SNL Hall of Fame (Dewvre podcasts and such.)

Aidy Bryant

Get ready to laugh! In this episode, host jD is joined by our fantastic panelists Joe and Shari to celebrate the comedic genius of Aidy Bryant. From her unforgettable sketches to her iconic characters on Saturday Night Live, we dive deep into the moments that made her a standout on SNL.

We’ll discuss some of Aidy Bryant’s best SNL highlights, her incredible journey through comedy, and what made her one of the most beloved cast members. Whether you’re a die-hard SNL fan or just discovering the magic of Aidy Bryant, this episode is for you!

🎉 Class of Season 6 Voting Alert! 🎉

Mark your calendars! Voting begins Monday, December 2nd, and runs until Friday, March 13th at midnight. Make your voice heard—vote for your favorite SNL legends to join the Hall of Fame!

Join the Fun:

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @snlhof

📧 Email: snlhofwc@gmail.com

👥 Facebook: facebook.com/groups/snlhof

🌐 Website: dewvre.com/snlhof

📺 YouTube: youtube.com/@dewvre1974

🎙️ Love what you hear? Subscribe to The SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler Podcast and leave us a review! Join the conversation and share your favorite Aidy Bryant sketches with us.

Let’s keep the SNL fandom alive—one laugh at a time! 

🎙️ Welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler Podcast! Join jD, Shari Fesko, and Joe Gannon as they kick off Season 2 by diving into a discussion: the case for Chevy Chase as an SNL Hall of Fame inductee!

This week, we break down:

✅ How Chevy Chase helped define SNL’s First Season 🎭

✅ His Weekend Update legacy – did he create the blueprint for modern SNL news satire? 📰

✅ Classic SNL Cast Members and where Chevy ranks among them 🏆

✅ The evolution of Best SNL Moments and why Chevy’s short tenure still holds weight 🔥

✅ How YOU can Vote for the SNL Hall of Fame – Class of Season 7! 🗳️

📅 Voting Details:

🗓️ Opens: Monday, May 12th

⏳ Closes: Friday, May 4th at 11:59 PM ET

🔟 Every voter must pick at least 10 inductees – but you can choose as many as you like!

🎧 Listen now and join the conversation!

We want to hear YOUR thoughts on Chevy Chase’s SNL impact and other SNL legends.

👉 Did Chevy deserve his spot in the Hall of Fame?

👉 What’s your favorite classic SNL sketch from Season 1?

👉 Who should be next in the Hall of Fame?

Drop us an email at snlhofwc@gmail.com 📩, or hit us up on socials:

🔹 Instagram: @snlhof

🔹 Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/snlhof

🔹 Website: dewvre.com/snlhof

🔹 YouTube: youtube.com/@dewvre1974

📢 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate & review! Help us keep the SNL conversation going every week. Hit follow and stay tuned for next week’s episode where we welcome SNL superfan Andrew Haynes to make the case for the one and only Kevin Nealon! 🎭🔥

Episode 17: Honoring Dick Ebersol with the Don Pardo Award

Welcome back, SNL diehards! In this special episode of The SNL Hall of Fame, host jD is joined by Matt Ardill and Joe Gannon as they celebrate the legacy of Dick Ebersol, this year’s recipient of the prestigious Don Pardo Award. Ebersol’s contributions to Saturday Night Live helped shape the show into the cultural powerhouse we know and love today. Tune in as we dive into his incredible impact and share why he deserves this iconic recognition.

🏆 The Don Pardo Award: A Legacy of Excellence

With three honorees now, this award continues to spotlight giants of SNL history. Following Don Pardo and The Saturday Night Live Band, we’re proud to welcome Dick Ebersol into the Hall of Fame.

🗳️ Vote Now for the Class of Season 6!

The ballots are open starting Monday, March 2nd. Don’t miss your chance to decide who joins the Hall of Fame this year! Voting ends Friday, March 13th, at midnight. Be part of SNL history by casting your vote today.

📢 We Want to Hear From You!

Let’s keep the conversation going! Share your favorite Dick Ebersol moments or tell us who you’re voting for in the Class of Season 6:

• Instagram: @snlhof

• Email: thesnlhalloffame@gmail.com

• Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/snlhof

• Website: dewvre.com/snlhof

• YouTube: youtube.com/@dewvre1974

🎧 Subscribe & Stay Tuned!

Never miss an episode of The SNL Hall of Fame! Hit that subscribe button, leave a review, and share this podcast with your fellow SNL enthusiasts. Let’s celebrate the legends who’ve made Saturday nights unforgettable.

Saturday Night Live Hall of Fame Podcast – Episode 14: Jon Lovitz

In this episode, jD and the crew dive into the SNL career of Saturday Night Live legend Jon Lovitz, a cast member known for his distinct comedic style and unforgettable characters. Join us as we revisit Lovitz’s classic SNL sketches, iconic moments, and enduring influence on both 1980s SNL cast highlights and beyond.

[5:00 - 10:00]: We kick things off by exploring some of Jon Lovitz’s most memorable SNL personas, including his roles as The Pathological Liar and Master Thespian. Lovitz’s comedic timing and unique character choices continue to resonate with fans today.

[15:00 - 20:00]: Discover what made Lovitz stand out among other SNL cast members and why his performances are remembered as some of the best of his era.

[25:00 - 30:00]: We delve into Lovitz’s top sketches, unpacking the reasons his characters, from the theatrical to the absurd, left an indelible mark on Saturday Night Live.

[35:00 - 40:00]: Thomas and Brad analyze how Lovitz’s influence spread beyond his SNL years, shaping future SNL generations and setting a bar for comedy within and outside of the show.

[45:00 - 50:00]: Reflecting on the late 80s and early 90s, we consider how Jon Lovitz’s work contributed to what many consider a “golden era” for SNL. Lovitz’s bold character choices made him a fan favorite, and his legacy is still celebrated in today’s comedy circles.

[55:00 - 1:00:00]: We wrap up the Jon Lovitz’s episiode with his post-SNL career and his impact on comedy’s evolution.

If you love reliving iconic SNL moments and exploring the legacies of SNL Hall of Fame legends like Jon Lovitz, subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite platform. Join our community on social media @snlhof, become part of the discussion in our Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/snlhof, and visit dewvre.com/snlhof for more insights and updates. Don’t miss future episodes as we continue to celebrate the legends who defined Saturday Night Live!

Description: Dive deep into the amazing career of Scarlett Johansson, the highest-grossing actress of all time, with special guest Kirsten Turnbull. Explore her incredible journey as an actor and six-time SNL host, her memorable characters, and her potential to become an EGOT. Don't miss this captivating episode as we pay tribute to this remarkable actress and her many accomplishments.

Show Notes:

- (0:00:08) SNL Hall of Fame Podcast: Kirsten Turnbull joins the show, discussing Scarlett Johansson's career, including her 77 acting roles, 5 producer roles, 2 director roles, 21 soundtrack credits, and her impressive singing career.

- (0:13:15) Scarlett Johansson's SNL Hosting Career: Kirsten and the host explore Scarlett's journey on SNL, her ability to master comedic roles and characters, and her memorable performances.

- (0:29:35) Christmas Tropes and Scarlett's SNL: Discussing her 2019 Christmas episode of SNL, her monologue, and the memorable sketches that made it a standout episode.

- (0:34:05) Scarlett Johansson's SNL Christmas Sketches: Exploring the sketches that made her 2019 Christmas episode memorable, including Hot Tub Christmas and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, showcasing her comedic timing and confidence in Hollywood.

- (0:43:29) SNL Sketch Analysis: Examining Scarlett's ability to bring her characters to life and her comedic timing when hosting SNL, with a focus on her pet translator sketches and her impersonation of the Millionaire Matchmaker.

- (0:52:15) ScarJo's SNL Legacy: Celebrating Scarlett's incredible talent for creating memorable characters and her comedic timing, discussing her standout performances in sketches like Choking Poster and Jingle Riders, and her popularity as an SNL host.

Keywords: Scarlett Johansson, SNL, Kirsten Turnbull, comedy, acting, EGOT, Christmas episode, sketches, Hot Tub Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, pet translator, Millionaire Matchmaker, Choking Poster, Jingle Riders, Hollywood.

jD, Matt, and Thomas are joined by Will Norman to discuss the career of Darrell Hammond and make his case for inclusion in the SNL Hall of Fame.

Transcript:

[0:43] Hey, it's Shady here and I'm back for another week here in the SNL Hall of Fame podcast studios.

[0:53] Thank you so much, Doug. It is great to be here and we love doing this program for you.

We are in the homestretch of season four, so why don't you find yourself a comfy spot along the wall and take a look around.

But before you do, please 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, musicalguest, 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 of Fame.

We've got a heck of a class shaping up in this round.

I don't know how it will turn out.

We rarely can make those sorts of predictions, but we will be doing so.

We will attempt to do so in our annual round table that is coming up very soon.

We've got a few more episodes, and then, like I say, we're in the homestretch.

It'll be the round table, and voting will be open. So let's get right into things, and talk about what we're going to talk about this week.

We are going to be looking at the career of longtime cast member and now announcer, Daryl Hammond.

[2:22] So Thomas will be joined by Will Norman.

Friend of the show and they will get into a lovely conversation We'll listen to a sketch We'll get ourselves fully prepared for the vote by learning as much as we can about why DarrylHammond belongs in the SNL Hall of Fame and then we'll call it a day That's how we play the game.

It's really quite simple But now, you can see I'm wandering away from the door and I'm heading to the fulcrum of the main entrance doorway and the closet doorway, where those twointersect is a corner that we often hang out in before we start our show.

