The record brush was a tribute to Canadian game shows that had a bad reputation of giving out the cheapest prizes. Like lawn chairs, patio lights, steak knives, dinner for two at some crappy restaurant, magazine subscriptions and yes even record brushes.
I love the one he did with Catherine O'Hara called Night School High Q where he starts screaming "Disconnect her buzzer!" when she randomly buzzes and gives nonsense answers before he reads the questions.
I'm a 62 year old Canadian who watched this brilliant show every week. It remains,I think,far funnier than SNL,which has,with exeptions,aged poorly in comparison.
This brings back some good memories. Martin Short always cracked me up. I loved the bit he did with Harry Shearer about synchronized swimming. They were really all a bunch of comedic geniuses.
I’m rewatching my favorite SCTV skits in honor of Joe Flaherty. His character here, Arthur, is iconic, as are the rest of the brilliant cast of characters. Amazing show.
SCTV just isn't the same chopped up. The show always had a story arc about the goings on at the network, these sketches were the programming and served a similar purpose to the cutaways in Family Guy.
This show was always the funniest on tv, and at times rose to the level of comedic art. Each cast member was so versatile and the interplay between them was outstanding. Thanks for sharing this.
I loved him on SCTV! He was so frikkin funny and played an incredible straight man too! Would have loved to see him do more television and silver screen work!
He was my favorite on SCTV. I'll never understand it either, except maybe he was TOO versatile in the sense that he didn't really have that go-to schtick so many successful comics have.
I rarely ever watched TV most of my working life. Imagine SCTV popping up in my feed the first week of my retirement. I'm literally laughing until I cry. Thank you dear person for getting these gems online.
We used to stay up to watch the show on VHF independent channels in the early 1980's. Suddenly, it was on cable TV !!! I graduated HS in 1980 and me and my room mate's would stay up howling to these!
Was funny as a teen in early 80's and still hilarious at 51!! I love Blanche ! She's been married since the wedding!!!😂😂 Andre Martin was my 1st love!!
Nice! Watched it as new and still funny today! Had one of our racing press guys go on a SCTV binge a few weeks ago! So much for doing race reports! When new was 1 of 3 very different students in high school. This was our common bond!!
Answering a question without truly answering. it is a knack I’ve noticed a lot of women including my wife have. in fact Spock in Star Trek said “I have never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question.”
The mannerisms of all of them are so spot on. We've all met someone exactly like one of these people. I've met all 4 of them at one point or another. XD
In my NY area, SCTV was carried on one of the local, independent (non-national networks) channels at 11:30 on Saturday nights. It had higher ratings than SNL, so NBC bought it & aired it at 1AM so it couldn’t compete with SNL. I loved it. It was very topical, so I can understand that today’s young people wouldn’t get it. Nothing exists anymore, including independent tv channels. The stuff they spoof is gone - late night tv commercials for K-Tel music compilations, early morning educational tv, farmer’s shows, local channels’ dance shows (we had Clay Cole & Lloyd Thaxton), polka music, Lawrence Welk, etc. I used to watch the Schmenge Brother’s Christmas special every Yuletide on UA-cam, but they took it down. I laughed so hard when soviet tv took over SCTV airwaves & broadcast “Hey Giorgi!” & Soviet Wheel of Fortune. Very glad Katherine O’Hara walked out of SNL & refused to return when that dope Michael O'Donoghue treated her badly.
They had some real advantages. They didn't have the pressure of a major US network presence, they were a Canadian show that could be quirky and silly and do spoofs like Monster Chiller Horror Theater and Guy Cabellero the shady owner of the fictional "SCTV network" - and Dave Thomas's characters, Rick Moranis's characters, and characters like Flaherty's Sammy Maudlin and Short's Jackie Rogers Junior and many others and I think the biggest difference, they had to maintain their inspiration and writing and performance for less than 10 years; 1976-1984 - with basically the same cast. SNL's original cast is often mentioned as its best, and they didn't last long. Belushi and Akroyd left at the end of the fourth season; Jane Curtin after the fifth; Gilda after the fifth. Just saying if SCTV had been on tv the last 38 years with different cast members every 5-10 years and none of the original cast on - we would probably be saying SCTV 1985-2022 sucked compared with SCTV 1976-1984 when the greats were in the cast. When you look at the cast of SCTV, so many of them have had long and/or notable careers. John Candy died too soon but is more remembered by the public for his movie work than hhis great work on SCTV. But Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Dave Thomas and Martin Short - all great. Now I've typed too much, time to go listen to some Happy Wanderers polka!
