Review of 11-4-1995 episode (MD-104)

Life With Buffer: It's a sitcom parody with Michael Buffer (apparently
a fight announcer) as the central character. He insults his wife (Nicole
Sullivan), his two children, and a next-door neighbor (Artie Lange) who
is having an affair with his wife - and then announces his imminent divorce,
with the help of his eminent divorce lawyer. This was OK; we had one great
line here: "Weighing in at 158 pounds because she sits on her fat ass all
day watching talk shows, my wife, Alice Buffer!" Otherwise it was pretty
conventional sketch comedy fare.

Opening Segment: Since this episode apparently aired the same night as the
Mike Tyson/Buster Douglas rematch, we get four different openings: one for
a Tyson victory, one for a Douglas victory, one for a draw, and one for
a cancelled fight. To really appreciate this, you would have to know that
"Mad TV," unlike a certain other Saturday night sketch comedy show, is not
broadcast live from New York, but instead is taped and originates from Los
Angeles. I think the underlying message here is, "what's so great about
live TV anyway?" And the segment works for me although it's not hysterically
funny. I think the best opening segment of the first four was "Nicole's
Room" from MD-102, but this was good enough, and it's refreshing to see
how in the early days they really made an effort to keep the opening
segment interesting, rather than just have some cast member/guest host
come out and say, "we have a great show tonight; stick around," etc.

Highagain: This is a parody of "Heinekein" commercials in which a drunken
slob (Dave Herman) reminisces about good times he's had with his best
friend (Artie Lange), who is also a drunken slob. They both got arrested
for DUI, and Herman was the best man at his friend's wedding - three times.
In the end, Herman's friend dies, and Herman pees on his grave. Not an
especially great commercial parody, but it does contain a good example
of the kind of dark humor that "Mad Magazine" at its best is particularly
good at, and which the TV show is able to duplicate at times.

Boxing Corner #1 (Hair): Here we get a celebrity cameo from boxer Roy
Jones, Jr. He is sullen and reticent because his trainer (Phil LaMarr)
didn't complement him on his new haircut. As soon as LaMarr does, however,
Jones perks up. This was OK.

P.R.: With the success "E.R." enjoyed in the mid-1990's, it was inevitable
that someone would parody it and "Mad TV" did. Imagine what it would be
like if the emergency room staff were replaced with public relations experts,
and you've got the general idea of this segment. We get Dave Herman as
Anthony Edwards, Artie Lange as George Clooney, Bryan Callen as Noah Wyle,
Nicole Sullivan as Julianna Margulies, and Orlando Jones as Eriq LaSalle.
The idea as enumerated doesn't sound that funny but the dialogue in the
sketch is funny: for example, when a celebrity is suspected to be a lesbian,
Callen suggests that she marry Larry King (the first available male who
will marry anyone). Also, we get Michael J. Fox (before he resurrected his
career with "Spin City") on a stretcher with a tag marked "D.O.A." as well
as Adam West (he's complaining because they got him a new series, but it's
on Comedy Central). West saves Gary Coleman (both West and Coleman appear
in celebrity cameos) by giving him (unwittingly) a new catchphrase. This
is pretty conventional stuff, but it still made me laugh, plus you get
location filming, which they don't do anymore.

Spy vs. Spy (Umbrella): White spy is doing a sword-swallowing act, which
the black spy sabotages by replacing one of the swords with an umbrella.
This was pretty good. Also, with this show, we go back to having two
Spy vs. Spy segments, just like the first two shows.

Boxing Corner #2 (Makeup): This time the trainers (Phil LaMarr, Artie
Lange), give Jones a makeover; now he looks like a drag queen (albeit
a drag queen in trunks). This was OK, about as good as the last one.

