Review of 2-7-1998 episode (MD-316)

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Paul Timberman's Workshop: The recurring gross-out that is Paul Timberman's
Workshop is here in it's first appearance. Paul Timberman (Will Sasso)
mutilates his hand, is impaled by various objects, and bleeds profusely,
all for a good laugh. I'm not sure if this is a parody of a specific show
(perhaps one in which the host constantly injures himself with power tools),
although it seems to be a parody of "New Yankee Workshop"-type shows. This
was gross but extremely funny (reminds me a bit of the episode of
Monty Python where they do a parody of a Sam Peckinpah-produced version
of "Salad Days" in which the cast members have their arms and legs ripped
off and are impaled by a variety of objects, including tennis rackets and
piano keyboards).

Opening Segment: The wiry Chris Hogan rides piggyback on the heavy-set
Will Sasso, and Hogan has apparently urinated on Sasso's back. This was
OK.

Full House Reunion: A Mad TV Classic! The Full House crew reunites for
a new made-for-TV movie, but most of the segment focuses on the Olsen
twins (Nicole Sullivan, Mary Scheer). What is funny is that one of them (Mary
Kate) got really fat. The makeup people did a really good job here, especially
with Nicole Sullivan, who played Mary Kate (the more corpulent Olsen).
There are some great moments here, like when they show a clip from the movie,
in which Mary Kate and Ashley are continually interchanged for Michelle
(just as apparently was the case in the real show, only now since Mary
Kate is fat, it is all too obvious). But this piece also shows some attention
to detail: note the big wet spot on the back of Mary Kate's overalls as
she runs (and here I'm using the term "run" in the broadest possible sense)
up the stairs, indicating that now that she is fat, she sweats like a pig.
This one's been shown quite a few times, since it was included in MD-405
which has been shown twice already (an indication, perhaps, that the
producers think that even season three is superior to season four), but
it's worth watching again.

Allergy Taste Test: The Spishak spokesperson (Phil LaMarr) wants to see
what a man (Aries Spears) thinks of Spishak margarine - his butter has been
secretly replaced with the butter substitute - but the man is allergic to
margarine and is choking to death. His girlfriend (Debra Wilson), however,
agrees that it is quite good. Pat Kilbane and Lisa Kushell also appear
as paramedics. This was not the best of Spishak parodies - the best in my
opinion were the car wax parody and also the asprin one where Phil LaMarr's
head explodes, but this was OK; I'd say it was somewhat better than most
of the more recent Spishak parodies as well.

David Duchovny, The Movies in My Life: David Duchovny (Chris Hogan) performs
in a one-man show in which he performs scenes from his favorite movies.
He does these completely deadpan (trademark Duchovny style). I must admit
that Hogan's Duchovny was better than Herman's Duchovny (at least, I
thought it was more accurate), and this segment shows it. It's especially
memorable for the phlegmatic rendering of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (I
think this part was used in the trailer).

Corky and the Juice Pigs: They perform "Hot Squat Hombre," a tribute to
a midget love slave. When the midget came out to dance with the others,
I couldn't help but wonder whether his member was normal-sized or not.
Although thinking along these lines distracted me from paying attention
to the show, I think I saw enough to make a judgment on
the piece, and I decided it was pretty good.

Funky Walker Dirty Talker: Desperation Lee (Phil LaMarr) and Cocoa (Debra
Wilson) welcome guest star Mark Hamill. Best line: when Hamill comes out,
Lee says "they should've called you Luke Ass-shaker." I have never been
a big fan of the FWDT series and seeing this doesn't do much to sway my
opinion. I think Gilbert Gottfried hit the nail on the head when he was
a "guest" on the show and started saying something like "I want to stick
my thing wherever it fits in your thing"; etc.

