Editing TV Funhouse (section)

==Production==
Programmed to air between the host segments of ''Saturday Night Live'', ''TV Funhouse'' parodied such genres as 1950s educational films, [[Saturday morning cartoons|Saturday morning]] [[Hanna-Barbera]]/[[Ruby-Spears]]/[[Filmation]] cartoons of the 1970s and 1980s, and the 1960s [[stop motion]] [[Christmas television special|holiday specials]] of [[Rankin/Bass]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crump |first1=William D. |title=Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film |date=2019 |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=9781476672939 |pages=274–275}}</ref> ¨Any episode of ''TV Funhouse'' appearing on ''Saturday Night Live'' would be listed by the announcer as "A cartoon by Robert Smigel.

The animation was produced by [[J. J. Sedelmaier|J.J. Sedelmaier]] Productions for its first three seasons until Wachtenheim/Marianetti Animation took over primary animation production duties.

===Recurring ''SNL'' ''TV Funhouse'' skits===
{{main|List of Saturday TV Funhouse segments}}
* '''Fun with Real Audio''' – This sketch presented animated scenes to found, real-life audio tracks.
* '''The All-New Adventures of [[Mr. T]]''' – A parody of the [[Ruby-Spears]] animated series ''[[Mister T (TV series)|Mister T]]''. This cartoon depicts Mr. T (voiced by [[Tracy Morgan]]) as desperate to find work after 10 years, aggressively auditioning for unlikely parts such as classical [[theatre]] and [[tampon]] [[television commercial|commercial]]s with help from Jeff Harris (voiced by [[Andy Daly]]), Kim Nakamura (voiced by [[Ana Gasteyer]]), Spike O'Neill (voiced by [[Andy Daly|Andrew Daly]]), and Bulldozer the Bulldog. Whenever he encounters obstacles such as directors telling him auditions are already over, he simply responds with the phrase "Ain't got time for jibber-jabber, I need work!" Mr. T also throws in different advice during his dialogue like "Drink your milk", "Stay in school", "Don't do drugs", and "Eat all your greens". After getting the employment, he would often mix up of all his advice to his companions when stating how one could get work as Bulldozer barks after that.
* '''[[The Ambiguously Gay Duo]]''' – A parody of the comic book [[superhero]] duets. The vaguely [[homosexual]] superheroes Ace and Gary (voiced by [[Stephen Colbert]] and [[Steve Carell]] respectively) fight crime in Metroville while their adversaries like Bighead (voiced by [[Robert Smigel]]) and Dr. Brainio (voiced by [[Stephen Colbert]]) try to figure out their true sexuality. [[Bill Chott]] provides the narration for this cartoon. All the shorts were re-written from ''[[The Dana Carvey Show]]''. In the live-action version on the ''SNL'' episode hosted by [[Ed Helms]], [[Jon Hamm]] and [[Jimmy Fallon]] play Ace and Gary while Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell played Dr. Brainio and Bighead.
* '''The Anatominals Show''' – A parody of a [[Yogi Bear]]–type [[Hanna-Barbera]]–style cartoon where Kogi [[Bear]], Pook Bear, Mindy Bear, Sheila [[Coyote]], Betsy [[Cattle|Cow]], and other animal characters are anatomically correct even when they are confronted by the [[park ranger]] during attempts to take picnic baskets. Both episodes were interspersed with scenes of [[Lorne Michaels]] (voiced by [[Robert Smigel]]) expressing deep disappointment with the show or trying to prevent visitors to [[Studio 8H]] from seeing the cartoon. 
* '''The [[Michael Jackson]] Show''' – A parody of [[Hanna-Barbera]] cartoons, highlighting the misadventures of Michael Jackson (voiced by [[Dino Stamatopoulos]]) and his odd friends. Included in his rag-tag entourage are his talking [[common chimpanzee]] [[Bubbles (chimpanzee)|Bubbles]], an aged [[Emmanuel Lewis]], a talking anthropomorphic [[llama]] who's just called Llama, the [[Skeleton (undead)|living skeleton]] of [[Joseph Merrick|The Elephant Man]] (voiced by [[Robert Smigel]] impersonating [[Jimmy Durante]]), a [[zebra]] with a [[pushmi-pullyu]] design, the sentient and speaking arm of [[Elizabeth Taylor]], and a sentient urn containing [[Marilyn Monroe]]'s ashes. Michael's friends often try to get him not to do stuff with little boys which goes comically awry for them. Sometimes when he gets satisfied with a little boy or the aged Emmanuel Lewis, Michael Jackson would have the same reactions that [[Quick Draw McGraw]] character [[Snuffles (character)|Snuffles]] would have when he gets his dog biscuit. The theme song is to the tune of ''[[The Yogi Bear Show]]''.
* '''[[The X-Presidents]]''' – A parody of Hanna-Barbera/[[Filmation]] cartoons from the 1970s. This sketch features former [[President of the United States|US Presidents]] [[Gerald Ford]], [[Jimmy Carter]], [[Ronald Reagan]], and [[George H. W. Bush|George H.W. Bush]] (all voiced by Jim Morris) as crime-fighting superheroes imbued with [[Superpower (ability)|superpowers]] by a "[[hurricane]]-powered dose of radiation" received at a celebrity [[golf]] tournament. Each of their wives is a member as well. [[Bill Clinton]], despite his status as a living former president, is not a member since he did not receive the hurricane-powered dose of radiation, as he was in office during the initial incident.

