I am a big fan of sketch comedy. Ever since I lived in Germany and this nice geeky kid named Trevor introduced me to Monty Python, I have loved sketch comedy. Sketch provides a unique format in which to take the most ludicrous and over-the-top ideas and showcase them. So here are my top five favorites.
5) Saturday Night Live- The most famous, probably. It has launched more careers than American Idol and serves as the showcase of the some of the funniest things I have ever seen (Will Ferrel in the Celebrity Jeopardy sketches and as Harry Carey come to mind)
4) Mr. Show With Bob and David- An HBO comedy show starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross (amongst others). This show was great because it combined the alt comedy sensibility of Cross with Odenkirk's obvious love of the Monty Python-ish absurd. Featured appearances by great comedians like Brian Posehn, Dana Gould, Sarah Silverman and Tom Kenny (the voice of Spongebob)
3) The State- This may be the one I quote the most often. The members of The State went on to be responsible for fully half the original programming of Comedy Central from the 1990's onward. If anybody ever tells you that they want to dip their balls in something, this is what they are talking about.
2) The Kids In The Hall- The Kids embraced the more surreal and artistic sides of sketch comedy and their classic TV show remains some of the most bizarre and hillarious television available.
1) Monty Python's Flying Circus-Really the best there is. Not only because of the two brilliant films (and couple of pretty good films) they produced but because they BEGAN the sketch tradition as we know it. Sure, they were drawing on the British comedy tradition (most of them having been writers for British television) but they really created something so bizarre as to be that rarest of things, original.
