Review of 3-16-1996 episode (MD-116; some spoilers)

This review can also be found at:

        http://www.nic0lesullivan.org/md116.txt

==========================================================================
X News #1: Two brainless twentysomething slackers (Nicole Sullivan, Dave
Herman) host a news program. First up: a story about a mass grave found
in Bosnia. The two rail against Bosnia mindlessly - the invective here
never advances beyond the level of a third grader - and when Marsh (Herman)
says that he's ashamed to be a man, Amy (Sullivan) replies, "Are you
trying to get laid?" Responding, Marsh's reply starts out with a:
"No. [Pause] No. [Pause] No. [Pause]" I found this to be quite funny,
because I know people who, when they are trying to gainsay an assertion
that I make, start their responses off exactly the same way: Three nos,
each separated by a short pause. Kudos to whoever was responsible for
picking up on that and making it part of the character. The rest of
the segment wasn't particularly brilliant, although on the whole it
was still a cut above average.

Opening Segment: It's Brian's birthday, and the cast has him bob for
apples - only they've replaced the water in the tub with sulfuric acid.
This was a bit of sick humor which is more or less in step with the
magazine, which is a good thing. Not bad.

International Coffee - Hangover: Three single women (Mary Scheer, Debra
Wilson, Nicole Sullivan) are hung over after the previous night's
sex-capades. This is a parody of those General Foods International Coffee
commercials with the jingle "[c]elebrate the moments of your life." And
of course these women are just like the women in the real commercials;
it's just that their "moments" include moments of sexual debauchery
and getting stark raving drunk. As with all the season one and two
commercial parodies, the production values are very high and they did
a good job of making it look like a real commercial. The premise is
good, too, it was an interesting variation on the original theme of these
commercials; I found it to be a very good commercial parody, though
arguably not deserving of inclusion in the "best of season one"
compilation.

Ozark Mountain Singled Out: Most people probably remember "Singled Out,"
a show which aired on MTV for about two years in the 1990's. The hosts
were Jenny McCarthy (this show was a substantial factor in launching her
career) and Chris Hardwick (who was last seen in the "where are they now"
file); in it contestants answered questions in order to win dates with
other contestants. This is a parody of the show in which hillbilly guys
compete for a date with a hillbilly girl (Nicole Sullivan). We get to
see a bunch of inbred morons compete in a spitting contest and answering
questions like "Jew: seen one or never seen one?" [Correct answer: "Seen
one; ran like hell."] Finally, her brother (Artie Lange) wins the date;
their father arrives toting a shotgun, saying they can't date unless
they're married, she says it's OK, because she's carrying his baby anyway.
Although this segment is a fairly run-of-the-mill segment, what gives
it a slight edge are the little one-liners that Hardwick delivers [e.g.
upon reflecting on the stupidity of the locals he says "I can see that
evolution is really going to change this town."] This was not an
outstanding piece but it was entertaining enough for me, and the production
values, by the way, were excellent.

Dole Commercial: Bob Dole (Dave Herman) may be old and he may fly around
the country on a plane owned by Archer Daniels Midland, but in this
commercial parody he's here to tell us that he really empathizes with
young people and how they feel disenfranchised. To this end, he drinks
excessive quantities of alcohol, shows off his nipple ring, and makes
out with a Gen X girl (Nicole Sullivan). This was Herman's second appearance
as Dole, if memory serves. I've seen better political parodies and I've seen
worse, but the seeing Dole show off his nipple ring is bound to elicit
at least a few laughs; it worked for me and many people say I have no
sense of humor. Herman's portrayal of Dole is good, too; he bears enough
of a physical resemblance so that it doesn't require much imagination
to think of him as Dole.

Casino Man: This movie parody is a Casino/Encino Man crossover in which
the two loser kids (Sean Astin and Pauly Shore in the original movie)
are excavating for a pool in one of the kids' backyard; instead of
digging up a caveman (a la Encino Man), they dig up Jimmy Hoffa (Artie
Lange). They take Hoffa to school with them, and within a short amount
of time, they are no longer losers and essentially have control of the
whole school. This parody is by far my favorite "Mad TV" movie parody,
for the following reasons: (1) I liked the initial premise; this was
an interesting twist on a theme that's been used in so many movies and
TV shows, from "Encino Man" to "Austin Powers" to "Adam Adamant Lives"
and beyond (that of digging up/and or reviving someone); in fact, if
the original "Encino Man" movie had used this plot, it might have been
a better movie. (2) I liked all the impressions. Artie Lange does an
excellent impression of Joe Pesci as Jimmy Hoffa (especially funny
is Lange as Pesci as Hoffa smashing to pieces a boom box which was
playing rap music - he asks the student if he ever heard of Tony
Bennett); Dave Herman does an excellent impression of Pauly Shore as
Stoney; Bryan Callen is somewhat more generic in his impression of the
Sean Astin character from the original movie, but since that character
was forgettable anyway (the movie being primarily a vehicle for Pauly
Shore), this is forgiveable. (3) The production values are very good;
the sets of the high school seemed realistic, and there is location filming.
(4) The editing and overall presentation is very good. (5) This segment
features Nicole Sullivan in a bikini, which can alone justify watching the
show.

