One of the cable channels ran a Saturday Night Live retrospective over the weekend, “101 Most Memorabe SNL Moments.” I don’t know how they determine what’s more memorable than what else, but they ended up with Aerosmith’s appearance on Wayne’s World as the No. 1 Most Memorable SNL moment.
I was a little disappointed. While I’m not so provincial as to think only the original cast should be memorable, I do think there were others that were funnier, more original, edgier, etc.
Anybody else? What’s YOUR most memorable SNL moment?
I forgot to mention – for reasons far too numerous to mention, Chris Farley is the hands-down favorite SNL cast member among my brothers and I. Every time one of us gets into hot water with his wife, our code phrase is, “Well, I’m living in a VAYUN down by the RIV-ERR!” Particularly funny around here because the South Platte River runs through our hometown, and we remember when bums used to live in cars down on the river.
When Vanilla Ice performed “Ice, Ice, Baby” after claiming that the bass line wasn’t sampled, the very next segment was “Weekend Update.” Dennis Miller had the regular music replaced with Queen’s “Under Pressure.” Never made reference to it, just went into his regular routine.
I watched most of that show, and was surprised they didn’t have any Garrett Morris sketches. Maybe not the #1 moment, but how could you assemble 101 best skits without including:
**“OUR TOP STORY TONIGHT!!!”
“Baseball been berry berry good to me!”
“Ask Big Daddy” (Idi Amin)**
My personal favorite is Dan Akroyd as Richard Nixon, with guest host Christopher Lee playing a Van Helsing-esque vampire killer, who comes to kill Nixon’s memoirs. Very good stuff.
I always enjoyed Mike Meyers…and “sprockets” was my favorite recurring skit. Dana Carvey was playing Jimmy Stewart as Dieters guest. As I recall, the dialogue went like this:
Dieter: “Would you like to touch my monkey?”
Jimmy: “Well sure, I’ll pet the little fella.”
(monkey bites him)
Jimmy: "Hey! The little son of a bitch bit me! (whips out switchblade and utters one of my favorite SNL lines of all time)
Steve Martin and Gilda Radner seeing each other across the crowded room and doing a dance number that was unbelievable. Maybe you had to be there. Funniest non-verbal SNL skit ever.
And Steve Martin, the totl professional, breaking down during his tribute to Gilda.
I confess to not having watched the show since 1990 or so, but William Shatner’s “Grow up and move out of your parent’s basement” speech struck me as one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
The one I remember laughing hardest at when I saw it was in the infamous Andrew Dice Clay episode. This was in the heyday of the Carvey/Hartman/Lovitz/Meyers cast. There was a fairly forgettable skit with Andrew Dice Clay playing a “hood” employment agent. After it was over, they went to a fake TV-guide “cheers and jeers” page, which read “Jeers to SNL for its sexist employment agency skit, where a man is offered the job of lookout, while a woman is offered the lower status, and presumably lower paying, job of hooker. What’s next, a skit glorifying Hitler?”, and then it cut to Dana Carvey, dressed as Hitler, doing all of his current character catchphrases (ie, “isn’t that special” and “wouldn’t be prudent” and “want to pump you up”) in a German accent, and my God it was absolutely hilarious. I’ve never heard it mentioned since in anniversary shows or anything.
Aerosmith on Wayne’s World was absolutely brilliant, though, from the nook-cam to the extended lyrics of the theme song to the interview about the fall of the iron curtain.
If I start thinking about it I could come up with a hundred memorable moments, but the following come to mind at first. I don’t know why either since some of the moments aren’t really my personal favorites, but they stay in the front of the mind.
Lawyers:
Phil Hartman as Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’m just a caveman. I fell on some ice and later got thawed out by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me…”
And Chris Kattan as Suel Forrester, the perfect lampoon of the southern lawyer movie stereotype. It is a shame they never could pit Unfrozen and Suel against one another in the courtroom.
The Schmitt Gay Beer commercial.
Weekend Update, Norm MacDonald on the rumored divorce of Lisa Presley and Michael Jackson, “It’s no surprise really. She’s more of a stay-at-home type, and he’s more of a homosexual pedophile.” MacDonald was my favorite Weekend Updater, he was perfectly frank.
The Lungbrush commercial, because it was so disgusting. Likewise, the Rookie Cop skit with everyone vomiting everywhere (from their shirt sleeves). Funny, but disgusting.
