Incredible documentary! The editing is superb and keeps you entertained! The pacing is wonderful as each clip mixes perfectly. You certainly did your homework and provided an unbiased view point without any narration. Truly a well done piece that deserves international recognition. Classic Entertainment is seemingly drifting away as it becomes obsolete compared to our modern conceptualism of entertainment. Voices and appearances, at one point, wasnt about chalking up the most mediocre publicity, they meant that “you acted at the top of your intelligence, to the top of your ability” (as quoted from this documentary). SCTV portrayed a standard in sketch comedy that is still a solid format in contrast with new shows today. The Second City cast, as countless films prove, arent just comedians. With the help of audience acceptance, correct literary guidance and trust in each other they have grown into marvelous, classy, entertainers who represent a style of formality. SCTV, like most sketch comedy shows, became a culture and an idea. One that prospered into movies, new shows and a lavish careers for all involved. Unlike SNL, they accomplished these achievements through preparation and coordination with each other while respecting one another. Their hard work and devotion to comedy reflected the old attitude of great Television stars like Lucielle Ball. SCTV and all its culture is recharged and unleaded into many forms of comedy today. Their idea was to keep the joke going, without stepping on those improv tropes. With absolutely sensational music, timed pieces, and interviews this documentary is culturally sensitive creating its very own importance in the documentary world. Maybe not another “Joe Exotic”, but certainly this documentary is an Entertaining Piece of Pieces of Entertainment a culture created by SCTV. Honestly, Thank You!
@@GooseOD May I recommend Don Giller's 12 part SCTV cast visits to Letterman. Don is a Letterman archivist. Don Giller, here on RUclips, now also working for the Letterman channel.
Very well stated, and I agree with everything you said. Those Friday night NBC 90 minute shows in 1980-83 (?) were sensational, I had to stay awake as a high school student to catch as much as I could.
👴🏻🥃WHY THANK U 4 ENJOYING THE DOCUMENTARY WE STARTED IN 1959 YA KNOW WE ENDED THE MOTHER IN LAW JOKES . TOO BAD SNL NEVER CLICK WID THE PEOPLE THEY ONLY DID DRUG JOKES THAT DONT TAKE TALENT SCTV KEPT IT REAL SATIRE, AND YOURE WELCOME.
RIP Joe Flaherty (June 21, 1941 - April 1, 2024), aged 82 RIP Harold Ramis (November 21, 1944 - February 24, 2014), aged 69 RIP John Candy (October 31, 1950 - March 4, 1994), aged 43 RIP Tony Rosato (December 26, 1954 - January 10, 2017), aged 62 You will be remembered as legends.
This is mind blowing. Growing up in the late 70s and early 80s everyone watched SNL but when you found the ones who watched AND preferred SCTV (and if they listened to punk it was bonus) you knew you’d found your tribe.
@@cbresett on the SCTV Remembers Andrea makes a quick remark about John Candy which lead me to believe he was responsible for the Plasmatics being on the show. He has Wendy O Williams and Belushi had Lee Ving and FEAR!
During one of the FREAKS AND GEEKS episode commentaries, Judd Apatow told Joe Flaherty (who played the father of the two main characters) that if Canada ever did their country's version of Mount Rushmore, it should be the faces of the SCTV cast.
I saw Bob and Doug McKenzie movie at the theater. The funniest part of the movie you wouldn't understand watching at home. The intermission was less than a minute so half of the people were standing up trying to get to the concession stand and the movie came right back on. Seven people made it out the door and all the people in the Isle were made to be fools. At the end of the movie a bunch of people left, then the movie came back on. Classic SCTV humor live at a theater near you.
To this day, it’s not Christmas until we watch the SCTV classics with Dusty Towne and Divine, Liberace and Orson Welles and of course, The Fella Who Couldn’t Wait for Christmas!
oh wow. i would come home for lunch during school & watch the Flintstones from 12-12:30 & SCTV from 12:30-1 from kindergarten all through grade 12, & the day after i graduated, the station changed to news from 12-1pm... my dad & i watched every Flintstones & SCTV episode at least 100x each LOL
Yes, for some reason in the DC area it was never broadcast at all, maybe they considered it too lowbrow for the region. I could only watch it by tuning in a Baltimore station late at night, so with some fancy antenna work and a lot of static, we could enjoy it :)
I was at a CityTV party for the MuchMusic (Canada's MTV) launch and most of the cast of SCTV was there. I got meet most of them except John Candy unfortunately. Everyone drank the open bar and Eugene was chatting with a group and I asked him how Bobby Bittman was and broke into a hilarious improv as Bobby. Martin Short and a group of people were watching- unforgettable. What a party that was at City TV, 299 Queen St.West in Toronto.
Opinions about any form of art are entirely subjective, so saying that one comedy show was definitively better than the rest is ridiculous. This comment thread is a perfect example of the bias inherent in the practice….everybody votes for *their favorite show* as the “best, hands down.” Not only that, but the formats of the various shows were all different, so making comparisons is futile, unless you’re comparing the formats.
