This week on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast we welcome Ashley Bower back to the show, this time to discuss the four-time host, Adam Driver.

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[0:41] All right. Thank you so much, Doug DeNance. It is a thrill to be here back in the SNL Hall of Fame on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast. My name is JD and welcome. Before you come on in, though, please do me a favor. Read the mat. Wipe your feet. eat. The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair where each episode we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer and add them to the ballot for your consideration. Once the nominees have been announced, we turn to you, the listener, to vote for the most deserving and help determine who will be enshrined for perpetuity in the hall. And that's how we play the game it's just that simple now one of the things we do before we play the game is we talk to our friend matt ardill and we get some trivia but before we do that i think it's important we know that we're going to be talking about adam driver today uh i gotta tell you he's one of my most favorite guests of this new era this new generation it would be mulaney and and driver for me for sure i could see them both being in the hall at some point it'll be interesting to hear what ashley bauer has to say in terms of building a case ash and we're thrilled so let's uh walk down the hall and talk to our friend mr ardill oh matt adam.

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[2:10] Driver yeah yeah um One of my favorite hosts, to be honest. Six foot two, born November 19th, 1983 in Fontana, California. Did not expect him to be a Californian. I don't know why. Just doesn't have that. Yeah, just doesn't have that California energy. He attended Mishawaka High School and the University of Indianapolis before going on to graduate from Juilliard. This is a another juilliard grad uh who appears on snl uh he has been in had he has had 57 acting roles six soundtrack credits and two producer credits um as a youth he appeared in how to succeed in business without really trying uh into the woods and guys and dolls uh he's he's one of of those people who's had you know when you see an actor and they're like they just have depths that you didn't expect, Because they have lived experiences, and I feel Adam is one of those. He worked as a door-to-door vacuum salesman.

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[3:19] He applied to Juilliard, was rejected, so decided, what the hell, I'll join the Marines. Where he was a Lance Corporal before being discharged due to an injury prior to deployment that made him unable to go into combat. So he decided, what the hell, I'll try Juilliard again. And this time was accepted. Does not like to watch his own performance and will decline to watch them in interviews, because he just does not like seeing himself on screen. Uh he's been nominated for oscars in lincoln a black k a kk black kk klansman i don't know how to pronounce the spike lee movie yeah it's a three k's it throws me off um and marriage story of course uh his wife is actor joanne tucker uh the uh their her grandfather is the politician henry Tucker, who is considered one of the most important politicians in Bermuda in history, who led the first government of Bermuda in 1968.

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[4:29] Um watching his roles it's clear he's a bit of an intense person um because like after watching fight club he actually came away with the wrong lesson and decided to start a fight club in his high school um yeah so that was a choice uh now he did appear on broadway in mrs warren's profession and man and boy before going on to appear in Girls. Growing up, he was raised by a father and a stepfather who were both preachers, who had him sing in the church choir, which he doesn't really show off to the best of his ability inside Llewellyn Davis.

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[5:13] Which is, to be honest, where I first fell in love with him as the singing cowboy. Boy uh but he's actually a very talented musician and in that episode where he played the piano on snl he actually played the piano he does know how to play the piano um now he's gone on found a charity uh called arts in the armed forces with his partner a non-profit that brings art to the active duty service members around the world and support staff free of charge uh together they have have a son uh but he actually kept it hidden for two years before the new yorker finally uh let it slip in 2019 so he is a man of uh many nuances and layers sounds that way what an onion he is yeah you know when i carve into an onion i often cry and when i listen to a thomas conversation Conversation with a guest, sometimes two, I often cry. Let's go to Thomas now.

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[6:19] Grab your tissues. How's that for a segue, Matty?

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[6:51] Well, hello, JD and Matt. Welcome to another edition of the SNL Hall of Fame Conversation. We are in the middle of a wonderful season six, continuing that today with a great nominee, one of my all-time favorite hosts. I'm going to be up front about how much I like today's nominee. It's Adam Driver, of course, and I'll be up front about how much I like today's guest as well. A very special guest first timer last season with kate mckinnon who i think uh will probably get in this year i mean a little soon after after her tenure at snl to get into the snl hall of fame i guess the voters decided that but i think um ultimately ashley will have gotten kate mckinnon into the hall um ashley uh joined me and daramie on a round table uh at the end of season five so So this is her third appearance to the show. So Ashley Bauer, thank you so much for joining me today on the SNL Hall of Fame, Ashley. Thank you so much for having me back. I'm kind of working my way toward my own five-timers club, hopefully. That's the goal. Slowly but surely. Yes, yes, you'll get there. You were very impressive in your first go-around, so I had to have you back this season. I've been following your exploits on Instagram, I'm not going to lie. So you're a world traveler, you're a Taylor Swift fan, so why don't you tell me, like, how's your summer going in both of those regards, Ashley? I'm kind of jealous.

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[8:18] So it's a little bittersweet. So yeah, I went to Paris to see Taylor Swift at the Aris Tour in May, and it was everything I thought it would be and more. Like it was like being in Barbie land. Everybody supports each other. It's women supporting women. And it's this like happy, wholesome environment. And she's just such an incredible performer. And she was so amazing. And I was so depressed after the concert was over that I couldn't accept the fact that I would never see an AeroStore concert again. So I immediately booked another trip with a separate friend. And we were scheduled to go see her in Vienna. Just a couple of weeks ago but if anyone was watching the news they saw that the vienna shows did not happen um you know just terrorists or whatever no big deal wanted to blow up the venue so very grateful uh shout out to all of the national security agencies um in that country and whatever other countries may or may not have assisted because i'm here to talk on this podcast with you but yeah I know love traveling you're right 100% as often as I can get out of the country and go see somewhere new I'm gonna do it and if I get to combine it with Taylor Swift like.

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[9:41] What better trip could I plan? So yeah, made the best of it, even though we didn't actually get to see her in concert. But got to explore. Still did some kind of musical stuff. We went on a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. So made lemons, excuse me, made lemonades out of lemons. Yes. And now I'm just back in the U.S., I guess. Just back to the boring life. Yeah, just normal everyday real world. Not in Barbie land anymore.

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[10:11] Oh, that's cool. So that's awesome. Again, I'm like admiring your travels from afar, admiring your Taylor Swift adventures from afar. So I'm glad you've had a great summer. And I'm glad you're back here with me in season six to talk some Adam Driver. And I'm going to be upfront, Ashley. I think Adam might be in my top 10 all-time hosts. He's a four-timer. I think he's already there for me. So I'm going to start the conversation with that to be full, you know, full disclosure with the listeners. I think I have him as a top 10 all time host. Is that aggressive on my part? No, not at all. And I promise he's not paying me to say this or to just agree with him. But like I 100% he needs to at least be in the five timers club. He is so natural. Like it was like he was born to be an SNL host or somehow like he needs to somehow be associated with SNL for as long as I'm capable of watching the show so yeah not aggressive at all and I know we're going to talk a lot about why, he's just so freaking good at it like it's hilarious it's intense it's everything.

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[11:21] Yeah, and I was doing this exercise because I made an appearance on the Saturday Night Network's host countdown this summer. And I was just kind of doing my list and going through the hosts and everything like that. And I surprised myself and was like, I really have Adam Driver this high? I guess I do. And I guess I think he deserves it. So that's where I'm coming from. I think that's where both of us are coming from with this episode. So that's why I was so excited to do this one. So a little brief background on Adam. He did a little acting here and there. Until 2012, he started really getting breaks in 2012. He was in Lincoln, Francis Ha, the Greta Gerwig movie.

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[12:02] Girls, though, was arguably his biggest break. So I first saw Adam Driver on Girls. Is that the case for you and your first exposure to Adam? Or was it like somewhere else that you first saw Adam? him no so unfortunately mine was it wasn't until he got a little bit more mainstream my first exposure to him was when he played kylo ren in star wars um and then it was kind of you know going back and realizing that he had been like making his way through and kind of breaking through over the last few years um but all that to say again i thought he nailed that role in star Star Wars, it was just so well done that playing this just villain that you kind of find yourself, rooting for in a weird way, which is terrible because obviously you're not supposed to do that. But I think just the way that he captures the whole essence and as they build his story and kind of his arc and realizing...

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[13:02] You know obviously he chooses very poorly at the end but you know that there was something in there that was almost good um yeah and i'm not even really that big of a star wars fan like probably upset a lot of people with how little i know about it so very basic very mainstream for me to say like oh yeah he was so good in star wars that that's where i first got experience with him no he was so good in star wars though he played that role really well uh i think maybe i don't want to speak for J.J. Abrams or Rian Johnson, but you think you were supposed to kind of feel something for him, and especially with the backstory with Luke and all that. It's like, okay, maybe he kind of had a point as far as how angry he was, but Adam played those nuances really well, so definitely made his really mainstream mark playing Kylo Ren. On girls, he really stood out because Adam has this unique look about him. He doesn't look like the classic, and this is said with love, He doesn't look like the classic handsome Brad Pitt, George Clooney, movie star Clark Gable kind of person. Adam has a distinct look about him, and that came out in Girls. He was this kind of aloof guy who Lena Dunham's character had an on-again, off-again thing with. And you could see even then some of the comedy chops, and I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. He played intense really well, but then some of the stuff he said was low-key really funny in Girls.

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[14:28] So, there were signs there for him being a good SNL host, I should say. Yeah, I think once somebody gave him the platform and gave him the opportunity to really flex those comedy muscles, he just needed somebody to give him that chance and let him demonstrate. I'm so glad they did.

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[14:45] Yeah, that's what happens sometimes with people who aren't known for comedy. And that's what I wanted to ask you, just like in a general way. What's your initial reaction when someone is tabbed to host for the first time, but isn't necessarily totally known for a comedy? Is the anticipation still there for someone like that? I think so, because I think I've learned over the years that some people just really surprise you in a really great way about it. And I know like several, several years ago, the first time Mark Wahlberg did something with comedy, I was so shocked, like so shocked that Mark Wahlberg didn't just do a comedy movie, but absolutely nailed it. It was so freaking funny.

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[15:28] And so I kind of used that experience to give other people like Adam Driver a chance. Answer because i admit yeah like because all i knew about him at the time was star wars when i first saw that he was hosting i thought okay this you know he's big you know he's popular i see what they brought him in but oh my gosh just even from the beginning his first time coming out with the monologue like it was like he had been there before it was so surreal to me it made me forget that that was his first time hosting yeah there's a comfort about it that you can see as snl fans We can see some sort of comfort level or some sort of fit, I think, right off the bat. And something that I've learned, Ashley, since I've been an SNL fan for going on almost 35 years now, is that the best hosts, in my opinion, are hosts who are really good actors. So being good at sketch, to me, isn't just about having a sense of humor anymore.

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[16:26] It's about being a great actor and having timing and things like that. And Adam Driver happens to be a great actor and has a sense of humor. But I think a lot of those quote-unquote dramatic actors, people who are really skilled at that, are really good SNL hosts. Because I think you need to be a good actor to be good in sketch and not just funny. Oh, I completely agree with you. And I think that's what makes Adam so successful, is because he has the training and the just mixed with the natural talent of 100 committing.

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[16:58] To a role in a situation and just completely dedicating to it and i think because of that i think you see this too in so many of his sketches i keep trying to look for when he's gonna look at the cue card and i can never find it yeah like sometimes i kind of wonder if i'm like making myself believe that his eyes moved just because I'm trying to catch him. I'm like, I don't think he does. I don't think he's ever looked at a cue card. And if he has, then he's completely fooled me. And I think that commitment and dedication to memorizing his lines to completely go all in with whatever sketch they've given him has really been a huge part of why he's been so successful in his hosting gigs. Yeah, 100%. And then we saw that, as you mentioned, mention his first host hosting gig was season 41 episode 10 uh musical guest chris stapleton and his monologue like he was comfortable they played off the whole uh kylo ren star wars theme he was promoting the force awakens but i thought it was really cute just to kind of like get to know the host you had some uh bobby and taryn and leslie had a funny appearance there but the those first monologues for the for these new hosts it's like i i love when they're just up there and loose and maybe they need playing with the i think i think it helps them if they're playing with the cast a little bit even in the monologue ashley i don't know if it's something that you noticed at all.

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[18:24] I actually was thinking about that for one of his later monologues, too. It's his ability to play off other cast members, the band, the camera, just working the different camera angles so naturally. I think that really shows and it helps show the audience how comfortable they are from the get-go if they're able to come out and immediately start bantering with these professional SNL comedians. And he was able to do that.

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[18:52] But it really is an honor to be in Star Wars. Never, never, ever will you find a more devoted fan base. They're very intense. I know. Star Wars fans, ridiculous, right? Quick question. What happens in the next film, Adam? You know, I can't tell you that. They won't even tell me that. Oh, you can't tell me because the audience is here, right? Okay, okay. I'm going to ask you at the after party, though. No, you won't.

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[19:27] I've been dealing with this all week, leslie confused him with mini driver so she asked him why he wasn't in the martian with matt damon because she thought it mini driver was in goodwill hunting with matt damon why wouldn't you be in the martian with matt damon so uh so he had to correct her but uh fun monologue uh i think this is a this This is a fun episode for me, like really fun episode for me. So, but I'm going to throw it to you. Like from this first episode, what stood out to you? Oh my gosh. Again, so, so many. Since I'd only really known him from Star Wars, I thought that undercover boss sketch was immediately one of the greatest of all time. Like it was so brilliant. The concept was genius. Shout out to the writers of that sketch. But again, like his ability.

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[20:19] To, you know, bring Kylo Ren alive into this like comedic realm was so hilarious. And as a lawyer, shout out to all the lawyers who got the rights to let him do that. Because thank you. Otherwise, we wouldn't have this sketch. But yeah, he was so freaking intense in that. And it ended up being so funny. And I think in the moments where he wasn't even really trying to be funny, he was just playing Kylo Ren because of the setting that they had and the concept of what they were doing. Just made it immediately funny even when he was you know pained and trying to like talk to the camera do the interview off screen he's like i'm really looking forward to meeting everybody like it just pained him to have to say it kylo is going undercover among star killer base personnel as matt a radar technician you get so caught up in restoring the galaxy to its rightful state that you miss what's going on behind the scenes. I'm looking forward to having some real talk with some real folks. The shout out to everyone else who kept up with him in that sketch too.

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[21:27] Bobby Moynihan, Taryn Killam in that as well. I think that was such a huge standout. Yeah episode i thought hilariously intense that was like a a phrase that that came to my mind was adam was hilariously intense uh in this sketch and taryn yeah taryn's saying that he's 90 sure that matt is kylo ren but then cutting to him telling a sob story to presumably to get money from kylo because he kind of knows how these shows work so he knew it was kylo ren and he's He's just kind of like laying it on the sob story. So Kylo would like give him something like Matt. Kylo Ren as Matt, the radar technician using the force to choke Bobby's stormtrooper. Just all these fun beats. It's like a modern classic. And this is his second sketch as host of SNL. And he turned in like a modern classic right away. Yeah, exactly. Just right out of the gate. Gold. Like I was just so impressed. So that's undercover boss star killer base with Adam as Kylo Ren. One that I wanted to throw out there for sure, and maybe I'm showing my Vanessa Bear bias too, because she's great. I'm the biggest Vanessa Bear fan on the planet. The Golden Globes pre-tape.

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[22:42] And again, one of those, and SNL did it really well around that time period where they showed a really cute subdued scene and then kind of juxtaposed it with something intense that was happening. So they like to do pre-tapes that had that kind of back and forth. So this one, it was Adam and Vanessa. They play a couple who just won the Golden Globes Award. And they have a wild night on the town. And then their kids, played by Kyle Mooney and Kate McKinnon, are just at home kind of waiting for them. When are mom and dad going to come back? And this and that. And they're just like peaceful, about to go to sleep. And just all hell breaks loose in this pre-tape. And it's one of my favorites. And I don't know how much SNL fans go back to it, but they really should. It's just like a favorite pre-tape of mine from this era ashley.

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[23:29] I agree. Oh, my God. It's so funny. I loved the contrast of this. Yeah. You know, if you're watching, go to bed. And it transitions, yeah, into that. Oh, yeah. Like, what is actually happening when people say that there are kids, you know, going to bed and then waiting for mom and dad to come home and then the absolute shift to them doing cocaine off of the trophy. And like do you think mom and dad miss us and like this is the greatest thing that's ever happened to us forgetting about their kids um but i think what made this so fun you're oh my god yeah vanessa bayer agree she's lovely um she's amazing was i think this shows adam driver's range again that like his classical training and acting and his ability to bring that into like bring the intensity into this this sketch because he also starts as this cute like kind of dad and he's thanking everybody and then he you know picks the fight with keenan and vanessa's yelling at him like be a man for once and hit him and just completely escalating this whole situation, whoa guys guys sorry stars only you man don't push my wife be a man for once kevin hit him You don't want to hit me, sir. Hold on to your hats! You're about to get pounded!

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[24:52] I thought that was so impressive. He runs off like Vanessa has left there to deal with security, and Adam just runs off. He ditches her. Yeah. Yes, so good. Yeah, I just thought that right off the bat, that shows his range. That he could, again, just like with the undercover boss sketch, be so intense, but make it so funny. Yeah. Yeah, they ended up having a, presumably having a fun night with Leo Schreiber as well. After Adam is talking about seeing him at the urinal and everything. And the next morning, Adam and Vanessa are passed out on the couch and Leo Schreiber's in the kitchen shirtless with an apron and making eggs in the kitchen. And the kids are like, he's like, you can get yourself dressed for school, right? That's probably best if you guys go do that. Yeah, he asked the kids, do you guys like eggs? They're like what is happening like oh good mom and dad got home they fell asleep and they're just like strewn about on the couch but as his boob is like hanging out of her dress like there's still cocaine on adam's face like it's just it's perfection yeah it's just madness yeah the golden globe sketch uh one that kind of like amongst a lot of those pre-tapes to me it kind of slid a little bit under the radar um but i think uh if you know you know and and that one's It's a great one.

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[26:14] There's one, and I don't know, I may put you on the spot, but there's one in this episode that screamed Ashley to me. I don't know if we're on the same wavelength, but one in particular screamed Ashley Bauer to me. Do you want me to guess? Yes. Was it the Aladdin? No, it wasn't, but I can see that as well. Yeah, talk about that. I was like, that one, yeah. Big musical fan, obviously. Big Disney fan. And so the fact that he could sing, I know a lot of actors do have that training. I'm pretty sure he went to Juilliard, but for acting, that doesn't necessarily mean he can sing. But he didn't just sing with Cecily Strong. Like, he harmonized with her. Right? I was like, oh, okay. All right. Like, go off.

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[27:03] And again, just the commitment and everything. I thought that one was so fun because it combined my love of Disney. Yeah. kind of a straight man yeah he is poor cecily's getting like hit with a bomb and like the plane like opens it's like it dumps all the bathroom stuff on her and she's just straight up not having a good time and he's so oblivious to it he just wants to sing his song um but no what was the one that you thought was was me it was america's funniest cats oh okay yeah no that's fair yeah because it reminded because i because i know like it so reminded me of like late 90s early 2000s snl uh with this was it was adam playing a kind of a nerdy weird guy named finn reynolds he does he hosts a show where he does like kind of goofy voiceovers for cat videos and then he has two french women on his guests played by kate and cecily so this was just like awesome and i'm like i bet i don't know for some reason i thought like i, I think Ashley might like this one. Okay, wow, you guys do it a little different than us. We try to make the bloopers a little sillier, like with sound effects and stuff. Do you know what I mean? I wake up boyoyong. Oh, boyoyong.

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[28:19] We can try boyoyong. Oh, yeah, yeah, great. Throw some boyoyongs in there. I'm just going to roll a bunch of clips and you guys just go crazy, okay? Yes, of course. Boyoyong. this cat has neurological disorder she cannot gauge a distance between herself and the cow isn't that the one where uh yeah they played the french women and they're just completely like i don't want to i don't want to make anybody mad but like what you what they portray in the media as being uh traditional french women yeah like more nihilistic yeah yeah they're like um they make fun of the cats they're like kind of have more dark humor everything like the cat is doing that the cat's about to probably like die in the video like even if they're doing the cutest thing they're like so yeah but adam's adam plays this really fun nerdy guy that's again like almost he he's a outlandish character in his own right but he's almost in a way like a like a foil or like a straight person to them um their voiceovers are a lot darker than adam's so he's a good like foil to the dark voiceovers that Kate and Cecily provided. It was almost like an anti-Sprockets, where instead of the host being super dark and intense, the guests were, and the host was just trying to be this awkward, nerdy, funny guy doing these cute videos, and then.

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[29:43] These women come on and completely like ah well maybe that's not exactly what i intended i absolutely love that comparison to sprockets like the inverse sprockets like that's so good what a great pull anytime i can shout out to mike myers like i'll find a way, yeah you're talking to someone who when he was a little kid dressed up in like a black turtleneck and pretended to be Dieter from Spraw Kids. So I just made Ashley choke on her wine.

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[30:14] I can see that. And that must have been before we met. I know we've known each other a long time, but the fact that I never got to see this is so disappointing. I'm glad there wasn't like my parents weren't on social media at the time and taking pictures and post. Yeah, that would have been a mess. We're older than social media, Tom, unfortunately. So you lucked out.

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[30:39] Uh yeah this was a fun i i have one more i don't know if anything one actually that really surprised me from this episode but i don't know if you have any shout outs uh any more from this his first hosting gig uh no i really yeah i'm not gonna lie the undercover boss one stood out oh wasn't this also the the season where he was playing the football announcer and pete davidson gets absolutely like laid out breaks his legs that was another really good one Yeah.

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[31:09] He's not so much the star of that. Like he's kind of a side person in it. But that would really sit out to me from that episode as well. Yeah, that was a good one. That was the first sketch of the night. Actually, that like led off the night. Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah. There was one I kind of forgot about. And I loved Adam Driver, obviously, before I started going back and rewatching these episodes. But there was one called Awareness Seminar. it was adam and cecily and their class speakers talking about social social puppeteering to the class and the stories that adam and cecily are sharing are so good and these stories are just like giving kids ideas about like elaborate ways to like mess with their classmates and make them like gaslight them and just thinking certain things and and they're just like telling their classmates like avoid social puppeteering and watch out for this for example and then they'll go into like a story about social puppeteering the class is like that sounds so cool like.

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[32:12] Inadvertently talking the class ended doing it but it was just like a little gem that i had forgot about okay well in simplest terms uh it's manipulating others for your own amusement i'm hijacking someone's reality to feel powerful here's an example of something i did in the sixth grade. I paid like 80 kids a buck to go up to this kid, Nathan, and say, hey, nice hat. So what's the problem? Nathan wasn't wearing a hat. If 80 kids say you're wearing a hat, you start thinking, maybe I'm wearing a hat. And watching him wrestle with that made me feel good. I took the most valuable thing he had, his mind. That's the idea behind social puppeteering. Any questions? i don't think there was a dud in this whole episode like the last sketch of the night it was um 80s character kid character who wanders into a porno scene that's right that's right.

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[33:06] Oh, my gosh. So that's how they ended the night. Adam did a great job at bad acting in that sketch. But that's like, I don't think there were any misses his first hosting gig, which is rare for a first timer. Like sometimes even the great ones, you look at their first time and you're like, okay, there were like some bumps in the road. But I don't think there was like a bump in the road here, Ashley. No, I agree. And I think this shows how much faith and trust that the writers had in him as well to give him such big sketches for his first time hosting.

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[33:40] So whatever they saw early in the week, I think really built that rapport and that trust because they did. They just kept giving him just like amazing sketch after amazing sketch. And he completely delivered on it. Like some of these, you know, could potentially have been duds, but I think he kind of took them across the finish line. And I think this was also our first glimpse into seeing the comedic chemistry he was going to have with Cecily Strong, like just how perfect they were in sketches together. They're so funny. And I'm glad that we got some more with them later when he came back. Yeah, 100%. So it didn't take that long for him to come back. Three seasons, which isn't that much. Season 44, he led off. It was the season premiere of season 44. And he wasn't done any favors with this one I don't think right off the bat Because they did.

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[34:34] Such a long it was a brett kavanaugh cold open matt damon came on and played brett kavanaugh and i enjoyed it but it was so long i think it just kind of messed with like the timing of the show and the tempo and the vibe um so that was kind of weird like excited about the season premiere but like the brett kavanaugh thing had just happened um the the whole like uh the the hearing to try to see if they would confirm him for supreme court justice and so that was very topical, but it just went on for so long and it seemed like they were just playing catch up the entire night, but there were like some good stuff, including arguably the best sketch of the whole era. One of the best sketches of the entire era happened to this in this episode. So, so still like a great perform, great outing by, by Adam. Yeah, you're right. I mean, how do you follow Matt Damon playing completely?

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[35:30] Shout out to Melissa Villasenor, white male rage character in Brett Kavanaugh. It kind of did monopolize the show. It took a really long time. And living in DC, I've gotten to see oral arguments now. And that has ruined me because listening to Justice Kavanaugh ask questions during oral argument, I'm sitting there trying not to giggle and break my bearing because all I can picture is Matt Damon playing him in Saturday Night Live but yeah like it was so hard I think to follow that such an aggressive.

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[36:03] Tone although come to think of it maybe Adam was the perfect one to follow that because he is so intense and aggressive and we got um oh my gosh what was the character's name I remember Pete's name was like Mordecai in this are you talking about Abraham H Parnassus yes thank you oh my god yeah so we get your i think yeah one of the greatest sketches of the era maybe all time um i think anyone i talked to about adam driver doing snl this sketch always comes up i think more than any of the other ones and for good reason i keep talking about his commitment and dedication like this is exhibits a through like z right here everyone else is just dying and losing it in this sketch pete especially right in front of him and he doesn't blink he He doesn't flinch, he doesn't hesitate, like just utter commitment to staying in this character. Mr. Parnassus, why don't you tell us about what you do for a living? Hear me now, children. For my occupation is of much import. For 82 years, I've been an oil man, a baron, some have called me. Now what does an oil baron do? The answer?

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[37:18] Crush your enemies grind their bones into dirt make them regret they were ever born oh sick yes speaking of my shout out to melissa v and senor a minute ago i think she kind of like she's the perfect side person for this sketch because her reactions to him oh my god we're so perfect i think her reactions are some are just as funny as him playing this um oil bear she's like yeah like jp higgins sucks like this is some of the best acting i think that adam's ever done honestly like in movies and girls uh this to me this career day sketch like can rival any of his best acting in that he's done in movies because commitment he was yelling about like crushing your enemy enemies and his feud with hr pickings i love these names for old oil like that's perfect um you mentioned melissa i think she was the one who said i want to be you when i grow up and then adam delivers perfectly and so you shall he gets like all intense it's like it's so ridiculous and pete knew how ridiculous and awesome it was gonna be because as soon as adam started i think even before when he just came out i think pete just looked at him and was like oh god he like kind of started giggling yeah uh pete loses it immediately Adam doesn't even open his mouth, and Pete's completely lost it.

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[38:46] Yeah, this is Beloved for Good Reason. Career Day, he plays, again, Abraham H. Parnassus, which is right up there with Kylo Ren, whatever his character's name was in Marriage Story. I forgot, I liked him in that.

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[39:03] Just anything, Adam from Girls, it just rivals to me. It rivals anything. I absolutely love this sketch. It is up there as far as like an essential, just amazing sketch from this whole era. So that's the first one that you got to shout out, right? Oh, for sure. I want to know if he improvised the part toward the end of that sketch where he throws the bird down on the floor and starts impaling it with his cane. Because everyone else's reaction in that room is like genuine shock and terror. And then kind of like trying not to crack up. And I think it appears to me, based on those reactions, either they were just so perfectly committed to nailing those reactions, or that was improv, because they seemed to not know that he was about to do it, which makes it even better. Yeah, yeah.

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[39:54] Yeah, there's another one. Well, you had mentioned that he and Cecily had developed a rapport from the previous episode. And another one I liked from this, again, total commitment. There's anger, drama on both Adam and Cecily's part. It was that coffee shop one where they're drinking Domenico's coffee that they were told was actually Burger King coffee. And just Adam and Cecily's just dialing it up. They're dialing up the anger, dialing up the drama, all the way to 11. This is a fun sketch, I think. But the fun thing is, is that you actually drank BK Joe. Well, probably everyone else's is a BK Joe, but mine wasn't. I'm a Domenico's girl. My new wife is a Domenico's girl. Okay, sure, but that coffee is BK Joe. And get this, it costs just $1.99.

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[40:48] $1.99? You better take that back, you pervert! Whoa, sir, there is no need for that. You fed my wife this garbage? Huh? This burger juice? How dare you? The day after our wedding. You came here the day after our wedding? And I'm already laughing because I love this sketch so much that to this day, I will be out getting coffee with my husband, and if we go to a new coffee shop, I'll be like, mm-mm, I'm a Dominico's girl. And I just completely start cracking myself up again. Yeah, he's so embarrassed to be around me, my poor husband. No, he's great, but he just knows me so well by now. He knows to expect it. But yeah, every time, like, mm-mm. No, I'm a Dominico's girl.

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[41:30] That's awesome. Yeah, it's just sad that, like, Cecily does. And Adam found a true kind of, almost like his twin on the show in some ways, just in Cecily. Like, they worked off each other so well. like it was we saw that with the aladdin one before that but yeah this this sketch is like uh they're they're fueling each other like one neither of them are the straight person they're just like building off the other one's anger and rage and drama and it's just it's fantastic so uh we've learned today that ashley's a dominico's girl so and that this is a fun sketch, um those were yeah those were a couple highlights um i don't know if there's any more with this episode not many sketches like i said because it just got off to kind of a long start with the with a really long cold open, Yeah, so I'm glad that they gave him so many good ones for his first hosting gig. Obviously, I don't know that they were this prophetic to know that they wouldn't really have this chance the next time he hosted. But I think, you know, I think it was okay to kind of have a little bit more of a dud. And no fault to his own.

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[42:43] But then, of course, you know, the next time we see him, the next two times we see him, I think they make up for it again. Oh, boy, do they. Yeah, no, this is like a classic. It seems like a classic episode. Um season 45 so he comes back the next season uh season 45 episode 11 um this one actually has my favorite monologue um by adam and actually one of my favorite monologues of this whole era i think um and adam's trying his best to be chill and he says he hates red carpet stuff because he's bad at smiling and then he's like uh walking toward the camera and staring into the camera But the whole conceit is just like, I'm just going to try to be chill for this monologue up here. And it's just Adams can't do chill very well, actually.

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[43:34] No, not so much. And I think this shows how self-deprecating he is, too. And I know we see this. They do this every now and then for those actors that maybe kind of get a certain reputation in the media about how their personality is. And they come on SNL to debunk this myth that this is how they really are, but then ultimately the formula of the sketch is to just really prove everybody right at the end of the day. I'm not an intense guy. I'm actually very chill. So tonight I'm just going to be myself, open up a bit, and be chill. Can we get some chill music? No, I don't like that. Can you play something else?

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[44:17] Okay, I like that less. Can you go back to the first one? Okay, that's fine. You can hear that's better, right? Okay, good. Anyway, I'm very chill, and I'm just gonna prove it. I'm just gonna, you know, Take my time up here, be myself, and enjoy this moment.

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[44:37] Yeah, I think he does this so well, too, again, because, again, starting from the beginning, I'm super chill. Three notes into the song that he asks the band to play. No, I don't like that. Change it.

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[44:50] Like, five notes into the second one. Actually, no, I like this less. Go back. He's just being this, like, demanding diva. um and i know i talked a little bit earlier about like his first monologue and kind of how he was interacting with the other cast members but yeah this one you're right he's interacting with the band he's interacting with the cameras he does the awkward sit next to the audience member kind of thing and tries to yeah i can sit and talk to the people and then just kind of gives him this action figure thing and if i see this on ebay i'm gonna kill you um it's just yes you're it's so memorable so funny yeah these are the types of monologues in my opinion that all-time great hosts do like i can see steve martin tom hanks alec baldwin like any of the all-time greats just holding court in a monologue like that looking so comfortable so confident they're owning the main stage they're owning home base there in studio 8h and this is just a throwback back to like this is a monologue that that i watch and i'm going like this guy is an all-time great and this is something that makes me confident in calling him like a top 10 host ever is because of something like this like it's it's just it's just it was just so fun to watch it it's like one of those monologues honestly that like made me makes me uh reaffirms why i like watching snl because i get to see something great like this.

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[46:18] Yeah, and it's something that could have just completely failed if he didn't have the ability to carry it. Like, he carries this entire monologue that could have been so awkward and just nails it. It's quiet. It's just him. He's interacting with these other people and entities, but they're not really engaging back with him. Like, he's carrying this whole monologue, and it's funny from start to finish. And I just think that, yeah, it really goes to show how talented he is at this. And it's so fun to see. Yeah, people, you need to go back and watch his monologue from season 45, episode 11. To me, it's like up there with like some of the better like Martin Short monologues or hosts like that. It's pretty awesome. So I was in New York this weekend.

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[47:05] And my wife and I were leaving our luggage at our hotel to go like do some sightseeing before we had to get back and then go to the airport. They told us how much it was. they said that they didn't take card and I looked at my wife and I was like oh man I'm all out of cash so so that made me that reminded me of such a classic sketch from from this episode Ashley that was a that was a shaggy a little shaggy dog way to get to to get to this Del Taco sketch, I love it oh my gosh did you pick this sketch because of my prior comments about Kyle Mooney a little bit, i mean because part of me is like oh another kyle mooney sketch but then well like the evil part of me is like oh this entire sketch is like designed to absolutely humiliate him 100 yeah and i will say i end up i do end up feeling so bad for him by the end of it when he's like fake crying um because they make him say the line like 100 times over again and it's still wrong and they're just telling him how bad he is at it yeah yeah let's hear it oh man i'm I'm all out of cash. Aw, man, I'm all out of cash. No, you don't want to kill yourself. You just want to talk about it.

