The Amanda Show

The Amanda Show is an American live-action sketch comedy and variety show that aired on Nickelodeon from October 16, 1999 to September 21, 2002. It starred Amanda Bynes, Drake Bell and Nancy Sullivan, along with John Kassir, Raquel Lee, and Josh Peck. A notable recurring actor in the show was Taran Killam. The show was a spin-off from All That, in which Bynes co-starred in at the time.
==Format ==
In spite of being designed as a sketch comedy television program, the series is set in a fictional universe in which it is broadcast as a popular television comedy, as evidenced through staged mishaps involving members of the studio audience, as well as comedic sub-plots involving Amanda's unhealthily obsessed, nerdy, self-proclaimed "Number One Fan" Penelope Taynt, who constantly devises schemes to achieve her lifelong goal of meeting Amanda (as a gag, Bynes herself portrays Penelope, therefore meaning the pair could never be shown onscreen together). These failed schemes include Penelope's attempts at outsmarting the fictional security guard of the studio where The Amanda Show is filmed and at manipulating Amanda's castmates into helping her carry out her plans. 
Aside from this, the series is formatted as a typical sketch comedy much like All That, with recurring sketches as well as a few sketches only seen in one episode. The actors also play themselves in subplots during each episode. The sketches are often pop culture parodies (such as "Judge Trudy", a spoof of ; "So You Want to Win Five Dollars?", a spoof of ; and "Blockblister", a spoof of the now-defunct video rental shop Blockbuster) or shorts featuring humorously odd or dim-witted characters. 
==Recurring sketches==
* Commercials - At the beginning of each episode or sometimes between sketches, an advertisement for an unusual product plays. Products include machines that make meatloaf-flavored cereal, popcorn popping pants, and a machine which multiplies pocket money. A disclaimer at the end of each sketch states that the product is "available nowhere. You can buy this and other phony products on the Amanda Show."
* Judge Trudy - This sketch is a parody of the real life courtroom show, Judge Judy. The sketch features a child plaintiff "suing" an adult defendant for petty incidents, such as an unfair grounding, an after-school detention, being told to "please stop" or other wrongdoings, which is usually them getting off light. However, on several occasions, the plaintiffs' crimes range from egging a house, pushing a principal's car into a swimming pool, and selling a house for a large amount of money to go to an expensive theme park to releasing the zoo animals from their cages to filling a house with water, painting the White House pink, gluing everything in the entire classroom, and stealing an expensive space shuttle. The defendant typically complains that Trudy is too young to be a judge, which angers Trudy even more. Despite evidence and the kids gleefully admitting to their crime, Trudy always favors the children and delivers ridiculous sentences to the adults (sometimes the adults would complain that they don't have the money to pay the fine), such as trapping parents in a rocket and sending them to space. At the end of each sketch, the Judge calls for the Dancing Lobsters to come out. The lobsters then proceed to dance with Trudy. The sketch is similar to Judge Judy: both judges wear dainty lace collars, both have African-American baliffs and both openly insult the defendants; the only difference being that Trudy treats defendants like criminals, while Judy, like most TV court judges, deals with small claims cases.
* Blockblister - A parody of the now-defunct video rental store chain Blockbuster. Blockblister is owned and operated by a family of foreigners who often find themselves facing dissatisfied customers due to the poor quality of the videos rented - which are in fact homemade spoofs of the actual movie requested. For example, a customer who attempts to rent movies such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, X-Men, Stuart Little, The Nutty Professor, Austin Powers or George of the Jungle will instead receive Face Ventura: Pet Detective, F-Men, Stuart Lipple, The Nubby Professor, Austin Powders or George from the Jungle, respectively. When the customer insists they play the video, each spoof features the family in poorly made costumes, attempting to act out the movie over the course of a few seconds, usually producing a poor imitation of the original. After arguing over the quality of the movie, the family either offers the customer an egg or inquires about payment, generating an adverse reaction from the customer. After the customer leaves - still dissatisfied - the family dances to polka music while holding eggs, concluding the sketch. In one sketch, the family demonstrates the use of a DVP, their country's version of a DVD which is an LP-sized round block of wood played in a loud wooden machine powered by pulling a cord; the machine plays the video with visual interference and a rattling noise so loud no one can hear the movie.
* When... Attack - "When... Attack", hosted by Amanda, parodies dramas such as When Animals Attack!. Bynes introduces herself as some ridiculous, but possibly famous character, then explains how a group of entities (such as cheerleaders, elderly women, The Brady Bunch, school mascots, and female Hula dancers) have been attacking people. She then shows the viewers two incidents of attacks, first played at normal speed, then in slow motion. The victims then appear in interviews, injured, distraught and sometimes repeating exactly what the host says. At the end, the host tells the viewers to call a number, usually something like "1-500-I-Just-Saw-The-Brady-Bunch-Attack-Some-Person-And-Now-I'm-Calling-This-Number-To-Report-What-I-Saw". The attackers then arrive in the studio, either assaulting the host or causing her to run away screaming. The attackers then proceed to attack the cameraman, concluding the sketch.
