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Some of these shows were great, some were terrible, but none of them lasted long.

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In the 1990s, network television kept trying to reinvent sketch comedy. While shows like In Living Color and MADtv became major hits, a number of ambitious series featuring huge talent were cancelled almost immediately. Some of them are now remembered for something else entirely: the stars who came out of them.

Before Friends, Jennifer Aniston appeared in a short-lived sketch comedy experiment called The Edge. Steve Carell was still years away from playing Michael Scott on The Office. And Stephen Colbert was just starting out on one of the most chaotic comedy failures in TV history.

This is a look at four '90s sketch comedy shows that failed in completely different ways—and why they disappeared so quickly.

Featured shows:

The Dana Carvey Show (ABC, 1996)
The Ben Stiller Show (Fox, 1992–1993)
The Edge (Fox, 1992)
House of Buggin’ (Fox, 1995)


The cast lists alone are almost unbelievable in hindsight.

The Dana Carvey Show featured Steve Carell (years before The Office) and Stephen Colbert, alongside SNL writers and future comedy heavyweights.

The Ben Stiller Show included Bob Odenkirk and Judd Apatow—long before their defining work reshaped modern comedy.

The Edge featured Jennifer Aniston before her breakout role on Friends, alongside Wayne Knight (Seinfeld) and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants).

House of Buggin’ was an early sketch comedy vehicle featuring John Leguizamo and Luis Guzmán (Wednesday), tied to early attempts at expanding Latino representation in 90s network television.

So why did so many of these shows fail despite so much talent? And why do they still feel so fascinating today?

These series all aired during a period when network comedy was in transition—caught between traditional sitcom success stories like Seinfeld and Friends, and the more experimental, unstable world of sketch comedy. Some were too strange for mainstream audiences. Some relied too heavily on recycled material. Others simply aired at the wrong time on the wrong network. But all of them became cult curiosities in hindsight.

If you grew up watching '90s TV, Saturday Night Live, MADtv, or classic network sitcoms, this is a deep dive into some of the strangest comedy experiments ever put on television.

Let me know in the comments what other short-lived shows deserve a revisit.