I watched that SNL 40 thing everyone was talking about a few days ago. It was a bit too self-congratulatory and Lorne Michaels-centric, but man were some of those old clips funny. I was tempted to do a “what’s the best sketch/recurring character ever”, but there’s just too much good stuff. (I don’t think could choose between “Buckwheat is Dead” and Nick Winters/Rails, and those are two of the first few that come to mind.)
But…what are the worst recurring characters ever? I’ll go with Operaman and they “you likah the juice guys” but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s something even worse in the Sandler-era oeuvre.
Gin & Tonic
Bigfoots galore!
burnspbesq
Hans and Franz are pretty appalling, particularly in their recent re-appearance in State Farm Insurance TV spots with Aaron Rogers.
Mike J
@burnspbesq: I always thought those were awful, but you can’t rule out Billy Crystal’s marvelous guy.
richard mayhew
I hate the Californians, could not stand MacGruber
DougJ
I love the Californians though the one they did on the 40 show was awful. Kristen Wiig is great in general.
Villago Delenda Est
The “Buckwheat is dead” thing was a brilliant skewering of that vile shitstain and obvious operative for the shitty grade-Z movie star Ted Koppel. The entire breathless “this just in” complete with theme music and all the other infotainment crap that has destroyed the credibility of broadcast news in this country was taken to task.
Buddy H
Tracy Morgan was hilarious doing standup in clubs, but his “Brian Fellows” was just painful to watch. Any character that Bobby Moyniyan does is a wasted opportunity. He just comes out in makeup and declaims his lines, without doing anything or interesting with the character. Compare him to Kate McKinnon, who gets laughs before she says a line, because she BECOMES the character (like when she does Bieber).
In other news…. is this guy a balloon-juice commenter?
———————————————
MANCHESTER-by-the-SEA, Mass. — A Massachusetts man has found a way to profit from the several feet of snow in his yard: He’s shipping it to people in warmer climates for the bargain price of $89 for six pounds.
Kyle Waring, of Manchester-by-the-Sea, got the idea while shoveling snow earlier this winter and launched ShipSnowYo.com.
At first he shipped 16.9-ounce snow-filled bottles for $19.99, but he found the snow melted by the time it arrived at its destination.
So he came up with a new plan, selling six pounds at a time. He tells Boston.com even if the snow melts a little by the time it arrives, the package can still make 10 to 15 snowballs.
He’s also started offering 10-pound packages for $119.
He says he’ll keep selling until people stop ordering.
richard mayhew
@DougJ: I usually love Kristin Wiig, but the Californians just does not work for me…
Buddy H
I think Kyle Mooney is the unsung hero of the show. His characterizations are so subtle they fly under the radar. His filmed bits are surreal.
jl
@richard mayhew: heh heh hehe, Californian here who has done some hard Southern California time. I haven’t watched SNL regularly for years, so I have to judge from clips.
I loved the first Californians clips I saw. A few of the actors had great satires of Valley Girl and Boy talk. I loved the frequent interjection of freeway and travel directions, which is kind of true. The narcissistic mirror action was over the top, but WTF, its part of the stereotype of the obsession with a certain look and conformity, so fair game.
The skit I saw for the 40th anniversary looked like it is an exhausted skit. The accents have gone to hell, so overdeveloped and stylized that they are not good satire anymore. Hope it goes away.
Edit: I am letting slide that fact that Californian English is the true English and we do not have accents. You other people from the Old Country do.
Buddy H
@Villago Delenda Est: It came too soon after the murder of John Lennon for my taste.
Cacti
Rob Schneider’s “Richmeister” character was horrid.
Gus
I didn’t care for a lot of Kristen Wiig’s recurring characters. Gilly is annoying, as is the Target cashier lady.
Mike J
Generally speaking, most SNL sketches are funny for the first 30 seconds and then go on for another ten minutes without a single laugh.
Cacti
@Gus:
Seconded.
I think Kristen Wiig is a lot better in comedic films than in sketch comedy. The exact opposite of most SNL cast members.
Gin & Tonic
@Cacti: If you locked Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler in a cage with a dozen rabid ferrets, that might have some comedic (or at least karmic) potential.
Buddy H
I know he was popular, but Jon Lovitz’s “pathological liar” just seemed like an amateur high school comedy bit to me.. I liked when he did 1930s ham actors, but the liar just seemed 2nd rate to me.