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[48:18] You should be like, aw, man, I'm all out of cash. Okay. Now say it. Aw, man, I'm all out of cash. Aw, man, I'm all out of cash. No, you're not a pervert. He's got to get out of his head. I think we just got to beat the hell out of this guy. No, no, no, no, we can't. Aw, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. I know, sir. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Adam plays such a great, like, he plays the VP of branding for Del Taco. Del Taco. They're shooting a Del Taco commercial. Beck's the director. Chloe Fineman. It's an early, I guess, early Chloe Fineman. I was surprised. I actually kind of forgot that Chloe was in this sketch. So it's early Chloe Fineman and Adam or Kyle are playing these two actors. And he and Kyle has to say the line, oh man, I'm at it all out of cash. And Beck's trying to coach him.

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[49:09] And You don't want to kill yourself. You just want a taco. You're not a pervert. Just all these different things. He looks at Beck and he's like, I think we just got to beat the hell out of this guy. And then he's like, put your shirt on your head like Cornholio. Take your pants off. Like Cornholio. I love that. He just kind of slid that in. We all know who he's talking about. The great Cornholio. This is another classic So like You can watch all four of his Episodes and I think there's like Classics from the era Yeah, in each one of those episodes. And to me, this is one of them. This Del Taco commercial shoot. I think immediately, Ashley, I looked online when it happened and people were repeating that line right away. It became an instant classic. So where does I say, oh, I'm a Domenico's girl. You're the, oh, I'm all out of cash. No, it's like, oh, man, I'm all out of cash.

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[50:21] Please don't make me do it like Cornholio. You just crack each other up drinking Domenico's while eating Del Taco. That would be it. Yes. That would be a fun time. What else do you need? They also did, Ashley, a sequel to a sketch that we both loved from his first gig. It's the undercover boss, Where Are They Now? So how did you feel about part two of this undercover boss? I really liked it. It's always so hard to do a sequel to anything. I was just so happy to have him back. Um i didn't think it was quite as good as the first one that may be in a popular opinion, um but i think i've probably just built up in my head so much like the perfection that is the first one that yeah you know there's no way to ever really compare it um but yeah obviously it was such a favorite they knew they had to bring it back for the fans i'm so glad they did yeah well it got a huge cheer when the sketch started it got a huge cheer so we showed how beloved the The last one was immediately they showed Adam as Kylo and everybody just start shooting because they knew what they were in for pretty much. And then it has a gif that that kind of lives on toward the end when he's giving that strained kind of thumbs up at the at the end of the sketch. So for nothing else, like I thought this was a pretty good sketch, but then like that thumbs up kind of lives on.

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[51:44] Yeah, I mean, again, no shade to Adam Driver. I think he nails it again. I think it's kind of just more some of the other people. Bobby Moynihan, just not sure enough sucks. Like, when you go from that to, like, everybody else, you don't have Leslie Jones anymore, you know. Maybe I'm just biased again because I loved those actors so much. But, yeah, if nothing else, at least now our world is blessed with that gif of the author of Thumbs Up. There's a series of sketches that I think Adam's, like, a perfect host to play. So it's the science science room sketches and he could play really annoyed, like very, very well. Uh, so, so he plays the host of the science room. Of course you have like Mikey and Cecily is their little kid characters who, who are just like the most annoying little kids. But isn't Adam not perfect for something like this? Oh my God. Yes. Cause again, just his complete ability to, and he times the escalation of his aggression. So wow. Like he doesn't come out of the gate at a hundred. Like he really knows how to just dial it up a little bit more, a little bit more each time. And you see that with this, like at first he's like so happy about the kids and seems like, you know, a TV host that's going to be so natural and doing a science show with kids. And then just completely ends it with like wanting to absolutely murder these dumb children. And he's throwing the tape like through the window and.

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[53:11] Um, again, just Cecily, like, I think she helps carry that through, like her comedic timing and delivery of the, you know, somewhat inappropriate comments about what her sister says about what happens in the science room. Always. Yeah. It's always something she, she repeats what her sister says. What comes first in the science room? Um, the guy, the guy. Yeah. My, my older sister said the guy like always comes first oh my god no no that's not what that means the guy does not come first here the girl comes first no my sister said the girl never comes it's safety safety comes first.

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[53:56] That was an awful conversation we just had adam had the best response uh he just sort of casually goes like that was an awful conversation we just had it was like the way he said it was like i was like the voice for us like yeah that was somebody like called it out yeah i love it i love when snl does that too um i think by one of my favorite examples of that is uh again kind of going a little off topic i apologize but the larry david episode where they're doing the fbi training and pete davidson just simply repeats what larry david said with this like like incredulous like just demeanor like did he just say can a bitch get a donut and it's like the audience yeah you're right it's just really repeating what the audience is thinking in that moment it seems so simple but it's.

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[54:50] Kind of i think it makes the audience like oh yeah that's right yeah this is funny because this is exactly what i'm thinking and i think adam did the same thing in this sketch yeah for sure that's like a mikey day street or side l kind of thing too i think yeah yeah like the audience perspective um in that as well though uh yeah just a wonderful uh the science room they've done that a few times and you need those like great actors who can like pull off that sort of frustration that like escalating sort of frustration that adam did um i have one more that i think that i really love from this uh from this episode i don't know if you have anything from his third hosting gig that that we should go over um no yeah those are kind of the big ones for me i think we might be thinking about the next the same next sketch though the only other one i can think about from this uh episode well mine was um it's an example of a sketch that has a ridiculous premise and kind of really works because of someone like adam i guess adam and cecily again and it's the marrying ketchups sketch yes that they did at the end of the night and it's just like of course at a restaurant one of the closing duties married the ketchups or whatever so they're pretending to like have a wedding with the ketchups and So basically Adam and Cecily are playing these catch-ups. I think Kyle comes in as like Cholula or something.

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[56:17] But this is such a dumb, dumb premise that I find really entertaining.

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[56:22] And it's basically because of Adam and Cecily. So them as a duo I find really entertaining performing a really dramatic dumb scene.

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[56:33] Wanda, I know you're only a quarter full and I'm three quarters full. But together it won't matter We'll just be one full ketchup No, we won't Because I'm not ketchup at all, i'm catsup what did you just say you heard me.

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[56:54] You're telling me i've been gallivanting around town with some cheap off-brand generic ketchup, don't you dare you're not even heinz you dirty hunt you're really gonna call me a hunt in front of my family i love it because it's supposed to be like this dramatic.

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[57:12] Like almost marriage story-esque you're right and um he's yelling at her and the puns are just chef's kiss like you're right it could be so dumb it could be so bad but they nailed it like i don't relish telling you this but like it's like come on like please um and i think it it was heidi gardner who was it was heidi who was yeah heidi was the manager i think heidi bryant played the manager yes yes and it's um cecily almost she kind of breaks a little bit when she like breaks off the label and realize it reveals that she's catsup and not ketchup and he's just appalled um and then they have the little like ketchup packet baby i can't like everything about out this sketch is so funny to me but i do kind of like dumb humor yeah no absolutely no dumb humor is great especially on snl it's like i don't know like the commitment just to just to really to sell something dumb is just like it's one of the reasons why i do love the show is just to see these just sometimes you see these people sell the most ridiculous thing and it's It's like they're just putting themselves out there to look stupid and to have fun. That's a lot of reason why I watch the show. And something like this, it's just like it's perfectly executed in that.

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[58:40] Oh yeah and like when she she starts kind of pushing back she's like well at least i don't have to slap him on the back for him to perform yeah yeah oh that's that so we were both thinking the same thing that's marrying catch-ups that was the last uh it was like a 10 to 1 it was the last uh sketch of the night um very great episode his third one we had a classic monologue the del taco commercial shoot was classic some other like really fun sketches um adam got to show his acting chops a lot in the medieval times sketch adam got to show like some really over dramatic fun acting like a like adam driver does um so really really strong third outing people were clamoring for him to come back it's just like he's showing that he's an all-time great already but we need him back and when they announced him and kate hosting i think they hosted like back to back they were part of a batch of uh announcements it was like okay we're in for something special uh so adam came back this past season in season 49 um and i think one of these sketches was probably my top two sketches of the season and adam played it perfectly but the but this was like a i think season 49 was maybe kind of an up and down episode but.

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[1:00:05] To me this was like had a lot of highs compared to a lot of the other episodes of this season but like when you saw adam was coming back like excitement oh yeah definitely like i said you know he he came out just from his his very first season of hosting and was so good at it.

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[1:00:22] If he just kept getting better and better every time they've announced him, I've been so, so excited. I'm going to be even more excited if they announce him for a fifth hosting gig, but yeah, definitely always excited to have him back.

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[1:00:38] Yeah. So, so I think, I think some fans felt like it was bumpy to start the season. And then we were like, Oh, Adam's coming back and Kate McKinnon's coming to host. Like, so this, this really like, I think rejuvenated a lot of people.

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[1:00:51] And, um, the sketch that I want, that I wanted to bring up first was like, uh, maybe my favorite sketch of the season. There's another one with Kristen, in the Jumanji sketch was up there too um but beep beep um with Adam and uh Andrew just mukes essentially kind of facing off in this sketch like Andrew's honestly my favorite current cast member to so to see Andrew and his weird humor uh his kind of intense silly humor play off of adam so well uh in this sketch which is like it's kind of a dumb premise like two guys are like putting their dishes on the table and saying excuse me beep beep so they use the word beep beep and then adam and andrew get there at the same time and they say beep beep and then it starts getting tense it's like a tense standoff i'm sorry boys is everything all right everything's fine sweetie i said beep beep no no no no no no i said beep beep no no no no no no i don't think you understand see i'm a little car right now and i'm honking at you with my little horn.

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[1:02:12] Beep beep you couldn't get two better people one you couldn't get a better host two you couldn't andrew was the perfect cast member to pull this off so beep beep ashley maybe my favorite sketch at least in the top two of the season oh yeah i think that one really threw me off i didn't think, you know it was gonna be as good as it was when it kind of first starts like oh here's another like holiday get together type sketch you know they do these all the time um but oh my gosh Gosh, you're right. I do feel like Andrew Dismutes has been kind of this like dark horse, this silent assassin where you didn't really –.

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[1:02:47] He's so kind of quiet and unassuming, seemingly, that you think he's just going to be hiding in the background. But I remember being so impressed with how well he held his own with Adam Driver in this scene. Adam is so intense. He's so experienced. And Andrew Dismukes is still kind of new. And you could not tell. and I know you got a little of that too when he had that sketch with Ryan Gosling where Ryan's trying to like bail on the engagement and I feel like you get kind of that same Andrew Dismukes with Adam Driver in the Beat Beats sketch, and yeah like that same just perfection of escalating it at the right time, but also I think anyone who's been to like a dinner party with their parents was like oh my god yes like this This is the cringy stuff that dads do with each other. But to see the twist of it turning into this, like, fight to the death is so funny. One of them must relent.

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[1:03:54] Yeah, it's just, I'm a sucker, just in my time as an SNL fan, I'm such a sucker for silly premises that take dramatic, tense turns. Like, as you mentioned, it's a silly premise. this you know dumb dads are just like goofy dads i should say uh just kind of doing their thing and i just love when those types of slice of life kind of things take such a dramatic turn and it's just tense and you see andrew looking at him just staring into like adam's soul and like i said beep beep and it's just like it turns like such like cold tense like wow okay like that escalated. I'm a sucker for that, Ashley. Out of like the different sketch types, that's one of my absolute favorites. Oh, yeah, I think it goes back to what we were talking about the juxtaposition of, you know, where they like for the pre taper, they do something so calm and kind of sweet. And then it turns into this like epic, like, rage type scene, you know, next. And obviously, this is a little bit of a different formula, but they write the same idea of something that could be so dumb, but that everybody connects with everyone thinks is funny, because they've executed it so well. And then you just have Caden come in and he shows his gun like just takes it from a hundred to like a million.

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[1:05:14] I just oh my god yeah perfect way to end it because sometimes I do take issue you know they're not really quite sure how to end really good sketches sometimes, and sometimes there's just this kind of awkward fade away but not with this one like start to finish, I think it's James Austin Johnson is one of the people in the back like kind of like Like, yeah, explaining, no, no, no, like, this, once they said beep beep, you cannot relent, like you said. Yeah, beep beep, I'll continue to spread the good word about this sketch, because it immediately, like, impressed me and floored me. It was awesome. Yeah, this episode was one of my favorites of the season, probably. You had him and Bowen as that gay couple that just told their friends like that they're trying. I'm so, so happy for you. So tell all now, what's your plan? Are you gonna adopt? No, we're just gonna try. Oh, so then you're doing the surrogate route. That's great. Huh, surrogacy. Well, maybe down the line, but for now we're just gonna try. Trying so uh don't come knocking on our door either oh.

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[1:06:34] Heidi michael sarah and andrew all asking them like so how are you are you adopting he's like no we're just trying okay like yeah so i just love their like him and bowen just kind of casually just throwing out that they're trying so that was something else that stood out to me i mean anything with bowen of course he's so good at playing off anybody as well like he's so versatile i love it yeah no yeah what'd you think about this episode as a whole and anything that like that you may have enjoyed i yeah i mean obviously yeah the beat beat was the one that stood out to me the most so we were trying um the old friends one was really funny but kind of like reaching out hadn't heard from somebody in a while like that would also kind of take like a really dark turn. But yeah, you know, I feel like.

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[1:07:26] This episode showed a little bit more that they don't always like the sketches don't always have to be him front center. Like he can also, I think play like the side guy, the side person and, you know, really still contribute and, and not just be somebody who's hiding in the corner or they're not just throwing him in because he's the host. Um, and he wants a certain amount of screen time. And I think he ends up really contributing to everything that he's in, whether he's front and center or he's playing one of the side characters. And I think we've got probably a few more sketches, I'd say, where he was the side character in this one. Or maybe even a little bit calmer sometimes. Yeah, especially toward the end. Yeah, there was like a PSA, which is like elderly people saying like, stop pranking me, basically. So you have all these elderly people. Yeah. And Adam was just part of an ensemble there. Tiny Ass Bag ended the night. And Adam was just sort of part of the sketch. But he's front and center when he's playing a baby on an airplane. Oh my god, yes. Adam's front and center for that one. Okay, yeah.

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[1:08:32] I mean, that's an example of a sketch that could go off the rails so quickly if the host isn't selling it. And Adam is selling it. It's just his face because basically he's sticking his head through an airplane seat and then it's like a little baby's body. So it's just Adam facial expressions as far as like his ears hurt and, his mom is playing like a Peekaboo or not peekaboo, but like showing him his toy and like where'd it go and then Adams like oh my god he's like so this is just total like facial acting just commitment and another sketch that could really go off the rails unless It's like a confident really great host. I've been there before raised three on my own. How old is he? Oh.

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[1:09:22] I'm 11 months oh oh wow you mean 11 months in like 15 000 days my ears feel strange.

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[1:09:36] It's okay honey that's just the pressure from being up high yeah no my ears they feel different i don't like it, it's okay here do you want your ipad sweetie the peppa pig device that is the only thing i want, and i think too like this shows like he's so willing to not take himself too seriously like the sketches that he's taken on and agreed to do and then just absolutely nailed i think shows that like he's not afraid of looking silly he's not afraid of being stupid um and you're right kind of taking these premises that could be so bad and he's like yeah i'll go along with that i'll play along like i i can totally see he sees the vision and he brings it to life and you're right even it's just a head like a baby's head and he's so freaking funny yeah yeah that was when my wife and i were recently on an airplane i i uh because she had she had to miss the adam driver she was out of town for the adam driver episode so i was kind of explaining it to her again i'm like yeah i gotta show it to you sometime because it's adam driver and this baby and she was getting kicked kick out of me just explaining explaining it so uh i think all in all a good episode we forgot like the only other one was like adam playing a chocolatier selling his chocolates on shop tv and the chocolates are phallic shaped and they lean into that whole thing and yeah.

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[1:10:56] Oh my god i forgot about that totally straight he can't acknowledge what's going on so that's like the key thing there is you can't you have to play that straight and adam did such a great job with that so uh so it could easily be like a really dumb like almost a sweaty balls kind of, realm of a sketch um but you know adam's a great host that pulls it off, Yeah, you're right. It is very Shwetty Balzac, especially, you know, like the phone calls, like keep ramping up, you know, the more that he keeps talking and the complete just obliviousness to what is happening and what he's saying. Oh my God, I almost forgot about that. I also realized I've been missing an opportunity with all of my international travels this summer to recreate Adam Sandler as a baby on a plane. Like I should just start screaming and completely acting. Then your husband would be really embarrassed. That would be a peak embarrassment. So, I don't know. For his sake, I'm not sure about that. But if you do video it.

Track 4:

[1:11:59] Maybe I won't post that to Instagram after all. But yeah, so season 49, maybe a little bumpy. I don't know. There was some hit or miss. But I think overall, this was one of the better episodes of the season. I'm not surprised when it comes to Adam Driver. So, when we alluded to it too. so he hosted in season 49 uh is season 50 too soon for him to come back and be a five-timer like one is it too soon for fans do you think like oh we've already seen him last season and do you think it'd be too soon for the show to want to bring him back, i don't know because i feel like they bring mulaney back so often like in so close in time to his last hosting gig so i don't know that they're just like automatically like opposed to bringing somebody back like too close in time, again a little bit different with Mulaney he does bring a different vibe and you don't really need Mulaney to be like, promoting anything whereas I could see them maybe just wanting to wait or maybe even Adam's agents wanting to wait so he can come back when he has something to promote.

Track 4:

[1:13:10] I wouldn't personally be mad about it and I don't think fans again Again, Adam Driver fans would be opposed to him coming back so soon. But maybe, yeah, building up the anticipation that maybe at least one more season and then being able to line up, you know, whatever big names you're going to call in for his five-timer episode and really be able to take the time to do that one justice and do it well. Yeah, you got to do it well. If and when he becomes a five-timer, that needs to be like a special one because he's an all-timer host. And I don't say that lightly. I don't just bestow that on anybody, really. He's like a top 10 host for me. I think he's going to go down as that creative a host. So, yeah. So, I mean, I would love season 50, but you're right. Maybe season 51. He's always working. So he's always like has something. So there's going to be some reason for him to go on SNL because it seems like he's in something all the time. He pops up everywhere. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. It's not like we're going to have to wait very long. I think personally, if we're going to do a Five Timers Club episode for him, they've got to call in at least Mark Hamill, if not both him and Harrison Ford. I mean, you've got to get, right? Like, I mean, you've got to still do the Star Wars thing, even though he's done a bunch of other stuff since that.

Track 4:

[1:14:28] I think, you know, because it's usually such a fun time for them to bring in, you know, these cameos and be such huge names. I think that would be so fun. Yeah, agreed. I can see Mark Hamill doing it. Harrison Ford can be a little bit of a grump. Yeah. So especially when it comes to Star Wars, he could be a little grumpy about that. I think he was happy when Han Solo got killed off, spoiler alert. I think Harrison Ford was happy about that, honestly, but that would be so special, but I think they should try to do something like that. Well, I think that's part of what would make it so epic, is the fact that he would, if they could, that he would show up for something like that, I think would really just make the audience reaction even bigger. Yeah, I completely agree. All right, so now's the time. You don't have to convince me. You'd be preaching to the choir here about Adam's Hall of Fame candidacy. But there's voters, listeners, SNL water cooler folks that might need some convincing, especially because he's like an active sort of person, a recent, if you will. So why should voters consider Adam Driver for the SNL Hall of Fame? Oh, my gosh. For all of the reasons that we just talked about, like his range, his commitment, his dedication. He's just so natural.

Track 4:

[1:15:52] Again, I'm a little bit biased. He's a veteran. I'm currently in the military. so you know really proud that not only is you know he kind of brought such a positive spin to it but he started that non-profit you know arts and the armed forces um you know really trying to, bring art and theater to service members and veterans and kind of help get their foot in the door to kind of do what he did is you know hey there's life after the military there's so many people with all of this talent kind of hiding there. They just need kind of the push. So he's philanthropic. He supports the troops.

Track 4:

[1:16:33] But no, in all seriousness, he's just so funny and he's got such great range. And yeah, he's just one of those hosts that no matter what he's given, he's going to nail it. And I think you're right. That's what makes him land a spot on my list too of one of the greatest hosts of all time. And somebody that, I mean, if we're talking about him being a potential five-timer, it's because he's got so much in his portfolio. So if you're on the fence, I just recommend going back and watching some of the sketches that Tom and I talked about and even some of the other ones that we did. And hopefully you'll find what we did when we watched it and have the same positive experience that we did.

Track 3:

[1:17:29] So there's that. I want to thank Ashley Bauer and Thomas for generating yet another stimulating and engaging conversation. This time about our friend Adam Driver. It sounds to me as though they have a similar feeling that I have. This is somebody who belongs in the SNL Hall of Fame. The only thing I think that may hold him back is the fact that it's only legacy hosts, Baldwin, Goodman, Martin, that are in as hosts. So Driver would be doing uncharted work, having really only worked with, you know, the season 40 group. So there's that. Hey man, I'm all out of cash. Let's listen to a sketch.

Track 5:

[1:18:28] And in my opinion, that's how we make the fire go away. Oh wow, simply wow. Thank you so much to Samantha's dad for that enlightening demonstration. All right class, to continue our career day presentations, we will now turn it over to Mordecai's father, Abraham H. Parnassus. Dude, what does your dad even do? I don't want to talk about it. I heard he's, like, super old. Is that true? I don't know. He's a dad. Dads are old.

Track 5:

[1:19:05] Greetings, children. I'm Mordecai's father. Hello, boy. How are you? Look at your father, boy. Look upon your father with pride. I see you, man. All right, Mr. Parnassus, why don't you tell us about what you do for a living? Hear me now, children. For my occupation is of much import. For 82 years, I've been an oil man, a baron. Some have called me. Now, what does an oil baron do? The answer? Crush your enemies! Grind their bones into dirt! Make them regret they were ever born! Oh, sick! Wow, right into the dirt. Now, if the kids want to pursue a career in oil, what kind of traits would serve them well? Oil is not for the weak. It is the Earth's milk, and only the strong may suckle at mother's teat. You hear me, boy? Only the strong, Look at your father. Look at me. Look at him, Mordecai. Dad, this is embarrassing. One man came close to breaking me. H.R. Pickens. He did not succeed. For I crushed him into the ground! Who is H.R. Pickens? Exactly!

Track 5:

[1:20:34] Samantha, you gotta stop it, honey. Okay. Well, Mr. Parnassus, the oil business must be pretty lucrative, right? Oil has little to do with profit, mom.

Track 5:

[1:20:46] Okay. The world is about domination of the spirit. Allow me to demonstrate. Children! Point to the weakest in your class, and we shall ruin their spirit as I ruined the spirit of H.R. Pickens so long ago.

Track 5:

[1:21:02] Word? You are weak like H.R. Pickens. Feel this boy. Understand the pain. You think I was always the picture of strength that I am now. Dad, you couldn't get out of bed for a week because the mattress was too soft. Mind over flesh, boy. I was born seven months too early. Incubation technology was still in its infancy, so they placed me in a cast-iron pot inside of a pizza oven until I was ripe enough to walk. My bones never hardened, but my spirit did. Be strong and crush your enemies! Well, this has been outstanding, Mr. Parnassus, but unfortunately, we're running out of time. Boo! Now, does anyone else have any last questions for Mordecai's dad? Yeah, yeah. I get that you're an oil baron, but what do you actually do all day? Perhaps I was not clear. Luckily, I've brought a visual aid which will illuminate the ins and outs of the oil industry. I'm sorry.

Track 5:

[1:22:19] Proud, flying high above the earth in bloody defiance of her gifts. And now you return her to earth naked and defeated. I have left you as occupants. I crushed you into the ground. And now your bones turn to oil beneath my living feet. I married your granddaughter, filled her belly with my festering seed, and silent a boy! He is my final revenge, H.R.! Dad, come on! I want to be you when I grow up! And so you shall! Now, children, I was asked to bring a healthy snack, so join me in the hall for swine livers and Capri Sun. All right, kids, go out and eat those tickets!

Track 3:

[1:23:13] You know when you hear people talking about a performance versus writing.

Track 3:

[1:23:22] That is the culmination of two bits right there the writing is right on point and driver's performance takes it over the edge that's what we're looking for when we're looking for a hall Hall of Fame host.

Track 3:

[1:23:40] So, on behalf of Ashley Bauer, Thomas, Matt, this is JD saying, on your way out, if you could do me a favor, as you pass the Weekend Update exhibit, turn out the lights, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/snlhof/donations

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week on the program, Thomas, Matt, and jD welcome back Darin Patterson to the show. You can find his work at SNL Nerds where ever you get your podcasts.

Transcript:

Track 4:

[0:42] Thank you so much, Doug DeNance. It is a thrill to be back here with you on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast. Before you come inside, if you would do me a favor, please wipe your feet. The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair where each episode we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer, and add them to the ballot for your consideration. Consideration once the nominees have been announced we turn to you the listener to vote for the most deserving and help determine who will be enshrined for perpetuity inside the hall and that is how we play the game it's just that simple a little 411 for you we have a new email address it is the snl hall of fame at gmail.com that's the snl hall of fame at gmail.com shoot Shoot us an email if you have any questions about the show or would like to guest on this show or the SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler with Joe and Shari.

Track 4:

[1:43] So there's that. This week we are joined by our friend Darren Patterson of the SNL Nerds podcast. You can check that out wherever you find your quality podcasts. Podcasts and uh darren has quite the track record of uh nominating people in episodes he joined us for the first time on season two where he nominated tom hanks who got in then in season three he kicked off the season by nominating dana carvey who also got in that year uh he took the year off in season four and didn't visit us in season five either but this year he's back and uh i'm excited about this episode so there's that.

Track 5:

[2:32] Here we go with an original not ready for prime time player it is the often overlooked garrett morris matt what do you have to say about garrett morris wow uh garrett uh he five foot eight born february 1st 1937 in new orleans uh he is uh an incredible talent he studied drama at the hb studio and attended juilliard he's a triple threat raised by a baptist minister grandfather he got his first taste of performance in the church choir uh with 116 acting credits six soundtrack credits and one writer credit it, he worked as a soloist and arranger for Harry Belafonte.

Track 5:

[3:22] Yeah, so he was part of Belafonte's band. During his time as a singer for Harry Belafonte, he was performing in Los Angeles and decided to go for a walk. Police cuffed him and dragged them to jail when he tried to show his hotel keys to prove where he's staying. After a background check, it came back clean. And then they checked the itinerary in his pocket and saw that he was part of Harry Belafonte's band. And all of a sudden they were like oh i'm sorry i'm sorry mr garrett morris i mr morris like we're so he's he that kind of uh changed his life um he became very active uh he joined the black arts repertory theater and school a cornerstone of the black arts movement um um, in New York and ended up being surveilled by the FBI during that time. Yeah.

Track 5:

[4:23] So he has a file. Um, but you know, he's also done things like he released an album called South African Freedom Songs with Pete Seeger and Guy Carowan. Uh, he appeared in broadway in hallelujah baby and ain't supposed to die a natural death and uh he.

Track 5:

[4:44] Wrote a play called the secret place daddy piku and stagger lee uh which he penned for the brooklyn uh school kids as part of a new york program uh to write a play for school kids in their in your home borough and on top of all of that he released a comedy album called saturday night sweet um which has some pure disco tracks on there it is it is incredible um he survived a brush with death having been shot in the chest and arm while being mugged uh and got to be kidding me yeah like he's that was.

Track 5:

[5:28] In 1994 so not even that long ago did not go well for the shooter because there were some garrett morris fans in prison and let's just say he didn't leave the prison uh so yeah that got that you don't mess with a good with great comedians you know people don't like that so yeah so garrett morris garrett morris in a in a wrapped in a bow by our friend matt ardell and now we're going to check in with our other friend Thomas Senna as he digs in on Garrett Morris.

Track 2:

[6:31] Jamie and Matt, thank you so much. Welcome to another episode of the SNL Hall of Fame. Today we have a Heritage nominee from Season 1, an original Not Ready for Primetime player. So I'm really excited to talk about Mr. Garrett Morris.

Track 2:

[6:52] And with me to talk about Garrett and his time at SNL is Darren Patterson from the SNL Nerds podcast. Somebody who I haven't had on in like two or three seasons. It was long overdue. I knew I needed to get Darren back for Season 6 of the SNL Hall of Fame. Darren, how's it going, man? It's going well, Thomas. It's going well. Yeah, it's been a minute. I haven't been around these parts in quite some time. I love what you've done with the place. yeah well thank you tied it up a little bit before before you stepped into the hall we make sure to dust and we make sure to everything is in its right place for special guests like yourself so from one snl podcaster to another i gotta make sure that my space is presentable for for you guys especially for other snl podcasters so it's wonderful to have you man i think you were on uh for a roundtable an end of season roundtable i think that's last time we checked in on you yeah yeah it was that was that was a lot of fun that was a that was a blast if i recall correctly yeah yeah no we had a blast talking uh talking about the different nominees from that season of the snl hall of fame uh i love chatting with fellow snl podcasters like we both were chatting beforehand that this is such a really neat community of snl podcasters like both buddies with john schneider from the saturday night network the guys gary and brad from the not Not Ready for Primetime podcast. Andrew Dick's doing his thing.

Track 2:

[8:19] So, yeah. So, it's just really fun to have a fellow SNL podcaster on. Why don't you tell us what's going on lately over at SNL Nerds? The listeners can go and listen to our 300th episode, which we just recorded. We hit the big 3-double-0. Wow. It's bonkers. Yeah, yeah.

Track 2:

[8:38] It's an episode we did with Mike Diva, SNL film unit director. The man who directed such hits as I'm Just Pete, the Pete Davidson pre-tape, the Waffle House pre-tape for the Jenna Ortega episode, Mario Kart in the Pedro Pascal episode, the Christmas Carol pre-tape on the Steve Martin, Martin Short episode. Yeah, this dude's done it all. So, guys, go check that out, our 300th episode. That's awesome. We got it. Yeah, yeah. It was a pretty big milestone for us. We were like, oh wow, we've been... We've been really doing this for a while. You know, most podcasters don't even get to five episodes. Really? Yeah, I think I read that somewhere. I think five episodes is like the average, if that. So people start a podcast, they bail after like one or two episodes. So 300 is amazing, man. Yeah, that makes us 60 times better than the average podcast. And you could fill it with you and John Trumbull, your co-host. Yes, yes. Yes. Me and my coach, John Trumbull, we're two guys in New Jersey who are obsessed with SNL, so we during the summer since they've been off, we've just been kind of talking about SNL quote-unquote related movies. Just because we've done all the directly connected to SNL movies, so now we're just like, we just had an episode of Throw Mama from the Train and Billy Crystal's in it. I think that's SNL adjacent. I don't know.

Track 2:

[10:07] As long as the cast member's on, I think that definitely qualifies. Yeah like as long as we can find one cast member in the cast or for something more produced we kind of shrug and be like all right that works like our next episode we're gonna do a league of their own one of my favorites john lovitz is in that so i was like all right that counts yeah that's one of my favorite things about your podcast is is you you've carved out your own niche in that like you're exploring like snl related movies which which i love so so 300 hundred congratulations darren congratulations john huge milestone go check out uh snl nerds follow them on social media and listen to their pod it's an awesome one so today we are chatting about mr garrett morris so uh garrett had a somewhat different path to snl compared to the rest of the cast he wasn't a groundling didn't come from second city uh garrett was a dramatic actor singer playwright so Lauren was looking for a playwright landed on Garrett who then obviously became a cast member of course part of the original cast so Darren like as an SNL nerd what does Garrett overall kind of mean to you, Oh, God, what does it mean to me? I mean, of course, right off the top, he was the first African-American cast member in SNL. I mean, that's a huge thing right there.

Track 2:

[11:30] I mean, and also when I think of Gary, I kind of also think of almost like what could have been a little bit just because it's like you said, like Gary really didn't come up with the rest of the cast members through the improv channels. Channels he just kind of he was like a theater kid basically he worked in the theater and playwrights and whatnot so he was he was i i always felt like he that's one of the things that's kind of separated him from the rest uh well i mean i think there was like a few things actually the fact that he well first you know african-american uh the rest of the other cast was uh white uh all the writers were white sometimes i think he was might be the only black guy in like the building yeah Yeah, yeah, seems like, right? It's very possible. Yeah, and so there's that. The fact that he doesn't come through the improv channels, that always kind of separated him. And the fact that he was, like, so much older than the rest of the cast, too, which is something I think a lot of people don't even realize, is because the other cast members, they were all in their 20s when they got to show, like, mid-20s, early 20s, something like that. Garrett was 38 when he got it. Right. It's like, aside from him and George Cove, like those are the old dudes so part of me does think oh maybe those three things kind of are what separated him from the rest of the crew and maybe writers and the cast members maybe didn't know exactly how to.

Track 2:

[12:55] Fit him into what they were doing so it always seemed like he was kind of doing his own thing the more I think about it I don't know if anybody actually.

Track 2:

[13:06] Wanted to write a sketch for Garrett it seemed seem more like the writers were like i have this idea for a sketch and if gary can fit in it okay right you know like it was even more something like because a lot of them came from second city i know lorraine was a grambling um but a lot of them have even had even had sketches that they performed together before snl so so that so there was just like an uphill climb uh for gary he had been in like uh uh i think he was in a band um with harry bell like not with harry belafonte But it was a band of like Harry Belafonte kind of like nurtured and like mentored a little bit So Garrett was like in that band. He was singing acting like I mentioned playwrights So that yeah, he was just he wasn't part of like that sketching improv inner circle Yeah, which probably? Was a disadvantage to him and you uh you alluded to it But I mean one thing of course that we can argue is that.

Track 2:

[14:07] Him being sidelined as a black man. And we saw for a long time afterward that SNL did have a problem with representation, Darren. Yeah, yeah, it really did. I mean, I don't know if maybe they just weren't quite looking for that or they were just kind of maybe more focused on just getting on the kind of humor that maybe they could only conceptualize or conceive as being radical without thinking about maybe how it may appear to other people. Like, you know, they've always had, SNL's always had issues with that. They're doing better, you know, the fact that we have, like now, like we had Bunky, but like people like Bowen or Devin and Ego and like all these other different perspectives, kind of Marcelo now, like all these other different perspectives coming up with ideas that, you know, like ideas that wouldn't have come to other, maybe certain types of writing but uh but you know like like sketches that maybe like ego has done like like things that kind of maybe include like a vernacular or have like a viewpoint from a certain community that you wouldn't have normally thought of like another i'm going off of the tangent here sorry like one sketch i thought of like was um uh the sarah lee sketch from the harry styles episode yes the one that had like cecily and bowen and then harry styles came in and he'd been posting all these odd things on Instagram.