NIGEL in Canada🇨🇦 I remember my dad going to his heart ❤️ specialist in Toronto sitting in the waiting room with him was John Candy he didn't know who he was until we watched an SCTV together 'hey, there's that guy from the waiting room'
200 plus channels on my cable TV package and SCTV is nowhere to be found. Shame on the Industry. One of the greatest sketch comedy shows ever produced!
I was super sick one night and couldn’t sleep. I needed a distraction. I had heard of SCTV but it was on so late at night that I could never stay awake for it. That night I couldn’t sleep so I actually stayed up to watch it to keep my mind off how miserable I was feeling. It was hysterical. Much funnier than SNL which I liked too. So I started making a point to watch it after that if I could. I know a lot of people never got to see it cuz it was tossed into time slots that made it inaccessible to many people. But the genius of it was that it wasn’t topical like SNL so the comedy really holds up well years later. I bought the dvd boxed sets of these. They are a lot of fun to pull out and watch.
The magic of SCTV was the way it blended in with normal local TV programming while mocking it. It was something special that just can't be captured on DVD. Context was the joke.
We were 1970s Ontario kids with 2 channels, Global and CBC both with SCTV and UK comedies on them like Some Mothers Do Have 'em, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, On The Buses, and The Benny Hill Show...
In my view that's all you need. Other than Frasier and Seinfeld, all the TV I watch consists of RUclips copies and downloads of Brit coms and so on. Rumpole of the Bailey, Sherlock Holmes, the Saint, the Avengers, Minder, and many, many more. Even the more "serious" shows like Minder and the Saint had humour tossed in.
SCTV opening. John Candy and Joe Flaherty threw the first 2 TV's. Then multiple TV's were then thrown from various heights of 100 Roehampton Apartments in mid-town Toronto. The building is still there.
should have included footage from the Christmas Special where Moranis played Elton John and Thomas played Liberace............that one kills me every time. wb
So many fond memories of watching SCTV in its original run. Their GODFATHER spoof was inspired, and it was amazing that the actor who portrayed the Hollywood producer in the original movie reprised his role for SCTV, with the severed horse's head talking with a Mr. Ed voice! Not too long ago I re-watched their sequel to Kubrick's "2001" with Ernest Borgnine and Simon & Garfunkel being chased around by the Monolith -- jeezus, that shit had me dying! Great stuff all around. And the "STRANGE BREW" movie was hilarious, with Max Von Sydow as the main villain -- the plot being Shakespeare's HAMLET, fer Chrissakes!
I was never a big fan of SNL, which I watched now and then from the first cast onward. But when SCTV aired in the US and I accidentally found it one Friday night, I was absolutely hooked! We did the characters around the house (and then at the university I attended) the same way my siblings and I did Flying Circus sketches and characters, laughing like lunatics! I was a music major, and friends from the department would have Friday night SCTV parties which were hugely attended. My husband loved it at the same time I did, and we’ve hooked our sons from watching the DVDs, so it keeps on going!
The original cast of SNL was good, from there it was downhill. Many people liked the 2nd generation cast, Eddie Murphy etal, though I personally had stopped watching it. From time to time over 40 some years I would try to watch it and was usually disappointed. They are just not good comedians, a good comedian doesn't laugh at their own jokes, they just don't know how to deliver a line or play a role.
SCTV was fantastic.......Catherine O'Hara was so incredibly beautiful on top of being an amazing comedy actor. Joe Flaherty - Happy Gilmore...enough said.
I loved this show Friday nights when they made this show from Edmonton at the ITV studios. From 1982-1985 it was the best ! Bob and Doug McKenzie ( Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas) John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Catherine Ohara etc boggling to see how each and everyone of them went on to superstardom in big Movies. Brings back so many memories.
I discovered SCTV through DVD Boxset collections at my local library in my late teens/early 20's and just lapped it up. It was so damn funny. Kids In The Hall and In Living Color were pretty great too, but SCTV is absolutely untouchable in my opinion
A group of my friends and I watched one of the early 80s 90 min shows while on mushrooms. I remember it feeling like the show was on for like 4 hours. We were laughing so hard we were close to injuring ourselves. The absurdity of the parodied ideas blended perfectly with the psilocybin high. Anyway, we were hard core SCTV fans.
Sounds like a riot. I've always had good trips. So funny with the right people. My sides usually end up taking most of the punishment from all the laughing. Lol
Thank you so much for posting this absolute treasure chest of footage. As a Canadian kid growing up in the 80s I watched a lot of SCTV, even though the references went over my head, I still found the acting and characters to be hilariously wacky. Once I got older and could understand the parodies it became even funnier for me. Absolute comedic legends, all of them.👏 RIP John Candy.🔥
Thanks for posting this. Although I am no fan of Canadian TV or movies for the most part, SCTV is a BIG exception. Fairly apolitical but just plain funny humor, with one of the most talented casts in comedy history.
@@rixvspinner or how about half a wall of Z-Brick or if you come back for the Tournament of Champions, you could compete for the grand prize, a two-year lease on a Chevette!
