MADtv Will be Sorely Missed, Fred Willard to Host Final Episode: "Mad tv Gives Back"

[Zoneboy]

The Fox comedy show often surpassed Saturday Night Live over its 14-year lifespan

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As Saturday Night Live continues to soldier on long past its expiry date, fans of sketch comedy would do well to raise a glass in honour of its much sassier, unheralded late night competitor, MADtv.

MADtv will air its last show on Saturday, ending a 14-year run as the best satirical comedy show you probably never watched, because you were busy doing your darndest to stay loyal, and awake, as SNL self-destructed elsewhere on the dial.

Had you done a little channel surfing, you might have discovered MADtv reinventing the comic wheel.

Because where SNL has become forced and mostly unfunny -- sorry, Darrell Hammond's dopey Bill Clinton has nothing on Chevy Chase's frenetic Gerald Ford -- MADtv has stayed fresh and edgy in the giant's shadow.

Once upon a time, you'll recall, SNL was so crackling good that we gave up recreational drinking for that heady 90 minutes late on Saturday evenings, when John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal and Eddie Murphy, along with a roster of A-list hosts and musical acts, from Steve Martin and Richard Pryor to The Rolling Stones and Justin Timberlake, had us all chortling around the water cooler.

And while SNL still attracts the big name emcees, and kickstarts comedic careers -- notably, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler -- the truth is that it's long lost its mojo.

While Adam Sandberg does his best Mike Myers, over at MADtv, there was fresh blood to be found in a less-choreographed but much more clever repertory cast, especially Bobby Lee, Keegan-Michael Key and Michael McDonald, one a chubby throwback from the school of Belushi, one a spot-on Barack Obama impersonator, and one a gangly gifted goof whose comic turns, like his twisted little-boy character, Stuart Larkin, should be bottled and sold as comedic elixir.

The one-hour show, which licensed the name and logo of the magazine, debuted on Fox in 1995, and for a short time invoked its namesake with Spy vs. Spy animation and cameo images of Alfred E. Neuman.

And then, quietly and without much ado, not to mention a complete absence of network promotion, it just got better and better.

If SNL is famous for its mock newscast, Weekend Update, MADtv has earned its stripes parodying to perfection all that is ridiculous about pop culture, from television shows to music videos.

There's 3 Minutes Meals, which spoofs celebrity chef Rachael Ray, Average Asian, a Chinese man who is a victim of stereotyping, Bunifa Latifah Halifah Sharifa Jackson, a racism-sensitive black meter maid, Emcee Esher, a famous dead rapper, Lords of the Bling, which takes on Tolkein, and The Kim Jong-il Show, where the host shoots anyone who doesn't laugh at his jokes.

And then there's Frank Caliendo's sendup of Jay Leno, Lee's Connie Chung and McDonald spoofing Coldplay's Chris Martin.

Genius.

Which isn't to say the 34-year SNL legacy hasn't cemented an extraordinary footnote in modern culture: creator/producer Lorne Michaels has gifted us Two Wild and Crazy Guys, Gumby, Mr. Bill, The Land Shark, Buckwheat, The Samurai, Mr. Robinson's Neighbourhood and, yes, Dick in A Box.

SNL's breakthrough format in 1975 bridged the gap between primetime family-friendly variety hits like The Carol Burnett Show and a genre of sophisticated adult sketch comedy that keeps network censors hopping.

It's too bad that MADtv, a joint venture of producer David Salzman and musician Quincy Jones, hasn't enjoyed the attention, and marketing, that NBC afforded SNL. According to Salzman, MADtv has been a successful show for Fox, averaging 2.6 million viewers this season, but has been feeling the economic pinch of late.

The final show, its 326th, is titled MADtv Gives Back and will be hosted by Fred Willard. There will be a retrospective, and some new skits, including cast member Debra Wilson Skelton as an over-the-top Oprah Winfrey raising money for bogus charities like "Hair Extensions for the Homeless."

Salzman recently tossed out a tease that MADtv may well be streamlined and reincarnated on another cable channel.

To which we can only say: Let the madness continue.