Season Summary
After Debra Wilson left the show at the end of last season, season nine became the first season without any of the original castmembers from season one. Former featured players Ike Barinholtz, Josh Meyers (who would later leave the show to appear on the FOX sitcom That '70s Show), Ron Pederson, and Paul Vogt were upgraded to repertory status.
Among season nine's new cast members was Daniele Gaither, a member of The Groundlings who was trained by Michael McDonald and appeared on a MADtv sketch before becoming a cast member (Gaither appeared on a season two sketch as one of "Bob Dolemite's" women). Her celebrity impersonations included rapper Eve, MTV VJ La La, and supermodel/talk show host Tyra Banks. The second new cast member was Nicole Parker, who became known for her impersonations of Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Ellen DeGeneres, Renée Zellweger, and Judy Garland (as the character Dorothy in several Wizard of Oz parodies).
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele joined the show as featured cast members. Peele created several hilarious characters (such as Funkenstein) and offbeat impersonations (such as Ja Rule). Originally, FOX executives hired Key and Peele in the hopes of picking one black cast member over the other, but after Key and Peele demonstrated that they had comedic chemistry (particularly in the Superstitous Knights sketches), FOX decided to keep the both of them.
New cast members Melissa Paull and Gillian Vigman (known for celebrity impersonations including Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, and Christina Aguilera) were introduced in the ninth season, but left at season's end.
Season nine included the show's 200th episode. Several former cast members returned to mark the occasion. Orlando Jones appeared as Andre 3000 of Outkast performing a parody of "Hey, Ya." Nicole Sullivan reprised characters such as the Vancome Lady and Judith from "The Literally Couple", along with her impersonation of Meg Ryan. Alex Borstein made her first appearance since season seven and portrayed the beloved character Miss Swan and Dot Goddard's brainy twin sister, Karen. Will Sasso revived his impersonations of Bill Clinton and Kenny Rogers. Cast veteran Artie Lange (now a regular on The Howard Stern Show) recorded a monologue of his life since leaving MADtv. Former original cast member Phil LaMarr also appeared during season nine as character Kalvin Mudflap Clarke in the Real Mother****ing Talk sketch.
Season nine introduced a recurring sketch, The Lillian Verner Game Show, with Paul Vogt playing flamboyant host Dale Priskett. This mock game show involved contestants vying for products that are spoofs of Lillian Vernon products. A recurring character, Gail Cinder (played by Stephnie Weir), would often return as the show's reigning champion. This sketch also featured MADtv writer Michael Hitchcock as the game show's announcer, Simian Dyson (Hitchcock's only character on MADtv).
The 7am Condo Report,a sketch about retired elderly people residing in a Florida condo, debuted; it featured Stephnie Weir as Muriel (a woman who suffers recurring strokes), Ron Pederson as Clifford (an angry, bitter old man in a motorized scooter), Daniele Gaither as Jelly (an old African-American woman who is obsessed with her grandchildren and black culture), and Paul Vogt as the nurse.
Other season highlights were appearances by Jessica Alba (Honey) as pop star Jessica Simpson, Tommy Davidson and Fred Willard as the hosts of Real Mother****ing Talk, boxers and WWE wrestlers (including Gregory Helms and Trish Stratus), professional skateboarder Tony Hawk promoting his fictional restaurant, Jeff Probst hosting a celebrity edition of Survivor, Cedric the Entertainer (Johnson Family Vacation) co-starring in a blaxploitation version of Frankenstein as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Frankie Muniz (Agent Cody Banks 2) returning in a sketch with Stephnie Weir's Dr. Kylie Johnson, Tom Bergeron in a parody of his show Hollywood Squares, and Groundlings alumnus Jennifer Coolidge.
Mo Collins announced that she would leave the show at the end of the ninth season.
Read more about this topic: MADtv (season 9)
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