone?
--DVR
08/07 |
Laughably bad list!! The fact that Wicked Scepter and Pre-taped call in were the Mr.Show inclusions is funny only in that they weren't even in the top 50 Mr.Show skits! Also, out of all the classic KITH skits you chose to include The Chicken Lady?? The only thing not funny about the show. Pathetic list.
--JS
07/26 |
Good list. My recommended additions would be Rowan Atkinson's "Fatal Beatings" and the "Jingleheimer Junction" sketch from SNL.
--RO
07/08 |
You need to add 50 more because there are too many.
I nominate SNL "Love Werks" which Mike Meyers as Diter hosts a gameshow styled after "The Dating Game" where Phil Hartman as as a really bad transvesite contestant answers Diters question "What would you do on your first date?" Hartman takes your breath away with his S & M response something like, "Ferst I vould force you to drink antifreeze until you pass out. Then you would wake up in excructiating pain, then I'm gonna pee on you, chanting 'House on fire, house on fire, put it out, put it out'..."
I have never laughed harder.
--cjp
06/05 |
I am a sketch comedy writer, and while I agree with many of your choices, it's interesting to compare it to Channel 4's "50 greatest" list, which stems from the tastes of the British audience rather than the North American.
Kudos to you, though, for still managing to include British comedy.
For those in your office who enjoy sketch comedy, have a look at my latest offering at www.brevitytv.com/fantasies
It's nowhere near as great as the sketches on your list, but I think it will give you a laugh. :) Pass it on if you agree.
Cheers,
Barry Price
barrythescreenwriter@yahoo.com
---------------------------------
www.brevitytv.com/fantasies
--BP
06/03 |
A very entertaining list, but I think you have missed something important about 'The Parrot Sketch'. The clerk knows perfectly well that the parrot was dead all along. He was 'nailed to the perch' after all. He just doesn't want to give a refund.
--sb
05/14 |
Horrible list...how could you have a list of the 50 greatest sketches without at least 1 from the Ben Stiller Show?!?
--wfk
05/14 |
Wow, way to propagate several really racist comedy sketches! No, really, this is exactly what we need now, more hate speech. Well done.
(PS Nice tag line to your comments, why don't you put your money (or maybe principles) where your mouth is, Nerve, and delete or edit this offensive article.
---
"We are ardently committed to free expression, but we do expect Nerve visitors and contributors to interact respectfully and responsibly. Blatant expressions of bigotry, sexism or hatred may be constitutionally protected on the street corner, but they're not cool here. "
--NPR
05/13 |
You probably should've expected that you were going to get called out with this list. It's seems to across as being a bit elitist and pseudo-intellectual. While you do have some goodies on there, I think the SNL skit where William Shatner attends the Star Trek convention and tells them to "get a life"(which you don't even have on the list) is funnier than anything from Monty Python.
--BW
05/09 |
I'm stunned. How can you have possibly missed Eddie Murphy's "White Like Eddie"? (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84iwhitelikeeddie.phtml) Honestly, I thought it would be no brainer to rank it number one.
--JB
05/05 |
Jackie Rogers, Jr. $100,000 Jackpot Wad omitted? The list just lost all credibility. Congratulations.
--ML
05/02 |
What about Gilda Radner's 'I Hate Jennifer Show' from SNL or Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze's 'Chippendales' skit?
--XTC
05/01 |
Fun list but no Honeymooners? The Honeymooners (arguable the greatest comedy of all-time) started as a series of sketches on the Cavalcade of Stars before it became a show. I also noticed the conspicuous absence of Benny Hill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBtBlfMg-s
--ZZ
05/01 |
Where's "No Fries, Chips!" from SNL and nothing else from Belushi?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?
--MC
04/30 |
To the person who was complaining about the Dead Parrot sketch... I think the reality of why this sketch gets so much hype is because of how great the episode of MPFC it appears in is. Its probably the best. On its own, the dead parrot sketch is just pretty funny. The episode though is amazing.
This list still sucks horribly though. So much left out and replaced with pretty pretentious 70's SNL sketches. No no, this is Johnny Switchblade. Oh my, the wit, my sides are busting.
I still have to say, such bad Mr. Show selections. No Chris Farley makes this list irrelevant. A random sports show referenced Chris Farley as I was typing this. He's been dead for 10 years. This list sucks.