Sorry but a lot of people disagree with you. Not that it’s not funny, but when you start trying to make comparisons with outrageously high, unsubstantiated comparisons you are the one that comes across as funny, and not in the good way. There is a reason that SNL has had such a long run.
It was Eugene Levy. He wrote the sketch. When SNL did Celebrity Jeopardy years later the writers had to clear it with Eugene because they didn't want to be accused of plagiarism. The very first SNL Celebrity Jeopardy debuted when Martin Short came back to host. Eugene said it was OK. No problem.
He does sound like Trebek too. Oh late host must have laughed. But you know with what I hear about some contestants who don’t know their history, on Jeopardy. It’s not far off from truth. You havknowledgeable. Ev
Oh how my husband & I laughed, watching SCTV, it was on at 11:30 week nights, through out 1978 & 1979, in Northern California, where we lived then, and it was gut wrenchingly hilarious, must watch tv at our 1st house!! A wonderful introduction to Eugene Levy, Katherine O’Hara, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, John Candy, Rick Moranis and so many other fantastic comedians we continue to enjoy 🤣🤣!!
I've had many conversations with friends over the years as to who was the best sketch comedy troupe and while SCTV didn't win every ranking, always in the top 2 or 3 of everyone I've ever asked. What an unbelievable cast of actors and writers.
I was too young for SCTV and I’m not even sure it was ever on TV in Australia, but I had no idea ‘Bob’ (John Hemphill) from ‘Schitt’s Creek’ was part of the troupe, let alone here as Wesley! Incredible 👏😂
My heart's warmed thinking about Norm calling Eugene up and asking if he could rip this off. The sketch deserved to continue! It's not like SCTV was usin it.
Best comedy show hands down. They weren't live, so to compare them to SNL, is unfair. They could do retakes until they got it right. But for sheer hilarity, this show was unbeatable.
Alex to Blanche:, "Can we expect the pitter patter of little Ray-Kellogg feet in the future?" Blanche: "I don't understand Alex?" Alex: "Are you planning to have kids, children?" Blanche: No, I'm afraid not Alex, I'm going to concentrate on my career." Alex:..and what is that?" Blanche: "Housewife and hopefully mother." Omg, good! LOL!
I loved this skit since I was a kid! "Frank Lloyd Wright was not one of the Wright Brothers, he was an architect." "JUST CALL IT WHILE IT'S IN THE AIR!!" Eugene Levy losing his temper made me laugh.
This show was pure entertainment! The premise of a small TV station where few people played many roles was exactly like the one station my family got when I was growing up.
When "American Pie" came out, everyone was talking about how funny the guy playing Jim's dad was; while I knew Eugene Levy from watching this show on Nick at Nite a decade earlier. It was good to see him finally get some steady work in movies, and not just in the "American Pie" series (though he took advantage of that, appearing in every film in the franchise, even the straight-to-video spinoffs.) Except for John Candy, Rick Moranis, and Martin Short, the cast members of SCTV never seemed to become as well-known as their counterparts on SNL. Levy is an awesome comic talent.
Thanks to Charles Allard and CITV for bringing the SCTV cast to Edmonton. We were lucking to see them filming in the studio and on the streets many times. I will never forget Johnny LaRue just wanting a “crane shot”
I had forgotten just how many comedians got there start in this show. Loved it as a kid even though I didn't really understand a lot of the jokes back then.