And that is Matt's minutiae minute corner. Uh, we're going to learn a little bit more about Mr. Hammond when we get our hands on our friend, Matt, which let's do that right now. Shall weMatt? Matt.

Track 3:

[3:27] Hey Jamie. What's up?

Track 2:

[3:28] Not much. How are you doing? My friend?

Track 3:

[3:30] I'm great. I am looking forward to dig Darryl Hammond, a terrific artist, terrific impressionist.

One of my favorite cast members. Yeah. Five foot seven born October 8th, 1955. He was born in Melbourne, Florida, just outside of Orlando.

He had a very troubled childhood, growing up in a family plagued by abuse and mental health issues.

This has led to an outspoken advocacy around his own diagnosis with bipolar disease and schizophrenia.

He wears black when not performing in memory of a friend who committed suicide in 1992.

He studied baseball at Brevard Community College and was a teammate of future Padres and Giants manager, Bruce Bocci.

You're gonna have to trust me, I don't know if that's the right way to say his last name.

Not a sports fan. Hopefully I got that right.

Was actually inspired to take this to the stage by Truman Capote, who spoke at his school.

Seeing Truman get laughs, Darryl said, whatever this is, I want it.

After getting a degree in advertising from the University of Florida, he moved to New York to pursue performance after the encouragement of his university theater professor.

[4:49] Early days had him working as a waiter performing theater roles and doing stand-up before returning to Florida to work as a radio DJ.

He himself is a regular of the Howard Stern show to this day.

He holds 45 acting credits and four writer credits, having appeared on shows including Criminal Minds, The Kicker, and I can't recommend this show highly enough.

It is one of the funniest things on television, At Home with Amy Sedaris.

Trust me, watch it. He is great in it, but the show as a whole is stellar.

A late starter, he began performing stand-up at 26 and didn't move to New York permanently until 32.

[5:36] While working as a cruise comedian, he was cornered in the bathroom by a man who forced him to take a dollar bill.

The bill had trace amounts of cocaine and he was arrested as part of an entrapment scenario popular with grifting tourists.

So that just reminds you, always be careful and never take a dollar from a stranger.

Consummate Impressionists having impersonated over 107 different celebrities, and honestly the best Bill Clinton there ever darn was, he gained fame actually for his Elmer Fudd andLooney Tunes impersonations, releasing a comedy single called Rappin', which was was regularly played by one of my heroes, Dr.

Demento! It was so popular, it was included on the show's 20th anniversary compilation.

Okay, little aside here, I actually used to listen to the Dr.

Demento show back when it was on Chum FM, in the middle of the nights on Sundays.

I remember listening to this.

I loved it, and I did not know it was him until today. This is awesome.

Track 2:

[6:40] Awesome indeed. Let's take it downstairs to our friend Thomas Senna with Will Norman to discuss Daryl Hammond a little more. Take it away, Thomas.

Track 4:

[7:23] Matthew, JD, thank you so much for educating us as always.

You guys do such a great job there with the Minutia Minute.

And this is a really, really interesting one, an interesting topic today.

I think of a cast member who I've always been fascinated by, definitely.

And it was the longest tenured cast member before Kenan Thompson eventually broke his record.

But I've just always been fascinated by this guy. It's Daryl Hammond is our topic today on the SNL Hall of Fame.

And joining me to discuss Daryl Hammond's SNL journey is a wonderful guest, someone who I've been on the Saturday Night Network with. And he was on Beyonce.

He broke down Alec Baldwin with me. So I wanna welcome Mr.

Will Norman. Will, how you doing? Doing great, Thomas. It's great to be back with you again.

Talking some more SNL. I think we have a very fascinating cast member to talk about today.

So I'm excited to dive in and talk about all of Daryl's contributions to the show and see if we can make a good case for him to get into the hall.

Yeah, yeah. And you've been on here to talk about, as I said, a host in Alec Baldwin, musical guest in Beyonce.

[8:38] Now we get your perspective on a cast member.

So I'm curious, Will, like I don't think I've asked you this before, like when you're your big SNL fan, SNL historian, you've been watching the show for a while, like what do you look for?

And just kind of what are facets of a cast member that sticks out to you?

[8:57] Yes, like, I'm looking to cast members. Number one, I mean, you want someone who's going to bring something that is, they have their peaks of what they do well are stand out, theyjump off the screen, I might have mentioned to before, but when it comes to these cast new cast members, I'm very, I always pay attention to their first obviously on screen appearances.

But if they do weekend update appearances, I'm always very in tune to like, how do they come on the scene? Do they come on hot? Do they jump off the screen in terms of their energy,the way that they present themselves?

Are they really great characters? Do they do great impressions?

[9:33] Do they have, do they work in our good, you can tell they do good writing in the background to be able to present those things on screen.

Like those are some of the things like, what do you bring to the show?

What's your skillset? I'm looking at those kinds of things. And then I think also just how well do they play with other cast members? Who is it that they're interacting with? Are they ableto blend?

I'm a big fan of the cast members who are very versatile, the ones that are able to carry a sketch, but can also have those funny one-liners in the background of the sketch and not need tobe necessarily centered. Are they someone who's gonna, like you said, bring those characters, or someone who's gonna do weekend update features?

And then also, are they someone that is timeless? We're talking about the Hall of Fame today.

There's a lot of times with either hosts, sometimes definitely can be of their time.

[10:18] Musical guests, same thing, they could be someone that's just of their time, and they kind of struck where the iron was hot and got an SNL.

With cast members, I'm looking for someone who I could see them popping up on the show now.

I can see them popping up in the 70s, the 90s, and they have something that they can bring to the cast that is timeless, that they can fit in seamlessly.

And I think it goes to, you know, we talk about SNL a lot as being like a team, right?

And we talk about kind of in the sports lens sometimes, but someone's a good teammate, you know, kind of goes back to how are they able to integrate and how are they able to make theirimpact without needing the show to necessarily be about them while still being a star.

Those are things I look into for a cast member. Yeah, I think those are all great.

If we were to design a cast member from scratch, like weird science style or whatever, those would be definitely big facets. Today we're talking about a very well-known impressionistfrom his time at SNL.

[11:12] Arguably, and we can maybe discussed this I don't know but one of the arguably the best impressionist in SNL history a lot of people would say so I'm curious to just specifically asfar as impressions what do you look for in a great impression and impressionist I would say for one I definitely agree with you you're looking at Darryl Hammond I was gonna positionthis question to you I want to stay focused on Darryl obviously but I would say that he is definitely I think for most fans would have to be on the SNL Mount Rushmore for impressionists,right?

Like, whatever your four are, like, if he's not on there, you know, what are we watching? You know, what are we doing here?

But in terms of impressions and impressionists, I think, once again, it goes to those few qualities.

One, with the impressions, is the impression really accurate?

I mean, I do think that there is something to be said about people who can do those very accurate impressions of whoever it is, from pop culture, politician, actor, actress, whatever it is.

But then also, do they bring a unique take to that impression?

It's always fun when you can hear someone do an impression and the crowd, the first time they do it, the crowd's kind of gasping, like, wow, that sounds just like such and such, right? Butthen also, what kinds of slant do they bring to that impression?

[12:29] And what kind of take do they bring to the person? Are they focusing on why the person is famous?

Are they focusing on their, the way that they speak, the way they act.

And I think the other part of it is when I'm looking at impressions is like, what is it that they, how are they able to utilize that on the show?

Is it like I said, so we can update feature, are they centering this person in real life events in sketches? How are they able to deploy that and be able to have that person interact with otherpeople around them?

Those are kinds of things I'm looking for with Impressionists and then you know I think.

[13:01] Whether they have like a Daryl, who has, I think, almost 100 impressions to do on the show, or they might have five, you know, what's the peak of that?

Like, are you do you start to be I think, are really important and what I look for from an impact on the show.

I think Daryl definitely hit all those heights in different ways with his different characters or different impressions I should say as well.

I agree with you and you hit on something that I've heard a lot from SNL fans and I've always believed this myself is you have to have a point of view with your impression I think. Youhave to have an angle.

It can be exciting initially if somebody really sounds like the person who they're doing the impression of but then what? But like, you know, where do you go from there?

And I'll pick on somebody who who's never been on SNL. So we're going to go outside of the SNL sphere because I love all my SNL cast members.

So I don't want to single anybody out.

But somebody outside of SNL is somebody like Frank Caliendo who does really accurate impressions.

I've always struggled in a lot of cases to find his point of view with his impressions.

[14:22] If he's on, as John Gruden on one of the NFL kickoff shows or something like that, he sounds remarkably like them and can do their mannerisms, but I never really, they've alwaysleft me cold because I've never really found an angle that Frank Caliendo has taken with a lot of his impressions.

Does that make sense? No, that makes total sense because I think a lot of times, too, and maybe it's the format that, let's say for Frank Caliendo, where it is kind of a jukebox.

Can you put this in and give me a minute of you just being that person and just kind of making fun of them, but it's just kind of a rapid fire impressions and phrases and things at you.

Whereas I think a lot of times with in the SNL sphere, even if someone is doing that, they are in service of, they're bouncing off of a weekend update anchor.

They are in a real life situation. They are doing, I should say, a sketch obviously, but they are interacting with people as that person, which brings more of a chance to have an angle versusjust kind of give me an accurate jukebox version of this person for a minute, which I think is great.

It's an awesome skill and an awesome talent. But like you said, the angle can sometimes be gone because you're just mimicking that person without bringing anything else to it.

Man, maybe if Frank Allendo was on SNL, he probably could show more of his comedic chops. So that's always possible, but as it stands, a lot of times when he does an impression, I'mleft a little bit cold for that reason.

[15:49] And it's only exciting for so long.

[15:53] Like, being totally, totally accurate.