--WO
04/30 |
This is by far, shockingly, the worst list of comedy sketches. Claiming them to be 'all time'. Seriously, this list is brutal. You picked two random Mr. Show sketches (cuz they show up on you tube's lists firsts, really, thats it huh?). And according to the top 40 nothing past 1980 has been funny unless its on Dave Chapelle. How you can claim some of those lame sketches from SNL in the 70's even compares to things you didn't even mention is far beyond me. Terrible, terrible list.
--WO
04/30 |
Where is Robin William's "Origins of Golf"?
--MT
04/29 |
No In Living Color was a huge oversight. Men on Film was a standout. Way too much SNL.
--PB
04/29 |
Monty Python ain't THAT funny and having the More Cowbell at 50 is an outrage.
--mh
04/29 |
http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/nerveeditors/50GreatestComedySketches/01/
full of broken youtube links.
--CF
04/26 |
http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/nerveeditors/50GreatestComedySketches/01/
full of broken youtube links.
--CF
04/26 |
I love The State, but Porcupine Racetrack is one of the worst comedy sketches ever. Just about any other State skit could have been listed in its place and been a better choice.
Also, I would have included at least one skit from Elephant Parts ("Clandestine Typing Service"), Television Parts ("How to Speak Irish"), Tush (The Tammy Jean Show), and/or The Ben Stiller Show ("Manson!"). But that's just me.
--MKJ
04/24 |
they did remember madtv they just left it off because it wasn't funny!!
--dks
04/22 |
How anyone can leave the Ben Stiller Show off this list is amazing - as referenced earlier Manson/Lassie is an all-time classic.
--TB
04/20 |
1. you need to be able to comment on this
2. 2 much monty python
3. 2 much yank bullshit
4. MODERN TOSS ALAN.. get with 2008
--
04/18 |
How you could possibly put "dead parrot" over "who's on first" is beyond me. Now I'm not saying that "dead parrot" isn't funny, it is, but it's nowhere close to being in the same league as "who's on first." For starters, the dialogue in "who's on first" is much more rapid fire. Abbot and Costello trade lines like nobody's business. Secondly, their skit is twice the length of "dead parrot." Honestly, "argument clinic" is funnier than "dead parrot" by far. I'm not sure what you guys were thinking, but you definitely got it wrong...
--MM
04/17 |
Interesting List, but no Harry Carry and not one sketch with CHRIS FARLEY come on.
--rrc
04/16 |
Pretty solid list. The only one missing that comes immediately to mind is the "Penis" sketch from SNL with guest Matthew Broderick at a nude beach. Priceless
--BH
04/16 |
You forgot the Jack Webb and Johnny Carson "Copper Clappers"
from the Tonght Show
--JJP
04/15 |
Dana Carvey is not dead he's retired..
--AD
04/14 |
About #32, "Four Yorkshiremen": Cleese has since admitted that they nicked the premise from an old story by Stephen Leacock, "Self-Made Men".
--CCB
04/14 |
Nothing from the Muppet Show? I mean, it's for kids, but it's still damn funny. Nothing ever topped "Oh Danny boy."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=irzOBTV0xTE
--jh
04/13 |
Amazing post. GREAT idea. Totally love it.
--AKB
04/13 |
I guess Nerve/IFC never heard of MadTV.
--LG
04/13 |
Where's Numberwang? I think "numberwang" from That Mitchell and Webb Look should be on here. Both my faher and I have seen a lot of sketch comedy, and we both agree that it is one of the funniest. If anyone hasn't seen it, watch some numberwang sketches on YouTube.
--SMB
04/12 |
This is a great list.
Of course, all critical lists are subjective.
So with that being said, you guys missed several great comedy sketches.
In Living Color has several great comedy skits.
Homey D. Clown
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_QhuBIkPXn0
The Buttmans
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hLcGu8FoISk
Men on Films
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yu3XG02_T80
Any of these skits should have been on the list.
Your Ernie Kovacs pick was horrible. Ernie is the father of comedy skits. Surely, you could have found a better clip.
And the best comedy sketch of all time is
the classic 1975 SNL skit -- "Word Assocation" starring Richard Pryor and Chevy Chase.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hhlpwBJ2NLs
You guys missed the boat.
--TF
04/12 |
this list is awful. You must work for SNL! No Mad TV, no more Monty Python? Lame!
--lc
04/12 |
very weak
--gk
04/12 |
Great sketches!