Track 2:

[15:34] And the wordage they were using, I was like, oh, this is written by Bowen or something, because I don't see anybody else kind of... Unless you know about that community, then a lot of other people just wouldn't know about that. It seems like a lot of the writers who were around when Garrett was around didn't just quite know about his world, so they didn't maybe know how to write it. So that's why maybe they had a harder time trying to figure out what he could do.

Track 2:

[16:04] Yeah, and like the late 70s, I don't think it was as emphasized or writers and people behind the scenes didn't necessarily care about certain voices. And I think you can, like, if they thought that the audience wouldn't get certain points of view, you can still make those funny. You can kind of train the audience to understand certain things. You could put Garrett or somebody on Weekend Update and kind of – even if you have to kind of explain the backgrounds, explain the context for a few seconds. We've seen them. We saw them do that on Saturday Night Live all the time in the 70s. Even if you have to explain context, you can make it funny. So I don't – I think they just didn't care around that time. Yeah, I think – I mean I think that what you're saying is that that's something they finally caught around when Eddie Murphy kind of came on the scene. Scene and I mean I'm not sure exactly who was writing for him at the time he might have just been writing his own stuff or whatever but like I think when Eddie came in they're like oh this is.

Track 2:

[17:06] From a fresh new viewpoint that maybe we don't know about, but is worth exploring and investigating and making some sketches about. Yeah, I think there's a lot of credence to that, for sure. All that said, Garrett was such a great singer, such a great actor. I think he added a wonderful dimension to the show when it was on screen. Darren, I've always found this applies to hosts, especially in my opinion, but even cast members. I think some of the best people to do sketch comedy are good actors i think you need to have a sense of humor but you also need to know how to act that's something that they could have really tapped into with gary like talk about acting chops he's probably the best actor uh at that time maybe on the whole cast yeah no he that's true he could have done that i think what he might have done, which maybe kind of you know was was to his you know detriment was he tried to be maybe as funny as the rest of the cast members in some things or like he tried to meet them on their terms when he should have just kind of stuck with his strengths and like and you know that would have been his like maybe more better path forward where like he probably came up saying like well I'm a dramatic actor I know theater.

Track 2:

[18:25] But these guys are like comedic improv so let me try to be let me try to keep up with them try to play their game but like I feel like he should have kind of maybe played his own game and found his way.

Track 2:

[18:38] Through what the rest of the improv people were doing. It's almost like, I mean, I don't know if you saw what was it, Batman Forever? The one with Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carey from back in the day, that Batman, where I'm really going off the edge today. No, it's not me.

Track 2:

[18:59] Jim Carey was the Riddler and he was like he just really played it to this nth degree and uh tommy lee jones was two-faced and he tried to match carrie's crazy and it just got too much crazy yeah whereas like if tommy lee jones maybe played it more straight and played it more kind of down here it would have had a better balance but like i remember that movie just being kind of really off kilter and not great because of that so i think maybe garrett could have done that like he could have been like maybe the more serious grounded uh person or or uh force in a sketch right and while everybody else was kind of acting a little bit crazier around him, Yeah, so he was trying to find his footing, so it's easy to understand why he would be like, well, it's a comedy show, and these guys have – I think I've even heard Garrett say this. He's looked at all of them and said, oh, they're like funny people. They're like trained funny people, so I kind of have to match that. But maybe looking back, you could say I was maybe the best actor of the bunch, so that's what I could have contributed. But you could see it. When I revisit old SNL, a lot of my takeaways from some sketches are like, man, Garrett acted his ass off, and it helped the scene.

Track 2:

[20:08] Like like big time i i think of like somebody who we're going to talk about this season adam driver to me he's one of the better hosts in snl history because he's like a great actor and a lot of those great dramatic actors do really well as hosts on snl so i just think that skill set really crosses over to sketch comedy yeah no for sure that definitely does like uh yeah i mean you have comedic actors that like try to be the funniest one in the sketch and that can't come across as maybe depending on the comedic actor it could be a little obnoxious but like dramatic actors always kind of know that less is more and like yeah you don't always have to be the big boisterous clown in the room you can just maybe play it down a little bit more and be a little bit more understated and you know find the rhythms and just add to the sketch and that's a better path well it might not be like like the flashiest role or you know like more than what everybody remembers, you still did your part to maybe flesh out the sketch a little bit more and get it to greater heights. Exactly. It services the sketch. Sketch comedy nerds like us will pinpoint that contribution and give credit where credit's due. So as far as Gary goes, I'm really excited. I want to dig into his work on SNL. So is there something that immediately kind of stands out to you that he did on the show?

Track 2:

[21:33] One of the biggest standouts immediately is the president of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing. It was a quick little thing he always did on a weekend update with Chevy where they have him in those little hard of hearing bubbles. And Chevy would say he's here for the hard of hearing. And Chevy would be like, our top story tonight. And then you just see Garrett cupping his hands over his mouth, screaming the exact same thing that Chevy's saying. Our top story tonight, President Ford is finally over that stubborn week-long cold.

Track 2:

[22:11] It was like one of those really simple, dumb gags that like we'll get a laugh i remember getting a laugh out of that the first time i saw when i was like a little kid where i was like it's it's simple it's kind of corny it's it's almost like a dad joke but damn it it makes me smile and it lives on too garrett he came back and was it snl 40 that he yes that he did that right i believe so it was one of the snl uh anniversary specials that that they brought garrett back to to do that on weekend update so So that one definitely lives on. I mean, the tone is like just yelling, but Garrett's not trying to like be a clown or be, you know, he's just sort of like doing what needs to be done. And it lives on almost 50 years later, Garrett doing that.

Track 2:

[22:59] Yeah, I'm sure everybody will remember that. Weekend Update, I kind of want to stick with too, since you started there on Weekend Update. A character he did 10 times, 9 of those on Weekend Update was Chico Escuela. Is sports correspondent which is what i i mean that when i think of garrett i think of like the a lot of the fun stuff he did as chico escuela darren yes yes me too i mean it was like um i mean yeah like you said it was like a character that just kind of popped up here and there a little bit uh it wasn't you know it wasn't it didn't get too overused there was no you know emily latela or anything like that but it was poor poor emily latela that's like the classic example but you're right I agree right she got so much air time it was like wow you really trying to make Emily Latela happen but I mean Chico escuela like he had again much like Garrett he kind of went at his own pace you know the baseball didn't very very good to me and whatnot it was like a very small that's small but very understated character very understated performance, memorable, to say the least, I'd say. Baseball been very, very good to me. This week, baseball been very, very good to Willie Mance. Say hey, Willie always keep his eye on the ball.

Track 2:

[24:25] In the Super Bowl, we have, how do you say, highlights. Roll, please. Please, Jackie A. Smith did not keep his eye on the ball. I think it is actually kind of a nuanced thing because I love the conceit of he doesn't know anything, especially the first one. The first time he came on as a sports correspondent, he doesn't know about any other sports. He's just trying to like push his way through like the nhl highlights and he doesn't really know much about basketball then when baseball he just kind of jumps right in and yeah just talks about it so i just think that's a very very funny conceit chico always seemed like a nice guy has that catchphrase man like like everybody who knows the show it seems like knows the baseball been very very good to me and yeah like yeah he another one that lives on yeah no it's not like one of the bigger catch, you know, it's not like it's no two wild and crazy guys, but I feel like it's another like.

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[25:32] It's another thing where it's like, yeah, it's a catchphrase that may not be that big, but it is known. I don't know. The more I think about it, the more I think more serious SNL nerds like us would appreciate Garrett more. He's always just been kind of – again, he's not like the big flashy breakout star, but people like us, we see what you're doing there. Yeah, I know. If you really go back and watch the first five seasons, there's so many times where we're like, oh my gosh, Garrett. It like like and he i love the chico character too because like it had an arc like he had a really fun arc there's at one point where he uh was quitting weekend update because he went back to met spring training to try to make the team again because his his background was that he was an all-star for the new york meds so uh but then when he went to uh spring training uh it turns Turns out that some of the team was upset with him because he wrote a detailed account of Major League Baseball.

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[26:32] And it was called Bad Stuff Bout the Mets that he wrote. So he had to endure himself. So there was like a whole narrative arc with Chico Escuela going to Mets spring training, then flaming out. So that's something that I kind of would love to see more of on SNL, especially with weekend update kind of characters. I want to see those narrative. But we like we got that with Seth and Stefan but Darren like I love that There's like some sort of narrative arc here. Yeah, I don't yeah I I mean I'd love to have like you said like something like narrative arcs in SNL and or even runners I think that they tried to do, Runners a little bit back in the day like they had that um, when Kim Kenna was on they still had that uh, was it I.

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[27:18] Think she had like some little bit of runner through there. I, They can't even remember it. But I don't know. Part of me thinks because of this, I guess, TikTok world we're living in where, like, you know, the little sound bites and clips are a little bit more important just to get eyes and views. I don't know if there's a place for, like, a runner or... Marianne Conway, that's who. They had the Marianne Conway thing where Kate McKinnon was, like, on her knees. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, all right. All right, sorry. I just remembered.

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[27:51] So, yeah. Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, I would love a runner. I would love arcs. But again, because we're in this world now where quick little five-minute video clips are kind of how we just ingest everything now. I just don't know if there's room for an arc or a runner or anything like that anymore. It's a bummer because they're really cool. No, I could see that. No, it was really cool with Chico. go that was a character too that i would hear people who watched uh snl live when in the late 70s always referenced they would always reference chico escuela and base baseball being very very good to me and all that so i think this kind of like almost lives on as far as like this might be like garrett's legacy at snl is this character because i really have heard a lot of older snl fans when i was a kid they would always reference this like i knew what this was before i even saw I saw it on screen. I knew what this was. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah, no, totally memorable, totally great. Yeah, it's fantastic. What else is there that may have popped out to you for Garrett? I mean, the one thing that comes to my mind is the, I forget the name of the sketch, but it's like that aristocrat's dinner that happens.

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[29:08] And Garrett is a person who's, you know, what's it called? He has like a staff in his hand. He slammed it against the ground to introduce people to the party. Say, you know, Lord and Lady Gardner, Lord and Lady, blah, blah, blah. And then these two people come in and he says, Lord and Lady Douchebag. Douchebag and uh we get this whole sketch about you know this lord and this lord and lady in this fancy high society party and their names are douchebags to your point that sketch which i think honestly was the last sketch of the original era it happened in the very last episode buck henry hosted it in season five yes yes i think it may have been the last sketch of the original error or close to it maybe there was one more after that uh but but to your point garrett made that sketch because if you ask somebody they i think a lot of like casual sketch comedy fans will tell you oh yeah i've heard of like lord and lady douchebag um but they couldn't tell you the beats of the sketch no right they just recite garrett saying that line so that's to your point like garrett made the most out of he wasn't the star of the sketch i think it was buck henry and Harry Shearer, honestly. But Garrett May, he was the star of that sketch ultimately. Lord and lady, douchebag!

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[30:33] Yeah, and I know Bill Murray was in that sketch, because at one point he goes, ah, douchebag! He does that. But yeah, I don't remember anything anyone else actually said in that sketch. The one thing you can you think about it or totally remember is Garrett saying Lord and Lady Douchebag. I mean, that's him taking, I guess what he knew was going to be like the big line that would get the big laugh.

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[30:58] Once everybody in the audience kind of sees where the sketch is going that's going to be their big aha moment so like he probably looked at that and was new like oh i really need to really like enunciate and make a big deal out of this one phrase that like i just know is going to be the one that sticks in everybody's brain exactly he brought out his booming but he almost brought his singing voice yeah yeah he said that absolutely yeah that was a great example that's way back uh at the end of season five.

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[31:28] Like the very last episode of the original era, Garrett still made his mark for sure. In season one, almost maybe a missed opportunity. They did this four times, but something that I always loved when I went back and rewatched a lot of the original seasons was he hosted a show called Black Perspective. Yes, yes. Yeah, so he did that in episode four was his first time. So they kind of gave Garrett his talk show. he played uh uh probably a different version of himself and he had on jane curtain playing a different version of herself but these black perspective they could have been a thing like again he did it four times but they were always like they had jokes about about just things that like like to your earlier point that there were jokes involving like black perspective that's the name of the show the black community but but these were ones darren that uh that i loved so he said He said he had Jane Curtin on the first time. Fran Tarkenton appeared on season two.

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[32:29] So it was basically kind of Garrett and the show almost mocking like stereotypes. Yeah. It's just kind of poking fun of them. Like Fran Tarkenton was talking about how like. Black guys can't read defenses and that's why they aren't quarterbacks and he made fran made to was made to look like the in that sketch but that's kind of the theme of this yeah i remember those those are like really interesting i mean like of course tim meadows would kind of do something like that yeah you know well i've been called perspectives yeah yeah yeah outstanding.

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[33:01] But uh but yeah like that's like another thing that like uh garrett had that didn't, I mean I don't want to say it didn't take off they were really cool and really interesting but yeah like I again like they're not you know you don't see them too often when you look at an SNL, retrospective like they'll show you you know Samurai Chef or something a lot but you won't really see that like I do remember there was like another one where Julian Bond yes when he hosted and there was this like who's this you know politician this black politician back in the day and like there was this one really interesting sketch that they got into where where, I mean, I kind of wish they went further with it, but, like, the conceit of it is, like, they talk about how, like, light-skinned blacks are smarter than dark-skinned blacks. I remember seeing that. I was like, wow, that's a bold... Yeah, that happened in, like, 1976 or 77. Yeah. That was, like, in season two. They've been saying that whites are smarter than blacks for hundreds of years, baby, right? And we've only had these IQ tests for, what, 20, 30 years. Now, how did the IQ of white intellectual superiority originate in the first place? Well, that's a very interesting point. My theory is that it's based on the fact that light-skinned blacks are smarter than dark-skinned blacks.

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[34:25] Say what? Garrett just kind of waits a beat, just kind of stares at him in that Garrett way, those eyes. I thought that was pretty hilarious. I mean, really, really ballsy for its time. I was like, wow. I don't even know if I'd try that sketch today. Yeah, right, exactly. They only did those black perspective ones like four times. Cecily Tyson was on the last one. And that was Cecily telling Garrett that black women have gotten a raw deal because the black man is such a loser Garrett it was like so I was like say what and he had this reaction So it's like kind of tension that between he and Cecily Tyson, Because she just kind of said that so so yeah, so I would have loved to see like a.

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[35:11] More of those and more like perspective uh in in garrett's voice and more black perspective honestly yeah like i remember i mean from what i've read like garrett was the thing where he was like really kind of trying to fight to get stuff like that on he was trying to kind of get you know like sketches that kind of seemed more from the black perspective but like he was kind of just hitting so many walls with that and so like the fact that he got the little that he did i I think it's a huge accomplishment, even though maybe people didn't quite get it at the time. I mean, I think the fact that he just he put it out there and I'd imagine like there must be some people, some black comics coming up that's seen that and was like inspired by that. Yeah, yeah, I think so. He he tells a funny story. I mean, he speaks highly of Al Franken overall.

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[35:58] He said nice things about Al Franken, but he did say that Al Franken kind of pushed back on some of his ideas. Is and he said one time he he challenged al frank into a wrestling match and he said he said he thought he was going to get the worst of it probably because al was a wrestler and he's kind of a stocky build guy like al's kind of a bigger dude he was a bigger dude than what you might think it's like i i challenged him he's like i knew i was gonna probably get my ass kicked but i challenged al frank and so snlwf yeah yeah exactly so garrett did have to almost literally fight for screen time sometimes. I had no idea. Yeah, that makes sense. Al Franken, from what I know about him, especially in his younger days, he was a bit of a...

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[36:45] He had a bit of a... Temper or he was just a little gave you a lot of pushback you know he's exactly he's the man that came up with limo for a lame-o i mean for a lame-o yeah he's the one that uh when everybody like the cast i think it was in the late 80s early 90s i think it was george harrison who was like.

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[37:04] Playing piano and just putting basically putting on this like beatles show in the office for people and al's the one who came out of his office and said get back to work you guys got some writing sketches to do and yeah so i don't blame garrett sometimes for trying to fight him push back on that uh one other memorable moment you mentioned the so the julian bond one i think is very memorable chico escuela deaf and hard of hearing one the lord and lady douchebag so garrett has these like memorable things um one thing i also knew about when i was a kid uh was if you remember this was in season one as well when they had what they called like death row follies yes prison yes so yeah they're putting on a performance of gg at a prison and are auditioning inmates oh yeah so you remember this one yes i do yeah so where.

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[37:59] Does it go from here if you can if you can remember the beats i believe if we're thinking about the same one this is the one where Garrett comes out as an inmate and he starts singing the song.

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[38:49] That's the one and it comes out of nowhere too it's like because dan dan and chevy played inmates for the first two auditions and then garrett comes out he's saying that he was in solitary confinement and he was writing this thing and he goes to the piano and i think maybe by episode 11 the audience had heard garrett probably sing yes so they knew that he was like this maybe maybe Maybe like a really good singer. So you're expecting. And even sometimes I forget. Because I'm expecting Garrett to kind of sing this beautiful song. But no. It's his famous song. Yeah it's like this kind of jaunty upbeat song. I'm going to take all the shotgun and kill all the white guys. Yeah. Which even makes it funnier. And like you're just talking about. Once he does that. Whitey won't bother him. Yeah.

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[39:40] Yeah exactly. He said he got that from a real thing. And it wasn't like, kill all the whiteys. I see it was much, you know, it was a very, very, very racist little performance that Garrett happened to see. So he kind of flipped the script on that. Yeah. So that's kind of where Garrett said he got it from. But such a memorable moment. I knew the words to that song before I even saw the context to it as well. And that's something that like lives on with Garrett yeah and again that's another way like or another instance of Garrett kind of taking over a sketch with his little screen time he has because I don't remember what happened before that sketch or after Garrett saying it like all the other parts of that sketch I don't quite remember but I definitely remember Garrett singing that song and talking about getting a shotgun but like I know there was some stuff before and after he performed but I don't.

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[40:38] Call it but no garrett's part that was the star of the show the only reason why i remember the beats because i just kind of recently watched it okay but like but but other than that that's all you remember from the sketch because it's so like shocking and memorable and hilarious and uh i think gilda is part of the sketch and they tell all the and they warn her basically or they say oh you might want to like button your top button a little bit more because these these men haven't seen a woman in years or whatever and then of course they all take a shining um to put it nicely to gilda throughout to put it nicely yes that's the nice way of saying it yeah because yeah that i remember yeah that was wow yeah yeah uh there was one more that i kind of uh that i think really sticks out with some people and garrett says that he's pretty proud of this one i've heard him talk about it and it's called the white guilt relief fund oh yes yeah I'm Garrett Morris talking to all you white Americans about the way black people have been treated in America now I know a lot of you feel guilty and you should.

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[41:43] My great-great grandmother was brought over here on the slave ship and was raped by her white master and my grandfather was lynched by a mob for not tipping his hat to a white lady now they're dead now there's nothing you can do to erase their suffering. However, if you would like to relieve your guilt, I am willing to accept money as a representative victim of 400 years of repression. Send your check or money order to White Guilt Relief Fund, care of Garrett Marsh, 870 West 127th Street, New York, New York. Good perspective. I like it. That's the stuff that I wanted more of. Yeah. That's actually a pretty smart concept. I don't know why they didn't do more things I don't know, it seems like maybe the writers just had their own ideas and then they just kind of were like, alright, we'll give Garrett this one thing and that'll make him happy and then we can do our thing, what we want to do. But I don't know, I feel like they left money on the table in a way. They could have explored Garrett's mind a little bit more and worked with him a little bit more and gotten all these other great sketches from perspectives no one else maybe was even thinking about looking at.

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[42:55] Yeah, they really could have. Yeah. I mean, they were really funny. They were really short, too. Like, that White Guilt Relief Fund one wasn't that long. It's something that you could plug in. Like, that's kind of a replicable concept that you could plug in if you need a minute ten to fill, honestly. Like, that's something you could do. Yeah, that could be like a TikTok. That's like TikTok. Perfect TikTok. It really is. Yeah, that's like for the TikTok era. Garrett was ahead of his time. He was ahead of his time. Really, Garrett created TikTok, if you think about it. Yeah, I mean, that sounds, I haven't looked into that, but that sounds right. That sounds, that checks out. It checks out, story checks out. Thank you, Garrett.

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[43:34] Is there anything else before we kind of, like, move on, post-SNL stuff for Garrett? I've always liked his, that one role he had as the best friend Cliff for the Fenstruck Brothers. Oh, yeah. Like, he didn't have too much to do there, but, like, you know, he kind of came in and came out. And he'd always acted like a good sort of straight man to help the these two dudes just try to get the foxy foxy lady single women's yes yes yes I remember click very well I don't know if I undersold it honestly but I think he's on the shortlist and he might be the greatest singer in SNL history.

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[44:37] Anna gasteyer is amazing cecily recently chloe trost currently but is there a better singer as far as cast than garrett i mean all those singers you mentioned are great uh melissa vio senor for the little time she didn't get to sing she's great but uh i think the fact that garrett is like classically trained and he like sung you know mozart songs and don otavino songs The fact that he can sing operatic stuff, I think maybe puts him a notch above all those other singers you mentioned. Because they're all great and have beautiful voices, but when you hear...

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[45:15] Garrett Morris has a voice of an angel. Yeah, for sure. He can sing Ave Maria type stuff, and that's pretty special. Yeah, 100%. I would put Garrett, number one, probably on a gas tire right after that. She's still doing Broadway stuff. She's an incredible singer. And then everybody else is kind of fighting after that, after Garrett and Anna. But that should be part of his legacy as well. The most talented singer in SNL history. Yeah, you can't dismiss his singing prowess. I think there's enough stuff out there that people know he can sing when he sang on the show. But I feel like it's something that doesn't get brought up as much as it should. It because i mean he's he my man's got pipes yeah definitely uh yeah so after snl he made one cameo since he left the show in 1980 with the original cast garrett's made one cameo not including snl 40 and all those it was in november of 2002 the pop quiz here and i actually i'll admit i didn't know this until a couple days ago do you know the context of this cameo that That happened in an episode in November of 2002?

Track 2:

[46:27] I don't think. I don't believe so. No. He appeared in an Astronaut Jones sketch. Oh. Out of nowhere. It was Brittany Murphy. And of course Astronaut Jones. The Tracy Morgan character. And it was. Yeah. Garrett was standing right by him. And I forgot who else. So there was a third guy. Okay. No. It was Nellie.

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[46:50] Nellie. It was Nellie. I was not expecting to say that. Yeah this is 2002 uh so so is tracy as astronaut jones and then nelly and garrett and then britney murphy was the host so so garrett appeared in astronaut jones darren that is wild i totally forgot about that yeah 22 years almost 23 years after he left the show that was his only appearance.

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[47:15] Yeah, that is wild. I kind of wish he'd made more appearances. Yeah. But, yeah. Yeah, me too. But hopefully we'll see him here on SNL 50. I assume so.

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[47:27] He guest starred in a lot of sitcoms, different strokes, The Jeffersons, Hill Street Blues, Married with Children, all over the place. If you watch Martin like I did, main part of the cast of Martin, very beloved, The Jamie Foxx Show, Two Broke Girls. Roles so man like i don't know he's still around he appeared in ant-man in 2015 which was awesome they made up a reference to him playing ant-man on snl yes the first wasn't he the first uh person ever to play ant-man in like tv or film it's like live action so maybe he's he is the first yeah so i'm glad that that was like a little tip of the cap to garrett playing ant-man in that it was like a parade of of superheroes kind of sketch oh yes yes i remember that that was a good one yeah so So, like, awesome, Darren, like, when Garrett just pops up in something you're watching, right? Yeah. Gets you excited. Yeah, it does. It does. It's like, oh, yeah, he's still out here. He's still doing it. He's still, he always just seemed, like, kind of just, like, kind of very zen, almost. Like, he's just, like, a very laid-back dude, and he's just kind of happy where he's at. And, you know, he's just, he just has a really great kind of aura about him. I don't know. I never met the man, but, like, I feel like if I, if we ever did, I would just, it would just like i would feel at peace at one yeah myself like through him he's buddhist it really yeah so that tracks no garrett's buddhist yeah i just made all that shit up i had no idea.

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[48:54] That's awesome you have a good feel for it because i think i think garrett would be pretty zen i think he's he has said that he's buddhist uh so so yeah that's a good good read of a person darren Wow, way to go me. I did get that vibe. I think Martin was the first thing that I had. I mean, I think I had seen some old SNL clips when he was on, but I think Martin was my first real exposure to Garrett. So I do remember that just him being like just the funny station manager, the casual. So that was actually my first exposure to Garrett was Martin. Yeah, I think for a lot of, you know, people that grew up in the 90s, it was that, too. And, like, I mean, I remember him from Martin, of course, and Jamie Foxx show later on in the 90s. But, like, I guess I was big enough. I was a big enough SNL nerd to be like, oh, wait, that's the guy who was on. That's Chico Escuela. That's the guy that was on that SNL show that I watched the reruns of on Comedy Central. That's the guy that was going to grab the shotgun. Remember him? Yeah, he was going to kill all of them. Yes.

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[49:56] Um so lamorne morris will be playing garrett in the upcoming saturday night movie um like one of the things you do on your podcast is discussing snl related movies i'm sure you're excited about this one this could be like the holy grail of snl movies for you guys yeah no with we are super as soon as the trailer dropped we were we were both super pumped i think i watched that trailer at least five or six times yeah we're definitely like me and my buddy john trumbull we we i think we uh spent there was like one episode we put out recently we spent like at least 15 minutes just talking about that trailer uh but yeah i mean i love the way it looks i think it looks great i love the way there's this one scene in the trailer where, Lamorne Morris is kind of looking at Jim Henson while he's smoking a cigarette. And the stare that he gives Jim Henson, it looked a lot like a young Garrett Morris. For a minute, I was like, oh, that looks like Garrett.

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[51:00] So I'm looking forward to that. And I just really like the look of it. I think everybody who's playing, whoever they're playing, kind of gets it. The guy that's playing young Lorne Michaels kind of has his speech patterns down and his little pout. But he doesn't do it to an extent where it's a goofy caricature. You know, he's just like, you know. He has the little pout going on and the voice down. The guy that plays Chevy kind of has Chevy's voice down.

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[51:29] I'm really looking forward to this. I might... I mean, I'm not going to take the day off work or anything, but I think I'm going to definitely see this opening... Definitely opening weekend, maybe opening night. but like i yeah i am so pumped for this i want to see it opening night but my wife's gonna be out of town and i might have to wait for her to get back because she's really wants to see it too i don't know to see this is this is a moral quandary with the husband do i am i do i adhere to my snl passion as a podcast maybe i could justify it as like i'm a podcaster i gotta see it opening night honey and then we'll see it again maybe when you get back but i don't know this is a moral quandary for me darren yeah i know oh i've i've been in those shoes where it's like, she's not she's out of town but i really want to see this show uh just go and then i pretend to be surprised yeah no you don't want to do that.

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[52:26] A marriage is built on honesty fair enough yeah you're damn right so uh either way uh i'll definitely be seeing it soon afterward lamorne morris seems like he has um garrett's kind of aura down a little bit there's this trailer where he kind of introduces it and it seems like he's really got a pretty good feel for garrett i love lamorne in a new girl um a lot of stuff he's other done he's done as well i liked him in the new season of unstable even though that season was I thought I liked Lamorne in the season. So I'm looking forward to seeing his portrayal of Garrett and just the movie overall. And I get skeptical with biopics, especially with SNL kind of things. But this does look really promising. It does. I mean, Lamorne Morris has always been really good. I really liked him in, I don't know if you saw the movie Game Night. I haven't. It's really funny. It's really good. I saw it on Hulu a while ago on a whim just because I heard a lot of friends say it's really funny. You should check it out and i checked it out and it's really it's like on the level of almost like bridesmaids or like the hangover or like all the big comedies that came out in the early it's but it's like smarter and it's really well shot and like game night fantastic movie but anyway uh saturday night we're talking about that movie yeah but yeah so we're yeah we're pumped for saturday night pumped for the garrett morris uh depiction by lamorne morris so now's the time Darren, we've reached the point in the show where you kind of make an appeal to people.

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[53:54] So why don't you tell us, why should listeners, SNL fans, and folks at the SNL Water Cooler appreciate Garrett's place in SNL history? Because the fact, first of all, he's the first African-American cast member. Boom, right there. And secondly, yes, he may not be the most memorable one of the group, or the one that got the most spotlight or get the most accolades.

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[54:23] You still remember him. Even though he didn't get that much screen time or much lines, you still remember Chico Escuela. You still remember the president of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing. Those things still reside in your brain for some reason. He's always somebody who's made quite a lot with not what little he's given. You still remember hearing him sing with that beautiful angelic voice of his. He stays in your memory. He's always been a solid cast member. And while it's a shame he never got his due, you still remember him. He still sticks around in your brain. And yeah, he might be the unsung hero, I'd say, of the original SNL cast.

Track 4:

[55:31] So there's that thank you so much darren patterson from the snl nerds podcast check that out if you're listening to this and you don't listen to the snl nerds podcast what are you thinking keep that's, you know, get your priorities straight.

Track 4:

[55:52] Add it to your playlist. Thanks, Darren. It's great to have you back. I'm real curious if you keep your streak up. Tom Hanks, Dana Carvey, that's a pretty good pedigree that you've established. And I am very curious to see whether or not your luck is with Garrett Morris. So there's that. that let's go to the garrett morris sketch that uh thomas is selected here and i want to tell you that it is uh the first chico escuela appearance on weekend update uh obviously we listened to thomas and darren and chico escuela was certainly a big part of of garrett morris's five-year tenure at SNL. This took place season four, episode eight. So that's his first appearance. Wow. So really he was only season four and season five that he was Chico Escuela. To me, it was something that was just, it was always there. I don't know. I guess because of the clip shows, I'm skewed. At any rate, let's go to that now.

Track 3:

[57:11] New York Mets, Chico Escuela. Welcome, Chico. Chico will be covering the sports team for Weekend Update. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. Baseball being very, very good to me. Thank you, Hayne. Pete Ross Baseball being very, very good to Pete Ross, $3.2 million for Pete Ross Charlie Hustle, you bet Daniel, very, very much, And football. I don't know football. In Dominican Republic, football is... How you say in, um... soccer. Your football... I don't know. And National Hockey League. In baseball baseball being very very good to me thank you very much thank.

Track 4:

[58:38] You thank you very much oh man that's freaking fantastic what a baseball been better better good to me is just uh like thomas said in the conversation, it's just one of those things I knew and I was born in 74 so I was one and a half when SNL began so clearly I don't remember that my first memories are season 9 really, maybe a little bit of season 8 but I didn't really get into things until season 10 so there's that, I don't know whether or not.

Track 4:

[59:20] Garrett Morse makes the hall. It's going to be interesting.

Track 4:

[59:25] Tune in this week to the SNL Hall of Fame water cooler to hear what Joe and Shari have to say. I joined them this week on the show. And it should be interesting to take note of their feelings and thoughts on this. Thanks for joining us this week.

Track 4:

[59:47] It's always a pleasure. on behalf of Thomas and Matt I want to thank Darren Patterson once again and do me one last favor, on your way out as you walk past the weekend update exhibit turn out the lights, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.

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Join Shari and Joe as they discuss this weeks episode of the HOF podcast and share their visions for first-time hosts.

Transcript:

Track 2:

[0:19] Hi, welcome to the Saturday Night Live Hall of Fame Water Cooler Podcast. You know, kind of a short, simple title. Or to put it another way, the SNL HOFH2L Podcast. Just to, you know, hashtag it. I'm Joe.

Track 3:

[0:43] And I'm Shari.

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[0:44] And we're sitting here next to the water cooler, ready for this week's discussion.

Track 3:

[0:51] Yep. Are you filling up your cup, Joe? I'm filling mine up.

Track 2:

[0:55] And I'm good. All right. Let's do this.

Track 3:

[0:59] Okay. We're going to start it off by talking about this week's episode of the SNL Hall of Fame with the fabulous Thomas Senna and his special guest, Jamie Burwood. Wood jamie is a og snl hall of fame guest she's been on a couple of times and i believe all of her nominees have gotten in christopher walken and will ferrell will ferrell thank you joe because i blanked out and our latest nominee she finally got in in season five molly shannon so yes he's on a roll let's see if she can keep it up with sherry o terry did you want to continue on and uh so yeah.

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[1:48] Uh yeah those two they had a great discussion uh they covered a lot uh so uh but i there's plenty left to discuss uh you know they brought up uh, that Sherry's often paired up with Will Ferrell, who, you know, they performed in the Groundlings together. They started at Saturday Night Live at the same time. Will Ferrell, Sherry Oteri, Chris Kattan. Basically, Saturday Night Live cleaned house around season 20. They got rid of those bums, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, and Kevin Nealon. No, they were great. It was just, they did their term. It was time for a change. It was time for a change. And then they brought in, yeah, Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, David Kegner, Daryl Hammond, and our focus for today, Sherry O'Terry.

Track 3:

[2:43] Thank you, Joe. That was a really good lead-in, recap. Thank you. You're coming up with all the good words, and I'm somehow blanking.

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[2:52] It's cool.

Track 3:

[2:53] I think we're ready with that great recap. I think we're ready to talk about...

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[3:00] Point counterpoint. Uh, so, uh, okay, let's go into pros and cons. All right. Now this week, uh, I'm going to take the pros with Sherry and you'll take the cons.

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[3:12] Yep. We're switching places.

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[3:14] All right. Uh, so, uh, as far as the pros go, the first thing, and I, they mentioned this on the other episode, she is very energetic. Energetic and the word i want to add on to that is she's energetic to the point where all of her characters are twitching i mean like she's just literally like shocking just you know um yeah like with our characters uh laura or whom i think who's the first one um yeah adele and uh.

