I liked this show, but even I admit it had more bad moments than good ones. The only really good TV sketch comedies that worked were "The Benny Hill Show," "Dave Allen at Large" and by the broadest scope, both the American and British versions of "Whose Line" and they all worked because they had the courage to push bad taste. "The Sketch Show" didn't even try; it relied on bad puns and confusing scenes that got even more bizarre as scenes unfolded. There was no foundation to the series either. On his series, Dave Allen told hysterical stories and shared whimsical looks of life while Benny often told dirty limericks that slipped past American censors. Nothing was wrong with the "Sketch Show" ensemble of actors; each of them could easily have created an enduring character to go down in TV history with Flip Wilson's Geraldine or Eddie Murphy's Buckwheat. Kelsey Grammar obviously had a lot of faith in this series to show just how much comedy he could do when he wasn't limited to the restraints of Dr. Frasier Craine, but the series was inflicted with not enough creativity or courage to do anything daring. Drew Carey and Dave Allen both proved that comedy could not be defined and it did not have to be forced, but The Sketch Show was about as painful as watching your relatives trying to make your baby girl smile.
Review of The Sketch Show
