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From classic wordplay to physical comedy excellence, we're diving into the most brilliantly crafted comedy sketches ever performed! These timeless pieces of comedy gold have influenced generations of performers and still leave audiences in stitches today. Which legendary skit takes the crown?
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00:00I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the funniest,
00:09best written, and well-executed comedy sketches ever made. To be clear,
00:13we'll be focusing more on simpler sketches rather than more lengthy,
00:16bombastic, or high production value scenes.
00:19In a few moments, he will have written the funniest joke in the world,
00:22and as a consequence, he will die laughing.
00:26Number 10, Fire Marshal Bill in Living Color.
00:31Okay, we're bending our own rules here, since this Jim Carrey character appears across multiple sketches,
00:36but most of them play out in essentially the same way.
00:38Nice to meet you, folks! Fire Marshal Bill here!
00:42Fire Marshal Bill will arrive wherever the sketch takes place.
00:45At first, he'll point out some elementary safety hazards in a seemingly helpful way,
00:49but then, Bill will immediately make things worse than necessary by starting a fire and otherwise injuring himself.
00:54Here's another all-too-common danger in the classroom.
00:58The movie projector.
01:01Sure, looks like fun, but it can be very, very deadly.
01:06And things usually conclude with Bill getting blown up.
01:08Fire Marshal Bill is Jim Carrey in his prime,
01:11performing outlandish physical comedy with a rictus grin.
01:14What's not to love?
01:15I'm nervous.
01:16Would you pull my finger?
01:18No!
01:19Okay.
01:21Now, a scene from Backdraft.
01:23Number 9.
01:24Hot Dog Car.
01:25I think you should leave with Tim Robinson.
01:27Accidents happen, but what happens after a hot dog car drives into a men's clothing store is basically a train wreck.
01:33Yeah, come on! Whoever did this, just confess! We promise we won't be mad!
01:41What?
01:42The driver, played by Tim Robinson, makes it pretty clear it was him by wearing a hot dog costume.
01:47After he discovers he won't be getting spanked for his transgression,
01:50and that he can't pass the blame onto poor, poor Donald,
01:53the driver immediately switches tact.
01:55Perfect.
01:55We've been sitting here talking all day, and you all never bothered to learn my name.
02:04We're so buried in our phones.
02:08Instead of giving someone a real smile, we send an emoji.
02:13He instead decides to distract everyone with a lengthy monologue about porn sites while casually stealing shirts.
02:19Shockingly, nobody's fooled.
02:20Frankly, the absurdity of the sketch, and Wienerman's commitment to the bit,
02:25makes it as perfect as that ridiculous car, whoever it belongs to.
02:28I guess if nobody wants this car, I'll take it.
02:34Let's get it.
02:35Number 8.
02:35The Audition.
02:36Mr. Show with Bob and David.
02:38This sketch sees Denny, an actor played by David Cross, audition for a sitcom.
02:43I'm Denny Woodkin.
02:44And the monologue that I'll be performing now is from the play entitled The Audition by Gavin Hollerwood.
02:51Well, how apropos.
02:53However, the line between what's real and what's the audition quickly blurs as he asks to use a chair.
02:59The producers, played by Dino Samatopoulos and Bob Odenkirk,
03:02are continually baffled as Denny's monologue seems to be just improvisation.
03:06Seriously, can I use it?
03:10Hello?
03:11Hello?
03:11I need it for the audition.
03:16Could somebody answer me?
03:19Jesus, talk to me.
03:21I'm a human being up here, for God's sake.
03:24Don't just look at each other.
03:25Answer me.
03:26Can I use it?
03:27The escalation throughout is practically flawless,
03:29as Denny gets further and further through the speech each time after they interrupt him,
03:33until they've finally seen enough.
03:35We don't know if we'd give him a callback, but the kid's got the goods.
03:38We've seen enough.
03:39You got the goods.
03:40Number 7.
03:41The Four Yorkshire Men.
03:43Various.
03:43We've all heard older people talk up their difficulties during childhood,
03:47like they're delivering some kind of weird flex.
03:49We never had a cup.
03:50We used to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.
03:54Best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.
03:57This classic British comedy sketch, first debuting on, at last, the 1948 show, but often associated with Monty Python,
04:04takes this idea to a ridiculous extreme.
04:06A group of four well-off men from Yorkshire sit around drinking.
