Forgotten Comedy Of The Week

I never was that big a fan of Cedric The Entertainer. The whole "Kings Of Comedy" thing just never appealed to me, though I did understand why people liked Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac and the such.

One of the few times that I that I forced myself to reconsider Cedric was his short lived Fox show "Cedric The Entertainer Presents..."

Cedric was just coming off a string of hits at the time, starting with the 'Original Kings of Comedy' tour in 2000 and running up to the release of 'Barbershop' in 2002. To Fox's credit, this was probably the best time to try Cedric out on network TV with his own sketch show.

"Cedric The Entertainer Presents..." lasted only one season. The show was never able to achieve the level of comedy they were aiming for...instead of the biting satire of Dave Chappelle, they seemed more like the buffoonery of Martin Lawrence. I gave up on it after the first episode.

But that first episode. They were trying something there...

The major problem of the first episode was that they were trying too hard to be "In Living Color" (Fox's early 90s hit sketch show which brought to stardom The Wayens Brothers, Jaimie Fox and Jim Carrey), and not trying hard enough to be anything worth watching. The show was set up with many potential reoccurring characters that would come on screen and offer a witty catch-phrase, and basically have a uni-plot for every skit they were in. Like I said, it was nothing special.

Now, I know I said above that I reevaluated Cedric because of this show. Well, yes...but it was really just for one skit: "Que Hora Es?", the Mexican soap opera for people who only had three weeks of Spanish in the 4th grade.



Looking back at it today, the skit isn't without it's faults. The concept runs a little dry after the second minute in. Some of the jokes seem a little two easy. And I think I would have been more impressed if they were able to make some sort of a plot out of the use of only well-known phrases.

Then again, I guess there is some sort of plot on the screen...dare I call it the Mexican soap opera "uni-plot" as well.

Regardless of it's problems, the skit does bring a smile to my face, and I hope will also bring one to yours.


This video was found via Kevin Church.