Reality Check was a talk show on MADtv's version of BET hosted by Belma Buttons (Aries Spears) and Tovah McQueen (Debra Wilson), two obese black women. The sketches would begin by each of them partaking in food, and saying that it is "so good" that they would inflict physical harm on each other. Then they would introduce a white guest who gets routinely insulted by Belma and Tovah until the guest makes a witty comeback, such as Tom Ridge (Will Sasso) telling "the two of them to get four chairs and sit down." Belma and Tovah would retaliate by first getting excitied like " Tova, do you feel something coming on? Oh, Belma, yes I do. Then they would count down from three to one and then take turns berating the guest, then ending the show by telling the guest to "think about what we said" and then say "This is Reality Check and we are through!" after Belma usually would get a craving for food. The only person Belma and Tovah liked was Bill Clinton (Sasso) because he put himself down; like Belma and Tovah themselves insulted people. Belma once lost weight by "The Subway Diet" (eating trash left by people on the subway) and declared her personal trainer to be her new best friend, until going into shock, and then reverting back to her gluttonous ways.
Reality Check featured ads for products based on black stereotypes, e.g., Red Kool-Aid, Nike T-max shoes and Red Rooster Hot Sauce. Tovah McQueen and Belma Buttons appeared 14 times during season 5,6,7,8, & 10.
Read more about this topic: MADtv Recurring Characters
Famous quotes containing the words reality and/or check:
“Fiction is not imagination. It is what anticipates imagination by giving it the form of reality. This is quite opposite to our own natural tendency which is to anticipate reality by imagining it, or to flee from it by idealizing it. That is why we shall never inhabit true fiction; we are condemned to the imaginary and nostalgia for the future.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“He took control of me for forty-five minutes. This time I’ll have control over him for the rest of his life. If he gets out fifteen years from now, I’ll know. I’ll check on him every three months through police computers. If he makes one mistake he’s going down again. I’ll make sure. I’m his worst enemy now.”
—Elizabeth Wilson, U.S. crime victim. As quoted in People magazine, p. 88 (May 31, 1993)