2:00 - Compass Players started in St. Louis in the Gaslight Square entertainment district. Elaine and Mike then moved the troupe to Chicago and the rest tracks like John says. But the Gaslight Square improv/burlesque/comedy/music scene was a hot spot in St. Louis' history, and was an integral part in the formation of Second City. Had Gaslight Square not existed in the way it did back in the 1950s, we might not have enjoyed all of the iconic comedy that we've seen in the last 50 years
Actually, Compass began in Chicago in 1955, founded by David Shepherd and Paul Sills. Mike Nichols and Elaine May were in the company, as was Barbara Harris, Severn Darden, Andrew Duncan, Shelley Berman, Mark Gordon, Roger Bowen and Bobbi Gordon. There was a St.Louis company that Mike and Elaine were part of in 1956, directed by Ted Flicker, and another in 1959 with Jerry Stiller, Alan Arkin, Anne Meara and Nancy Ponder, directed by David Shepherd.
i was a part of that vocal minority. Was fortunate enough to be living in a market in which SCTV aired; might have to stay up or get back from the club by 1 or 2 in the morning in those first few years of the show, but I often heard about different parts of the states that didn't get it at all. Imagine, life without SCTV, awful thought. Great upload.
SCTV was great! I watched the original shows. Had I watched all of them and the reruns, I would have been less depressed. I still laugh when I see these episodes.
Thank you. You have done an amazing job editing all this material into a coherent whole. What's more, you told their story without the use of narration, captions, etc. and I think that takes a lot of skill.
Great job on this compilation Brad of the funniest show to come out of Canada, maybe anywhere. Most of the cast became stars and almost all of them were comedy writers and improv greats. I consider SCTV to be the most intelligently written funny show and they never held back.
Wow! Great job! SCTV was a perfect storm of comedy, and along with SNL, Living Colr and Kids in the Hall, redefined what comedy could be for a whole generation.
This is absolutely fantastic! So kick ass! SCTV I feel is the greatest comedy troupe of all time! Thank you so much for putting this together! There's are no words to possibly convey how much joy and laughter these people have blessed my life with! If I had the finances and the proper amount of mental illness, I would start the church of Jesus H. Christ and SCTV!
Haha... When Joe Flaherty was talking about Toronto, I noticed they had a shot of Starvin' Marvin's Bulesque Palace on Yonge St. I worked there for a time, in the early 70s, playing drums in the 2 man band that backed up the strippers and the MC. Just me and a guy who played a Hammond B3 organ. The MC was a guy named Rummy Bishop. He was Joey Bishop's brother. Joey being part of Sinatra's Rat Pack.
If you match this up to SNL at the same time and this blew that away. This aired in San Jose right after SNL on Saturday night and I would usually miss SNL because I was a teen out partying until one am and then I'd come home stoned and this would be on, it was awesome!
i was so excited to randomly find SCTC footage i'm not "very old" for sctv but i remember it being on some random station. 20 years later i'm just happy to see any sctv, none of my friends believes it even exists
Wow! Joe Flaherty and I went to the same college. Point Park College in Downtown Pittsburgh. I think Dennis Miller went there, too! Great city, fun times. After 5pm, downtown became a ghost town and we had the run of the place!!!
I was a Bike Messenger in Toronto way back and i was biking up Church St. when i saw Joe Flaherty saying goodbye to what looked like his 10yr old nephew. Joe waited for a break in Traffic, patted the little guy on the bum and said, "Go kid go!" He ran across the street just fine and Joe waved back to him from the other side. lol.
Best Era ever for comedy. These people were The Creme de la Creme in the comedy world. an incredible legacy of work between the lot in North America...Along with Monty Pythons Flying Circus
Thanks for this vid! What a great doc on a great show. SCTV was a window to the comedy world in my suburban world growing up. Brilliant writing, acting and production given the little resources they had to put the show on the air. Love how the doc really spelled out the effort involved with getting SCTV on the air and the magic the cast made.
I loved SCTV. The endless array of characters was amazing: Looking back I believe finding and following SCTV was akin to discovering and following MST3K. Both shows were comic gems produced on miniscule budgets with uncertain distribution.
I went to college/university in Toronto in the 70's. Lived downtown just of Yonge st. Ryerson were i went had very good theater Arts program. Loved TO. Glad I found this. Thanks all for upload.
What an amazing cast of characters, I can remember when SNL first aired, I was in HS and every Monday we’d be trying to imitate the cast members. I later learned that many got their start in Second City TV. Thank goodness for Comedy 🎭, it’s a key part of staying young at heart 💚. I often think back to those Wild & Crazy days, like these comedic geniuses say, those days were the best days of my generation.
OUTSTANDING! Thank you so much for this - a completely unanticipated late night spent reliving my childhood. And learning so much backstory I never knew. Bravo!
Did anyone else get Flaherty's unintentional inside joke at the Grammys, when he said "I can't believe we got something up here bigger than the cast of Hill Street Blues..." then he looks at Milton Berle, and adds "..for our show.."? There's a Hollywood legend that Milton Berle was extraordinarily...uh..."endowed"...he was always good natured about the jokes and veiled references on tv and the media. But, i guess there are worse rumors one could have circulating about them!
