Review of 11-25-1995 episode (MD-107)    

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Lowered Expectations: With Nestor (Dave Herman), a Latin-like "man of the
senses" who wants a similarly discerning woman. The best part of this
segment is in the beginning when the Lowered Expectations spokeswoman
(Debra Wilson) denegrates the viewers as "pathetic" - after all, it's
Saturday night, and they're watching this show; how sad is that? The
irony of sitting in front of the TV as someone insults you and still finding
it compelling to watch (not to mention funny) was too much for me. And
it was a lot funnier than the usual intro they use (the one where she calls
the viewers "sleeping ugly," etc.).

Opening Segment (Ken Norton, Jr.): San Francisco 49er Ken Norton Jr.
gives the cast a pep talk before they go out to start the show. This is the
first time the opening segment does not start on the traditional Mad TV set
with the couch, big TV; etc. Norton is no comedian but the segment is
effective enough, and better than most of the season two-three opening
segments where they just had a guest host/cast member come out and say
"we're having a great show." What was that Nicole Sullivan kept shouting
when they finally ran out onto the set?

Vud Light I - Organ Donors: Dave Crosby tells his father he loves him, but
his father tells him he's not getting his liver in this parody of those
Bud Light commercials. This was OK though not especially funny; the main
achievement here is that they pretty much did a dead-on parody of the
ads, demonstrating once again the advantages of location filming.

Disruptive Principal: Mr. Silcox (Dave Herman) is a pretty cool high school
principal. In the process of observing an English class taught by one
of his old teachers (Mary Scheer), he says things like "bite me;" he knocks
books off of students' desks; finally, the teacher kicks him out of the
class, making reference to malfeasances committed by Silcox when he was
a student in her class - and Silcox weighs in with the comment, "[Y]ou're
still a bitch." Then he takes two students (Bryan Callen, Orlando
Jones) on a beer run to Hooters. This may be the funniest part of this
show. In any case, it's the first segment in the show so far that scores
a direct hit; when Herman kept saying "bite me" I couldn't stop laughing.
Also it's funny the way Scheer blames Callen and Jones for Herman's
misbehavior (either she really thought it was them, or she was trying to
avoid a confrontation with Herman), and then she kicks Herman out anyway.

Lowered Expectations: Chanin (Phil LaMarr) is a nerd who's into Dungeons
and Dragons, military history and Star Trek (but not Voyager). I think
this was a better nerd than the one that Orlando Jones played on a
later "Lowered Expectations" segment, although there were qualitative
differences (Jones' nerd was much more effete). For someone like myself
who has many friends like this guy (why else would I be on the Internet
instead of getting a life), I found this to be quite funny, especially
Chanin's really annoying laugh at the end of the segment.

Navajo Football League: Paul Tagliabue (Dave Herman) and Bud Selig (Bryan
Callen), the commissioners of football and baseball respectively, hold
a press conference to introduce a Navajo chief (Orlando Jones), whose
people now own several baseball and football franchises. But they change
the names of franchises that make reference to Indians: e.g., the
Washington Redskins become the Washington Rednecks; the Cleveland
Indians become the Cleveland Klan. This is not the most ambitious
idea for a sketch but it generated quite a few laughs, especially when
they bring out the Washington Rednecks' new mascot (was that Artie Lange?).
Overall the performances by Callen, Herman and Jones were also pretty good.

Don Martin - Water-skiing: Man is waterskiing but runs into a drawbridge.
He tries it again; this time they raise the drawbridge, but this time
he smacks into a truck that has driven off the end of the bridge. Then
both waterskier and truck plunge into the water. I think this is what
they call irony. In any case, I thought it was pretty good.

Tyson vs. Barty: Fox Sports puts comedian Billy Barty in Mike Tyson's punching
bag. The results are predictable (Tyson uses the bag for practice, and Barty
is reduced to a curious amalgam of blood, bones and flesh). It came from
planet gross-out! The guy who did the Tyson impression is pretty good; I
like that stupid little laugh he does. Again, there was nothing special here,
but quite watchable.

Hard to Oppress: This is a movie/sociopolitical parody about what it would
be like if Steven Segal (Bryan Callen) - in blackface, no less - made a movie
about the black civil rights movement. He casts Sidney Poitier (Phil LaMarr)
as his co-star; George Wallace III (Dave Herman) appears as George Wallace.
Segal is writing the script, but he doesn't know who Malcolm X was. The
casting of Pam Grier (Debra Wilson), former blaxploitation star, as Rosa
Parks, is apparently supposed to clue us in to the fact that the Segal film
is no more than a modern-day blaxploitation film which portrays civil rights
leaders as ciphers who only know how to fight oppression with brute force,
rather than relying on their intelligence. Also funny is how this "The Making
of" film gives away the climax of the movie. This was a brilliantly-written
piece which was more ambitious than most movie parodies and which ultimately
works well. Also Bryan Callen does a good Steven Segal, much better than
Will Sasso's Segal.