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[3:53] Where's the other one? The one that, oh, Colette Rairdon. I wanted to bring her up because she probably has a reason to twitch a little bit because she has a big box of prescriptions that she's on. But yeah, Sherry's very energetic to the point where she's twitching, gives 110%, and also she's just Just a hair below chewing the scenery. She's, you know, not hamming it up. She's not. Everything that she's doing with her energy seems appropriate and called for. And it makes sense within the character. So I just want to point out that she never, ever sleepwalks through a part. So, yeah, that's the first pro I got in your con.

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[4:45] Okay, Joe, that is excellent. And she is very high energy. And Jamie Burwood said that same thing. In fact, her exact, well, maybe not her exact words, but her words were she brings a zaniness and a wackiness that is... Unparalleled. That was Jamie's words, and you pretty much reiterated them, Joe. Unfortunately, I'm here to bring the con, and that wackiness and that zaniness and that shout, she likes to shout. She shouts a lot. So her characters, Rita Del Vecchio, and you mentioned Colette Reardon and of course Simma Down Lady very over the top very shouty all of them and sometimes this repetitive habit with the shouting with the so over the top you and Jamie say that's you know that's a positive a lot of viewers and I've heard it from a lot of viewers over the years because I was watching her back in the day, felt like that was too much, like she was trying too hard. So, yes, she's not sleepwalking. She's almost the opposite of sleepwalking, and that gives viewers a lot of fatigue, and I think people got a little tired of that shtick. So that's my con. Back to you, Joe.

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[6:11] I got it. No, and I get to the point where, yeah, because that happens with Saturday Night Live, where even the best characters get old, hence why she got there in the first place. Like Chris Farley was doing Van Down by the River, which to me is one of my favorite sketches ever. That first one with Christina Applegate, I mean, that to me is one of the top five sketches. However, it got old, and that's why they had to get rid of Farley, bring in new people, and that's how Sherry got there. So yes, that happens at Saturday Night Live. I agree. And with her in particular, yes, the shouting and the energy and the –.

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[6:54] Does wear thin so i agree with that so okay my next pro is something i personally picked up on uh when i was doing all this research is her she does characters of all ages and it's almost to the point where it's like the same character just at different spots in her and the character's life like she did alfina which is this hyper character that visits the pilot um ariana the spartan cheerleader we have to mention her but we'll get back to that and then laura zimmerman the character she did with uh chris katan the hyper sexual hyper sexed couple uh and then rita the porch uh dweller and then finally colette reardon the uh prescription taker and it's like this it's almost like the same person at different stages of the character's life and it's it's cool to see the same actor being able to do that um i just thought that was kind of unique, and i enjoyed seeing that okay.

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[8:00] Joe that is an excellent point she she really she really does put her whole self into her characters and she does do a variety of ages and the observation you made about it being almost like the same character at different points in their life was very interesting, but I'm going to go con now, and this is a biggie, and Jamie and Thomas discussed this quite extensively, and that's the fact that, A, she didn't do a lot after Saturday Night Live, a little bit here and there, some voice work, a couple of TV episodes, nothing major, I guess she was on Broadway, nothing.

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[8:42] I don't even remember hearing about that, but apparently she was on Broadway, but it was very short lived. I think she's had some personal stuff. She keeps it pretty quiet. But the other part of this that's bigger to me is she's never really come back to the show. And I'll be curious to see if she even comes back for the 50th anniversary because I do not believe she was at the 40th. So she really, she didn't really make a connection. Like so many of them stay in touch. Like, look at Dana and David have their podcast fly in the wall. Sherry seems like she kind of disconnected from SNL altogether. And I'm sure she had her reasons. But that is a big reason that voters are going to be like, well, she doesn't care enough to come back to the show. Why would I waste a vote on her and get her into the very hallowed halls of SNL Hall of Fame? So I think that's going to be a biggie. I think that might even hinder her from getting that 10% that she needs to just stay on the ballot. So I guess only time will tell, right?

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[9:49] That is a great point. Because here's something else. Because that whole trio of Farrell, Oteri, Kattan, they all started at the same time. It's kind of like all three of them went in separate directions. And when Will Ferrell hosted Saturday Night Live like three times or the first three times, he always seemed to bring back an old sketch, you know, like he did Jeopardy. He also did that one couple, the middle school singers with Anna Gassmeyer.

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[10:24] Right, right, right, right.

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[10:25] And you would think at least once that they would, you know, when Will Ferrell's hosting, that they would do the cheerleaders. You know like that to me is iconic as, You know, Farley and Spade, Wayne and Garth. Right. You know, like, Will Ferrell, because like we mentioned over and over again, Ferrell and Oteri, they physically look good together. Like, almost in this, not exactly like this, but almost in a Laurel and Hardy type way, where Will Ferrell's tall, Sherry's short, you know, and then she brings the energy to make up for it. So she's, you know, in a scene with Will Ferrell, you know, and she's able to catch your eye with her energy, which is both a pro and a con, you know. So, yeah, I agree.

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[11:21] I guess only time will tell. I guess what we really need to do here is encourage people to vote.

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[11:26] Yes. Vote.

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[11:27] If you think Sherry is deserving, vote. Because if you don't, she's not going to stick around so you can vote for her next time. So if you're going to vote, vote because people left last season. Justin Timberlake is gone. Several others are gone because they didn't.

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[11:53] Yeah, they didn't.

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[11:54] The five seasons came and went. And there are some who didn't get the 10% and didn't get to come back this season. So think about that. That's why Joe and I do this pro and con thing. And now I think we're ready to, are we ready to move on now, Joe? Are you good?

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[12:11] Yeah.

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[12:12] All right. We are going to move on to hopes for season 50. And it's only like four weeks away. Yay! I can't believe it either. I can't believe it.

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[12:26] I need a distraction from this election, and what better way to digest the election better than with Saturday Night Live? I need Saturday Night Live to take all of this craziness of the world, not just the election, but just everything that's going on, and I need to see it through the prism of Saturday Night Live.

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[12:44] I couldn't agree more, and I'm so excited. Our hopes for Season 50, themed today, is first-time hosts. Hosts. We're going to talk about first-time hosts. And Joe inspired this idea. Joe, do you want to talk just a little bit about how this all came about? Because I know it has throwback roots for you, nostalgic roots for you. So why don't you let the listeners know all about it?

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[13:15] Oh, I couldn't. And by the way, that's a joke to everyone who knows me because I talk about this to people that don't even want to hear it. So the fact that I'm on a podcast right now and it's the perfect opportunity to talk about it, I just wanted to make that one joke of going.

Track 3:

[13:32] Nah.

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[13:34] Nah, I'm good. Let's move on. No. So, OK, here's how this list came about. It was about 2006 and Peter Sarsgaard was a they announced or whatever, like on the bumper that Peter Sarsgaard was going to be that the next week's host. And he's a fine actor to everything. Nothing against him. But just at the time, I had no idea who he was. And I'm like, man, it's really random who they get to host Saturday Night Live for the first time, aside from John Goodman, Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, and such. But as far as who gets to host for the first time, it's random because they're usually rising up in fame. Their TV show is becoming popular. They're about to be in a bunch of movies. They just signed a three-movie contract or something. Like they're about to be popular and another person of note is the fact that Bradley Cooper hosted like the February before the hangover came out so it is like you have to really pay attention to who's popular right now and like who's been on the rise and then match that to did they host yet and then if they didn't then they're most likely gonna you know and that's where I try and came up with this list and I just want to give out one more shout out.

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[15:02] To my mom because I used to play this game with my mom until she just lost interest and it became hard but anyway one year I was like hey I made my list and I went on internet movie database tried to see who was you know on the rise and when their movie was coming out and like oh this person has three movies coming out this year and you know it's around in the fall so they probably will be on Saturday Night Live to promote it and stuff like that and I'm trying to carefully analyze and dates and stuff like this and then i kept telling my mom hey mom they're gonna you know the show's gonna come back you better you know because it's kind of cheating if you see who's hosting the first episode and then and then you pick so i kept hounding her hounding her and then i go mom come on let's just do this and she goes all right fine and she takes an issue of entertainment weekly and just sends through it and goes her him him her her and then made her list just off the cuff and then sure enough beat me that year you know like i think she picked out two more than me and i'm like how how you know and and then so and that's another point i want to make is it's it's kind of random and then uh the last thing i'll make to segue back to the podcast uh so originally the what the way i used to play it is uh i made out 25 a list of 25 names.

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[16:25] Because you figure maybe half the people hosting Saturday Night Live would be first time hosts. There'll probably be 12 new hosts, so you figure 25 would give us odds.

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[16:38] But for the podcast, just to keep it simple, do a whole 25, yeah, I guess we'll go back and forth talking about who we think is going to host for the first time in the 50th year.

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[16:52] And also, I think we should also just mention very briefly, if we think they're on the road to possibly returning, if they do get asked, and possibly becoming a Hall of Famer. And then as they show up throughout the season, Joe, we'll come back and look at that and talk about their performance and whether it lived up to expectations and whether we see them being asked back and get continuing on the road to see if we're on target. Game so that'll be fun to watch and also one more thing you listeners out there if you have guesses that you want to send our emails at the end because i don't know by heart yet because this is only our second episode so listen to jd he'll tell you our email and let us know who you think the first time timers are going to be i know that the saturday night network already has this up on their Instagram page, and I tried not to look at it too much. I already had my guesses, so I didn't get spoiled or anything. But we'd like to know from our listeners what you think as well, because maybe it's different from what was in the S&N statistics. We could be wrong. They could be wrong.

Track 2:

[18:08] We could be wrong.

Track 3:

[18:10] Absolutely. All right. Did you want to start us off, Joe, with your first? First possible post?

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[18:19] Because... This is a perfect example of, you know, who I think should host. I'm going to go in no particular order except for this first person. She has been on my list for years, and it makes me mad every single week that I see she's not hosting. So the fact that, like, who's the first person I want to put on this pod is Zendaya from Spider-Man and Euphoria, and she's just a great actress. Actress she you know is out there she's it she's the new young actress and you know she's been in the spider-man movies for years and i'm like oh well she's on in the spider-man movies the hbo show yeah she's a the new young talent so and then week after week and year after year um just been eluding me and i know she's gonna and i'm not gonna take her off my list until she hosts so that's my first pick.

Track 3:

[19:24] Oh joe you we're we're simpatico we're simpatico she's so obvious she had two huge hits last year doom 2 and challengers which they which they talked about out on an episode on the Dakota Johnson episode but they didn't have Zendaya last year so Zendaya I always butcher her name I don't know I'm sorry if you're listening to this but I'm sure she is and and and everybody butchers my name so I I hate doing that I I think it might be Zendaya I, she wasn't my number one I do have mine in the order that I think they're they're likely to be asked because i did go more with people that i think they're really going to ask and i think she's okay that they they have to do but i want to yeah i want to do my number one, I think she's obvious. She's been all over the internet.

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[20:26] Okay, yeah.

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[20:27] She is the it girl of summer. You know they always have to do an Olympian in an Olympic year. So you know who I'm talking about.

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[20:36] Okay.

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[20:36] The fabulous gymnastic rubber band that is Simone Biles. Will she come back? Unlikely. We know what the Michael Phelps debacle was like. But he was on everybody's mind. He was all over the internet. She is everywhere. There are memes featuring Simone everywhere. She has a documentary on Netflix and she's got a bunch of medals. So yeah, this is definitely, I think she's a definite, I think she's going to be a September or October host. But I guess only time will tell. You're next.

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[21:15] So, okay. My next pick is the one who is also, Again, kind of similar to Zendaya. He just seems obvious. He's another guy on the rise. I'm not even going to build him up that much. Glenn Powell, he was in the movie Twisters. He was in Top Gun, Maverick. He just looks like a movie star, like a generic. He just looks like with the perfect teeth and everything. Again, this is another example of when you're making out the list and you're seeing who's on the rise, this guy. And so it just, it's almost inevitable that he will. So when I was making up my list, I was like, him. It was like, easy. Like, moving on. Move along.

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[21:58] Yeah. Well, you know, Joe, another point in your favor for Glenn Powell is he cameoed on the Sidney Sweeney episode last season.

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[22:07] That's right.

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[22:09] Now, do we think he's going to be a returning? I feel like echoes of Jacob Lordy. Like, there's going to be a lot of, he's so handsome sketches. Do you think he's?

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[22:19] You know what? I mean, he could be like Chris Hemsworth, where he's like.

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[22:24] Oh, that's true.

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[22:25] A talented actor. And then he could turn around and do the comedian thing. You know? That's true. So, I mean.

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[22:32] Only time will tell.

Track 2:

[22:33] Here's the, yeah, this is, you know, the weird thing about going off the first timers list is, it's, because how about this? He did Twisters, Top Gun, and a Netflix show, and they all seemed serious. Maybe after he hosts Saturday Night Live, he'll start doing comedies. And then it'll cycle through. Because he's funny in the movies, he's going to be the guy that comes back to host Saturday Night Live. And then lightning in a bottle will strike. And he'll be in that one skit that everyone's talking about that's viral on YouTube. And then it just dominoes from there. All right.

Track 3:

[23:08] Well, speaking of serious actors who are on the rise, I think he should have been asked a couple of years ago, this actor that I'm going to mention now. But I don't know how they can't ask him because he is playing Warren freaking Michael in Saturday Night, the Jason Reitman movie that if you're listening to this podcast, you know all about. You've watched the trailer the trailers nerdily like joe and i and jd and thomas and jamie i'm sure looks amazing he is terrific he was terrific as a steven spielberg in the fableman's not steven spielberg but we all know wink wink and he just nailed it and i'm.

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[23:57] Super excited because my friend, I have a friend and her husband is a big autograph hunter in Los Angeles. And he actually took pictures with Gabriel and said he's the nicest, nicest, one of the nicest he's ever met. So that makes me even more excited that Gabriel LaBelle is going to be a big star and hopefully be an SNL host. I think he's a gimme. I mean, wouldn't it be great to see him and Lorne in a sketch with a young Lorne and an old Lorne? How hilarious would that be? So I and I think it's I think it's a gimme. I I can't imagine they won't do it, but maybe it'll be another actor from that movie. But it will be somebody in that cast.

Track 2:

[24:40] He's on my top 25 list. And everything that you said about it being a gimme, because, yeah, it would be great to do a Lorne off where, you know, where it's funny. But it didn't get the right laugh you know yeah very good paul liked it but then again did it really deserve to be in the top in the first half hour you know like just you know because and on top of it they need to promote that movie you know and they need to have an actor from that movie on the show it'd be weird not to you know like you know so yeah and like you said it has to be someone from the movie. Especially someone playing someone else from the movie. It can't just be... I also want to mention that I think it's kind of weird that William Dafoe... He hosted last year, which is around the time when they were filming that movie. So it's like, was he doing research or like, it just seemed anyway, but it would just be weird if they had J.K. Simmons or William Dafoe or someone else, you know, that's in the cast of that movie that doesn't, that's not playing, or I guess they're all playing someone, but I'm just saying it isn't playing.

Track 3:

[25:56] Not one of the main.

Track 2:

[25:57] Yeah, but it needs to be someone that's playing a cast member or if not, Lorne. And then, yes, they need to do a Lorne-off or something, and I agree with everything. So – and then I'll move on to my pick, which is – okay. So this one is someone who I think could be in the Hall of Fame, yes, as a host, obviously. And that person is Nick Kroll. I hope I'm saying his name right. You are.

Track 3:

[26:28] That one I know.

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[26:29] And, yeah, he had his own sketch show. He's friends with John Mulaney. He auditioned for Saturday Night Live. He's talented at doing characters. He's really genuinely funny. And I believe that, yeah, he would be a great host. And then it would just be like, I'm sure he'll be such a great host that he'll be asked to return.

Track 3:

[26:53] So i agree and he's friends with a lot of the cast already and a lot of them have been on his uh his animated show big mouth yes he's had a lot of snl i think current and past on that show so he he's a he'd be a great yeah i feel like why why hasn't he been asked that's excellent excellent he's.

Track 2:

[27:17] Very snl adjacent you know yeah.

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[27:20] Right that's an excellent excellent Excellent guess.

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[27:23] You know? So, and then you're next.

Track 3:

[27:26] All right. Yes, I am. And speaking of funny. Mm-hmm. Uh, this gentleman is a huge fan favorite and it's funny cause I think a lot of us took him very for granted and didn't realize how funny he was until he left. And he kind of, he's been doing things. He had a show. It didn't make it. I think it only made it one season, but now he's coming back and he's coming back to a CSI franchise, CSI origins. And I know it's on CBS and not NBC, but CSI is a big deal. And I think not only that, but he just did some voice work in Inside Out 2, the Pixar movie. That was terrific, if you haven't seen it. And, of course, I'm talking about the absolutely gut-bustingly funny, drunk uncle, Mr. Bobby Moynihan.

Track 2:

[28:23] Come on!

Track 3:

[28:24] He's done cameos. he's done cameos he's done cameos let the guy host he'd be so great i think he'd work fantastically with heidi with mikey of obviously with keenan oh yeah give us bobby moynihan in season 50 come on he deserves to host an hour yes.

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[28:44] And then he could be a returner you know hall of famer and all that.

Track 3:

[28:48] Oh 100 he is.

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[28:50] Universal he's more than drunk uncle uh yeah he does.

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[28:56] All right, Joe, let's do our wishes now. This means people that we think probably not, not likely, but we would love to see it happen. And I'm going to go first if that's okay.

Track 2:

[29:13] Please, because just on a side note, before the show started, she let it slip, who it might be. And I've been drooling at the mouth waiting for this moment. So let me take another sip of water from the water cooler.

Track 3:

[29:25] As well i'm going to take a sip too okay.

Track 2:

[29:30] Go for it.

Track 3:

[29:31] Because this is a juicy one yes so i i don't know that this is going to happen political political uh nominees, don't get a whole episode they usually just get cameos it happens rarely and when it does it's It's usually a disaster. I will not name any names. But I'm hoping, I'm really hoping, that Kamala and Tim will joint host an episode in maybe late October, just before the election. How great would that be? And how much would we love? We know Maya's coming back. How much would we love to see maya and kamala and tim and whoever is going to play him face off i don't think steve's gonna do it but whoever does it how funny would that be how great would that be how much would the internet break if that happened so that's my wish what do you think joe because.

Track 2:

[30:42] The other guy hosted you know on his own equal time that's all i'm saying, Okay, so my honorable mention, dream host, who I think, like, you wouldn't think that this guy, like, you wouldn't think this guy would be a Saturday Night Live host, but if he did, I think he would be insanely incredible, and that is Gary Oldman.

Track 3:

[31:13] Oh, yes!

Track 2:

[31:15] Ass he plays every different type of character like there's internet memes that show all the different characters he's played in movies over the years like dracula and he was uh commissioner gordon and batman he was in the fifth element and i'm just like imagine putting him on saturday night live with all these wigs and costumes and in in a sketch show where he has free reign to do Not necessarily Free Reign, but where he is able to do different characters in 90 minutes. Let's see him break free. Instead of playing one character per movie, let's see him do multiple characters in 90 minutes.

Track 3:

[31:59] I agree, Joe. And he's an actor that's known for being so serious. So how much fun would it be to get to see him play with the cast? So a great one to end on.

Track 2:

[32:11] Yes.

Track 3:

[32:11] A great one to end on. All right. Well, it looks like it's almost time to put away our water bottles. But before we do, we have to tell you, we got a great one coming up. The SNL Hall of Fame episode number three is a terrific cast member. You want to take it from there, Joe?

Track 2:

[32:37] Yes, I do. He is someone who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I'll just go right into it. I'm not going to preamble it. It's Garrett Morris. He was very underappreciated when he was a part of the first five years. But then when you saw him, it's like, duh. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because of the first five years. I feel like all of them do. and they all need to be, go through the process, you know, of.

Track 3:

[33:11] Yes, I agree. And we're, we're going to talk a lot more about this in our episode next week. So please tune in to the SNL Hall of Fame with the fabulous J.D. And Matt and Thomas Senna, who are going to be joined by the awesome Darren Patterson from SNL Nerds. If you haven't listened to SNL Nerds, it's hilarious. Him and John Trumbull are terrific. They break down episodes. They talk about SNL movies. And Darren is a wealth of knowledge, and he's going to share his knowledge of Garrett Morris. He hasn't been on since season three, but the two that he's talked about, Tom Hanks and the other one is Dana Carvey. Oh, how could I forget him? One of my favorites. So I know Darren's going to be a great guest. I know we're going to have a lot to talk about next week because Garrett's an amazing cast member. So until then.

Track 2:

[34:12] Go ahead.

Track 3:

[34:14] Until then, we're leaving the water cooler, right, Joe?

Track 2:

[34:16] Yes, putting my paper cup into the little bin that we have here, that little two-foot-high garbage can that you always see at Office Max.

Track 3:

[34:26] Yep, and my cup is joining you. All right. So until next week, this is Shari and… Joe.

Track 2:

[34:32] We'll see you next time.

Track 3:

[34:34] Next time.

Track 2:

[34:35] All right.

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Matt, Thomas, and jD are joined by friend of the podcast, TV graphs own, Jamie Burwood. Before her conversation with Thomas, Matt and jD go through some Cheri Oteri trivia. Enjoy.

Transcript:

Track 2:

[0:43] Thank you so much, Doug DeNance. It is a great pleasure to be joining you all here outside the SNL Hall of Fame. If you wouldn't mind, as you cross the threshold, please take advantage of the mat out front and wipe those feet. The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair where each episode we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer, and add them to the ballot for your consideration. Consideration once the nominees have been announced we turn to you the listener to vote for the most deserving and help determine who will be enshrined for perpetuity in the hall and that's how we play the game it's just that simple this week we are joined by our friend jamie burwood to discuss the bona fides of sherry o terry but before we do that we are going to talk to our friend matt ardill and matt i've got a question for you my friend.

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[1:44] Are you ready because i've got two words for you sherry o terry matt what have you got well sherry o terry is five foot five foot two born september 19th 1962 in what i what appears to be a snl hotbed upper derby pennsylvania the hometown of tina fey yeah so water there yeah yeah it's just i i guess there's something about that suburban experience that uh makes you crave uh making people laugh um or at least distracting yourself from being there uh she grew up around music her father was a nashville record producer and worked at amn records before joining the groundlings she earned 92 acting credits six writing credits five producer credits and four soundtrack credits um yeah she has played everything from uh the sidekick of inspector gadget to an animated tooth fairy uh she she is one of the uh folks from snl to go on to broadway having starred in the production of Musical the Musical.

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[3:06] And is a friend of Paul Reuben's, playing husband and wife on an episode of Ally McBeal. Went on to be nominated for the Best Dance Sequence at MTV's Movie Awards and the Teen Choice Award for Best Comedian. Well, that's some cool stuff so far. Anything else on Terry O'Terry? No she's kept it pretty private she's one of those uh snl folks who's gone on to uh just just uh step back and and enjoy the show well we ask you to do the same step back and enjoy the show as we head to our friend thomas senna thomas take it away, All right.

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[4:17] Guys. Thank you so much. You're so excited for this episode. Hello, and welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame conversation portion of the episode. Today, I am joined by an amazing guest, a mainstay at the SNL Hall of Fame, for sure. He's been advocated for a lot of great SNL, current SNL Hall of Famers, actually. So, like, what, Will Ferrell? Jamie, how many people have you gotten into the SNL Hall of Fame? I think you're on a pretty good run. I'm trying to think. We've definitely done quite a few episodes. I'd have to look to see what the actual track record is to know the percentage. Yeah, Will Ferrell got in. Yeah, and you were on for Molly? I was on for Molly. I don't think she got in, though. Did she? Well, Molly's a new inductee. Oh, okay. In the latest. Yes. All right. So Molly got in. Christopher Walken.

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[5:09] Yes, that was my episode. So you're on a pretty good hot streak. Okay, okay. I think. Nice. So I think you're the perfect person to come on and chat about Sherry O'Terry. But I'm going to formally welcome you, Jamie Burwood. Welcome back to the SNL Hall of Fame. How are you doing? How have you been? I'm doing good. It's great to be back here this summer. Yeah, just having a good start to the summer, doing some beach time coming up. But yeah, it's been great. Happy to be here. Yeah, beach time for all of us. That's what this summer is about. It's beach time 2024. So I'm glad you're partaking as well. Is there anything you'd like to plug up top before we get started here? Talking about Sherry? Yeah, I feel like TV show graphs is still my go-to account on TV.

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[6:03] Twitter, Instagram, all of the places, tvshowgraphs.com. Yeah, it has the whole library of a lot of the TV-related data deep dives I've done in the past, exploring a few new topics coming up soon. So hopefully as some of the summer travel slows down, there'll be some new stuff up there soon. But yeah, otherwise I kind of have just been chilling the last few months. So enjoying the start of the summer.

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[6:27] Well, I think you've earned it. Your graphs and the website, side that's like quite the rabbit hole like a true tv fan could spend a lot of time going down that rabbit hole it's pretty cool so you you deserve it any sort of break you get you definitely deserve it jamie so today our nominee like i mentioned sherry o'terry right in your will house jamie like i said you've covered the air a few times here on the snl hall of fame and of course today talking about um somebody who's beloved to us sherry o'terry uh jamie for What was it about Sherry O'Terry that may have first got your attention when you saw her? Yeah, I feel like the zaniness and how memorable her characters are. I feel like she's somebody that, in my opinion, doesn't get talked about enough. And in some ways, she is well-recognized. She has her best of collection. I feel like people do acknowledge her role in that era of SNL and just how important it is. But there's just something really captivating about her wackiness and the way that she commits to all of these characters that she does. And I think for me, that was really what drew me in. Like, there's just something about watching a sketch with her where you can't quite look away in a good way, I think.

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[7:47] Yeah, no, I agree. I agree. And I think sometimes, maybe sometimes I feel like I might throw around the term underrated or underappreciated a lot. But I honestly think in Sherry's case, it fits. And I have, I guess there are theories floating out there as to why she might be underappreciated. But if you actually look at her work, look at the type of performer that she was, I do think she probably should be talked about more and be held in higher regard than she is. So I really do think there's something to that, Jamie. It's not just like throwing out there like, oh, she's a little underappreciated. Like with Sherry O'Terry, I truly, truly think she is. So neither of us say that lightly. Absolutely. Yeah, I feel like she's somebody who...

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[8:32] Just her role in that era, I hope that people recognize. And just, we've talked a little bit in the past in some of the earlier episodes, but just the role that she had in showing how funny female comedians on SNL can be. And just this willingness to go all out and commit fully. And I don't think she's the only one in her cast who does that. I feel like Molly, Will, many others embody that. But there's something to me special about Sherry in just the way that she went all in on things. And she's somebody who you could put her alongside Will Ferrell. And I would argue she doesn't get overshadowed. They match each other. And the chemistry just builds upon each other.

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[9:19] And I feel like she had this knack for kind of elevating some of these sketches where she was working alongside other greats, other Hall of Famers. And she not only holds her own but just makes things so much better yeah i mean when you're trying to revive snl and we've talked about this before prior to season 21 they did almost a full house cleaning like molly was a carryover norm was a carryover there may be a few care but it was pretty much cleaning house from season 20 to season 21 and sherry i always thought crucial like almost a performer like that's necessary for the revival remind people just like how just how much that season 21 cast just revived this show yeah absolutely i feel like it was just a shift in a different kind of comedy at a time where the show really needed it right like it was away from that kind of like meaner vibe which had its time and place on the show but i feel like there were just aspects that were starting to feel a little bit tired, starting to feel not really keeping up with what people wanted to see. And I feel like the tone of the show really shifted into this very, like.

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[10:40] Character centric we got lots of the great greatest of all time in my opinion recurring sketches recurring characters in this era and i feel like sherry in particular really embodied that kind of character actress character comedian and just not being afraid to be be silly and people responded to that really well i think and i think that was a big part of why why that era is remembered so fondly yeah i think it toward the end there it got exhausting just like there's a lot of that mean comedy a lot of the bad boy quote-unquote stuff and then we entered a stage you're right of like character driven a lot of goofy like a lot of goofball kind of comedy was very refreshing and sherry was such such a vital part of that as far as her path to snl cliff's notes not a ton honestly sherry seems a little private uh not a ton of known about her personal life she's from philadelphia the philadelphia area moved to la in her 20s she's a groundling so she did a lot of quality sketch training before starting at snl her audition was really great i don't know if you had a chance to see it it's on youtube uh so i encourage everyone to check that out but the her audition was like eight minutes and and what she showed in her audition she did three characters that ended up on the show but right away you can see like why Lorne and everybody else who saw that edition were like, we got to have Sherry. So I don't know, Jamie, if you've ever seen the audition. I haven't.

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[12:08] Yeah, I do like them. I haven't watched hers. If I haven't, it's definitely been a while, so I'll have to go back and do that. Yeah, it's really fun. So she had a great audition. You could see why she got chosen for the cast. So she starts off 1995, season 21, Sherry O'Terry, Will Ferrell, the rest of the crew. So I want to get into it. like.

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[12:30] What characters or sketches, Jamie, do you go to when you think about Sherry O'Terry? Yeah, so let me talk about a few characters because I feel like, honestly, most of my favorite Sherry sketches are around some of her well-known characters. And there are a few that are not, which we can talk about, too. But I feel like for me, a few of the ones that stand out, Rita Delvecchio, that like grouchy Philadelphia is the vibe woman who just is, I don't know if mean is the right word, but just that typical like kind of street smart lady.

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[13:11] She's kind of like a little grumpy, but she's pretty likable at the same time. She's kind of that old lady who does who's like no nonsense she doesn't take any crap from the name especially the neighborhood kids i'm going on the porch for five minutes a piece the first one who calls me gets my slipper okay you kids got the whole street to play ball on but you're gonna play in front of my house that's okay because i keep it now okay i keep it it's mine now all right have your mother come get it i hear you smart ass but there's something very likable about her jamie like it's almost do you get the sense when you watch her do rita del vacchio that it's like a one-woman play it is i just for some for some reason that character in particular and like she does all sorts of different brands of like out there characters but for some reason like that what i just feel like is a connection and just work she does it so well and And the writing in most of the ones that she's done for her, I feel like, have been really solid. I feel like they tend to incorporate the host in a really fun way. Just kind of showing her amidst the neighborhood, I feel like.

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[14:23] You then see kind of the host pop up and either like the neighbor or a kid or like all of these different like characters amidst her life. And it always just like feels really natural. Like I'm always happy when one of those sketches pops up in an episode. I'm like, Oh, we get to spend some time with Rhea. This is great. Yeah, no, it's amazing world building. And sometimes you're right. They'll, they'll work in the host and everything. And every now and then a character will come by a lot of times. It's just her standing there a lot of times by her front door, just like yelling at a neighbor. And she's and sherry's doing this such a good job of filling in the other person's dialogue there so it's just her on the screen but she's doing such a good job of making it a conversation.

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[15:04] That only on screen only she's taking part in like she's so skilled at that and the whole role building this is something that she auditioned with she had this character sherry started building this whole world uh at the groundlings that that's just such a testament to her her talents is like a creative mind i think absolutely yeah i love the one with the the screen door and like the kids who are coming up to the screen door repeatedly that one always sticks sticks with me for some reason and you're right that is another example where it's like yes you have kids coming up to the door but she is like owning the comedy in each of those scenes and is having her like wild reactions to each one of those people coming up so completely yeah yeah and And she even made, in that particular installment, she even made kind of a boring host, Steve Forbes, like a very boring host. She actually made him, incorporated him really well into the sketch. She ended up stealing one of the kids' money that was coming up to take donations. She ended up taking the money and all of that. Yeah, that was a really great one with Steve Forbes. She puts a lot of love into that character. I think that's a great first choice.

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[16:08] Yeah, she definitely does. And then I feel like for my second choice, and there's so many. But I just love Nadine and in terms of like when I was in high school and this era was I was in high school in the early 2000s ish so right around this era um there the whole like Simadown now, catchphrase was huge like I just remember friends I don't even know like when people first started saying it. I don't even think I really realized where it was coming from. And just like people embodying this character that she did on SNL only to like later recognize that connection. Excuse me, excuse me. My husband's been in a motorcycle accident. I think he broke his wrist. Yeah, I can't move it. It's swelling up really badly. Okay, everybody simmer down now.

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[17:06] Listen, I would love to simmer down now, but you see my wrist is shattered. So I would encourage I encourage you to admit me now. Sir, your sass is unappreciated here. So before your obelisk becomes shattered, I suggest you fill out these forms and have a seat and then simmer down. That's correct. I love all of the Nadine sketches. I feel like the one with Garth Brooks is probably my favorite, like returning things at the desk there for the name of the store. But to me, that's a classic one and just, it's so fun. It's so fun. Yeah, yeah, I love it. You're right. That whole, the Simudan now, like just totally spread like wildfire. Always like people used to always do the impression where she's trying to start the car. Yes.

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[17:59] Yeah, like, and then it goes Simudan. Yeah, there's all kinds of like different ways you could say Simudan now if you want to get creative. That definitely stuck. She only did it three times. Yep. And it caught on so well. Yeah, I also love the line, like Donna Summer and how does her name appear in the phone book, like Summer, Donna, like that, that to me is just great, great writing, great delivery, so much. Yeah, all those strained ways to make the connection to Simma down now. I love it.

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[18:30] There's two, Jamie, that kind of when I think of Sherry O'Terry, I really connect with. And I'm going to talk about the one that she did the most, Barbara Walters. Yeah. She did that one 21 times, I think, last summer when the SNN, our friends at the SNN, did their character countdown. I believe Barbara Walters ended up on the list for good reason. I think that this is her best character. And something that Sherry said that she worked really hard at, she studied Barbara Walters quite a bit when she found out she was doing this. And there's been Barbara Walters impressions done on the show before. I think this is the quintessential one. What do you what do you say about her Barbara Walters? It's so good and like I Have heard that Sherry somebody who's nervous about like the impression aspect of the show coming in right and it's Not necessarily what you like maybe think of right away with her But this is I agree one of the all-time best things that she did over her time in the show I feel like it's a perfect example to me of an impression that like I.