Comedy is the hardest thing to do and doing it improvisational, is like working a tightrope. There are a lot of funny people I’ve met over the years, but they don’t know they’re funny. Then there are naturally funny people that can’t perform in front of an audience. They’re shy. So, when you get a group of talented individuals coming together and trying to pull this off, and walk that tightrope, you gotta have respect for their tenacity. SCTV was such a winner. Such creative talent all in one cast! I love what Gilda Radner said about, “Always keep working even if you succeed. Sometimes you gotta let them find you.” Brilliant!
Paul is a great musician. When you hear him play the keys while Gilda is singing a tune from Godspell on the Letterman show, what a musician and he was also the music director of any production he worked on including The Late Show of course.
Thanks to whoever made this doc. I'm such a huge fan from seeing there show from Canada on a trip to Maine where we could pick up the broadcast. I was a little kid and the first thing I saw by total accident was Dave Thomas doing an ad parody for a microwave. He reaches into it and his hand is a skeleton hand. LOL. I was like, wtf is this? It's perfect!
Incredible documentary! The editing is superb and keeps you entertained! The pacing is wonderful as each clip mixes perfectly. You certainly did your homework and provided an unbiased view point without any narration. Truly a well done piece that deserves international recognition. Classic Entertainment is seemingly drifting away as it becomes obsolete compared to our modern conceptualism of entertainment. Voices and appearances, at one point, wasnt about chalking up the most mediocre publicity, they meant that “you acted at the top of your intelligence, to the top of your ability” (as quoted from this documentary). SCTV portrayed a standard in sketch comedy that is still a solid format in contrast with new shows today. The Second City cast, as countless films prove, arent just comedians. With the help of audience acceptance, correct literary guidance and trust in each other they have grown into marvelous, classy, entertainers who represent a style of formality. SCTV, like most sketch comedy shows, became a culture and an idea. One that prospered into movies, new shows and a lavish careers for all involved. Unlike SNL, they accomplished these achievements through preparation and coordination with each other while respecting one another. Their hard work and devotion to comedy reflected the old attitude of great Television stars like Lucielle Ball. SCTV and all its culture is recharged and unleaded into many forms of comedy today. Their idea was to keep the joke going, without stepping on those improv tropes. With absolutely sensational music, timed pieces, and interviews this documentary is culturally sensitive creating its very own importance in the documentary world. Maybe not another “Joe Exotic”, but certainly this documentary is an Entertaining Piece of Pieces of Entertainment a culture created by SCTV.
Honestly, Thank You!
Thanks, glad u like it. SCTV rules!
@@GooseOD May I recommend Don Giller's 12 part SCTV cast visits to Letterman. Don is a Letterman archivist. Don Giller, here on RUclips, now also working for the Letterman channel.
Very well stated, and I agree with everything you said. Those Friday night NBC 90 minute shows in 1980-83 (?) were sensational, I had to stay awake as a high school student to catch as much as I could.
Oiiiiiiiiiiiiiupap
Sssssssssstkt🎉😢apa
👴🏻🥃WHY THANK U 4 ENJOYING THE DOCUMENTARY WE STARTED IN 1959 YA KNOW WE ENDED THE MOTHER IN LAW JOKES . TOO BAD SNL NEVER CLICK WID THE PEOPLE THEY ONLY DID DRUG JOKES THAT DONT TAKE TALENT SCTV KEPT IT REAL SATIRE, AND YOURE WELCOME.
RIP Joe Flaherty (June 21, 1941 - April 1, 2024), aged 82
RIP Harold Ramis (November 21, 1944 - February 24, 2014), aged 69
RIP John Candy (October 31, 1950 - March 4, 1994), aged 43
RIP Tony Rosato (December 26, 1954 - January 10, 2017), aged 62
You will be remembered as legends.
John Candy
Gilda Radner too
This is mind blowing. Growing up in the late 70s and early 80s everyone watched SNL but when you found the ones who watched AND preferred SCTV (and if they listened to punk it was bonus) you knew you’d found your tribe.
Hell yes, brother! Remember when the Plasmatics went fishing with Gill Fisher? Brilliant. SCTV is the best show in the history of television.
@@cbresett on the SCTV Remembers Andrea makes a quick remark about John Candy which lead me to believe he was responsible for the Plasmatics being on the show. He has Wendy O Williams and Belushi had Lee Ving and FEAR!
Amen!
Where were you back in the day? I felt soooo alone. lol
Exactly!
During one of the FREAKS AND GEEKS episode commentaries, Judd Apatow told Joe Flaherty (who played the father of the two main characters) that if Canada ever did their country's version of Mount Rushmore, it should be the faces of the SCTV cast.
The SCTV theme music takes me back to a better, happier time.
This has the renegade spirit that SNL lost very early on. I loves it
I saw Bob and Doug McKenzie movie at the theater. The funniest part of the movie you wouldn't understand watching at home. The intermission was less than a minute so half of the people were standing up trying to get to the concession stand and the movie came right back on. Seven people made it out the door and all the people in the Isle were made to be fools. At the end of the movie a bunch of people left, then the movie came back on. Classic SCTV humor live at a theater near you.
