The
other day I posted my top 12 favorite Saturday Night Live recurring
characters and sketches. But in my work to get the list ready I ended up
having to remove or leave off several other great recurring sketches
that deserve to be mentioned. So here are the honorable mentions, the
sketches I love which did not make my original list.
These are in no particular order.
Hardball with Chris Matthews
For some reason Daryl Hammond was another amazing talen which did not make it on my list. He was on the show
for a long time and did some amazing impressions, including Al Gore and
an eerie Bill Clinton. But my favorite has to be the parody of
Hardball, and his take on Chris Matthews was simply laugh out loud funny!
Celebrity Jeapordy
Man
this came close to being on the main list. This was consistently funny,
every single time it came on. The idea isn't original, we know how dumb
celebrities look when they play Jeopardy, but for some reason the
writing on these sketches was always top notch as was the celebrity
impressions. Alex Trebek was always Will Ferrell, and speaking of Daryl
Hammond his Sean Connery became a regular. Always teasing Trebek. These
were always, always funny and for SNL that's an accomplishment.
The Ladies Man
Tim
Meadows had been around for a long time without getting himself a good
recurring character. That changed with this silly sketch. The Ladies Man
was a horny guy who used to give advice to people who called in to his show,
but his advice was usually sexist. I admit it had to grow on me, but I
soon became a fan of this sketch. Not enough to see the movie of
course.....
President Bush
This
was so close to being on, but I removed it because it broke my rule of
only one castmember per character. Which George Bush am I referring to?
Both! Dana Carvey did an amazing job, because George Bush was a hard
person to parody. So what to do? Exaggerate everything about him! That's
pretty much what Carvey did, making a character based on Bush which
people loved. People still remember that impression and it was really
funny. Then George W Bush came into office, and Will Ferrell just nailed
the impression. He managed to find a balance between confident
commander in chief and stupid dufus which just always worked. It seems
very few can find that balance. The best was the sketch done after 9/11
where Bush called out Bin Laden. A classic!
Superfans
It
took awhile for me to get into this one, I didn't even realize George
Wendt wasn't the original host, but it really grew on me.I guess they
really love Da Bears in Chicago, and of course Ditka. They brought this
one back a lot including George Wendt who appeared whether he was the
host or not. Yeah it was a bit stereotypical, but in a harmless way.
Mr.Short Term Memory
I
love this because it wasn't a regular cast member who created this. Tom
Hanks created this character, and it only appeared when he hosted. The
gag was simple, even cliche today, having the main character forget
instantly what he just learned a second ago. They did several and it
never fails to make me laugh.
Ed Grimly
Would
you believe I remember this character more for the lame Saturday
morning cartoon? Well I do but I have seen the live character and it was
funny. Martin Short had several characters that while I missed when he
did them on SNL, I have learned to love since then including Nathan
Fern.
The Richmiester
Rob
Schneider rocketed to fame with this silly sketch. The gimmick was
simple, a guy sits by a copy machine and does silly versions of
everyone's name. This became so popular that people still quote him.
Don't we all somebody like this at work?
The Boston Teens
Being
from the Boston area, I loved these sketches. Jimmy Fallon and Rachel
Dratch play New Englanders, with heavy accents, who just like to clown
around and party. I think these work because, like the Superfans, it
wasn't over the top. These characters felt like real people, and the
situations always changed enough so it wasn't rehash evey time it came
on.
Before I go on to long,
will stop there. Yes there are even more I could list, but we'd be here
all day. By the way, The Blues Brothers never did anything for me. The
Czeck Bros were funny but never a favorite. The Killer Bees was idiotic,
even the cast members hated doing those. I also wanted to mention the
Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer characters Marty and Bobby Cult who were
really clever and funny.. Someday I will do a whole article on just the
women of SNL.
I
do admit SNL had a problem with doing the same sketch over and over,
and I don't just mean using a character again but literally doing THE
SAME SKETCH OVER AND OVER. Take Debbie Downer, it was the same thing
again and again. And some chatracters just did not work me, no matter
what they did with them.
So since I can't love them all here are some recurring sketches I just HATE (just my opinion of course) :
The Lawrence Welk Show
I
loved what Kristen Wiig did on SNL, here is the exception. Please
someone tell me why this is funny??? We know the bit, ugly woman with
deformed hands. If they had just done this once I would have that was
cute and been fine with it. But over and over again? It's the exact same
joke!!
Mango/Mr.Peepers
I
never got this one either, what is it about Mango that made everyone
love him? As bad as that was Mr.Peepers was even worst. Making animal
noises isn't funny, just as Jim Breuer.
Goat Boy
Speaking of Bruer, what the heck was up with this one? Ok, you can make convincing animal sounds. So? It isn't funny!
Canteen Boy
Adam
Sandler at his worst. I guess making fun of mentally challenged people
is funny. And there is an infamous sketch with Alec Balwdin that I am
not even going to discuss.
The Hot Tub Lovers
How much of Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch petting each other can we stand?
The Californians
Do we need this stupid sketch every other week???
The British Fops
Many
may have forgotten this one, two men dressed in Restoration period
clothing and were very, very annoying. Played by Mark McKinney and David
Koechner I am glad they disappeared
That's it for my SNL tribute, hope you liked it.
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