The best thing about KitH sketches is that they start out being about something weird and funny, but at the very end veer WILDLY OFF TRACK to become about something ten times weirder (and therefore funnier).
This is the parody of The Twilight Zone's 1964 classic episode "The Brain Center at Whipple's" A heartless CEO completely automates his factory and lays off almost all of his workers over the objections of his employees but he too soon gets replaced. Directed by Richard Donner Writen by Rod Serling (creator), Rod Serling And stars Richard Deacon, Paul Newlan and Ted de Corsia Original Air Date: 15 May 1964 runtime: 25 minutes
The company I work for could only afford one machine so now I stand motionless next to it all day with my arms in a vat of dead fish. Sometimes I want it to speak but then I look into those cold, dead eyes and know that I do not want it to speak, not now, not ever. Silence is best. I miss shoveling fuel into the furnace.
The first time I saw this skit “The Union” took me right off my feet XD I can’t explain why, but this one has some of the most aggressively Canadian vibes of the whole series
I think all of our jobs feel like this sometimes.. a pointless task that doesnt benefit us in any way, but apparently makes the company money.. where you have to stand motionless all day
This succinct and pungent piece covers themes that are only too relevant today. It touches on modern progress and the impact of technology on the working class. How unions became corrupt as the very corporations they tried to battle.
2:37 Tina Dothers used to be just a little girl..." And the women in the audience roared laughing. I wonder if he didn't mention someone that worked there?
My grandfather started this company 96 years ago with nothing but a bible, a sack of dead trout, and one other thing - a belief in people. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that my grandfather was wrong. Boys, you're laid off.
ill agree with that. im not a fan of domestic vehicles. ive owned enough of what they call "cars" to know that they arent reliable past 3 years, they never get their EPA estimate mileage and they deliver horrible horsepower per liter performance. my place of employment offers those extras cause i work for a man in a very small machine shop who believes that people deserve those things cause he never got them before he became his own boss. ps. i like the name, huge 311 fan.
You've got to remember that with meeting the union's demands, they ended up having to sacrifice a fair bit of quality in order to keep competitive. Mostly-untrained workers were getting ~$40 an hour for putting speakers in doors. They really couldn't keep up with other companies like Toyota who were turning out really good stuff with appealing prices. Fun fact: General Motors is/was the largest private purchaser of Viagra, because recreational drugs like Viagra are covered by the pensions.
When Ralph Nader becomes president (a shoe-in, judging by the numbers), he's going to bring human-based arms-in-a-vat-full-of-dead-fish back to Canada. Just you wait!
you don't have to do those things just because you are a member of a union, and you only get any of those extra's healthcare,bonuses, etc.. because unions fought for them. unions are good.
God bless whoever approved the budget for this sketch
When I was a kid I didn't understand why they had to put their arms in a vat of dead fish to begin with. Of course, it seems pretty obvious now.
How else do you find the live ones
I still don't get it. Is it a sexual double entendre?
@@lestercross5123 It's a stupid joke taken out of the spirit of Monty Python. There's no entendre about it.
That its actually not fish but mammals? lool
"God in heaven, this is Progress?!"
The best thing about KitH sketches is that they start out being about something weird and funny, but at the very end veer WILDLY OFF TRACK to become about something ten times weirder (and therefore funnier).
This is the parody of The Twilight Zone's 1964 classic episode "The Brain Center at Whipple's"
A heartless CEO completely automates his factory and lays off almost all of his workers over the objections of his employees but he too soon gets replaced.
Directed by Richard Donner Writen by Rod Serling (creator), Rod Serling And stars Richard Deacon, Paul Newlan and Ted de Corsia Original
Air Date: 15 May 1964 runtime: 25 minutes
He didn’t get replaced by a robot tho. Not sure if I’d say it’s based on that it’s just similar
The company I work for could only afford one machine so now I stand motionless next to it all day with my arms in a vat of dead fish. Sometimes I want it to speak but then I look into those cold, dead eyes and know that I do not want it to speak, not now, not ever. Silence is best. I miss shoveling fuel into the furnace.
