Review of 5-10-1997 episode (MD-221)

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I Do: At a wedding ceremony, a bride (Nicole Sullivan) and her groom
(Bryan Callen) exchange wedding vows. While the groom's vows are typical,
the bride's "vows" consist of a lengthy diatribe against her former
boyfriend, whom, she notes, is not only better-looking and more successful
than the man she is about to marry, but who left her for a bimbo secretary
even though she waitressed for several years to put him through Yale Law.
The whole idea is that when most people marry it is not because they have
found their "one true love;" in reality they don't think they can do any
better or they enter into a relationship when they are vulnerable and
decide to get married. What makes it funny is that the bride actually says
what a large proportion (if not a majority) of brides are actually thinking
when they walk down the aisle. And it doesn't hurt that it is actually
well-scripted, especially the at the end when the priest (Phil LaMarr) asks
if anyone objects to the marriage and every wedding guest except one
(Pablo Francisco) raises their hand. Nicole Sullivan dominates the segment
with her delivery of the marital vows, especially the stinging invective
directed at her ex-fiancee. But Phil LaMarr is good at the priest, and
every time I see Pablo Francisco in this segment, I keep wondering why
they didn't bother to keep him.

Opening Monologue (Dave Faustino): Dave Faustino, just having finished
taping of the eleventh and final season of "Married With Children," tells
the studio audience that his future lies in a spaceship behind the
Hale-Bopp comet. Orlando Jones admonishes him because they have to start
the show, but when Faustino tells him there's room for the brothers on the
spaceship, so he begins to eat the cyanide-laced concoction on which
Faustino was snacking. While not the best opening segment, it is better
than most of the season three and four opening segments, and not
only incorporates sociopolitical humor, but at the time it originally
aired it was very topical - an indication that back then, they didn't
tape the shows that far in advance of when they actually aired.

Hot for Teacher: A man (Dave Faustino) dates a teacher (Mary Scheer) who
treats him - and all the restaurant patrons and even the waiter (Pablo
Francisco) like students. Faustino misbehaves while Scheer is in the
bathroom, so she dumps him and leaves with another patron (Orlando Jones).
This was a little wierd (or maybe sketch comedy is wierd, and this is just
average), but this works for me because it actually has several funny
moments (like when the patrons have to put their heads on the table) and
because Faustino slips into the role pretty well. [Actually, not to
get scatalogical, but Faustino and Scheer would probably make a
pretty good couple because his head would be about the same height as her
boobs.] Amazing how many of these sketches from seasons one and two took
place in restaurants.

Welcome Home: A man (Dave Herman) who unfortunately once told his wife
(Nicole Sullivan) he likes surprise paries now is treated to a surprise
party every night when he returns home from work - and also in the morning,
when he leaves for work. Even though he tries to make clear to his wife
and the assorted guests that he does not appreciate this, his efforts
are rendered nugatory as it seems they have no intention of stopping.
This sketch illustrates how in the old days, even when the writers didn't
come up with a very original idea (as compared with the previous sketch,
this one is relatively unoriginal), the material was still good enough,
and the cast competent enough, to make the sketch worth watching. Not
only is this a worthy effort, but it is relatively short, so unlike some
of the newer material, it does not drag.

Jane Austen's Tea and A: In the grand tradition of Mad TV TV/movie parodies
in which the writers start out by crossing "A" with "B," we get Jane
Austen's T and A, in which the prim Victorian world of characters out of
a Jane Austen novel is invaded by lascivious porn publisher Larry
Flynt (Dave Herman). I don't know if Flynt is in real life as lustful as
he is portrayed here, but it has an obviously humorous effect; we are
amused (unlike Queen Victoria, who was not amused) at the idea of two
(seemingly) sexually naive young ladies (Mary Scheer, Nicole Sullivan)
being told by Flynt that he wants to knock some balls through their
wickets. Finally, Flynt and the two girls find a mutually satisfying
solution: a menage-a-trois. Both Scheer and Sullivan are good although they
are playing two rather generic 19th-century characters which remain somewhat
indistinct ciphers (the costumes and makeup are excellent here), but
Herman steals the show with his portrayal of Flynt; again the makeup makes
a big difference here as you almost can't recognize Dave Herman underneath
it all - even if I don't know whether Herman based his portrayal on the real
Flynt or just a generic perv. It's probably not the best movie parody they've
done, but most of the elements are strong here and it's a good parody.

