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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Lucy Maher

MADTV, which airs new episodes on Fox on Saturday nights and is syndicated as part of Comedy Central's late-night rotation, takes a page from Saturday Night Live and In Living Color and entertains audiences with sketches that skewer celebrities, film, music, politics, and other pop culture fixtures. Over the years, the series has produced scores of offbeat characters, including Stuart (Michael McDonald), a dim-witted man-boy who lives with his crazy mother, and Jaq the UBS Guy (Phil LaMarr), an annoying, hyperactive mailman. It has also featured scores of guest stars, from Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, and Jackie Chan to Queen Latifah, Drew Barrymore, and Green Day.

Is It Any Good?

3

Like its namesake magazine, MADtv purposely pushes the limits of decency to the breaking point. It's more tasteless and less wry than SNL. In one episode, for example, a slimy male character says, "Give me a 68. That's where you give me a BJ and I owe you one." Another sketch portrays a buxom blonde doctor unable to carry on an intelligent conversation with her patient.

Still, there are moments of brilliance. In a scene in which a woman driving an SUV is pulled over for speeding, when asked the make of her car, she replies, "2003 Earth Destroyer."Since each episode's content is unpredictable and almost certainly in questionable taste, only mature teens should tune in.

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