You said all that on porpoise.
Profound, Green Meat.
Every day we work in silence!
And then it spoke, and you fell in love
We need more guys like you
I am forever grateful that we got CBC in Michigan. This was my favorite sketch :D
Scott’s range from playing this to a old grandma is amazing
He's got range alright
i
You can totally see Bruce cracking up when Scott opens up his coat and reveals his machine! Classic!
This might be the greatest sketch ever.
Why do I find it so amusing that the union boss is a kid with an eye-patch?
lol - just commented that same thing. Rubbing his hands with glee. My favorite part. Kids fans - we are a weird bunch :)
The first time I saw this skit “The Union” took me right off my feet XD I can’t explain why, but this one has some of the most aggressively Canadian vibes of the whole series
This skit is so bizarre I feel like it must have spawned as a strange dream one of the guys had.
It’s satire
@@hopperthemarxist8533 No I think itsafish
It feels like something Kevin would come up with then the rest of the guys would smoke weed and agree.
@@hopperthemarxist8533 thanks, only 100% of us knew that already.
@@cainster This one to me just screams Bruce sketch.
I rarely actually laugh out loud but this one made me do it
I think all of our jobs feel like this sometimes.. a pointless task that doesnt benefit us in any way, but apparently makes the company money.. where you have to stand motionless all day
For some reason this reminds me of every job iv ever had.
Wow, you made this comment 14 years ago. I hope you found yourself a non-arms in a tank of dead fish type job since then. 😉
@@petesashlyn Haha yes, I guess when you are young you get all of the "arms in a vat of dead fish" jobs.
This sketch is a perfect example of how timeless this show is.
This is my favorite KITH skit ever!
Friends?
This is so clever and funny and keeps drawing me back to watch it year after year.
We can't be replaced by a machine - we're craftsmen!
we're craftsmen!!!
"Good god in heaven! This is PROGRESS!?"
XD Hilarious skit.
Who makes a funnier boss, dave or scott? I've always been torn on that question. Anyway, this sketch has always been one of my favorites.
"You can't lay us off! This is all we know!"
Pretty much every job in a nutshell.
insanely inventive. love it
impressive prop fx there at the end for a canadian show in the 80s
lyle laurence the 90’s, not 80’s
@@Puddycat00 Also it was taxpayer-funded, so naturally they can afford to spend money on prosthetics and hamster wheels.
Okay..,THAT was what I always Loved about these guys..!!!!
I love the robot suit. Be a great Halloween costume.
I've been putting my arms in a vat of dead fish for years now and I hope I never get replaced by a machine.
When he slaps the fish around, I die everytime
It's pretty amazing how many laughs they got out of this premise.
This succinct and pungent piece covers themes that are only too relevant today. It touches on modern progress and the impact of technology on the working class. How unions became corrupt as the very corporations they tried to battle.
I see what you are saying and I agree. I laughed but I was thinking the same thing.
how high were you when you wrote that? like on a scale of mildly high to shitting your pants and trying to eat the siding off a building?
lol
It also makes fun of useless, bullshit jobs.
Unctuous TH-cam comments are the price of getting free terrific comedy. (Just one in this case.)
Those robotic arms don't even work that good, they're barely in the tub.
Anyone else expect Graham Chapman to walk in as The Colonel and declare the sketch too silly.
I do wish they’d done a collaboration.
and a bit suspect I might add.
"This is all we know!"
"This is what we aaare!"
For me, it is the best skit they ever did. And look at us now: drones and automated fast food robots... And cars that drive themselves.
George Allison can’t fight technology or the future. Think about it this way, we have iPhones and laptops, and so much more
Yes you are so right. (This is an automated reply).
I forgot about this sketch. 😂
Pure gold.
MACHINE? WE'RE CRAFTSMEN!
My favorite part of this sketch is the rando kid with the eyepatch rubbing his hands watching the money......love the Kids
Are they selling the fish or the fishwater?
Such a bizarre premise.
THE ENDING!!! OMG HAHAHA!!