* The Girls' Room - A TV show that takes place in the girls' bathroom of a high school, but for one episode, took place in the boys' bathroom of the same school. The hosts are Amber, an egotistical girl who always makes sure to remind the audience that she is popular, Sheila, an aggressive girl who disposes of unwelcome guests by giving them swirlies, Tammy, a foreign exchange student from Tennessee, and Debbie, an intellectually challenged girl who constantly states that she likes eggs.
* Moody's Point - An over-the-top parody of primetime teen dramas/soap operas, mainly Dawson's Creek. The sketch focuses on Moody, an emotionally exaggerated teen whose mother is lost in a hot air balloon and whose father is missing a toe. Also featured are Moody's friends, such as Misty, a girl who is easily offended, Spalding, a boy who has a huge crush on her but criticizes her in some ridiculous ways, and Sternum, a brooding "bad boy" who responds to every question by asking the opposite of said question. Each episode had its own plot, and ends with a cliffhanger.
* Cynthia Worthington - Cynthia is an aristocrat who was brought up by a very wealthy and civilized family. She appears to look nice, but engages in revolting behavior such as burping loudly without excusing herself, eating without using her hands, displaying that she has neglected to shave her underarms, and publicly shaving her legs. At the end of the sketch when she does something even more disgusting, the people watching her get away from her and she responds with "How rude!", and she continues doing the disgusting thing.
* Penelope Taynt - Penelope Taynt, also played by Amanda Bynes, is Amanda's self-proclaimed number-one fan. She normally wears a vest, a plaid shirt and gray shorts, as well as large framed black glasses. She has a tattoo of Amanda's face on her belly, which is never seen again on the show. On the show, she runs a fansite, www.amandaplease.com, which was actually an official website created for the series. Penelope also has the odd habit of interjecting the word "please" into almost all of her sentences (though in her website, Penelope puts this down to the fact that she has always been told to say "please" when she wants something, and she wants to meet Amanda). In Season 2, Penelope developed a crush on a young security guard for the show named Trevor, who also happens to be the son of he main security guard for the show (and Penelope's arch-nemesis) Barney. The two would develop a semi-relationship from that point on. Between segments in every show, she uses some harebrained scheme to try and meet Amanda, often with the help of Drake, Josh, or her little brother Preston, but never succeeds, though she is at times exceedingly close to doing so. Schemes include cloning Amanda from her toenail, but turning out to be Drake's, having a bloodhound lead her to Amanda by following her scent, and often breaking into Amanda's dressing room. Penelope will also frequently interview people who personally know Amanda in an attempt to be pointed in the right direction. On rare occasions, Penelope will invade skits already in progress. On the contrary, Penelope's little brother Preston has met Amanda multiple times and, wanting to help his sister out, always asks if she could stay and meet Penelope; Amanda always says she cannot, due to prior commitments.
* The Extremes - This sketch is about the Extreme family, a family of three who always take every little thing to an extreme. Whatever they feel, they seem to always overreact to it. For example, when eating pizza, the daughter begins crying hysterically, claiming she is sad that when they finish eating it, it will be gone. This exasperates everyone around the family.
* Hillbilly Moment - Amanda and Drake dress as stereotypical hillbillies named Lula Mae and Eenis, and tell knock-knock jokes which always end with Lula Mae hitting Eenis over the head with the subject of the knock-knock joke.
* Mr. Gullible - A substitute teacher, with bucked teeth, who always does what the students claimed their regular teacher did: "Our regular 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, banging his head into a locker during a fire drill, and dancing like a bafoon during history class. He usually questions these ridiculous tasks by asking "..Really?" and the children confirm, leading to Mr. Gullible saying, "Well, if that's what your regular teacher does, then I guess I should too." His personality is derived from Jerry Lewis' character Julius Kelp from The Nutty Professor.
* Game show parodies with contestants that are characters from other sketches:
** So You Wanna Win Five Dollars? - A game show parody of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The contestant, who isn't very bright, has been asked three questions, with the final question being worth five U.S. dollars. The questions are always fairly easy, with four choices as answers. Half of the answers usually do not have anything to do with the question. Whenever the player needs help, they can call someone to help them. Such as when a boy wanted to phone his Dad for help, but instead the show called Mr. Oldman (see below).
