I am – Hercules!!
If you love or like “South Park,” “The Venture Bros.” or “Wonder Showzen,” miss this compilation at your peril!
Robert Smigel is a comedy god. He plays the lips of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Clinton on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.” He manifests the alter ego of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. And he masterminds the “Saturday TV Funhouse” shorts that have peppered “Saturday Night Live” the past several years.
Tonight’s “Best of Saturday TV Funhouse” features loads of new footage featuring The Ambiguously Gay Duo interacting with most of “Saturday Night Live’s” current players. (The bespandexed pair have apparently developed over the years an unsavory fascination with departed cast member Jimmy Fallon.)
The show also features all or part of no fewer than 25 classic "Funhouse" segments:
* 1 “Are You Hot? For Cartoons!”;
* 2 “The Ambiguously Gay Duo Vs. The Ice Creature”;
* 3 “Saddam & Osama” (featuring a promo for “Batman Vs. The Jews”);
* 4 “Bambi 2002” ;
* 5 “Sexual Harassment and You”;
* 6 “Fun With Real Audio: Tom Snyder stalks Dolly Parton”;
* 7 “The All New Adventures of Mr. T”
(“I’m back!” declares the title character. “And I need work!”);
* 8 “The Narrator That Ruined Christmas”
(The snowman from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” visits Ground Zero. );
* 9 “Fun With Real Audio: Jesus on the Loose”;
* 10 “The Peanuts Gang Discovers Its Superpower”;
* 11 “Michael Jackson” (One of the best: A chimp, a llama and the elephant man’s skeleton serve as Jackson’s sidekicks as the king of pop is tempted by the scent of a boy set on a windowsill to cool. And there’s a pair of special eyeglasses that makes Tara Reid and Lindsay Lohan look like Webster.);
* 12 “Journey to The Disney Vault”;
* 13 “The Smurfette Show”;
* 14 “X-Presidents Vs. The Constitution”;
* 15 “Fun With Real Audio: Repurposed Speeches”;
* 16 “Christmastime For The Jews.” (Darlene Love celebrates the yearly exodus of gentiles from Manhattan.);
* 17 “Safety Tips From the Ambiguously Gay Duo.”;
* 18 “Divertor” (Genius satire about a superhero who distracts the media from an enormous deficit by making celebrities commit bizarre acts.);
* 19 “Fun With Real Audio: Survivor Roundtable”;
* 20 “Find the Black People At The Knick Game”;
* 21 “A Belated Black History Moment.” (Dennis Haysbert remembers pioneering cartoons “The Hoke and Daisy Show” and “Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Outer Space.”);
* 22 “Heteroy: A Christian Coalition Cartoon” (featuring a promo for the “Cele-Bots”!);
* 23 “Shazzang!” (A jolly but demented genie maims and mutilates his masters’ enemies);
* 24 “Anatominals!” (Lorne Michaels rethinks his deal with Satan.);
* 25 “FCC” (Naked cartoon characters get their genitals blurred).
As a bonus, there’s a (never-before-aired?) live-action Smigel short titled “Wheaty The Wheatan Terrier,” starring Stephen Colbert. It’s a Lassie parody employing what appears to be a lot of home movie footage.
Herc’s rating for “The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse”?
*****
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
11:30 p.m. Saturday. NBC.
What book about Stanley Kubrick could possibly be worth $200? How about The Kubrick Archives
??
