Potato judge

The Potato Judge is the subject of a brief but memorable Conan O'Brien sketch broadcast on American TV in the late 1990s. He was featured in a running gag in which Conan pretends to have access to thousands of absurdly obscure satellite television channels due to his location within the Rockefeller Center skyscraper, and periodically surfs them with his audience.

Potato Judge Television (PJTV), a spoof of Court TV, is a channel that documents the Potato Judge's rulings. He resembles a demented Muppet, a puppet potato with googly eyes who presides over a real criminal court. He is known for his draconian approach to justice, and his ruthless, shrill, impassive tone in announcing his damning verdicts. He sentenced a young boy to life at hard labor for reporting a stolen bicycle, and charged and sentenced another man for the murder of Dallas' J.R. Ewing, a fictional character.

Because of his memorable persona and striking cruelty, the Potato Judge is still often cited on the web as a metaphor for a ruthless, arbitrary, unjust, or draconian judiciary process. Andy Richter remarked, upon witnessing the Potato Judge scream his merciless rulings over the plaintive wails of hapless defendants, "Man, if I ever go down, I hope I don't get the Potato Judge."