The Amanda Show
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The Amanda Show was a live-action comedy-variety show on Nickelodeon. It was similar to Saturday Night Live but shorter and for kids. Episodes were produced from 1999 until 2002, and starred Amanda Bynes, late of All That, from which this project was spun-off. The show has its own spin-off: Drake & Josh, starring Drake Bell and Josh Peck. Reruns of The Amanda Show can still be seen on Nickelodeon. It was one of the most popular children's shows in the U.S. until it was cancelled in 2002 when Amanda Bynes went on to do bigger roles in films and television, such as The WB sitcom What I Like About You with Jennie Garth. The Amanda Show was created and executive produced by Dan Schneider along with executive producers Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin and Joe Davola of All That.
Recurring and Popular Sketches
- Judge Trudy - "Judge Trudy" was a parody of the real court show Judge Judy, using similar names and costumes from the real TV show. Judge Trudy was played by Amanda. In "Judge Trudy", the plaintiff was usually a kid who was suing an adult, usually for grounding the kid or giving them detention. Judge Trudy always took the side of the kid, and gave the adults ridiculous sentences, such as giving an elderly woman a piggy-back ride for her lifetime or being trapped in a rocketship. Then would call for the end of the skit with the Dancing Lobsters.
- The Best of Commercials - This little clip was usually played in the beginning of the show. Wacky TV commercials advertised strange products, like a machine that made ice cream out of trash, or red-hot candies that let people literally breathe fire. Sometimes, an adult would show up and ask a kid for help doing something, which would give the kid a chance to use the product being advertised. (In the case of the fire-breathing candies, the father needed help to light the barbecue -- the kid ate the candy and blew fire right at the grill!). Others also included Meatloaf Crunch, a meatloaf cereal, and LunchBay.com, a parody of eBay where you could sell your horrible food to stupid people.
- Moody's Point - A parody of teen dramas/soap operas, mainly Dawson's Creek with Bynes playing the lead role of Moody, whose mother is lost in a hot air balloon and her father is missing a toe. Each episode had its own plot, and ended off with a cliffhanger, that was never continued after that episode.
- Penelope Taynt - Penelope Taynt, also played by Bynes, was Amanda's number-one fan in the world. She normally wore a vest and a black skirt, as well as large framed black glasses. On the show she ran a fansite, [AmandaPlease.com], which is actually an official site created for the series. Penelope also had the odd habit of interjecting the word "please" into almost all of her every sentences. Between segments in every show, she used some harebrained scheme to try and meet Amanda, but never succeeded (although in several episodes, she managed to temporarily get Drake or Josh to help her). In other episodes, Penelope is with her younger brother, Preston, who looks like her. Preston usually annoys Penelope by asking her to make a sandwich. Preston usually unexpectedly meets Amanda while Penelope is on one of her "schemes" to meet Amanda. Various security guards, including one particularly overweight one called Barney, attempted to stop her attempts. Ironically, in later episodes, Penelope falls in love with Barney's son. They kissed each other at the end of the show, falling on the ground together. When Amanda's show was over, she had noticed Penelope and Barney's son, kissing. Amanda just shrugged, and walked pass by.
- Blockblister - A parody of video rental store chain Blockbuster. Blockblister was owned and operated by a family of foreigners with wacky accents. The family often greeted the angry customer by saying, "Yaga, welcome to store of video!" The customers were always unhappy as they found out the movies rented were just homemade spoofs of the actual movie made by the immigrant family, like if the customers wanted Stuart Little, the family would give them a movie like Stuart Little, but renamed "Staurt Lipple". The family often replied with "This movie better -- MUCH BETTER!" The unhappy customer commanded the family to play the video on their TV as it's not the video the customer wanted. The family often said the video was "Bravo" and "awesome", and offered the customer a hard-boiled egg. When the customer became angry and left the store without paying (normally two customers come, three came early in the show's run), the family would dance to polka music.
- Hillbilly Moment - Amanda and Drake dressed as hillbillies, and Amanda started a knock-knock joke. Drake then answered, "Who's there?", and Amanda's reply was a random object (ie: "Liberty Bell"). When Drake said, "Liberty Bell who?", Amanda announced "I'm gonna hit ya in the head with a Liberty Bell!", and proceeded to do so.
- So You Wanna Win Five Dollars? - A parody of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The contestant, who wasn't very bright, was asked three questions, with the final question being worth five dollars. The questions were fairly easy, with four choices as answers. Three of the choices usually did not have anything to do with the question! (i.e. Q: "How many inches are in a foot? Choices: A-12, B-97, C-pink, D-meat). Both Drake Bell characters (Tony Pajamas & Totally Kyle) were contestants on that sketch.
