Back in the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, sketch comedy shows ruled the TV. Red Skelton, Carol Burnette, The Smothers Brothers, Flip Wilson and many more entertainers did nearly anything and everything to get you to laugh in the early days of sketch comedy. These shows were prime time offerings geared for general audiences, those with delicate sensibilities and children could watch without being offended or being exposed to questionable humor.

In the mid 70’s, however, a new crop of sketch comedy shows appeared. These shows dodged the censors by coming on late at night when kids and those easily irked by adult humor would likely be in bed or watching Johnny Carson.

Saturday Night Live, Second City TV, and a handful of other shows attracted the hipper, younger crowd with irreverent dialog, racy visuals, and music and guest hosts familiar to younger audiences.

Later, shows like In Living Color and Mad TV pushed the envelope of what was permitted on public TV even further. The comedy was brash, bordering on tasteless, and no subject was sacred. While politics had long been a target of sketch comics, homosexuality, war, religion, and other controversial subjects were now fair game.

We’re closing out the first decade in a new millennia, a new brand of sketch comedy is in order. Enter The Monkey Box.

Irreverent? Yes.

Thoughtful? Ah-uh.

Mature? You betcha.

Funny? Oh man...!

I thought I’d lose it watching Ghetto Fatima’s Afghan Wedding Palace.

The Monkey Box is not for the easily offended, but if you can laugh at yourself as well as others then download the 36 episodes.

Ok, change of subject.

Remember when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was the hottest thing to hit the big screen since Arnold Schwarzenegger butchered his lines in Conan, The Barbarian? One of Johnson’s first roles was a cameo appearance in the hit movie, The Mummy Returns. Mister Johnson was so popular after that appearance that the big boys in Hollywood decided to give The Rock his own movie based on the Scorpion King character he played.

The Scorpion King movie sucked, unfortunately, but it did pave the way for The Rock to make several other uninspired flicks, the best of which, in my opinion, is The Rundown. But that’s another story.

Anyway, I suppose some people liked The Scorpion King well enough that someone in Hollywood thought it might be worth coming out with a sequel. I guess they didn’t think enough of the sequel to cast The Rock in the starring role, or to release it to theaters. Instead, The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior was released directly to DVD and Blu-Ray. Instead of Mr. Johnson the starring role is played by Randy Couture of Ultimate Fighting Championship fame.

By now most of you are either scratching your heads wondering where this is all going or are all excited about seeing your boy Randy in a real movie.

Randy Couture in The Scorpion King 2

Well, I’m never one to disappoint: There’s an iTunes exclusive clip of the The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior available for free download on the iTunes Store. The sneak peek is suppose to make you want to watch the movie, but I came away wondering why anyone would bother. (Just my opinion Mr. Couture. No need for violence.)

Check it out and see if you agree. You never know; maybe you’ll like what you see and run out to buy the movie. It could happen.

OK, another change of subject: What the world needs now is not another reality show. Still, if they have to create another reality show who better to center the show on than Margaret Cho (pronounced "ch-oh" , like "show", but with a c instead of an s).

If you don’t know, Ms. Cho is a hot comic who likes to poke fun at anything asian. I’ve watched her on TV and she is funny, and the free episode of her reality show paints her as being intelligent as well as witty.

That’s all well enough, but what’s with the vertically challenged woman who follows her around? Assistant? Comic relief?

Very strange.

Reality shows are a dime a dozen these days, but The Cho Show seems to be a bit different. It could be the first episode that’s different and the rest will fall into some sort of reality malaise where old situations and stale jokes are rehashed for the zillionth time. I hope that’s not the case.

Check out the free episode of The Cho Show at the iTunes Store.

There ya go. Another week done.

Be sure to look for my new monthly column where I’ll be featuring cool and not so cool free apps available for your spiffy iPhone. Look for Free For iPhone the last week of every month.

That’s a wrap.

More free stuff at the iTunes Store, with direct links:

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.