Inspired by this thread, I started thinking about some of my favorite SNL moments. Of course, I was born the same year the show premiered, but my parents let me stay up late, and Comedy Central has done their best to spread the genius of the 70’s and 80’s casts to those who may not have been alive yet to see it.
So what are your favorites? My as-yet-incomplete list includes …
–Land Shark. To this day, when my mother knocks on a door, she immediately says “Caaaaandygram.”
–“Teenager from Outer Space” with Carrie Fisher singing in full Princess Leia regalia.
–Lord and Lady Douchebag still makes me giggle every time.
–Bill Murray belting out the Star Wars theme as Nick the Lounge Singer.
–Garrett Morris’ “I’m gonna get me a shotgun” song.
–Gilda Radner as Judy, running from the wicked Queen of Germany.
–“Our top story tonight: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.”
–And, of course, no SNL greatest hits list would be complete without “Jane, you ignorant slut.” My brother used to call me that before either of us even knew what it meant.
I don’t want to take all the good ones, so I’ll stop right there.
My favorite is Chris Farley performing as a motivational speaker. These really had me laughing so hard I could hardly stand it.
“My name is Matt Foley, I’m 35 years old, I’m thrice divorced, and I live in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!”
I also love the one from several years ago about all the dangerous toys (Bag O’ Glass, etc.) There was also one with the late Phil hartman in it, where he is at some university interviewing a professor about various elements. He messes with every element on display. He tries to swipe the gold sample, he knocks a cubic foot block of the heaviest element (don’t remember what it is) off its pedestal and it falls through several floors below them. When he lifts the cover off of a radioactive element several alarms go off. I’d love to see this one again.
The parodied commercials and Jack Handy’s “Deep Thoughts” are also funny.
Hey, what about Phil Hartman’s hilarious “Robot Repair”? A program, not about repairing robots, but one in which a robot repairs things. They keep changing the title to more accurately reflect this, with worse results; Let’s Repair Robots and This Old Robot. Hartman was great in this well written, great concept. But then he almost always was.
Ya know, I just finish cleaning up the spit-take I did from “Lord and Lady Douchebag”, and seconds later “The Job Interview” causes another one…sheesh…
I really liked the recent “Colonel Angus” skit. I remember laughing out loud at that one and thinking, “Now that’s some good work!” Then, I got an even bigger laugh the next day when I read about “the controversy”. Then I frowned. It’s a shame that entertainers can’t just entertain like they used to.
Favorite skit: one with Dana Carvey and John Larroquette. Carvey plays an angel, Larroquette plays a guy who just died. He gets to ask the angel anything he wants, and the questions he goes through are great. “Dogs or cats?” “Dogs.” “Beatles or Stones?” “Beatles.” “What’s the most disgusting thing I ever ate without realizing it?” “You don’t want to know.”
Favorite commercial parody: The change bank. People ask them how they make money. The secret? Volume.
That’s Phil Hartman doing Peter Graves. Here’s the transcript of the skit:
My recent favorite was the Saddam & Osama TV Funhouse cartoon (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/02/02sfunhouse.phtml). My all time favorite is probably the one where they got Joe Montana to say the line “I’m going upstairs to masturbate!”
