TVSquad

Sometimes, when it's too rainy outside to go anywhere and the air is full of a sense of doom and gloom, all you want is to just hole up indoors and watch hours and hours and hours of nonstop Canadian sketch comedy and cross-dressing. Hey, I can't possibly be the only one that feels that way, because otherwise, the Kids in the Hall complete series megaset wouldn't have been made. I had a full rainy week to lounge around with this lovely collection and we got to know each other pretty well. It's a real sweetheart, to be sure... A real cross-dressing, head-crushing, fact-sharing, cabbage-headin' sweetheart.

AMC is showing scripted series, A&E stopped being about "Arts and Entertainment" years ago, so why shouldn't an extreme sports channel like FuelTV do sketch comedy?

By the way: FuelTV is doing a sketch comedy series.

Some of you may already know about American Misfits, a half comedy, half skating show in FuelTV. Well, 2HeadedHorse, the production company behind American Misfits, were asked to make a series that is half sketch comedy . . . and half sketch comedy.

(S32E20) I'm not a crazed Zach Braff fan, but I'm familiar enough with his work on Scrubs and Garden State. As the weird fantasy sequences in Scrubs have shown, Braff and the bizarre totally work. So, I was disappointed that he didn't play any outrageous characters in this episode. He was always playing some version of himself. Even in the "Prom Committee" sketch, when he had the chance to portray some completely out-there character, he played the Garden State kid with the Natalie Portman headphones. Oh, well. At least he didn't blatantly stare at the cue cards all night.

Also, there was so much Maya Rudolph love in this episode, it sort of felt like she was hosting. I wonder if this is a sign that she's planning on leaving after this season? This then leads me to wonder if Darrell Hammond, who only appeared two or three times in this episode, is ever going to leave.

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

It seems like we're experiencing a renaissance of decent sketch comedy programming or maybe we're just reaching an Upright Citizens Brigade alumni saturation point in popular media. (Seriously, move over Second City, and SNL, your days are numbered.) It could be the internet's doing - between the amateurs on YouTube, Super Deluxe and VBS, there's no shortage of comedy gold out there in accessible, bite-sized nuggets. Rather than try to pin down how and why our airwaves are awash in sketch-length comedy goodness, I'd like to draw your attention to MTV's most recent offering - Human Giant.

(S32E15) Julia Louis Dreyfus hosted less than a year ago, so I was surprised to see her back so soon. She did an all right job last time, but I wonder what drove Saturday Night Live to have her return this quickly. It's not like she had anything new to promote. Hmm.

This episode was pretty boring. If I wasn't planning on writing this review, I probably would have tuned out a little after "Weekend Update". Yawn.

(S32E14) Rainn Wilson is probably best known from NBC's The Office, in which he plays the incredibly funny Dwight Schrute. As always, just because an actor does well in a sitcom doesn't necessarily mean it all translates on Saturday Night Live. Fortunately, Wilson delivered a great performance that was on par with the show's actual cast members. This was a pleasant surprise for me, so I really wish that the weeks' writing had done better justice to Wilson's talent.

(S32E13) I'm not very familiar with Forest Whitaker's work, but I'm well aware of his new-found status as one of the biggest actors in Hollywood. He recently won multiple awards for his performance in The Last King of Scotland, so I knew that he could act. Whitaker didn't do such a spectacular job on SNL. He was good, yeah, but not spectacular.

However, the writing this week was really something else. It was a lot weirder than usual, I thought. For the most part, I liked it. I see that they've cut down on a lot of the more formulaic recurring character sketches, which is a massive improvement. Plus, none of the those recurring sketches are accompanied shitty little theme songs! Remember the days of "Debbie Downer" and "Carol"? Thank goodness those are over.

(S32E12) Cold Open (American Idol auditions): The animals angle was cute, but I think the best parts were the split-second clips of the good singers, a beautiful example of how American Idol loves to focus on the painful auditions and push the better performances to the sidelines. Oh, and the shaggy dog family was also kind of nice.

Monologue: Drew Barrymore has only hosted five times? I mean, I know that's a lot, but I definitely feel like I've seen her more than five times. Maybe it's because of her occasional cameo appearances. Anyway, I thought this monologue was a great take on the typical romantic-comedy. The inclusion of Maroon 5 and Corinne Bailey Rae as the soundtrack was also hilarious.

