Mad TV

Mad TV (stylized as MADtv) is an American comedy sketch television series originally inspired by Mad magazine. The show featured animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts as well as images of Alfred E. Neuman in earlier seasons, although the sketch comedy rarely if ever had any relation to the magazine's content. Its first TV broadcast was on October 14, 1995. The one-hour show first-ran on Saturday nights on Fox, and was in syndication on Comedy Central. In Australia the show screens on satellite and cable TV channel The Comedy Channel and in late-night timeslots on free-to-air broadcaster the Nine Network and its affiliates.

Mad TV was created by Fax Bahr and Adam Small. The series was originally produced by Bahr/Small Productions and Quincy Jones/David Salzman Entertainment (QDE). After Bahr and Small left the series at the end of the third season (they were later credited as "executive consultants"), the series was handled by QDE and distributed by WB Television Distribution (its parent company Time Warner Entertainment owns Mad magazine through its DC Comics subsidiary). The series was directed by Bruce Leddy (196 episodes), as well as David Grossman, and Amanda Bearse.

Mad TV (season 9)

The ninth season of Mad TV, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on the Fox Network between September 13, 2003, and May 22, 2004.

Summary

After Debra Wilson left the show at the end of season 8, season 9 became the first season without any of the original cast members from season one. Former featured players Ike Barinholtz, Josh Meyers, Ron Pederson, and Paul Vogt were upgraded to repertory status.

Among season 9's new cast members was Daniele Gaither, a member of The Groundlings who was trained by Michael McDonald, was on the short-lived WB sketch show Hype, and appeared on a Mad TV sketch before becoming a cast member (Gaither appeared on a season two sketch as one of "Bob Dolemite's" women). Her celebrity impersonations included rapper Eve, MTV VJ La La, and supermodel/talk show host Tyra Banks. The second new cast member was Nicole Parker, who became known for her impersonations of Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Ellen DeGeneres, Renée Zellweger, and Judy Garland.

Mad TV (season 2)

The second season of Mad TV, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on the Fox Network between September 21, 1996, and May 17, 1997.

Season summary

Despite some minor cast changes—Tim Conlon and Pablo Francisco joined as featured players and Artie Lange quietly left mid-season due to a drug scandal—the second season of Mad TV was not a radical departure from season one (largely the same cast, the same humor, and the same format).

The addition of a weekly guest host was the most notable difference of season two, the only season of Mad TV to feature one. Although every season has had several guest stars, season two's guest stars were referred to as "hosts" and appeared in nearly every sketch. Every episode had a new host, whereas in other seasons, not every episode had a guest star and the guest star usually only appeared in a few sketches. The guest host format was similar to Saturday Night Live's, but Mad TV ended this format after season two (though later seasons do have special guest stars who appear in sketches or do monologues).