At the end of last year, Disney Darling Demi Lovato shocked the entertainment world and her fans by entering rehab for undisclosed “emotional” reasons. Disney supported her and put her show, “Sonny With a Chance” on hiatus. They were considering a retool so that the show wouldn’t be off the air for too long. The idea was to take the show-within-the-show, So Random, and use that for a few episodes. When Lovato left rehab, she announced that she was no longer pursuing an acting career and instead wanted to just focus on her music career.
Disney needed to figure out what to do with “Sonny With a Chance.” They decided to go with “So Random” full-time. However, the remaining cast members are still playing their “Sonny With a Chance” characters, which seems odd. “So Random” is a sketch comedy show, with a musical guest.
All of this is a long-winded away of introducing this month’s Nostalgia Nook entry: All That!
I’d like to say SPOILERS! But it’s hard to spoil a comedy show.
“All That” was created by Dan Schneider in the early 90s for Nickelodeon. It aired on Saturday nights as part of the Snick block. It was created to be Saturday Night Live but for children. It’s first episode aired on April 16, 1994 as a “sneak peek” and the series proper started the following December. The original cast including Angelique Bates, Lori Beth Denberg, Katrina Johnson, Kel Mitchell, Alisa Reyes, Josh Server, and Kenan Thompson.
Each episode followed a basic set up. There would be a cold open in the cast’s green room. The cast would take part in some crazy hijinks and bring along their mascot, the Big Ear of Corn. Stage manager Kevin (producer Kevin Kopelow) would come in to announce they had five minutes until the show started and usually wind up in their hijinks. Once these have run their course, the cast would leave to start the show.
A series of sketches would then follow. For the most part, All That relied on ongoing sketches and most cast members had their own character:
Angelique: Mandy from “Cooking with Randy and Mandy”
Lori Beth: Miss Hushbaum, the Loud Librarian; Miss Fingerly; the host of Vital Information.
Katrina: Ross Perot, the lactose intolerant information girl
Kel: Ed, Good Burger cashier
Josh: Detective Dan
Kenan: Pierre Escargot, Superdude, Miss Piddlin’
And so on.
Over time, new cast members were added to replace the others as they aged out: Amanda Bynes, Nick Cannon, Danny Tamberelli, etc.
The sketches were usually funny and I know several of my friends who still quote them to this day. One of everyone’s favorite sketches was “Vital Information.” Lori Beth originally hosted this short sketch, in which she would give funny, if unpractical and/or disturbing, advice. For example: “It’s very rude to walk through the forest yelling ‘Me hate the trees! Me hate the trees!’” or “If you’ve accidentally flushed your friend down the toilet, you’ve either got a huge toilet or a teeny friend.” or “Contrary to popular belief, Jack Sprat can eat fat. You just have to hold him down and shove that fat down his throat.”
After Lori Beth aged out of the cast, Danny Tamberelli (famous for playing Younger Pete in “Pete and Pete”) took over the bit. Most fans agree that it was best when Lori Beth did it. While the writers didn’t change, they preferred Lori Beth’s delivery. She had this way to even making the silliest of advice sound reasonable. Danny and subsequent hosts read it like the jokes they were. Danny’s reign also grew to rely heavily on slapstick.
Another popular sketch was Super Dude. It was a parody of Superman, complete with the alter ego being “Mark Cant.” He would transform into Super Dude and save the day. His version of kryptonite though? He was lactose intolerant. Nobody would know what that meant so a little girl (originally Katrina Johnson, later Amanda Bynes) would pop out of the oddest places to inform them. Since it is an intolerance to dairy, all his enemies were made of dairy: Milkman, YoGurl, etc. He usually manages to save the day.
I think nearly everyone who grew up in the ‘90s knows this phrase: “Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger, can I take your order?” Kel Mitchell played Ed, the intellectually-challenged cashier at a fast-food joint. Or maybe he was just perpetually stoned. It was hilarious how he would deal with the customers and how frustrated they would get while ordering. I know the show tried to bring back the sketch with a new cast member and the backlash was fierce. So fierce, they had to bring Kel back.
Amanda Bynes fit into the cast very well, allowing Katrina Johnson to do roles that weren’t the “little kid”. She had her own sketch—Ask Ashley. She was a child who other children wrote to for advice. They ask the stupidest questions and she gets, well, violent when answering. Otherwise, she is all sweetness and smiles.
Each episode ended with a musical guest. They were usually the most popular artists of the day, from TLC to Britney Spears to NSYNC.
Does “All That” hold up? Well, as many of you know, Teen Nick has started airing “the 90’s are All That.” I’ve been watching it. And it holds up. The sketches are still funny and the cast is extremely talented. It’s a surprise the only breakouts were Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes and Nick Cannon. The only problem is that the musical performances have been removed from the rebroadcasts. I guess the show doesn’t have the rights for some reason.
Otherwise, go check it out! It’s airing on Teen Nick at Midnight EDT.
Next month: So Weird
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