Well, it's nice. It's only exciting For a few minutes and then like you got to give me more So yeah, so so we could get into his Daryl Hammond I should say we can get into DarylHammond's main impressions now and one of the big ones to me that really likes ticks all those boxes and all the criteria that you laid out as far as what you look for an impressionist isHis Bill Clinton good evening America I'd like to speak to you tonight because this week the Bill Clinton presidency suffered a crisis in leadership.

[16:30] It's been a bad week. First this Cheshna thing is getting me down.

People keep asking me questions like what am I gonna do?

I don't know. I mean I don't have a position.

And then I looked everywhere for that new Abercrombie and Fitch catalog you know the one with the naked ladies.

[17:14] What stands out to you about Daryl Hammond's Bill Clinton? Once again, I think it was an accurate impression, but it was also a fun impression.

He did hit a lot of the same beats, but he really made the impression of his own.

And one of the things that sticks out to me, you go back to, I'm sure we'll touch on this with other impressions, in the legacy of SNL, you never really own an impression. You're kind ofrenting it while you're on the cast, and it might be passed on to the next person.

Phil Hartman was doing Bill Clinton before Daryl came on the scene.

Daryl was still able to take it and make it his own and give his own spin, while also dealing with a lot of the things that were in the news about Bill Clinton that became a part of the entirecomedy universe and his presidency.

But he was able to really make it his own and you see the transition of being a smooth-talking Southern president and then being this laze and being this like, quote unquote, torturedhusband, right?

[18:15] And all these different slants that he brought to it based on what was going on in the news, while still being able to go to those beats, the thumb, the wink, the just the innuendo, andkind of winking at his own troubles and kind of being able to brush it off and kind of being that the coolest person in the room and not faced by certain things.

So bringing all those things that were going on in real life to the impression while keeping it fun and having fun with the fact that he was going to those same beats, I thought was a reallycool way for him to do it.

And there's obviously a lot of sketches where you see those sides come through.

But I think him being able to make that his own and having even Bill Clinton like the impression and being invited to speak and do Bill Clinton in front of Bill Clinton the same way thatyou saw Dana Carvey do Bush in front of Bush.

When you have the person, especially someone like the president who kind of gives the nod is like, I like your impression of me. I think when you look at SNL in general, to have basedon how much we go, the show goes to the political sphere.

[19:19] Having a political impression that the person who's doing it and says the president say I like that one I think it's probably one of the highest honors you can get as a cast membersince it's a well They have to go to regardless of how well someone can do the impression So those are my general thoughts on on Darryl's bill, but I'd love to hear yours too Thomas Likewhat comes to mind for you when you're thinking about his Bill Clinton and what he brought to the table?

Yeah It's just so fully formed his Bill Clinton and I think it's because Darryl has said that he he studied hours upon hours of tape on Clinton.

This is the one that he really just like worked on like crazy to get.

First of all we talked about like it's great to sound and have the mannerisms like the person you hit on it like he definitely did he had the the thumb thing he had the vocal fry down to thesouthern draw and it's kind of cool he said that Clinton reminded him of John F Kennedy in a way Like he said Clinton was maybe trying to be like John F. Kennedy. He took inspiration.

So what Darryl Hammond did And what made the impression click for Darryl?

Was it Darryl did Kennedy's inaugural address from the early 60s in a southern accent like not on the show But he just when he was just trying kind of trying to form this impression So hesaid that's what clicked so it's really neat to see an impressionist like find that angle and that was Darryl's way in to Bill Clinton, Will.

[20:44] Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. I didn't even know that, which is really cool.

And I think it goes to something that can be taken for granted, but just Daryl's commitment to getting the impression right.

Because it's not a character where you're just saying, this reminds me of my third grade teacher.

I'm gonna impress my third grade teacher and no one knows who it is.

I'll turn that person into a character or Target lady, There's church lady.

There's so many different characters have been on the show that you can't say well that doesn't sound like a person I'm talking to whatever Jay Fair is doing simple Yes It's like when youhave that like his dedication to getting it right and finding that angle I think is what made him so great and like stories like that just really drive home how seriously he took it and how heWorked to get these impressions, right?

Yeah, are there any Bill Clinton moments that stand out to you with Daryl?

[21:40] Man, there are quite a few. I mean, I think the ones, I'll give a couple that kind of stood out to me.

There's the cold open where he's reading the Paula Jones deposition.

He's reading it aloud to the nation. And then the president escorted me down a narrow hallway from the Oval Office to a dining room and back.

I was thirsty and he offered me a drink.

Before we reached the dining room, president reached out and tried to kiss me, he lifted his hand and put it on my breast and then my hand to his penis.

That is hot! Jackie Collins my ass.

[22:24] He's talking through obviously the salacious details of what's going on with, you know, this month, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but he's enjoying it and reading it like it's It's likea romance novel and he's kind of getting a kick out of it in a way that you would never expect someone to be approaching their own controversies and kind of hocking it and holding upthe book with the fake art cover of him dressed up like he's Fabio, as he says in the sketch.

So it's like you have him doing that whole sketch and then you have Will Ferrell coming in at the end as Kenneth Starr, kind of like as the way out to kind of subpoena him as DarylHammond to get him out, for everyone that's even impersonating the president because it's obviously a big issue and there's obviously opinions with the trial.

[23:08] But it's like him being able to, like you said, bring a very, obviously serious thing that's going on that everyone is talking about and bringing that angle to it of pride, excited aboutit.

That's just not an angle you would expect anyone that's listening to take and for him to be able to do it and give, you know, deliver it with this like, the Southern charm and smiling anddoing the thumb and the bite, the lip bite and all these things.

And it's just kind of a, you said in a serious situation, the very funny way to wink and be like, I'm, you know, Bill Clinton and that doesn't bother me.

So that's one that stood out to me for sure.

Yeah, that one actually really stood out to me too. I took note of that when I was rewatching.

It was funny to see Daryl out of character too. We didn't always see him out of character as himself on SNL, so that was pretty cool.

There was also a sketch where he was on, as Bill Clinton was on a three-way phone call.

Saddam Hussein, who was played by Will Ferrell and Monica Lewinsky played by Molly Shannon.

And they were on this three way phone call like they were just all three of them knew each other really well. Saddam apparently knew Monica Lewinsky in the sketch, not in real life inthe sketch.

Saddam and Monica Lewinsky obviously knew each other. So they just had this three way phone call that was just hilarious.

I think this gets played on like best ofs and retrospectives for good reason because I rewatched it. I'm like, Oh my God. Wait, are you watching Dawson's Creek right now?

[24:38] No, I am typing it.

[24:45] And do not tell me what happens to Paisley.

All right, um, hey, let me say hi to Saddam. OK, hold on a second.

Saddam, are you still there? Who is that, one of your Jewish friends? No. Well, yes, so. Hey, Saddam. Monica, you never call me anymore.

[25:12] Daryl Hammond's just, he does subtle things with his reactions to what other people are saying and his mannerisms and his smirk.

And this is one where I think it's great to wink at the audience.

A lot of times, I like when performers don't wink at the audience when they make a joke.

But in something like this, that's part of the game.

That's part of the persona of this character is to he's really enjoying being president.

He's really enjoying all of this, even though he's, he's getting run through the mud in a very public way. He's enjoying it too. And Daryl's playing this perfectly. I agree.

And it's, and I think that you said the nature of the character, what there's so many opportunities for him to do the camera facing addresses as in cold opens and kind of talking directly toAmerica.

Even more permissible as president to always kind of be smiling and just enjoying the spotlight, right?

And you talk about him having these, you know, kind of being dragged through the mud, you know, based on what he was, you know, he's doing like, very publicly.

One that stood out to me as well was there's a weekend update feature where it's Bill Clinton and he is reviewing the movie Independence Day.

Well, getting back to the film, Mr. President, was there anything that you didn't like? Well, I felt the character of Will Smith's girlfriend, the beautiful stripper, could have been developedmore.

[26:37] We never learned much about her. For example.

Does she have friends? Are they also strippers?

[26:49] Obviously, if it was not for the movie, you know, it's about aliens attacking and they come back and you know, we're having to fight these aliens.

And that's his action movie. And he comes out and he's talking to Norman, his whole focus, and why he loves this movie is that in the movie, spoiler alert, sorry, that the president's wifedies at some point in the helicopter crash.

And so the whole time, he's just like, I just love this movie.

And he's really harping on how great it would be and how he's wondering about this situation, how he's so happy for the president with his wife dying.

It's a very morbid take, but given what's going on in the news, the way he's still smiling and gaffawing and having a good time with it, you're kind of like, okay, that's just Bill being Billkind of thing.

And then he's talking about, I think at one point in time, Vivica A.

Fox, who plays a stripper in the movie, he's asking, I wanted to learn more about her.

And he kind of dives into some of those not flattering aspects of Bill Clinton's persona.

But to your point earlier, he's able to do these things and still kind of be smiling and being very, trying to be very charming throughout these things, in that way, these things are rolling offmy back.

And obviously, there's been a lot of litigation looking back at how, as a country, everyone handled those things and looked at those things, the seriousness of it.

But even looking back at it, you can still see him making fun of how lightly.

[28:19] He was taking it, you know what I mean? And still being able to bring that lightheartedness to something that was very serious.

But you realize as a viewer, oh, this is a serious situation, but he's just cool and not phased by these things.

So I thought that was another one, another example of him being able to, whether it was the deposition, the three-way call, Independence Day, him bringing different angles to this fullyformed character in different ways that I think were really fun, because you would never see the president doing these things.

But it's just fun to be able to him to be accurate and be able to get to those places, which is cool.

