Madhouse Brigade is a half-hour sketch comedy series conceived and written by Alexander "Sandy" Marshall, and produced by Alexander Marshall, Dale Keidel and Jim Larkin. It aired in U.S. syndication in 1978 and 1979, and won Marshall an Emmy Award in 1980 as Best Writer of an Entertainment Series.

This independent production included appearances by future Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

 cast member, Joe Piscopo

Joe Piscopo

Joseph Charles John "Joe" Piscopo is an American comedian and actor best known for his work on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:...

, Ty-D-Bowl Man, Dan Resin

Dan Resin

Dan Resin was an American actor.-Early life:Resin was born in South Bend, Indiana. He was three years old when his parents divorced. Resin met his future wife in the seventh grade. He graduated from Indiana University in 1954. While at Indiana University, Resin became a member of the Alpha Iota...

 as well as Frank Nastasi

Frank Nastasi

Frank Nastasi was an actor and comedian best known for his work with Soupy Sales on the show Lunch with Soupy.Born in Detroit, Michigan, Nastasi played Gramps the animal expert on Wixie Wonderland before he took over Clyde Adler's role on Lunch with Soupy, playing characters like White Fang, Black...

, also known as the man behind "White Fang" on the Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his...

 Show. Other cast members included Karen Rushmore, Carlos Carrasco, Bob "Rocket" Ryan and Nola Fairbanks

Nola Fairbanks

Nola Fairbanks is the granddaughter of Mormon pioneers Ralph Jacobus Fairbanks and Celestia Adelaide Johnson Fairbanks from Payson, Utah and Death Valley, California and has done film and Broadway work...

.

Sketches included a fashion show featuring clothing made of food, commercial parodies where a dog food spokesman gets carried away and eats the product, diapers for adult "Campers", a sleep aid that makes your "Partner" go to sleep as well as musical performances including original love songs, "It's Time to Start Unloading You" and "Love Stinks the Most".

Madhouse Brigade theme song and musical arrangements were by musical director Tony Monte.

External links

• New Yorker Magazine Abstract, October 9, 1978 about Madhouse Brigade
• filmreference.com on Joe Piscopo
• The American Songbook on Tony Monte
• New York Daily News on Alexander Marshall's Emmy wins