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[19:36] Is very, like, draws from the real person very well, but then also, like, plays things up in a way that gives it a life of its own so that it's not just, like, purely a copycat, but, like, becomes funny in its own right. Fidel Castro and I were roommates my freshman year in college. And girlfriends, let me tell you, he may be brilliant, he may be stubborn, but what I remember most is that he had some funky B.O. Whenever I see Fidel Castro, I just think he looks like an extra from MASH. I mean, you know what I mean? With that hat. Don't look at me.

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[20:17] I just love any of the like VIEW segments where she popped up. I feel like those were always just a good time and just like meant for comedy, meant for parody. It was great. Yeah, I loved the VIEW one specifically when she would get mad at Debbie Martinopoulos. And she would do things like she one time she told her to go get in the cage that was a classic moment for me when she's like enough she's like go get get in the cage go now and then debbie monotonopoulos would just go do it and and this is just how she would kind of erupt at her you that was so funny and then she would uh reference like casually spending time with famous people and historical figures like i was in the hot tub with fidel castro when i found out that or just like the name dropping is wonderful.

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[21:05] This Barbara Walters was one that could be used in so many different settings, Jamie. I give points for that. If you develop a character or do an impression, and it could be used on a talk show or weekend update, or this is such a versatile character.

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[21:20] I agree. And again, it speaks to the theme of when she pops up and you're excited to see that character. And i think it's one that i don't think anyone could really get sick of or maybe somebody could but i certainly did not get sick of this one ever like i could see this every episode in her era and be happy with that yeah so this might be like if i was going to show one person an example of why i love sherry it might actually be her barbara walters like like this one makes me so happy for sure like amongst many that make me so happy and i'm sure that make you so happy you know like what what's what what's another character that people just can't miss for sherry yeah i feel like colette reardon is one that we should talk about the prescription pill addict lipstick smeared on the face and this is true for a lot of sherry's characters but i feel like there's just like an aesthetic to like the character she commits to and like a lot of times in similar outfits, makeup, just like you, you see that person and you're like, okay, I get what this is trying to be. And then Sherry just.

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[22:36] It to to another level it's a good thing that the phone's on the fritz because sometimes i gots to shoot methadrine so i can fire up my toro leaf blower to clean my front lawn falls a bitch dick i don't care how you slice it methadrine you ever try a rake.

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[22:57] Oh really any poop after five hours of methadrine fueled leaf blowing i get kind of confused and start making long distance phone calls i don't know how many of the um of the clut sketches there were i know she appeared a few times maybe on weekend update and then a few standalone sketches maybe like five okay yeah yeah yeah it felt like more honestly such a lived-in character yeah i feel like super memorable one um there was one where i.

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[23:28] Feel like a phone is involved like you have pills coming out of the phone and she's trying to eat the pills which amazing physical comedy just this type of character i feel like she does really well and not in a hateful way like it's a character that you kind of have to like walk that fine line with right because it's like a little bit of a extreme scenario but you come away just being like oh my gosh this character is fabulous and and laughing all over well that's one thing that you know when i had john schneider on for the kristen wigg episode and we talked about when she would do characters uh and impressions that she didn't come at it in a mean way so we used as an example like target lady for kristen and wig that could have been done mean but you can tell there was love put into that and i think somebody like colette you know she she's whacked out on all these pills and and her hair's messed up messy lipstick she's always trying to hit on whoever and uh but like there's still an element of just like she sounds it seems like sherry has love for that character she's not trying to.

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[24:36] To totally be mean to those kind of people or whatever. It's just like they almost... All of our characters almost seem likable, even as wacky as they are. That's such a gift, I think. It is. It really is. I feel like it's...

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[24:51] You kind of see the other level of some of these characters and you watch them and you laugh, but you also just are like, oh, I want to spend time in this world and with this person and just see what antics they're up to. And she did that so well. Yeah, absolutely. This is one of the prime examples to me of a comparison that I've made with Sherry. Kind of think she always reminded me of Mike Myers on screen.

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[25:16] Like just her energy. energy uh if she was in a sketch she was best as the the focus the focal point of the sketch she and mike both like every now and then they would kind of play the straight character the background but that's not what they did if it was a mike myers sketcher it was a sherry o'terry sketch i think or maybe she had a co-pilot and will ferrell sometimes or molly or something but she has this she had this mike myers energy about her that i see pop up in characters like Colette I don't know if I'm off base if we love to make comparisons as SNL fans but Mike Myers and Sherry Oteri was always one that that struck me yeah I can definitely see that like the the leadership in the like just like you said sure you could put her in a background role but it's it's almost a waste like you you want to see her in that that spotlight and I I feel like she has that kind of like magnetic quality yeah for sure um well what's uh what's another what's next on your list yeah i feel like we gotta talk spartan cheerleaders we talked okay during the episode but i again i feel like if you ask people on the street about sherry especially like more a casual fan or someone who.

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[26:35] Maybe not like dedicated to this era as much but that, recurring sketch I feel like is just cemented into pop culture history in a really cool way and I feel like whenever I go back and watch some of these it, am impressed at just how her and Will feed off of each other. It almost feels like improv in some ways. Like, oh, yeah, as much as they're like, the writing is great, not to discount that, like, it just feels like they are in the moment just having fun as two performers, just like.

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[27:11] Each going off of each other. And it, there's just an energy to these ones to me that I feel like is hard to top yeah you're right and i think no that's actually a credit to the writing that doesn't discount in any way i think paula pell who helped them write these was probably the third spartan cheerleader in these in these sketches like she did an amazing job but you're right like like uh showcasing sherry's talents unreal physical performer.

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[27:36] She the way sometimes that she would just leap into will ferrell's arms and they would she would do this weird pose and or will ferrell would just like carry her around in a weird way like sherry Sherry was just fearless, such an amazing, fearless performer. I hope that when people see the cheerleader sketches, they're just not focused on Will, because Sherry's arguably topping his performance in this, honestly. I always thought Sherry was the better performer in these sketches specifically. I agree, actually. And I'm not sure how that dynamic played out in terms of, like, Like, was Will tempering in, like, letting her really be the super zany? And, I mean, he was pretty zany, too, so it's all relative. But I feel like that's the thing that surprises me the most re-watching these is, like, everyone knows, like, Will Ferrell. He's huge. He's, like, had such a big career. People think, okay, Spartan Triller is him. But you watch these and you're like, oh, my gosh, Sherry was killing it. And, again, not only, like, matching him but in some cases, like, going beyond. And that's really cool because I think, again, not everybody...

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[28:46] Thinks of that but when you watch it it's there it really is oh my god ariana can you believe summer's over already i know craig i already missed my summer job at kenny rogers roasters i'm still getting the newsletter though.

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[29:03] Well i'm glad my lifeguarding job is over i did not enjoy taking off my shirt no no craig tomorrow morning we are going to be real spartan cheerleaders this has got to be our year, It was an awesome idea to practice all night. Yeah, and my parents will never know I'm gone. I put my brother's blow-up doll underneath my sheets. Oh. Yeah, she would do these little things as Ariana, like, to give the character neurosis. Like, if it was a little sigh or nervous laughter or something like that, she was very expressive in her face and just the little, like, breaths that she would take. Like, something as a sketch performer, I always admire when I notice those little things, those little small beats that you know sherry thought about does naturally whatever but they're out there and uh yeah this is um if if not barbara walters maybe the cheer maybe ariana the cheerleader uh could be up there as far as like the quintessential sherry especially physically like as a physical performer i'll put ariana right up there and then one other recurring her in character that I want to make sure we talk about. And I think we only got this one a handful of times, but Althea, the little child who in one sketch is on a plane and another is on a bus, Sherry just going full-on annoying.

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[30:27] Child in her layers of pink jackets and clothing and just embodying that... Hyper, chaotic, says-anything kid. I especially love the one with Chevy Chase as the pilot. I feel like to me that's the one that stands out. Dr. Burke, we're going to visit my Aunt Jane in Colorado, where it's called. My Aunt Jane has a life partner. Her name is Judy. They're not married. They're life partners. Life partners! Life partners! Althea, Althea, come on out. Watch the controls now. With my nose will any flight attendant please report to the cockpit any flight attendant please report to the cockpit run to the cockpit.

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[31:21] That's the one actually uh the althea on a plane she actually auditioned with that too so that's like part of her audition really yeah she had the cap and everything like the whole the glasses like it was fully formed in the audition like it didn't seem like they changed much at all from the audition to to the air it does feel like one that like i feel like there's certain characters where they feel like okay this person like cared to develop this and it has that kind of like personal touch and i can absolutely see that with this one right it just seems like a character that she knows that she can embody very naturally um yeah this is just a really fun And I feel like, especially in the plane one with Chevy, the deadpan-ness of his character and the annoying.

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[32:11] Just chattering away child of her character is just, it's such a fun, fun match and made for an awesome sketch. Yeah, for sure. and she would say things like not just weird things as a child but she would say like really precocious like things that like an adult would say or maybe she's repeating what an adult told her but but she would kind of like surprise the audience a little bit or the person she was interacting with by saying something really mature and adult like something beyond like you shouldn't know that or you shouldn't be saying that that's kind of interesting that you're saying that so i like that layer to this character it's a really fun one agreed yeah no i i feel like this is one that just feels very like true to sherry and like everything that she embodies yeah there was a uh along the lines i think of like the colette or alfea there was a one-off i don't know if you had a chance to see this one um her name's roberta it was sherry did this like in the the sixth episode of her first season. So she played somebody named Roberta and it was this dad work colleague who invited herself over to Thanksgiving dinner.

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[33:22] So it was just very weird energy. She was very inappropriate. I'm surprised this actually wasn't a recurring character because this happened really early on in Sherry's career. But she just said these weird things that she thought were just normal, but everybody at the table was like, Oh my gosh, I think, I want to say Jennifer Aniston was in the sketch. But y'all should go look up Roberta because it's like a spiritual cousin to somebody like Colette or Althea or even Rita, like one of these just crazy characters. So I wanted to throw out that a one-off. Oh, that's so exciting. Are Sarah jetting off to Paris? Have you ever been to Scranton?

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[34:06] Nope. Don't count it out. The beauty of the skyline alone made me do a double take. I stayed at the airport Ramada. Ooh, Ramada. It was funny because they hadn't washed the sheets. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. How is that funny? You didn't let me complete the tale. Oh, wow. The other one-off one that I love is with John Goodman playing Adele as the, like, flirty office character. Character just like basically coming in kind of dressed in her like scantily clad outfit um, saying things that are very obvious innuendo and then like going the next mile of explaining every little thing like this this one to me is just like really funny and again great great writing and like all of the different like innuendos that they throw out there, but she super committed, just like very physically on every person in the sketch. It was a fun one. Yeah. Well, this boy's got one thing in his pants that I'd like to wrap my sweaty little mitts around. I'm talking about putting my hands on your penis.

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[35:33] Yes, and again, there's no confusion there. Adele, we got it. Thanks. Well, speaking of getting it, I'm gonna head over to the old icebox and get my oyster platter.

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[35:48] What you looking at, fellas? this is a broke yeah she's totally owning the room in that too like like the office like she's just kind of making her way going to uh everybody i think i remember at one point she um says something suggestive to rachel dratch yes and rachel dratch is like i'm just an intern, i'm just a temp yeah why are you doing this and so yeah yeah that was a really funny one yeah that probably could have been a recurring character yeah as well i could have seen like obvious innuendo lady or yeah like in different settings like we had the office setting and put her in other like various professional worlds i feel like would have been yeah for sure uh there's what if so i i think i said something like she puts a lot of love like it doesn't seem like she, dislikes her any of her characters if there was one where she it was more so making fun of a type and maybe you could sense like there's some sort of meanness underneath the surface it was with the morning latte one yeah oh yeah we gotta talk about that yeah yeah morning latte she and will the dynamic duo again they first did this and i think in season 23 and then they just did a run of them uh famous ones with like chris farley was in a was in a really famous one just a lot of like hyper dumb energy jamie i love these ones yeah these these are great i feel like just that.

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[37:14] Perfect morning talk show shtick and I know we've seen that from like a few cast members over the years but something about this one and this pairing we talked a little bit about like the improv vibe a little but I get that from this as well I'm just like two great people sitting down having fun I know Sherry has mentioned this as like one of her favorite recurring sketches at at some point and it it does just feel like fun fun riffing and just a little bit different from some of her other characters um in a way that's that's kind of fun like yeah crazy but like in a in a different way and more of that like contain talk show still weird but different kind of weird, yeah they're just so funny like they were uninformed about what was going on in the world So we're recording this the day after Joe Biden announced he was stepping down as the Democratic nominee. This is something that the morning latte people would be surprised by the following morning. Or they'd be like, did you hear that Joe Biden? They would just say it with such surprise because they don't follow the news, but they're supposed to be talking about a part of this morning show. They have terrible taste in movies. Cass, how was your weekend? Did you and Eli finally see Good Will Hunting? No, I did something even better. We saw Spice World. Ooh.

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[38:41] That's supposed to be good. Frank, have you seen Spice World yet? I don't know what that is. Oh, well, I'll tell you. You know what I found myself saying after I saw this film? Move over, hard day's night. No kidding. Yes. No, I'm saying these gals are fabulous. That's what I've heard. Yeah, they have got more talent than anything out of Britain or England. Wow. Wow. Wow. Do you like when sketches have like, familiar beats within the sketch how is that for you as a viewer i i do really like that actually i feel like they're i don't know if it's like the comfort or just the style of i don't mind that at all as long as the the jokes are there to kind of hold it up still i i like that and i feel like for this one in particular there was something about that just like kind of.

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[39:31] Sim like i don't know if that's the right word but just like not quite there a little bit like like you said, in their own worlds, combining that with the talk show format was enough to me. Sometimes you don't have to try to reinvent the wheel or do something crazy. It worked because the performers were great. And I think that's a testament to Sherry and to the cast. For sure. They would always involve their producer. So a lot of times the host would play. So John Goodman, Chris Farley, they would involve the producer. I love the bit where Will would say a word and sherry would interrupt him and confidently give a definition that was wrong and she would just say it so confidently like and of course that means this and then will would say no like i just i yeah i love those beats they did a perfect caricature of those cheesy morning show i was part of a morning zoo radio show so i can kind of relate a little bit to that this is something you don't think it's talked about enough and maybe within like snl fan community sure but like i I feel like there needs to be just, like, a giant reel of all of these, like, just great quotes and great moments from this. I feel like it holds up. And sure, some of the pop culture stuff is very much a relic of the time, but the jokes and the...

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[40:48] Dim-wittedness of these characters and how funny that can be i think does really hold up yeah yeah absolutely go back and like deep dive like binge on these morning lattes i found some on tiktok so i googled search and then they came up on tiktok a lot i've been seeing that more and more for snl clips like and i'm i'm not a big tiktoker but i am like okay this is this is kind of refreshing to me that like that's out there in another way for people to kind of discover moments from the show's years past. Yeah, I don't know the TikToks very well, but if they have a lot of SNL sketches, I'll probably visit a lot more. Yeah.

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[41:26] She did another, we talked about the Barbara Walters impression. She did another impression that really stood out to me, but I want to give the floor to you. I want to see if our brains align with maybe the next one that's on your mind. I'm just kind of curious. A little experiment here, Jamie. So what do you got for us next? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, my, this one's probably going to be, I think the only other one I had for a recurring that I definitely wanted to talk about was Zimmerman's. Okay. I don't think that's what yours is, because you were saying yours is an impression, right? Yeah, exactly. But I want to hear your thoughts on the Zimmerman's, though. Oh, I mean, the Zimmerman's, gosh, so, so fun. So we have her and Chris Kattan as this like super always breaking out into very inappropriate over-the-top sexual moments and just like can't keep their hands off of each other and, these are just so funny to me like going from the like sexually charged madness to nothingness and to often like blaming the other person in the room like the other couple or whoever else is around in the sketch for like, oh, you guys are inappropriate, or oh, how dare you, like, I feel like that, that in some cases was like the, the conclusion, but the...

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[42:46] Just these moments of like kind of like one upmanship of the just how over the top like sexual energy how much they can bring to the table was just so genius so fun to watch and to re-watch like i feel like if folks haven't revisited these in a while they to me really hold up in terms of the the physical comedy and like just some of the moments and just how some stuff that i'm actually like okay you got that on on tv i know obviously it's late at night and that's the business of snl but um yeah some pretty like vulgar stuff i feel like they got in there which which was fun they did i know it was pretty risque and chris katan's a cast member who i've had a mixed kind of relationship as a viewer with i wasn't always the biggest chris katan fan but i think sherry brought some good parts of chris katan out in these sketches they have a a similar energy so i can see how their kind of energies play off each other well even though i think i really think sherry's a much better sketch performer than chris katan had better snl career but i think she brought out the good parts of chris katan yeah in these that's why i do like watching these agreed yeah i feel like that was a pairing that i enjoyed.

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[43:58] Seeing and i have a similar kind of thing with chris katan of like different doses or different moments is like the right amount for me but i do feel like there's a little bit of a a parallel to me i do hear them sometimes get talked about in like similar conversations and just as some parallels i think with with the roles they played um and just their like relationship with the show itself but this one to me is just like taking those parallels and.

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[44:29] Like putting it to good use because there could be a world where and sometimes this did happen like both of them was too much for one sketch but this is like you're pairing them romantically and like telling them to just go all at it and have fun with it and it it works yeah no i completely agree this is worth a deep dive for a lot of snl fans this is fun a fun revisit and it captures the era a lot because we were talking about like goofball sketches coming off the heels of of not so goofball maybe more mean stuff like yeah so this is like a good example of kind of that goofball energy she did an impression that.

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[45:05] Judge judy oh yeah yeah i really really love she played judge judy like perfectly no nonsense tough lady um fun interplay between her and tracy morgan as the bailiff uh so i really enjoyed her judge duty judy i thought it did great justice to the real judge judy hey hey hey hey look at me look at me i'll take a pig to the butcher when i want to eat baloney. Got it? Hey, got me? Hot judge, cold cuts. All right, Miss Diamond, what sort of training do you have? What's your background as a clown? I never took no courses, but my mother really encouraged me. Whenever the circus came to town, she would drop me off and leave me there for a few days.

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[45:49] Did your mother teach you how to make those disgusting animal balloons? No, they are my own design, tight ass. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey i'm the only tight ass in this courtroom it's right here right here okay yeah i gotta go back in and watch because that's what i i didn't watch for my my rewatch here but i remember yeah from from years past so um yeah if that one is available easily i'll i'll revisit that one again i think that a lot of them are on tiktok so like just the little beats like she came up with little sayings that were funny she would say things like i'll take a pig to the butcher or when I want to eat bologna or I'll grind the organ when I want the monkey to dance and just like these little Judge Judy-isms. Judge Judy actually came on as herself one time and I thought that was pretty fun. Like sometimes I'm hit or miss on like when the actual person comes on. But I think Sherry...

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[46:43] Sherry reacted pretty funny to the real Judge Judy. And she kind of interjected sometimes. And Judge Judy would tell her to go away. And so I thought that was fun. So I think Judge Judy, she did about five of them. I think so. So I think it's worth a revisit for Sherry O'Terry. Another really good impression, I think, Judge Judy. So Jamie, post-SNL, Sherry O'Terry. So not a ton. So she did guest appearances here and there. She was in Shrek the Third, Grown Ups 2. who I'm a big Curb Your Enthusiasm fan, so she was in a memorable episode of Curb for me. A lot of voice acting for animated shows. She was in Scary Movie, the first one, but she never found a project to lead. So do you think it was like a missed opportunity by studios or did something about her style not translate post-SNL? Yeah, it's an interesting one. I feel like her comedy on the show was very much going all in on these zany wacky characters and I could see that leading to a situation of how do we actually take this and put this in more of a film or TV, outside of sketch comedy role I think that, is part of it I know she's talked a little bit about how she.

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[48:02] On SNL it was about comedy first as opposed to like acting outside of sketch comedy and how people have a tendency to kind of like then put you in that lane and i i think that that may be part of it she's someone who like when she does pop up though i always really enjoy seeing her and like curb is a perfect example she's great on that um she had a guest star yeah exactly yeah she popped in on crazy ex-girlfriend which is one of my my favorite shows like was was happy to see her there um so I I'm okay with that and I don't know what like her goals are like what she wants or wanted from her career but I am okay that some cast members aren't like.

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[48:51] Blockbuster every month kind of vibe that that's not the direction their career took like i.

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[48:58] Like seeing her when she has pop up i hope we continue to see those little bits and pieces and i do love her in the comedy roles and and i don't know if that's again what she wants or if she's wanting to was wanting to expand beyond that but i'm happy having her pop up in some of these great shows from time to time no i completely agree like they're not all going to be will ferrell and just take the like be a blockbuster movie star it's not gonna happen with every uh cast member so i'm completely with you i think the thing that maybe is more unfortunate that's impacted her legacy on snl amongst fans is i don't think she's come back to snl yeah like really at all since she left the show in 2000 and i think that kind of sucks jamie i think that's unfortunate i don't know particular reasons why i've kind of heard maybe some stuff But I don't know about you, but I think we're missing out on like Sherry O'Terry not coming back to the show. Agreed. I feel like she's less integrated to like the click of SNL where you see, okay, this person has a show. They're going to bring in all their SNL friends. And you just see this kind of world.

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[50:05] And there can be many reasons for that. Again, I know there are like different theories of like, oh, she was tough to work with or this and that. And, like, I personally have kind of tried to give her the benefit of the doubt among that kind of discourse just because I don't know what happens. I haven't – nothing that's been horrible where I'm like, oh, my gosh, we cannot talk about this person in the history of SNL. I feel like she is somebody who –.

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[50:34] Again, is not super connected with, like, some of the other folks in the show, and I don't know why, and I don't even know that, like, I could. There may be valid reasons for that. There may be invalid reasons. I don't know. I guess what I will say is, like, it's a bummer in the sense of, like, I would love to see her come and host, and she would be a phenomenal host.

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[50:54] So if those circumstances change and she does become more integrated and we get to see more of her in that context that would be an amazing bonus but also if it's a situation where she did her time and that was a period in her life and now she's doing other things i'm okay with that too but yeah yeah the more sherry the better yeah right i know and i don't want to it's hard to speak to like the dynamics between her and her cast members because we weren't there we don't know one thing that she has said though she said she was nervous a lot around the office and she said she would get really nervous before sketches she was nervous during the week so she said she was like this ball of nerves yeah when she was at snl she craved the approval from lorn she really did she she told a story about how norm had to kind of talk her down before a sketch or something like like she just was always just this ball of nerves and maybe she was so nervous that like it kind of prevented her from forging those tight bonds and because i would love like we see dratch come back we see molly shannon we you know sherry o'terry was such a significant arguably bigger than like a dratch or somebody like that but i mean do you think like her not coming back has hurt her legacy a little bit i think it it makes her maybe less known or less talked about in like the fabric of the history of the show to me it doesn't change the like legacy of of what she did for the years and the seasons that she was on the show and doesn't diminish the work.

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[52:23] It maybe contributes to this kind of underrated vibe that comes across because I feel like.

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[52:31] As a result of not being in some of those places, she does get talked about less. And so then when she is talked about, it's like, oh, wait, don't forget about Sherry. She was amazing, too, and also part of redefining this era. So I think that's where I see the connection. Yeah, I'm with that. I think our discussion here hopefully has caused people to go back and remember and just kind of say, like, oh, yeah, Sherry Oteri, she actually was that great. So hopefully this can go towards serving that. So now's the time, part of the show, where you kind of speak to the voters, you speak to the audience, you're speaking to the water cooler.

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[53:08] And, I don't know, Jamie, tell them, why should SNL fans still hold Sherry in high regard as a great cast member? Absolutely, yeah. So Sherry was part of this crucial era of redefining SNL, saving SNL, really showing folks a new way that SNL can be funny. I feel like she was a trailblazer for female comedians on the show. I feel like she paved the way for a lot of the greats that we saw in years to come alongside her cast. I feel like the timing that she had, her ability to excel and really own these character-based sketches was phenomenal. She had this incredible ability to do over-the-top, crazy, fun characters so well, which were so important to that era of the show and what it was all about. Out and I think she really deserves her credit and and props for for that role that she played so I absolutely think that Sherry should be remembered as one of the greats and for playing a critical role in in SNL's history.

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[54:37] So there's that thank you so much thomas and welcome back jamie burwood really great to hear your voice extolling the virtues of sherry o terry i gotta tell you when thomas started to talk about impressions that Sherry O'Terry was part of. And he mentioned Barbara Walters. I was immediately taken back. And I just think that character really exemplifies a lot of what she was capable of and able to do. It's silly, but it's on the mark. And it's a lot of fun. Let's take a listen.

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[55:40] Good morning, I'm Meredith Vieira, and welcome to The View. We've got a fabulous show today, right ladies? Oh, we certainly do, Meredith. We certainly do. Okay, let's take a look at the news. Paula Jones went face-to-face with President Clinton today. He gave his deposition regarding her sexual harassment suit. Now, Star, you're a lawyer. Yes, I am. Now, President Clinton allegedly exposed himself to Ms. Jones and allegedly asked for sex and allegedly Ms. Jones said no, which disappointed the president, allegedly. You know, I was paired with Paula Jones in a three-legged race at Larry King's Fourth of July barbecue bash. And she assured me that President Clinton's member had more twists and turns than the curly fries at Arby's. It's true. Well, I just don't understand what the big deal is. I mean, if a guy whips it out, you just have to be assertive and say, like, hey, don't whip it out, you know?

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[56:41] You're very young, Debbie. Very, very young. All right, this next story is amazing. Chicago physicist Richard Seed wants to open a clinic that would clone human babies. Amazing, right? Now, allegedly, he's going to clone a baby by the year 2000, and what this means is that he's going to take a baby and using signs, he'll make an identical baby to that baby really, really soon. Mm-hmm. You know, there are three people that I would clone. Albert Einstein, Diana, Princess of Where's, and Hugh Downs, my co-host this week on 2020. Well, if I had a clone, I'd make out with myself.

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[57:31] I'm just kidding. Do not speak again. Our guest today is a big star. She is one of the big actresses in the world, allegedly. Please welcome my girl, Glenn Close. Hey!

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[57:58] You are strong and inspirational, and you are one of the whitest women I've ever seen.

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[58:06] I'm delighted to be here. Glenn, you have done so much. Acted in award-winning films. Performed on Broadway. Only one question remains. What do you think of me? Well, Barbara, I admire you tremendously. I've always thought that you would... Oh, you know what I have to ask you about? I want to ask you about that scene in the big chair where you let your husband get that other lady pregnant. Mm, I could not do that. Because I am a do-right woman, and I have to have me a do-right man. Yes. We know that about you, Star. That's done in a nutshell. That's done in a nutshell. Oh, Glenn, I have a question about John Malkovich. What's that? He is so sexy. Ugh. Oh. What's the question? Oh, speaking of questions, it's time for the question of the day. Okay. Today's question comes from Marlene Kimball of Tulsa, Oklahoma. And, Glenn, this question should be really good for you. If you could change one thing about your face, what would it be? Well, nothing. This face has served me very well. Well, I think women need to embrace the uniqueness of their flaws. Wouldn't you all agree?

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[59:31] I don't go in for plastic surgery. If I could change one thing about my face, which is allegedly very big, I would tell those doctors to suck some of this fat out of my neck.

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[59:42] Well, thank you, Glenn, for coming by. That's it? Oh, my God. You know what I just realized? You're the mean lady from 101 Dalmatians. Cruella de Vil. Yeah, now I know who you are. You're evil. Stand over there! Go! Stand over there! Quicker! Stick around. In our next segment, we'll be talking about female circumcision with Naomi Judge.

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[1:00:11] Oh, man. Yeah, that brings back some memories. That's like the original View cast that they were parodying there. And allegedly, I will say, Sherry O'Terry has a path to the SNL Hall of Fame. I believe it. Not a first ballot Hall of Famer, I don't think. We'll get more on the water cooler this week and see what Joe and Shari have to say.

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[1:00:41] Next week, we are discussing Garrett Morris with our friend Darren Patterson, and it should be another great, great episode for you all. Now, that's what I've got for you this week. So, if you would do me a favor, and as you're leaving and walk past the Weekend Update exhibit, turn out the lights, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.

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Meet Joe and Shari as they assemble around the SNL Hall of Fame watercooler to discuss a variety of things relating the SNL and its Hall of Fame.

Transcript:

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[0:22]All right. Welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler Podcast. I'm Joe Gannon and I'm sitting at the water cooler with...

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[0:30]Me, Shari Fasco. I'm very excited to be here. I've got my cup and I'm filling it up.

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[0:38]All right. And then there I go. All right. Let's get into it. All right. So on On this podcast, we're going to be talking about the SNL Hall of Fame and who we believe should and shouldn't be in it. But first, let's kind of just introduce ourselves. I'm Joe Gannon. I've been an SNL fan since, I guess, 1991. 91 and what I enjoyed about it was as I was watching it like as it was going on since 91 I got to watch the reruns like on Comedy Central E and whatnot so it's kind of cool seeing a show develop and then learn its history at the same time and I just found it absolutely fascinating about how important it is to our society about because the show makes fun of our society and politics, and everything. And the last thing is, I grew up in the central time zone, so the TV show was on at 10.30 to midnight. So to me, it was like a show that waited until the last hour and a half of the week to make fun of the previous week. And you, Sherry, introduce yourself.

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[2:00]Hi, I'm Shari, rhymes with Starry, as I tell everybody, and I am a Michigan native, and I have been into Saturday Night Live probably since I was about nine, since it started in 75. I was really, really young in 75, so I don't remember it that young, but I definitely, definitely remember watching it at like eight, nine, ten. I was really into Mr. Bill. I vaguely remember having a Mr. Bill t-shirt. I just always loved the show and it's always been like a rock for me. It's been something that I've always come back to when things are good and when things are not so good. My husband is also into it. He's been watching a lot of sketches with me lately, getting ready for this podcast. And it's just, it's really just, it's comfort food. Just like what Joe's saying, it's comfort food. It's something that's always been there. and now it's going into its 50th year. I'm 54. It's kind of incredible. It's kind of crazy to think that it's been around. So I'm really excited to be here with Joe. I think both of us are super excited to be talking about these incredible people. I think we're ready to get into it. Are we ready, Joe?

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[3:15]I believe so.

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[3:16]We're going to talk about the season six draft. We're each going to do the two people we would like to see get in. And then the two that we don't think really have much of a chance of getting in possibly. I will let you go ahead and go first, Joe, and then I'll go after you.

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[3:33]Okay. So the first person I think should get in is Lorraine Newman. I believe that the only reason why she hasn't gotten in sooner is there's just a series of people that are a little bit more obvious. Uh you know that just i feel like should be uh you know people that just feel like they should be in uh like will ferrell but um as far as the original cast like obviously everyone from the original five years should be in um as far as where lorraine is in that uh group she's not She's not really a household name. She wasn't a Ghostbuster. She wasn't a Blues Brother. She didn't have a sitcom afterward. Everyone knows Aykroyd, Murray, Jane Curtin, Chevy Chase, John Belushi. And I feel like Lorraine Newman, who is extremely talented, just doesn't have that star power name. So when people are voting and they see her name... It just doesn't connect, or they don't immediately remember all of the great sketches that she was a part of. Or, if they do, they remember someone else that was in that sketch.

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[5:01]So that's why I chose Lorraine Newman. All right, and who's your pick?

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[5:06]My pick, I just stuck to strictly the season six draft. So I went with one, two of the draftees for this coming season that I would like to seek it in that I'm not really hopeful about. But my first is Sherry O'Terry. For all of the reasons you just said about Lorraine, I think Sherry is very, very, very, very, very underappreciated. She is absolutely hilarious. hilarious she stands up against the likes of will freaking farrell and holds her own yes even though she's this diminutive little she can't be more than five two but against will farrell who's like i don't know six four she still holds her own her comedic chops are that strong that she can hold her own and i feel that way in the zimmermans with chris katan i i watched her playing against Sylvester Stallone in one of her Rita sketches. And she really is amazing and so funny and so able to bring real relatability to these outrageous characters that she plays.

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[6:19]And I'm feeling like I don't think she's going to get in on the first ballot, but I do hope that The people remember her. I know she was a long time ago. I remember her vividly because I was in college. And that's the time when you remember the gas.

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[6:38]So I hope there's a lot of Gen Xers and a lot of Zs and millennials that are going back and watching and listening to our great guest. And Thomas, of course, make an excellent argument for her this season, I'm sure. So that's my first choice. Now back to you.

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[7:01]You made a great point, and the only word I want to add to it, just literally one word, is energy. She was full of energy in pretty much everything she did. I mean, with the exception of maybe Barbara Walters, but that's because it wouldn't fit. But if you look at all of her characters, that's the common theme, is that she was almost like twitchy.

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[7:23]I totally agree.

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[7:24]But, yeah. That's an excellent, excellent pick. Okay, so I'm going to go with my one, and we're going to continue the female trend. Someone a little bit more current. I'm going to go with Kate McKinnon.

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[7:41]Absolutely.

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[7:42]She, yes, yes, yes. She is one of those people, she reminds me of Amy Poehler in the sense that her talent seems to have been made for Saturday Night Live. Um now just i want to say this on our first episode uh to me the three things that make up a great snl cast member are characters impressions and hosting we can update not doing characters but hosting now you don't need to do all three to be great sometimes you can like jimmy fallon will ferrell dan ackroyd uh sometimes you can do just one dennis miller however when you do two or three, that shows that you're able to play any position.

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[8:31]So with that being said, with Kate McKinnon, she did characters and impressions extremely well.

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[8:39]The various characters, like the alien abductions sketch, that to me is timeless. That is one of the latest great reoccurring sketches. Sketches um and then as far as her impressions uh you look at amy puller who did like you know hillary clinton um and ever uh ever levine um kate mckinnon said hold my beer and then did uh not only female impressions but male she did rudy giuliani uh and such and a bunch of other politicians um and just i mean i'm having a hard time thinking of all you know it's trying to like name all the santa's reindeer or the seven dwarves you know you like you get down a few or you're like wait uh there's also uh you know so i'm i don't want to um take up too much time saying a lot of urs and ums as i try and think of them all but she is just where she just blended into those impressions and then characters and she was like Phil Hartman where she could be in she could do the whole show, you know she could do and it was almost unfair to the other cast members I don't want to overhype her too much you can't overhype her but.

