In the show's second season, "MADtv" parodied one of TV's longest-running game shows with a sketch entitled "Schizophrenic Jeopardy." Host Alex Trebek (played by David Herman) welcomes three contestants (played by cast members Artie Lange, Mary Scheer and guest star Christina Applegate) who are all suffering from schizophrenia. Contestants choose from such categories as "Voices in My Head," "You're All Against Me" and "The Apocalypse," but the game goes off the rails when one contestant repeatedly tries to buy a vowel (which is done in "Wheel of Fortune," not "Jeopardy") and another thinks she smells gas.
A season-five episode featured a guest appearance by Regis Philbin, who at that time was hosting the wildly popular game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Philbin played himself to host a parody called "Who Wants to Be the President?" in which then-Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura (played by Will Sasso), Vice President Al Gore (Pat Kilbane) and long-shot presidential aspirant Alan Keyes (Aries Spears) were contestants. These three matched wits (albeit not particularly well) by answering various trivia questions.
In season eight, "MADtv" produced a sketch that parodied controversial video game "Grand Theft Auto" by turning it into a game show. Cast member Frank Calliendo used his gift for celebrity impersonations to play Rod Roddy, longtime real-life host of "The Price Is Right," the show's announcer. The sketch's premise has middle-class contestants competing to retrieve a suitcase full of cocaine without being killed by a cop, a prostitute or a homeless man. Contestants spin a wheel to find out which weapon they can bring with them, with choices including a chainsaw, a baseball bat and a .357 Magnum.
Perhaps the show's most memorable game-show parody was "The Lillian Verner Game Show," which appeared intermittently throughout the next few years after its debut in season nine. The skit's premise was that it was sponsored by the Lillian Verner catalog, which was "filled with products that even a hobo wouldn't want." Host Dale Brisket (played by cast member Paul Vogt) would quiz clueless contestants on their knowledge of the bizarre products appearing in the catalog. Show writer Michael Hitchcock is the drug-addled announcer, Simian Dyson, and cast member Stephanie Weir plays the ever-returning champion, cat-loving homemaker Gail Cinder.