Take off, EH !?!?!?
@@egreenbery Hoser.
Steamroller!!
Ah Johnny LaRue finally getting his crane shot brought tears to my eyes.
SCTV was and remains pure gold. I don't know if our culture will ever produce anything this unique again.
MAD-TV tried...
@@anthonyarguien7785 As did Mr Show.
Rest assured, it won't
Chappelle Show was close.
They could be subtle and true because they did not have deal with a live audience
To this day, it’s not Christmas until we watch the SCTV classics with Dusty Towne and Divine, Liberace and Orson Welles and of course, The Fella Who Couldn’t Wait for Christmas!
Never forget, Levy, Martin, and O'Hara doing the Perry Como show. Howling!
"GET TO BED!!!!"
It was always a challenge to not only find SCTV on my local TV stations, but to stay awake to see it. 😂😂
So true, lol!
Half the time you're watching more static than the show where I lived
oh wow.
i would come home for lunch during school & watch the Flintstones from 12-12:30 & SCTV from 12:30-1 from kindergarten all through grade 12, & the day after i graduated, the station changed to news from 12-1pm... my dad & i watched every Flintstones & SCTV episode at least 100x each LOL
Yes, for some reason in the DC area it was never broadcast at all, maybe they considered it too lowbrow for the region. I could only watch it by tuning in a Baltimore station late at night, so with some fancy antenna work and a lot of static, we could enjoy it :)
Whoever did this, every SCTV actor, writer, producer and director still alive should step up and validate it
!
The pairing of Bittman and Jerry,and then Joey and Lola,and then Sammy and Sammy--in all seriousness-was brilliant!
I was at a CityTV party for the MuchMusic (Canada's MTV) launch and most of the cast of SCTV was there. I got meet most of them except John Candy unfortunately. Everyone drank the open bar and Eugene was chatting with a group and I asked him how Bobby Bittman was and broke into a hilarious improv as Bobby. Martin Short and a group of people were watching- unforgettable. What a party that was at City TV, 299 Queen St.West in Toronto.
The best sketch comedy show in history, second place is not worth mentioning because nothing came close. So brilliant.
I think Monty Python is worth mentioning as the runner up!!!
@@kevindean1327 I stand corrected, couldn't agree more.
Kids in the hall hands down.
Kids in the Hall
While SCTV’s highs are perhaps the highest, a lot of people forget the show was very hit or miss
Opinions about any form of art are entirely subjective, so saying that one comedy show was definitively better than the rest is ridiculous. This comment thread is a perfect example of the bias inherent in the practice….everybody votes for *their favorite show* as the “best, hands down.” Not only that, but the formats of the various shows were all different, so making comparisons is futile, unless you’re comparing the formats.
NIGEL in Canada🇨🇦
I remember my dad going to his heart ❤️ specialist in Toronto
sitting in the waiting room with him was John Candy
he didn't know who he was until we watched an SCTV together
'hey, there's that guy from the waiting room'
200 plus channels on my cable TV package and SCTV is nowhere to be found. Shame on the Industry. One of the greatest sketch comedy shows ever produced!
Why watch TV when you have internet ?!
Agree 100% !!!
I'm old as dirt. This will go down as probably my all time comedy sketch series. They were all geniuses.
I was super sick one night and couldn’t sleep. I needed a distraction. I had heard of SCTV but it was on so late at night that I could never stay awake for it. That night I couldn’t sleep so I actually stayed up to watch it to keep my mind off how miserable I was feeling. It was hysterical. Much funnier than SNL which I liked too. So I started making a point to watch it after that if I could. I know a lot of people never got to see it cuz it was tossed into time slots that made it inaccessible to many people. But the genius of it was that it wasn’t topical like SNL so the comedy really holds up well years later. I bought the dvd boxed sets of these. They are a lot of fun to pull out and watch.
I wish there was a live channel streaming SCTV 24/7. ALWAYS brilliant.
Has there ever been a more universally endearing person/performer than Gilda Radner? Ever?
The magic of SCTV was the way it blended in with normal local TV programming while mocking it. It was something special that just can't be captured on DVD. Context was the joke.
Great description of what SCTV was all about.
Television as you've never seen it before
@Dr.Quarex uh, what? :)
We were 1970s Ontario kids with 2 channels, Global and CBC both with SCTV and UK comedies on them like Some Mothers Do Have 'em, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, On The Buses, and The Benny Hill Show...
In my view that's all you need. Other than Frasier and Seinfeld, all the TV I watch consists of RUclips copies and downloads of Brit coms and so on. Rumpole of the Bailey, Sherlock Holmes, the Saint, the Avengers, Minder, and many, many more. Even the more "serious" shows like Minder and the Saint had humour tossed in.
SCTV opening. John Candy and Joe Flaherty threw the first 2 TV's. Then multiple TV's were then thrown from various heights of 100 Roehampton Apartments in mid-town Toronto. The building is still there.
Awesome.