Charles Rocket doesn’t get much love. When they showed his photo, there was silence, then a single handclap, then the rest of the audience joined in dutifully. Poor bastard killed himself. He thought he was going to be bigger than Eddie Murphy.
shortstop
Gilda Radner was quite talented, but Roseanne Roseannadanna leaves me cold. Maybe it was funny at the time and just doesn’t wear well.
Toonces went on about 200 years too long. The same for Church Lady.
Anything Victoria Jackson ever did or said is embarrassing to watch.
I didn’t mind Operaman, but Cajun Man, meh.
I like the Californians and don’t get the hate for it — but I also loved Christopher Walken as The Continental and no one else I know did.
Cacti
The SNL 40 show also reminded me how much I miss Phil Hartman.
I has a sad now.
:-(
rusty
I pretty much stopped watching during the Sandler era, and never re-engaged. Not sure I missed much.
shortstop
@Mike J: YES. THIS. In 40 years, they’ve never learned how to a) sustain the initial laughs and b) end it when they should. It just gets worse with popular recurring sketches/characters…they see it as a license to go on for many minutes too long.
Laertes
@Cacti:
This. Schneider’s office drone was easily the worst recurring character I can remember.
At least, I think it was a recurring character. I guess it’s possible that he only ever appeared in one sketch, and it only seemed like he kept coming back.
SatanicPanic
Uggh, there are too many to list. Basically, if a character is done more than once, it’s probably not funny anymore. I thought Wayne’s World was especially not funny.
SatanicPanic
@shortstop: second Roseanne Roseannadana- I’m not even sure what’s supposed to be funny about that character.
jl
‘ 200 years too long ‘
That describes most of the supposedly bad skits that are mentioned here that I have seen.
Funny first couple of times, but dragged on way too long. Lovitz’s liar and master thespian. A little of that goes a long way. But SNL did too much of it too often with too few new twists.
One of big problems I have had with SNL is lazy writing, which I think is the source of so many tired recurring sketches.
I am disobeying DougJ’s instructions, but the fake commercials have been the best recurring feature, maybe because the writers are forced to come up with a new angle more often than when they churn out another edition of some recurring character sketch.
raven
I’ll Cry Just a Little.
Cacti
@Gin & Tonic:
Everyone involved in the making of the Deuce Bigalow movies should be sent to the Hague for crimes against humanity.
burnspbesq
@shortstop:
Roseanne was a New-York-insider joke. It only really worked if you grew up watching Roseanne Scamardella on the 6:00 news on Channel 7.
Bobby B.
I have a few “best of” dvds of Lovitz, Hartman and Mike Meyers. No matter how nostalgic we get about the 70s SNL, it’s some of the 80s bits I remember best. And The Corporation has removed “vintage” SNL from television.
How much more Justin Timberlake SNL can VH1 possibly broadcast ???
raven
Oh, you’ rather Laugh Laugh?
I hate to say it but I told you so.
Waldo
It’s Pat
raven
I have the 1st season on DVD and the part where George Carlin talks about slitting a stewardesses throat is pretty chilling.
Buddy H
I actually found Roseanne Roseannadana offensive.
It’s interesting, in the original cast, how many of the members were trust fund brats… Chevy Chase (although he claimed there was no family fortune) Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin. I wonder if Lorne was attracted to trustfunders.
I’m not a big Lorne fan.
Paul Mooney told some interesting stories about the cast. He saw them when he wrote for Pryor’s guest host gig. He said they all hated Lorraine Newman. (I thought her baby girl psychiatrist was the funniest thing, but I’m alone on this)
burnspbesq
@Cacti:
Note the date and time. We agree on something.
wrb
I quit watching when the original cast left and liked most everything except a few Steve Martin bits in which he seemed nasty to me and some of the Penn and Teller bits
Buddy H
Jack Handey is a national treasure. He’s written some New Yorker “casuals” that are funnier than anything in the history of the magazine. His SNL “Deep Thoughts” and “Fuzzy Memories” were classic.
Cacti
Molly Shannon’s character Mary Katherine Gallagher was also consistently unfunny and annoying.
So, of course they made a feature length film of her.
wrb
Rosanne Rosanna was one of the funniest, to me
Elizabelle
Kristen Wiig’s Gillie. Was that a recurring character? I couldn’t stand to watch.
raven
Guido Sarducci was awesome.
Elizabelle
@Cacti: I kinda liked a few of the Mary Catherine sketches. The one with the choir singing, and she throws herself backward into them?
raven
Carlin, Stewardess starts at 44 seconds.
shelley
Fell flat right from the beginning for me. But it somehow felt sacrilegous to say it.
