Second City Television, or SCTV for short, was a parody and satire sketch comedy show that grew out of a noted comedic improv group based in Chicago. It gave rise to many of the most popular young comedians of the 1970s and 1980s, including John Belushi and John Candy. It had many incarnations, starting on the CBC, going to NBC and eventually cable. Its comedic slant was different than that of its contemporary, Saturday Night Live; whereas an SNL skit would have an absurd situation that eventually all the characters see as common-sense, SCTV would always have at least one sane person that would loudly call the absurd what it was. Like SNL, it also had its share of Christmas-based sketches. Being pre-recorded rather than live, these skits were usually longer, in some cases taking up whole e