The SNL Jeopardy skit is truly awesome, but they must have been thinking about SCTV "Night School Hi-Q" when they wrote it. Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara are brilliant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX_lCeuw2OI
--Bill
04/12 |
This is not very good. You've left off the sketches that got Mr. Show rolling: Ronnie Dobbs and Globochem! Also, where is Motivational Speaker Matt Foley (Chris Farley)? And the pretaped call-in show is one of Mr. Show's worst sketches. Whaaa?!
--MLP
04/12 |
re: #26 The Great White North. As a Canadian, its "eh" not "aye". Aye is what someone on a ship says to the captain. :)
--LP
04/12 |
No Stuart from MAD TV, this list sucks.
--MH
04/11 |
Word Association? Number 15? that had to be the greatest works of anti-racist satire!
--sd
04/11 |
What a terrible list. No "Fast Show", no "Big Train", no " A Bit of Fry & Laurie", to name but 3 shows that were full of material that could get on that list.
--TM
04/11 |
I agree with a lot of these picks (though my top 10 would have been a lot different). I'm pleased to see a lot of the recognition going to "the State" and some great picks from Chappelle.
However, I of course have some gripes.
First of all, while I love the Kids in the Hall, I can think of 20 other sketches that are funnier then the three on this list.
And most importantly....1 UCB Sketch? and it's asspennies? and it's #49? UCB is one of the funniest shows of all time and only 1 in the top 50? BOO.
Also, No Little Britain? No Whitest Kids you Know? Really? I'm not saying either would've cracked my top 10 but funny stuff nonetheless.
--LS
04/11 |
Why no link to More Cowbell? It's all over YouTube.
--KC
04/11 |
a lot of great choices here, though it would seem that your selections from The State are more based upon their sole VHS / DVD collection as opposed to the actual show itself. had it been based on the episodes that aired, i would expect to see "Go to the Zoo and Watch the Monkeys Do It!" on the list, considering that was one of their most epic sketches. also, i was a bit disappointed with all the love for old SNL and the lack of love for the incredible late 80s thru 90s period. don't get me wrong - the original cast had its moments. but they were also awkward and dated most of the time. however, some newer stuff like "Census Survey" by Tim Meadows and Christopher Walken should have made the cut. and what about the serious lack of Chris Farley? No "Chippendales" love??? that is a classic!!!
--NM
04/11 |
Have you noticed. The best and funniest are the very old ones without the filthy mouths involved. Those were really funny, not embarrasing to the observer (audience). The stuff that is supposed to be funny today is just based on shock effect! As the saying used to be, "It ain't funny Magee".
--JD
04/11 |
As a Brit I am obviously pleased to see a Monty Python sketch at No. 1. However as an example of two nations separated by a common language not having the Monty Python "Nudge, Nudge" sketch in the top 50 is uestionable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT3_UCm1A5I
But then we Brits were always good of taking the piss out of ourselves. Purleigh is a boring part of South London.
--DRB
04/11 |
Much like Rolling Stone's list of the 50 greatest albums of all time, or some other some such, this is clearly a list of comedy sketches compiled like some sort of popularity contest of media. Great comedy sketches, the eye of the beholder notwithstanding, I wouldn't have thought would be synonymous with "classic" or "original" (though original would certainly have been a better criteria than classic), but rather sketches that make people laugh, and certainly the first time, but absolutely every time. Like jokes, the best ones get a good laugh every time you hear it. By this list's standards, however, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" would have topped a "50 Greatest jokes list", followed closely by every knock knock joke ever. Just my opinion, but like many readers here, I would be one that found many a fault with this list. I would say the best ones you've chosen are closer to the bottom.
--tg
04/11 |
No Marx Brothers???
--ESS
04/11 |
No Shwetty Balls? No Night at the Roxbury? And celebrity jepoardy is definitely in the top 10. I can't see dead parrots at #1 either. Niggar Family and Blind Black White Supremacist, though already mentioned, easily are better than half the stuff on this list as well.
--FU
04/10 |
While Monty Python and SCTV are sketch comedy legends, and the sheer volume of SNL episodes demands recognition, the two greatest shows of the genre are the Kids in the Hall and Mr. Show. None of the other series were as consistently funny or innovative as they were and continue to be.
Upright Citizens Brigade best sketch invloved the "time machine humper" (not sure about the actual title).
Where's Chapelle's sketch about the blind, black white supremacist?
The State? Surprised to see one entry, let alone three -- poorly thought out Kids in the Hall imitations with no laughs. Never found Mad TV that funny, but surely some of their music-based material topped anything The State ever produced.