04:09You were lucky to have a house.
04:12There were 26 of us in one room.
04:15No furniture, half the floor were missing.
04:17We were all huddled in one corner for fear of falling.
04:21After waxing nostalgic, they start trying to outdo the others by relating how terrible their lives growing up in poverty were.
04:26Each of their claims becomes increasingly bizarre, like having to eat gravel or work 29 hours a day.
04:32Each performance allows for some variation, but all of them are basically the same, unbelievably funny sketch.
04:37I had to get up in the morning at 10 o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed,
04:41eat a lump of coal poison, work 29 hours a day down mill and pay mill on it for permission to come to work,
04:48and when we got home, our dad would kill us and dance about in our grave.
04:52Number six, Citizen Kane, The Kids in the Hall.
04:55Kevin MacDonald and Dave Foley play a couple of guys having lunch.
04:59So it was a good movie.
05:00It wasn't a great movie, but how often do you see a great movie?
05:03Oh, I saw a great movie last night.
05:05Yeah, it was on the late show.
05:06It was, um, uh, uh, oh, what was it called?
05:09Dave's character mentions watching a movie the previous night whose name he can't remember.
05:13From his description, Kevin's character realizes immediately that he's describing Citizen Kane.
05:18However, Dave refuses to admit he's wrong, despite being told repeatedly.
05:22This is definitely Citizen Kane then, you're talking about Citizen Kane.
05:24No, no, no, but it's, it's something like that.
05:29The situation escalates until Kevin turns violent and shows Dave that he's wrong.
05:33Not only do the sketch's stakes and laughs rise perfectly,
05:36it's also tremendously relatable.
05:38We've all been here before.
05:39And sure, most of us probably don't go to the extremes of Kevin's character.
05:42Would you mind just calling me a, um, oh, what are they called?
05:46A, um, a, um.
05:48An ambulance?
05:49No, no, I want a, um, a, um.
05:52Do you want two guys in the van to come and take care of your hand and bring you to a hospital?
05:54Yes, exactly, yes.
05:56Then you want an ambulance?
05:56No, I don't.
05:57But if we had to compare this sketch to a film, it'd be, oh, dang it, what was it called again?
06:01Number five, Substitute Teacher, Key and Peele.
06:04Simple ideas executed well are always going to find success.
06:08This sketch follows King and Michael Key as Mr. Garvey,
06:10a substitute teacher with experience teaching in the inner city.
06:13All right, listen up, y'all.
06:15I'm y'all's substitute teacher, Mr. Garvey.
06:18I taught school for 20 years in the inner city,
06:21so don't even think about messing with me.
06:24However, he runs into unexpected problems taking roll call.
06:27His loudish and unruly students insist on strange pronunciations of their names,
06:31like Aaron and Blake,
06:32instead of the objectively correct way, A-A-Ron and Balake.
06:36Yes, sir.
06:37My name's Blake.
06:40Are you out of your goddamn mind?
06:43Blake.
06:44What?
06:45Do you want to go to war, Balake?
06:47No.
06:47Because we could go to war.
06:48No.
06:49I'm for real.
06:50I'm for real.
06:52Mr. Garvey's gradually increasing wrath is hysterical,
06:55and the sketch is endlessly quotable,
06:56to the regret of many who share the characters' names.
06:58And it seems as many people agree,
07:00considering it's hundreds of millions of views on YouTube-ay.
07:03Timothy.
07:05Present.
07:07Number four, More Cowbell, Saturday Night Live.
07:10Basically, from the moment this sketch aired, everyone became obsessed with it.
07:14All right, guys.
07:15I think we're ready to lay this first track down.
07:19By the way, my name is Bruce Dickinson.
07:22Yes, the Bruce Dickinson.
07:24And I gotta tell you, fellas,
07:26you have got what appears to be a dynamite sound.
07:29The scene purports to show the recording of Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper,
07:33overseen by fictional producer Bruce Dickinson, played by Christopher Walken.
07:37While fictional band member Gene Frankel's cowbell playing annoys his fellow bandmate,
07:41Dickinson can't get enough.
07:43It was sounding great, but I could have used a little more cowbell.
07:47Between Will Ferrell's hilariously over-the-top cowbell playing and Walken's many iconic lines,
07:52we're surprised the rest of the cast held it together as well as they did, which isn't much.