My favorite show of all time. When they did spoofs on the Andy Griffith Show all of the characters talked like Floyd the barber but then I think they started talking like Merv Griffin. Or something like that. SCTV was geared for folks who were raised on TV. Many laughs were on the subtleties of television viewing. BTW, do yourselves a favor and dig up UA-cam footage of football coach/TV commentator John Madden and tell me that he and John Candy were not the same person. LOL. Their voices are even almost identical. Crazy.
vagabond Here in the USA SCTV was always shown in the hours AFTER SNL usually around 1:30-2:00am Eastern Time on Sunday morning! I remember watching these earlier episodes and they were always far more hilarious and gut busting than almost anything that SNL ever did even the best years. Best SCTV episodes are the earlier years before the show was actually picked up by NBC in the USA. These earlier episodes did air on NBC for the first time in the USA many years after they were actually produced and aired in Canada.
I remember as a kid when I watched those repeats of the show on The Comedy Network Canada right after school and yes, Half Wits is my all-time favourite SCTV "show". Childhood memory!
Being born in the mid-'70s I didn't see SCTV until Nick at Nite started showing it in the mid- to late-'80s. Ironically, it was shown right after a half-hour syndicated version of SNL (i.e. "The Best of Saturday Night.")
John Candy was Yosh Schmenge. Gene Levy was Stan Schmenge. And yes as I type those names in my head I hear them saying them in the Leutonian accents. 😁
Characters are played by: Alex Trebel - Eugene Levy Wesley Wilks - John Hemphill Blanche Ray Kellogg - Andrea Martin Arthur Andrew-Leggett - Joe Flaherty Lawrence Orbach - Martin Short
Oh yea, that's Bob from Schitt's Creek. The glasses he's wearing in this skit makes it hard to recognize him, but the voice is still the same even after 36 years!
I remember this being aired on Turkey Television, the predecessor to The Comedy Channel which became Comedy Central. It aired Laugh In and MST3K. It was the first time I saw it. This was shown on some American PBS stations as well late at night, along with other Canadian programs like Red Green. KidsIn The Hall was on late onHBO. Being in Montana I may have seen more Canadian tv than other people but I always find them just sillier and funnier, more absurdist like Monty Python.
I shit myself laughing when the board is flashing and they can't even pick a topic. I LOVED this show back in the day. As many have noted it blew SNL out of the water! It was so much funnier.
Eugene Levy's eyebrows deserve some sort of lifetime achievement award.
HAHA! They are a Canadian heritage site.
Ha ha ha ....You are so right ! Hilarious.......
@@lylepetrov6505 Levy us a Jewish name.
Two awards!
rick neal now that’s a funny comment!!
SCTV is still hilarious after all these years!
Was this a movie of some sort?
RIP, Alex Trebek. This was his favorite parodies of him.
No,... Got to be the weird al stuff...
Alex Trebek is dead ? i didn't even know he was sick :(
@@ztuzar163 or so the Germans would have us believe
Mr. Trebek had said that he absolutely loved Eugene Levy's spoof of him on these "Half-Wits"/High School IQ shows
The record brush was a tribute to Canadian game shows that had a bad reputation of giving out the cheapest prizes. Like lawn chairs, patio lights, steak knives, dinner for two at some crappy restaurant, magazine subscriptions and yes even record brushes.
And the coveted Parker Pen Set!
A case of motor oil
LOL I still own one of those brushes. Works great!
most times you won bus fare home as the main prize....lol
Or all-expenses-paid trips to Buffalo.
This is good stuff. SNL does not even begin to compare to this.
Thanks for posting this.
Eugene Levy does one of the best slow burns in the history of comedy
Brown Sugar ?
Yep he’s up there...very dynamic and painfully hilarious. He can do dead pan or slapstick...low or high brow and beyond. His SCTV work is golden.
That's the term I was looking for. Thank you.
"Let's just calm down here at this point"
I love the one he did with Catherine O'Hara called Night School High Q where he starts screaming "Disconnect her buzzer!" when she randomly buzzes and gives nonsense answers before he reads the questions.
I'm a 62 year old Canadian who watched this brilliant show every week. It remains,I think,far funnier than SNL,which has,with exeptions,aged poorly in comparison.