Remember those weird Muppet characters in the first season? They were mercifully terminated.
gogol's wife
Mango was the worst ever, hands down, no contest.
gogol's wife
@Elizabelle:
I thought all her characters were hilarious. I still do the lady with her leg in the air, “I LOOOVE it!”
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Howdy!
raven
Theodoric of York, the medieval barber gives medical treatments and fine haircuts.
Davebo
@Buddy H:
Which just shows it worked exactly as planned.
I loved it!
The worst had to be Toonces and Pat but it’s hard to say. There were so many horrible ones.
gogol's wife
@Cacti:
He was the greatest, and it seemed he got quite short shrift on that show, although I didn’t watch the whole thing.
Barbara
@Buddy H: I have not watched in ages, but I thought Lorraine Newman was funny only when she was playing straight to the much funnier Gilda Radner — she was the starstruck fan to Radner’s send up of Patti Smith, and I still remember the skit in which Radner asks to borrow Newman’s comb and then proceeds to comb her underarm hair — just one of the funniest, least expected acts. I never found Jane Curtin to be very funny either, except when she was playing straight to someone else a lot funnier.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven:
Yup.
bjacques
That episode with the running “Who Shot C. R.” was dire. It didn’t even come to a conclusion, but just sort of petered out. I remember during the closing credits when Charles said “I wanna know who the f*ck shot me!” which I believe ended the season right there.
I kinda liked Charles Rocket, and he was a good villain in the Max Headroom series.
I loved Leonard Pinth-Garnell.
Cacti
@Buddy H:
Best Deep Thought Evar:
Buddy H
@Davebo: We agree to disagree. I know we’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but Gilda had more charm than talent, in my opinion. Her body of work reminded me of high school theater club stuff. Lorraine Newman was funnier and more subtle. But she was never given a chance. Gilda was everybody’s pet.
Some brilliant writers over forty years, but for every good writer, there were a lot more lazy ones.
raven
@Barbara: She was good in American Hot Wax!
ranchandsyrup
had a healthy dislike for victoria jackson wayyyy back when before I knew she was a wingnut or what a wingnut is.
makin’ copies was awful.
raven
@Buddy H: Just bite my ass.
opiejeanne
What? No Martin Short as Ed?
I thought that was really embarrassing to watch.
Buddy H
@raven: Just expressing my opinion, no need to be nasty.
raven
@Buddy H: Bah, you’re dissin my girl. I can get a lot nastier.
Redshift
Anything by Fred Armisen, especially as part of a duo. Having them show up at the end of Weekend Update was the signal to change the channel, because it was going to be a ten minute long “if this one note wasn’t funny the first time, surely it will be hilarious if we repeat it over and over, and then make *that* a recurring bit.”
trollhattan
Didn’t catch the special, maybe #50. Roseanne Roseannadanna cracked my father up, so generations successfully crossed and all that. “Why are we making Puerto Rico a STEAK?” For whatever reason I knew at the time that Gilda was somehow special and welcomed the opportunity watch her no matter what she was in. If you want to tear up (and who doesn’t want that?) watch her dance sketch with Phil Hartman. So much loss.
My hate-o-meter never pegged more than with those damn cheerleaders (how many times can you bring back an exhausted sketch?). I was relieved when Will Ferrell proved to be a truly funny guy–something I didn’t discover until probably Talledega Nights, specifically this scene.
muddy
@Gin & Tonic: I left a reply to you about vaccinations in the earlier thread.
Buddy H
@raven: Okay, so we’re asked to list our favorite and least favorites, but if “Raven” disagrees, we can bit his ass? Go fuck yourself, troll.
shortstop
@opiejeanne: Yes! Which is a shame, because Martin Short is ordinarily hilarious to me.
Mike in NC
Goatboy was awful, too.
bemused
@ranchandsyrup:
Jackson was never acting. I don’t remember how long it took viewers to figure out she was being herself and not playing an idiot.
Mike J
SNL has been an amazing vehicle to take struggling comedians from the soul crushing comedy circuit to fame, fortune, and feature films, all by simply coming up with one four or five word catch phrase that will be repeated over and over and over again.
shortstop
Thanks, Doug-bama! Now I’m humming “Star Wars, those crazy Star Wars, if we should bar wars…” Not that I mind at all.
raven
@Buddy H: Yea motherfucker, I’m a troll.
Redshift
@trollhattan: I’ve always found Will Ferrell painfully unfunny (except for his W) and still do. There are several movies I like where he has a bit part, and the action just stops dead while he “does Will Ferrell,” and then gets started again.