[28:52] Yeah, I think he took an element of the real Bill Clinton too.

Everything that I've heard about Bill Clinton is he's like the most charming person in the room.

He makes everybody feel like they're the most important person in the world when he's talking to them, for better or for worse, quite honestly, because he could use that charm for not sogreat things as we saw here.

And by the way, I think it's kind of neat to see over the years that Monica Lewinsky's has a more positive public image nowadays compared to what people are kind of retroactivelyapologizing to Monica Lewinsky for how they treated her back then.

But that was kind of the Bill Clinton charm playing out and it was a real thing and I think Daryl tapped it into it well and I loved when he appeared on Weekend Update.

I'm glad that you brought up one of his Weekend Update bits because I love that he took this Bill Clinton character and put him on the update desk because it's just such a such a great fit.one where he critiqued the presidential candidates.

[29:47] That was that that one cracked me up. But it was just really neat.

It's like a versatile character for him to be able to go sketches, update cold open.

He really should be proud. And I know Darryl from reading his, his book.

He's definitely really proud of this Bill Clinton. Yeah, he did a really good job. And it's interesting to like, I think we sometimes, I don't want to say it next, I'm missing it for myself, butsometimes you take for granted, the show gets a lot of grief because when they have to talk about politics and you have the president who, given what's going on during the presidency, isgoing to be the number one thing that people are talking about.

You're thinking about the Trump presidency, and then you think about Clinton and what was going on there.

You kind of can't ignore it. So to have someone that was doing such a great job as the president from an impression standpoint, to be able to roll that out in so many different ways andpeople to not be like, Oh gosh, here's Bill Clinton again.

[30:45] It never seemed like it had that feel to it.

It was always kind of like, Oh, here's Daryl doing Bill again.

He's showing up, what's he going to do this time? And to deploy it in those ways, I think was a credit to him and the oppression he did and all the things he did with it during that timewhen the president's front and center.

Yeah. This one was just a truly defining impression and character for Daryl Hammond.

Where do we go from here? What else do you want to talk about as far as Daryl goes?

Oh man, I think, so I guess we could keep it in the same vein of like his, you know, his political impressions.

So I was kind of thinking going from there going into Al Gore.

So Al Gore, obviously another great impression that Daryl did.

And I think when you look at his Gore. I think that there's a lot of conversation after one of the sketches I want to talk with you about, about his effect on potentially the election.

And similar to what we saw later with Tina Fey and Sarah Palin, the accuracy, the take he took on Al Gore during the first presidential debate, I thought was hilarious.

A hilarious rewatch for those who haven't seen it. The sketch that came to mind was the first presidential debate between Gore and George W. Bush.

[32:03] And essentially, he plays Gore as being very, in Daryl's own words, as kind of like an overbearing teacher, talking very slowly and deliberately and being the smartest person in theroom explaining things.

And of course, you see Will Ferrell as Bush playing the grown up frat kid who's running for president out of his depth and doesn't really know what's going on.

And there's just so many good lines in that sketch. And once again, the accuracy that he brings to it, the writing in the sketch is fantastic.

So like it's deployed perfectly talking about getting a great impression where you can get someone to say things that they probably wouldn't say normally.

Daryl was great at that, obviously. So, you know, he's obviously references making fun of the term lockbox and referencing lockbox numerous times throughout the sketch. in my plan.

The lockbox would also be camouflaged.

Now, to all outward appearances, it would be a leather-bound edition of the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.

But it wouldn't be.

It would be the lockbox.

[33:19] There's a lot of gray lines in that, but there is a point in time where he is, as Al Gore brings out a picture of this elderly woman named, and he's talking about the importance ofhealth care.

And he's like, yeah, someone's Edda Munson. And he starts describing, he's like, she's a dear friend.

He starts describing all of her issues. And he's like, she has one kidney, she suffers from a rare form of polio, spinal meningitis, lung, liver, and pancreatic cancer, diabetes, and a rare formof cystic acne.

It's like this 94-year-old And it's like, he really does a really accurate take of Gore. And it's such a contrast with Farrell's Bush.

And then obviously ending in one of the great classic lines for Farrell, describe your campaign in one word, strategery.

[34:07] And then Gore saying lockbox. If anyone hasn't seen it, it's definitely worth a re-watch.

I'm sure you probably struck a chord with you as well. But just him bringing that accuracy to another political candidate, I just thought it was another feather in his cap.

Yeah, man, I think that sketch, that first presidential debate, that was in 2000, I think in October of 2000, it became viral before we really even called video clips and stuff viral.

Before things went viral, this thing kinda did.

I remember going to school, I was a freshman in college, and people were talking about it in class the following Monday.

My mom and dad were like, did you see this? Did you see that?

That was so funny. My mom and I quote it to each other to this day.

It's just, I think it's when too, SNL may have like reannounced itself as a political comedy leader.

[35:05] This because in the early 90s we know you know Dana did George HW Bush and Ross Perot, Phil Hartman did Bill Clinton and they had some really memorable sketches and theygot a lot of notoriety with politics but I think this specific presidential debate sketch was SNL re-announcing itself and Daryl and Jim Downey, Jim Downey the great Jim Downey wasbehind this and he they both of them really made it pop with the performance and the writing, making the Al Gore character talk about the lockboxes if it was a real thing, because the realAl Gore used lockboxes as a metaphor, but then people latched onto it.

So, so they took it one step further and he actually in the sketch, like I think, brought out an actual lockbox and was talking to it, describing where he was going to hide the key and all thisstuff.

Like, so it hit more often from like, this is a metaphor to like, no, this is actually a real lockbox.

And that was just like a great, great angle.

Daryl said that he, it was tough to get, for him to get a read on Al Gore initially.

He said there were like three different types of Al Gores. Like Al Gore didn't speak the same way in the videos that he watched.

So he thought that Al Gore just, he was speaking the way he, like a vocal coach kind of told him to speak.

So that's kind of what he based it on. Like just very robotic, very folksy, but stiff and awkward at the same time and his movements and intonation.

[36:33] So he definitely had a point of view with this one too, Will. Yeah, no, I would agree.

And he hit the nail on the head. Like he brought something new and a very, I mean, Al Gore's energy versus Clinton, right?

Totally different. So you see the versatility where we've seen impressionists or cast members who can only have one speed, right? They got one pitch.

It's a hundred miles an hour down the plate. he was able to find the nuance in someone who's much more understated than say Bill Clinton and be able to like I said find that that slant onhim and with the great writing obviously bring an angle that was resonated with people and you know is is obviously one of their most successful and you know funny and great like mostrewatchable sketches for sure from a political standpoint.

Yeah, I wanted to ask you, so after this sketch aired and after the election results especially, I mean this didn't get resolved until January of 2001.

A lot of us who were around we remember waiting months for the final decision, but this was one of the first times I remember SNL almost getting blamed in some circles for the outcomeof an election.

So do you think Do you think these political sketches could have an impact on elections?

[37:53] You know, it's a great, it's a great question. I think, I want to, you know, I would say in some ways, yes, because I think there's two, there's two parts to it.

One, as time goes on, we kind of forget how much people were paying, how much more people were paying attention to network television in the early 2000s, in the 90s, like, when SNLwas obviously the main, like, it was a appointment television, right?

And so I think that there's an aspect where more eyes are on it.

It was, like I said, viral before the idea of being viral was a thing.

[38:30] And when you look at presidential elections, there are those who are very much in tune with elections and politics year round.

It doesn't matter if it's an election year, they're looking at it all the time.

There's a lot of people who are tuning in and once it's It's time for maybe the primaries, maybe it's the general election, and they go, all right, who we got?

[38:51] Who are the candidates this year? And so when you have a show like SNL that has that platform, that's able to say, hey, here's our angle on the candidates, there are a lot of peoplethat take that, especially when it's presented in that hilarious package, and say, this is kind of what I think about this person.

Or with any impression, you hear it once and then it's like, I can't look at Bill Clinton without thinking about Darrell Hammond.

I can't look at, I'll go without thinking lockbox.

Those things I think do get cemented in people. And I think the slant that SNL takes can affect people. I don't think that it's to the point that it is, they're swinging elections.

[39:29] I think if they could swing elections or if they had that power, I don't think that, I don't think Trump would have won.

I guess maybe he hosted, so maybe they did, but no, I'm just kidding.

Yeah, there's probably some truth to that.

I don't know. But I do think there are definitely, from a pop culture standpoint, are the general takes on people.

I do think that there is that aspect because there are people who are just tuning in and getting a lot of their information from just during the election cycle and what popular commentators,their take is and the angle is on certain people at that critical time.

Yeah. Well, I'm reminded actually of a tidbit that I heard that Al Gore's campaign staff apparently thought that it could have an impact because they They made Al Gore watch this debatesketch so he could get an idea as to why he might come off negatively to some people.

They used it as an example to Al Gore and say, look, this is how SNL's kind of making fun of you.

Honestly, this is how you could be perceived as very robotic.

[40:27] So they were trying to show this to Al Gore to let him know, maybe show some personality.

Maybe don't lecture the country in that way.

So I think Al Gore's campaign staff...

Thought about how SNL, I don't know if they thought that maybe if they thought SNL specifically could affect the outcome of the can of the election, but they felt that the SNL had somepower to be able to portray their candidate in a certain way.

So I thought that was interesting that they're the outdoors on campaign staff was like, Hey, man, you got to watch this and cut it out.

And so that is that is very interesting, especially to that point when and at the time those clips are getting replayed over and over again, pre-YouTube, pre all the ways we connect viasocial media now, that's gotta be front and center and that's what people are thinking about you as a candidate based on what Daryl's doing.

Right, right. So yeah, now I wanna go outside of the political sphere.