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[10:02]I will. I do, but I want to be fair to everyone else. I want to be fair. I don't want to make it seem like the rest of the cast that they were less. I don't want to make them seem like they were less than they were.

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[10:16]But she's amazing.

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[10:18]But she was just, Kate McKinnon was just, her talent was made for Saturday Night Live. And I'm not going to lie, I miss her.

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[10:28]She definitely left a hole and she was part of a she was part of a trinity when you talk about her and cecily 80 unbelievable with things like twin bad i mean back home ballers just amazing the three of them together will just fire so excellent choice joe i'm gonna shake things i'm gonna shake things up a little i'm gonna i'm gonna break i'm finally gonna break up our like female male domination that's going on, which I love, but I'm going to break it up a bit. Like I said, I chose two from season six because that's where my head was at, and I chose a musical act, and I know J.D. Mentions this. Thomas mentions this.

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[11:12]Musical guests don't seem to get into the Hall of Fame. I think Paul Simon might be the only one still. Dave Grohl is knocking on the door, and he's he's on my list but the act i want to talk about they're coming up this season like i said is one of my favorite bands and remember i'm a gen xer so i know you know joe who i'm talking about uh you too you do i mean i watched a couple of performances it's hard to find musical performances especially when you don't have peacock which i know right i know snl fan without peacock But anyways, I love you two. I could not believe how amazing they were on that 8-H stage. Thomas made a really good point in the draft episode.

Track 3

[12:03]They were selling out stadiums at this time. I mean, they were huge at this time. But then they could bring it down and be right on that 8-H stage and be intimate and personal. And Bono, let's face it, it's the Bono show, right? The man can sing. He has charisma oozing out of his pores. And he just captivates. And that's exactly what he did. it. These days on current SNL, the musical acts are really getting out of control. And I know they talk about this in several of the podcasts I listen to. They're throwing all these dancers and visual effects and explosions. You don't need it. If you can sing and you're talented, you don't need it. U2 does not need it. I'd love to see them get in at some point. I hope they get at the 10% to at least stay on the ballot. But after Dave Grohl, I think they should be in next because they're just amazing. So those are my two.

Track 2

[13:07]All right. So let's get into the two that we think definitely won't. I just want to go first because I want to continue the trend of what we're talking about with the musical guests. Now, you said that it's going to be really hard for musical guests to get into the Hall of Fame, because they're not really a major part of the show. They're rememberable, but not as much as the cast, the writing, the host. So they're kind of like the fourth tier. But they're very important, don't get me wrong. It's just not one of the initial people that you think of when you think of the show. So as far as my first pick, I'm going to say Randy Newman. I agree with everything that was said when they were doing the ballot show. I agree with Randy Newman's great toy story. I love L.A. He's funny. When he accepted an Oscar, I don't remember specifically what he said, but he had a great Oscar speech.

Track 2

[14:10]Let's just put it this way. When you're voting for an SNL Hall of Fame, you know, person, I doubt that you're going to vote for Randy Newman. I mean, there's just a lot of people ahead of him in line, you know, like, you know, like the people that we're saying, you know, and then there's you got, you know, you got hosts that are well known. You got cast members that are well known. Writers are kind of a gray area, you know. And then musical guests are just hard to get into, period. And then Randy Newman is, you know, like people might know him from Toy Story and such, but they might not know him that well, or at least current people or whatnot. And I'm not saying anything, I don't want to say anything too much, too negative about him, but he's just not really a household name anymore. So with that being said, like it would be hard to vote him in the snl hall of fame so yeah i don't i don't know what more i could say after that it's just kind of kind of cut and dry i guess like you know like it's hard for a musical guest to get in and he's not really that well known as a musical guest so agreed.

Track 3

[15:30]In fact i agree so much my first totally won't get in was also randy newman and i'm not gonna to rehash it because you said it well. And even when J.D. nominated him in the draft, he said that he wondered if people would remember because he hasn't been... I mean, I'm sure he's still doing music for movies and doing movie songs and things, but you don't hear about him much. Like, I don't know if he had a new song in the new Pixar movie, the one that just came out or not. But yeah, I'm not going to go into it too much since you did a great job. I will go on to my second person and then I'll throw it back to you. My second person is a writer and I have to disagree with you a little bit. I actually, well, I don't know quite how you feel about writers, but you kind of sounded like you thought they were gray area. I don't think they're gray area. I think writing comes first. Great writing.

Track 2

[16:34]I don't think it's important. It's just not, the writers might not be well known.

Track 3

[16:38]Oh, I agree with that. But I feel that writers are the most important. They're that base ingredient. read yet. I don't care if you have the best cast in the world, if the sketch sucks and is poorly written and the characters aren't well-developed, nobody's going to be able to bring that to life. Whereas if you have a great sketch or a great script, a so-so actor, like say even myself, could do a good job with it. I think writing is essential. I don't think writers get enough love in the Hall of Fame. I don't think they get enough love in general. So that all being said, I'm going to talk about Alan Zweibel. Unfortunately, unlike Jim Downey, who I'm so happy got in, he doesn't have name recognition. He's done a lot. I've been reading a lot about him, and I was sent a list of the sketches he's worked on. I mean, Roseanne, Rosanna, Dana, Anna, Letella, Emily Letella. He worked very closely with Gilda, very close with Gilda. He was very, very, very, very essential to those early years.

Track 3

[17:56]Unfortunately, and I worry about this with Garrett Morris, too. I don't want to get off track, and Lorraine. People don't have long memories always. And especially these days, Joe, you know the kids are jumping on, they're watching sketches, they're watching the Beavis and Butthead sketch, they're not watching the whole show. So it's very different now. And I feel like writers like Alan Zubow have been lost to the anals of time, unfortunately. And maybe I'll be wrong. I hope I am wrong, but I feel like there's other writers ahead of him a bit. However i'd be thrilled if he got in i'd like to see writers get more love but i don't think it's happening so now i'm gonna throw it back over to you.

Track 2

[18:41]I just want to add on a little bit to that because i think he might have been a cast member in season five because okay yeah everyone started leaving so they just started pulling people from like the writers and like because like i think paul schaefer was a cast member in season five so season five was It was just kind of that running on fumes before everyone left. And then also, I just want to mention, as far as the Gildan Radner connection, I just love this memory, which is her last television appearance, which was on It's a Gary Shandling Show. And I know this isn't Saturday Night Live, but um uh he gary shanley uh developed that show with alan's i or uh zybel and uh after, gildan ran there was um she had a pause where she started to look good uh health-wise and so she showed up on that show and i just wanted to recommend people to look that moment up because it's such a gift from alan and gilda um so i know it's outside saturday night live but uh, But anyway, to segue to my pick, I also picked a writer for the same reason. Again, writers, it would be cool if writers, if you could see their name on the sketch.

Track 3

[20:04]Right.

Track 2

[20:04]That would be great. You know, that way, you know, like the only one that I think of is Jack Handy, The Deep Thoughts. You saw his name on that sketch. Right. So that kind of made you familiar. Now, anyway, my pick is Julio Torres, who is more recent. I just don't, he's not like John Mulaney, where he's a recent writer who has standout specials or hosted the show and all this stuff. I'm sure he's a great writer. He's just not well known. I think he's the least known person on the list.

Track 3

[20:41]I think you're right. He does have that I'm a Stone Actress sketch, which was great. But, yeah, he's not really talked about as much.

Track 2

[20:49]I mean, I don't want to, I literally don't have anything negative to say about him other than the fact that he's not known enough. And I'm sure people found out, you know, what sketches he wrote. They'd be like, oh, yeah, absolutely. I love that. But at this point, you know, I mean, you know, I just can't see people looking at this list and voting for him. I mean, and I'm not saying anything negative about him. I just don't see him being well known enough.

Track 3

[21:23]Now, let's reveal our ballots. Do you mind if I go first, Joe?

Track 2

[21:27]Yes, please.

Track 3

[21:28]I'm just going to zoom through it. But my 15, and I did use all 15. I know some people don't, but I had a hard time keeping it to 15. I could have gone to 16 or 17. My ballot is... And a guest hire, Sherry O'Terry, Dave Grohl, Vanessa Bayer, Rosie Schuster, and Paula Pell, both writers. Candice Bergen, Rachel Dratch, Dick Ebersole, Herb Sargent, Lorraine Newman, Buck Henry, Jack Handy, Tracy Morgan, and you too. Those are my 15. And let me tell you, I didn't really know who Buck Henry was. I didn't know much about Dick Ebersole, rather. Then I listened to this podcast, and it changed my voting. And I put these two on. This is the first time I've put them on because I think they're essential to the show's history. So thank you, SNL Hall of Fame. Thank you, Thomas. Thank you, JD. Thank you, Matt, for making me a more educated viewer. Now your turn, Joe.

Track 2

[22:39]All right. So with me, I just went with 10. My brain just works in the DECA system. So shout out to the Romans. um so the list goes paul rudd dick ever saw dave grohl paul lapel lorraine newman kate mckinnon adam samler martin short chris parnell and john malane um i just and to me that would almost be a great show all of himself they were together so that's my time agreed well Well.

Track 3

[23:10]I'm surprised at like how similar our lists are because I think we have slightly different tastes, but I think we're ready to move on. Beck Bennett is our first season six nominee. And the way this is going to go every episode is one of us is going to be pro and one of us is going to be con. It does not reflect our true feelings, but we're arguing the side we're arguing, and that's how it's going to go. And are we ready to get started? Do you want to start, Joe? You're the con and I'm the pro. What do you think?

Track 2

[23:50]Well, how about this? we'll go pro just to kind of introduce him and then uh i'll do con.

Track 3

[23:55]Okay we'll just throw it back and forth how's that sound yes sounds good all right so i am arguing the pro for mr beck bennett eight seasons that alone meets one of my criteria i feel like a great cast member has to have at at least five. Beck has eight. Eight seasons, and he came out of the gate on fire. He brought ideas to the show. He, of course, had a relationship with Kyle Mooney, and they came with sketches. So that's my first pro. Want to give a con, Joe?

Track 2

[24:37]Yes. Yes. So now, first off, let me just say I agree with every positive thing. However, my assignment is to come up with cons. So I agree with everything that you're saying and everything on the podcast. However, for the con, I feel like he was a part of a big cast.

Track 3

[25:01]True.

Track 2

[25:02]And he didn't really pop. He didn't really stand out. So to give an example or demonstration of this, imagine if he came back to host, you know, people wouldn't be saying, oh, I hope he does this sketch, you know, like, or I hope he does this character. There wasn't anything. He did Baby Boss, but that wasn't rememberable. I don't think people are going to be quoting or re-watching that on YouTube. A lot of the Kyle Mooney pre-taped stuff is funny, don't get me wrong, but not rememberable. He didn't you know he just didn't pop and then um he also did a lot of the straight man stuff which is a thankless task like he did a lot of uh game show hosts and you know so i just that's my con he just didn't pop he didn't stand out i i just i can't make a list of uh stuff i would want him to do again if he came back to host so that's my con all.

Track 3

[26:09]Right so i i just want to add I've got a few more things for the, for the pro. Let's talk about his pre-tapes. I mean, he and Kyle came with the SoCal boys, kind of the clueless boys who were all over the internet at that time. They're probably still all over the internet. And they just nailed it. And it was so funny. I just rewatched a couple of those SoCal boys pre-tapes and they were hilarious. But I just want, I have to mention my, one of my absolute favorite pre-tapes, which is the Leslie Kyle back.

Track 3

[26:48]Triangle specifically the one with the masquerade with the eyes wide shut for those of you young listeners it's a movie that came out a long time ago watch the sketch watch the pre-tape i i can't even do it justice so funny even colin jost gets into the act it is hilarious i just think beck was one of those in the clutch performers who could come and be the straight man and all the the craziness could bounce off of him against Santa Baby with Gosling and Vanessa Bayer. They're going nuts about Santa, and Beck has to play the straight dad role. Like you said, Joe, always having, often having to be the one that everybody else sort of plays. He's sort of the canvas, and they play off. He's just so perfect at that. And they mentioned so many good examples in the Hall of Fame episode that I don't think I need to do anymore. So that's my wrap up. I think he deserves a shot. And I was very happy I got to be pro because I know, Joe, that you struggled with the cons. But I think you did an excellent job and made some excellent points about why maybe he is not quite Hall of Fame material.

Track 3

[28:13]All right, Joe, I think it's time for our final, final segment, our hopes for the 50th season. And the theme for this, this week's our first is which two cast members do we want to see more of? All right, I'll start. Let me tell you, I had two, I had two people. One, I didn't change. One, I did. Guess why? Why? Because my buddy Joe and I had a conversation and he made me rethink and I'm like, he's right. I need to go with my gut and I need to say a regular cast member. I was going to do a newer cast member, but instead I'm going with a I believe she's going into her sixth year.

Track 3

[28:59]She's getting the screen time. But thank you, Mike Murray, on Saturday night or Saturday as an on the Saturday Night Network. Network yeah because mike murray if you haven't listened and i'm assuming if you're listening to this podcast you listen to the hasn't on uh mike murray does a great stats breakdown and he gave me some stats and he's he talks a lot about uh minutes per episode and i don't think i don't think she's getting enough time on screen and he has solidified that for me i'm talking about the the one, the only, the incredible Ego Nwudum. She is my favorite cast member, bar none, hands down.

Track 3

[29:45]I think she's absolutely hilarious in every sketch she's featured in. She just holds her own so beautifully against the likes of Kenan and Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner. Ego stands tall and proud. She's amazing. I'm really happy she got one of the first reoccurring characters in a long time, Lisa from Temecula, and she delivers. And I'm thrilled that she's got a TV show now, I believe on Peacock. I think it's called The Throwback, but I might be messing up the name. But I'm really, I'm thrilled that she has a show and I want to see her. I hope that doesn't mean she's going to get less screen time i want to see her get more screen time okay joe.

Track 2

[30:33]Who do you want to see more of again i guess this is a very female themed episode because my first one is my comedy crush uh and by that i mean i love her comedy is sarah sherman uh.

Track 2

[30:53]So I just love she is so unique, but I'm also glad she could blend in to the cast. Like, I'm glad that she could do both her unique style and, you know, that doesn't alienate her from everyone else. She's able to be in sketches that don't work, you know, that aren't about her unique sense of humor. She is so she has such a unique identity. She just does goes with her gut and just and then on top of that. And then the second point is I want to see her on Weekend Update. She did Sarah's News, I believe was the segment. But most importantly, and I do mean this, which is important to me. I want to see her roasting Colin Jost because she is aside from those swap joke swaps that he does with Michael J. I love seeing Colin Joe's get roasted by Sarah she just does it in this goes for the jugular just really you know she did one where she went backstage in his dressing room and there was like yeah this is where he keeps the interns in the cage and stuff like that and she, chef's kiss I mean I just love her unique sense into humor and I love seeing her roast Colin Jost. So yes, that's my first pick. And now yours.

Track 3

[32:19]My second is a little newer and he just nailed it this past season. I think he's getting more time, but again, thank you Mike Murray. His screen time is not where it needs to be. His Tim Scott is one of my favorite political impressions currently. Of course, I'm talking about the fabulous Devin Walker. I think Devin is fantastic. I love Marcelo Hernandez, don't get me wrong, but he seems to be the newbie getting the most love, and I'd like to see the love spread a little evener for Longfellow as well, but really for Devin. I think this is Devin's season to shine. I hope so. I hope they give him more impressions. I hope they put him on update. Let him have Devin's take, kind of like they did with Longfellow and let him give his takes on certain cultural happenings in the zeitgeist. Yeah, I want more Devin Walker this season. A lot more than last season.

Track 2

[33:16]So my second pick is Michael Longfellow. It's just real... Yes. It's just real simple. I just look at that guy and I know this is kind of a part of the con that I said about Beck Bennett, but he has great deadpan.

Track 3

[33:34]Yes.

Track 2

[33:34]So and that is really one of the thankless tasks of a cast member is looking at the other ones, looking at the character and just, you know, acting, you know, and just having a facial expression that says you're weird and stuff like that.

Track 3

[33:51]Yes.

Track 2

[33:52]You know and then um how about this is what came to me i can't believe it was an snl cast member or or anything but it keaton has this thing where he just goes no no and michael longfellow just has that in his face where he's able to do that without saying anything like you're weird you're just he's got it in his eyes it reminds me of like dave foley from news radio um he just he's He's able to look at the joke and not say anything. And to me, it's more important to act instead of saying, you know, like, you know, brevity is the soul of wit. So just to be and I just like seeing that from him. So that's what I'm hoping to see more of from him.

Track 3

[34:33]OK, so I think the moral of our episode today is we want more women getting involved and we want the newbies getting some love because both Devin and Michael came in. And Marcelo seems to be getting all of the love, which he's super talented. But like I said, I'd like to see them spreading it out a little more. Okay. I cannot believe that this is the end already, Joe. This is so much fun. You are so much fun to talk to because you're as geeky, passionate about SNL as I am. And so thank you.

Track 2

[35:10]Yes. And I believe you have excellent taste. No, no, you're great. You know, you have mountains and mountains of information and passion. So, yeah, this is great. You know, I hope to be doing this every week. We will be doing this every week right here at the Butter Cooler.

Track 3

[35:26]We're throwing our cups away until next week when they'll be, when Thomas will be joined by another great guest on the SNL Hall of Fame. Well, they'll be talking about the one and only, and we talked about her today, right, Joe?

Track 2

[35:41]Yes, we did.

Track 3

[35:41]The fabulous sherry o terry very.

Track 2

[35:47]Energetic a mountain yeah we got a lot to get into on.

Track 3

[35:50]Yeah looking forward to it but for now leaving the water cooler till next time throwing out the cup.

0:00 / 36:41

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This week on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast we welcome back to the show, Kirstin Rajala to discuss and build a case for Beck Bennett.

Transcript:

Track 2:

[0:42] Thank you so much, Doug DeNance. It is a thrill to be back here in the SNL Hall of Fame, bringing to you the SNL Hall of Fame podcast. Once again, we're back for season six. We really hope you enjoyed the draft episode. Now, why don't you come inside? You might notice I'm looking at your feet. Wipe them. Know what I'm saying? So there's that. The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair fair where each episode we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer and add them to the ballot for your consideration.

Track 2:

[1:20] Once the nominees have been announced, we turn to you, the listener, to vote for the most deserving and help determine who will be enshrined for perpetuity in the hall. And that's how we play the game. It's just that simple. I am so pumped to be working with Matt and Thomas again for another season. We've got a banger of a year. We've got some fantastic, fantastic nominees and some really amazing special guests this season to nominate those nominees and build the case for them. We're also doing something a little different this year. We've got a new sister show that will be released on Thursdays or Fridays. I'm still flirting with that. If you have a preference, whether it's Thursdays or Fridays, send me an email, the SNL hall of fame at gmail.com. That's right. It's a new email address because it's a new year. It's a new season and we need a new email address. So there's that. Now, I will say that the SNL Water Cooler will be a visitation, a revisitation of the week's episode, and it'll also take a look at the episode of SNL, whether or not there are Hall-worthy performances or Hall-of-Shame-worthy performances that we might analyze down the road when we nominate so-and-so.

Track 2:

[2:47] So there's that. What do you say we wander down the hall and talk to our good friend Matt Ardill? I am going to pivot and make my way down the corridor here. Ah, there he is, leaning against the wall like a slug. Hey, if you got time to lean, you got time to clean, my boy.

Track 3:

[3:06] Matt, you've been around for four seasons, five seasons at this point. This is the beginning of your fifth season. How are you doing, man? Good, good. I'm happy to be here. And how about you, J.D.? I am pretty much good. I was camping, and I've been eaten alive. My ankles are all itchy, but other than that, I cannot complain. Yeah, but you got some fresh air, got out of the city, so that's always good. That's right.

Track 3:

[3:33] So what do you got for us this week? Today, I have Beck Bennett. Nice. Five foot eight, born on the best day of the year in Willamette, Illinois. Shares a birthday with luminaries such as Julie Andrews, Jimmy Carter, and myself. Hey. October 1st, 1984, which makes me feel all the more useless because he's 10 years my junior and has achieved so much more than I have. Oh, stop. Stop. Yeah, no, but he grew up a theater kid performing in children's theater at the Children's Theater of Winnetka. And in high school, played Jean Valjean at the New Tierra High School performance of Les Miserables. Yeah. So, now, he did go on to attend University of Southern California and the USC School of Dramatic Arts. Where he met and formed the sketch troupe Good Neighbor with Kyle Mooney, Nick Rutherford, and Dave McCary, all of whom went on to work at SNL.

Track 3:

[4:39] Now, after joining Good Neighbor, they created a series of sketch comedy shorts on YouTube which uh kind of make the parodies that they did later on in snl all the funnier um but this led to a series of ads where he's the at&t guy uh that uh had him interviewing children in a mock political talk show that's right yeah yeah uh and now that went on to become 84 acting credits seven writing credits eight producing credits four soundtrack credits including possibly the only person who can adequately capture the wonder that is launchpad mcquack on the ducktales reboot um now if anybody could do a live action ducktales that would be him i would love to see uh actually a darkwing duck reboot and bring back beck as launchpad but uh not you can only dream yeah yeah well you know disney plus is going to need to mine that content eventually um but yeah so he went on to marry jesse hodges another actor and they have a child together born march of 2022.

Track 3:

[6:03] Well, I definitely miss him on SNL. Yeah. He was somebody that became, like really grew into his role, I felt. And I really enjoyed him. And I also enjoy our friend Thomas Senna, who is in the conversation room with Kirsten Rajula right now, getting ready to teach us more about Beck Bennett. Matt, are you ready for that? I am looking forward to it. Well, let's get right to it.

Track 4:

[7:00] Alright, JD, Matt, thank you so much. Hey guys, welcome to another season of the SNL Hall of Fame podcast. I am joined today by, like, we had to kick off the season of discussions with just, like, an all-timer guest. So we're talking about all-timer nominees. Every week we talk about all-timer, you know, people from SNL history.

Track 4:

[7:25] I had to kick it off this week with an all-timer guest. So joining me for the first discussion of Season 6 for our first nominee is the one, the only, the lovely world traveler, Kristen Rahula. How's it going, Kirsten? It's great. What an intro. Thank you very much. And I didn't know this was the first. Oh my gosh. It's lovely to see your face and hear your voice. Yes, I've been traveling, and yes, I'm excited to be talking about SNL once again with some of my favorite people, the other super fans. And this episode is going to be great because we are talking about someone truly, truly deserving and who is so much fun to talk about because they are in everything. Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. Like ubiquitous right there with, of course, Beck Bennett, who's our nominee to kick off season six of the SNL Hall of Fame. Kirsten, so I like to do the plugs at the top of the discussion, the way this is formatted. So do you have anything? What's going on in Kirsten's world lately? Well, for people in the Toronto area, my bestie and I do an event series, and it's intergenerational storytelling, female voices. So if you're in the Toronto area, it's generationwomen.ca. Please come and listen to women of all ages tell beautiful stories. It's a really fun event, and we would love the support.

Track 4:

[8:54] Yes, that sounds awesome. Yeah, go check that out. Also, listen to Kirsten. You're probably going to be a panelist, I assume, for Saturday Night Network's coverage on Season 50? Heck yeah. Yeah, check us out on the Saturday Night Network, where we also cover all things SNL with an even larger group of superfans. That is also a fun one, so check that out. They have shows multiple times throughout the week. Yeah, yeah. I love hearing Kirsten pop up, whether it's a hot take show or the roundtables. Yeah, I love hearing Kirsten pop up. So check her out on the Saturday Night Network. But today we were chatting about our first nominee for season six. That's the one, the only Mr. Beck Bennett. So a little bit of the CliffsNotes here before we kind of get a dig into Beck's SNL time. When he was a freshman in college, he met Kyle Mooney. They started doing sketch and improv together. It was at USC. They were part of Good Neighbor, along with Nick Rutherford and Dave McCary, Mr. Emma Stone himself, Dave McCary. Beck was in a run of AT&T commercials in which he interviewed children. Do you remember these, Kirsten?

Track 4:

[10:13] No, because I'm in Canada. I was wondering. That's why I asked. I don't know what kind of TV y'all get up there. They don't have AT&T, so yeah, I wouldn't have seen it. But I'm going to look them up. Okay, yeah, so it was a series of commercials. He sat there. It was like a circle of children. He would ask them different questions, I think pertaining to phone service or something like that. So that's where I knew Beck. So when he got on SNL, I was like, oh, there's that guy from the phone commercials. That's crazy. He does sketch comedy. Okay, let's see what this is about. out uh so yeah yeah you need to go youtube some of those at&t commercials and you'll see beck put on his his commanding voice like like like he liked to do on the show um so he was making a nice career for himself when he got the call so september of 2013 he began his snl tenure along with his good neighbor cohorts along with kyle mooney debuted uh right then too so kirsten like what were any initial impressions you may have had uh of beck bennett when he first kind of got on your radar. What'd you think of him?

Track 4:

[11:17] He's one of those people, it's a little hard to separate all of the characters he plays with who I imagine he is in real life. I picture him as the kind of failure-to-launch jock at your high school read. But I know he's probably not. He's wonderful, I'm sure, and a very smart, smart man, because clearly someone has got to be intelligent to pull off the kind of nuance and range that he does. But it's fun to think of him as that man-child that he always was, bit of a douche, often befuddled, making the wrong choices. Like you love him but you're like shaking your head so he at the beginning kind of very quickly started to establish himself as like fitting into those slots you saw him play a dumb kind of doofus dad typical middle-aged white guy and he did all of those things with enthusiasm so.

Track 4:

[12:12] While some people start off kind of awkward and they're trying to tentatively find their way at SNL I wonder if it's because he had Kyle with him yeah that they really jumped into it and their style of comedy pretty easily and quickly yeah they brought in a lot of good like their good neighbor stuff like those SoCal's like inside SoCal was a good neighbor thing uh you're right like he just played this doofus what I like to call in the comedy realm confidently dumb um yes i think that's like was beck's you know that was his forte in a lot of ways just such a confidently dumb guy like stick into his guns but it's like it's just the wrong way to go and yeah so good at that um delving into his highlights like is there a certain role over his eight seasons that you think he kind of did settle into oh gosh yes again the confidently dumb. Like, where his colleagues, like other folks on the show, would go between, you know, playing a bit of a dumb-dumb, but then also.

Track 4:

[13:22] You know, they could play like a rocket scientist. He was typically, which is funny because I just said he has range and I still think he does, but he typically was in the kind of befuddled, even like a Mitch McConnell, he was kind of blubbering. Right. And so he, yes, he always nailed that. I'm the last one who gets the joke, but I'm going to laugh as confidently as the person who told it. Yeah. He brought that spirit to so many things. It, even when it was him doing the SoCal stuff or, you know, kind of playing teenage or child roles with Kyle, always kind of a bit of a doofus. Yeah, yeah. So he was that he also was able to play like, sometimes kind of more of a straight dad kind of character.

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[14:10] Usually when he played a dad, it was like from some sort of angle, like a downtrodden dad or a dumb dad or something like that. But he, man, he settled so nicely in his eight seasons. Indispensable, in my opinion, toward the end there, I think. Absolutely. Like a real cornerstone of the cast. And a combination of physical comedy, absurdity, but then also subtlety. Like there were really small choices that he made that...

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[14:43] Or what brought those kind of doofus characters to like the way he'd hold his face or kind of you know the intonation certainly kyle was the you know crown wear of intonation and flat affect but he was right there with him so a lot of a lot of subtle things that they did so it's funny because at one point he's playing you know office boss baby and he's you know flinging his limbs around but then he can also just with one kind of slack jaw do something completely different right right Right. Yeah, that office boss, I want to kind of start getting into his actual work. And that baby boss, he debuted that in his first season. I think he might have auditioned with that, it seems like. But it was Mr. Patterson, baby boss. Like, was it the physicality of Beck? Does it totally shine through instantly, Kirsten? A hundred percent. Yeah, he ended up doing that four different times. Sometimes, the creepiest one was with Cameron Diaz because they were actually talking about relations and her giving him a bath in the kitchen sink and that they were going to try and make a baby or they were pregnant. It got a little awkward there. I think they were pregnant. Yeah, a little awkward. Well, I'm not worried. You're going to be a great mother. Come here, you.

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[16:06] You. Could we maybe just do a little toast here? Congratulations. A toast. Oh, look at that. A lemon. Been meaning to try one of these. Cheers. Mm, it's good, it's tart. But I like that they kind of put him back into other situations, you know, in the office and, He nailed it. Anyone who has spent a time around a toddler, baby or toddler, instantly is taken back to the way that they fumble with objects, the way they are amazed by holding something up in front of their face, distracted.

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[16:53] The way they move around, slide downstairs. There is like it's such a studied performance which sounds hilarious to say but if you know you know he nailed that baby he nailed that damn baby character so well and it was such an interesting yeah yeah he's trying to give high fives oh my god the keys to distract him trying the lemon like there are so many little moments and it's such a weird concept but it worked and you know it did I did feel at times if they had, you know, they had like a Josh Hutcherson and they had Cameron Diaz and people that they're not always building a sketch around.

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[17:31] Picking on Josh a bit, but that he would, you know, be the character of and they kind of put those other folks in reaction to him was a great sketch for that to happen. And if you needed to support that type of host. Yeah he always he he had that great timing and he knew how to deliver and he almost played against himself uh as you alluded to where where he would uh as the boss he would speak very like boss like like try to be commanding and he would say things that were commanding but then he would do and say things one second later of course that were baby like so beck got that he was able to shift back and forth between like oh we're so we're so proud we're going to be uh we're expecting we're going be raising a family and then he sees a lemon and it's like oh i've always wanted to try one of these and then let's appreciate how tough it would be like to the duality of those two things.

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[18:26] Acting like a baby, but sounding like a CEO. Yeah. That's just weird and wild. And I don't know that we all are appreciating how darn tough that would be. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think this was probably the first character, certainly first recurring character that got attention for sure. You could go check out, that's early Beck in like season 39 and on. So that was like the baby boss. um what else uh with Beck kind of like shows what what what we started the show off of in terms of like his role and everything you know what I do notice is a lot of my favorite things about him, were pre-tapes which says nothing negative about any of his non-pre-tapes but I noticed that a lot of things I loved were pre-tapes and I mean this is the era of Vine like it's the era of people documenting things in video format. And I think him and Kyle having come up on kind of written, taped format, like SoCal and all these things, that really was where they were strong. One particular character that is also with Kyle were those sitcom parodies. We saw those in season 39, was a cut actually, with the Andrew Garfield one, Wings. And then we had season 40, We had Bad Boys with Chris Pratt. And then in season 43, we brought it back when it was Beers with Larry David.

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[19:55] These sketches, they appeal to a certain type of person who can appreciate these. I'm one of them. Did you get Full House up in Canada? Yes. Okay, I was just checking. Full House, like a TV show? Yes, yes. You said you never saw it back in AT&T, so I had to check. Well, we just don't have AT&T. Fair. Yes. These sitcom parodies, everything about them, yes, much like those interstitials, like they've just cut to a castle, they'd cut to B-roll of Loch Ness Monster, like the most random silly things, the laugh track, the clap track, like all of these things, even how they would say, let's, let's, I need to talk to you privately. And they'd move one step up to the right. Everything had a moral or a lesson. It was very corny. They were pretty amazing.

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[20:57] What is that sound, and who do I have to pay to make it stop? I'm practicing my clarinet for when my cousin CJ gets here. Oh, yeah. Think he'll be able to take care of our fish when we go on our bike ride tomorrow? I hope so. CJ loves fish. Great. In the meantime, do you mind taking that thing outside? Hey. Hey. Those, I feel like, are something that perhaps they brought to the show that they had tested and played with prior to as an idea. And we saw it a few times. I would take 10 more, by the way. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the Bears one with Larry David got oddly dark. So that was, yeah, that was really funny. I rewatched the Chris Pratt one, the Bad Boys one as well. All those like Full House, Family Matters kind of tropes, like just using, so it's one of those things where like, So you would watch Full House, right? And then they would do like, it was almost like a three-minute skit. And it would involve like Michelle or somebody sitting at the dining room table just eating a cupcake. And the cupcake was going to be like a parable for a lesson that they were going to serve you in like that three minutes. And it made no sense to the story before or after.

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[22:15] They just nailed it so hard. Like you can tell, I think they probably did, you know, as a comedy team. Before they got to SNL, they'd been working together for six years. So you can tell that that was built up over six years. As somebody who spent a lot of time in Southern California, I'm from New Mexico, but I've spent a lot of time in SoCal. Those inside SoCals were like spot on. Like the intonations with Beck and Kyle and even Jonah Hill when he would come on. Like they just played those SoCal guys perfectly. Ever encountered a SoCal guy like that? I'm familiar with the archetype. Yes. And you're right. They're so studied. They're so studied. And that's probably why we love them as a pair and probably why they get along so well as a comedy duo and friends is that they are – there's so much discipline and rigor to what they do. Like, again, it comes off as really goofy and silly and fun, but they've clearly done their homework. Tonight we're coming to you live from Keith's dad's condo where he's having a nice little kickback.

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[23:19] All right, so for our top story for tonight is Amanda Byrne's little sister Sarah is moving back home, and I heard she still looks good. I'd go with her for sure. Yeah, me too. Or if I get the chance to. Right. All right, so in other news, me, Andy, Pierce, and Scott, we want to start our own clothing line. All right, so now it's time for Meet the Boys. Let's go, yo! Meet the Boys, the boys, meet the boys. The wardrobe, the script.

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[23:47] Their hair their wigs like everything and then you have someone like larry david and then jonah hill as you mentioned in like other you know great comedic talents who clearly appreciate what's happening and want to be a part of it yeah i know when they went to usc i'm.