** Stranded - A parody of the hit reality TV series Survivor, this sketch sees contestants stranded in a strange location in a certain state, such as a bathtub in North Dakota or a parked car in a parking lot in Oklahoma. The contestants are then forced to stay in the place, with whoever remains winning USD $1,000,000. Whoever leaves the wacky location summons two guards to take them out of the location, and ultimately out of the game. When the game comes down to three or four contestants, the final three or four must then vote one player out of the game. Many characters will often annoy each other into leaving the game, such as Courtney (see below) annoying everyone until she wins. Mr. Gullible also appears in both versions of this sketch, and both times is tricked into being the first one out.
* The Klutzes - A family whose members constantly trip and fall down shouting "HUP-DEE-DOO!", sometimes destroying things. After each incident, members would say "Not a problem!," even if it was, indeed, a problem. At the end of the sketch, the family normally end up doing something to destroy the building or fall out of a window.
* Courtney - Courtney is a girl with large teeth and a hat who speaks in incomplete sentences. When mad, she will shout "MAH-HA!". She drives people insane by putting on ridiculous schemes such as spraying shaving cream into their face or cutting their hair, in order to get the person to leave for her own reasons.
* Tony Pajamas - An Italian mobster played by Drake. Most of Tony's situations involve Candy Tulips (played by Amanda), his girlfriend, and his lackey, Paulie (played by Josh), whom Tony always smacks in the back of the head for one reason or another. When Pauliecasks, "What was that for?", Tony would reply, "For being an idiot!", to which Paulie would respond, "Okay!", as if it were fair. When anyone mispronounces Tony's last name, as "Pah-JAM-Ahs", he angrily corrects the character by saying "Pah-JAW-Muhs". Later on in the sketch, Paulie will look out the window and see their enemies, the "Al Dente Brothers," who would dangerously throw food like eggs, donuts, and meatballs at Tony, Paulie, and any surrounding people; this scene would always be taken as a dramatic attack.
* Crime Fighting Cheerleaders - The Crime Fighting Cheerleaders were a band of three high school cheerleaders named Katie, Stephanie and Megan who arrested various criminals or bullies. Often, before assaulting and arresting the criminal, this peppy squad would recite a "Give me a [letter]" cheer, ultimately spelling something completely irrelevant to the situation (such as milk, in one episode) to distract and confuse the criminal into vulnerability. After the criminal's arrest, one of the victims would gratefully ask, "How can we ever thank you?" to which the head cheerleader would energetically respond, "By keeping up your school spirit!" Usually, a boy (primarily played by Josh) would ask Katie out on a date, to which she would say no and knock him to the ground. At the end of the sketch, the crew would announce their exit with a last "Gimme a [letter]" cheer, spelling something like "bye" or "c-ya."
* ... Dooper A restaurant that served different items every sketch. Whatever was offered, whether it be ice cream, soup, sushi, cookies or hot dogs, the flavors were extremely unusual or outright disgusting. Examples included spider crunch ice cream with actual spiders, underwear chowder soup, a cookie topped with hot sauce, and a hot dog topped with dog food instead of chili. On occasion, a customer would ask "Hey, didn't this used to be a (sushi, cookie, soup, etc) restaurant?" The employees would respond that it "wasn't their thing" and say that they're now (weenie, cookie, sushi, etc.) people. In later episodes, they would say things like "I'll thank you never to mention that again." At the end of the skit, the customer tries a special sample that actually tastes good — but had a surprise. After hearing the name of the sample, they will ask why it was named that, upon which the customer would have some calamity related to the name of the dish happen to him, such as being attacked by a samurai upon trying a "Samurai Roll", or getting caught in a hurricane afte biting into a "Hurricane Dog". A recurring gag is that the family's grandfather comes in from the back and the father responds "NOT NOW, GRANDPA!". Grandpa usually responds with "FAILURE!", which goes with their usually unsuccessful business.
* Mr. Oldman - An elderly widower (played by Dan Schneider) is the victim of constant prank phone calls from an unnamed character played by Amanda Bynes. The character often orders Mr. Oldman to do unusual tasks, like spraying whipped cream in his mouth, confirming his order of zebras, putting a shoe down his pants, or to press his nose and say "Beep!". Mr. Oldman would then scream "YOU HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER!!!" and talk nonsense while the girl made silly faces mocking him. Mr. Oldman always appeared saying, using some strange phrase, that he hates children.
* The Dare Show - A show hosted by a sister, Sharon, and her younger brother, Toby, played by Amanda and Drake, respectively. They claim they will accept any dare, but whenever a caller suggests an outrageous dare (especially a rude dare), they refuse. The caller would call them "chicken", "coward", "liar", or something to that effect, and the hosts would give in. Dares included Sharon brushing her teeth with her brother's foot and Toby beating himself up. After doing the dare, they would say, "Man, I can't believe I just did that." At the end of the show, the hosts' mother would find them doing The Dare Show, despite her repeatedly telling them not to. Then the caller would dare the mother to do something, such as eating an entire jar of mayonnaise or shave her head, and the mother would refuse until being called a name. She then would perform the act. The callers are said to come from a city in the wrong location, such as Los Angeles, North Dakota; Barcelona, Alabama; and San Francisco, Tennessee.
