See, I think that the thing that absolutely makes that sketch *isn’t *Chris Farley. It’s the way Patrick Swayze frames the whole thing. He plays it so perfectly straight. He dances so very earnestly, trying to win the place in the Chippendales. He treats Chris Farley as a serious competitor. Just check out the look on his face as he’s pirouetting around. Patrick Swayze’s actions create a context that makes Chris Farley’s behavior hilarious. Without Patrick Swayze, the sketch would just be Chris Farley jumping around in tights.
For me, More Cowbell is merely #2. My favorite–Centaur Interview! Christopher Walken is interviewing a centaur (Chris Parnell) for a medical residency. It just slays me. “This interview…isn’t about me.”
I really liked the one (not sure about the name) where Eddie Murphy goes undercove as a white man. Not even because I feel it uncovers important social issues. It doesn’t. I just crack up at the white people dancing to to raucous jazz music as soon as the lone black man gets off of the bus. I’ll be damned if my friend didn’t take it for the truth, though.
My favorite of all time has to be Bill Murray in The Return of Hercules. The whole thing cracks me up, the voice dubbing, as well as the lines I still repeat all the time. “Give me six months to get in better condition”, “I can not lift that boulder, perhaps a smaller one.” “Lift with the legs Hercules” <-(my favorite) Here it is: Return of Hercules
I also liked the commercial for Einstein Express. “When it absolutely, positively has to be there the day before yesterday.”
And Eddie Murphy undercover as a white man really cracks me up. The walk, getting stuff for free, "Haha, silly negro."Eddie Edit: Yeah…what he said…I type too slow.
Believe it or not, I saw that in English class. And yes, the whole class cracked up at the phrase “silly negro”. Surprising, since these people would jump down your neck if you described your coffe as black.
From 1976: The Godfather Therapy sketch with Belushi and Elliot Gould.
I was about to suggest the Samurai stuff with Belushi, but it was a series, as was “The wretched birth, miserable childhood, agonizingly painful adolescence, and appallingly vile and degrading death of Miles Cowperthwaite” with Michael Palin ending up aboard the good ship the Raging Queen.
Commercials: Little Chocolate Donuts, Crazy Eddie, Bass-o-matic.
“White Like Me” is what I believe that Eddie Murphy skit is known as. A great one! “Haha Silly Negro” was a favorite catch phrase at my school (dangerous though it was) for a while after that.
Another Murphy skit I loved was “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub”: “YEOW! Too hot in the hot tub! Jump back - kiss myself! HOT TUB! Alright now - WHOO!”
Commercials: Schmidtt’s Gay for sure and also: Adobe - the little car that’s made out of clay. “Hey hey, we’re Adobe… Adobe!” (“Coin and cupholders? Sure, we have those!” they show someone mashing coins and cups into the clay dashboard, lol.) “Uh-oh! Get in a fender bender? NO PROBLEM!” (time lapse of someone reshaping clay bumper, hahaha.)
That was after Curtin’s time. I’m pretty sure Mrs. T was Robin Duke.
One skit I’ve always remembered was when Pamela Anderson hosted in the '90s. She’s playing herself filming a scene with a guy, and has to kiss him; meanwhile, Norm MacDonald, playing Tommy Lee, is looking in through the windows and whatnot. He finally charges in and acts like he’s going to beat the guy up, and says to Pamela “I want you to go out to the car and get my gun.” She finally calms him down, convincing him it’s just acting, and they kiss and make up; then the real Tommy Lee bursts in, dressed exactly the same as Norm, acts the same way, and says all the exact same lines. Hilarious!
Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey and Tom Hanks with the last 2 (well actually sorta all 3) doing Dennis Miller impressions singing Jingle Bells together on Weekend Update.
All the old farts posting here and nobody remembers the other good reason to save the liver?
(Old Julia Childs parody where she ‘cuts the dickens out of my thumb’, and spews blood everywhere.)
Moving from the ‘get off my lawn!’ category to ‘that’s what the kids these days are doing’ category, I have to vote for the Palin rap. There’s a reason that’s how they ended the Poehler retrospective.
That reminds me of the sketch where Stevie Wonder played a bad Stevie Wonder impersonator, who had to be taught by Eddie Murphy. Not that I’m nominating that as one of the funniest, but had to mention it.
Couple of other moments that occurred to me while reading this thread:
In the Kazurinsky “Iguana” sketch, the moment that makes it for me is when, after denying and denying that he is this person called the Iguana, mild-mannered little Kazurinsky beats down a knife-wielding attacker. Then, he jams the knife into the table in front of him, plants his hands on his hips, and challenges in this reedy little nerdy voice, “Anybody else?”
Dennis Miller, when he was the host of Weekend Update, would occasionally change the intro music. On one episode, Vanilla Ice was the musical guest, and before the commercial break, he had performed his current hit “Ice Ice Baby.” When the commercial break is over, Weekend Update is starting. The intro music is Queen’s “Under Pressure”, which was heavily sampled for “Ice Ice Baby.” When the camera focuses on Miller, he’s bobbing his head to the music, and he says, “You know, I bet that little ditty would still be popular today.”
I remember “Matt Stevers, Male Nurse”, where the nurse was upset by the bias he experienced because he was male. It was explained to him by a colleague that everyone has their own personal biases, with this gem:
“Two women are sitting in a room…which one is smarter?”
to which Matt Stevers replies, “Why, the one with the smaller breasts, of course!”
And then there was the game show 'You Bet Your Finger" where you had to put your finger in a guillotine while questions are asked.
Dana Carvey was in a skit called “Night of the Masturbating Zombies” which made soda come out my nose while I watched it.
and there was another that I remember where Jan Hooks was hearing voices in her head (the voice of Phil Hartman), urging her to do common sense or ordinary activities like “Take a pottery class!!! TAKE A POTTERY CLASS!!” or “weather strip it!!!”
I was going to mention that. I do believe it was written by a certain Senator fom Minnesota.
One of my faves was when Ross Perot was driving Admiral Stockdale home from the VP debate and tried to abandon him by the side of the road like an unwanted pet.
It’s starting to look like the Chippendales bit wins, tho.
