The late eighties and early-to-mid nineties brought out some of the filthiest, bottom-feeding talk shows our country has ever seen. From Morton Downey Jr. and Sally Jesse Raphael to Jerry Springer and Maury Povich, it was the era when "trash TV" became a symbol of a country's swift spiral down one giant cultural toilet in opposition to people like Larry King and Oprah Winfrey, who effortlessly made interviews with, like, Fran Drescher come off looking like Masterpiece Theater.

Around the latter half of the "boom" came Ricki Lake, the formerly obese star of Hairspray (no, seriously, that was basically her résumé), with a show that combined the usual elements of trashy talk (read: "freaks") with something impossibly dumber yet: catchphrases. Unlike today, when it takes weeks to months for squawk-boxes to latch onto cultural buzzwords like "metrosexual" and "baby daddy," Ricki Lake was trotting out episode "subjects" like "You're not all that!" and "Dump that zero and get yourself a hero!"

Naturally, she was a smash.

For those who could stomach it, Ricki Lake offered a daily dose of garbage crazy that gave soapboxes to transvestites, Klan members, and cheaters, all of whom seemed to be unaware that Ricki's audience (whose bodices heaved with pride, "Go Ricki! Go Ricki" in what became a recurring staple) would vocally oppose their behavior. Yes, it was a total circus and, indeed, it made even less sense that Ricki Lake, of all people, was holding court.

Somebody behind the team at The Minisode Network has include Ricki Lake in the library of old shows edited down to under five minutes. That being said, stumbling upon this mine field of cultural debris felt nothing less than miraculous, considering that a five-minute-long episode of Ricki Lake is the closest we've come to witnessing brilliantly experimental, refreshingly avant garde television since...well, since the last episode of Tim And Eric.

Is it cultural satire? Clever editing? Both? Whatever the case, we're glad these minisodes live on the Internet. Welcome to our side, Ricki. You're probably not going to like it here very much.

Um, we probably don't have to tell you that the following videos are NSFW (unless you work in a holding cell for incestuous, impregnated [and proud!] transvestites, in which it's totally SFW, so turn up your speakers!):