Your most memorable SNL moment?

Cafe Society
101

I’ve never laughed so hard as when the great Phil Hartman portrayed Reagan during the Iran-Contra scandal. The gist was that the gentle, dim-witted Reagan was only how he chose to present himself; He was actually a hard-nosed genius who masterminded and executed the entire Iran/Contra deal down to the last detail.

He’d be whipping out charts and diagrams to his aides, slamming his pointer back and forth, all the while getting interrupted by girl scouts and his pal Jimmy Stewart coming to visit, where he’d have to go back to “dumb Reagan” mode.

102

According to Wikipedia, Andy Kaufman made over a half-dozen appearances on SNL, in addition to his memorably subversive shtick on Fridays (where he disrupted a skit by refusing to say his lines).

Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to watch SNL in those years and I’ve yet to see any of these appearances. Can anybody comment on what went on and how memorable any of them were?

103

I have that on video.

104

I distinctly remember 2: the Mighty Mouse lipsynch that was mentioned earlier; and one where he was in his Foreign Man character (that essentially became Latka on Taxi). He did very bad impressions (Jimmy Carter), and then a devastatingly good Elvis. Blew me away.

105

Andy Kaufman was stunning.

I clearly remember his very first appearance. He came out on stage with an old-fashioned portable record player, set the needle down, and we heard the “Mighty Mouse” theme song:

Mr. Trouble never hangs around
When he hears this mighty sound:

He’s just standing there, awkwardly listening during these two lines, then suddenly he takes up a heroic pose and demeanor to lip sync the next line, with a waving hand gesture:

“Here I come to save the day!”

Then he instantly goes back to his ordinary, timid position. He waits until the next time that line is sung, and does exactly the same thing again.

The audience was completely baffled. Nobody had ever seen anything like this. There were a few snickers, and everyone was waiting for something to happen. At one point he makes a false start, and during the bridge section of the song he takes a sip of water. Brilliant little touches. At the end, he takes an awkward bow and walks off stage.

That’s all it was. A guy lip syncs the hero’s line, and only the hero’s line, in a defunct cartoon theme song.

I recently saw this quote attributed to Schopenhauer: “Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.”

Andy Kaufman was a genius.

106

Lily Tomlin singing a duet of “I Got You Babe” with Scred.

Also, the “sleepover” sketch.

107

What the hell is that? Brilliant.

108

The “I hate when that happens” skits.
The Macho wipe commercial.
The Colon Blast comercial.
The word Flapzoid, from The Coneheads.

Bonus points to anyone who remembers what a flapzoid is.

109

It wasn’t an on-air skit, but it has to be the best “great bit of morbid humor” from Saturday Night Live:

When writer Al Franken and his wife Fanny had the first “SNL Baby,” they invited a bunch of people from the show over to their house to see her. Al came in with a baby sized dollywrapped in a blanket and proceeded to smack it around, bounce it off the wall, stomp on it, and beat the hell out of it.

Apparently the screams coming from the guests were unbelievable.

Then his wife came in with the real baby.

110

I remember a skit from the 80s where Paul Simon was talking to his fans and remembering exquisite details about them (“You were in row 4f, seat 22 sitting next to a girl with a green sweater”). Then Art Garfunkel walks up and he is like “Who are you again?” Man that was hilarious.

111

Almost everything from the Best of Eddie Murphy tape which includes

  • Dont let me down…Hymietown. Eddie as Jessie Jackson singing a backhanded apology.
  • Black History Minute with the story about how George Washington Carver’s peanut butter recipe was stolen by Frederick “Jiff” Armstrong and Edward “Skippy” Williamson.
  • Kill the White People
  • Eddie going undercover as a white man. “I began to realized that when white people are alone, they give things to each other”

William Shatner in the “Get a Life” skit and the Enterprise Rotating restaurant.

Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer: My primitive mind can’t grasp these concepts. But there is one thing I do know - when a man like my client slips and falls on a sidewalk in front of a public library, then he is entitled to no less than two million in compensatory damages, and two million in punitive damages. Thank you.

Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley fighting for the last spot for Chippendales

112

Heather Locklear as a cheerfully racist Shopping Netwok host pitching an increasingly horrified Mike Myers’ product. “Yes, you couldn’t get it cheeper from a drunken indian!”. The phones were a brilliant touch.