Vancome Lady - E.R.: With this sketch, the Vancome Lady (played by Nicole
Sullivan) became the first character to be recurred. This time she
is the receptionist in an emergency room (do I detect a theme here - first
we get P.R., then a sketch about an E.R.). She turns away a pregnant woman
(Mary Scheer) because she is not married and turns away an injured
motorist (Phil LaMarr) because he is a hemophiliac. When she is fired
by a doctor (Dave Herman) for her egregious conduct, she avenges her
firing by telling a patient with the ebola virus (Bryan Callen) to give
the doctor a big hug. OK, you have to suspend disbelief here a little bit
because you have to assume that the man with ebola would automatically
follow the Vancome Lady's instructions and give the doctor a hug even
though he knew the ebola virus (supposedly) is contagious. Also, I thought
it would be funnier if after the doctor told the Vancome Lady that they were
through, he says something like, "we can still sleep together, though," or
something to that effect (maybe something like "I fired you but that doesn't
affect our personal relationship"). Even so, this is a very funny sketch.
Sullivan's characterization really brings the sketch to life, especially
the facial and hand gestures, and the "Shoo!" which eventually would
become a standard phrase in the Vancome lexicon. It is better than the
first Vancome sketch, although the best was yet to come. [Also, this
unedited version was far more edifying than the edited version which
appeared on a "Best of Mad TV" special.]

Lying: Let's chat, shall we? In Orlando Jones' second monologue, his
subject, as you might have guessed, is lying. He doesn't like it, as you
might have guessed, and he provides examples of "liars": Barbara Eden,
who cannot make furniture disappear just by blinking her eyes; Gabe
Kaplan, who is not really a history teacher; and Jack Klugman, who
went from being a sportswriter to a coroner. He starts throwing a
temper tantrum; Nicole Sullivan and Phil LaMarr come out to calm him
down and we see that all his lines - even the ones where he "loses" his
temper - are scripted. This is a good parody of people who can't seem
to distinguish between TV and reality (a theme explored again in Nicole
Sullivan's monologue in MD-106). I didn't think it was as funny as Jones'
first monologue (the Spam monologue is pretty hard to top, in my view),
but this was still very funny, especially the way Jones overreacts, and
also at the end where he's reading the cue cards, and they keep showing
Nicole Sullivan holding the cards.

Boxing Corner #3 (Birthday): Now it's Jones' birthday, so they bring him
a cake and a puppy. He quickly finishes off his opponent and returns to
the corner. This was OK.

Woody Allen Action Flick: And now, we get to see a movie parody so good that
"Mad TV" recently rebroadcast it as a "Mad TV Classic" (actually, they
didn't show the little "Mad TV Classic" opening). Girls at a high-brow
private school are taken hostage by terrorists (led by Bryan Callen), and
the only hope now is Woody Allen (Dave Herman), the clarinet teacher.
Mother Superior (Nicole Sullivan as Mia Farrow) is also concerned because
she adopted all the children last week. Allen even gets help from an unlikely
ally - Yassir Arafat (Artie Lange). In this case, the top three things
the parody has going for it are location, location, and location (location
filming, that is), although the satire is also very good (I just wonder
if they could have done it justice without location filming). Allusions
are made to Allen's custody battle with Mia Farrow ("I'll be back - in
court to appeal that custody decision."). It was topical (this was in the
news back then) and funny.

Sex Therapist: Couple (Orlando Jones, Debra Wilson) goes to a sex therapist
(Mary Scheer) because they are having trouble conceiving a child; it turns
out they don't even know what sexual intercourse is. Once again we are
moving into somewhat pedestrian stuff but it's still a cut above
run-of-the-mill sketch comedy. I got a good laugh at this exchange
which takes place after Jones and Wilson explain to Scheer that they
thought that babies come from a magic stork - "Scheer: So you prayed to
a magic stork? Jones: And still no baby!" At the end we get a tinge of
irony because Scheer complains to her husband that the couple was raised in
the middle ages, and then describes the sun as "the firey red ball in
the sky" that gets "eaten by the black dragon."

Dennis Rodman PSA: Dennis Rodman (Orlando Jones) introduces a kid called
Jimmy (Dave Herman) who wants to play in the NBA, but he has one problem:
he's white. Rodman warns Jimmy and other white basketball players to
stay their white asses out of the NBA. This was Jones' first appearance
as Rodman and the performance is good, but I found this segment only
moderately funny. [Funnier is at the end of the show while the credits
are rolling when we see Rodman chasing Jimmy around.]