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[24:03] Sure they came across guys like that and they're like oh yeah this is fodder we got we're we're characters off these guys yep 100 yeah those inside socal again they they gave they kind of snl did the right thing with kyle and beck like they gave them their playground initially immediately from season one and dave directed a lot of those so those he saw the good neighbor influence uh immediately uh in season 39 um they were a package deal yeah yeah they were but i feel like too like it started off that way but i feel like beck really started carving out his niche like at a certain point i forgot that they were a package deal initially like i always knew them like beck and kyle like of course but at a certain point Beck kind of became his own man to me big time he had a broader appeal like Kyle was almost so good at awkward that it probably or possibly prevented him from playing the everyman because he was you know physically he looked at times a bit nerdier he really leaned into it he was letting his hair grow and he had glasses and stuff where Beck Beck physically could be more like your middle-aged dad in the minivan so that potentially made a bit of a difference yeah uh just the.

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[25:19] Amount of roles that he could play i always.

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[25:22] Thought of them as a pair but then realized how close they were after the fact.

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[25:28] So i didn't know them from good neighbor that is all stuff that i discovered after um and even going back to watch videos like even when they sit together on the couch for interviews they're like 12 year old boy best friends.

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[25:41] Like they're all like climbing on each other and pretzeled. And, you know, there's a closeness and a comfort that is really quite lovely. Yeah. And that's a good point about Beck being the one of the two to have more broad appeal. And then he started, I mean, it was fourth season. They started giving him a lot of really important political impressions, too. I mean, they gave him Vladimir Putin. Now, do I think your new president is perfect? Perhaps not, but don't worry. I'll get him there.

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[26:13] Donald, let's talk his friends. You're not off to a great start, man. I thought you'd be better at this. However, I'm glad to see so many people showed up to your inauguration. Oh, wait. That's the women's march. Here is inauguration. Vladimir Putin's such a stone-faced person in real life. Beck had to find the goofiness. That was an out-and-out caricature, which I think was hilarious that Beck just found something, a kernel of a caricature with Putin. Takes his shirt off, wears the gold necklace, rides in on a horse. And he did that nine times. And to me, they were all great. I always loved seeing Beck pop up as Putin. He would kind of have that, like, swaying. Or how did he move as Putin? Just moving his shoulders? Like, try to, yeah, just something about. off people yeah and he would always talk about that like of course i poisoned him what do you mean like yeah yeah but just to physics you have to find something like some sort of kernel from such a stone-faced person like that so so i really appreciated that and that goes to show that that you don't have to look like the person or sound like the person or so to find an angle on an impression right yes i agree now sometimes looking like a mike lindell or mitch mcconnell.

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[27:40] Also helps but he achieved both in those two because he not only was able to achieve somewhat a similar look but captured their ridiculousness you know mike lindell's manicness yeah and mitch Mitch McConnell's like blubbering, I can't even, how do you, he's just blubbering, no chin goof.

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[28:04] And he captured them both in look, but also in impression very well. He did a lot of impressions. If you look on his page, there are a lot. Did he nail all of them? No, but he always felt like he was game. They felt, I think SNL felt that he's going to find that thread and pull it, as you say. So he didn't always need to look like the person because he was going to find something thing to bring it to life yeah it was like steady-handed commitment too like you gotta be committed to to just sit there for a cold open as putin behind a desk and with your shirt off showing your chest hair and showing beck would have some odd physicality where he almost like had bear-like qualities and you didn't always see that uh in him until until he had wore a tight shirt or something and I'm like this guy is kind of like filled out barrel-chested barrel-chested yeah yeah so you have to have commitment to to show on camera that your barrel-chested self I guess yep yep you know for millions of people yeah big deal he also was willing to look the fool.

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[29:12] And there are several people that do that, but he took it to, like, a real potty level.

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[29:21] One of my favorite sketches is undercover office potty. You need to go to the bathroom, but you have a lot of work to do, and it's all the way down the hall. Yep. We've all been there before. Why don't you check your lamp? Huh? Check your lamp. Whoa. Go ahead. head. Do your business. What do you mean? Use it as a toilet. Oh, now I get it. Introducing the undercover office potty. The only toilet that looks like a lamp. So you can go whenever you want and no one has to know. Just open it up and go to town. It'll be our little secret. Thanks undercover office potty. I did good. This is season 43. It was another pre-tape. It's so silly, but it checks the boxes on all of the things that we've just talked about. He's working, he's, you know, your average generic middle management position in an office surrounded by bland cubicles, and he's got to get the report done. And the premise of this is that he's so busy, wouldn't it be great if he didn't have to walk all the way down the hall to the washroom and could just make use of portable toilets disguised as office components, like your plant holder. Or it becomes even crazier and they are comically oversized.

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[30:49] You know, staplers and such. And clearly the room starts to smell and people start to notice, but he's just so committed to it. And it's a great script, a great, great script.

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[31:04] And just like almost with a straight face, like selling this beyond ridiculous premise. Yeah. That's some of my favorite. And it's lamps, by the way, it's lamps. I knew what you meant. Yeah, you knew what I meant. but yes all of a sudden he's surrounded with all sorts of lamps and the the line like well it wasn't me i used the bathroom all the way down the hall and he just his you know again commitment to you know dumb like as you say confidently dumb so stupid of course people are going to notice but he is owning it until the last possible minute when someone starts actually looking at them yeah absolutely season 43 uh episode 16 you can find undercover office his potty go check that out that was a yeah that's a classic beck one um we had talked about, him playing dads and i love like he would tap into different archetypes of the dad and one of them that i loved um that i think was underappreciated i think i think it just sort of some people didn't get it i noticed like with some online reviews i go to one snl a day which great people, they helped me a lot with just looking at their website and research. But the person who covered Boop It on one SNL day, no offense to them, they clearly didn't get the sketch.

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[32:28] And to me, this is a perfect archetype, Kirsten, of like, oh, I'm going to do this. Downtrodden recently divorced dad that's like at at his rock bottom through the form of a child's an ad for a child's toy but don't get one wrong point it maybe next time jenna.

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[32:53] See who can boop it best and be the boop it boss my turn jenna just went i was after her i think I think it's Tyler's turn, Dad. Tyler, your mom just called. She wants you to go home. She wants you at home. She does? Yeah, bye. See ya.

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[33:07] There's the door, bud. Bye, Tyler. Now that I can actually concentrate, I can do it. Concentration's the name of the game. Listen, is anyone truly equipped to handle young children? No, there's no manual. You get them and you figure it out. I mean, I remember with my son and his friends making gingerbread houses and wanting to just scooch them out of the way and do it better myself. So I think we can all feel kind of close to the notion here, which is let me do it. I can't suffer watching you try to do it. And this is taken to comically new heights with this bop it send off, boop it, which if anyone's ever played it or not, it's a gadget with a variety of buttons on it and you have to hit them as quickly as they illuminate or trigger. I forgot that that was a real thing now that you mentioned it.

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[34:23] With, you know, I think he's drinking in the sketch, too, isn't he? He's like really going off the rails. I love how he just kind of takes a little sip and then he starts playing the game again. Like he has this scotch or something. Yeah. He's rude to the kids. He's like sending them out. All of a sudden, all parenting is out the window. The desperation there. Yeah. Again, you know, as we said, he can play part douche, part, you know, fail or thrive, part man-child. Like all of these things. things there is the alchemy of it represented in you know a dad type yeah he's almost he's trying to impress his kids because he probably feels like his kids look at him as this loser so he found something he's like i could impress my kids by doing this and then he gets addicted because you're right like that's the only thing that he had one of my favorites is when his wife played by heidi gardner picks them up and then she's kind of like have they eaten and then he pauses And she's like, and then he stops and he's like, hold on, baby, let's try to let's let's try to work it out. And she's like, oh, like, hey, like, I almost feel sorry for him in a way like I'm sure he's this loser. And she's that has every right not to be with him. But Beck makes him almost like somewhat sympathetic in a way, but you still get that, like. There's a reason why he's divorced. That's, listen, there are people that stay in those relationships and that's why. Right? Yeah.

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[35:47] Oh my gosh. I think a spiritual successor to that was from the following season with that December to Remember fake ad. Yeah, I loved it. And I think this one was actually well-received because we know those commercials. We know everything. thing so I think this one is actually like a well-received fan favorite like yeah Kirsten did you like this one when you saw it I love it and have we not all at some point looked at the screen during a commercial like this and thought that's not how real life happens yeah if my partner went out and bought an expensive car on their own and surprised me with it which is in every romance novel and oh every hallmark like this is a thing right go get an oversized car yes exactly.

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[36:39] They finally someone has said that's not real life and not only is that the case they then really go into the sub-basement of it's not real life and they expose that he hasn't worked the mom is having affairs the neighbor lent him money the neighbor is probably one of the people having the affairs and so then it blows everything up and we get real, real life.

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[37:25] Your father hasn't worked since last March. What? Yeah, COVID has hit a lot of people hard, and I'm no exception. Nathan, you got fired in March 2019. COVID had nothing to do with it. He probably has a weird attraction to his son's girlfriend. And, you know, it's still got the Christmas or holiday sparkle on it, like, you know, every car commercial we've seen at the holidays, where really are you going to buy a car and try and surprise your partner? That is just not fiscally responsible. responsible yeah it's not being a good partner it was very much it's got to have just been made up by car companies like i don't know anyone that really does that it doesn't happen no it doesn't happen unless you're like a jenner right or a celebrity and then you have multiple cars and who cares but that's not real life yeah yeah and yeah i just love how like just yeah confidently stupid and like he's like no it's okay because of the aper do you mean apr like yeah just like And then like he even looks at his son and I love it. Timothy Chalamet was his son. He looks at his son's like, looks like your old man's busted. And he kind of gave this look like, uh, like almost like a childish sort of. Oh, I love it. Cause he, yeah, he goes like, guess your old man got busted. Like, and he makes the credits to make a face like whatever.

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[38:38] Brilliant. Brilliant. It's probably not the first time that he like surprised her with something dumb. Exactly. He thinks he's going to win. Yeah. That's that confidently dumb. He thinks this is going to save everything. I'm not working, whatever, but guess what? We're going to drive in style. She's going to be so happy. And he's, it's just, he's not making good choices once again. Yeah. To be fair in his defense, if I thought that that Lexus only costs $4,000, I would pounce on it too and surprise my wife. Uh, again, dumb, but yeah. Yeah. It's not that much, babe. That, yeah. Cause that's how much cars cost. Yeah. Oh boy. Oh boy. Again, this is going back to high school reunion. You know, you think you've, you've won and you've got the, the catch of the year and it's, he's a bit of a loser. Yeah. Bit of a loser. Yeah, absolutely. Poor Heidi's relationship. Look at her having to sleep with old Mikey Day neighbor.

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[39:32] Yeah what a great sketch i'm gonna pick up on another kyle mooney partnership because why not and that would be the brothers here's some real physical comedy now they're playing tweens teens, uh seems like 11 would be the age yeah i don't know why i honed in on that yeah because they're They're still self-conscious enough to walk around without pants, probably. So they set up, and they've done a few of these. The setup is, you know, where we see a living room, we've got the host as the dad figure, Cecily as the mom, they're entertaining some guests, and they invite their two young sons downstairs to meet the guests. Beck and Kyle come on down wearing t-shirts and tighty-whities, and they're wrestling sling their way down the stairs, mass chaos, pictures are falling off the wall, and they are not listening. They're clearly in their tussle. And so the dad figure, it was both one time Liv Schreiber, if I'm saying that right, and James McAvoy, who plays a new dad, which they make some fun jokes about, and he sprays them inside with a water hose to calm them down.

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[40:47] And they are being the most obnoxious, competitive... Brother rivalry duo possible how's god into y'all tonight it's his fault he's a loser oh i'm a loser well you're an accident dad tell him no.

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[41:05] Wait what oh my god jared don't do this tell him dad no what's he what's he talking about Oh, God. Okay. Yes, Spence. Initially, we weren't planning on having a second. Why are you telling him this?

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[41:30] The guests are appalled and want to leave. The parents are not phased at all. And it's hilarious because we see them get blasted in the face and body with this water sprayer. That's indoors.

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[41:44] Indoors. which they i think um ad makes a comment about yeah and then in the second one they actually bring out the leaf blower and there's some hilarious physical comedy as their faces are being you know blown away by this leaf blower and you know the hey look at the dance look at the dance like this you know if you have a sibling or clearly you've are probably familiar with this anyways that kind of competitive spirit oh yeah where they're trying to one-up each other um is on full display here it's really funny yeah it's spot on if you've ever been around two brothers around the same age let's say nine and eleven or something like that like this is so spot on oddly competitive you're right like when the one with leah schreiber like yeah they were like made up one of them made up a dance like beck's character made up a dance and then kyle's like no that's my dance and then they start fighting like this is the dumbest thing who cares it's like a little but that's how little kids are is this the dance yeah exactly but i've seen little kids in my life around the same age fight like that and you're just sitting there like god the guy this does this does not matter like why are you guys like this yeah it's just little boys this is hyper little boys like it's it's it's perfect you know if we look at a theme here, they really are creating moments out of very everyday scenarios.

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[43:09] You know, where you have someone like a Will Forte who does really absurd stuff, really absurd, or a Bill Hader and all his beautiful character work.

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[43:21] These, you know, Beck and, you know, Kyle as well, but they really excel at the everyday life situation and scenario and dissecting that and finding the funny in it. Yeah, well, as you put it earlier, it feels studied. All these everyday characters feel so studied. It almost feels like Beck and Kyle, I know they met when they were 18, 19, but it almost feels like Beck and Kyle knew each other when they were both like 11 years old and they actually behaved like this. That's how lived in it feels. Absolutely. I don't know, because Weekend Update, I feel, was that when Beck actually went on Weekend Update as a character, which he wasn't like, I don't think he made his bones on Weekend Update, but I think there are some Weekend Update things that he did that I liked. Have you ever met somebody, Kirsten, who's like, sees the world differently? I just see things a little differently.

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[44:22] Beck playing Jules was perfect to me, another perfect archetype that he nailed. Yeah, I think it's because he plays subtlety so well, it doesn't lend well to Weekend Update. So when he does find a character that is bigger and bolder than that, like our friend Jules, who I could see this character being played by like a Fred Armisen also, then he nails it. It was a little bit too like his theater student, right, where playing in this kind of word salad lingo land where they're saying a lot of nothing. You know, like Jules was asked about economics at some point. He doesn't have an answer to that. Come on.

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[45:09] He's not a free-thinking economist. No, he was frustrating. He's one of those people where you wonder, how do you pay your rent? Yeah. He said that his – at one point he said that his dad invented OxyContin. Oh, God. So I think he kind of slipped that in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's free to explore the ideas that everybody else is afraid to. But we know somebody like that. I live an hour from Santa Fe, New Mexico and in Santa Fe. That's the archetype There's so many people who are just like I'm a free thinker and I'm a new age kind of you know And they have to tell you that and they have to tell you that just tell me are you gonna watch like the red carpet? Oh, I'll watch and scoff Colin fool. Yes. They all ask who are you wearing? What I want to know is who are you being? I Want to tell every actress I see take your clothes off I want to see what's underneath. Yeah, no, you can't do that, man. That's really bad. Really bad. Society wants to paint them like little dolls, but they should be like the dolls I had as a child, whittled from driftwood with very realistic genitalia.

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[46:23] That feels regional, yes, because I can't say that I know too many people like that or that we have too many parts of Canada like that. But as you describe that vibe down in in those areas i can see them being there for sure it feels it also feels kind of california but it feels like those folks have a lot of etsy stores yeah yeah no you're 100 right selling their dream catchers yeah for sure for sure um yeah so so so i think uh you're right like maybe his style wasn't necessarily like totally i'm just gonna going to shine every week on weekend update like i think a heidi probably shines on update more ego does bobby moynihan probably did a little bit uh more shining on update but yeah something like jules i think if you give him the room to breathe a little bit i think i think uh yeah that was that was his highlight to me uh from weekend from weekend update for sure yeah uh is there anything else that popped out to you well well fun this was fun i gotta say like beck underappreciated and and sometimes i don't know if i overuse but it's just like somebody like him i really think because he was on the cast with kate kate sesley 80 he was on the cast with a lot of like big characters on the cat like but i think beck was always just that almost steady presence so it was It was fun to revisit him and be like, wow, he actually did a lot.

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[47:52] He's in so much that I would have needed a lot more time to rewatch. I wouldn't have to just watch whole episodes to catch everything he's in, for sure. There is one more that I... Re-watch. And that's called First Impression. Another pre-tape, Jason Momoa, season 44.

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[48:17] Melissa Villasenor is his girlfriend, and she's going to introduce Beck, her boyfriend, to her parents who are coming to their house for the first time. So we've got Jason Momoa and Heidi as the mom, and he's feeling very nervous. He's got a new shirt on. As she opens the door and turns around to make the intro, he's not there. And we don't understand why until we realize that he's hiding and he uses a really funny child's voice. That's weird. He was here just a second ago. Well, we can't wait to meet him. Michael! Honey! I bet you can't find me! What? Was that him? What did he say? Come find me! I'm hiding! Michael, stop it. Okay, come out here and meet my parents. Where am I? Honey, what's going on? I think he's just nervous. He really wants to impress you. Why would that impress us? Because he hides a lot. No, he's never done this before. Bet you can't find me. Oh, I bet I can.

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[49:23] This ignites something in Jason Momoa's dad character who takes that as a real challenge, and he starts running throughout the house following the sound of Beck's voice in this really silly, hee hee hee, come find me, I'm hiding. I mean, Melissa's confused, Heidi's confused. Dad is right into this, to the point where he's punching through walls and ripping things apart. As it turns out, Beck has taken off his shirt, greased up his upper body, and has tried to jam himself behind the TV entertainment. Shelf and he is stuck so they have to help him yeah but it ends in a really fun way because, he says something very heartfelt about the lengths he's gone to to try to impress the parents which strikes a chord with momoa and they end up you know basically thinking this is all wonderful but it was so strange again taking a very simple moment meeting the parents, and taking it to a completely bizarre place.

Track 4:

[50:31] I love it. I can just hear his voice in my head. The hee hee, come find me. Like a little kid or a little elf-like. Like an elf, yes. Not even a kid, you're right. It's like a little elf-like being. Yes. Yeah, no, no, that was perfect. Like, yeah, from like dumb dad character to like kind of well-meaning dumb boyfriend who missed the mark kind of thing. Like, yeah, that was perfect. fit and i yeah i just loved how instead yeah of course like the comedy in it i just love just momoa's character instead of being put off by he's like all right i'll play i'll dance, i'm buying into this premise so let's go and then yeah that was just that was just perfect back right there it was great for momoa too and played against character i think he they even made him look like you know dad bod too he's wearing like a sweater or something, right? Yeah, he had a big cardigan. I think they'd given him like a fake kind of dad bod belly. And he was also fantastic in it. Yeah. I mean, he looked like a boring dad who used to be a professional wrestler or something. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Which is maybe this is part of it, right? Like as you say, he was kind of boring and this kind of reminded him of how crazy he was in his youth. And he was like, right into this game, I'm going to find you. And his competitive spirit was...

Track 4:

[51:49] Triggered yeah that was great season 44 uh first impression that's the momoa episode that was that was great uh one one other one uh that i want to explore and this ties into kind of a theme when i was thinking about beck is his very last episode um the anya taylor joy episode uh season 46 beck had a great night so he did the sketch the very his very last sketch was him.

Track 4:

[52:14] As Vin Diesel talking about like the movies and just describing all this stuff and the about the movie going experience the sticky floors the eight dollar bottle of water the nachos the hand dryer in the bathroom that's louder than a choo-choo train the second concession stand that's never been open the little boy at the urinal with his pants all the way down the bird that's trapped inside the lobby it's truly incredible that's right i'm talking about the movies but like almost the chef's kiss like the perfect ender to hit to beck's kind of dumb dad archetype was this one picture with dad so a few years ago there was this uh i don't know dumb kind of uh trend of dads posing for picture pictures with their like daughter's uh prom date holding a gun and the the joke the the joke was supposed to be in real life like he he if this guy does anything my daughter i'm going to shoot him so i love that they just played off that who else could they have gotten other than beck to do this kirsten that's just it this is This is the ultimate send-off because he is playing all of the things we've talked about.

Track 4:

[53:35] The dumb, confidently dumb dad, definitely a bit of a douche idiot, can't make the right decisions, man-child. Like, he ends up shooting himself in the doink. All right, now scooch together and smile. Okay, one, two. Whoa. Oh, my God. What?

Track 4:

[53:56] I saw it on the internet. It's funny. Chris, I told you that we weren't doing this. Oh, come on. It's funny. Dad, how is it funny? Well, you know, it's like, hey, mister, you better not try anything or I'll shoot you. And people are doing it. It's a thing, you know? It's like, bang! Dad! Stop. Oh, come on. Relax. It's really quite brilliant. It's a great one. And you're right. It kind of summarized all of these things that we've said about him and that, you know, all of the skills that he has and brings to the table. So it was fantastic I also do like that, Andrew and Heidi are basically keep telling him that they're going to have sex that night. Yeah. Yeah. Not to say, would you, will you promise me that you're not gonna have sex tonight? And Andrew's Andrew just like, um, we will, but sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Track 4:

[54:46] And 80 is playing the wife, right? And she's got the cooler box with just the pieces of him left.

Track 4:

[54:53] Anya's playing the OR doctor. Yep. Um, yeah, it was hilarious, man. He's great. Such a perfect, yeah, such a perfect send-off. And they didn't have an official send-off, quote-unquote, for Beck. But between this and that Vin Diesel one, like, what a great last episode. And that made me think, like, I think Beck left when he was at his peak. I think he left on a high note. Like, he was trending upward, almost proving himself to be arguably, he and Kate maybe at that time, the two most indispensable people on that cast. And Beck really did leave. I mean, he could have been on the cast even right now and still had a lot to give. So it was interesting to me that he got better, where sometimes you see cast members kind of like peter out toward the end of their tenure. But Kirsten, to me, I don't know if this is something that when I say it that causes a lightbulb moment, but I think he was peaking when he left. I mean, that's when you want to go out usually, isn't it? Yeah.

Track 4:

[55:55] I wonder what role he'll play in season 50. Yeah, I was curious about that. Do you think, like, is he the type of former cast member that you think will pop up in season 50 or over the years? Like, will people be clamoring for, like, a Beck Bennett, like, we need to see Beck in season 50 kind of guy? He's underrated. I think much like Taron Kalam, he's probably not going to be asked to host, which is a real shame. I don't agree with it. But those two were both very much glue players. Yeah.

Track 4:

[56:26] Within their respective casts and both underrated they have some serious fans and if you objectively they were fantastic cast members and have great characters great impressions all of the above so they might pop up in season 50 i don't know that they'd be asked to host and i think he would i would love to see it i'd be pleasantly surprised um but i maybe if he had a big movie come out you know like if something else changed in his post snl career that might make a difference it's kind of sad actually yeah i at least want to see him pop up in some capacity um if at the very least beck doing something on the actual celebration uh the actual 50th celebration oh yes in february yes yeah maybe not host i wasn't like maybe setting my sights that high. But he needs to be back and do something. And I think people will remember like, oh yeah, you know who was a great cast member? Beck Bennett. That's right. Yeah, I mean, too, like thinking about his career, it's been three years since Beck has been off the show. Where do you see his career heading? Is he like a leading comedic actor? Is he better as an ensemble? What do you think the entertainment world could have in store for Beck? I do think it's ensemble.

Track 4:

[57:53] I can see him in one of many ensemble comedies. I think he'll always get slotted into office-type situations. He's just that character at the office, the confidently dumb guy, or a neighbor. I don't know that he's any type of leading character that way. I think he's a little too funny-goofy. Again, this is not a complaint. No, no, not at all. my take on how I perceive that industry working.

Track 4:

[58:25] Kind of how Kristen, kind of when she first left, she started popping up in those co-worker type roles. So similar to that. There's also, you know, you look at, I think you should leave and potentially popping up on shows like that and some of the more creative shows that clearly have more control, and are doing some really interesting things. Because he does those characters so well, Well, I think he's just got to find that. Maybe him and Kyle are sitting on a pile of scripts right now. Who knows? They could be doing a whole bunch of stuff that we don't know about. And I do know he does a lot of voice work, I believe, right? That makes sense with that booming voice. Yeah, so he does a lot of voice work, which is a really nice way to earn your pay, right? I thought I heard him on a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial recently. Possibly, yeah. Playing this big buffalo. I watch a lot of sports. And so during March Madness, I swear I heard Beck's voice like constantly yeah yeah I think he does a lot of voice work which you know totally respectable way to pay those bills and and remain in that industry so, maybe I think has he been on a show like bad mouth I feel like those are his people oh yeah oh big mouth yeah did I oh you like all bad mouth yeah big mouth big mouth sorry with the Nick Kroll yep yeah it feels like if he hasn't that he should yes yeah no I could I I definitely agree with that, like more of an ensemble, which we always say, that's not a bad thing.

Track 4:

[59:53] Not everybody can be Will Ferrell, you know, and just be like this leading man. I think that's a really great thing, and I think Beck has a lot to give the comedy world. For one, I'm excited to see what he does moving forward. So, Kirsten, now's the time. We're now talking to SNL fans, SNL Hall of Fame listeners, the water cooler. Cooler why do you think they should hold beck bennett in high regard when they think about the history of snl all right.

Track 4:

[1:00:25] Reliability in that ensemble cast is huge. That's why he's in so many. You know, consistently being able to play a variety of roles with that type of range. We talked about the absurd and the subtlety and this really beautiful balance he achieved at all the characters that needed to portray those things. He also dipped his toe in political, which is a huge part of the show. He played pretty important political characters. I mean, come on, Putin, Mitch McConnell, even not important ones like Mike Lindell, who are we even calling him in the political realm? He pops up there. Yeah. The physical comedy, you know, it goes right back to season one, episode one and Chevy pratfalling, right? Like physical comedy is a huge part of what is part of SNL's DNA. And then the writing, you know, he had a great comedy writing partner in Kyle. And I'm sure there were others that I'm not aware of that are the actual writers on the show. But, you know, they were writing great content for themselves. They were dabbling in pre-tape. They were doing great sketch work. So I think that versatility cannot be downplayed. And whether he's underrated or not, objectively, he scores on the scorecard very high.

Track 4:

[1:01:53] And that has to be recognized and appreciated.

Track 2:

[1:02:08] So there's that. Thank you so much, Kirsten and Thomas. That was a wonderful conversation, and I was riveted by most of it. I really love the sketches that you intercut in there, Thomas. Some really great choices. I love the two boys that live in the house where they get hosed off by their parents. Those are great. Correct me if I'm wrong. Send me an email thesnlhof at gmail.com and tell me if i'm wrong but was beck's last sketch not the vin diesel parody uh impression impression rather um i feel like that was the 10 to 1 i feel like he he went out on a 10 to 1 the guy was really a tour de force and i enjoyed him a lot, Let's take a look now at a sketch that was alluded to in the episode. It's December to Remember with Heidi Gardner and that week's host, Timothy Chalamet. Enjoy.

Track 5:

[1:03:18] Hey, Matt, I think there might be one more gift for your mom right there. It hasn't been a normal year, so this Christmas, get her something extraordinary during the Lexus December to Remember sales event. Nathan, you didn't. With flexible financing and 0% APR, there's never been a better time to buy or lease a new Lexus. Merry Christmas, baby. Are you kidding me, Nathan? Did you seriously buy a car without asking me? Well, because for Christmas... This is a major purchase. Right, but it was a December to remember. It's a Lexus. We don't have the money for this, Nathan. We don't? No, we don't. Your father doesn't. Your father hasn't worked since last March. What? Yeah, COVID has hit a lot of people hard, and I'm no exception. Nathan, you got fired in March 2019. COVID had nothing to do with it. Hey, pal, I guess your old man's busted. It's beginning to look a lot like savings, so get to your local Lexus dealer today. How much did you spend on this ridiculous car, Nathan? It was only $39.99 to its signing. Four grand. It's not that much, babe. And how much is the monthly payment?

Track 5:

[1:04:32] The what? Did you think this entire car cost $4,000? Uh-huh. There's a monthly payment! Yeah, but with the 0% APER, I think it's all good. APER? Do you mean APR? I'm pretty sure it's APER. Wow. Just wow. Hey, come on! It's Christmas! This is good! I did a good thing for us! Let's enjoy it! Dad, it's 9 in the morning! So? It's not like I have work later. Come on! Hey!

Track 5:

[1:04:59] Hey, neighbor! You bought a Lexus? You come to me three weeks ago. Oh, Mike, help me. I need money. I can't buy Christmas gifts for my family. My wife doesn't respect me. I didn't say that. My wife's cheating on me with everyone. Mom, you are? I want to look cool in front of my son's girlfriend? Ew, Dad, is that why you pierced your ear? Uh, no, I've had this forever. I just need five grand to get back on my feet. And then you buy Alexis? Yeah, well, it was beginning to look a lot better. Like savings at my local lexus dealer i want my money back man tomorrow hey kathy, what does that look you know what we're taking this car back to the dealership now i better drive maybe we stop by jenna's on the way over show this cool car your dad got huh shut up give the gift of lexus and definitely talk it over first.

Track 2:

[1:05:55] That was great that is just so wonderful at being that confident man and then slowly devolving into like a blithering idiot it's it's fun to watch it's really fun to watch and snl of course is fun to watch and that's why we're here each and every week as a tribute to a show that has stood Stood the test of time. 50 years now. Coming up very soon. Are you excited about the SNL movie, Saturday Night?

Track 2:

[1:06:32] Are you excited about the 50th season? Are you excited about our new show, SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler? Send me an email. Let me know. And while I'm asking you favors, would you do me one more? And on your way out, as you pass the Weekend Update Exhibit, turn out the lights, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed. Thank you.

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We're back and it's season 6! As is typical we've assembled a group to draft the nominees we will discuss this coming season. Join jD, Matt, and Thomas as they get together to build season 6!

Transcript:

[0:00] Thank you, Doug Donance. It's JD here, and I am thrilled to be back in the SNL Hall of Fame. Let me see if my key works, but before I do that, I'll wipe my feet. The SNL Hall of Fame is a weekly affair where each episode we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer, and add them to the ballot for your consideration. Consideration once the nominees have been announced we turn to you the listener to vote for the most deserving and help determined who will be enshrined for perpetuity in the hall and that's how we play the game it's just that simple but you know what behind the scenes folks it's not that simple because we have to curate a list of who we are going to discuss every season and we found the most fun way to achieve that is with a draft and we're going to do that again this year before we explain the rules i want to introduce the other two drafteteers they are your friends and mine matt ardill and thomas santa how are you doing fellas hello jd good Good to see you. Hey, J.D., great thanks.

[1:28] That's a little inside baseball there, Thomas.

[1:33] So, Thomas, do you want to go through the intricate rules of the draft? You are the master of the draft, after all. All right, sure thing. So, this is the third season, I think, that we've done a draft and had a draft episode. So, there's parameters. So the three of us, we each get five picks. So 15 total, we each get five picks. We each have to pick two cast members. We each have to pick one host.

[2:05] We each have to pick a musical guest or a writer, and then we have the wild card. We can do whatever the heck we want with this, as long as it's a cast member, host, musical guest, or writer. But we have the wild card there. So that adds up to five picks each, 15 total, and I have in my hand a coaster that I'm going to flip. I'm going to give either JD or Matt the first pick. Uh so i want matt to call heads or tails matt uh tails tails it is so matt ardeal gets the first pick uh jd you get the second pick and i'll i'll round things out and get the last pick that's how the draft is working today folks um okay well i think for my first draft pick i am going to go with Garrett Morris aside from being an original cast member he's a Juilliard trained performer he can sing, dance, act the entire Nine Yards he just has incredible chops.

[3:16] Amazing sketches or bits like the White Guild Relief Fund impressions of Chubby Checker that he did with Carrie Fisher first appearance of a Marvel character as ant-man um that's right and uh you know i i watched this one interview where he was talking about death row follies and it's like it was really interesting he was talking about how he was with harry belafonte's band and they were just chatting and he's like so the entire process was lauren just had an idea for a sketch and sent them off to write he didn't give him any direction It's like you're on death row, you're performing. And he's he went back to this memory. He's talking about how the core of improv is drawing from your experiences. He went back to this memory of talking to Harry Belafonte, band member who had watched an old like 1950s TV show. And if you remember the sketch, his bit is I'm going to get me a shotgun and kill all the whitest I see. And he's like well that actually originated from this old 1950s this is your life type of show where this woman had written over 300 songs and they brought her up from the audience and sat her down to interview her and.

[4:32] Kind of of how the song went but she was a white woman from the south and uh so you can imagine how that was so he took it and flipped it and used that for comedy and it's just like you know it just brings so brought so much to the table and i feel like out of the original cast he's one of those people who just is is not given as much respect or acknowledgement as he's due and And I think it's his time to shine. JD, so this is Garrett's one of the last remaining original cast members that we have yet to discuss. This is exciting. What do you think, Jamie?

[5:13] Yeah, I'm excited that we're kicking it off with an old school, an original seven. Is it seven? Right, it was seven. Do we count George Coe and Michael O'Donohue? Oh, no, I'm not. The core. I'm talking about the core. It's almost the same as the NHL where they have the original six, but there was errors before that had eight teams, you know, but whatever I digress, I think it's a great pick. I think it's an exciting pick for a show like ours. I know that he will be a tent pool, a tent pole rather in terms of episodes, you've probably noticed in the past that we, we stack, front stack and back stack with more high-profile performers or nominees, and Garrett Morris will certainly be one of those. That being said... I don't see him as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Lorraine Newman didn't make it in on the first ballot. And I can't imagine him doing better than Lorraine Newman.

[6:18] Because I think, based on a time and place, he was critically misused. Yes. You know? He was the epitome of, you know, the South Park gag, the token, right? It almost smacks you in the face because you don't see him ever. And then when you do see him, it's like there's flashes of brilliance, like you were mentioning that. So I anticipate him going in, but not as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Yeah, there's not as much meat on the bone as far as his resume as a lot of cast members, but not necessarily his fault. Which i'll be interested to see if what if the voters may take that into account or anything but definitely you know a beloved original cast member i think this is uh this is an interesting um choice that makes sense for for an episode for us yeah i i think so i'm going to start with somebody who just really epitomizes my experience with snl in the last 12 years i would say I started watching this performer and I didn't like him that much unless he was with this other guy.