This brings back some good memories. Martin Short always cracked me up. I loved the bit he did with Harry Shearer about synchronized swimming.
They were really all a bunch of comedic geniuses.
Dang, THAT was Harry Shearer! Lol, forgot about him being the other guy in the sketch.
that was on Saturday Night Live though, not SCTV. @@olliefoxx7165
I'm not that.....Strong a swimmer.
But that was SNL, not SCTV, wasn't it?
Yep
I’m rewatching my favorite SCTV skits in honor of Joe Flaherty. His character here, Arthur, is iconic, as are the rest of the brilliant cast of characters. Amazing show.
I broke out laughing just *looking* at Mrtin Shorts character. thats comic genius. Great troupe, great days.
Whoever designed that prosthetic nose is a genius.
check out the Bob Hope special...........lol
-Just a nose guy.
-Who?
-You know, just the usual prosthetic nose guy.
It's made by Rose. "Rose... they're the nose people."™
I watched sctv all the time when it first aired. Almost 40 years later and it's still just as funny. All these people were great.😅👍
Agreed! My 14 yr old is learning some true Canuck culture today.
SCTV just isn't the same chopped up. The show always had a story arc about the goings on at the network, these sketches were the programming and served a similar purpose to the cutaways in Family Guy.
@MrJeffcoley1 watching the travails of Guy Caballero and Johnny LaRue and Floyd and Earl, etc., was a lot of the fun
This show was always the funniest on tv, and at times rose to the level of comedic art. Each cast member was so versatile and the interplay between them was outstanding. Thanks for sharing this.
Much more clever than SNL
Unlike SNL, they were hysterical!!look @ Candy's movies vs.Chevy's crap!
Consistently funny unlike SNL which goes from hilarious to pathetic in cycles. Lately it's been beyond cringe, Michaels should just take the L.
SCTV>snl
This could never be shown on tv today, the woke would object to the mocking of stupid people.
I'll never understand why Joe Flaherty's career never really took off. He was a brilliant comedic actor and super-versatile.
I loved him on SCTV! He was so frikkin funny and played an incredible straight man too! Would have loved to see him do more television and silver screen work!
Some get the breaks some don't. I agree with you however
Not among the funniest cast members.
He was my favorite on SCTV. I'll never understand it either, except maybe he was TOO versatile in the sense that he didn't really have that go-to schtick so many successful comics have.
He was also my favorite. Freaking hysterical in everything.
I rarely ever watched TV most of my working life. Imagine SCTV popping up in my feed the first week of my retirement. I'm literally laughing until I cry. Thank you dear person for getting these gems online.
Enjoy your retirement!
An amazing show.
We used to stay up to watch the show on VHF independent channels in the early 1980's. Suddenly, it was on cable TV !!! I graduated HS in 1980 and me and my room mate's would stay up howling to these!
Was funny as a teen in early 80's and still hilarious at 51!! I love Blanche ! She's been married since the wedding!!!😂😂 Andre Martin was my 1st love!!
Nice! Watched it as new and still funny today! Had one of our racing press guys go on a SCTV binge a few weeks ago! So much for doing race reports! When new was 1 of 3 very different students in high school. This was our common bond!!
I love these clips. Omg. Martin Short is a comedic genius, I must say.
I love how Wesley is telling Arthur how good the topic of Tundra is repeatedly, and Arthur just chooses Favorite Pets anyway.
"How long have you been married?"
"Since the wedding."
i almost fell out of my chair when she said that.
Straight through.
who's the lucky guy? My husband.
@@eachampandmabel Housewife and hopefully mother - LOL
Answering a question without truly answering. it is a knack I’ve noticed a lot of women including my wife have. in fact Spock in Star Trek said “I have never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question.”
Just the expression on Martin Short's face makes me laugh. He doesn't even have to say anything.
The mannerisms of all of them are so spot on. We've all met someone exactly like one of these people.