Not as bad as Fred Armisen, though.
geg6
@richard mayhew:
Ditto. And anything that has Adam Sandler in it automatically sucks. And, though I’ve loved him in other stuff, Tracy Morgan’s Brian Fellows thing was pretty awful every single time.
shortstop
@Buddy H: Technically, we were asked to discuss only our least favorites. Predictably, doing so has set off a hair-trigger temper or two. It’s Wednesday at Balloon Juice!
ranchandsyrup
@bemused: excellent point.
Gin & Tonic
@muddy: Thanks.
trollhattan
@shortstop:
Next up: least favorite kittens and puppies. Also, too, why disco can never be rehabilitated.
Redshift
Armisen’s recurring David Paterson character, which was always at least half making fun of his blindness, was also the worst. I enjoyed many SNL bits that pushed the envelope of taste, but that isn’t pushing the envelope, it’s just lazy and retrograde.
gogol's wife
It’s Laraine Newman, btw.
Gin & Tonic
@Buddy H: You’re new here, aren’t you?
kindness
I think the absolute worst skits are the ones Victoria Jackson is doing right now.
Damn that shit is painful to watch.
shortstop
I fucking hated that Don Pardo guy.
Kidding!
raven
@shortstop: Technically, if it matters, we were asked “what are the worst recurring characters ever”. Gilda Radner was not a recurring character.
geg6
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yup. One of the many reasons it’s very high on my list as the best stuff ever done on SNL.
geg6
@Buddy H:
You have got to be kidding. She was brilliant in almost anything she was in. My very favorite skit of all time was her and Steve Martin dancing. They were both brilliant in it and Laraine Newman couldn’t have done that on her best day.
SenyorDave
Two favorite recurring sketches: Greek diner (I’ve from NJ and my dad was an engineer and he had a client who owned a few diners who looked and acted just like Belushi from the sketch) and the Jeopardy parodies. I’ll take the penis mightier than the sword for 200, Alex.
raven
@geg6: TROLL
geg6
@raven:
That’s troll and racist white feminist. Get it right. ;-)
trollhattan
@trollhattan:
Oops, confused Jan Hooks with Gilda, who danced with Steve Martin, who is at least still alive and well. Just no more Cheaper by the Dozen movies there, big guy–you don’t really need the paycheck.
raven
@geg6: Dang. . . .
FlipYrWhig
Contra gogol’s wife, I always liked Chris Kattan as Mango. Contra Davebo, I always liked Pat. Both of those premises could compound–like Pat’s equally ambiguous friend/partner Chris. I think Adam Sandler’s Canteen Boy is underrated.
Never got Kristen Wiig as, well, anything. The deformed Andrews Sister, the Target lady, the Gilly kid, just, what? Surreal for the sake of surreal. Jimmy Fallon in the leather store was tedious. Bobby Moynihan does many versions of the same exact thing. Coneheads isn’t funny. To me, none of the Gilda Radner characters are funny.
The absolute worst is a tie between Molly Shannon’s Woman Who Says “I Love It” and Molly Shannon’s Woman Who Is 50 Years Old.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
I stopped watching in the early eighties.
/meh.
gogol's wife
@FlipYrWhig:
She was a deformed Lennon sister. But a deformed Andrews sister is a promising idea.
gogol's wife
@FlipYrWhig:
Canteen Boy is underrated? You are clearly the Bizarro-world version of myself.
Violet
@DougJ:
Good Lord. No. No no no no no no. She’s one note and I always ended up fast forwarding through any skit she was in. Ruined everything on SNL during her time there. She’s the reason I haven’t seen “Bridesmaids.”
raven
@gogol’s wife: Connee Boswell of the Boswell Sisters:
trollhattan
O/T this is not going to make Parisians twitchy, nosir.
In Paris? After Charlie Hebdo? Nice PR strategy there, guys.
catclub
Given that 95% of everything is crap, the fact that only 85% of SNL is crap is doing three times as well as anyone else, and doing so for 40 years. I am impressed.
I am also much more easily amused than you people.
dexwood
I saw Lemmings in 1973 at the Morris Mechanic Theater in Baltimore. Belushi, Chase, Christopher Guest and others. A van full of stoned hippies went together, roommates and friends we were. Enjoyed it immensely. Belushi rocked that place. After, we went across the street to a bar called Burke’s. Belushi, Chase, and most of the cast showed up there. Chase was a real asshole and he was physically ejected from the bar to much applause, all the while yelling, “don’t you know who I am?’ Hardly anyone did then.
