Welcome to the Elite 8.

And let me just say. Dudes, dudettes, and non-duderinos alike… we had a couple of shockers (to me, at least) this week. I looked at the final votes on the way to home Sunday night and truly had my jaw drop on one of these. This particular bracket, while incredibly difficult to choose, has moved along pretty much as I anticipated. And while I’m not super surprised to see the final 8 sketches we have ended up with here, we lost what I saw as a dark horse to win the whole thing and came unbelievable close to losing our first 1 seed, while only having one true runaway match in our Sweet 16.

So here we are. The Regional Finals begin now and voting will end Wednesday, April 2 at 5pm Central. This tournament always surprises me every year with how fast it flies by. We are at the best vs the best. Good luck making up your mind. I am fully at a loss on how to vote on all of these.

But first — Let’s get on to the results! Remember all “scores” are percentages from voting.

Sweet 16

John Belushi Region

(1) Word Association – 1975 vs (5) Two Wild and Crazy Guys – 1978

Our 5 seed ‘Two Wild and Crazy Guys’ is a family favorite of Mrs. Clumsy Optimist and while they fought as hard as they could, the 1 seed ‘Word Association’ was just too much to handle and moves on to the Elite 8 by a final of 63-37.

(3) Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood: Nutrition – 1981 vs (7) The Samurai Futaba – 1975

This battle of two absolute classics ended up giving the Belushi Region’s two semifinal games the exact same score as the 3 seed ‘Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood’ moves on to face ‘Word Association’ after taking down 7 seed ‘The Samurai Futaba’ by a final of 63-37.

Phil Hartman Region

(1) Matt Foley: Van Down by the River – 1993 vs (5) Chippendales Audition – 1990

Two of everyone’s all time Chris Farley sketches. Just perfect physical comedy. In the end, the 5 seed ‘Chippendales Audition’ is sent to live in a van down by the river by the 1 seed ‘Matt Foley’ 75-25.

(2) Celebrity Jeopardy!: French Stewart, Burt Reynolds, & Sean Connery – 1999 vs (3) Wayne’s World: Aerosmith – 1990

I thought ‘Wayne’s World’ would at minimum put up a fight against a super powerful 2 seed ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ but I was…uhh…very wrong. The Jeopardy! sketch just buried the competition and moves along to the Elite 8 by a final score of 87-13. This was tied with one other match in the Round of 32 for the largest margin of victory since the first round!

Chris Farley Region

(1) More Cowbell – 2000 vs (5) D*** in a Box – 2006

On this matchup it seemed our 5 seed ‘D*** in a Box’ was outclassed from tipoff and could just never catch up as the 1 seed ‘More Cowbell’ moves on 75-25.

(6) Corksoakers – 2004 vs (7) What Up With That? – 2009

We had a truly fun 6/7 matchup here and they are both some of my favorite sketches of all time. I absolutely love ‘Corksoakers’ though and that’s where I voted. Y’all had differing opinions and move on the 7 seed ‘What Up With That?’ fairly easily by a final of 63-37.

Norm MacDonald Region

(1) Close Encounter – 2015 vs (12) Beavis and Butt-Head – 2024

Our last remaining double digit seed ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ had taken out some true juggernauts, knocking out a 4 and 5 seed in the first two rounds. Our top seeded MacDonald Region squad had breezed along in this Tournament but had the fight of their lives on hand in the Sweet 16. This one came down to 1 vote (!) as our 1 seed squeaks out a victory 57-43.

(3) Star Wars Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base – 2016 vs (7) Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks – 2016

When I announced the topic, I had more than one person say ‘Starkiller Base’ was their favorite to win even before I seeded anyone. And they jumped out to a quick lead but could not hold as 7 seed ‘Black Jeopardy!’ went on a late run to upset a very strong 2 seed. The final here was 63-37.

So, after all the votes were tallied , we end up with all of our 1 seeds making the regional finals. The bottom half of our bracket gives us two 1 vs 7 matchups for the first time ever, while the top half is more of a blue blood type situation where our matchups are a 1/2 and 1/3 affair.

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That leaves our bracket looking like this (Click to expand. It gets a little crowded):

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Elite 8

John Belushi Region

(1) Word Association – 1975 vs (3) Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood: Nutrition – 1981

Phil Hartman Region

(1) Matt Foley: Van Down by the River – 1993 vs (2) Celebrity Jeopardy!: French Stewart, Burt Reynolds, & Sean Connery – 1999

Chris Farley Region

(1) More Cowbell – 2000 vs (7) What Up With That?  – 2009

Norm MacDonald Region

(1) Close Encounter – 2015 vs (7) Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks – 2016

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Alright everybody. Here we are. The finale of every region! Good luck figuring out who to vote for. These are so tough at this point. I can’t make up my mind and feel like I need to abstain from every match-up! Polls are open and will close on Wednesday, April 2 at 5pm Central.

Let’s get to voting and see who wins each region! See you guys on Thursday with our Final 4! Unreal that we are already here.