Saturday Night live, or SNL, has been around much longer than MadTV. I enjoy watching the old episodes that featured some of the greatest comedians of all time. Since SNL has been around since the 70's it is much more established and knows what is funny and what is not. SNL has many original characters and these characters are well established. I also enjoy that every week they have a new celebrity guest host who participates in some of the skits.

Mad TV is the newcomer to the late night comedy shows and have not quite established themselves that well. When I do tune in the show is usually wierd and unfunny. Mad TV has some good actors and good characters but many of the characters are stupid and just plain annoying. The worst one is the Vancome Lady, I can not stand her. Some of Mad TV's parodies made me laugh so hard and that is there strong point and they should exploit that more.

Both shows have a well rounded and talented cast. All of the actors can be funny at times and stupid at times. It is apparent though that SNL's actors are of a higher quality and are more amusing. SNL's actors have had more experience and can better portray characters.

The writing on each of these shows vary day by day. SNL is more consistantly funny because the writers know what the people want and know what the people will laugh at. Mad TV has many stupid skits that I don't find funny at all. Some of the parodies are well done and some are just stupid. The writers at Mad TV need to develop better taste.

Which is better? I'd have to give the hands down to SNL for the points mentioned above. If Mad TV improved they could be a contender.