Review of 6-27-1998 episode (DOB: 11-8-1997)

This was the first 
episode that did not list Dave Herman in the opening credits. I think 
the Fox website listed him as a cast member for this episode, which 
may be further evidence that Fox does not know what is going on with 
its own shows.
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Kenny's Country Broasters: Kenny Rogers (Will Sasso) opens 
up his own restaurant, and smears barbecue sauce all over everyone. 
I saw both of these segments (they did one with an ice cream parlor 
later on), and didn't find either of them particularly funny. But 
then again, I never went to one of these Kenny Rogers franchises.

Opening 
Segment: Will Sasso introduces the show and starts acting rather 
goofy. This was OK.

I Love Lucy '97: The first of two segments with 
Nicole Sullivan as Lucy. This one was not bad, but not as good as 
the one with The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

Lowered Expectations: 
This time with Eddie Murphy (Aries Spears). Eddie Murphy was arrested 
for soliticting sex from a transvestite, and Mad TV has used this 
incident as a source of humor on several occassions - witness last 
week's rerun, where Murphy was arrested in "Cops in Hollywood." This 
was OK; not really original, but Spears does a good impression of 
Murphy.

Rod Shaft: Really old porn star (Chris Hogan) is brought 
in to finish a porn movie. Most of the humor is based on the idea 
of an old person enaging in sexual activity - which is a good idea, 
because the very idea of old people having sex has a grossness factor 
to it, in my opinion. Unfortunately, this sketch doesn't go very 
far - it's as if the idea was merely elaborated rather than expanded 
on. Still an OK sketch, though. 

The Eracists: The first of three 
sketches about a group of youngsters (Nicole Sullivan, Phil LaMarr, 
Will Sasso, Alex Borstein) who are here to teach us that it's not 
cool to hate people just because they're different. These sketches 
are funny because they make fun of the idea that one can eradicate 
racism merely by singing songs. And here's a memorable verse: "I'm 
white; I'm pretty, I have blue eyes/ I'm just the right shape and 
just the right size/ But that doesn't mean I'm better than you/ 'Cause 
guess what? My mother's a Jew!" I give it a solid thumbs up.

Twelve 
Angry Men and a Vancome: The Vancome Lady (Nicole Sullivan) returns 
as a juror who cannot agree with the other jurors. This was one of 
the better Vancome sketches of the season (I think I ranked it third 
overall), and while it's not as good as the previous sketch ("Vancome 
Lady: Rescue Worker," which will be repeated next week), it's pretty 
good, especially when she accuses a fellow juror (Debra Wilson) of 
being a lesbian. Also was a good example of the writers doing something 
different (taking the Vancome Lady out of the workplace) and succeeding.

Sex 
Toy Story: Rerun of an old animated segment, with new Michael Eisner 
wraparound. Pretty good stuff, especially the cowboy/dildo.

Ms. 
Swan: Ms. Swan is not one of my favorite recurring characters, but 
this sketch was pretty good; in fact, it's probably the best of all 
the Ms. Swan sketches. Pretty linear here, with Ms. Swan (Alex Borstein) 
still trying to identify the man who robbed her nail salon. Diane 
Lawyer-Trabajo (Nicole Sullivan) even returns. Chris Hogan is the 
district attorney instead of a cop; as usual, he overacts, but otherwise 
good performances from the cast members.

Lowered Expectations: With 
Rui (Will Sasso) from "Talkin' American." Good because the punch 
line was good (didn't really expect him to say he wants a girl who 
is into rough sex). 

Ebonic Pyramid: LL Cool J (Aries Spears) hosts. 
Sidney Poitier (Phil LaMarr) does very poorly but gets into the bonus 
round because his partner (Debra Wilson) plays the race card (no 
doubt!). I love this sketch, especially the idea of white people 
knowing more ebonics than blacks because they watch the WB. Aries 
Spears' LL Cool J impression is dead-on (watch #222, which LL Cool 
J hosted, for further evidence of this).

Klaspy/Cuspo: They put 
this cartoon in probably because they had time to fill because they 
didn't have to announce the contest winners. A wimp gets sand in 
his face, then beefs up, only to have sand dropped on him from a 
crane by the same bullies. Not a particularly original idea - I remember 
seeing something very similar on an early episode of Monty Python 
(only in that case the wimp gets blown away with an antitank gun) 
- but at least the animation is good.

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On the whole, not a bad show, 
but still not up to the standard established in the first six episodes. 
The Vancome Lady and Ms. Swan are good, and Ebonic Pyramid is a potential 
candidate for the Best of Mad TV. Most of the rest of the sketches 
do not stand out, and there were one or two that I did not find funny 
at all. Also, there was no Craig Anton, which was something of a 
let-down after his excellent contributions in the early episodes.

Next 
week (7-4-1998): #301 (Guest host Sandra Bernhard)

7-11-1998: No 
program info available (yet)!

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