It's an old line applied to every new (good) sketch comedy show to hit the market, but in this case it's true: Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show is a glowing example of everything that Saturday Night Live has been doing wrong for the last twenty years.
For instance: I saw this bit on a rerun of SNL a few weeks ago hosted by Ben Affleck. Affleck et al were on an escalator when it stopped moving and they all went into a panic because they thought they were trapped. It was funny because (and aren't jokes funnier when they're explained?) nobody thought to walk to the bottom of the damn thing.
It was a good bit. Problem is, it went on for ten minutes when three would have been fine.
Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show nips this problem in the bud - the sketches clock in at around thirty seconds apiece. Some of the gags are visual (a guy wins a swimming competition by riding a jet-ski) and some are verbal (a customer is slapped by a waitress for asking for a quicky and is quietly informed by his friend that it's pronounced 'quiche'), but they're all funny. On the off chance that something doesn't appeal to your sense of humor it's not a problem - with scenes so short, it's easy to write off the missed lines and wait for the next one, something impossible to do while watching the show's long-winded brethren.
You'll be pleased to note that Kelsey Grammer, a man not exactly known for his brevity, merely presents the show as the title suggests - he's got two bits per airing, one at the beginning and one at the end, and scenery chewing is kept to a minimum. Kaitlin Olsen, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Paul F. Tompkins, Lee Mack and Malcolm Barrett make up the cast, playing The Hot Chick, The Less Hot Chick, The Everyman, The British Guy and The Black Dude that have been the staple of American television for, well, for forever.
As is the case with a good portion of solidly funny American comedy, this one has British roots - The Sketch Show was originally an English series and the same man behind that show, Richard Boden, is at the helm of this incarnation as well.
It might be a sign of how pathetically short my attention span is becoming (Ooh! Shiny!) but this show's damn funny nonetheless.