Hungry Joe
Years before SNL, the Pythons figured out how to end a comedy sketch: As soon as it starts to go flat, just STOP. “And now for something completely different.” “All right, that’s it. This sketch has become just silly.” “Stop the sketch. Stop the sketch! It’s been going on for two minutes now and I haven’t had a single funny line.” Etc. Sometimes the Pythons went on too long, too, but at least they tried not to.
FlipYrWhig
@gogol’s wife: My in-laws are super into the Boy Scouts, an organization I have always found wicked creepy, so that character rings true as a distinct “type.” And (at least the way I’m remembering it) they did more with the character as it went on. I’m relatively pro-Sandler-on-SNL, though I find the movies other than Wedding Singer to be atrocious.
Oh, I forgot another contender for worst recurring character: Mr. Bill. Never remotely funny.
raven
@FlipYrWhig: OOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Librarian
@trollhattan: You’re confusing Rosanne Rosannadanna with Emily Litella.
bemused
@Violet:
Bridesmaids is great but not her.
shortstop
I just stringently avoid all movies based on SNL characters. It’s a policy that’s served me well.
trollhattan
@Librarian:
Well there I go again. My dad, luckily was not thus confused.
“Goodnight my little Roseannadannas.”
p.a.
@Buddy H: check out Rocket’s bio on wikipedia.
FlipYrWhig
Oh, another awful recurring sketch: Cheri Oteri’s Simmer Down Now lady.
Doug r
@jl: it’s actually a Canadian accent, due to the million or so Canadians in the greater Los Angeles area, eh?
shortstop
Belushi’s samurai guy. There, I said it and I’m not sorry. No comments delivered with this expression will change my mind.
Mike E
@trollhattan: The misheard bit is her elderly Emily Latella character, and she danced with Steve Martin in that crowded disco. Never mind!
When I first saw Ferrell’s W impersonation I kinda knee-jerked a dislike for it, but it grew on me and now I see his genius in the approach. People love/hate Will Ferrell…I think he’s great.
Oh, and DougJ, I know you gotta be a Lazlo Toth fan! ‘Fess up.
Violet
I thought “MacGruber” was terrible (especially because of the horrendous Kristen Wiig always being in it) but when that week’s guest host was in it sometimes they’d be funny in it.
Semi-related, heard on the radio they’re remaking MacGyver and going to have a woman in the lead.
Suzanne
@Laertes: No, he was a recurring—and dreadful—character.
Makin’ coh-PEEEEEES.
raven
@Violet: I have never see MacGyver. I was at a conference and they were having trouble with a big display and I fixed it and a woman said “you’re a real MacGyver”!!! I get it now but I had no idea what she meant at the time.
Suzanne
Julia Sweeney’s Pat was also awful.
Laertes
Celebrity Jeopardy more than makes up for all the Cheerleader stuff and whatever other regrettable bits Ferrell got up to on SNL.
FlipYrWhig
Underrated: Will Forte as Tim Calhoun. The resemblance to Ted Cruz is uncanny.
wrb
@shortstop:
Yea, I too never cared for samurai guy
Mike E
@raven: Must’ve been the paper clip you used to fix it…and the gum wrapper. Also, if you’ve been in the woods for more than a day or too, you pretty much know if you’re a McGuyver or not.
daveNYC
I’d almost say that all the recurring characters ended up being the ‘worst’, just because the SNL formula is to find something that works (even if it barely works) then grind out puppy into the ground. I can’t think of any ongoing character that wasn’t over used to the point where it just wasn’t funny by the end of the run.
Villago Delenda Est
@SatanicPanic: OTOH, Emily Latella was consistently a scream.
Laertes
@daveNYC:
Tastes vary, of course, but I never got tired of Celebrity Jeopardy. It killed every damn time.
raven
@Mike E: I never carry a rubber band but I had one from something I had done earlier and I was able to secure the display with it! Field expediency!
askew
@DougJ:
See, I would put Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen in the worst category. They were unfunny screen hogs. I’d put Seth Meyers as WU anchor in there as well. How someone can be that smug and that bad at their job is beyond me.
My best would be that stupid skit about a store clerk that sold everything by saying you could put your weed in it, in a van down by the river, the Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin skits and the bizarre skit with Justin Timberlake, Amy Poehler, etc. as white rap kids who die in a cave.
MomSense
Since this is an open thread, middle kid just got accepted as a transfer to his dream college!
We are going to celebrate tonight!
Victoria Jackson was the worst. I can’t remember a single character just that stupid baby voice.
ranchandsyrup
@MomSense: congrats to MiddleKid! That’s awesome.