Steve Martin in “The Death of Socrates”. “What? Hemlock is poison? Why didn’t someone tell me??”

113

Haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but the Mr. Belvedere fan club was genius. My favorite exchange comes courtesy of Phil Hartman (no surprise there). The people have some wierd thoughts about Belvedere, and club leader Tom Hanks is trying to get them to understand what are appropriate and innapropriate ways to feel about him:

"Melanie: Uh, yeah! I should want to cook Brocktoon (Mr. Belvedere) a simple dinner if he truly accepts the offer, but not if I sense that he accepts it telepathically.

Mr. Chairman (Tom Hanks): Yes, okay… but let’s keep the exercise in the form of “should” and “shouldn’t”, okay? Next?

Phil: I should want to cook him a simple meal, but I shouldn’t want to cut into him, to tear the flesh, to wear the flesh, to be born unto new worlds where his flesh becomes my key."

114

I always come back to The (Sexual Tension) Diner with Baldwin and Jan Hooks.

and

115

Bill Murray as … The [sarcastic]Mighty[/sarcastic] Hercules.

116

The Judy Miller Show was the one where Gilda was the little girl sent to her room. And it was priceless, right down to the offstage voice yelling, “Judy! What’s going on in there?”

“…Nothing!” Of course. It’s not in the Best Of Gilda Radner collection, but she recreated it for her one-woman show, and I do have that. In fact, I’m not sure she was ever in a bad sketch. Harley’s Bristol Cream, the bridal shower, Dancing in the Dark, the Fellini sketch…I could go on all night. (And for the record, Judy Miller is not to be confused with the Scary Things in the Room sketch.)

Stuart Smalley was better when there were no guests, just him doing a monologue. I loved the one where he was analyzing Valentine’s Day cards. “Boundaries, anyone?..This relationship? Is doomed…I’m sorry; I thought I was in the Valentine’s section, not the co-dependency section!” And then finds a Valentine that is truly tender and beautiful, and says, “Let’s face it: I would kill for someone to give me this.”

No offense, but I don’t know why so many people adore the Swayze/Farley Chippendale’s sketch. Oh, Farley’s fat, ha ha ha. I thought the far better sketch from that episode was when they parodied Ghost. Swayze, as Sam, is hanging around whatsername’s apartment, watching her pick her nose, scratch her ass and so forth, and when the psychic shows up, says, “Forget it; I’m leaving!”

Chris Rock as Nat X. “Do I have any hobbies? Yeah – bowling! Ain’t nothin’ I like better than rolling that big, black ball down the alley to knock down them ten white pins with the red necks!”

The Passover sketch with Jerry Seinfeld as Elijah the Prophet. “Cheer up, old man; I’ll tell you a little secret…September 24th…in ya sleep!”

“You put your WEED in there!”

Oh, and Deep Thoughts. “It’s too bad that whole families have to be torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs.”

And the first show after the O.J. verdict. Opening sketch had Tim Meadows as O.J., hosting MNF while wearing the gloves. He starts analyzing the game and uses a sharpie to illustrate one of the plays. “The halfback was wide open [squiggle]…the quarterback saw an opening [circle]…and ran for it [straight line]…” And so forth, finally spelling out, “I did it”. Sound of audience strangling on their laughter.

117

None taken, but for me it was Swayze’s character’s being so intimidated by Farley’s dancing, and his determined one-up-manship. I mean, yeah, Farley’s rolls of fat contributed to a lot of the hysterical laughter in the audience I’m sure, but for me it was more about the interaction between the two characters. Farley’s total self-confidence and Swayze’s lack thereof: comedy gold.

118

My most memorable moment was walking through the door out onto the stage. :smiley:

Of course, there was no audience or cameras rolling, but it sure was nice having a friend who worked at NBC.

119

This thread is good, I like what I’m reading. But it needs more cowbell.

120

I love all of the Billy Crystal “Fernando’s Hideaway” skits. The best is the one with Hulk Hogan, where he gives the Hulkster a fit of the giggles.

"You know, when you laugh, your little things, they go bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy. "