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Parrot Sketch Included: TT's Top 20 Comedy Sketches

Issun

Issun

#6 (TIE)
IT'S NOT JACKIE CHAN
(TIM AND ERIC: AWESOME SHOW! GREAT JOB!)


81 Points, 3 Votes, Highest Vote: #3 (JBear)
​
We've been talking a lot in this thread about the subjectivity of comedy, and which shows, sketches don't land for us. For a lot of people on here, it's been I Think You Should Leave. For me, Tim and Eric never did much for me. I liked Steve Brule okay, but other than that it was not for me. Then, about five years ago, I saw this sketch, and I will tell you it's right up my alley. I love sketches that seem like they're going one way and then veer completely off in a different direction, and the dark turn at the end of this one has me in stitches every time.

Toothpaste. Pizza. Lamps. Jackie Chan.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
The end is a high point but I love the uncomfortable "Why can't you get one right." I love that it's for an impossible question and also it's happening in an ad that should show you the game as fun rather than causing marital strife.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Kirin said:
Part of it may just be context - an old British toff shouting in an increasingly agitated manner is amusing, a 30-something American doing the same thing in a very earnest manner is more threatening, even when the subject matter is absurd? I dunno.
Click to expand...

Ooh, that makes a lot of sense. I also think some of the I Think You Should Leave Sketches might not be far enough on the absurd side of things for me? The hot dog sketch in particular is reminiscent of so many dumb new hires or interns (who are usually white males and look like him) who refused to take ownership of messes they made, meetings they missed, people's whose lunch they ate, etc when it's so very obviously them who did it. But I can absolutely see why people would find stretching that situtation just a bit into the absurd is hilarious. This whole conversation is fascinating to me!

The country song one is pretty great though. I like that one a lot and already have some of those lyrics stuck in my head.

Tim and Eric is another show I haven't watched but will need to check out. That's great.
 
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Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Tim and Eric is definitely not for all tastes. It's extreme anti-comedy, gross out comedy and cringe comedy. More often, I respect the show more than outright laugh but this is them hitting a high note with their weird sensibility.
 
Daikaiju

Daikaiju

Rated Ages 6+
(He, Him)
I've said my piece on Tim and Eric in older threads/fourms... In a nutshell; It's the quintessential Your Mileage May Vary show.
Which is to say, I get a half mile to the gallon.
 
Adrenaline

Adrenaline

Post Reader
(He/Him)
Hey, an ITYSL that I voted for. My brother got me a t-shirt of it for my birthday.

Not a Tim and Eric sketch I voted for, but a good one.
 
Behemoth

Behemoth

Dostoevsky is immortal!
(he/him/his)
The Robert Palins sketch also has a great punchline, which the YouTube version unfortunately cuts out.

I also prefer Steve Brule to other Tim and Eric stuff, although the Paul Rudd sketch is pretty good in a very weird sort of way.
 
karzac

karzac

(he/him)
A friend and I constantly quote I Think You Should Leave at each other and the Skeleton song is a classic
 
Issun

Issun

#5
DINER WINK
(I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE)
85 Points, 3 Votes, Highest Vote: #2 (Issun)
​
Our highest rated I Think You Should Leave Sketch is also one that departs slightly from the tone of most of the show's sketches. It still features the common theme of this show where someone lies and then draws the lies out to absolutely ridiculous proportions. But whereas oftentimes on ITYSL the lies come from a character trying to extricate themself from a sticky social situation (though it does start with the dad lying so he doesn't have to be the bad guy saying "no"), here it's Bob Odenkirk's sad, lonely man using his captive audience to weave a rich fantasy life where he owns classic cars and doesn't live in a hotel. While Robinson's father character is initially irritated with the instant karma he's getting for lying to his kid, eventually Odenkirk's character becomes so invested in his beautiful, dying, fictional wife that Robinson feels sorry for him and plays along willingly. Its pathetic but also oddly tender, while still being hilarious, in no small part thanks either to the perfect casting of Odenkirk, or Robinson knowing exactly how to write a character for someone who, I have no doubt, was a huge influence on him in his youth.

Triples is best. Triples makes it safe.
 
Issun

Issun

#4
WHO'S ON FIRST
(ABBOT & COSTELLO)


95 Points, 4 Votes, Highest Vote: #1 (Daikaiju)
​
I realized, prepping for this entry, that I'd never seen the whole routine before, and it deserves every bit of respect it gets. Vaudeville routines might seem kind of borderline for this list but what is modern sketch comedy but a natural evolution of vaudeville for today's television audiences, just as Who's On First was a riff on many older burlesque shows that incorporated similar wordplay? Abbot and Costello brought it to a mass audience, though, and forever changed comedy. It's as brilliant now as it was nearly 85 years ago, and it definitely deserves its place on this list.