- Stranded - A parody of the hit Reality TV Series Survivor, this time contestants are stranded in a place or thing (ie: a bathtub in North Dakota or a parked car in a parking lot in Oklahoma). The contestants were forced to stay in the place. Whoever stays the longest will win $1,000,000. While in a place, whoever gets out of the place or thing will summon two guards to get the contestant out. Among the contestants were various characters from other sketches in The Amanda Show, such as Judge Trudy, Debbie (from The Girl's room), Kyle (from Totally Kyle), and many more.
- The Klutzes - A family who was constantly tripping and falling down, sometimes destroying things. Then they'd say "Not a problem!"
- Crazy Courtney Crazy Courtney was a wacky girl with large teeth and a hat. She spoke in incomplete sentences and shouted the term "MAHA!" when mad. She drove people really crazy, like putting shaving cream on their face, when they don't want to shave, or cutting their hair. When the person finally can't take it anymore, like one time, her piano teacher quickly got out of the house, then Courtney invited her friends over for a party.
- Tony Pajamas- An Italian mobster played by Drake. He was known for always hitting his lackey (Josh). When his lackey asked what that was for, Tony would reply, "For being an idiot!", to which the lackey responded "O-kay!" When anyone mispronounce Tony's last name (mostly : puh-JAM-us), he corrects him as puh-JAH-mus. Later on in the scene, Tony's lackey would look out the window and see their enemies, the "Al Dente Brothers" and they would throw food where Tony and his lackey were like jelly donuts, shrimp, eggs, or meatballs.
- Crime Fighting Cheerleaders - The Crime Fighting Cheerleaders were a band of three high school cheerleaders (the head of which was played by Bynes) who arrested various criminals (e.g. bullies). Often, before assaulting and arresting the criminal, this peppy squad would recite a "Gimme a [letter]" cheer, ultimately spelling something completely irrelevant to the situation (milk, in one episode), apparently to distract and confuse the criminal into vulnerability. After the criminal's arrest, one of the victims might gratefully ask, "How can we ever thank you?" to which the head cheerleader would, with the wacky Amanda grin, energetically respond, "By keeping up your school spirit!" At the end of the skit, the crew would announce their exit with a last "Gimme a [letter]" cheer, spelling something like bye or c-ya. In one episode, following the arrest, the criminals' victim (played by Josh Peck, who frequented the part in these skits) asks the head cheerleader if she will [go out with] him; the cheerleader peppily responds, "No! But I will do this!" at which point she uses his arm to flip him onto his back and onto the living room coffee table! Ironically, the victim responds with utter and ecstatic enthusiasm--he was just flipped by a cheerleader!
- When... Attack - "When... Attack" was a show where the host Amanda Bynes, known as "Bucky McBuckBuck, the World's most ticklish pony" explained how a group of people or things (such as "When Bradys Attack" or "When Cheerleaders Attack") attacked people. People who were attacked in interviews repeat exactly what the host said. At the end, the host will told the viewers to call a number, usually something like "1-800-I-Just-Saw-The-Bradys-Attack-Someone-And-Now-I'm-Calling-This-Number-To-Report-What-I-Saw". Then the Bradys, or whatever group was featured in that episode, would arrive in Bucky's studio, forcing her to run away as they attack the cameraman.
- ... Dooper - A restaurant that served different items every sketch. Whatever was offered, (i.e.: ice cream, soup, sushi, cookies), was usually gross. Examples included spider crunch ice cream (with actual spiders), and underwear chowder soup. On occasion, a customer would ask "Hey, didn't this use to be a sushi, cookie, soup, etc, restaurant?" The employees would respond that it "wasn't their thing." At the end of the skit, the customer tries a special sample that actually tastes good -- but they were in for a big surprise, like getting crushed by a refrigerator or being attacked by a samurai, depending on the type of sample they ate.
- Mother Kaboose - An elderly woman with large framed glasses and a large butt, played by Amanda. She only appeared on the first episode of the show, and sat in a rocking chair telling a children's story. The story suddenly became innapropiate at the end such as talking about a woman's breasts and armpits. Then, all of a sudden, she developed a heavy cough, and fell off the chair.
