Putting a Bird on the Decade

December 17, 2019 6:23 AM

As part of its decade-end coverage, Vulture brings us their unranked list of the top 50 comedy sketches of the 2010s (that are readily available to American audiences).
posted by Etrigan (54 comments total)

The write-up of the East/West College Bowl is amusingly unclear as to whether the author knows that California University of Pennsylvania is a real school.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:24 AM on December 17, 2019 [11 favorites]

We noped out off that one, feeling that making fun of black people's names isn't funny anymore even if done by black people. But I am interested to learn if we were overly sensitive.
posted by hypnogogue at 7:28 AM on December 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

"So you just carry that around wherever you go? In case a dildo based argument breaks out?"
posted by Joan Rivers of Babylon at 7:33 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Happy to see so much Key & Peele on there... especially my favorite: Substitute Teacher
posted by Grither at 7:40 AM on December 17, 2019 [12 favorites]

Oh, and is anyone else watching Cake? Does that count? The Samantha Jayne spots are fantastic.
posted by Grither at 7:44 AM on December 17, 2019

The best one is the dying child whose wish is to not see Macklemore.
posted by chavenet at 7:46 AM on December 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

I appreciate the (that are readily available to American audiences) warning because most of these videos are in fact not available in my country,
posted by thecjm at 7:47 AM on December 17, 2019

While I'm a bit chuffed at the lack of Stefon, at least we get Bill Hader hosting "What's That Name" as the final entry in the list, and that's a fine sketch.
posted by hanov3r at 8:00 AM on December 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

The write-up of the East/West College Bowl is amusingly unclear as to whether the author knows that California University of Pennsylvania is a real school.

I know quite a few graduates from there who would attest to the fact that it is not actually a real school.
posted by octothorpe at 8:03 AM on December 17, 2019 [11 favorites]

Waaaaay too much SNL, but some gems here. Glad to see someone remembered the glorious return of Bob & David, and the Kroll Show just had so many good sketches (I would definitely included Pawnsylvania, but maybe that doesn't have a ton of appeal on the other side of the mississippi)
posted by dis_integration at 8:03 AM on December 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

Geez. I never even heard of a bunch of those shows, let alone ever saw the particular sketches from those shows.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:09 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

The fuck there's only one sketch from Baroness Von Sketch show that qualifies. The fuck there is. Where's the Titanic sketch, for instance?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 8:18 AM on December 17, 2019 [8 favorites]

Not a bad list, but I'm sad the "Hollywood Sequel Doctor" from Key and Peele didn't make the list.
posted by jmauro at 8:24 AM on December 17, 2019 [7 favorites]

“Nude Tayne” is this generation’s “cellar door.”

true
posted by dismas at 8:29 AM on December 17, 2019 [4 favorites]

I mean, as long as we're discussing Pennsylvania-specific gags, Greg and Donny's "Jagoff in the Dictionary" is my fav of the decade.
posted by bendybendy at 8:30 AM on December 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

The fuck there's only one sketch from Baroness Von Sketch show that qualifies. The fuck there is. Where's the Titanic sketch , for instance?

I know! and only one CBB bump? Seriously cut out like 5 SNL sketches and make room for the shows that were actually funny
posted by dis_integration at 8:32 AM on December 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

While I'm a bit chuffed at the lack of Stefon, at least we get Bill Hader hosting "What's That Name" as the final entry in the list, and that's a fine sketch.

Chuffed means the opposite of what I think you think it means
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:36 AM on December 17, 2019 [12 favorites]

Chuffed means the opposite of what I think you think it means

Oh. Yes, it does. I'm not quite sure how I did that.
posted by hanov3r at 8:44 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

John Early's entire episode of The Characters was amazing, but the Vicky sketch was like, astonishingly good.
posted by saladin at 9:13 AM on December 17, 2019

I haven't got through the whole list yet, but it sure starts strong with that "12 Angry Men" sketch.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:13 AM on December 17, 2019

I feel bad for anyone named Aaron after Substitute Teacher came out.
posted by jquinby at 9:16 AM on December 17, 2019 [10 favorites]

Geez. I never even heard of a bunch of those shows, let alone ever saw the particular sketches from those shows.

I've seen a few of the SNL ones or at least heard about them but that's it. I've seen some Key and Peele but don't recognize any of those.
posted by octothorpe at 9:24 AM on December 17, 2019

"Chuffed means the opposite of what I think you think it means'

hanov3r: Oh. Yes, it does. I'm not quite sure how I did that.

