Then things went haywire in the nineties. In Living Color, MADtv, House of Buggin', The Edge, The Kids in the Hall, The Ben Stiller Show, The State, Mr. Show with Bob and David, The Dana Carvey Show, Upright Citizens Brigade. Not all of these shows had long and successful runs, but all of them made some sort of impression on the Vast Wasteland's landscape, and all are fondly remembered by the cults they earned.
One such cultist is Jason Klamm, who references fifty-or-so shows and interviewed some 150 individuals for his new book We're Not Worthy: From In Living Color to Mr. Show, How '90s Sketch TV Changed the Face of Comedy. Along with creating dedicated chapters on the biggest or most noteworthy sketch shows of the era, Klamm also fortifies his book with a history of sketch comedy on stage and on TV leading up to the nineties, sprints through lesser known programs from his main decade, and provides chapters on sketch-show derived movies like Wayne's World and talk shows like Late Night with David Letterman and The Conan O'Brien Show, which relied more on sketches than run-of-the-mill celebrity interviews.
That's a lot of stuff, and these are shows that often have very complex histories and legacies. There've been entire books written on Saturday Night Live, In Living Color, and The Kids in the Hall, and I've read a few, which makes some of these chapters, which mostly run between ten and fifteen pages, feel kind of inadequate or too focused on one particular element. The chapter on The Tracey Ullman Show is mostly about how it birthed The Simpsons. The Saturday Night Live chapter has so much to discuss in so little space that the narrative ends up feeling particularly scattered.
So the book is strongest when dealing with the shows that didn't have as much of a legacy and can be discussed in brief chapters more satisfactorily. There's certainly a lot to learn on these pages (wait... Rich Fulcher of The Mighty Boosh was Mike Myers's body double in Wayne's World?!? Iiiiit happened...), and if you're anything like me, the more obscure shows will send you running to YouTube in search of clips or complete episodes. Plus, the book is just beautifully designed with its colorful hardcover, ribbon bookmark, blue gilt edges, and bonus film-strip bookmark depicting frames of Molly Shannon as Mary Catherine Gallagher sniffing her pits.
