Countdown lists are generally arbitrary and pointless. The E! Network has almost single-handedly devalued the concept of the countdown with their innumerable, filler-laden programming of “The 50 Greatest Celebrity Trainwrecks.”
Sketch comedy is like pop music – it comes in so many flavors and styles that a comprehensive list is almost a task in futility. It comes as an incredible surprise, then, that Nerve.com (the sub-par Salon) not only has the temerity to try and rank the 50 greatest pieces of sketch comedy of all time, but that their list is so damn accurate.
The Nerve list covers an incredible amount of comic ground. The historical tent-poles of sketch comedy are well represented – Saturday Night Live, Monty Python, and Kids In The Hall. The list gains credibility, though, from a deep historical reach. Your Show Of Shows, Sid Caesar, and The Four Yorkshiremen (featuring a pre-Monty Python John Cleese) all make the list. The best part of the list is that almost all of the listings have a link to the sketch on You Tube, giving you the chance to re-watch a favorite and get acquainted with one you’ve never seen before. The Sid Caesar/Nanette Fabray argument to Beethoven’s Fifth is a spectacular piece of performance.
Inevitably, one of your favorites has been left off the list, and every comedy afficionado out there can argue some of the rankings. Kudos to Nerve.com for putting together such a comprehensive list, and let the debating begin over their few errors and omissions.
Linkie no workie
Linkie is fixied.