I pick up the ball and I throw it to Naturally.
 
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Mogri

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
Who's on First? is an all-time great that holds its own most of a century later.
 
JBear

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
The most impressive part is being able to do that whole routine live without stumbling over your words or missing a beat.
 
karzac

karzac

(he/him)
JBear said:
The most impressive part is being able to do that whole routine live without stumbling over your words or missing a beat.
Click to expand...

No kidding. When I was a kid my brother and I would perform it for family. It's not only difficult to remember the lines (so many of them are identical, but the flow between them is extremely intricate) but also to remember in *what sense* you're using each word. Am I saying I don't know because I really don't know, or am I talking about the third baseman?

If I had submitted a list, I probably would have made Who's on First my #1. It's the prototype for so much modern sketch comedy and perfectly embodies the straight man/funny man set up.

I especially like how close to true understanding Costello gets at the end.
 
Mr Bean

Mr Bean

Chief Detective
I love Who’s on First.

I don’t have a source, but I remember reading an article years ago about how they were so good they could riff and improv extending the bit theoretically indefinitely. I think they said they did it for over half an hour once, realized they could just keep going, got bored and stopped.
 
Issun

Issun

#3
EAST/WEST COLLEGE BOWL
(KEY & PEELE)


97 Points, 4 Votes, Highest Vote: ViolentVixen (#5)
​
If you've ever watched an NFL or NCAA football broadcast you may have noticed some interesting names. However, given that the majority of football players are black, it would have been highly inappropriate for a white comedian to riff of of that, but Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key were uniquely positioned to go all in on the premise, being the only other black sketch comedy show besides Chapelle to see commercial and critical success this century, so they had the budget to make it look like a professional broadcast, which lends enough reality to the bit to make the increasing absurdity of the names really land.

I choose the second of the three skits for this entry because it's the first one I saw and it also has the benefit of being in that sweet spot where Key and Peele were able to smooth the sketch out a bit but before the premise started getting tired.

Everybody's talking about Fudge!
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Oh good, I'm glad you combined them. I prefer the first but know most people prefer the second so was worried my vote would get lost in the mix.
 
zonetrope

zonetrope

(he/him)
The first time I saw this sketch was among the hardest I've laughed at anything. Goofy names really tickle my funny bone for some reason. See also: The Hall of Inaccurate Presidents, The Bank Dick starring W.C. Fields, and the Raymond Luxury Yacht/Throatwobbler Mangrove bits from Flying Circus.
 
Behemoth

Behemoth

Dostoevsky is immortal!
(he/him/his)
I'm glad some Key & Peele made the list (I said earlier my list would have just been I Think You Should Leave sketches, but I had completely forgotten about Key & Peele). I agree that the second East/West College Bowl sketch is better than the first, but as a (not-so) proud alumnus of BYU, the punchline of the first made me chortle.
 
Issun

Issun

#2
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER
(KEY & PEELE)


99 Points, 3 Votes, Highest Vote: Kirin (#2)
​
White teachers refusing to even try to pronounce black and brown names correctly has been a problem for a very long time, so of course Key and Peele turning that on its head turned out to be one of their best sketches. Watching Keegan Michael Key here, it's no wonder he's become a successful character actor (mostly in comedies). Jordan Peele's turn to becoming possibly the best horror film maker of our time was a bit more left field, but the amount of talent between the two of them, and the fact that the show was consistently funny throughout its run, it wouldn't be out of line to call it the best sketch show of the 21st century (so far). It does have some stiff competition, but shows like Kroll and Mitchell and Webb don't have a lot of exposure and as we've seen, I Think You Should Leave's humor fills a very specific niche. Then there's the most obvious competitor, but not only can you point to Key and Peele's post-show success and then point to the fact that Dave Chapelle is now just an angry, bitter old man, but also, K&P is already proving to hold up better than Chapelle's Show.

As I've said before in this thread, comedy is subjective, but this show has definitely had an effect on comedy and pop culture over the last 10+ years.

You done messed up, A. A. Ron!
 
JBear

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
Yessss. This was my highest-voted Key & Peele sketch, and it's not even close for me. Just the right combination of clever and absurd, and killer delivery.

ETA:
Issun said:
it wouldn't be out of line to call it the best sketch show of the 21st century (so far)
Click to expand...
"Best sketch comedy show" is a very different question than "best comedy sketch", and a discussion I'd love to engage in after we're done (I'm not sure the pool is large enough to merit its own list, but maybe I'm wrong!), as my list ranking didn't really reflect my favourite shows, as even deeply middling shows can sometimes have absolutely killer sketches, whereas my favourite shows just kind of consistently knock it out of the park but individual sketches tend to stand out a bit less in my mind. At this point, I'm confident that my favourite sketch show didn't crack the top 25, which is disappointing, as I think it's a real gem.
 
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