Family Feed: Guy (Bryan Callen) brings his fiancee and bride-to-be (Nicole
Sullivan) home to meet the family (Artie Lange, Mary Scheer, and some other
actors/actresses) who operate a dairy. The main comedic element here is
that the women all breast-feed the men. Also funny is that the fiancee
is disputing with the family over whether the new couple should relocate
to the country, but the dispute is all but forgotten when it is revealed
that she is pregnant (presumably because she will soon be lactating). This
was pretty funny, especially the way Sullivan reacts when she first
sees her future mother-in-law breast-feeding her boyfriend.

Republican Gladiators: It's like "American Gladiators," only this time we
get two Republican politicians (who have already faded from the national
spotlight) - Newt Gingrich (Artie Lange) and Bob Dole (Dave Herman) -
battling for the Republican Party's nomination for President (in 1996).
Gingrich is defeated in short order, but Dole makes it to the finals, only
to be defeated by Fist in the final debate, who wins with the following
eloquent argument: "TAXES SUCK!!" With this segment we get a second
recurring character (Newt Gingrich), some very good political satire,
and we won't soon forget Fist's incisive polemics. I also liked Herman's
Dole (physically, the resemblance is pretty close), which he would later
reprise. Artie Lange and Mary Scheer are the announcers (I think they
must've had Lange standing on a box or something when they showed him
standing next to Scheer because I don't think he's that tall.)

Don Martin (Fisherman): A fisherman catches a fish which is eaten by
another guy; the fisherman puts a worm on his hook and tries to fish
the fish out of the guy's stomach but pulls out a tire instead. Disgusting
but funny.

Advice: Two women (Nicole Sullivan, Debra Wilson) discuss what kind of
drugs they take. I vaguely remember seeing this sketch when it originally
aired. Best part is when Sullivan says she can't use crystal meth anymore
because of her insomnia; Wilson says it's all about choices - fat or fatigue -
and Sullivan shakes her head saying "food for thought; food for thought."
The denouement with Wilson saying that smoking is her one vice and
Sullivan declining the offer of a cigarette because she is pregnant gives
the sketch an appropriate touch of irony. This was pretty good - especially
the disclaimer at the end which assures us that "Mad TV" doesn't think
drug abuse is funny; they just thought this sketch was funny; this was a
nice touch and although it's nothing new because comedic uses of disclaimers
date back at least as far as the Monty Python days, it's appropriately
irreverant. I think this sketch is also the first one in which Sullivan
shared a writing credit (along with Steve Hibbert).

Other White Meat: It came from planet gross-out! Artie Lange is eating a
sandwich, so Phil LaMarr arrives on the set to gross him out by discussing
things like broiled rattlesnake rolled bat wings, and maggots. Then at the
end LaMarr turns to the camera and says: "Hi. I'm Phil LaMarr. I'm a
vegetarian and I have a feeling that right now, a few more of you are, too."
This was not overly funny but still made me laugh.

Spy vs. Spy (Sewer Chase): White spy makes a little paper boat which the
black spy follows through the sewer and straight up through to the white
spy's toilet - then the white spy clubs him and flushes him down the
toilet. This is even funnier than usual for "Spy vs. Spy." Once again -
black spy: 1, white spy: 1.

Closing Segment: The cast comes out to see how much they raised for the
kids; they raised nothing because they didn't set up phone lines. This
was OK. We also see Rodman chasing around Jimmy as I described earlier.

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After a slow start, the episode picks up about 10-15 minutes into the
show; the rest is quite good, and overall MD-104 is about as good as
MD-103. For the first time we get recurring characters, but it's early
enough in the history of the show so that the focus of the cast and
writing team seems to be more on coming up with new ideas rather than
with simply repeating that which has already been proven to work. [Many
fans who have seen season four will likely agree that the overreliance
on recurring characters has become a significant weakness of the
current show, even as many other fans assert that the recurring characters
are what prompt them to tune in every week.] The Woody Allen action film
and the Vancome Lady sketch stand out as particularly strong but there
are some lesser gems like "Advice" that deserve praise. (8/10)