As the epic of this “urban opera” expands, we see Peele’s R. Kelly working through everyday stuff like going to the supermarket and doing all sorts of errands on his quest back for cereal and re-stocking his cupboard. This mundane approach to the song is so silly that it works, with Peele’s performance anchoring it all.

Acting Class

Rather than just being a typical “acting class” sketch and hitting those tortured, pretentious artist clichés, the segment specifically looks at extras. It tries to take their background minutiae and elevate it to an art form. It’s a great idea to see real scenes going on in the class, while these students just walk around in the background while trying not to stand out. They pick these “extra pieces” like monologues, focusing on achievements in backgrounding.

Besides the strong concept, the sketch is also just a pretty perfect example of the smarm that acting types give where a lot of peacocking is done over the smallest brushes with celebrity.

Apple i-Rack

This sketch begins as a simple enough lampoon of Steve Jobs and the long list (which is only longer now) of Apple products that he’s had a hand in. Then however, the sketch transforms into a commentary on America’s situation with Iraq at the time. Constant doublespeak reflects the stream of poor decisions made to inflame the US’s war efforts, while also “cleverly” reflecting selling points on Apple’s new product. It’s a great blend of subject matter in order to say something “informed”, but it also takes the easier route when possible and feels like it isn’t as groundbreaking as it could be.

This is apparently the “Holy Grail” of MADtv sketches from a lot of online communities and fandom. That being said—while this is one of MADtv’s better efforts, the humor feels a lot more heavy-handed now. A shoehorned, “There is no exit strategy” is meant to play as brilliant and kind of just feels forced. I’m not meaning to attack this sketch, it’s just kind of interesting if this is largely seen as their best effort when if you were to single out other sketch show’s strongest material you’d maybe be left with something with more staying power. I think a lot of the other sketches on this list not only manage to say more, but are even funnier in the process. That being said, the weird legacy of this sketch is enough to guarantee its inclusion here.

Deal or No Deal Man Up