--JD
04/10 |
FYI, as to the SNL Jeopardy parody, SCTV ran an identical skit with Eugene Levy as Alex Trebek. Same premise (contestants frustrate the hell out of Alex), but different contestants.
--DBS
04/10 |
Anyone remember a skit titled "Half Wits"...Not on SNL..Maybe SCTV....I really don't remember...HILARIOUS though...
--msm
04/10 |
#48 "Gerald Ford Dead At 83" was actually first performed on the last episode of ABC's "The Dana Carvey Show", about 11 minutes into this link:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/7868/the-dana-carvey-show-season-finale
--TR
04/10 |
nothing from mad tv??? not even the sopranos???? omigosh
--gr
04/10 |
Missing: The Chappelle Show's "Niggar Family."
--
04/10 |
In comedy circles, it’s sadly taboo to admit that a Mad TV sketch made you laugh, but I have to say that Will Sasso playing Kenny Rogers as a drunken man-child is one of my all time favorite sketch comedy characters.
“I see a car, a fish, a boot. Thanks for calling.”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z-IggoJPGB4
--M.R.
04/10 |
Excellent list, and well thought out. I would have lobbied for the inclusion of Eddie Murphy's SNL short film "White Like Me" though, which I think is one of the smartest satires of pandering racial analysis ever performed. Also, a bit more Mr. Show wouldn't have hurt... but otherwsie good job!
--IM
04/10 |
This list is hilarious -- as an example of Baby Boomer arrogance. Sketches now-graying boomers yucked it up to, while stoned, in their teens are pronounced "immortal". Please.
Over half the list seems to come from the rarely-amusing SNL, while in glancing over the list (I didn't read every page) I didn't see a single sketch from THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW which was consistently much funnier during the same years.
But BURNETT wasn't considered "hip" by adolescent boomers, so they don't matter.
The generational myopia is completely revealed by the last sentence: "Just as each new generation keeps discovering the Beatles, hundreds of thirteen-year-olds are right now watching this sketch on YouTube for the first time, and incorporating the phrase "pining for the fjords" into their vocabularies. Unlike that unfortunate parrot, this is one joke that will never die."
Yeah, right. Whatever WE boomers enjoyed in our teens is immortal and will always be superior to the entertainment of every other generation. The Beatles were the Guy Lombardo and Lawrence Welk of the boomer generation -- nothing more and nothing less. Only Lombardo and Welk were much better musicians and their fans had the sense not to make grandiose claims for them when they grew up.
A triumph of marketing over talent, the Beatles' ditties -- harmless though they are -- will be as forgotten in another generation as the hits of Doris Day.
Get over yourselves, Baby Boomers. You were spoiled rotten by your World War II generation parents, and now even in your sunset years, you can't stop thinking the pop songs and TV shows of your youth are Masterpieces For The Ages. And insisting that everyone else, older and younger than you, agree.
--SGO
04/10 |
You need Mr. Show's "The Audition"--their greatest sketch, by their own testimony--and SNL's "Buckwheat has been shot!" (though I don't think that's online.) I also remember enjoying The Ben Stiller Show's Manson/Lassie sketch.
--RAG
04/10 |
Makes no sense to not have Eddie Murphy do "James Browns Celebrity Hot Tub Party"
--KWW
04/10 |
Wow - the top ten are all terrible. This is more some baby-boomer's list of nostalgia, peppered with a few token modern sketches that seem to be selected based on cultural ubiquity. This is a lame list, as evidenced by the lack of early 90s SNL sketches.
--HRC
04/10 |
C'mon, where's Mr. Show's Lie Detector?
-Garnet Fraser
Toronto
--GF
04/10 |
"Dead Parrot" is anti-comedy: ham-fisted, forced, repetitive, endless, unhinged from anything real--as unfunny as, oh, a portrait of Dick Cheney.
--srh
04/10 |
Tubbs and Edward from the League of Gentlemen.
--kln
04/10 |
This list is definitely wanting without a single sketch from The Fast Show.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NPiGJBHVadA
--sdw
04/10 |
RE: #42-- most of the heirs of the concept behind this sketch predate it. Freaky Friday, the most obvious antecedent, was first made in 1976 and starred Jodie Foster. So AbFab didn't invent the idea, and it's not really very well explored here.
--jpl
04/10 |
Where's In Living Color?