Little Miss Adorable: Once again Mad TV delves into the realm of topical
humor - well, almost; the Jon Benet Ramsey murder took place over
four months before this segment aired. Some critics of children's beauty
pageants have asserted that these contests are little more than child
pornography (but unlike "typical" child pornography, these contests
are unlikely to be supressed because middle America participates in them);
this parody seems to echo that criticism. In it, a woman (Mary Scheer),
determined to win the contest at all costs, forces her daughter (Nicole
Sullivan) to perform a striptease act for the talent portion of the "Little
Miss Adorable" pageant. There's one noteworthy line here that is incisive
and extremely funny at the same time: the woman tells her daughter that
if she loses, it doesn't mean she doesn't love her anymore; "it just means
that you failed." The ending was a bit of a let down with the mother
simply grabbing the trophy and running off the stage, but it was also
a logical conclusion to the sketch, and even though I was expecting a
really funny punch line, the ending with nine-year old Angelina Del Roy
standing on stage, suddenly self-conscious about the fact that she's
standing in public in her underwear, was somewhat effective. And let's
not forget Dave Faustino as the emcee, doing a pretty good job here.

Helping Hand Life Insurance: Rap star Dr. Dazzle (Phil LaMarr) plugs
a new form of life insurance for rap stars. This was somewhat timely when
it originally aired; Tupac Shakur was killed less than a year earlier.
The funniest element of this parody is that it leads one to ponder whether
any insurance company would issue a policy for a rap star, with so many
of them (it seems) getting killed. Also funny here is when Dave Herman
comes out as an insurance company executive, but he is using rap lingo
(the "411"; etc.) and he wears an alarm clock around his neck, just like
Flava Flav. There isn't much not to like here, since this piece pretty
much just makes its point and moves on.

Meat Haven: At a butcher's shop, Sonny (Bryan Callen) is warned by his
mother (Mary Scheer) that dire consequences await him if he doesn't "sell
the meat." After he repeatedly fails to sell the meat, a customer (Phil
LaMarr) enters the store, claiming that he has to buy a lot of meat for
a party, but he makes a mistake writing out the check, and since it's his
last check he ends up purchasing the meat from a competitor. Thus Sonny
ends up having his arm fed into a meat grinder - he has to eat the
ground-up remains of his arm. This is definitely "B-list"
material, yet it's also an illustration how good "B-list" material from
the old days would probably end up being the best sketch in most
season four shows. The way Callen seems filled with hope that he will
be saved as each customer enters, just as a drowning man seeks a life
preserver, is classic. Dave Faustino also makes a timely appearance,
delivering a line, "[G]et your hands off me, meat boy," in typical Faustino
fashion.

Day Off: An executive (Dave Herman) claims that two of his workers - his
head purchasing agent and head of sales, no less (Orlando Jones, Phil LaMarr) -
are taking too many days off, but the two workers justify almost all their
absences on black pride: e.g., Kwanza, the Million Man March, etc. The boss
is too afraid to pursue the issue because he's afraid of being accused of
being racist. But he insists that the two should work hard when they are at
work - they agree but they tell him they have to go to a ballgame. This is
a good example of Mad TV not being afraid to tackle controversial
sociopolitical issues, while remembering at the same time the main objective
is to make people laugh. Now it seems a little more watered-down and P.C.

Breakin' into the Biz: A singer (Debra Wilson) hired as a vocal accompanist
for a funeral goes all out to impress the widower (Orlando Jones) whom
she has learned is a record company executive. Although initially
uneasy about the singer's over-the-top performance at the funeral, the
executive is impressed and gives her a contract. With this sketch we
move into relatively mundane territory; it is not wierd, nor does it deal
with controversial issues. But the idea is OK and the performances are good
enough.

Spy vs. Spy - Guillotine: The Black Spy tricks the White Spy into a
guillotine with a piece of currency. It's been done before in cartoons
like this, but this was still good.

Closing Segment: Dave Faustino says he had a great time on the show and
to keep watching "Mad TV." Nicole Sullivan then retrieves his cue cards,
shows them to everyone, and accuses Faustino of being insincere (as if
she never read anything off of cue cards? But I digress.). In the end,
however, they hug; all is forgiven. This was good.
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I don't think MD-221 was the strongest episode of season two (I'd have
to review some of those episodes before I made a final choice; the
Neve Campbell and Super Bowl ones were good, though). But it's strong
enough in most aspects to outdistance most if not all of the newer episodes.
The only reservation I have about season two is that they had a guest
host almost every week (except I think in MD-211); this meant that people
might tune in that otherwise might not to see their favorite celebrities,
but it also made the show somewhat more SNL-ish at a time when they
probably wanted to distinguish themselves a little bit more from their
rival. Nonetheless, this episode demonstrates that having a guest host
did not hurt the show and may have actually helped (I think the segments
with Faustino were generally good). And the rest of the sketches and
segments could serve as a primer to the current writers on how to write
decent material. As much as I dislike directing accolades at the old show
while casting animadversions at the newer episodes, given the relatively
poor quality of recent shows, such comparisons are virtually inevitable.
(8/10)