Review of 1-13-1996 episode (MD-111; some spoilers)

This review can also be found at:

        http://www.nic0lesullivan.org/md111.txt

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Anybody But Dole, Gramm, Buchanan, Alexander or Forbes: This is an
ad parody in which a man (Dave Herman) seeks out people to run for
President on the Republican ticket. Have you graduated the third grade?
Do you bathe regularly? Do you understand what I'm saying? Do you have
opposable thumbs? If so, you are an excellent prospect to run for
President on the Republican ticket. Obviously, they took a simple idea - 
the fact that at this point in the history of the American republic, it's
difficult to find qualified people to run for political office - and ran
with it; they did pretty well, although this wasn't the funniest. Since
it is more a parody of politics in general, it doesn't seem as dated as
it might even after five years.

Opening Segment: The cast tells us it's going to be a really good show.
This was OK.

Public Domain (Presidents of the United States Commercial): In the
early days of "Mad TV," the show did not have many musical guests, but
when they did, they were put to good use, and this is a prime example.
In this ad parody, the Presidents of the United States (near the peak of
their popularity) put out an album of "public domain" songs (i.e.
songs for which the copyrights have expired). You've heard them all
before - but since the copyrights have expired, you're going to hear
them again. We are treated to rocking versions of "Take Me Out to the
Ballgame," "Shave and a Haircut," "B-I-N-G-O" and others. This will
likely resonate with any viewer whose seen similar ads for cheesy
compilations like this on late-night television. There's even a swipe
at the way some of these products are shamelessly targeted at young
children: "Get your parent's credit card ready and call!" This is a
segment with considerable comedic value and fairly typical of the early
"Mad TV."

Lounge Lawyer: A drunk is on trial for vehicular assault; it looks like
he's toast, until his lawyer (Dave Herman) performs a Vegas-style
lounge act in which he sings about how the defendant was abused as a
child. The momentum swings in the defense's favor, or so it seems -
until the prosecution calls Tony Orlando (himself) as a witness. [During
the closing argument?!] Orlando performs a parody of "Knock Three Times"
("He was knocked three times/And run over by an Audi"). The victim's
mother (Nicole Sullivan) accompanies on keyboard, and the judge
(Mary Scheer) proclaims the defendant guilty as charged. This segment
seems funnier on repeated viewings; it's funny mainly for the situation
that the sketch creates (a lounge act in a courtroom) rather than
because of individual jokes. The producers and writers made good use
of Orlando (Tony, that is) here; here the celebrity cameo definitely
enhances the impact of the sketch.

Spy vs. Spy - Macaroni: The White Spy tries to launch an M-80 at the
Black Spy; instead he is crushed and turned into White Spy macaroni.
Usually, but not always, in Spy vs. Spy the spy who looks as if he's going
to get the better of the other spy turns out getting fried himself;
this was a good example of this principle in action. This was pretty
good; the animated segments were one of the main strengths of the
early "Mad TV" and it's too bad they did away with this segment.

Office Window: An executive (Dave Herman) has an office with a window;
he abuses the privilege by dropping stuff on passers-by and mooning them.
When his boss (Nicole Sullivan) tells him he can't have an office with
a window anymore, he jumps out the window. If the sketch were performed
by generic comics, it still would have comedic potential, but it takes
Herman's performance to really make it work. His taunting pedestrians
and vowing that he will never go back to an office without a window is
completely over the top, but such a performance is appropriate for this
sketch. It's also satisfying that this sketch, unlike many "Mad TV"
(and for that matter "SNL" sketches) actually had a fitting climax (the
main protagonist's apparent death). And let's not forget Nicole Sullivan,
putting in a good performance as Herman's boss.

Don Martin - Civil War: Another animated segment based on the work of
the late Don Martin. Civil War general strips a soldier of his stripes,
seizes his sword, and attempts to break the sword over his knee - only
to sever the lower part of his leg. This was pretty good; Don Martin
Department was another animated segment with good potential; overall
they didn't really impact the overall quality of the show one way or
another but undoubtdly were appreciated by fans of the old Mad Magazine.

Window of the Soul: Joe Eszterhas (Dave Herman) - looking suspiciously
like Jesus - talks about his latest film, "Window of the Soul." It
is actually a curious almagam of "Flashdance" and "Basic Instinct"
(mostly it's a clone of "Basic Instinct") - Eszterhas even has trouble
distinguishing the names of the characters in the different movies. I
think this was the first E! parody; now it seems they do one every other
show. Although the movie seems like soft porn to the untrained viewer,
he asserts that it's really groundbreaking cinema; moreover, he
denounces the film's NC-17 rating. This is an early example of the show
excelling at TV and movie parodies, and especially at poking fun of
the way producers try to copy their own successes. All the cast involved
with this segment do well, especially Herman; the entire female cast
is represented here and put to good use.

Anybody But Clinton: This is similar to the previous "Anybody But Dole..."
parody, only this time, a woman (Nicole Sullivan) seeks out candidates
to run on the Democratic ticket instead of Bill Clinton. Whether or not
the writers were just trying to be equal opportunity offenders or whether
this is really a reflection of discontent with the incumbent President is
something we may never know; in any case, this segment was pretty good,
though certainly no funnier than the previous "Anybody But Dole..."
parody.