Mike E
@raven: See…you are NOT a hoarder!
eta I am NOT a speller, either.
Suzanne
@Laertes: Celebrity Jeopardy was just fabulous. I still drop “Anal Bum Cover for $200, Alex” into conversation on occasion.
“That’s AN ALBUM COVER!”
“I can read, Trebek!”
Paul in KY
@Buddy H: Gonna disagree with you on that.
Violet
@Suzanne: Yep. Celebrity Jeopardy was always great. The writers must have had a great time writing those.
Librarian
I never found the Church Lady funny. Never found Stuart Smalley funny, either.
Roger Moore
@Mike E:
Or a HODOR.
raven
@Roger Moore: But a troll. . . hell yes!
J.D. Rhoades
If anyone ever needs reminding of how subjective humor is, they should read this thread.
All that said, Adam Sandler was uniformly awful.
Paul in KY
@FlipYrWhig: Thanks, Sluggo ;-)
daveNYC
@MomSense: No idea how she lasted on that show. Lack of talent is one thing (because lets face it, SNL isn’t exactly the hive of talent that something like The Daily Show is), but by all accounts, she was pretty damn tough to get along with and started letting her wingnut flag fly pretty early on, which went over gangbusters with the rest of the cast.
Paul in KY
@shortstop: Was a pretty one-note character.
Paul in KY
@Librarian: I love Sen. Franken, but didn’t really get the Stuart Smalley character.
Amir Khalid
I don’t remember ever seeing SNL except in YouTube clips. Did it get international distribution?
Paul in KY
@J.D. Rhoades: I hated the character that would lech all over the diners. And that was one of his funnier ones.
Bobby Thomson
The whole show sucked ass after Phil Hartman left, so I doubt I’ll ever watch this thing.
No love for Mr. Bill?
J.D. Rhoades
@Amir Khalid:
Actually, that’s how I’ve been watching it for the past few years. All the good stuff shows up on YouTube or Hulu and I don’t have to sit through the boring, unfunny, lame stuff, which was the majority.
But you know, that’s sketch comedy. No sketch show hits more than 60-70% of the time. Watch some old Monty Python shows and you realize how many times they swung and missed.
daveNYC
@Librarian: The Stuart Smalley skit with Michael Jordan was mildly amusing as a concept. They didn’t do anything interesting with it though, just had him do his regular schtick, they should have had Jordan destroy Stuart’s worldview (and not just dent like they did in the skit). Then had a skit later in the episode having him hanging out with Chris Farley in a van down by the river.
I’m continually impressed that TDS can put together 2.5 hours of funny together each week when forced to use current events, and SNL can’t manage 1.5 hours (or even a decent 15 minute news spoof).
As much as Dennis Miller is a wanker, he did a good job on the Weekend Update because he was able to keep moving and gloss over the jokes that didn’t work. Everyone else I’ve seen do it will just drop the punchline and then wait until the applause sign (or the electo-shocks) milks a few laughs out of the audience.
Steve in the ATL
@Mike E: I have not thought about Lazlo Toth in years. Funny stuff. You have made me feel old.
J.D. Rhoades
@raven:
Whaaaa????
He wasn’t talking about “slitting anyone’s throat,” he was talking about paper cuts.
JPL
@Bobby Thomson: OH NO
kc
@richard mayhew:
I love The Californians. Don’t ask me why . . .
Woodrowfan
I always thought “Mr Bill” was just cruel…
kc
@shortstop:
Ooh, I did! The first one, anyway. The subsequent one just wasn’t quite as funny to me.
kc
I can truthfully say I never thought Dennis Miller was funny. He just rubbed me the wrong way on Weekend Update, long before I knew he was a wingnut.
raven
@J.D. Rhoades: He didn’t say slitting their throats but, in retrospect, it was damn chilling to have him talk about holding something sharp against stews throat. Was for me and my wife anyway.
J.D. Rhoades
@daveNYC:
It helps that they work within a consistent framework (desk piece, then field piece or correspondent report, then interview). They don’t have to keep coming up with new characters/situations every week. Still, it is pretty amazing and a tribute to the skill of the writing staff.
J.D. Rhoades
@raven:
If you don’t mind my asking, and I’m really not trying to be snarky, how old are you? Maybe the difference is that I’ve spent more of my life in the pre-9/11 world than post-9/11.
raven
@J.D. Rhoades: 65
H.K. Anders
Worst recurring SNL characters: pretty much anything Kristen Wiig ever did. The Target Lady, Gilly, “Don’t Make Me Sing,” all of them were unwatchable. None of those sketches ever made me smile, much less laugh. The only think she did on that show that I liked was Mindy Elise Grayson on Secret Word (The Game the Stars Play!).