- Mr. Oldman - An elderly widower (played by Dan Schneider) who was a victim of constant prank phone calls from a character played by Amanda Bynes. The character often told Mr. Oldman to do unusual tasks, such as to spray whipped cream in his mouth and to confirm his order of zebras. Mr. Oldman then complained about how much he hated children, and screamed "YOU HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER!!" several times, and then talked about random things, such as that he is cold and damp, his health problems, or that his car hasn't run since 1973.
- Mr. Gullible - An intellectually disabled substitute teacher, with bucked teeth, who often did what the students said was what their regular teacher did: "Our normal teacher usually... (insert wacky task here)." The wacky tasks included eating chalk, drinking out of a fish tank, giving $100 to each student at the end of class, etc. The students laughed while Mr. Gullible does the tasks. He also appeared in the 2 imitations of Survivor, one in a bathroom, and another in an old car. The other participants told him to leave, and he did so, being eliminated.
- The Girls' Room - A TV show that took place in the girl's bathroom of a high school. Characters included Amber (Bynes), who was very popular and egotistical; Sheila, a very aggressive tough girl; Tammy, a "foreign exchange" student from Tennessee; and Debbie, who was not very bright and liked eggs. In one epidsode in which the girls were interviewing for a new cast member, Debbie asks the questions, one of which she reads, "If you were stranded on a desert island, and you could only bring one thing, what would you thumb?". After a, "What???" or two, Amber corrects her: "Debbie, that's your thumb!"
- The Dare Show - A show hosted by a brother and sister, played by Amanda and Drake. They claimed they would accept any dare, but whenever a caller suggested a dare, they would refuse. The caller would call them "Chicken", and the hosts would give in. At the end of the show, their mother would find them doing the Dare Show after she told them not to. Then the caller would dare the mother to do something and the mother would refuse until being called a chicken. She then would perform the said act.
- Melody & Thad - A 60's style duo who usually performed songs that were offensive to the occasion. For example, in a restaurant, they sang a song about an unpleasant experience in a restaurant that included vomiting and snot and telling senior citizens that they were old. At a wedding, they sang a song called "You Married an Ugly Guy."
- Totally Kyle - A stereotypical stoned hippie surfer played by Drake Bell who told pointless stories. Examples are a story about one time when he tied his shoes, and this one: "I was walking on this side of the street, then I crossed and walked on the other side." He also likes to play guitar. There's one clip about Totally Kyle in which his teacher, played by Bynes, is disappointed with him because of his book report about Charlotte's Web in which he wrote that he likes spiders and that he also likes doughnuts. She's also disappointed about how he addresses her as "dude"; therefore, she does the seemingly sensible thing of inviting his parents and grandparents to school, only to find out that they also address anyone, especially the teacher, as "dude". Another of Totally Kyle's stories was flawlessly spoken as follows:
Totally Kyle once made a guest appearance on All That. The cast told him that he had the wrong show. (Ironically, this was shot after the Amanda Show ended production, so maybe that's why he wandered onto the All That set).
- Amanda's Jacuzzi- A talk-show where Amanda Bynes was in a Jacuzzi with a guest, who was either fictional, famous, deceased historical character, or anyone random, like the "Swiss Guy". She asked them two normal questions about themselves, but the third question was ridiculous (such as "Is it true that you went broke after gambling all of your money in Las Vegas?"). The puzzled guest would reply, "No", and then Amanda asked, "How about a plate of spaghetti?" Midget waiters then served Amanda and the guest spaghetti, and the guest usually say something silly and appropriate, like, "Long live the me", when the guest is King Henry VIII for example, or "Good day!" when Benjamin Franklin was there.
- The Literals- A family which takes things - well, literally! On one episode, the daughter Leslie was told to chill, so she put ice down her top. Likewise, her parents were asked to "hold a glass for a second", so they drop it after one second. On another such episode, when the Literals were with another family, the father of the other family says, "You guys kill me!" after which the Literals slowly approach him to--you guessed it!--kill him, but the gracious writers of the show fade out the cameras before anything happens.
Guest Stars
Beverly Mitchell, Curtis Armstrong, Patrick Bristow, Ashley Tisdale, Haylie Duff, Adam Brody, A.J. Trauth, Kenan Thompson and Kyle Sullivan have guest starred on the show. Along with musical performances by LFO and Vitamin C, and Drake himself.
Cast
- Amanda Bynes
- Drake Bell
- Nancy Sullivan
- Raquel Lee (1999-2000)
- John Kassir (1999-2000)
- Josh Peck (2000-2002)
See also
External links
- [amandaplease.com - Penelope's Amanda fansite], which is actually an official site (Penelope is in fact a regular character on the show, played by Bynes)
- [The Amanda Show area on nick.com]
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