Those were two great impressions, Al Gore and Bill Clinton, but stepping outside of the political sphere for a second and another impression that I think he might be most well known for,he probably loves his Bill Clinton the best, but I think he's even said that he gets comments on this every single day, it's his Sean Connery from the Celebrity Jeopardy sketches.

So yeah, Will, these had to have stood out to you like they did with me.

[41:57] Oh man, 100%. I mean, you can talk about this in one of two ways, right? And I think maybe we'll save, oh, and we'll talk about both of these, Like the Connery impression,obviously, is so much fun.

And not just the impression, the way that it was utilized, looking at it from this first appearance on Celebrity Jeopardy to like the final appearance, like they kind of build and grow whatthat character looks like and its interactions with Alex Trebek.

I heard, this is probably just your urban legend, but I heard there's been different, like the origins of where the sketch came from, but Norm MacDonald has taken some credit, like that hehad taken it from like an SETV, I think, a sketch.

There was talk of, I'm blanking on the other source, but I also heard that there was a point where like, Will Ferrell and Gerald Hammond were just like, in their free time, just somehowstarted doing like a Trebek and Connery impression and kind of just going back and forth, like just in general, just going like bantering back and forth and kind of ended up utilizing thatin the Celebrity Joplin sketches.

But when you think about how much fun he had with that sketch, like the accuracy, like he's talked about it as being like an SNL impression and like his first Connery show on screen wasvery accurate and then kind of turned a little more cartoonish as like they, you know, did the patent for my Celebrity Jeopardy. The Celebrity Jeopardy.

[43:22] Sketch, right, in all its iterations, is, to me, and we hate to go back to the Mount Rushmore thing, but like, when you talk about repetitive sketches on the show, it is what it is one of,if not the best recurring sketch that is essential SNL, like in the history of the show.

And when you think about that sketch, you cannot think of it being done without Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek and Darryl Hammond as Sean Connery.

It wouldn't feel right if someone else was doing that, while still having the ability to zoom in and out all these different other celebrity impressions and make it a showcase for that, whilestill having those two be that kind of way that centers it and that energy between the two of them anchoring the show.

And there's obviously so many iterations of Celebrity Jeopardy, But I would just say that it's not probably his best impression from the standpoint of the Bill Clinton one, being apresident, political, as we talked about.

[44:24] But it is an amazing impression and the impact it had on the show and the way it was used, I would say could make the case for being the most impactful one he's done because it'sjust an incredible use of that impression.

I could go on for a while. I'm going to take a pause here. No, definitely. That was great.

I'm going to let you get in here before we get into some of this sketch specifics.

But I just think that it's an amazing impression.

Now I have fond memories of this too. And it still resonates to this day.

I think people watch Jeopardy. There's references to those old celebrity Jeopardy even nowadays.

I think I saw a video recently, Ken Jennings, who's now for all intents and purposes, the host of Jeopardy now.

One of the categories was swords. And one of the contestants said, I'll take S words.

And Ken Jennings did acknowledge, it's actually swords but it was good you knew that Ken Jennings obviously knew where that came from Sean Connery it's still your board uh I'll takeswords for 400 it's actually not swords sir swords these are words that begin with s.

[45:36] But even to this day like a contestant on Jeopardy said s words and when the category was sword that's that's a direct thing that he pulled from Celebrity Jeopardy.

We hear that all the time the the penis mightier and like no that's the pen is mightier like just all these people try to come up with their own Jeopardy categories to and.

[45:56] We all I think we've all I don't know I'll speak for myself and say that I've tried to do like a Sean Connery impression when nobody was looking and see how accurate I was and mycousin and I would do the Sean Connery to each other and it was just so yeah very very I think Mount Rushmore it might be like that I'm thinking of like what's up with that for me issomething that's up there but this one is just amazing.

And there were two installments at the beginning. So the first installment of Celebrity Jeopardy, Sean Connery was in there with Burt Reynolds, and I forget who else. But then the nexttwo, Daryl Hammond played somebody else.

So Sean Connery didn't come back till the fourth one, but it was a different one.

He was almost kind of taking the place of the traits of Burt Reynolds because Norm Macdonald had left the show.

So that's when in the fourth In the fourth installment, we saw Sean Connery, like the really, like that's when his full-on innuendo and attacking Alex Trebek and Alex Trebek's mom and allof this stuff, that's when it really started taking into shape was that fourth installment.

It's just a great example of finding an angle with an impression, Will.

[47:07] Yes, no, 100%, and it's funny because, you know, you talk about, like, I think everyone, I don't think you're alone, Tyler, I think everyone has done a Connery impression, in the safespace, like, because it's just, it's a fun one, it's obviously a really fun one to do.

And I think Slavery and Jeopardy is probably one of the most quoted sketches on the show from a recurring standpoint.

Yeah, like you said, the cadence and the rhythm they found within the show to have Connery be that, like, Connery be antagonistic with Will Ferrell's Trebek.

Sean Connery, why don't you pick? Well, the game is afoot.

I'll take anal bum cover for 7,000.

[48:01] Oh, that's an album cover, not anal bum cover. I can read, Traback.

That says anal bum cover. I spent five years of my life trying to invent an anal bum cover, failing to do so is my greatest regret.

You have led a horrifying life. But I did put my top three, more or less, of Connery quotes within Celebrity Jeopardy, or his responses, I guess I should say.

And I think, obviously, a lot of mom stuff here. But he says, there's one point, the category, I think, is animal sounds.

And Connery says, this is the sound a cow makes, and he says, moo.

Trebek says, that's wrong. He says, that's the sound your mother made last night.

That's the sound your mother made last night. That was great.

[48:56] That was great. For everybody listening, I did not play audio from that.

That was actually me doing that, if you can't tell. I was going to say, you thought Connery was here and joined the podcast, but you could not get Darryl Hanneman on here.

But that was amazing. That was good. I had to gear up for that.

Yeah. That was good. And then he does the, what's the difference between you and a mallard with a cold? One's a sick duck.

I can't remember how it ends, but your mother's a whore.

[49:31] Just come out of left field. And then of course his answer of just write a number and he writes the letter V and his wager is suck it your back with the rest of the V making it a K.

It's just like... Despite your best efforts. That's correct. That is a Roman numeral.

[49:49] And then the, the, the burns and then the, the Hardy laughed at the Hardy laughed after, right, like.

He just had like, there's just, it's obviously so over the top.

[50:01] And obviously, this would never happen on Jeopardy. And I think the fact that Alex Trebek, obviously, like rest in peace was such a loved person, the idea that someone would beon the show and be this rude to him while in him still being so gracious and trying to just keep the show going, you know, I think all those things and find out ankles with it really worked.

But the energy, like you said, that he brought with Connery as they kind of had Norman Donald Exit the show and Burt Reynolds leaving and him being able to fill that void. I just thoughtthat it was like a really fun, very fun angle that he brought to it and on one of like said the best recurring sets in the history of the show.

Daryl described his Connery as a swashbuckler which I thought was interesting like that's what he had in mind was this swashbuckling guy who would just poke Alex Trebek's buttons buthe used the term swashbuckler which I thought which I thought was really funny and it's very evocative like I'm I'm like, yeah, I think that's a good description of this.

Yeah, that feels very, very accurate, 100%. Yeah, so that's three iconic impressions and characters.

Gosh, Bill Clinton, Sean Connery, Al Gore. Does he have anything else?

I know there's probably a couple, at least. I mean, he's done so much, but just things that might stick out.

There are a few I would throw out there.

For those who are maybe not as familiar with Darrell Hammond for whatever reason, maybe like they're a recent fan of the show. Like a couple, like I'll say honorable mentions and somesketches that stood out to me, like it's just fun rewatches.

[51:30] One, I would say this is in no particular order. I did a really good Phil Donahue.

And as a kid of the 90s, like watching like talk shows and like he does as a Phil Donahue, he does a tirade on Weekend Update.

Meanwhile, we've got a Republican Congress and the generals in the Pentagon are building B-1 bombers and flag is flying everywhere.

It's the 4th of July and mom and dad and Yankee Doodle, I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy, and God's in his heaven, all is right with the world.

And meanwhile, blacks can't register.

The Cuban missiles are pointed at our shores and ketchup is a vegetable. Ah!

[52:16] It's around the time that it's announced, Like, so I guess Rafael passed him, I think, in ratings.

And he comes on and he's talking enormous, we can update, update anchor.

And he just kind of goes on like a typical Donahue rant.

So it's kind of of his time where if you'd ever watched Donahue and weren't used to his like kind of long monologues and like him getting passionate, it is so accurate and so funny, just asa kind of a, an accurate impression.

It's just kind of a throwaway, but it's Donahue was really fun.

And big shoes to fill with that Donahue because Phil Hartman.

Yes. Has done a Donahue. And so people would obviously, SNL fans would definitely compare Daryl Hammond to Phil Hartman's Phil Donahue as they probably did with Bill Clinton aswell. So that speaks a lot to Daryl Hammond.

He made something like Phil Donahue his own when a great cast member in Phil Hartman did a Phil Donahue.

I find that that's an extra degree of difficulty, I think.

Yes, yes. I think it's a great point, Thomas, because when you are taking over an impression from someone who is also, you know, Phil Hartman, I think on a lot of people's routeRushmore, again, I'm gonna go ahead and beat that horse to the ground.

[53:26] But for all time cast members, it's a lot of pressure on that one, right, to take over two impressions he was doing.

The other two I was going to mention really quick are Chris Matthews, who, to those who don't know, Chris Matthews is the host of the show Hardball on MSNBC back in the day, a livedebate show, they go around the horn.

And there's an episode, it is from 2006, John McCain is the host.

