After watching MADtv and TALKSHOW with Spike Feresten (don't ask me about the capitalization of entire words — that seems to be a thing with both shows) I'm realizing that the current climate of sketch comedy is the same outside the SNL umbrella as inside it.
MADtv, for all intents and purposes, has been the only stable network late-night alternative to Saturday Night Live in SNL's 32-season existence. I don't understand the one-or-the-other dichotomy between the two shows at all - both shows can be funny at the same time, and they can also be at their worst simultaneously.
MADtv has been a perennial second cousin to SNL, but there aren't that many differences between the two shows. They both draw from the same talent pools (Upright Citizens Brigade, Groundlings et al.) and possess the same overall show structure. SNL has regular musical guests, while MADtv's are optional. Sometimes both shows have cartoon features. This season has seen appearances by Martin Short on both shows. It's the MAD vs. Cracked argument translated to television, essentially, except that in the sketch comedy field MADtv is seen as the ripoff.
How does MADtv stack up on its own merits these days, then? Well, the show isn't really that different than I remember it from many years ago. It still relies on shock humour, its longtime stock in trade, but it doesn't seem to be relying as much on it as I feel it has since the late 1990s.
For instance, a sketch about Dane Cook nails his act - his mannerisms, his rushed and stammered delivery, the image he presents as a comedian. Not finding Dane Cook funny, I thought Ike Barinholtz's parody was spot-on. Another sketch featuring Bobby Lee as one of the stars of Korean soap Attitudes and Feelings, Both Desirable and Sometimes Secretive was credible as a bit of faux-Asian surrealism, especially when characters were holding pinwheels for some undisclosed reason.
Martin Short as a sex-obsessed version of himself reminded me of Short's versatility at SCTV. I found it surprising since I didn't expect this from Short, and Nicole Parker's reactions to his advances were very good. It's nice to see Martin Short not playing to sketch comedy favouritism, and his segment was much better than I figured it would be.
Of course, MADtv had its share of missed sketches. Michael McDonald's turn as a Samoan whose genetic structure is so pure that his mouth is an antiseptic was a lame excuse to have McDonald lick people and breathe on things. The new recurring feature Weekly News with Toby felt like a bad Adult Swim series jammed with topicality. A Deal or No Deal sketch featuring superstitious black contestants started out okay, but the superstitious rituals felt too dragged-out and made the sketch longer than it should have been.
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