Ive wondered how they got so many tvs thrown out of so many different stories at the same time.
That's so fun to know! Thanks, from a true SCTV fan!
Interesting that no one ever tried to repeat that scene. Would look cool with 72 inch flat screens :)
should have included footage from the Christmas Special where Moranis played Elton John and Thomas played Liberace............that one kills me every time. wb
Fantastic memories. What a wonderful time to be alive that was. Man I miss those days.
The sheer length of Andrea Martin's career is mind-blowing,
👴🏻🥃SHE WAS GREATER THAN RATNER
Incredible versatility! Just incredible!
"I've been exceptionally lucky" What a humble expression from a supremely talented performer!
So many fond memories of watching SCTV in its original run. Their GODFATHER spoof was inspired, and it was amazing that the actor who portrayed the Hollywood producer in the original movie reprised his role for SCTV, with the severed horse's head talking with a Mr. Ed voice! Not too long ago I re-watched their sequel to Kubrick's "2001" with Ernest Borgnine and Simon & Garfunkel being chased around by the Monolith -- jeezus, that shit had me dying! Great stuff all around. And the "STRANGE BREW" movie was hilarious, with Max Von Sydow as the main villain -- the plot being Shakespeare's HAMLET, fer Chrissakes!
I was never a big fan of SNL, which I watched now and then from the first cast onward. But when SCTV aired in the US and I accidentally found it one Friday night, I was absolutely hooked! We did the characters around the house (and then at the university I attended) the same way my siblings and I did Flying Circus sketches and characters, laughing like lunatics! I was a music major, and friends from the department would have Friday night SCTV parties which were hugely attended. My husband loved it at the same time I did, and we’ve hooked our sons from watching the DVDs, so it keeps on going!
The original cast of SNL was good, from there it was downhill. Many people liked the 2nd generation cast, Eddie Murphy etal, though I personally had stopped watching it. From time to time over 40 some years I would try to watch it and was usually disappointed. They are just not good comedians, a good comedian doesn't laugh at their own jokes, they just don't know how to deliver a line or play a role.
SCTV was fantastic.......Catherine O'Hara was so incredibly beautiful on top of being an amazing comedy actor. Joe Flaherty - Happy Gilmore...enough said.
Joe got a few thousand bucks for that. Sandler got 20 mill. Always hated seeing lesser talent guys raking it in while Joe had to forage for scraps.
@kevhead1525 Joe Flaherty is truly a remarkable talent that somehow went under the radar. His acting is top notch.
The only woman I had a bigger crush on than Catherine O'Hara was Mrs. Peel (Diana Rigg) in the Avengers.
I loved this show Friday nights when they made this show from Edmonton at the ITV studios. From 1982-1985 it was the best ! Bob and Doug McKenzie ( Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas) John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Catherine Ohara etc boggling to see how each and everyone of them went on to superstardom in big Movies. Brings back so many memories.
I discovered SCTV through DVD Boxset collections at my local library in my late teens/early 20's and just lapped it up. It was so damn funny. Kids In The Hall and In Living Color were pretty great too, but SCTV is absolutely untouchable in my opinion
wow, DVD's in the library, didn't know that was ever a thing
Candy as Orson. Gold. Bittman, Dusty Street too. Mrs. Falbo, Edna Boyle! Yes. Lola Heatherton! Pepi Longsocks. The Ben Hur sketch is their best.
Excellent excellent! SCTV still holds up against the current tripe.
A group of my friends and I watched one of the early 80s 90 min shows while on mushrooms. I remember it feeling like the show was on for like 4 hours. We were laughing so hard we were close to injuring ourselves. The absurdity of the parodied ideas blended perfectly with the psilocybin high. Anyway, we were hard core SCTV fans.
lol!
Sounds like a riot. I've always had good trips. So funny with the right people. My sides usually end up taking most of the punishment from all the laughing. Lol
👴🏻🥃ADDICT
The most brilliant, flexible format in the history of comedy - which would have meant nothing if the cast wasn't also great. But it was!
Thank you so much for posting this absolute treasure chest of footage. As a Canadian kid growing up in the 80s I watched a lot of SCTV, even though the references went over my head, I still found the acting and characters to be hilariously wacky. Once I got older and could understand the parodies it became even funnier for me.
Absolute comedic legends, all of them.👏
RIP John Candy.🔥
Thanks for posting this. Although I am no fan of Canadian TV or movies for the most part, SCTV is a BIG exception. Fairly apolitical but just plain funny humor, with one of the most talented casts in comedy history.
As an American I beg to differ Canadian TV shows are refreshing break from the American crap shoved down your throats
SCTV absolutely nailed every irritating nuance of every ultra low budget Canadian game show.
"You can choose between this Sealy Posturepedic Mattress or this lovely set of luggage".
@@rixvspinner or how about half a wall of Z-Brick or if you come back for the Tournament of Champions, you could compete for the grand prize, a two-year lease on a Chevette!
@@rixvspinner Stephan Sealy's dad owns that company!