And Darrell Hammond plays Chris Matthews, and he's talking to Rachel Dratch as Rebecca DeWitt, talking about terrorism, John McCain as another politician he knows I'm blanking onright now, and then Tracy Morgan as Harry Belafonte, who's just saying the craziest stuff.

And Daryl is centered in all of it as Matthews, going across the panel, reacting to them.

Are we safer today than we were pre-9-11? Joining us today, Associate Director of the ACLU, Rebecca DeWitt.

Hello, Chris. Boring. Also joining us, Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft. Thanks for having me, Chris.

[54:32] I had to. I was afraid you'd arrest me and put me in a camp.

And finally, he made headlines last week when he called Colin Powell a sellout, comparing him to a slave serving as Master Harry Belafonte.

Harry, welcome. Welcome. Welcome. What are you, some kind of slave master?

Oh, Belafonte. Crazy right off the bat. I love it.

If you haven't seen that sketch before, great way to see kind of the things talked about the beginning, right, with Daryl doing an accurate impression, making space for other cast members,playing his role perfectly, but being able to give people air for their great lines to breathe, making room for his great line deliveries, and being able to be this vehicle for nonsense in anaccurate impression for someone in the political sphere or wherever. rewatch if.

[55:28] You haven't seen that one. Yeah, I just love how he played Chris Matthews so grumpy, like Chris Matthews is kind of a grumpy dude, like that's kind of how he comes across on theair as it is, but just how Daryl just took that and turned it up to 11, just a little bit on the grumpiness.

It's just great. I always, always love seeing his Chris Matthews pop up.

That is a great one. I really love that sketch. That's always a fun, fun rewatch. And then, I know we talked about politics already, but this is just like one throwaway sketch.

It's obviously Daryl was doing Donald Trump as well before he was doing Donald Trump before I think like Taron Killam did it for a while and then for Alec did it now obviously with aJ.A.J.

[56:12] Doing it now. But there is a the time he was doing obviously Trump is most known for the Apprentice and then kind of got into the GOP debate.

But there's a there's a sketch where where he is playing Donald Trump doing a Domino's Pizza ad.

And action. Say cheese, burger, pizza, only from Domino's like the game.

Cut. Yeah. OK, that was great, except that, uh, you know.

That was great. Keep rolling, because I'm going to wing one now right off the cuff, Robin Williams style. And action. Cheese Louise, I'm hungry.

Hey, wait. I'm a slice of cheeseburger pizza from Domino's I like the game. Eat me.

[56:59] Trump comes on screen wearing a huge pizza and it's Seth Meyers in the background, like as the director, kind of giving him lines and feeding him lines.

And basically Darryl as Donald Trump, just butchering it, you know, basically in calling dominoes, dominios and like not getting the theme song wrong or not getting the theme songright.

At one point in time, I think he says, do do do do do do, do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do Apprentice and he's having a lot of fun with it.

It's a very silly sketch with some great lines in it. But like I said, those three you're talking about.

Donahue, Chris Matthews, Donald Trump. I mean, we've talked about six of hundred, like almost a hundred impressions he's done, and all of them are very accurate and he has a lot of funwith them. And those are a couple of ones I just wanted to throw in as honorable mentions for him.

One that really sticks out to me is his Regis Philbin.

I really loved, and that's another one, like Dana Carvey did a really good Regis, one that I really loved from Dana Carvey.

And so to see Daryl do it, I loved Daryl's Regis Philbin as well.

And just like he had Daryl had that vocal cadence down.

[58:28] Perfectly What'd you do last night well, I went to a big party last night It's happened on the green to celebrate the release of Diane Carroll's new record album Fancy it was veryfancy.

I mean this party was star-studded I mean, everyone was there.

The shouts at the end of sentences, you could feel his Regis getting more riled up and then it would just explode at the end.

[58:54] Like, yeah, it's just a testament to Daryl that I didn't immediately just want to see Dana do Regis Philbin when it appeared.

And Daryl was just so, so good at it.

I think there was one, there was a sketch in particular where they were auditioning for new co-hosts for Regis Philbin, so they kind of paraded.

It was almost a parade of impressions kind of sketch and Daryl just carry that thing so well and such a good sketch.

I just love that his version of Regis and he did the who wants to be a millionaire sketches I think to has Regis so that was really great. Also Dick Cheney another another political one butwe have to mention Dick Cheney. He did that over 20 times.

He played Cheney as just this really gruff no nonsense guy. It was almost a kind of the opposite.

It was like a foil to Will Ferrell's dim-witted George W. Bush.

He played it pretty much like Dick Cheney was the smart mastermind in the dynamic and he was the adult in the room.

There was a memorable one where Cheney's doing an interview with Tom Brokaw while riding a missile. Mr. Vice President, I'm sorry, but wasn't the plan to wait until Congress debatedthe issue?

That was one plan. I had another plan, Tom.

You don't get a pacemaker sitting around watching Anna Nicole Smith waiting for the rest of the world to join up.

Besides, it's nice to have a missile this size between my legs.

[1:00:22] It looks like you're having a snack up there, Mr. Vice President.

It's a lunchable mini pizza, Tom.

[1:00:29] They don't serve a meal on this flight, baby. me. He's on top of a missile like like in Doctor Strangelove.

Basically, he's writing this missile and that that was just that was such a fun sketch to go rewatch as Dick Cheney.

He rarely changed tone unless it was like a sinister laugh or something and it worked.

So that's I wanted to throw out the Regis Philbin and Dick Cheney as well.

But as you mentioned, he did over probably like 100 impressions on the show.

He was the impression guy. Yeah, No, 100% and to have someone on the cast that was that talented that could do that many impressions that well is, I mean, one of the reasons why I thinkwe, I think we both, I don't want to speak for you, Thomas, but I think we both think that he should be a surefire first ballot Hall of Famer.

Honestly, I think so. And I, of course, I, doing this show, I often don't editorialize, but sometimes I do. But I really do think Daryl Hannon's a Hall of Famer.

I honestly, and I do get a vote.

I don't just lead the conversations. I get a vote too. So I am gonna vote for Daryl Hammond.

[1:01:36] I've already started looking at my ballot. Our friends at the Saturday Night Network, Will, they're doing a cast member countdown and they actually, not John and them, but theyhad their listeners and social media followers and stuff, like submit names as to who they feel should be in the top 50 cast members.

So they're doing this countdown and Daryl was ranked number 33 in the countdown.

[1:02:00] So what do you think of that placement? I think, I honestly think he should be higher. Like I have him top 20.

Yeah, I was gonna say I feel like he's a top 20 cast member.

And I do think you know, I think it's, it's been really fun to listen to the countdown so far.

And I'm excited for those to another going to shift days coming up, but like, as the season gets kicked up, but has a fun to see where the fans place those those those cast members.

But I do think that Daryl is a top 20 cast member, because, you know, we talked about at the top of the show, right? Like, when you're thinking about a cast member, like all time great castmembers, and what they bring to the table.

I can't think of any era of cast that if Daryl said, I'm available.

And you know, Daryl Hammond in his prime is like, Hey, I can be here that they would say no, I think that we've obviously a lot of great people.

But when you think about what he brings to the table, and not just like, you know, sometimes with just like a moment here, or some people have had great peaks, or they've had greatcharacters or they've had like things that, you know, maybe I, feel different generations in a different way, but Daryl's consistency across all the volume of impressions he's able to bring tothe table, I agree with you.

I think he's definitely a top 20 cast member of all time. Um, and I, our friends at the S and N get your act together.

Let's figure it out. What are you guys doing? We're going to start a little feud with the network.

[1:03:29] You know, we love those guys. Yeah. go check out their Saturday Night Network's cast member countdown and to kind of maybe play devil's advocate and get in the brains offolks who might struggle with Daryl Hammond or remembering Daryl Hammond and how just how much he contributed.

I think sometimes maybe it felt like he wasn't part of the cast in a weird way because he had his niche and he was almost like it seemed like he was like in a different play on a differentplane as other cast members because he was the impression guy basically but Lorne didn't really want him doing many sketches in which he wasn't doing an impression.

Lorne wanted Daryl to always be ready to learn an impression that week of or last minute and Daryl was just great at that.

But I think maybe in some people's minds, the fact that maybe he didn't do as many non impression sketches, he didn't have any characters outside of impressions.

[1:04:26] I think that might hurt him a little bit. I know there too. There was also something unknowable sometimes about Daryl because he was always so immersed in the character.

He knew he never he didn't really go on update as himself as we see a lot of cast members he was always in character.

Sometimes he would appear, I think he co-hosted with Kelly Ripa on Regis and Kelly.

He took over for Regis for a couple days or something.

So every now and then we would see the real Daryl. But to me there was always too, something a little unknowable about him.

And he did feel like almost a separate entity from the rest of the cast.

So that's just kind of playing devil's advocate. I can kind of see how that might happen, Will.

[1:05:08] Yeah, no, and that makes total sense. And I don't want to guess, you know, Daryl's motivations.

Cause I mean, in some ways I look at it and I just say it's like devil's advocate, devil's advocate. Like sometimes, you know, actors will say, I don't want people to know that much aboutme because then it allows them to believe more. The characters are more believable. The impressions are more believable.

And the focus is on the impression.

But I do think that you're right in that. When you do that many characters, when you do the impressions, I think sometimes as new cast members come in, we kind of, as fans will say, Oh,this is the impressions guy, you know, and you can get pigeonholed into that.

That's happening with James Lawson Johnson now, right? Like where he's like, he'll kind of, he'll even be self-referential about like, I'm the impressions guy, but there's obviouslycapability to do more.

But I think when you look at, you know, for him, the volume, the accuracy, and I think his ability to still be from everything that I could see a team player on the show, right?