Vud Light - Mob: A man covered with a canvas, his feet encased in cement,
flanked on either side by two mafia types, tries unsuccessfully to
persuade them to allow him to live. This was about as funny as the Dave
Crosby Vud Light. Again, the best thing it has going for it is the fact
that it actually LOOKS like a commercial.

Spy vs. Spy - Funland: The black spy clubs a replica of the white spy
contained in an amusement park game, but then he is jettisoned into the
air and clubbed on the head by the fake white spy. This was rather funny.

Happy Happy Storytime Lady: Do you want to hear a happy story? If so, then
stay away from the Happy Happy Storytime Lady (Debra Wilson) a bipolar manic
depressive woman who reads a story about Mary and her pet lamb, then produces
a package of lamb chops to show "what happens to lambs." Funny here are
the cast members trying to act like small children: Bryan Callen chews on
his sleeve; Nicole Sullivan has her arm raised for no apparent reason, and
Orlando Jones clutches a stuffed animal. The way Orlando Jones wails when
the storytime lady describes the ordeal of the lambs is the high point of
this sketch, in my opinion. This made it into the 1995-96 version of "The
Best of Mad TV;" one could argue, perhaps convincingly, that there were
sketches equally or more deserving of inclusion (the Disruptive Principal
sketch from this episode, for example is AT LEAST as good in my opinion),
but this one is still quite good and a memorable segment.

Lowered Expectations: This time with Jerry (Orlando Jones), a man who screams
madly like James Brown, has about half a gallon of Afro-Sheen in his hair,
and has some kind of hair growth sticking out of his face. I didn't quite
get this one, but it didn't last very long either.

Tapeworm Monologue: Mary Scheer appears with her tapeworm (Dave Herman).
Her tapeworm helped her lose weight when she was weighed over 200 pounds -
and now he wants to be put back. This was a little wierd, but it's exactly
the sort of trip out of the norm that showed that the early show was - much
more so than the contemporary SNL - willing to take chances. In this case,
the result isn't really rolling-on-the-floor hilarity, but it'll probably
get the average viewer to crack a smile.

Don Martin - Fat Freak:  A man paints the words "[m]y wife is an immense
fat freak" on his wife's butt. This was pretty funny, though not as funny
as I might have thought (for a fat joke).

Math Made Easy: Who better to produce a "Math Made Easy" video than Louis
Farahkhan (Phil LaMarr), whose speeches are addled with numerlogical
references? The best part here is how Farahkhan silences the kid just as
he's about to suggest that he had Malcolm X assassinated. Also funny is
the way Farahkhan's accolyte (Orlando Jones) chimes in with stuff like
"preach on, brother" as the religious leader unleashes his diatribe.

Monologue - Dave Foley:  Dave Foley, a middle-range celebrity, delivers
a monologue about Canada. I didn't quite get the part about Canada being
ruled by a small biy with supernatural powers - is Jean Chretien diminuitive?
Still, this was OK.

Vud Light - Devil: Bob (Dave Herman) tries in vain to get his soul back
from Satan (and Jesus). This was OK.

Imaginary Friends: A guy (Phil LaMarr), alone on his birthday, pretends
his friends are the cast of "Friends." He pantomimes handing them all drinks,
and even carries out a conversation with these nonentities. This is a good
parody of the way some people get so obsessed with TV shows that they
start treating the characters as if they are real people (although this
is probably more true with soap operas). Also funny is when he complains that
his "friends" can't relate to him, and then Monica "says" that he's the only
black person in the city she knows - even though the show takes place
in New York City.

Spy vs. Spy - Torpedo: The Black Spy torpedoes the White Spy. Interesting
is that in most cases, it's the person who launches the weapon who has
it backfire on him, but not here. This was pretty funny.

Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose: The title pretty much describes
this parody of movie trailers. This was OK.
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MD-107 was not the strongest of shows, but unlike MD-106, there were
no obvious weak points, and the better material is easily equal to
or even superior to the best material from the more recent shows. My
personal favorites from this one are "Disruptive Principal" and "Happy
Happy Storytime Lady." Interesting is that Nicole Sullivan gets less
airtime than usual, appearing in only two segments (not including the
opening and closing segments), but the other cast members do quite well
in her absence. (8/10)