Dave Herman Says This Classic ‘MADtv’ Political Sketch Is Still Relevant In The Epstein Files Age
Topical sketches, whether on Saturday Night Live, Chappelle’s Show or MADtv, tend to age like cheddar cheese left out in the sun. But original MADtv cast member Dave Herman told Cracked that his favorite political bit from the show is just as relevant as ever.
In the 1996 sketch, an artist looking for a government arts grant (Orlando Jones) attempts to explain his creations to a haughty Senator Hodgkins, played by Herman. The artist creates inkblot paintings, then observes people’s reactions to gauge how they respond to art. For the senator, it’s clear that no matter the image on the canvas, he only sees one thing.
In a painting titled “Fluffy Butterscotch Swingset,” the good senator sees through the artist’s real intent as plain as day: “Here’s a smooth young boy and there's an old corrupt pervert about to seduce him!”
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Hodgkins can only see “naked sexy boys” in the piece titled “Sunscape.” In the “Puppies Puppies and More Puppies” painting, the interpretation is “naked boys, naked boys, and more sweaty, glistening naked boys.”
“It was written approximately 30 years ago by the all-knowing, all-powerful Blaine Capatch,” said Herman. “And it’s evergreen — sadly evergreen, unfortunately evergreen. I guess that we’ll live on forever satirizing this enduring phenomenon, with House Speaker Mike Johnson being threatened by nude bicyclists protesting in Portland to Senator Ted Cruz’s mudslide of a Freudian slip, urging his fellow senators to stop attacking pedophiles.”
And in light of a particular part of the voting populace’s obsession with Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, the sketch wouldn’t seem out of place on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, thanks to “a certain set of files that’s shut down the government indefinitely,” Herman said.
Even when the artist abandons the inkblots for innocuous landscape art that Bob Ross might have painted on PBS, the senator’s objections remain the same. “What do you call this, Naked Boy Parade? All I see is naked boys, and what I see, America sees,” Senator Hodgkins sputters. “And I will not have this country looking at sexy, smooth, luscious, young naked boys — at least not in publicly funded museums!”
The artist can’t believe his ears. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting, Senator Hodgkins?”
“I AM NOT A PEDOPHILE!” screams Hodgkins, red in the face. He orders the artist out of his office but holds on to the paintings. “I'm gonna confiscate these,” he sputters. “I’m gonna need them later for a little masturba … er, master class in art … paint.”
In case anyone missed the point of the sketch, Herman drives it home. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”