Their impressions were brutally scathing and hilarious
2:00 - Compass Players started in St. Louis in the Gaslight Square entertainment district. Elaine and Mike then moved the troupe to Chicago and the rest tracks like John says. But the Gaslight Square improv/burlesque/comedy/music scene was a hot spot in St. Louis' history, and was an integral part in the formation of Second City. Had Gaslight Square not existed in the way it did back in the 1950s, we might not have enjoyed all of the iconic comedy that we've seen in the last 50 years
Actually, Compass began in Chicago in 1955, founded by David Shepherd and Paul Sills. Mike Nichols and Elaine May were in the company, as was Barbara Harris, Severn Darden, Andrew Duncan, Shelley Berman, Mark Gordon, Roger Bowen and Bobbi Gordon. There was a St.Louis company that Mike and Elaine were part of in 1956, directed by Ted Flicker, and another in 1959 with Jerry Stiller, Alan Arkin, Anne Meara and Nancy Ponder, directed by David Shepherd.
i was a part of that vocal minority. Was fortunate enough to be living in a market in which SCTV aired; might have to stay up or get back from the club by 1 or 2 in the morning in those first few years of the show, but I often heard about different parts of the states that didn't get it at all. Imagine, life without SCTV, awful thought. Great upload.
Time Capsule. What a treat.
SCTV was great! I watched the original shows. Had I watched all of them and the reruns, I would have been less depressed. I still laugh when I see these episodes.
Incredible television I grew up with. Nothing like it, today. And that is a sad commentary.
Thank you. You have done an amazing job editing all this material into a coherent whole. What's more, you told their story without the use of narration, captions, etc. and I think that takes a lot of skill.
Thank you!
I like narration though:( It's great but I kinda wanted some narration!!
Great documentary on an extraordinarily talented comedy troupe! SCTV/Second City are all time favorites of mine...
5:57. Early photo of Second City Troupe. Brian Doyle Murray on the left. Harold Ramis front and center. Eugene Levy second from the right.
In lieu of the probably never to be seen Scorsese documentary, this is a great substitute.
Great job on this compilation Brad of the funniest show to come out of Canada, maybe anywhere. Most of the cast became stars and almost all of them were comedy writers and improv greats. I consider SCTV to be the most intelligently written funny show and they never held back.
Wow! Great job! SCTV was a perfect storm of comedy, and along with SNL, Living Colr and Kids in the Hall, redefined what comedy could be for a whole generation.
I have been trying to find footage of that original opening for years. Thank you so much for uncovering this
This is absolutely fantastic! So kick ass! SCTV I feel is the greatest comedy troupe of all time! Thank you so much for putting this together! There's are no words to possibly convey how much joy and laughter these people have blessed my life with! If I had the finances and the proper amount of mental illness, I would start the church of Jesus H. Christ and SCTV!
Haha... When Joe Flaherty was talking about Toronto, I noticed they had a shot of Starvin' Marvin's Bulesque Palace on Yonge St. I worked there for a time, in the early 70s, playing drums in the 2 man band that backed up the strippers and the MC. Just me and a guy who played a Hammond B3 organ. The MC was a guy named Rummy Bishop. He was Joey Bishop's brother. Joey being part of Sinatra's Rat Pack.
👨🏻🦰I WORKED DERE REMEMBER ME I GAVE RUMMY HIS DRINKS THEN RUMMY WOULD GET DRUNK AND EAT BURGERS ALL NIGHT
So glad I found this doc! Got to see some sketches I didn't even know about! SCTV will always remain a huge influence on me
SCTV is the excellent Sketch Comedy Series from Canada. A Canadian Successor to Monty Python. It would inspire Kids in the Hall and others.
👴🏻🥃 ED WYNN WAS DA GREATEST
I have some VHS tapes of SCTV. Happy memories.
You should upload what you have. If you happen to have any taped off CBC in Canada back in it's original run. That's even more awesome.
If you match this up to SNL at the same time and this blew that away. This aired in San Jose right after SNL on Saturday night and I would usually miss SNL because I was a teen out partying until one am and then I'd come home stoned and this would be on, it was awesome!
Great memories of waking up to that end theme and titles. Early 80s they'd play episodes real late after SNL.
i was so excited to randomly find SCTC footage i'm not "very old" for sctv but i remember it being on some random station. 20 years later i'm just happy to see any sctv, none of my friends believes it even exists
obviously a work of love of comedy. excellent.
Wow! Joe Flaherty and I went to the same college. Point Park College in Downtown Pittsburgh. I think Dennis Miller went there, too! Great city, fun times. After 5pm, downtown became a ghost town and we had the run of the place!!!
I was a Bike Messenger in Toronto way back and i was biking up Church St. when i saw Joe Flaherty saying goodbye to what looked like his 10yr old nephew. Joe waited for a break in Traffic, patted the little guy on the bum and said, "Go kid go!" He ran across the street just fine and Joe waved back to him from the other side. lol.
Best Era ever for comedy. These people were The Creme de la Creme in the comedy world. an incredible legacy of work between the lot in North America...Along with Monty Pythons Flying Circus
Thanks for this vid! What a great doc on a great show. SCTV was a window to the comedy world in my suburban world growing up. Brilliant writing, acting and production given the little resources they had to put the show on the air. Love how the doc really spelled out the effort involved with getting SCTV on the air and the magic the cast made.