I Could Do That: White trash couple (Dave Herman, Mary Scheer) gets cable
TV and marvels at the content; there are men swimming with sharks,
martial arts movies, home improvement shows, and of course porn. This
segment was not that inspired; still, few shows were better than the
early "Mad TV" in making fun of uncouth white trash, from people like
this to the "Deliverance" hilbillies. The sketch segueways into a
performance by the Presidents of the United States...

Presidents of the United States: The then-popular group performs "Lump."
One of the main elements of the Presidents' appeal was that they were
one of the few post-Nirvana alternative/punk bands not to take themselves
too seriously; it shows here, with the lyrics for "Lump": "She's lump/
She's lump/She's lump/She's in my bed/She's lump/She's lump/She's lump/
She may be dead...She's dead, Jim!" The best thing about this group is
that they broke up when they were still popular; not necessarily as
a contrived attempt to quit while they were ahead, but apparently because
they wanted the whole venture to be short-lived, sort of like the Sex
Pistols.

Independent Campaign Committee: Man (Bryan Callen) seeks out candidates
to run as independent candidates. The white trash guy from the previous
sketch (Herman) says that he might just run for President - he can do
that. This was pretty good and a fitting conclusion to the trilogy.

We get a TV commercial for a low-budget science fiction film called
"Screamers," directed by some guy called Christian Duguay, and then
we go back to the show...

Al Casdy Time Management: Al Casdy (Bryan Callen) teaches us some
time-saving techniques (e.g. cut through a gas station; pee in the
shower). This turned out to be the first in a series of funny
recurring segments; I think these were based on that infomericial
guy who hawks those "Memory Wizard" tapes, but I'm not sure. In any
case, it doesn't matter - virtually everyone has seen infomercials
like this in which someone like Al Casdy promotes some "revolutionary"
product which he/she purports will change our lives. What's funny
about Callen's performance is the way he unloads tautologies as if
they are profound statements: e.g. "[w]asting time is just that - a
waste of time." In the end, "time management" is like highway construction:
if you add up all the minutes you spend bogged down in traffic created
by bottlenecks from road construction, you realize you will never get
the time back even after the improvements are completed - similarly,
since the videos are four hours long and there are forty of them, it
is unlikely one would ever get that time back. Phil LaMarr helps enact
the "simulations" of time management. Overall, this was one of the best
segments in the show.

Spy vs. Spy: The Black Spy mixes some explosives; the White Spy sees
him and coats a fly in the liquid explosive; when the Black Spy
swats it, he gets his comeuppance. This was pretty good - you
knew the White Spy had to win because the Black Spy already won
one, but it's interesting to see how it happened.

Coffee and Dana - Big Game Jim: A talk show host (Nicole Sullivan)
interviews a hunter (Orlando Jones) who only hunts at zoos. He explains
that it's just plain dangerous to hunt animals who are at large; the host
of the show listens in horror as he describes hunting dolphins and a
panda, then she runs off the set. This was a good, albeit a bit
out-of-the-norm for the early "Mad TV;" this one seems almost inspired
by "Monty Python" or other old-school comedy rather than by
contemporary comic material. The performances were also good,
especially Jones as the eccentric hunter.

Take a Letter: An executive (Dave Herman) asks his secretary (Nicole
Sullivan) to take a letter, in it, he describes to his wife how he
is going to kill himself because he is in love with his secretary;
he plans to kill his secretary as well. Barely able to maintain her
composure, she starts to read the letter back to him. This is funnier
than it sounds. The sketch reaches its peak in terms of humor as he
describes in graphic detail how he will strangle his secretary and then
shoot himself. Probably not everyone's idea of humor but I liked it.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: This is a movie starring Gene Hackman, Tom
Cruise and Sandra Bullock as (respectively) Rock, Paper and Scissors.
It is not any more profound than it sounds - rock will smash you,
paper will wrap around you, and scissors will cut through you. This
was short and simple; it was pretty run-of-the-mill but funny in its
own way.

Don Martin - Bear Hunt: Man is chased by bear, who pauses to pose for
a picture; when the bear doesn't like the picture, he is further
enraged. This was good.

Mad About Jew: Whoopi Goldberg (Debra Wilson) and Louis Farrahkhan (Phil
Lamarr) star in a sitcom in which they portray a working couple.
Farrahkhan turns every word into an acronym while his accolytes
chime in. This was a pretty good parody of sitcoms featuring upwardly
mobile young couples; it never advances very far beyond this basic
premise but it doesn't last long so I wasn't expecting it to go far
anyway.

Closing Segment: This cast (Wilson, Sullivan, Jones, Lamarr, Scheer)
say goodbye; then the Presidents of the United States play "When
the Saints Go Marching In" as the closing credits are displayed. This
was one of the more original closing segments.
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They told us it would be a good show and they weren't lying. Overall
this was one of the better shows of season one, which itself was one
of the strongest seasons. The weakest segments were the three political
segments ("Anything But Dole..." and related segments) and the "I Could
Do That" sketch, and even these were not bad. This was not a perfect
show, but still had a number of excellent segments and little chaff.
And the presence of the Presidents of the United States only served to
strengthen the show. [9/10]

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