And to use his impression to, in concert with the writing to also showcase other cast members, to be centered when he needed to be, but also to facilitate the celebrity jeopardy, like to beable to know I'm gonna get some laughs, but also I'm gonna make room for everyone else's and the things that they're bringing to these characters.

I think all those things.

[1:06:26] Are reasons why he shouldn't be overlooked. And there's just, you know, we talked about it before, when you look at how many people have come on the show and have beenknown for their impressions, I just think that he kind of stands above everyone in terms of what he's able to do.

And because he did so many, it probably got overlooked, taken for granted.

And obviously, the more we get away from people, the less, you know, they get appreciated sometimes.

But I hope that people that are familiar with him or aren't, that they get a chance to like either re-watch and just re-appreciate a lot of things that he did in his contributions to the show.

And I think one thing that I would say too is, I think we take lately, obviously with Keenan, right? Talking about Keenan Thompson, 20 years, like headed into year 21 from the show, likethat longevity is obviously something that gets talked about and really celebrated.

[1:07:11] And I think once you get past, like when you're second on the list, like people can overlook it.

But I think the fact that he was on the show for 14 years and had that record, and obviously was a part of two different eras and generations of the cast, I think just speaks to how much hemeant to the show and how they just kind of want him to be there to be able to bring what he does across those different areas when he from when he started 95 to leave me in 2007, like,did a really great job.

And I hope that people, like I said, can appreciate all his contributions, even if they were, quote unquote, just impressions.

I mean, before we get out of here I wanted to encourage everybody to go read Daryl Hammond's book if you haven't had the chance it was released in 2012 it was published in 2012 it'scalled God if you're up there and it's a cool peek into who Daryl is and it was really helpful for somebody like me who never really felt like I knew who he was really candid but he talksabout his struggles with alcohol and cocaine and and anxiety.

[1:08:14] As a matter of fact, he said before the first presidential debate that he was so nervous backstage that he cut himself with a razor blade.

Yeah, so he really, Darryl really opens up in this book and shares his struggles with substance abuse and anxiety and trauma and things like that.

And it really was just so, so fascinating.

And our friends at the Saturday Night Network, Sean Schneider interviewed Daryl Hammond not too long ago, so I encourage everybody to go check out that interview as well. So I justwanted to plug Daryl Hammond's book, God If You're Up There.

It's really fascinating.

As far as SNL alums go, that's a really, really good book.

So I think we did a good job of summarizing Daryl's candidacy for the SNL Hall of Fame. Will, I really appreciate you joining me today.

The day is ours! Sorry, that was my Connery. Sorry. I slipped it in there at the very end.

But I'm happy to be here. It was awesome to talk with you about Daryl.

I hope everyone gets a chance to revisit his old stuff. And as always, it's a pleasure to talk to you, Thomas, and talking about SNL and all these Hall of Fame candidates. Thanks for havingme.

Track 2:

[1:09:43] So there's that. Thanks so much Will, thanks so much Thomas, that was lovely, I learned a lot, [1:10:45] Let's dig into a sketch selection now from Mr. Hammond.

This is Daryl portraying Bill Clinton as our friend Matt said off the top, you know, arguably one of his most famous characters on SNL and just a great Clinton.

This is him on Weekend Update. Give it a listen.

Track 5:

[1:11:18] Good evening, America. Good evening, America.

Well, the primaries are underway. Looks like it's boiling down to McCain, Bush, Gore, and Bradley.

Four reputable men, any one of them would make an honest, scandal-free president.

Your next leader will show up where he's supposed to show up, say what he's supposed to say, and conduct himself with decorum at all times, thus restoring dignity to the Oval Office.",You're going to miss me, aren't you, buddy?

[1:12:04] You miss me already, I'm not even gone.

I mean, did you watch the primaries? Four boring guys in suits spewing out soundbites.

That's what you expected from these guys. That's how it used to be.

But I changed all that.

I made the presidency fun. I made the presidency exciting.

And when I go away, it's back to boring old politics as usual.

I mean, look at these guys.

Bill Bradley, what's his big scandal? He drank too much cream soda.

My fellow Americans do not view this man while operating heavy machinery.

Then there's Al Gore, look, I love this guy, you know that, but come on, English is Al Gore's second language.

His native tongue is binary code.

George W. Bush, here's his scandal, he was spoiled by his parents and he partied a little thirty years ago. Big deal. Do you know what I did this morning?

[1:13:27] I don't want to spoil it for you you know before it leaks out through the press but it involved a Polaris missile full of heroin and that girl from American Beauty Yes, it did.

And John McCain, folks, John McCain's not scandalous and sexy, he's just crazy.

Folks, that's an important distinction. Plus, what is his platform?

Honesty and straight talk? People, this is no way to live.

Which is why, my fellow Americans, for the remaining months of my presidency, I am rededicating myself to serving and entertaining the American people.

I promise you it is going to be a wild ride.

Oh, I'm going to start hanging out with Jay-Z. I will bring new meaning to the words, dear penthouse, I never thought it would happen to me but.

Here, here, here, watch this.

Okay, what is your name, sweetheart? Do you want to go to the Caribbean with the president? Well, alright then.

Imagine what I can do with eight more months! It's an exciting time to be alive.

Thank you. God bless you. President Clinton, everybody! I'm Colin Quinn, that's my story.

Track 2:

[1:14:52] That was fantastic. That's just a great example of what he was able to give to the writers.

Just fully formed, you know, creations that they can then work with him and write really tremendous output.

Yeah, I miss Hammond being on the show. And he was omnipresent in a way that Keenan is now. You know, you just expect him to see you there.

It's Saturday night, I'm gonna go visit Daryl Hammond and Keenan.

So it's really cool that he has continued to do the announcing.

I think that's just a testament to who he is and what he means to Lauren and what he means to the show and all of us.

[1:15:48] So does he make the Hall of Fame? I don't know. I don't know.

I feel like he should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. I do feel that way.

Time will tell though, we'll have to wait and see as the case may be.

Once voting opens, it's all up to you.

That's what I have for you this week. Hope you're well. Big thanks to Will Norman again.

Obviously to Thomas and Matt. And that just leaves us with one more thing to do.

And on your way out, if you wouldn't mind, by the weekend update exhibit, there's a light switch.

Turn it out, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.

🎉 Season 7 Premiere: Drafting the Hall of Fame Ballot 🎉

Welcome back to The SNL Hall of Fame! 🏆 It’s the start of our final season, and we’re kicking things off with our annual draft episode! This year, jD is joined by familiar faces Joe Gannon and Shari Fesko from the SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler Podcast, along with our brand-new chief conversationalist, Bill Kenney!

Together, they debate and draft some of the most iconic SNL cast members, hosts, musical guests, and writers to build the ultimate ballot for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. Who made the cut? Who was snubbed? Dive in to find out!

🎙️ Episode Highlights:

• The legacy of Weekend Update legends like Dennis Miller and Chevy Chase

• Celebrating underappreciated stars like Tim Meadows and Kevin Nealon

• The brilliance of SNL writers Anne Beetz, Bonnie & Terry Turner, and Tom Schiller

• Iconic SNL hosts including Jack Black and Larry David

• Musical legends Aerosmith and Eminem’s contributions to the show’s history

💬 Join the Conversation!

• Who do YOU think deserves a spot in the SNL Hall of Fame?

• Comment your picks and favorite SNL sketches or moments below!

👉 Subscribe and Follow Us:

🌟 Instagram: @snlhof

📧 Email: thesnlhalloffame@gmail.com

👥 Facebook: facebook.com/groups/snlhof

🔗 Website: dewvre.com/snlhof

📺 YouTube: youtube.com/@dewvre1974

Don’t miss a single episode of this final season! Hit that subscribe button and leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform. Your support helps keep the spotlight shining on the legendary history of Saturday Night Live!

We're looking for 3 lucky listeners to join us in our end of season Round Table episodes.

There are 3 seats up for grabs - one per table.

All you need to do accomplish in order to show your interest is send jamie@snlhof.com a 30-60 second video/audio file answering the question

"Which nominee from Season 3 is a Slam Dunk for getting into the Hall of Fame!"

Send this via email or WeTransfer to jamie@snlhof.com by 11:59 April 30th to qualify.

Only those selected will be contacted with next steps.

Thanks

Join Thomas, Matt, and jD as they welcome Ashley Bower to the show to discuss the shoo-in candidacy of Kate McKinnon. Do you agree she'll end up in the Hall. Time will tell.

Transcript:

Track 2:

[0:42] Hey, it's J.D. here, and thank you so much, Doug DeNance, for that warm welcome.

We are thrilled to be back here in the SNL Hall of Fame.

Before we go anywhere, take a look at that mat outside that says, Wipe your feet, sucka.

And wipe your feet, sucka. So there's that.

Listen, I'm going to get right to it. The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair where each episode we take a deep dive 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.

Track 2:

[1:30] So, you're chomping at the bit to get voting. You've only got one more week to wait.

If you are listening to this in real time, May the 6th is the date that we will be starting the voting and it will run through to May 17th, at which point we will tabulate the ballots and we'll check in with you on May 20th for our finale extravaganza and let you know who made the Season 5 SNL Hall of Fame. name.

It's going to be interesting. And today's nominee is about to throw a monkey wrench in all your plans because, well, let's go to Matt Ardill because I've got a question to ask Mr. Ardill.

Matt, my friend, I hope you're doing well. I have a question for you.

Track 3:

[2:22] Where do you start with a girl named Kate?

I don't know. There's so much, there's so much Such an incredible talent.

I'm just going to have to start at the beginning. I guess that's all I can do.