This is how I felt about memorizing state capitals in grade school.
This has become more relevant now, with managers realizing they're the most easily replaceable with AI.
This is really deep😊 I’ve had jobs like this
"This is progress?!!" :):):)
How old is the hamster running a robot bit? Norm on Phineas and Ferb is ran by a hamster.
hahaha the hamster powering the robot was funny
Comedy is taking a ridiculous concept and playing it 100% seriously.
one of my favs
That is perhaps the best representation of what a union really looks like that Ive seen in a TV show.
Great sketch.
I did keep my hands all the way in dammit. Coincidentally, the union did sell me out.
Making newspaper printing plates was my vat of dead fish and Direct to Plate was the New Machine. Union fucked me the same, too. :b
once again they blew all their budget on Scott's wig! damn!
2:37 Tina Dothers used to be just a little girl..." And the women in the audience roared laughing. I wonder if he didn't mention someone that worked there?
Tina Yothers, not Dothers. She played the younger sister on Family Ties. Ended up gaining a LOT of weight.
THIS. IS. PROGRESS. (Kick)
such is the plight of the proletariat.
lol. . . "There've been complaints."
2:22 sounds like music from The Dr. Seuss Bible when Jesus is riding on the back of the brown creature.
They could always get jobs shoveling coal in silence and darkness.
That comment makes just as much sense as the occupation ...
I love it. XD
So that's how the boys plot revenge on the boss.
there's a reference i don't get: Tina who? used to be just a little girl...
She was a child actress from a sitcom in the 80s called Growing Pains.
talk about huge lower back strain
lolz this will always be one of my favorites
A machine ? hell theres an APP for this!
Wow
We lost a lotta good men from the fish shifting...
anyone have that one where they're working in an assembly line and then kevin gets hit with something and becomes deformed.
GOD IN HEAVEN! THIS IS PROGRESS!!!!!
My grandfather started this company 96 years ago with nothing but a bible, a sack of dead trout, and one other thing - a belief in people. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that my grandfather was wrong. Boys, you're laid off.
No animals were harmed... oh wait.
@jacksplat Scott looks like everyone, how does he do it? Seriously he has to be the most malleable face in terms of being able to look like anybody.
This is the essence of funny.
@bastlake
NO SHIT!!! awesome
this is genius!
eight hours in the position looks like it would KILL your back lol.
Tina Yothers, who played the youngest daughter on the 80's sitcom "Family Ties"
ill agree with that. im not a fan of domestic vehicles. ive owned enough of what they call "cars" to know that they arent reliable past 3 years, they never get their EPA estimate mileage and they deliver horrible horsepower per liter performance. my place of employment offers those extras cause i work for a man in a very small machine shop who believes that people deserve those things cause he never got them before he became his own boss. ps. i like the name, huge 311 fan.
You've got to remember that with meeting the union's demands, they ended up having to sacrifice a fair bit of quality in order to keep competitive. Mostly-untrained workers were getting ~$40 an hour for putting speakers in doors. They really couldn't keep up with other companies like Toyota who were turning out really good stuff with appealing prices.
Fun fact: General Motors is/was the largest private purchaser of Viagra, because recreational drugs like Viagra are covered by the pensions.
1990-1995
Do you think all those CEOs will be replaced by machines too?
Do not plug in Skynet.
When Ralph Nader becomes president (a shoe-in, judging by the numbers), he's going to bring human-based arms-in-a-vat-full-of-dead-fish back to Canada. Just you wait!
Brilliant satire
Union selling you out. Sounds right.
"The Union"
A story as old as man...
...a sack'o dead TROUT!!!!
awesome!
lol, yeah! Only that was a mouse, hehe
you don't have to do those things just because you are a member of a union, and you only get any of those extra's healthcare,bonuses, etc.. because unions fought for them. unions are good.
Yeah. I think the whole idea is to capture how pointless most jobs seem to be.
hmmmmm i should get into that buisness, it seems profitable
Counting money, rather.
funny satire about workplace politics
1:48 Mark his showing off his muscles!! he is so sexi XD
I