Maybe you meant to write "miffed"?
posted by Jody Tresidder at 9:27 AM on December 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

Oh yeah, well I recognize of all these shows. Just saiyan'
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:28 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

This is a fun list! I am sick with a cold today and it's nice to have a bunch of stuff to watch and laugh at. I hadn't seen that "Black Jeopardy!" Installment (the cable bill answer, awwww) nor the really sweet "Maya Angelou Prank Show" which I particularly enjoyed.

If there are other lists that choose different sketches from the past 10 years to highlight, I would be interested in those too. Please distract me from my sinus congestion.
posted by brainwane at 9:30 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

> Greg Nog: the I Think You Should Leave sketches are fine, but I'm surprised they left out Nice Motorcycle, which is not only the best sketch in the series, but easily one of the best comedy sketches of all time.

The best thing about ITYSL is that almost everyone I know who has seen the show has a different favorite sketch (I'm a Fred Willard organist man, myself).
posted by Rock Steady at 10:21 AM on December 17, 2019 [4 favorites]

...the I Think You Should Leave sketches are fine, but I'm surprised they left out Nice Motorcycle, which is not only the best sketch in the series, but easily one of the best comedy sketches of all time.

The whole list should just be this show, but The Day Robert Palins Murdered Me in particular. I haven't laughed so hard in years.

Also "I wouldn't say anything...I'd LISTEN." Holy shit.
posted by Young Kullervo at 10:26 AM on December 17, 2019

By the way, if you enjoyed "Jack Sparrow" I suspect you will enjoy jetpack_monkey's fanvid that uses that song to talk about Scorsese in general.
posted by brainwane at 10:39 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Bulgaroktonos: The write-up of the East/West College Bowl is amusingly unclear as to whether the author knows that California University of Pennsylvania is a real school.

Nobody knows the PASSHE schools exist, least of all PASSHE.
posted by capricorn at 10:41 AM on December 17, 2019

I feel bad for anyone named Aaron after Substitute Teacher came out.

It’s my 15-seconds of pop culture relevancy, I embrace it wholeheartedly. When giving my name to a service or retail employee, I spell it out Substitute Teacher style. I get laughs probably 40% of the time. One teen at a coffee shop recently (on a first date, no less) was a little too high and totally whiffed on the joke and then asked me “so... is it E-R-I-N?”
posted by Baphomet's Prime at 10:45 AM on December 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

I feel bad for anyone named Aaron after Substitute Teacher came out.

I cringe about it now, in the aftermath of everything, but, at the time, that line seemed like the perfect response to Aaron Hernandez's being convicted of first-degree murder.
posted by hanov3r at 10:59 AM on December 17, 2019

They call back to it in the last East-West College Bowl sketch, when they have real NFL players. (with a different A. A. Ron)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:04 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

I saw exactly one of these, Black Jeopardy. Online via a website...

Somehow, I don't feel like I'm missing out, really, but this is a nice way to get caught up on modern sketch comedy.
posted by Chuffy at 11:17 AM on December 17, 2019

I will find whoever left Abraham H. Parnassus off this list and GRIND him! Into the DIRT!

Astronomy Club’s Robin Hood sketch is great but my favorite of theirs is the old-fashioned shade-off. Cheekbones for days I stan!
posted by ejs at 12:11 PM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Brainwane if you need some comedy in the spirit of the season, check out Santa Baby - SNL. And here's a list of the best Christmas SNL sketches. Sorry to those who are chuffed, I mean miffed, at so many SNL sketches. (If you ask me, you in the UK should rethink things: chuffed should be synonymous with miffed.)
posted by Transl3y at 1:17 PM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Would the opposite of "chuffed to bits" be "miffed whole"?
posted by tobascodagama at 1:20 PM on December 17, 2019

I'm chaffinched (down to my rust-red underparts) that I cannot find playable copies of some of these.
posted by pracowity at 1:43 PM on December 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

Chuffed contains multitudes. (Another - more disturbing - example: literally.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:57 PM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Santa Baby is definitely one of my favs!
posted by mmascolino at 3:17 PM on December 17, 2019

About half those SNL ones are legit terrible.

We noped out off that one, feeling that making fun of black people's names isn't funny anymore even if done by black people. But I am interested to learn if we were overly sensitive.