J.D. Rhoades
@shortstop:
I thought he was pretty funny, but my daughter was less amused. “Rapey as all hell” was her take on it. Again, the generational divide.
Mike J
@J.D. Rhoades:
If SNL could get away with they wouldn’t either. Everyone’s dream is a recurring character that stays on until the entire world is sick of it. Every sketch that doesn’t have a recurring character is just another attempt at coming up with something Lorne Michaels will make a movie around.
Librarian
I thought Norm MacDonald was the best Weekend Update anchor, and I stopped watching SNL when he was fired.
J.D. Rhoades
@raven:
Well, that’s not the explanation then…
Karen in GA
@burnspbesq: I think it was just the name that she parodied. I don’t recall Roseann Scamardella having those mannerisms.
J.D. Rhoades
@Librarian:
He was good, but Chevy Chase owned that role.
raven
@J.D. Rhoades: I just remember when we bought the DVD set and sat down to watch it. When he did that bit about airport security and stew we just looked at each other and said “damn, that was really eeire.”
Mike E
@Steve in the ATL: I’m youngest in my family, so I’m good at that ;-)
shortstop
For me the very best part of Celebrity Jeopardy was watching the third baseman lose his mind laughing at Sean Connery. Sometimes the funniest thing of all is taking in the reactions to comedy of people you’re with.
ThresherK
@shortstop: Count me in on “The Continental”.
I’m the sort of guy who read (on paper) about the original show in the early 1980s, way before the TV skit, and way after the actual show. (And in the pre-home-video age.)
Doug r
@shortstop: Maybe they should learn from Carson years ago and do a one hour show with fewer repeats.
Redshift
@daveNYC: Yeah, the recurring characters are almost always not the best stuff. I enjoyed some of them, but most of them are just pure laziness.
H.K. Anders
@Violet: Bridesmaids is very good, and Wiig is actually good in it. Much better than she ever was on SNL.
J.D. Rhoades
@raven:
And when I saw the clip linked above, I was thinking “perfect take on ‘security theater'”.
Ah well, chacun a son gout, y’all.
trollhattan
@kc: LOVED Dana Carvey doing Dennis Miller doing the news, in front of Dennis Miller. It was spot-on and one could tell it really bugged Miller that his schtick was so easily pantsed.
Cervantes
@MomSense:
Congratulations!
MCA1
Agreed with putting every character played by Adam Sandler towards the bottom of the list. He was just embarrassing to watch on SNL; couldn’t stop giggling at himself. I can’t even watch his movies, he’s so grating to me with that 4th grader sense of humor.
The worst recurring SNL characters to me are the absurdist ones. Maybe mildly interesting or funny the first time, or they were clearly one note or strained catchphrase material, but there’s never more juice in a fruit like that: Gilly, Mr. Peepers, Goat Boy, Mango, Doug and Wendy Whiner, Ferecito.
The ones that worked for me usually did because the character was a vehicle for real satire rather than just a catchphrase: Church Lady, Dieter, Mr. Robinson. On the other hand, Matt Foley was funny every time simply because of the force of nature playing him.
J.D. Rhoades
@MomSense:
W00t W00t! Congratulations!
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Only in the Middle East, oddly enough.
It has been adapted and copied elsewhere.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I have to second (or third) Mango as the unfunniest recurring character in SNL history. Never drew a single laugh from me. Adam Sandler wasn’t great but I thought some of his songs were clever and although he himself wasn’t all that funny as Canteen boy, Alec Baldwin is consistently hilarious in that sketch.
An honorable mention for one of the funniest, but lowest profile, recurring sketches – Rachel Dratch’s Debbie Downer was always funny. In fact, Rachel Dratch may be the funniest person from SNL never to become fabulously successful at some other venture. She’s thoroughly underrated as a cast member and comedic actor.
J.D. Rhoades
@trollhattan:
Watching Miller’s reaction to that was the first time I began to suspect that he might really be an asshole, not just play one on TV.
Karen in GA
Jon Lovitz’ recurring characters, especially Hanukkah Harry (or whatever the name was) really got on my nerves. It seemed like he just had catchphrases that he really, really wanted people to repeat — the characters were just vehicles to deliver the catchphrases that he was sure would make him huge.
