The House Party Crew

The House Party Crew, also known as the House Party, is a Magisterian sketch comedy television series broadcast by MBC from 18 October 1997, to 12 May 2012, created by Jonah Pemberton, Mansel Layton, and Steph Adair. It was the second longest-running sketch comedy series in Magisteria, after PTV's SketchTV, which has been running continuously since 1978. The House Party Crew's pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily based around pop culture–featuring parodies of films, TV series, music videos, celebrities, and occasionally politics–and original characters, many of which were recurring.

In 1993, the writing trio of Jonah Pemberton, Mansel Layton and Steph Adair left SketchTV after creative conflicts with the showrunners. By early-1994, they began to develop their own sketch comedy series as an act of revenge to SketchTV's showrunners. The show was intended to compete with fellow sketch comedy series SketchTV, which was being derided by critics and audiences upon House Party's premiere. For much of its fifteen-season run, House Party typically surpassed SketchTV in the ratings and has since been described by critics as an edgier "cousin" of SketchTV, as well being described as the "Magisterian Mad TV".

The show's diverse cast over the years consisted of popular members such as its longest-running overall members, Baldric Norman and Marie-Christine Lemaire. Recurring celebrity impressions and characters attracted both fan followings and controversy, while critical reception of the series varied, though it was often negative. It has appeared on several critics' lists of the best sketch comedy television series of all time and was nominated for a number of awards, including 78 Magisterian Television Awards, 17 of which it won.

Development
Jonah Pemberton, Mansel Layton and Steph Adair all began working as staff writers on the sketch comedy television series SketchTV in 1986 after Jean-Luc Villeneuve, the then-showrunner, went for an "employee shuffle" which included the firings of old employees and hiring new ones. Pemberton, Layton and Adair were the first three to be hired, and the three would write for SketchTV's critically acclaimed seasons from 1986 until their departure in 1993. Two years later, Pemberton, Layton and Adair were approached by MBC executives to be the showrunners of a sketch comedy weekly series which would become The House Party Crew. The series began with 13 writers, as well as a diverse cast of actors. Its pilot episode premiered on 18 October 1997, at 10:30 p.m. on MBC1.

As the series went on, The House Party Crew became focused on satirical character- and pop culture-based sketches, which were often parodies of popular films, TV series, and music videos. Sketches often featured celebrity impressions and occasionally contained political satire. Pearce Leigh became the show's director and supervising producer starting in 2001.

The House Party Crew was partially designed to compete with fellow late-night sketch comedy series SketchTV, which, upon House Party 's debut, was having one of its most critically derided periods.

In December 2011, Pemberton, Layton and Adair confirmed that the House Party Crew will end its run, despite negotiations for a 16th season were happening at the same time, after the 15th season. According to Jonah Pemberton, the show's conclusion were the results of 'creative bankruptcy'.

Reception and legacy
In 2006, House Party was ranked eleventh on MBC's 100 Best TV Shows of the Country and was ranked first on MBC's 15 Most Edgiest TV Shows. The show was known for it's cult following, and it had the biggest fanbase in the country with over 4-7 million fans.