Martin Short used to play the world’s most defensive lawyer on Saturday Night Live. He chain smoked cigarettes and used phrases like, “maybe it’s YOU not me”, or,“I’m not defensive, maybe YOU are the one who is defensive”.
I have searched online and find no references to this character.Does anybody remember the characters name? My co-worker and I both will thank you as this question has been haunting us for months.
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/tv/sat-night-live/characters.html
You can thank me later
Nathan Thurm (the nervous lawyer)
One of my favorites, too. I remember him doing a 20/20 type sketch. Absolutely hilarious. Also priceless was the synchronized swimmer that needed a life vest. They did a whole “Olympic” style interview with him- awesome stuff.
Zette
IBBreathin’ a sigh of relief, I would have never come up with that name.
The sychronized swimmers were a classic. “I’m not a strong swimmer”, he claims while wearing a life-jacket. Funny stuff!
One of the strange things about Nathan Thurm was that cigarette of his. Short must’ve put a wire in it or something, because the ash never dropped off, it just grew longer…
I’ve heard that some real-life lawyer used to do this with his cigars during closing arguments. The jury would be on the edge of their seats, waiting for his ash to drop. Whatever it takes to get attention, I guess.
Still you can’t beat Jackie Rogers Jr.
Funny you should mention the wire in the cig, that is what brought this character to mind so many years later. I had heard that a wire/paper clip is exactly what created this result (big laffs at parties) and my co-worker asked me what the characters name was. We puzzled over this for months until omni-not hooked me up with the aforementioned website.