Thanks for this Brad Steuernagel--it is clear to see how much work you put into this. What a great cadre of writers/performers!
All of the talent of second city is what became the cream of comedic legends and icons and working horses of the 70s 80s
And the twenty-first century with Schitt's Creek.
Thanks so much for posting. Really enjoyed it but sad to see all the members that we lost. RIP all of those great entertainers.
Thanks for making this documentary! Lots of great rare interviews..
Catherine O'Hara's talk show rant at 45:00 is truly inspired and a prime example of cringe comedy at its best, because its so true to life...
Oh, my, God! I believe I can say on behalf of those who watched SCTV rather than SNL, kudos, thank you, bless you.
Thanks, you're welcome!
Awesome doc! Very well done, and it brought back many fond memories of one of my all time favorite shows.
I loved SCTV. The endless array of characters was amazing: Looking back I believe finding and following SCTV was akin to discovering and following MST3K. Both shows were comic gems produced on miniscule budgets with uncertain distribution.
One of my favorite shows growing up! Well done doc.
Thank you so much for putting this together. Brilliant. My all time favorite show. This was a great look at the evolution that I hadn’t known before.
I would buy the hell out of some Christmas napkins if John candy was the salesman lol
This is the best documentary about sctv that I've ever seen thank you so much! ❤️
This is the greatest story ever told. Thanks for posting.
I went to college/university in Toronto in the 70's. Lived downtown just of Yonge st. Ryerson were i went had very good theater Arts program. Loved TO. Glad I found this. Thanks all for upload.
The first shows before it was SCTV - the show was as long as the hockey game permitted before 11pm came!
Wonderful documentary. Just makes me so sad we lost so much wonderful talent - John Candy, Gilda Radner, John Belushi..... Such a great loss!!!!
Add Dell Close, Harold Ramis, Gerry Salsberg was in the cast of Godspell)
"I like the suburbs of Rome, I guess" Made me cry, John. 🇨🇦
What an amazing cast of characters, I can remember when SNL first aired, I was in HS and every Monday we’d be trying to imitate the cast members. I later learned that many got their start in Second City TV.
Thank goodness for Comedy 🎭, it’s a key part of staying young at heart 💚.
I often think back to those Wild & Crazy days, like these comedic geniuses say, those days were the best days of my generation.
Dad was at ITV in the audio dept for 2 years of SCTV, had a great time.
This brings back memories...I flew Air Canada when it was still known as S&M Airlines!!
Absolutely brilliant. Awesome documentary
I remember SCTV with great fondness. Sure brings me back.
OUTSTANDING! Thank you so much for this - a completely unanticipated late night spent reliving my childhood. And learning so much backstory I never knew. Bravo!
Did anyone else get Flaherty's unintentional inside joke at the Grammys, when he said "I can't believe we got something up here bigger than the cast of Hill Street Blues..." then he looks at Milton Berle, and adds "..for our show.."? There's a Hollywood legend that Milton Berle was extraordinarily...uh..."endowed"...he was always good natured about the jokes and veiled references on tv and the media. But, i guess there are worse rumors one could have circulating about them!
This is brilliant! Thank you so much for making this!
This is great work Brad! Thank you for creating this.
Comedy is the hardest thing to do and doing it improvisational, is like working a tightrope. There are a lot of funny people I’ve met over the years, but they don’t know they’re funny. Then there are naturally funny people that can’t perform in front of an audience. They’re shy. So, when you get a group of talented individuals coming together and trying to pull this off, and walk that tightrope, you gotta have respect for their tenacity. SCTV was such a winner. Such creative talent all in one cast! I love what Gilda Radner said about, “Always keep working even if you succeed. Sometimes you gotta let them find you.” Brilliant!
Paul Shaffer is incredible in his own right! The man was everywhere, with everybody!
Dave....Daaaave! It was a rockyou mockyou documentary
Paul is a great musician. When you hear him play the keys while Gilda is singing a tune from Godspell on the Letterman show, what a musician and he was also the music director of any production he worked on including The Late Show of course.
Absolutely incredible. My childhood. How are ya?! Huhuhuh. Thanks for putting this up
Loved it RIP John Candy
RIP, Harold Ramis.
Remember the first time John Candy hosted SNL. it was his first time on live TV. He handled it okay. 🙂
Thanks to whoever made this doc. I'm such a huge fan from seeing there show from Canada on a trip to Maine where we could pick up the broadcast. I was a little kid and the first thing I saw by total accident was Dave Thomas doing an ad parody for a microwave. He reaches into it and his hand is a skeleton hand. LOL. I was like, wtf is this? It's perfect!
Wow Brad, excellent job! Thank you for this labor of love.
Thanks for making this. I really loved SCTV. I think it was too ahead of its time to become mainstream, but definitely connected with many.
I couldn’t wait for Saturday night live to be over so I could watch Second Citytv has a kid.