Sports Bar | |
---|---|
Genre | Improvisational comedy Sketch comedy |
Created by | Joe Keefe |
Written by | Scott Allman Maria Corell Carl Kozlowski Soren McCarthy Tami Sagher Al Samuels |
Directed by | Tim Kazurinsky Mick Napier |
Starring | Maria Corell John Farley Kevin P. Farley Greg Mills David Pompeii Tami Sagher Al Samuels Rich Talarico |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Joe Keefe |
Producers | Andrew Alexander Darren Critz Ed Menaker |
Cinematography | Michael Davis |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | Gold Star Productions |
Original release | |
Network | Syndication |
Release | 1997 – 1998 |
Related | |
Kwik Witz My Talk Show SCTV |
Sports Bar is a sketch-comedy show that aired in first-run syndication [1] [2] [3] from 1997 to 1998. The series featured members of the Second City [4] [5] improvisational comedy troupe out of Chicago. This was the first television series since the end of SCTV in 1984, where creative control has been so firmly in the hands of the troupe. The Sports Bar was taped at WTTW's Chicago Production Center, who was a part owner of the program.
The series follows the lives of the regulars at a sports bar, who serve as a leaping-off point for satirizing the world of sports, leisure and American culture as a whole. The TV sets in the bar allowed the show to offer up commercial parodies and snippets of newscasts.
Christopher Crosby Farley was an American comedian and actor. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live for five seasons from 1990 to 1995. He later went on to pursue a film career, appearing in films such as Airheads, Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, Beverly Hills Ninja, and Almost Heroes.
Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network and SCTV Channel, is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe. It is an example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to U.S. television, where it aired on NBC in 1981–1983.
Edward Mayhoff 'Ed' Grimley is a fictional character created and portrayed by Martin Short. The original concept came from the stories told by Bob Ingram about his childhood imaginary friend. Developed amongst The Second City improv comedy troupe, Grimley made his television debut on the sketch comedy show SCTV in 1982, leading to popular success for both Short and the persona. Short continued to portray Grimley on Saturday Night Live and in various other appearances. The character also starred in Hanna-Barbera's 1988 animated series The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, and appeared in Short's comedy specials I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood and I, Martin Short, Goes Home.
Harold Allen Ramis was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His film acting roles include Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), and as Russell Ziskey in Stripes (1981); he also co-wrote those films. As a director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day (1993), Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002). Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, as well as a co-writer of Groundhog Day and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). The final film that he wrote, produced, directed, and acted in was Year One (2009).
Martin Hayter Short is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television shows. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. Short was awarded as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019.
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The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
Joseph Flaherty is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV from 1976 to 1984, and as Harold Weir on Freaks and Geeks, and for his role as Donald the heckler in Happy Gilmore (1996).
Matthew Gregory Besser is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, writer, and one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. He hosts the improvisation-based podcast Improv4humans on the Earwolf podcasting network.
Kevin Prindiville Farley is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and director. He is a brother of late American comedian and actor Chris Farley.
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Robin Duke is a Canadian actress, comedian, and voice actress. Duke may be best known for her work on the television comedy series SCTV and, later, Saturday Night Live. She co-founded Women Fully Clothed, a sketch comedy troupe which toured Canada. She teaches writing as a faculty member at Humber College in Toronto and had a recurring role playing Wendy Kurtz in the sitcom Schitt's Creek.
Juul Haalmeyer is a costume designer, best known for doing costume design on several iterations of SCTV. Haalmeyer also worked as a costume designer for many movies, television shows, theatre productions, concerts wardrobes for various artists and specials like Bridge to Silence, All My Sons, Long Day's Journey into Night, Noddy, the Shining Time Station Family Specials, Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, Diamonds, Andrea Martin: Together Again, and Ghostwriter.
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John Patrick Farley is an American actor and comedian. He is the youngest brother of actor and comedian Chris Farley.
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