* Melody & Thad - A duo who usually performed songs that were inappropriate to the occasion.
* Totally Kyle - A stereotypical laid back hippie surfer played by Drake Bell who tells nonsense stories, such as describing the time he once lost a cordless phone, or about how finding a dead bird made him change his normal route to school. He is depicted with long, messy, shaggy blonde hair, a baggy, tie-dye shirt, and a pale yellow electric guitar. Kyle uses the word "like" a lot, and always has an electric guitar hanging from his neck. His stories usually start with the line 'One time...'. This was the only recurring sketch without Amanda's appearance (she introduces Kyle off-screen), and is only one of two characters from the show to appear on All That, the other being Penelope Taynt.
* Amanda's Jacuzzi - A talk-show where Amanda Bynes is in a jacuzzi with a guest, who is either fictional (such as Santa Claus), famous, a deceased historical character (such as Elvis Presley), or a random character such as the "Swiss Guy". She asks them two normal questions about themselves, and then a ridiculous one. The puzzled guest then replies, "No", and then Amanda asks, "How about a plate of spaghetti?" Dwarf waiters then serve Amanda and the guest spaghetti, and the guest usually says something silly but appropriate, such as King Henry VIII saying "Long live the me."
* The Procrastinator - A superhero spoof where Amanda plays a heroine called "The Procrastinator", who responds to people's cries for help by saying, very triumphantly, that she would get to solving the problems "Eventually!", and do nothing, despite the helpless citizens' pleas.
* Stop Motion Amanda - A stop motion Amanda does wacky things, often with a pet dog named Scooter.
* The Literals - A family that does something literally, but it is just an expression. For example, when the girl asks for a punch, Leslie (Bynes) punches her, and when the girl's dad asks Leslie's mom (Sullivan) to hold a glass for one second, after one second, she drops it. When the father says "You Literals kill me". They grab something to kill him, but the sketch ends before it is revealed.
==Members==
Main Members:
* Amanda Bynes (Host)
* Drake Bell
* Nancy Sullivan
* Raquel Lee (1999-2000)
* Johnny Kassir (1999-2000)
* Josh Peck (2000-2002)
Recurring Members:
* Jenna Morrison
* Jamie Snow
* Ashley Edner
* Andrew Hill Newman
* Brian Ahearn
* Dan Schneider
* Reagan Gomez-Preston (2000–2002)
* Radley Watkins (2000–2002)
* Matthew Botuchis
* Lauren Petty (2000-2002)
* Molly Orr (2000–2002)
* Taran Killam (2000–2002)
* Maureen McCormick (2000-2002)
* Radley Watkins (2000-2002)
==Gallery==
The Amanda Show Theme Song
The_Amanda_Show_-_Amanda_Bynes.jpg
TheAmandaShow1.jpg
TheAmandaShow2.jpg
TheAmandaShow3.jpg
TheAmandaShow4.jpg
Show 3.jpg|Amanda with fellow cast members Drake Bell, Nancy Sullivan, John Kassir and Raquel Lee in Season 1
Show 4.jpg
Amanda_Show_Cast.jpg|Amanda with fellow cast members Drake Bell, Nancy Sullivan and newcomer Josh Peck in Seasons 2 & 3
asa69.jpg|Cinthya Wortintong Pilot episode
asa72.jpg|Cinthya Wortington Pilot episode
asa75.jpg|Cinthya Wortington Pilot episode
asa78.jpg|Cinthya Wortington Pilot episode
==Episodes list==
The Amanda Show Episode Lists	The Amanda Show Episode Lists	The Amanda Show Episode Lists	The Amanda Show Episode Lists
Season 	Ep # 	First Airdate 	Last Airdate
Season 1 	13 	October 16, 1999 	February 19, 2000
Season 2 	17 	July 15, 2000 	April 7, 2001
Season 3 	10 	January 19, 2002 	September 21, 2002
The Best of ... 	1 	March 23, 2002 	May 18, 2002
==Broadcast history==
*Nickelodeon
** Original run: October 16, 1999-September 21, 2002
** Reruns: September 22, 2002-September 5, 2007)
*The N (October 13, 2007-March 2008; April 4, 2009-August 3, 2009)
*TeenNick (October 11, 2011-April 2012; September 17, 2012-March 17, 2013; June 10, 2016-August 27, 2017; March 23-April 19, 2020)
==Home video releases==
==External links==
* The Amanda Show area on nick.com
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