What's your favorite sketch-comedy show?
 

Carol Burnett for me.

You Can't Do That on Television.

It's probably just nostalgia because I haven't remembered to buy it from iTunes yet, but I'll say The State.

Kids In The Hall

The great years of SNL can't be touched... of course the rest are horrible

Would SCTV count? On one hand, I wanna say it wasn't sketches in the traditional sense; on the other hand, it was a bunch of short bits that just happened to be unbrella'ed by the TV station format.

Just reading the thread title, Carol Burnett immediately came to mind, especially given the whole Lorne Michaels ripping the Burnett show as how NOT to write sketches.

Obligatory: ostracizing from the peer group the first poster that refers to them as 'skits'..........

David Chappelle is the only one I could ever watch repeats of and not get tired of.

I love SNL but even at its best it's always been uneven. For example, the "Not Ready For Prime-Time Players" era is practically worshiped but if you actually watch the full episodes on the Season 1 DVD you'll see that it's a case of people looking at the past through rose-colored glasses.

Also, the show had a good 5 or 6 years as the uncontested "cutting-edge sketch show" but ever since then there have been several shows running alongside it that were better. I mean, my favorite SNL era probably runs from the late 80's to early 90's but then I think of "The Kids in the Hall" which aired during that time ('88-'94) and I think "SNL was great back then but the Kids were better".

I look at the 90's as a kind of "Golden age" of sketch comedy. "The Kids in the Hall" debuted in '88 but the bulk of the series ran during the 90's and that decade also saw the television debuts of "The Ben Stiller Show", "Mr. Show with Bob and David", "Upright Citizens Brigade", "The State" and "The Vacant Lot" (which a sorta obscure "Kids in the Hall" offshoot that was pretty good but only lasted 6 episodes).

I wouldn't really lump it in with other examples of "sketch comedy" but I've heard the label applied to "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" which is absolutely brilliant and unique.

I'm also shocked that nobody's mentioned "Monty Python's Flying Circus". I've never really been much of a Python fan (I own all their stuff on DVD though) but they're like the Beatles. Even if you don't really like them personally (I actually am a big Beatles fan though and I do enjoy Python) you have to acknowledge the influence on the people you do like.

But anyways, I'd have to say that my favorite sketch show is "The Kids in the Hall" with "Mr. Show with Bob and David" coming in a close second.

I think Lorne Michaels is out of touch today but I think he was spot-on with his Burnett show hatred. It's sketch comedy for your grandmother.

I don't have it in front of me, but that wasn't the point of Lorne's quote. IIRC, it didn't have as much to do with the content or subject of the sketches as it did with how the sketches were written and constructed, which is what made the Michaels' quote incredibly silly at the time.

Whatever point Michaels' was trying to make (now I gotta go look it up), the Burnett show was the absolute worst example he could have used to illustrate said point.....

Mr. Show is the greatest sketch comedy show ever.

In living color

Monty Python for me.

Kids in the Hall & SNL-SNL is consistent & being inconsistent.

Chappelle Show

SNL, followed by KITH

Mr. Show or Chapelle's show for me.

Chappelle's Show

The Fast Show.

I know this is lame, but I always like Benny Hill.

Over all the years though SNL has remained the smartest and I am more likely to watch it than any other.

Kids in the Hall and Mr. Show.

Monty Python's Flying Circus is the gold standard.

Mr Show and Kids in the Hall are close second.

In Living Color

A bit of Fry and Laurie.

The 90's also had the short-lived "Hardcore TV" on HBO, one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

In Living Color
Monty Python
MadTV