I've met all 4 of them at one point or another. XD
so true....this character just cracks me UP so hard... RIGHT OH ALEX
In my NY area, SCTV was carried on one of the local, independent (non-national networks) channels at 11:30 on Saturday nights. It had higher ratings than SNL, so NBC bought it & aired it at 1AM so it couldn’t compete with SNL. I loved it. It was very topical, so I can understand that today’s young people wouldn’t get it. Nothing exists anymore, including independent tv channels. The stuff they spoof is gone - late night tv commercials for K-Tel music compilations, early morning educational tv, farmer’s shows, local channels’ dance shows (we had Clay Cole & Lloyd Thaxton), polka music, Lawrence Welk, etc. I used to watch the Schmenge Brother’s Christmas special every Yuletide on UA-cam, but they took it down. I laughed so hard when soviet tv took over SCTV airwaves & broadcast “Hey Giorgi!” & Soviet Wheel of Fortune. Very glad Katherine O’Hara walked out of SNL & refused to return when that dope Michael O'Donoghue treated her badly.
I saw it on WOR channel 9 in New Jersey on a family trip in 1980. We didn't have it in Massachusetts until the NBC show.
Levy's reaction after the "Frank Lloyd Wright" bit had me rolling.
Totally did not get the joke until later
How they all didn't bust out laughing is beyond me. Every show is a comedy treasure.
They probably did. The show was not live.
Alex Trebel portrayed by Eugene Levy is the best impression of Alex Trebek. Long live Alex Trebek
I haven’t seen this in years. So funny. Levy’s frustration was genius.
I would trade this SCTV for SNL in a heartbeat! JUST ABSOLUTELY GENIUS
SCTV, a million and a half times funnier than SNL any time, any year. Eugene is a comedic genius and his eyebrows have a life of their own.
i agree 100%
They had some real advantages. They didn't have the pressure of a major US network presence, they were a Canadian show that could be quirky and silly and do spoofs like Monster Chiller Horror Theater and Guy Cabellero the shady owner of the fictional "SCTV network" - and Dave Thomas's characters, Rick Moranis's characters, and characters like Flaherty's Sammy Maudlin and Short's Jackie Rogers Junior and many others and I think the biggest difference, they had to maintain their inspiration and writing and performance for less than 10 years; 1976-1984 - with basically the same cast. SNL's original cast is often mentioned as its best, and they didn't last long. Belushi and Akroyd left at the end of the fourth season; Jane Curtin after the fifth; Gilda after the fifth. Just saying if SCTV had been on tv the last 38 years with different cast members every 5-10 years and none of the original cast on - we would probably be saying SCTV 1985-2022 sucked compared with SCTV 1976-1984 when the greats were in the cast. When you look at the cast of SCTV, so many of them have had long and/or notable careers. John Candy died too soon but is more remembered by the public for his movie work than hhis great work on SCTV. But Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Dave Thomas and Martin Short - all great. Now I've typed too much, time to go listen to some Happy Wanderers polka!
So true.
SCTV was better than SNL and Friday’s.
Just Brilliant
Better talent and great writers helps too...
Sorry but a lot of people disagree with you. Not that it’s not funny, but when you start trying to make comparisons with outrageously high, unsubstantiated comparisons you are the one that comes across as funny, and not in the good way. There is a reason that SNL has had such a long run.
I can’t take it! But I’ve watched it 100’ of times since it originally aired.🤣 Timeless iconic Canadian comedy 🤜🇨🇦❤️
This aired 13 years before SNL's Celebrity Jeopardy. Nice to find the source.
@Brazilian Atlantis they are two wild and canadian guys. Eugene hamilton and norm quebec city
It was Eugene Levy.
He wrote the sketch.
When SNL did Celebrity Jeopardy years later the writers had to clear it with Eugene because they didn't want to be accused of plagiarism.
The very first SNL Celebrity Jeopardy debuted when Martin Short came back to host.
Eugene said it was OK.
No problem.
Was wondering if this was the inspiration.
@@JJourdenaisART
Yep.
This SCTV sketch was also directly inspired.by Monty Pythons Upper Class Twit of the year sketch..
Eugene does such a great job of barely holding it together.