International Coffee - Ripped Off: The three women return to their
house, only to discover that everything (except the International
Coffee) has been stolen - by Jean Luc (the man they slept with previously).
This was pretty funny; the exchange "What was that number?" and "911" is
an old joke but there were still some good moments here.

X News #2: The topics for this second installment are (1) an IRA bombing,
(2) Marsh's party, and (3) the 1996 election, and you don't have to ask
which one of these topics takes up most of the segment. Recriminiations
abound; Marsh accuses his roommate of throwing up on the couch and throwing
eggs at the police, while Amy (Sullivan) accuses Marsh of having zero
respect for womankind. What was interesting about this segment is that
at one point Marsh says "Buchanan sucks" which I thought was providential
at the time because I had a "Pat Buchanan sucks" web site. Also watch
for Marsh's "Excuse me. [Pause] Excuse me. [Pause] Excuse me."
Other than that, we are left with an entertaining, but not outstanding,
segment.

Doctor Visit: Barry Williams (himself) goes to see a doctor (Mary Scheer)
who wrote him a love letter in 1974 to collect on what she offered him.
Her secretary (Debra Wilson) bursts into the office wearing a blonde
wig, apparently deluded into thinking she is one of Greg Brady's sisters;
he leaves. This was a pretty good sketch with some solid, humorous moments;
as far as celebrity cameos go, this wasn't bad, even though my initial
reaction was "How long can this guy go making a living off of being Greg
Brady?"

Insanely Disappointed: A CEO (Phil Lamarr) summons one of his underlings
(Bryan Callen) to tell him that he was "insanely disappointed" on a report
he wrote for the company. He claims that it's driven him out of his mind
and that it caused him to shave his head. He turns on the TV, archival
footage of the L.A. riots is shown; the CEO claims that his report caused
the riots. He then orders him to find and destroy the report, and be
back by four o'clock; we need it for the shareholders' meeting. This
is funnier than it seems; Lamarr's manic portrayal of the CEO generates
quite a few laughs, as well as Callen as the underling, whining that he
didn't know it was so bad. This was classic sketch comedy in the tradition
of "Monty Python" and "Kids in the Hall."

International Coffee - Kidnapping: The women are having International
Coffee French Blend coffee; this causes them to reminisce about their own
trip to France - it would have been a nicer experience if they hadn't been
kidnapped (by Jean Luc). He kept them in a box and fed them through a
tube. This is arguably the funniest of the three "International Coffee"
segments; possibly it just takes a certain sense of humor to fully
appreciate this segment.

X News #3: Marsh's roomate, Darryl (Bryan Callen) appears (Marsh and Amy
are absent) to defend himself against charges that he threw up on the
couch and threw eggs at the cops. This was somewhat funny.

Survival Weekend: A man (Phil Lamarr) manages to fend off a wolf, a
grizzly bear, and two hillbillies (Bryan Callen, Artie Lange), thereby
saving himself and his wife (Debra Wilson). This was one of the more
inventive season one sketches and while probably not quite worthy of
"best of" status was still very good, especially when he tries to
avoid being attacked by the hillbillies (he admonishes his wife to
"try not to act like Jon Voight").

Spy vs. Spy - Slam Dunk: The Black Spy is playing basketball; the White
Spy pushes a button and the pole on which the hoop is mounted turns into
a missile and the Black Spy is sent sailing into mid-air and destroyed.
This was good.

The Big Game: A man (Bryan Callen) cannot tear himself away from a
basketball game he's watching on TV long enough to tell his wife (Mary
Scheer) that her father has died. He instead alternates between telling
her the details of his death and watching the game. She threatens to
leave him; he promises to change, but his attention returns to the TV
when the Western Conference finals comes on. It helped that her father's
death was part of a bizarre sexual act; some of the funniest parts of
this sketch involved Callen describing the father's death. On the whole
it was still a pretty routine sketch but it had some rather funny
moments.

Closing Segment: The cast (including Chris Hardwick and the skeletal
remains of Bryan Callen) say goodbye. Since it's the day before Saint
Patrick's Day, Artie Lange and Dave Herman sing "Tru la la (An Irish
Lullaby." This was one of the more creative closing segments of season
one.
==========================================================================
MD-116 contained one segment that was in my mind indisputatedly great:
the "Casino Man" parody. The rest of this show ranged from average to
very good, with several segments coming close to deserving to be singled
out for praise the way I have with "Casino Man" but none of them really
close the deal. Still, this is a good show, and arguably one of the most
consistantly good shows of season one. [7/10]

==========================================================================
      Number Six         | http://www.nic0lesullivan.org
     dzien@nic.com       | (The Unofficial Nicole Sullivan Tribute Page)
==========================================================================