Darlene McBride Valentine's Day Album: Pat Buchanan's favorite country
music singer (Nicole Sullivan) is back, and this time she's putting a
romantic spin on the political tirades she passes off as songs. She wants
to rip out all the bleeding hearts of bleeding heart liberals (Democrats
don't own guns, so she doesn't reckon they'll put up much of a fight).
She tells her daughters that all men are pigs, and leaves her fruity son
in San Francisco. Although it has been rumored that Sullivan herself doesn't
much like this character (perhaps one of the reasons it was only used once
in season four), which is understandable, I thought it was good that they
had at least one recurring segment on the show that specialized mainly
in political satire. And unlike many of the one-off political satires the
show has done (e.g. the Kenneth Starr from the previous episode, or "Virtual
Homeless" from season one), in this one the satire was somewhat more
generalized (making fun of liberal-hating, NRA-loving right wing types, who
presumably will be on the scene for some time to come, even as Starr and
Gingrich fade from prominence), which will make it seem less dated as time
goes by. My favorite Darlene McBride segment was the "Take Back America
Tour," but this one was good, too (about average for these segments).

Mass Suicide: A cult leader (Pat Kilbane) is jilted by his girlfriend and
thus calls on his fellow cult members to kill themselves by drinking
cyanide-laced punch. This was rather dated even when it first aired
in February 1998 - the Heaven's Gate affair was more of-the-moment in
1997, when the David Faustino monologue first aired, but this is still
funny; I guess you really don't have to know about Heaven's Gate to see
the humor in this (cult leader wants everyone in the cult to die because
he's been jilted). This was OK.

Talkin' American with Alanis Morissette: Mr. Dachiat (Aries Spears) and
Rui (Will Sasso) welcome Alanis Morissette (Lisa Kushell) to the show.
Morissette is a bit of a sour puss, which the hosts of the show find
somewhat ironic, since she is by most measures a very successful
singer/songwriter. She distances herself from her earlier, more upbeat
music, although the hosts of the show do get her to laugh - by tickling her.
This was OK; this recurring segment is not much to care for, but Kushell's
Morissette, in my opinion, is the best of the three different impressions
for Morissette done on Mad TV (the others were done by Debra Wilson and
Mo Collins), which tends to make this worth watching.

Corky and the Juice Pigs: This time, they perform a song called "Skateboard,"
about how one of the members used his grandmother as a skateboard - now
she's dead. This clocks in at less than a minute but is one of the funniest
things the Juice Pigs have done, in my opinion. [In a similar vein, the
Jerky Boys once did a piece called "No!" in which one of them answers a
call to an ad they placed advertising a used lawn mower. The caller asks
if he can come over to see the mower. The Jerky Boy replies: "Nope! Thank
you," and hangs up. It was pretty funny, although it clocked in at
exactly 25 seconds - proving that it doesn't have to be long to be funny.]

Home Birthing Video: At a dinner party, a couple (Phil LaMarr, Mary Scheer)
subject their guests (Will Sasso, Nicole Sullivan) to a home video, which
contains, amongst other things, the wife in a thong bikini while severely
pregnant, as well as the actual childbirth - including an episiotomy (at
least it's not a C-section)! As I said when the piece originally aired,
this sort of gross-out is not very original, but it was well-executed by
the cast so I give it a thumbs up.

Movie Buffs: Two janitors (Debra Wilson, Aries Spears) talk about movies
and their favorite actors. But most of the sketch is an excuse for Spears
to show off his impressions of famous actors, like Al Pacino and Denzel
Washington. This may be the single best sketch Spears has done on the show,
although some may not like it so much since it's just essentially a rapid
succession of impressions.

Spy vs. Spy - Bulletproof: Black spy makes a suit of armor to protect himself
against the white spy, who in turn uses a magnet to pull the black spy
off a bridge. This was good, although probably a rerun.

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MD-316 is only about average for season three, which is to say there were
many good sketches, but some weak points as well (like FWDT). But even
so, it's a cut above the average season four episode. The Full House
reunion sticks out as the most memorable piece, although the janitors
sketch was pretty good, too. (6/10)