He does sound like Trebek too. Oh late host must have laughed. But you know with what I hear about some contestants who don’t know their history, on Jeopardy. It’s not far off from truth. You havknowledgeable. Ev
Martin Short is a comic genius. just looking at him makes me laugh without him saying a word.
It gets me every time. haha
Same
Yeah Martin has that mad magazine look!!’n
Right-O, Alex!
The whole SCTV series was gold
Oh how my husband & I laughed, watching SCTV, it was on at 11:30 week nights, through out 1978 & 1979, in Northern California, where we lived then, and it was gut wrenchingly hilarious, must watch tv at our 1st house!! A wonderful introduction to Eugene Levy, Katherine O’Hara, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, John Candy, Rick Moranis and so many other fantastic comedians we continue to enjoy 🤣🤣!!
Still the funniest comedy series ever on TV.
I've had many conversations with friends over the years as to who was the best sketch comedy troupe and while SCTV didn't win every ranking, always in the top 2 or 3 of everyone I've ever asked. What an unbelievable cast of actors and writers.
That record cleaner is awesome! It’s a Discwasher which was pretty much the best record cleaner back then. I still have one :-)
Yup, I remember. I used mine every day, for years.
Can we get a star on the walk of fame for Eugene Levy’s genius for once and for all? This is one of the funniest moments on TV period.
I think you'll be happy now.
Brilliance!!! Worshiped this show when I was in high school. Watching SCTV on Friday night was the highlight of my week.
I miss this program, my father let me stay up late to watch SCTV together.
I always rooted for Arthur. Seems like a good guy.
"Nice to meet you." "It is?"
I was too young for SCTV and I’m not even sure it was ever on TV in Australia, but I had no idea ‘Bob’ (John Hemphill) from ‘Schitt’s Creek’ was part of the troupe, let alone here as Wesley! Incredible 👏😂
Thanks, couldn't place him!
SCTV is just a window into a very hellish reality where game shows are actually entertaining
Levy’s meltdowns…epic…brilliant…hilarious …
so funny
Grew up on SCTV! Couldn’t wait to see it every week as a boy growing up in Canada! It was a must watch for me ❤
Eugene nails the inflection in Trebek's speaking so much I can actually see Alex Trebek doing this!
Well they were both Canadians.
me too
Yes, the inflection but also the cadence, pauses and elongated syllables!
Six gun justice with Mike the bartender was a great skit. A kid’s show in a bar. Only SCTV cast could make that funny
"Cockpit"..."Cockfight?" Brilliant.
My heart's warmed thinking about Norm calling Eugene up and asking if he could rip this off. The sketch deserved to continue! It's not like SCTV was usin it.
Who is Norm and what would he rip this off for?
@@culwin Norm MacDonald, for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketches. He actually called him and asked if it was okay.
It's been years since I originally saw this on TV and have viewed it countless times, but the humor still gets me!
Best comedy show hands down. They weren't live, so to compare them to SNL, is unfair. They could do retakes until they got it right. But for sheer hilarity, this show was unbeatable.
Alex to Blanche:, "Can we expect the pitter patter of little Ray-Kellogg feet in the future?" Blanche: "I don't understand Alex?" Alex: "Are you planning to have kids, children?" Blanche: No, I'm afraid not Alex, I'm going to concentrate on my career." Alex:..and what is that?" Blanche: "Housewife and hopefully mother." Omg, good! LOL!
Andrea Martin: hilarious comedienne...
Yeah it was in the video.
Sorry, we’re you being ironic?
Martin Short's character introduction omg. Made me squirm in my seat. Too too real 😂😂😂. Love when contestants swarm the prizes... brilliant.
Oh man, Martin Short's "Lawrence" character is HILARIOUS! I could watch that character for hours!
"Did you NOT just graduate from high school?" "I think I did!"
I loved this skit since I was a kid! "Frank Lloyd Wright was not one of the Wright Brothers, he was an architect." "JUST CALL IT WHILE IT'S IN THE AIR!!" Eugene Levy losing his temper made me laugh.
ALEX: ALRIGHT, RETURN TO YOUR SEATS!
ARTHUR: Does it matter which seats we go back to?