The new sketch comedy series, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, from Tom Goes to the Mayor creators Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim kicks off February 11 at 11:45pm on Adult Swim. There are a bunch of promos for the series on YouTube, none of which really explain what the show is about, but if it the series is anything like Tim and Eric's previous work, it probably defies explanation anyway. Or, it's a brand new approach to comedy that is actually much smarter than it seems. Either way, I'll be checking it out.

Oh yeah, and if you want to experience the boys live, they're hitting the road later this month for the Tim and Eric Awesome Tour, with absolutely no stops in the Midwest, the rat bastards. Tour stops and ticket information are after the jump. If you get a chance to meet either Tim or Eric on this tour, tell them Adam sends his love from Minneapolis and then kick them in the shins for me. Thanks.

(S32E11) I'm familiar with very few of Jeremy Piven's projects, but, from what I've seen, he's a great comedic actor. Unfortunately, sometimes even the great funnymen of television and film can really -- for lack of a better phrase -- totally suck it hard when it comes to live television. In Piven's case, before the monologue was even half-way over, I knew he was going to do fine. Aside from a few very minor reading flubs (I think he said "contact" instead of "connect" in the monologue, and stumbled over some lines in various skits), Piven did a flawless job. All in all, I thought this was a fairly strong episode.

(S32E10) Even though I'm no expert on his career, I didn't have many worries about Jake Gyllenhaal's comedy abilities. I remember listening to Gyllenhaal on the Donnie Darko DVD audio commentary and finding him surprisingly funny. I definitely didn't expect it... After all, Donnie Darko wasn't a particularly goofy film. Then, I saw Bubble Boy and, although I wouldn't consider it one of the greater films of our time, I thought Gyllenhaal did a pretty good job (with what he was given).

This episode wasn't spectacular -- in fact, it was pretty unremarkable -- but I enjoyed watching it, simply because of Gyllenhaal's enthusiasm.

The Whitest Kids U'Know was presented to us with a roll of toilet paper, and an announcement proclaiming that it's "A comedy movement that is dropping on March 20th." So, when the intro to a show leads off with toilet humor, you know you're in for something really special. The teaser they showed involved an excited couple nervously talking about trying to get pregnant, and when the time comes to reveal the test, she can't read it and asks him to do it. He tells her, "That's my IPod shuffle. You peed on my iPod shuffle. You're such a f*cking bitch."

Harsh, but funny! Granted, I love sketch comedy ... probably more than a human being should, but with the gradual downslide of Saturday Night Live ('Dick in a Box' and 'Lazy Sunday' notwithstanding), this show is about the funniest thing I've seen sketch-wise in a long time. They've been seen all over CollegeHumor.com and YouTube, so check 'em out online.

Although this was announced as an upcoming show on the Sundance Channel back in 2005, did anything ever happen with it? This version of the show premieres on Fuse on March 20th at 11PM eastern.

Welcome to the post-YouTube world of television programming. Brookers got a development deal with Carson Daly. One half of Ask a Ninja signed with United Talent Agency, and now, Jack Black and friends are bringing viewer-produced comedy shorts along with their own original material to VH1.

Called The Department of Acceptable Media, the program is based on a live event that Jack Black, along with Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, have hosted in Hollywood since 2003. At the live event, five-minute "pilots" by aspiring filmmakers are screened and the audience votes on their favorites. The televised program will work in the same way - viewers will vote online at www.acceptable.tv - for their favorite shorts. The winning "pilots" will get to produce a second episode. The losers will be canceled.

(S32E01) "And we're baaaaaaack!" Anyone? Anyone? No? OK, well it's SNL season premiere time (that came fast) and Dane Cook is already hosting again. I can't remember the last time someone hosted two episodes so close together. He was just there last December. Well, it's understandable I suppose. I can't think of anyone else that's bigger on the comedy circuit right now and his name automatically attracts attention. He's all over the place, from touring to HBO specials. Anyway, the show was pretty decent I thought, but not because Cook was the host. He was barely in it.