07:56The More Cowbell sketch became not only an instant classic of sketch comedy,
08:00but also led to catchphrases and became one of the 21st century's earliest memes.
08:04You gotta have more cowbell, baby.
08:06I gotta have more cowbell, baby.
08:08Number three, The Dentist.
08:10The Carol Burnett Show.
08:11Mr. Schleisinger, played by Harvey Korman, has a toothache and goes to a dentist.
08:15Dr. Kiefer will be with you in a minute.
08:17Dr. Kiefer? What happened to Dr. Burmard?
08:19Oh, he's out of town. He's breaking in a new partner. His son-in-law.
08:23The problem is that Dr. Kiefer, played by Tim Conway, is new at his chosen profession.
08:28Well, that's the first problem, at least.
08:30Dr. Kiefer reveals new issue after new issue as Schleisinger rise in pain.
08:35If we're gonna pull her out, we'll have to have those pulley things.
08:38The pulleys and, let's see, pinchy things and the little picky things.
08:45From Kiefer being more experienced with treating dogs, to having to look up how to do things,
08:49every time you think he can't be a worse dentist, he somehow one-ups himself.
08:53By the time he accidentally injects himself with Novocaine, the audience is howling with laughter,
08:58and Korman is fighting for his life, too.
09:00Good luck trying to keep a straight face watching this sketch, because it's impossible.
09:04I'll be right with you.
09:05Number 2. Dead Parrot Sketch
09:09Monty Python's Flying Circus
09:11After regarded as the greatest Monty Python sketch, this routine sees a customer, Mr. Praline,
09:17played by John Cleese, attempt to return a recently purchased parrot to a pet shop.
09:21I wish to complain about this parrot, what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
09:25Oh, yes, the Norwegian Blue. What's wrong with it?
09:27I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's dead. That's what's wrong with it.
09:30The shopkeeper, played by Sir Michael Palin, refuses to admit the obvious.
09:34The bird's dead.
09:35Despite the so-called Norwegian Blue being nailed to its perch and as stiff as a board,
09:40as well as Praline's many colorful descriptions of it being unalive,
09:43the shopkeeper remains determined to keep his sail.
09:45Now that's what I call a dead parrot.
09:48No, no, it's stunned.
09:50Look, my lad, I've had just about enough of this.
09:53That parrot is definitely deceased.
09:55The sketch has been performed by the duo many times, with many variations,
09:59particularly on the ending.
10:01But what hasn't changed is the sketch's brilliance or its legacy.
10:04The parrot may have given up the ghost, but his impact on comedy will never die.
10:08I wanted to be a lumberjack.
10:13I'm sorry, this is irrelevant, isn't it?
10:16Yes! A lumberjack!
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10:34Number 1. Who's on first?
10:36Various
10:37Devised by Bud Abbott and Luke Costello,
10:39the Who's on first sketch sees Abbott's character try to explain the names of baseball players
10:43at various positions to Costello.
10:45That's what I want to find out.
10:46I want you to tell me the names of the fellas on the St. Louis team.
10:48I'm telling you, who's on first, what's on second, I don't know's on third.
10:51You know the fellas' names?
10:52Yes.
10:53Well then who's playing first?
10:54Yes.
10:54I mean the fellas' name on first base.
10:55Who?
10:55Unfortunately, each of the players have names like who, what, and I don't know.
11:00Naturally, misunderstandings ensue, sometimes about the word naturally.
11:04The gradually escalating frustrations are flawless,
11:07and the timelessly clever wordplay never fails to make us laugh.
11:10Who's on first?
11:11That's what I'm trying to find out.
11:12Don't change the players.
11:13I'm not changing nobody.
11:15Take it easy.
11:15What's the guy's name on first base?
11:17What's the guy's name on second base?
11:18I'm not asking you who's on second.
11:20Who's on first?
11:21I don't know.
11:22He's on third.
11:22We're not talking about him.
11:23This is maybe the most famous and ingenious comedy sketch ever created.
11:27While Abbott and Costello have performed it many times,
11:30and it has been imitated or referenced even more,
11:32it will never lose its appeal.
11:34Its appeal is the umpire, by the way.
11:36I don't care.
11:37Oh, that's a short stop.
11:39If you feel there's a sketch we forgot,
11:41be sure to let us know in the comments.
11:43Why don't you lay down that cowbell right now?
11:46With us.
11:47Together.
11:48There.
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