ALEX: I DON'T CARE!! JUST RETURN TO YOUR SEATS!!!
Rose Tico Enthusiast Martin Short as a wacky teen loves airplanes thinking about Frank Lloyd Wright.
Actually, I'm impressed he knew who the Wright Brothers were. Has he got a mind!
What ARE those things?
I forgot what those uh things are.
All these years later this still makes me laugh so hard !!
2020 and still loving SCTV! A young Johnny Rose!
I love You Tube just for allowing us to watch this again and again.
Funniest show ever
And in "Schitts Creek" he's still perplexed about having to deal with half-wits!
I'm Alex and the contestants are humanity I have to deal with every day.
The true genius is seen by the fact that this comedy still stands up
I loved loved loved SCTV as a kid. I still love the disco skits sooo much.
Love Canadian comedians. The best. Thank you!
This show was pure entertainment! The premise of a small TV station where few people played many roles was exactly like the one station my family got when I was growing up.
This is great 1980s comedy. I found a new subject on youtube to explore during my lunch breaks Thanks.
When "American Pie" came out, everyone was talking about how funny the guy playing Jim's dad was; while I knew Eugene Levy from watching this show on Nick at Nite a decade earlier. It was good to see him finally get some steady work in movies, and not just in the "American Pie" series (though he took advantage of that, appearing in every film in the franchise, even the straight-to-video spinoffs.) Except for John Candy, Rick Moranis, and Martin Short, the cast members of SCTV never seemed to become as well-known as their counterparts on SNL. Levy is an awesome comic talent.
But Martin Short was actually an SNL cast member too.
Catharine O'Hara
SNL: Yes, there have been better shows, like SCTV and MadTV, but if you wanted "better" they'd still be on the air now.
Thanks to Charles Allard and CITV for bringing the SCTV cast to Edmonton. We were lucking to see them filming in the studio and on the streets many times. I will never forget Johnny LaRue just wanting a “crane shot”
I think it used to come on after SNL.
“Lawrence we have to move on…”. Eugene Levy, comedy genius.
You just got married. How long? since the wedding. Who's the lucky guy my husband 🤣. Great skit.
Just discovered this hidden gem today.....From UK, so never seen it before....Love it!!!🤣😂🤣
SCTV was the best
I had forgotten just how many comedians got there start in this show. Loved it as a kid even though I didn't really understand a lot of the jokes back then.
SCTV was the best !!!!!!
Andrea Martin was freakin' great in this sketch!!
Some brilliant comedy acting between this whole cast.
I had to watch this shortly after the passing of Alex Trebeck--I'm sure knowing Alex he probably enjoyed it as well.
Quite possibly the greatest 10 mins of comedy ever created
What's Lawrence's last name?
Johnny Petraglia Orbach
Yep
So much talent. It was lightning in a bottle.
SCTV-- The Best ever
The best comedy ensemble ever.
SCTV's Christmas Special is a classic.
"Did you NOT just graduate from high school?" "I think I did!" "You don't plan on college?" I like that dialogue.
This is comedy gold. So different from American comedy. The Canadians are bat shit crazy and I love it.
We have a quirky sense of humour up here!
Loved this show .More talent then SNL at the time !
They're all flipping geniuses.
It’s no wonder I have such fondness for SCTV; they were kick ass!!
Man, still funny fourty years later.
i agree 1000%
Thank you SO much for posting this - to me - absolutely hilarious skit.
I even love the "Finale" too.
My favorite show of all time. When they did spoofs on the Andy Griffith Show all of the characters talked like Floyd the barber but then I think they started talking like Merv Griffin. Or something like that. SCTV was geared for folks who were raised on TV. Many laughs were on the subtleties of television viewing. BTW, do yourselves a favor and dig up UA-cam footage of football coach/TV commentator John Madden and tell me that he and John Candy were not the same person. LOL. Their voices are even almost identical. Crazy.
Wesley Wilkes - "The pain was so bad I could barely breathe".
lmfao i love this show so much
"Funnn-ctional."
"Cockfight."
Too funny.
