It’s a lazy, lazy Thursday here at SDIF. So, relax. Nerve.com and IFC combined forces to create a list of the 50 greatest comedy sketches of all time.
The list seems a little curious though, and I suspect it could more accurately be called: “50 greatest comedy sketches of all time that were already available somewhere online so we could embed them into this list.” Which would explain why my personal favorite, Ernie Kovacs, only got one nod (albeit in the top 10). That nod is available above.
From the article:
Ernie Kovacs was a sketch-comedy pioneer and visionary. On his shows in the 1950s, he experimented with visual effects and blackouts, choreographed orangutan operas and messed around with his closing credits, setting an ironic prankstery template for David Letterman and SNL. His most representative sketch was probably this one, in which he put three men in ape suits and had them mime to a twee piano tune. Like a lot of Kovacs’s work, it’s not exactly funny, just remarkably offbeat — and recognizable in dozens of comic descendants.
What the description does not point out is that Jack Lemmon is apparently one of the men in the monkey suits. At least that’s what Jack’s interview for “The Best of Ernie Kovacs” collection told me…