Violet
@H.K. Anders: Kristen Wiig makes my skin crawl. I saw “Paul” and while she was slightly less annoying in it than she is on SNL she could have been replaced by almost anyone else. She’s not a good actress and not very funny and the best parts of that film were when she wasn’t in it.
FlipYrWhig
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I think Mango was funnier in a moment when ideas around homosexuality were shifting but not where they are now. The notion of a series of masculine men developing a confusingly erotic obsession with this funny-looking guy… I think that was clever for its time. And, yikes, does it jar me to think of the Chris Kattan era on SNL as a different age than this.
shortstop
@trollhattan: J.D. Rhoades: I must look this up.
delk
the worst?
GOAT BOY
catclub
The interesting part to me was Chris Rock talking about Eddie Murphy. … and Murphy never being invited back. I was not really aware.
MCA1
@J.D. Rhoades: I don’t remember Miller being all that pissed about it. Didn’t he bob his head along with Carvey and say “I hate myself” at the end? I took that as being a sport about it, in his egotistical, boobish way, yes, but not totally afraid to laugh at himself.
Totally agree with the first comment upthread on it, though. Seeing Carvey produce a spot on skewering of the only thing Miller contributed, after probably putting in no more than 20 minutes writing and practicing, showed just how little Miller brought to the show.
J.D. Rhoades
@MCA1:
I may be misremembering it, but I recall Miller looking really pissed off.
jackmac
The worst: Pat
Villago Delenda Est
@Paul in KY: I thought the one with Michael Jordan was hilarious.
not my real name
@trollhattan:
Shoot, I never saw that. Wonder if it’s on Hulu.
ThresherK
@Paul in KY: I really, really got Stuart Smalley.
Then again, I really get Mr. Frond on “Bob’s Burgers”, and Dr. Twinkletits on Metalocalypse, and I’m married to a social worker.
trollhattan
@Villago Delenda Est:
Same here–I thought it was letter-perfect. Jordan was on at a time he was probably the most famous man on the planet, and having him do guided imagery where he had to repeat “I may not be the best basketball player…” was gut-busting.
shortstop
@trollhattan: Another one I missed. I’m having a lot of fun tracking this stuff down now.
patrick II
do you remember Chris Farley and his interview show — wasn’t that great?
Steeplejack
@shortstop:
Dana Carvey does Dennis Miller on Weekend Update.
Miller seems to take it pretty well.
P.S. I, too, loved the Continental.
Steeplejack
@shortstop:
Stuart Smalley’s Daily Affirmation with Michael Jordan.
Steeplejack
I’m with DougJ: Nick Ocean doing the “Love Theme from Jaws” was the high point of the special. Here’s an uncensored version.
ms_canadada
@Waldo: I have the movie (blushing deep red), and I love it!(cray-cray Canuck)
EriktheRed
Fred Armisen’s salsa drummer character.
EriktheRed
@Barbara: Jane was funny in Samurai Divorce Court, at least.
EriktheRed
@Buddy H: You ever see Gilda’s one-woman show that was released theatrically?
EriktheRed
@SenyorDave: That “cheeseboigah cheeseboigah” joint was actually based on a real place in Chicago.
smintheus
@p.a.: I never heard of Charlie Rocket, but recognized him immediately when I looked at his wiki page. He used to hang out on college hill in Providence in the early to mid ’70s, mostly at RISD, when I was hanging out mostly at Brown. Seem to remember friends calling him CC; he was one of the fixtures on the scene.
ally
The Continental was BRILLIANT! My husband and I still laugh about it. I think I read somewhere that Walken had been inspired by some actual, cheesy TV show that aired long ago in New York. But his “lady’s” giant hand in that glove also reminded me of the old Soupy Sales show.
Jamey
@ThresherK:The posters on Mr. Frond’s wall slay me: “Always Wear Your RESPECTacles.” “Ride the Self-ESTEEM Boat.” I torture my two school-age kids with those, whenever attend school events and see the anti-bullying/confidence-boosting slogans hanging about…
Phoebe
I never liked the “baseball been very very good to me” character, I forgot his name because I’m senile, and loved Stuart Smalley. I know we weren’t supposed to say who we loved, but in case anyone up there in the 200 and something comments hated Stuart Smalley: no, you’re wrong.
Paul in KY
@Villago Delenda Est: Don’t think I ever saw that one. Will have to utube it.
Paul in KY
@Steeplejack: Thanks for the clip! Was funny.
Sasha
@EriktheRed:
And I loved Ferrocito, but the fact that my grandmother watched “Sabado Gigante” without fail every weekend might have something to do with it.