====Disney parodies====
TV Funhouse did four parodies of [[The Walt Disney Company]]. Their first one on April 4, 1998 was a trailer to the cheerful spin on the [[Titanic]] called "Titey" which had [[Jason Alexander]] voicing Titey and [[Whoopi Goldberg]] voicing the "[[Iceberg that sank the Titanic|bad old iceberg]]". The trailer also showed some marine life working together to save Titey from sinking. In addition, [[Gilbert Gottfried]] also voiced [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]] who was on top of the iceberg in one shot during its duel with Titey and [[Molly Ringwald]] voiced [[Anne Frank]] who sings about writing in a diary someday and mention the exploits of Titey.

The February 10, 2001, episode, "Ray of Light," parodies the controversy over [[Ray Lewis (American football)|Ray Lewis]]'s involvement in an Atlanta homicide. Although Lewis went on to become the [[Super Bowl XXXV]] [[Super Bowl MVP|MVP]], he was unable to utter the famous line "[[I'm going to Disney World!]]" The skit was involved with Disney "making it up" to Lewis by placing him in various [[List of Disney animated features|Disney animated movies]]. Lewis would be shown fleeing the scene of Disney character death scenes, frequently uttering "I didn't see nothin'!" He also did a song stating that he "did not kill no motherf****** lion".

"Bambi 2002," a poke at Disney's penchant for [[List of Disney home entertainment#Sequels, followups, and spin-offs|direct-to video sequels]] at the time, imagines a sequel to the [[Bambi|original movie]] where Bambi's mother turns up alive. The title character fights stylized [[terrorism|terrorist]] types, meets [[Jared Fogle]], and performs a [[rap music]] number in the forest. Also in the sketch are moments involving some of Disney's darker issues, as well as some pornographic humor with the unaffiliated film ''Pokahotass''.

On April 15, 2006, Robert Smigel again parodied Disney's home video moratorium [[Disney Vault|policy]], as well as [[Walt Disney]]'s alleged [[racism]] and [[anti-Semitism]]. When two kids are brought to the Disney Vault by [[Mickey Mouse]], they find Walt's frozen head, several controversial things that were never released, the "very original version" of ''[[Song of the South]]'' that Walt only screened at parties, and [[Jim Henson]] and [[Kermit the Frog]] bound and gagged in a chair, Mickey Mouse breaks down and quotes "He wouldn't sell! He wouldn't sell...!" (a reference to a broken deal between [[The Jim Henson Company]] and [[The Walt Disney Company]] {{circa|1990}} following Henson's death; Disney bought [[the Muppets]] franchise in 2004, 2 years prior to the sketch).

===NBC special===
On April 29, 2006, [[NBC]] aired a full-length, 90-minute ''SNL'' "best of" special for ''TV Funhouse''. The special was hosted by The Ambiguously Gay Duo interacting with the current ''SNL'' cast with a cameo from [[Jimmy Fallon]].<ref>[http://www.awn.com/news/television/ambiguously-gay-duo-fellow-saturday-tv-funhouse-shorts-special-slated Ambiguously Gay Duo & Fellow Saturday TV Funhouse Shorts Special Slated | AWN | Animation World Network<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The special was released on DVD October 24, 2006.