I actually thought this one was ok, since the NFL used to do something like this for the starting line up of the Monday night football game, but the sketch missed the guy angry at his college and instead named his high school, or even once, elementary school.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:19 PM on December 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

The players announcing their schools have migrated to Sunday Night Football.
posted by mmascolino at 3:37 PM on December 17, 2019

We noped out off that one, feeling that making fun of black people's names isn't funny anymore even if done by black people. But I am interested to learn if we were overly sensitive.

That sketch is brilliant, but it still makes me uncomfortable to enjoy it. If it were made by white people it would undoubtedly be racist, but it's made by black people which makes it not racist... unless you are a white person laughing at it in a racist way, I guess. Mostly I just love the absurd names they came up with.
posted by Acey at 9:56 PM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

"Sister Maya, was this an act of malice?" "No brother West, it was an act of whimsy."
posted by St. Oops at 10:13 PM on December 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

Loved the East-West Bowl, but I was hoping for a little more Cake Train!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:15 PM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

The players announcing their schools have migrated to Sunday Night Football.

And they give them surprisingly free reign as well.
posted by PenDevil at 11:21 PM on December 17, 2019

Honestly they could have chosen the entire super bowl episode of Key and Peele. Instead of the East/West bowl I would have gone with one of the excessive touchdown celebration sketches since that was also a thing in the NFL in the last 10 years, now thankfully gone. (Life imitates Key and Peele, and penalty flag is thrown.)

For Portlandia, I would have gone with the organic chicken restaurant order instead of the Put a Bird On It. Just because the restaurant scene is absolutely as common and true as the Put a Bird on It but far more absurd and harder to explain to outsiders.

And then there’s Joe Pera Reads the Church Announcements which was posted here on Mefi and is amazing.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 3:49 AM on December 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

Re: The Key and Peele East-West team college football sketch.

As someone with a lot of exposure to newborn babies and a rabid fan of college football I can attest that unique and creative names can be found among kids of any background (Just ask Tagg Romney or Picabo Street). Since I don't know them I can't be sure that K&P didn't intend it specifically lampoon young black athletes but I always thought it was probably (hopefully?) an unintended consequence of the choice to max-goof the characters by switching back and forth between themselves.

In general I'm not a fan of making fun of peoples names, but in college football the roster sizes are huge and there are 130 teams in the top division alone. Sometimes when broadcasters are recapping a game it's hard not to treasure a "Zoltan Mesko" if only as a brief break from the slog of correctly pronouncing three dozen names in a row.
posted by midmarch snowman at 5:17 AM on December 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

There are indeed too many SNL sketches but one of them should have been "Bad Boys" with Chris Pratt hosting. It's not directly funny *AT ALL* but the way in which it's such a direct and pure distillation of late 70s/early 80s fambly sitcom Very Special Episodes elevates it to funny anyway. I remember just being transfixed by the thing.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:47 AM on December 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

The subtle twist at the end of the East-West sketch is that the final white guy has a bland name, but he's from BYU, and Mormons are the rare whitebread Americans who use unusual given names. Really, think about everyone you know, and how many have a name that would sound normal on a local TV newscast, where anodyne personalities and thus anodyne stage-names are important. We are used to people in positions of authority having "common" names.
posted by bendybendy at 7:03 AM on December 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Here’s the third East-West sketch, which includes actual NFL players.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 8:08 AM on December 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's kind of funny that the Portlandia sketch She's Making Jewelry now is about two friends talking about what another person does for a living in a demeaning way, when we have determined that's a terrible way to make small talk and per that sketch, is the intersection between class hostility, jealousy, and stressful dayjob minutiae.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:21 AM on December 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

This is a nice list of mainstream comedians, but here's some lesser known ones that keep me in stitches:

Daring New Comedy Special - Joey Pockett (2019)

Powerpoint Meltdown - Picnicface (2011)

Girardi's Frozen Yogurt - Joe Wengert (2010)
posted by AlSweigart at 10:35 AM on December 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Girardi's Frozen Yogurt is my absolute favorite.
posted by dismas at 11:50 AM on December 18, 2019

So this week was college football's main Signing Day (kinda of like the NFL draft but the first round basically only Clemson/Alabama are making picks) so we got about 1,000 new names in the main five conferences. One hero on /r/CFB went through the ones he could find and put together a list of his favorites. Here's the link.

That's all.
posted by midmarch snowman at 4:30 PM on December 22, 2019