50 Greatest?

First off I want to thank everyone who has commented on my contest post. I must say I'm overwhelmed! The last time I had a contest there were maybe a dozen entries, there are about 35 now and counting! Amazing! Thanks so much for the well wishes... and I wish you all good luck in winning the sox! :)

Okay, now onto this post.

Recently IFC teamed up with Nerve and they compiled a "50 Best Comedy Sketches of All Time" list. Now anytime someone does a list like this the results end up being controversial... let's face it, this is a highly subjective medium. What I find funny isn't necessarily funny to you. Even so, I think they did a pretty fair job.

The Python boys are fairly represented. Honey is a bit upset that the Fish Slapping Dance didn't make the cut, but Dead Parrot is #1 and the Spanish Inquisition is #33, so I'm happy. Kids in the Hall have a few sketches on the list as well, although I think there were better ones that could have been chosen.

In general I think that SNL is a little over-represented. I knew the "More Cowbell" sketch would be there and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Dan Akyroyd's Julia Child sketch made the cut and that "Synchronized Swimming" with Harry Shearer & Martin Short was #10. However, the only Eddie Murphy sketch they included was Buckwheat sings, which is funny but personally I prefer Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood (Kill my landlord, Kill my landlord) or Velvet Johnson's How To Be A Ho (but that's just me).

The biggest and best surprise was that "Nairobi Trio" from the Ernie Kovacs show was #7. This is perhaps the silliest thing I've ever seen. I think it's brilliant and most people my age have never seen it because it aired in the 50s.

So, that's my little 2 cents worth. If you like sketch comedy you should definitely check it out, especially since there are YouTube clips of almost every sketch!