Love that line. I crack up every time!
Dude, when he said functional, I lost it for a few seconds. Funniest line in the skit.
vagabond
Here in the USA SCTV was always shown in the hours AFTER SNL usually around 1:30-2:00am Eastern Time on Sunday morning! I remember watching these earlier episodes and they were always far more hilarious and gut busting than almost anything that SNL ever did even the best years. Best SCTV episodes are the earlier years before the show was actually picked up by NBC in the USA. These earlier episodes did air on NBC for the first time in the USA many years after they were actually produced and aired in Canada.
watershed44 ah thank you for the info!
I remember those days. we'd get high and laugh our asses off!
I remember as a kid when I watched those repeats of the show on The Comedy Network Canada right after school and yes, Half Wits is my all-time favourite SCTV "show". Childhood memory!
Being born in the mid-'70s I didn't see SCTV until Nick at Nite started showing it in the mid- to late-'80s. Ironically, it was shown right after a half-hour syndicated version of SNL (i.e. "The Best of Saturday Night.")
All of those characters could stand on their own...
Such a talented group..
I'm American and this is way better than SNL!
ALWAYS a huge fan
Arthur seems like one of the nicest guys on the face of the planet!
Eugene Levy, who ever he plays , a Shmengie Brother or a game show host he is the best!
His Perry Como was hilarious.
He and John Candy were here in K-W in the Oktoberfest parade in the early 80s.
John Candy was Yosh Schmenge. Gene Levy was Stan Schmenge. And yes as I type those names in my head I hear them saying them in the Leutonian accents. 😁
I agree.
I ♥️ the Schmenge Brothers!
Characters are played by:
Alex Trebel - Eugene Levy
Wesley Wilks - John Hemphill
Blanche Ray Kellogg - Andrea Martin
Arthur Andrew-Leggett - Joe Flaherty
Lawrence Orbach - Martin Short
Kelly SHOWELL,
Didn’t remember Hemphill from SCTV, but I saw him with Levy on _Schitt’s Creek_ the other day!
Oh yea, that's Bob from Schitt's Creek.
The glasses he's wearing in this skit makes it hard to recognize him, but the voice is still the same even after 36 years!
Flaherty was a riot.
Fifty-six half wits were not amused by this comedy sketch, lol.
SCTV was always my favorite show growing up. I liked so much better than Saturday Night Live
mine too!
I remember this being aired on Turkey Television, the predecessor to The Comedy Channel which became Comedy Central. It aired Laugh In and MST3K. It was the first time I saw it. This was shown on some American PBS stations as well late at night, along with other Canadian programs like Red Green. KidsIn The Hall was on late onHBO. Being in Montana I may have seen more Canadian tv than other people but I always find them just sillier and funnier, more absurdist like Monty Python.
I shit myself laughing when the board is flashing and they can't even pick a topic. I LOVED this show back in the day. As many have noted it blew SNL out of the water! It was so much funnier.
@Johnnywhamo Damn straight! Kids in the Hall too.
Woah I watched this and Kid in the Hall. I totally forgot about Kids till reading your response.
Vacant Lot? 👍😉
@@mondoseguendo6113 Tell ya what...tomorrow I will not only return your CD, I will buy you lunch.
ive worked with people like this in the public school systems, too real.. lol
SCTV was incredibly funny and its humor so original. From “The Great White North” to this show “Halfwits”.
Wesley Wilkes is the same actor that now plays Bob from Bob's Garage on Schitt's Creek.
His name is John Hemphill.
Really? That’s amazing!,,,
Never would have guessed, but now I see it in the facial gestures.
holy fuck!!! well spotted, it was driving me nuts and i was checking IMDB.
Back when you could be funny. This should be on instead of SNL.
It's kind of hard to keep making episodes when 90% of your talent keeps leaving.
This is sooooo much better than snl
NBC,bought the rights to sctv,then canceled it,to save snl
Thank God this wasn't filmed in 3D, the thing on that man's face is massive! Jaws 3D has nothing on Arthur's nose!
This is hysterical!! Congratulations!!