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This issue is about the best sketch shows that aren’t ‘SNL,’ the dark side of John Hughes you may not know about, trivia, things you thought were illegal, and much more.

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The 50 Best Sketch Shows That Aren’t ‘Saturday Night Live’

Before Jason Sudeikis was a Saturday Night Live cast member, he dismissively referred to the show as the comedy McDonald’s. He wasn’t wrong — with 163 cast members and nearly 50 seasons to its name, SNL is the “300 billion burgers served” of sketch. But just as McDonald's isn’t the only place in town to get your fry fix, SNL isn’t the only comedy show to satisfy your sketch cravings.

Here are the 50 best sketch shows that don’t air live from New York on Saturday nights…

The Coal-Black Comedy of John Hughes You Don’t Know

“Life moves at you pretty fast,” says Ferris Bueller, the movie alter-ego of 1980s comedy king John Hughes. “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Awww. That’s an awfully sweet sentiment, and if one didn’t know Hughes better, one could assume he was a modern-day Will Rogers, expressing folksy wisdom through his wise-cracking teen characters. But Hughes was far from folksy, and much of his early comedy reflected a much darker sensibility.

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