That DVD blowed up real good!

June 9, 2004 9:44 AM

'The Cream of Sketch TV' is finally available on DVD. "Simply put, SCTV is the greatest television sketch comedy ever. Period." So says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and who's gonna argue? Apparently a keystone of their creative success was being moved by their producers to Edmonton, where there was nothing else to do and the executives didn't want to make the trek. As someone who remembers the show as a late-night UHF-channel oddity before NBC picked it up and repackaged it (which is what's on the DVD), I have only one objection: Where's the love for Ha-harold Ramis?
posted by soyjoy (20 comments total)

I (briefly) got real excited when I read the first sentence...I thought soyjoy was referring to Mtv's "The State".

On a related note, I recently purchased the first season of the Upright Citizen's Brigade DVD and it is not dissapointing. Fans of Mr. Show, The State, Kids in the Hall and SCTV should love it. Amy Poehler, meowwrrr...
posted by ae4rv at 9:50 AM on June 9, 2004

SCTV: The First Three Seasons...is that too much to wish for?
posted by LinusMines at 10:02 AM on June 9, 2004

I've been waiting for this for a long time. Anyone got the episode list? Somewhere I have one bookmarked, but not here. The Russian episode would be worth the price all by itself. And I can't wait to see the Gerry Todd again: the original VJ and still unequalled. And that brilliant Ben-Hur / Three Stooges moment: "Guards! Seize him!" "I sees him, I sees him, whaddaya want me to do about it?" And Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty as Bob Hope and Bing Crosby...
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:25 AM on June 9, 2004

George -

Here's a partial listing from Amazon. Not much detail on which individual bits. And here's a link I couldn't quite work into the FPP: A tiny smattering of catchphrases as sound files. ("I have more talent in this little finger...than in this little finger.")

The one bit that I remember literally falling out of my chair laughing at was Joe Flaherty doing "Lowell Clark Remembers," where the premise was that for some reason he had no idea what this particular segment was going to be about, and so he's watching the monitor, which is showing miscellaneous old-time B&W clips, and he's trying to bullshit his way through them as though he remembers the era in question. A clip of a guy wearing seven hats at a time comes on and he quickly says "uh... it was a time when... people were wearing a lot of hats, uh..." and it goes on, with the clips getting more and more bizarre as he tries valiantly to make sense of them. God, I start convulsing now just thinking about it. I don't recall seeing it on the NBC version, but I missed some of those...
posted by soyjoy at 10:45 AM on June 9, 2004

I think my favourite was the 1984 episode. A full half hour of orwellian parody, which is all just Edith Prickly's dream within a dream. Harvey k-tell was good too.
posted by Evstar at 10:54 AM on June 9, 2004

Ah, this is a good day. Just a few weeks ago I was lamenting the chances of ever seeing SCTV released on DVD.
The article claims that it ran for three years On NBC. This may be true but it had about 6 ingenious years in Canada. This site has some more details about the episodes in the first season.
posted by Zetetics at 10:58 AM on June 9, 2004

YAYUH! Can't wait to see cooking with Johnny LaRue again. Those cigarette butts add such flayvah to the frying pan contents!
posted by yoga at 11:20 AM on June 9, 2004

SCTV Guide. Shoulda consolidated posts, but in my excitement my brain shut off.
posted by yoga at 11:29 AM on June 9, 2004

My favorite memory was Gil Fisher (the fishin' musician) bass fishing with reggae band Third World.
Oh yes, and Count Floyd + Woody Tobias Jr.
posted by reidfleming at 11:34 AM on June 9, 2004

This is the best news I heard since, oh, maybe ever I must say.

Never in all my years in Canada have I ever been to a party or gathering, highbrow, lowbrow, prom night, out in the woods, never, where some Dr. Tongue or Ugazzo Home Video or Moe Greene or some other character or sketch didn't at least get a passing mention.

It truly is the tie that binds, and to me it defines Canadian culture more than Hockey or South Park or Mike Myers or Gordon Lightfoot or Red Green.

This is wonderful news. I want to bear all their children!
posted by chicobangs at 11:39 AM on June 9, 2004

Oh lord, the My Fair Lady parody:

"Tha rahn ih Spahn fahs mahnly ahn tha plahn."

"By George I think she's got it!"

This should/better be waiting for me when I get home.

This is also a great set for purists: they actually cleared all the music used in the series, so it should be free of substitutions (like WKRP and Happiness) or outright cuts (like Chappelle's Show and The Young Ones).
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:43 AM on June 9, 2004

I still love Mayor Tommy Shanks. Almost died of laughter when I first went to the University of Victoria in the mid 80's and stepped into the Thomas Shanks McPherson Library.

And the Queen Hater's Rawk'd!!
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 11:45 AM on June 9, 2004

I (briefly) got real excited when I read the first sentence...I thought soyjoy was referring to Mtv's "The State".

that's the first thing I thought as well. awwwww yeaaaahhhh.
posted by LouieLoco at 12:11 PM on June 9, 2004

*shakes up can of beer and puts it back in the case when no one's looking*
posted by roboto at 12:52 PM on June 9, 2004

Here's some love for Harold Ramis.
posted by samuelad at 6:55 AM on June 10, 2004

that's the first thing I thought as well. awwwww yeaaaahhhh.

We had the $240. We just had to have the puddin'.
posted by ae4rv at 7:18 AM on June 10, 2004

Is it possible to have a conversation around here?

Seriously, I'm no anti-Statist, but you guys have to give the props to SCTV for blazing the trails that The State now barrels down so freewheelingly.
posted by soyjoy at 7:47 AM on June 10, 2004

Hey guy, relax. SCTV blazed some sketch comedy trails, as did Monty Python and Dave Allen before them, but as far as the great white north goes I really prefer Kids in the Hall. Not that I didn't watch a lot of SCTV (both UHF and NBC) back in the day.
posted by ae4rv at 7:59 AM on June 10, 2004

The Cruisin' Gourmet: *pokes turkey with stiletto* Ya dead yet ?
posted by y2karl at 3:26 PM on June 12, 2004

SCTV: The First Three Seasons...is that too much to wish for?

no, it's not, yay ! it's in the works... according to this toronto star article there will be several others dvd releases, completing the entire run of the series.
posted by t r a c y at 9:23 AM on June 13, 2004