[7:40] And then I started to like them as a duo.

[7:44] And then I really saw that this next nominee was outshining not only his comedic partner, but several other male cast members. And I'm talking about Beck Bennett, who just recently became eligible for the Hall of Fame. So that may hurt his chances of getting in right away. But i think he's versatile i think he's the kind of guy and i know we overuse this statement but you ask him to do anything and he'll do it you know like he doesn't know an impression you know what he'll put it together in a week it's like that old school mentality yeah i don't know how to do a putin impression oh i know what i'll do i'll take off my shirt you know and and sound vaguely russian you know but it was one of my favorite reoccurring characters and i think one of the last sketches he did i might be wrong but it's a solo sketch with him as vin diesel yep that was his and that was the last sketch of of the of the night right yep yeah the onya taylor joy episode yeah that's right i just got such a kick out i got such a kick out of it so it was like Like, I sound so old when I say that, but I am. So there you go. By the time you're hearing this, I'm 50. I'm 50.

[9:11] So that's my pick. Matt, what do you think? I agree. I think that's an awesome pick. I've always felt he's one of those performers that really grew on me. The longer he was on screen, the more I saw him. And yeah, I think I think that's a terrific choice. Also, he's he's in DuckTales. So, you know, I can't fault him there, you know, like.

[9:37] Talented man of many many talents so if you ever want to hear a fantastic episode of it's a great podcast it's a stand-up comedian that hosts it there i'm narrowing it down substantially aren't i uh and it's got um he used to be in the hbo show called crashing oh pete homes pete homes yes Yes, he has a podcast, and he interviews Beck Bennett on an episode. Sorry, folks, for that previous ramble. That was very riveting podcasting, I know. But at any rate, he is featured on this episode of the podcast, and it's a long-form interview. It's like a three-hour interview, but they get into it. And he was a multimillionaire when he signed to go work at Saturday Night Live on the basis of those insurance company commercials he was doing with the kids. Oh, wow. I don't know if you ever saw that campaign, but it was a national campaign in the US and he booked it. And it became a reoccurring thing. And by the time it reoccurred for the fifth time, they signed him for six figures to do it. Oh, jeez.

[10:49] And pete holmes pulls that out of him like afterwards he's so mortified because pete holmes like is like he's like would you get like 50k he's like no he's like 200k he's like oh i don't really want to talk about it like 750k it's like okay it was a million dollars.

[11:10] I digress on the insurance commercials yeah yeah it was it was uh their telephone phone commercials telephone commercials yeah he had a group of kids and he was almost like the moderator and ask kids questions or whatever and so when he got hired to snl i was like oh that's the guy from the commercials so i had already known his face and i'm like i didn't know he did comedy and he's on snl now that's gonna be interesting he turned into like a steady hand he turned into like like basically almost the rock of the show like he and keenan we're almost like the steady hand rocks of of the of that era of snl i'm excited about talking about back, Yeah, it's going to be a great episode, I suspect. Who do you have for us? Yeah. Try. So I am going to go, I want to go a different route. I'm going to use my musical guest early. And probably in a lot of ways because I think I already have a guest booked for this. One of my favorite guests to bring on the SNL Hall of Fame to talk music. So I'm going to pick you two as a nominee. And with the understanding that musical guests haven't had such great luck here on the SNL Hall of Fame, I think Paul Simon is in, and that's about it. I think I'm going to keep banging this drum all season. Dave Grohl should be in, and I will be talking about that as much as I can.

[12:40] This is Dave Grohl's final season on the ballot. But I digress. You two, amazing band. Some memorable appearances at SNL four times on the show. And I think I have an awesome guest lined up to talk about U2. So I'm going to take U2 off the board early as my musical guest. They would have been one of my picks tonight, I suspect. They were on my musical shortlist if I didn't pick a writer. So they could have ended up a wild card for me. That being said, when did their appearances start? Were they always like a superstar band on the show? Well, that's the thing. Yeah, no, I don't think they appeared until the 90s.

[13:23] Until like Octane Baby. Yeah, that's one of the things about them. From my recollection, I think they did pop. But they didn't appear when the Joshua Tree came out. They kind of missed like that. So I think their first appearances were in the 90s. So that'll be discussed, I'm sure. On our show as far as like timing of their appearances to me it reminds me maybe a little bit of prince in some ways uh as far as timing of their appearances for me they appeared after i'd already burnt out on them like i was that joshua tree era fan and really wasn't that zuropa.

[14:03] You know kind of era didn't really click for me but i do know a lot of people of my age who were completely over the moon when they were on snl uh so yeah i mean they're a great band no arguments there but uh i don't know it's just for me they don't they aren't as as it isn't as memorable but i i can understand why because they are still such an amazing band and they did really put it all on the table whenever they did perform i just think for me the fact that the first time they showed up on SNL, if they were touring Octoon Baby, then it was either the Zoo TV tour, which was a stadium tour, or it was the one that had the cars hanging from the arena. I forget what that part of the tour was called before they went into Zoo TV and stadiums. So you have this band that's playing stadiums around the world coming into 8H.

[15:00] This little wee stage. Right. That's what I mean. That's frickin' Hall of Fame. Yeah, I agree. That's one of the fascinating things about SNL and musical guests is sometimes we take for granted, like Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift or somebody like that. We're seeing these acts in a more intimate setting instead of these stadiums. U2 definitely qualifies. I think that's a really good point. Yeah, so that's my pick. We have Garrett Morris, Beck Bennett and you, too. It's back to Matt.

[15:32] I'm going to go with my host card next. I am going to nominate Adam Driver. Again, one of those really strong players. He really brings his heart to every performance and he'll do things that like I'm pretty sure other people of his caliber of stardom would really push back on. I mean, you look at that cold open sketch that where he was Epstein and John Lovitz was Alan Dershowitz during the impeachment trial, the dark gallows humor that he was willing to go to in that for that sketch.

[16:11] But then you also see like really over the top, silly things like when he was playing Dr. Rock hard, the porn doctor. And it's just, he's willing to like, you know, he's another one of those performers like Jon Hamm, like the star, his stardom doesn't get in the way of him doing silly stuff that takes down his own myth, like even like the undercover boss is Kylo Ren is so I'm going with Adam driver. Great pick. I think Adam driver, he wasn't on my short list, but I think it's a fantastic pick because he's. He doesn't have a dud. He doesn't have a dud episode. And that's key to being a Hall of Fame host, in my opinion. I tend to lean toward the five-timer being, you know, sort of a cutoff for me, and he just misses that.

[17:06] But man, I can't wait to see those other performances working with this group that is starting to really find itself yeah this adam driver is one to me he's one of the better hosts of this whole era of snl and matt you did me a favor because adam driver was on like a short list and i was going to be debating between the shipping driver these other people so you just made that decision easier for me uh by taking adam driver because he was definitely on my like short very short list of hosts uh that i was considering he's just a guy He did some comedic stuff in Girls. He had some comedic moments, but I wouldn't describe him as a comedian or a comedic actor, but he showed those chops on SNL. I think a lot of times that's what happens. A lot of those good actors tend to do really well as SNL hosts because they can just slide in and do really quality sketch work. He was definitely up for anything. I love this. I'm super pumped to talk about Adam Driver. Yeah, it's going to be a great conversation. Anyone in mind off the top of your head? Not at all.

[18:15] I'll put the fillers out there. I'll get somebody good, I'm sure of it. Yeah, that's great. All right. I'm up next. And I'm going to go with an old favorite.

[18:27] To me, the first season of SNL that my little peepers got to see was Lauren's first year back. I saw the back half of that season. and was blown away. I had seen some Eddie Murphy episodes prior to that, but not much, and I don't have memories of them. But that season, I have memories. I have memories of one particular actor, and it's not Dennis Miller, who I thought was the coolest dude of all time, but the guy that made me laugh the most consistently because he was hammy, but not in a hammy way. And it's John Lovitz who I'm talking about. I think he's got a terrific resume. He was one of the very few. Nora Dunn, Dennis Miller, and he were the only survivors of the massacre that ensued following that season that Lauren came back. And they carried over into what became the second golden era of Saturday Night Live. In many ways, they formed, you know, the foundation of the next.

[19:47] 20 years of that show you had the you know with the weekend update you had the solo performer doing weekend update you had this character actor that would do fantastic characters all the time and again i'm talking love it's just really terrific stuff uh i'm i'm really excited to see who you line up to talk about john lovitz i'm sure there'll be quite a a few people who want to do that but i'm curious what you guys think yeah people are going to be chomping at the bit to talk to talk about this and i i know off the top of my head at least uh, a couple snl podcasters out there uh would love maybe have already talked to me about hey if you guys do john lovitz let me know that would be one that i'd be interested so i know i have no shortage of options for john lovitz this is such a good one too it's funny jamie i'm keeping track of this i'm typing as as we go along and as soon as you started saying this person stood out to me at the end of lauren's first season i wrote john lovitz i'm like and i'm really excited because and you did me a favor too just like matt did me a favor with adam driver john lovitz was on like my very short list like i i was saying to myself am i really gonna go another draft without picking john lovitz we have to have john lovitz on on the season so i'm so excited about this jamie.

[21:09] Great minds. He was on my list as well, honestly. I mean, like Tommy Flanagan, the devil in the people's court, you know, like just these consistently hilarious.

[21:19] I mean, at the time when I was a kid, I didn't get him as much. But going back and rewatching him, I was like, I get it now. I get why everybody loves him. And I just think my tastes were not refined enough to appreciate him at the time. But yeah, having gone back and rewatched his era, I watched it on TV at the time, too. He's just a freaking genius. He knows when to go big. He knows when to be small.

[21:54] And he'll do completely bonkers characters. And right now, he's adopted this, you know, well, I say right now, but over the last 25 years, he's adopted this butt of all jokes, you know, SNL based.

[22:11] And I think that's hilarious. Like when they did the Immemorium, and he was on there. There's been other instances as well. So a lot of fun. Yeah absolutely yeah john love it's awesome so we're back to me uh i'm gonna um pick a cast member i'm gonna utilize one of my cast member choices and we've talked about molly shannon congratulations molly on being an so hall of famer we've talked on a gas dyer so i'm gonna go with a very talented woman who who was.

[22:42] Their cohort who often upstaged them and who maybe popped dropped even more so than the other two which is saying a lot uh we haven't heard a ton from her since snl but i still think sherry o terry should get some love and get an episode of her own wow so i want to choose sherry o terry uh as my choice we're gonna have a sherry o terry episode and i think it's well deserved i think she was a big uh really big part of the resurgence of snl back in the late 90s oh totally agree like she was just like an amazing workout horse great great impersonations and impressions and just terrific a terrific energy like like i mean it was she was in a cast with some really amazing people but she always you know she could hold her own you know with with the rest of rest of the cast and her barbara walters is like when i imagined barbara I actually imagine her impression more than I imagine actually Barbara Walters. And it's like that just speaks to how much of a stamp she put on her performances. Yeah, I think in particular, her work with Will Ferrell was spectacular.

[23:54] They found each other in scenes together quite often. And she could keep up with him physically and emotionally. You know, turn a phrase in a character type way. Really terrific stuff. Yeah, I can't wait. We've talked about a lot of the people from that era, and they're always really fun conversations because a lot of listeners, some of my guests, that's like their prime SNL years. It was like the Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon on a gas tire. We've taught Chris Parnell, we've taught Daryl Hammond. So I think it's about time Sherry O'Terry gets her episode. So i'm glad you guys are excited about this one well i guess it's my turn again uh i am going to go to the writer's pool uh for this one i'm going to plumb my gen x credentials and choose one of my favorite sketch you know sketch performers writers um later dramatic actors is Bob Odenkirk. He's, you know, probably in a lot of ways coming out of the writer's room. He don't like a lot of the writers do very successfully afterwards, but they're not necessarily as high profile. Whereas in a lot of ways, he's probably one of the most high profile former writer of the show as an actor, like with Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul.

[25:22] But, you know, You know, he, you know, his writing with Robert Smigel and Conan O'Brien, but, you know, came out of the Chicago Second City community and created us, created characters like, you know, the the. Chris Farley's inspirational speaker, Matt Foley. And he went on to become like a very big voice in Gen X comedy with Mr. Show and working with Ben Stiller and Chris Elliott and writing for Dennis Miller when he had his own show. So, yeah, I'm just a big fan of Bob Odenkirk and I'd love to see him inducted. Yeah I wonder uh our buddies at the um Saturday Night Network um are definitely great as far as helping us out with credits and stuff so I'm curious there's probably gonna be some Odenkirk stuff that I didn't know that he was behind that I'll find out through this that tends to happen when I start researching the writers and doing all of that so I'm excited to find out a lot of what I don't know about Bob's SNL tenure obviously I think he might get a little bit of a bump too because of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad and he's still relevant now. So I think we might see what I'll call the Conan O'Brien bump. Maybe not to that level, but I think there's going to be a little bit of a surge for him. But I'm excited to see just what I don't know about Odenkirk.

[26:46] Yeah, and it's very little. that uh like i didn't uh i forgot completely about the motivational speaker matt foley being a brainchild of his but i've watched the second city version of it and it's it's you know it's really great i think you are going to find somebody that's going to make a fantastic case for bob odenkirk i would have difficulty being the person to do that because i am not good at research and it's a it's a blind spot for me so i think that that is something that i'm trying to wrap my head around a little bit when i think about him as a as a hall of famer i look at the other writers who are in the hall you get seth myers you get conan o'brien yeah conan o'brien is this outlier. I can't wait to listen to the episode. So, you know, I want to be swayed. Yeah, hopefully it's a good one for you all. I'm sure it will be. I'm looking forward to see who takes on the assignment of being my guest for the Odin Kirk episode. I'm going to go with hosts next.

[28:02] And it's someone who breaks my rule that I already outlined, you know, 300 strikeouts or 500 home runs to get into the Hall of Fame. And that's five stints as a host. This gentleman only has four. That's good, Jamie. I was going to talk you out of that anyway. So you shouldn't be so beholden to that. Okay, that's fine. That's fine.

[28:28] So i think um i remember a party years ago i was still at an age it was season 19.

[28:36] And i was of an age where i had to watch saturday night live live like every like every week like did not miss it and there was this big house party and i put it on and sat down on the couch to watch And I remember it vividly because it was Nirvana hosting. Nirvana was the musical guest, and it was my next nominee's first time hosting the show. And that was all the way back in 1993, I believe. And this is Charles Barkley. yeah and he he's very relevant nowadays because he's he says he claims he's retiring from tv.

[29:18] We're recording this uh a little ahead of time uh until it comes out he says he's retiring from tv because tnt uh isn't gonna have basketball right i don't know what's gonna go on with inside the nba i don't know if i quite believe him honestly one of the most entertaining people uh in sports television always entertaining when he hosts snl she's a really charismatic dude just really funny guy uh so i i like this i i have to say i i think that's a great choice because i mean he's one of those few i'm not a big fan of sports personalities right on the show and he's one of the few i felt because i mean i still remember like i were we're months apart in age so uh i was watching that same night and uh that that you know that was a.

[30:06] I had my shaggy shoulder length, greasy hair and grubby beard and my flannels. So I was right into Nirvana at that time. And yeah, it was like it was a surprising performance for me to do as well and be as strong as he was. But it was a great, great showing. I think one of the other, you know, sort of not rules, but little guidelines I like to look at for a host is how many eras did they work in? And he also qualifies there for me. His first appearance was again in season 19, and it was 1993. Then we didn't get him again until 2010 in season 35. Then he showed up relatively quickly with Kelly Clarkson in 2012 on season 37.

[31:02] But then he wasn't back till season 43 in 2018. So that would have been almost an entire turnover at that point. I think to me that somebody that can host that many good episodes, I think season over season, era over era is somebody that should be at least considered for the Hall of Fame. Do I think he's a first ballot? No, but I think to use the parlance of his former sport, he's a slam dunk at some point. Oh, very nice, J.D. It's like a mic drop on your Charles Barkley. I like it.

[31:41] So Charles Barkley is a host. I'm going to pick a host as well. You guys, I have a musical guest. I picked a cast member.

[31:50] I'm going to go with the host. Somebody who's been very important to SNL. A former cast member but i don't think she quite has the resume to talk about as a cast member but i think she has some underrated episodes definitely when i went back and looked at her work as a host it surprised me as far as uh how strong she was as a host and maybe it shouldn't because she was a cast member she's hilarious i'm talking about julia louis drive is ah which does break your your rule jamie about she's only a three-timer uh but she she's she's worked with uh at least two different eras she hosted in 2006 2007 and she hosted in 2016 so she's worked with at least two different eras um but she always just really she was a steady hand as a host she did a great job to me the two this is a chance to celebrate julia um just all around as well and i think that's what this show SNL Hall of Fame is about is the chance to celebrate these folks and so I'm excited to celebrate just a super talented woman who has had an impact on SNL maybe I think more so maybe as a host than as a cast member but it'll be fun just to talk about her maybe touch on her entire body of work just a great comedic actor I love Julia Louis-Dreyfus So I want to talk about her for me. It feels when she came back to host, it was very much like a returning champion.

[33:15] You know, like she came back and she'd conquered and she was able to, to relish in that glory.

[33:21] And, and you know, I was like, I remember watching her in her era on the show and coming back and seeing her. And she's just so much more confident in every scene and so much more like she was great originally, but you see this growth in her. And it was great to see her at the peak of her ability coming back to the show. What I think is fascinating is I don't know off the top of my head if there is another host Hall of Famer that was a former cast member. And I don't think there is. I don't think so. I think this might be the first. Yeah. I think that that's a fascinating aspect of this candidacy. You know, that here she is, somebody that has three years on the show under her belt, and she gets called in. She knows what she's doing, not only comedically and as a comedic actress, but as a former cast member.

[34:22] She sort of knows the ropes, and that is terrific fodder for conversation, I think. Yeah, absolutely. I think there's two people, there's two cast members in the SNL Hall of Fame that I think have cases to be in the SNL Hall of Fame as hosts. And I think Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig probably have cases for both things, which is pretty impressive. Um if we're talking former cast members as hosts you know the two of two of the preeminent ones are already in the hall i think julia is a good uh next level uh as far as that goes yeah well how do you follow julia louis-dreyfus um so i think i'm gonna go with another cast member uh and i was speaking about dr rockhard earlier and i'm gonna go back to his his waiting room.

[35:16] And showing Aidy Bryant who is just another one of those incredible talents um solid delivery 10-year veteran on the show just you know her her musical bits you know and on top of that possibly the best Ted Cruz impersonation that I have ever seen um yeah and I mean she got her start like as a producer for comedy bang bang and she just brought that willingness and energy that you get in that LA alt comedy scene to SNL and I thought it was a great addition I did not know that's where she came from that's, amazing the former TV show or the, podcast the TV show oh so cool wow yeah I think this is a another great pick.

[36:10] Matt um ad bryant is a spectacular cast member and again she was alongside kate mckinnon you know and kate mckinnon was was gilda radner was jan hooks was kristin wigg you know begat kate mckinnon and yet ad stood beside her and could shine brighter and that to me not all the the time but you know from time to time for sure and that to me is um a great place to start your argument for why she belongs in the hall yeah so beloved i'm curious to see what the voting percentage will be like from her if we're reading the tea leaves with kate mckinnon um it probably won't go in 80s favor the first time um but she's definitely to me she's hall worthy i'll say that and and she's definitely episode worthy this is something when when 80 stepped away from the show this was something that i was excited like i know in a couple years in a few seasons or whatever we're gonna be able to do an 80 brian episode so this is something i've been looking forward to ever since she left the show matt so this this is this is awesome the research is gonna be fun i'm gonna know i'm gonna have a great guest there's people gonna be lining up to talk about 80 bryant she's just such a beloved figure on snl and and i think we're seeing kind of hard to replace.

[37:37] Honestly yeah all right so i'm up to bat i'm gonna close my eyes and point no.

[37:46] I'm not gonna do that i'm gonna go in order i'm gonna stay in order i did two cast members i did a um host now Now I'm going to do a musical guest slash writer.

[37:57] But I'm going to choose a musical guest who was a fantastic songwriter, quite frankly. One of the best songwriters and most well-known songwriters in his generation, which was predominantly the 70s, although adult contemporary played him throughout the 80s. And he made his presence known on SNL, I believe, in 80, 83, and then 86. He was on the Ebersole era he was on the original Lorne era and then Lorne brought him back for that first season I'm talking about if you don't know Randy Newman, who is not my bag necessarily, but I recognize the brilliance in his songwriting and his ability to inflect his sense of humor. He's got a wicked sense of humor, and he uses that in his music in a really fun kind of way. The only contemporary artist I can think of that reminds me of something similar is like Ben Folds. But Ben Folds certainly wasn't ever as big as Randy Newman was or is, although I do love Ben Folds.

[39:16] Anyway, I think that's my – well, I don't think. That's my pick, Randy Newman, and I'm sticking to it. Yeah, six-timer Randy Newman. Six-timer, yeah, absolutely. So he had quite an impact on the show. I already have maybe somebody in mind as a guest for Randy Newman.

[39:34] So I think not totally like 100% my cup of tea. There's a lot of stuff that he did that I did like, but maybe an era before me. But you can't argue his impact as a songwriter. Just what a reliable guest that he was on SNL.

[39:52] So I think this is a really great choice. We're celebrating an older era of SNL that deserves to be celebrated with one of the predominant musical guests from that era. I like it, Jamie. Same here. I mean, like he's one of those performers that, you know, especially in that early era, SNL tapped into the zeitgeist musically in a way that was seldom seen on television. Like, you know, you wouldn't see him on a lot of TV shows other than these shows like SNL pushing the edges of musical talent and bringing in voices that were not necessarily always paid attention to. But I mean, he's gone on to. Yeah, I mean, he's been gone on to become like this cultural touchstone, like the Toy Story theme songs, like all the he's like all sorts of movies and television shows that he's touched. And I think that a lot of that comes back to these six episodes that he did that that helped elevate him so this will be a great conversation good job Jamie I love it so and another musical guest and uh we can see how musical guests of different eras kind of do I'm always fascinated yeah I don't have high hopes yeah but I do I do think uh sorry I said it's the journey that that that's that's what I think that's what's important here it's the journey not like if he makes it or what's that.

[41:17] You got it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's important, but, you know, I've learned my lesson with Dave Grohl and I just had to appreciate doing the Dave Grohl episode and whether he gets into the hall, you know, that's, that's, um, I almost have to take that as like a bonus. So I'm up next and I'm, I have another cast member, uh, that I need to, I, so I picked Sherry O'Terry as my first cast member and I'm going to go a little more current than Sherry O'Terry and And talk about Bobby Moynihan. I think Bobby's had such a huge impact on SNL. And he was often, he never was somebody who was looked at as the leader of any of his casts. But he was so, so important. And I think he was always such an underrated cast member. Until he left the show and then people started reevaluating his time at SNL. Completely. Yeah, right? Yeah. Yeah, people were like, wasn't Bobby Moynihan so good? And then we start thinking of all these characters, all his sketch work. He still loves SNL. He still appears on it. He's an SNL podcast listener.

[42:24] I'm about 5% convinced that he might listen to the SNL Hall of Fame. That's how much he loves SNL. So Bobby Moynihan, if you're out there, we love you, and we're going to do an episode on you. For me, he was like, when he popped for me, he just like there's the one sketch and i liked him but you know it's sort of on the fence but my wife's like ah i just i don't he's not but then he did the peppa up in here character and we're just like we're in love we're in love with bobby he's just so brilliant and.

[43:03] Yeah, I can't wait to hear this episode. I think you really hit it on the head when you were talking about his departure and reflecting back and, you know, seeing that Bobby Moynihan-shaped hole.

[43:19] I think that his versatility is something that isn't discussed enough. He was great in sketches.

[43:28] He was great at being a character. and he did weekend update bits of the yin yang that were almost all home runs if that's not hall of fame worthy i don't know what is what i am going to be interested to see is the two current big boys so far are beck bennett and bobby moynihan those are you know sort of current era level hall of fame nominees i'm curious which one will get more ballots this year i don't think either goes in this year but do.

[44:05] A little side bet but i'm curious who gets the most ballots yeah yeah maybe we can get a sponsorship from exactly yeah um yeah so i'm glad you guys like this pick bobby monahan super excited to start delving into his all his work uh i mean i know a lot of it a lot of it's imprinted in my mind but it's just so fun to go back and watch him cook like the weekend update desk is something that he he was just he just lived in and made his own riblet and drunk uncle like there's just like things that are so classic oh yeah we still go back to a drunk uncle like just everyone's always like yeah this is a drunk uncle moment yeah definitely yeah so bobby moynihan uh matt circling back around so we're down to the home stretch it's our the final pick for for all three of us so yeah.

[45:02] I am going to go back to the beginning. Alan Zweibel, you know, one of the original band of writers, penned for that first season of SNL. He went on to get a really close relationship with Gilda Radner, writing a memoir about the relationship, Bunny Bunny, Gilda Radner, a sort of love story, which was adopted into a play for Gary Shandling, her enthusiasm. Enthusiasm but also he created i i say two of the most iconic sketches of that original era which are belushi samurai sketch and and rosanne rosanna dana i feel like those are two wow yeah those early characters that really you you think back to them it's like they just pop and they're both they're both from his pen so uh yeah that is my final pick yeah i think that's a great pick uh Alan's White Bell, they talk about him being under the Weekend Update desk, handing off jokes. He was a joke writer. That's what he was. He was a joke writer, and he was among the last people to be hired, I think.

[46:11] But they knew what they needed, and they knew that he could deliver, and deliver he did. Bonding early on with Gilda Radner, using that bond to create. An iconic character, co-create an iconic character, like you say, that may have overstayed her welcome. But she was on quite a bit those first couple seasons. But nevertheless, she was great. And he's great. And I think that the people that listen to this show are.

[46:47] Need to start understanding that this is a show that has performers that do great work and are coming from a school of improvisation. But virtually everything you see every week on Saturday Night Live is written, and it's written by really talented people, and they need to be reflected in the hall as well. Well said here here and uh yeah as why bell when i go back and watch old uh snl episodes he makes me do the leonardo dicaprio pointing at the tv because he will he will appear like you'll see a sketch and then you'll be like oh it's why there's alan's why bell in the background or they used a picture of alan's why bell on weekend update for something or he'll just kind of pop up he's like uh where's waldo uh in that era's why bell will pop up when you least expect him and he had a really funny cameo and a curbing enthusiasm as well he had a funny interaction with larry david uh when he ran into him in new york city at a bar that one of my favorite scenes in the show's history is why belt was a part of so we love oh oh this is gonna be a fun one to listen to yeah i've got a lot to learn and that is where i start with my wild card pick i've got Got a lot to learn. I don't know a lot about this next fella.

[48:07] I know not a lot about him because of the era he came into, but I know that he was part of the bread and butter. There was Eddie Murphy carrying the load, but the glue guy was Joe Piscopo. I felt you were going there. And Joe Piscopo is somebody that I think, while he's got some interesting things to say these days, I think that reflecting back on his actual career, which is what we want to do and we want to look at, I think that he was pivotal. He was pivotal. There are a handful of people that are responsible for SNL staying afloat. I'm not going to say keeping it alive in this case, because I don't think he was that valuable a cog.

[49:02] Uh over overall but he kept it afloat for sure like he was somebody who kept it afloat he was he was a steady rower and it was a time that things were not steady other than steady eddie of course so joe pescabo he's got my back he's probably the most buff uh former cast member in the show's history if i i would i mean i haven't done the proper research for this uh but But my guess is he's the most ripped cast member in history. What do you guys think? I have to agree. Beck Bennett is surprisingly close, but I think Joe in his heyday has that title. I think he's the only one who's appeared on a men's health magazine, that's for sure. Probably. Never saw Kyle Mooney in men's health.

[49:53] Now I've got that sketch in my head where he got like wearing the bodysuit like. Like, that's what Joe Piscopo actually looked like at one point. Let's write a sketch about Joe Piscopo. Jamie, this is great. I think people always talk about Eddie Murphy, rightfully so. Like, Eddie Murphy was amazing in that era. But Joe, Joe Piscopo was right there with him in a lot of these classic sketches. Sketches and i think i know a lot of snl super fans who really go to bat for for talking about how how important joe piscopo was and what an actual like good cast member he was uh so this will be uh really neat to go back and watch frankly a lot of sketches that sort of get lost in time from that era if eddie murphy wasn't a part of them um it's almost like they just kind of get lost in snl history so this will be a fun one for me and when you find them out there they're They're usually hacked to bits, right? Like there's like three sketches and then meet one musical performance or something like that. You know, exactly. What have you got for us, Thomas? Oh, sorry, man. Sorry. I was just going to say, I can't wait as well. Like I, I mean, he's such a, he, I love his mobster characters when he, when he goes into that sort of like rat rat pack, channeling like uh frank sinatra that he would often do yeah and they use that like that like later on in his career he appeared on star trek the next generation as like a rat pack era.

[51:21] Comedian and yeah like he mentored data on how to be a stand-up comedian and it's just like he just He exudes the feel of that era, but that's because he just is so good at committing to a bit. So, yeah, I can't wait. Thomas, you're bringing this home. Yes, sir. I'm rounding this out. I have a wild card pick as well, and I'm going to add another host into the mix and end it with a host. It's a five timer. So I'm adhering to that to that loose rule, I guess, of having a five timer. It's somebody who actually hosted six times between 1982 and 1999. Bobby Moynihan apparently actually impersonated this person on the show one time. So I'm talking about Danny DeVito. Danny DeVito. I was going to guess that. Yeah. So it's Danny DeVito. He was always like a very reliable host. He hosted one time with his wife, Rhea Perlman. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I remember him having memorable sketches of really funny. Everybody talks about the delicious dish with Alec Baldwin, but Danny DeVito was in a really clever delicious dish sketch in his own right that I'll definitely talk about. I always loved Danny. He's such an interesting, quirky personality.

[52:41] And it's just going to be so fun to chat about his hosting gigs at SNL. Like I said, 82 to 99. So not quite like he never hosted with a lot of the new cast. But he's got to see a lot of SNL so Danny DeVito is my choice, I like it. It's a bold choice. It's sort of sitting in the bushes, you know, but it's very obvious once you play those cards. And the fact that the run is from 82 to 99, and you got a lot of quality appearances you know again another stat quality appearances.

[53:31] They together with ria perlman i thought um was a fun episode and for a time it almost seemed like he was going to challenge alec baldwin he even had the episode with his spouse You know, they were rolling out around the same episodes, and then Baldwin just took off in a bolt. I think that Danny DeVito is somebody that will, you know, probably hit around the 35% mark in his first year, which to me is somebody that's likely to get in. But it'll take a couple years of us pestering people and telling people, no, no, watch the episodes. This guy was really good. And Danny DeVito is one of those interesting. I remember watching Taxi as a kid and he was just like so abrasive. But it was again, it comes back to his.

[54:32] His capability of understanding the moment and what he needed to bring to any scene. And then, you know, you go on to watch twins and all of this stuff growing up. I actually don't remember his SNL days. So I'm going to have to go back and rewatch those episodes. Not quirky sketches. sketches it's very some a lot of them are very danny devito which is a good thing good thing yeah yeah yeah yeah it's gonna be fun yeah definitely i think it's always sunny in philadelphia is gonna help him too because a lot of younger he's very relevant yeah a lot of younger people like it's always sunny i like it my my uh 16 year old niece loves it so that's you know he he a lot of people from different generations know danny devito and i think it's always sunny he's going to help him a lot here. I wonder if he'll come back. I wonder if he'll do a stint again. Yeah, I was looking at hosts. If that show ends or something. I think he'd be game. He's really game for anything.

[55:31] He's not a person to turn down an opportunity to perform. So I would say he'd go for it. Maybe we can hire him for the SNL Hall of Fame Christmas party this year. Oh, I'll put some fillers out. I'm efforting as we say in the business. Well, Thomas, do you want to run down our picks one more time? Absolutely. So in order of whether they're drafted, we have... Garrett Morris, Beck Bennett, U2, Adam Driver, John Lovitz, Sherry Oteri, Bob Odenkirk, Charles Barkley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, A.D. Bryant, Randy Newman, Bobby Moynihan, Alan Zweibel, Joe Piscopo, and Danny DeVito. I spared you guys my Don Pardo impression. I drew that, by the way, so you're welcome.

[56:27] Listen i think that that's a formidable class of nominees rather not inductees but nominees i think that uh we've got an interesting season at our at our hands on top of those 15 episodes of course we're going to do another don pardo award there will be of course our famous round roundtable episode and then we'll wrap it all up with the class of season six. I wonder who on the ballot will make it. It'll be interesting to see. Thomas, Matt, thanks so much. This was a blast. That was great. Well, that's what we've got for you. So if you do me a favor and on the way out, as you pass the weekend update exhibit, turn out the lights because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.

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Al Franken and Tom Davis were among the last writers hired for Season One of Saturday Night Live.

They repeated this behaviour concerning their induction into the SNL Hall of Fame. On their last kick at the can before being struck from the ballot, the duo hit the threshold of 66% in the Class of Season Five.

They finally took a place they rightfully deserved.

On this episode of the program we go back to mid-March of Season One where Dave Buckman joined us to discuss the merits of the pair of writers/comedians.

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This week on the show, we revisit the nomination episode for Molly Shannon from Season One, Episode Fourteen.

Of course, this episode is appropriate because Ms. Shannon is an inductee into the SNL Hall of Fame in the Class of Season Five.

Molly was inducted with 68.18% of the vote on her fifth and final ballot.

So join Jamie Burwood and jD as they discuss the career of SNL SUPASTAR, Molly Shannon.

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Maya Rudolph made it into the Hall of Fame this past season with a whopping 84.55% of the ballot. It's good that she made it as this was her last year on the ballot. Congratulations Maya, you deserve it! And now we'll revisit her nomination episode from Season One with Liz Shannon Miller!

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