Or Culture Clash?
--sae
04/10 |
I can't see 11 - 16, is that supposed to be a joke?
--MSG
04/10 |
Where's Chapelle's Black Blind White Supremacist?
--AH
04/10 |
How you could include lame guys dressed as monkeys not doing really anything over the first Matt Foley sketch or the first Debbie Downer sketch is beyond me!!! Let alone the part of the episode where Jim from Taxi takes his driver's license test.... "It's Gold Jerry, GOLD!!"
--BB
04/10 |
Thank you, thank you. I enjoyed looking at your list and hope to view the classics I've seen and the ones I haven't. 26 is fondly remembered, 23 gave me a great LOL just from the memory of it, 19 is another fondly remembered sketch, 16 gave me another good laugh, 15 brought me to tears laughing (again, just from the memory of it), 14, 13, 11, 8, 5, 4 all great, 3 (Argument Clinic) maybe should have been number 1, but I was glad to see it so high, loved seeing "Who's on first" at #2, and Dead Parrot at #1 did not surprise me too much. Lovely plummage! Only one recommendation, the Monty Python sketch - can't quite remember the name - about "sportscasters" covering a famous author starting his new novel as he sat in a stadium beginning the first few lines is a classic that deserves to be here. Again, thanks for this. Just the laughs from what I had stored in the memory banks was worth it.
--RRC
04/10 |
no Lucille Ball? Suermemegivitamin? Chocolate factory?
--pak
04/10 |
I was a little surprised not to see the 'Colonel Lingus' SNL sketch (say it with a southern accent) included. And to the idiot who said the Dead Parrot sketch shouldnt even be included - I guess Monty Python is just too intellectual for you.
--BB
04/10 |
Awesome
--bps
04/10 |
the fact that only one chappelle episode made it here invalidates this entire piece. the #1 ranked parrot sketch shouldn't even be on this list. all of the old sketches shown here represent different types of comedy that don't appeal to the readers of today as being "great". this blows.
--FU
04/10 |
Sad that they only consider sketch comedy shows.
One of the funniest sketches I've seen was on the Johnny Carson show...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdmULsIEyEI
--JCL
04/10 |
That's not Saturday Night Live with the Gerald Ford dead sketch, yo, that's the ever underappreciated and briefly existent Dana Carvey Show, which helped launch the careers of Louis C.K., Steve Carrell and Stephen Colbert. How appropriate it's un(der)appreciated in this list.
--JLD
04/10 |
I love all the dead youtube links! Great work!
--DM
04/09 |
No "Choppin' Broccoli" means you guys fail.
--D.C.
04/09 |
No Mad T.V. sketches? So is this just a list from someone who doesn't like Mad TV?
--JM
04/09 |
I'm a little disappointed not to see The State's "I Wanna Dip My Balls In It!" sketch, though to be fair it's been a long time since I've seen it so maybe it wasn't as funny as I remember. Was still hoping to see it again though.
--th
04/09 |
Girl Drink Drunk by the Kids in the Hall
--Stu
04/09 |
If you didn't include clips by Flips Wilson or "The Richard Pryor" show then your list is invalid.
--kd
04/09 |
obviously i am older. Still, no burns and allen? not to mention edgar bergen and charlie mccarthy with wc fields? or fred allen.
--glnk
04/09 |
That's ok about B.O.C. and The Reaper, I'll just throw on some Iron Maiden instead.
--MGP
04/09 |
What about a 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie?' Or Rowan Atkinson? (Or a good dollop of Atkinson with Fry and/or Laurie? Or Atkinson with Tony Robinson? These last combos may not have done sketches together, but at least A BIT and Rowan Atkinson should show up in the top 50.)
--k
04/08 |
this is fucking awesome. i might not go to work today haha
--v
04/08 |
Jackie Rogers, Jr. 100,000 Jackpot Wad
From SNL's "third peak," following the original cast and Eddie Murphy's almost single-handed run, this take on Dick Clark's 100,000 Pyramid featured the unnecessarily absurd (Martin Short's SCTV carry-over serving as the flamboyant albino host) to the simplistically brilliant (Christopher Guest's ambiguously gay Indian(?) contestant sparring with Billy Crystal's "Sammy Davis, Jr"). A bout of hysterics that Jimmy Fallon would've let ruin the scene is expertly handled by Guest and Crystal.
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84pjackpotwad.phtml
--dg
04/08 |
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