Go for it. All right. Kate McKinnon, height 5'3", born January 6, 1984.

78 acting credits, 4 writing credits, 5 soundtrack credits, and 1 producer credit.

She was born in Seacliff, New York, and attended Columbia University.

University uh growing up she had a pet iguana and she attended ucb in ucb manhattan school and uh yeah she grew up in a funny house full of funny people she and her sister were encouraged to watch mel brooks the producers on a weekly basis always watched snl growing up uh she thought Madeline Kahn was the tops and that that's a fact.

You can't argue with that.

That is, that is a.

Track 3:

[3:24] Great choice. Yeah, yeah. Now, her parents, they encouraged her to approach the world through the lens of comedy.

Now, Funny runs in the family. Her younger sister, Emily Lynn, is also a comedian and does stand-up and is part of a comedy double act with Jackie Abbott. Check her out on YouTube.

Super funny. Unfortunately, their father passed away when Kate was quite young, at the age of 18.

Track 3:

[3:51] But that didn't slow her down. She's a multi-instrumentalist, able to play piano, cello, and guitar.

She can also speak three languages, English, French, and German. She makes me sick.

Yeah. Well, that explains why her prime minister is such a good impression, because she can actually speak German.

Right, yeah. It's not just making the noises.

She knows the language. Her first job was as a little league umpire, but she left because she didn't actually know the rules for little league baseball, which is, you know, that's fair. No, it's foul.

Yeah, it's foul. It's foul. She was PETA's sexiest vegan in 2017, but she actually gave that up that title because she just like a true New Yorker missed cheese pizza.

Pizza um now she is an extreme introvert which she deals with by adopting funny voices uh which honestly sounds like 72.4 of the comedians i know her comedy heroes were molly shannon anna gasteyer.

Track 3:

[5:03] She says Kellyanne Conway, but that's obviously a joke because you can't ever give a straight answer like that.

Her dream role, and this is another one I would pay good money to see, is Willy Wonka. Oh.

I would have rather seen that than Timothee Chalamet.

Really? Okay. Yeah, I would have loved to have seen her playing Willy Wonka.

Um now before snl she starred in logo's big gay sketch show and uh she took over from the original miss frizzle uh lily tomlin uh who became a professor and a phd and as she started playing miss fiona felicity frizzle uh the original miss frizzle valerie felicity frizzle's younger sister.

Track 3:

[5:52] Oh i watched a lot of magic school bus with my kids yeah it's a great show uh yeah yeah and the thing is you think with this great education and all this like higher learning she would be you know a muckety muck when it comes to the comedy she finds enjoyable but honestly she said thing says one of the funniest things is a fart wow it's the ultimate bad thing a person can do and you know farts are funny they just they just are this is two weeks in a row you brought farts to the table well i mean it is comedy there you can't really get away from from a good fart um oh so whoopee cushion is a very funny thing if executed properly whoopee cushion and a rubber chicken comedy staples that's right yeah so that's that is uh that is Kate McKinnon.

Track 3:

[6:46] Well, I think that, um, we should head downstairs and listen in on the conversation this week. Excellent.

All right. Take it away, Thomas and Ashley Bauer.

Track 4:

[7:27] All right. Thank you so much, JD and Matt. Yes, we are talking about a very recent SNL cast member, the most recent cast member that we've ever talked about on this show.

This is her first season of eligibility, and I'm so excited to honor the great Kate McKinnon and see if she can make it past the voters, see if she can get into the SNL Hall of Fame.

So to chat about Kate McKinnon is somebody who I go back with for over 20 years.

We've known each other almost 20, probably 21, 22 years now.

We've known each other quite a long time. And SNL was actually one of the things that we really bonded over, my guest and I.

And if she slips and calls me Tom, that's how you know that somebody really knows me.

Because, you know, I kind of go by Thomas and here and there, you know. But if somebody calls me Tom on this podcast, that's how you know that we go back.

So my guest today, Ashley Bauer, if Ashley calls me Tom, then we've known each other for over 20 years.

But Ashley, thank you so much for joining me here on the SNL Hall of Fame. How are you doing?

Thank you, Tom. You're right. I can't even imagine calling you Thomas. That's so funny.

Track 4:

[8:45] But no, I'm great. I'm so excited. Yeah, like you said, this is how we bonded.

And oh my gosh, talking about Kate McKinnon.

I can't be happier. year yeah we really bonded I remember talking about because it was like probably about 2002 2003 that we became friends and we remember we really talked about like the Will Ferrell Sherry Oteri kind of years that was like the cast that that we always laughed about and shared sketches and stuff so I remember having a lot of conversations about those people but I never really knew or maybe forgot because it's been such a long time like your SNL fan origin story so why Why don't you let us know how you became a fan and what cast might have got you into it? What's your SNL origin story?

Oh my gosh, yeah. So I grew up, my parents always had some sort of comedy type show on.

And I remember being pretty young and my dad had on like...

It must have been like a repeat episode or something of like a really old original SNL.

Like I'm talking like Gilda Radner, like Jane Curtin.

And I kind of just sat down to watch it with him. And I was like, Oh, okay. Yeah.

This is kind of funny. Even though I was like kind of young and the humor probably went way over my head.

Track 4:

[10:01] So those are kind of my earliest memories, but I think when I really fell in love and like the light bulb went off that this isn't my parents show anymore.

Like this is my show was, they started to let me watch them when it was Adam Sandler and Chris Farley and David Spade.

And of course, I may have been like, eight, nine, 10 years old.

So the slapstick comedy humor of, you know, Chris Farley, especially his physical comedy just had me in stitches.

And I think that was the lightbulb moment. And when I really became obsessed.

And I remember being, I can still picture this today, however many years later, standing in line at a grocery store and looking over and seeing the tabloids when Chris Farley passed away. And I just started to cry.

And my mom was like, what's wrong? And I was so devastated when I learned that he had OD'd.

And again, I was maybe 10, 11 years old.

And that always kind of struck, hits me in my memory of, I think that's when I realized it was more than just a show I liked, that I was you know kind of borderline obsessed I felt like these comedians were like you know my friends so.

Track 4:

[11:12] But yeah, I guess that's probably one of my favorite casts, again, for sure, because I think that's when SNL really, you know, kind of transitioned into my show.

But like you said, too, you know, gosh, it's hard to compare that that cast to like Will Ferrell, Sherry O'Terry, Molly Shannon.

And, you know, when they started to kind of overlap with Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon and it kind of started to mesh into that newer generation.

Track 4:

[11:37] Gosh, it's kind of hard to top that that cast, if you ask me.

Yeah i always remember us talking about like will ferrell and anna gasteyer the culps so that i think i think that was one of the ones that we would always laugh about was like all the all the mashups and sharing videos that we found in youtube was even was even around when we when you and i were chatting about snl so we probably had downloaded sketches from like uh limewire or whatever i was just gonna say that i think we shared omia on limewire or like Napster or whatever, you know, that's definitely aging us a bit.

Yeah, totally. So, yeah, so I know that, but that's interesting to me because I always associated you, yeah, with like Will Ferrell and Sherry O'Terry and those people.

But yeah, you do go back to like Chris Farley and Sandler.

And so that's awesome. Most of us SNL geeks remember watching when we were eight or nine years old, sometimes seeing sketches that maybe we shouldn't have been seeing at eight or nine years old.

Track 4:

[12:33] Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it helped form form our comedy palettes and our love for SNL. So, so that's awesome. Thanks.

Thanks for sharing. So our friends over at the Saturday Night Network, they did like a cast member countdown.

So they went like, one through 50 talked about and John Schneider, the Lorne Michaels, essentially of the SNN, he kept asking this question, or he asked the question, like, you know, if you were to build a cast member in a lab, what would it look like?

Or was this person and built for SNL.

So that got me wondering, I'm interested in your perspective on this.

Like if you had to create an SNL cast member in a lab, actually, like what traits would you give that cast member?

Oh my gosh. You know, I'm such an SNL nerd.

So I've actually thought about this before. I know what you're talking about.

I saw that, that post in that episode.

I mean, I think it goes without saying, obviously the improv skills, even, you know, I don't think you necessarily have to come from, you know, the Groundlings or Second City or anything like that.

But I think just the ability to...

Track 4:

[13:39] Be able to go with the flow and take something and not be stuck to a script.

I think having that trait, I think being a good writer too, I think understanding how a sketch is created, even if you don't necessarily write that one for yourself, but understanding, I think, the science behind it and what your writer wants you to contribute to that sketch, I think is a really good trait.

I remember seeing an interview too, too.

I think it was with Ana Gasteyer, actually, like you were mentioning and talking about, like musical abilities and how, you know, being on a show like Saturday Night Live, you don't necessarily have to be like a Mariah Carey or a Beyonce type singer who's really good, but just enough to kind of make it through a sketch.

And I think Ana Gasteyer again, like with you know, the cults and anything else where she would have to sing, it was just good enough to get by and make it funny.

So I've always thought I agreed with that assessment that having some sort of musical ability, you know, to make it through a good sketch and execute it. Timing.

I mentioned, you know, I really liked the physical comedy and physicality of Chris Farley.

But even if you don't throw yourself into a wall or a table like he did.

Track 4:

[14:58] I think Molly Shannon did a really good job of that.

You know, Mary Catherine Gallagher would throw herself into something but um sally o'malley would even just stretch and pull her waistband up and i think just knowing whatever little physical ticks your character would have i think really kind of makes that more well-rounded you're not just reciting you know a line or like i said a script for a sketch but you're really creating a person and i always thought that was kind of fun.

Track 4:

[15:25] Um something that i think kate our girl kate was really good at was having zero modesty i think I think you have to be able to not take yourself too seriously and be okay looking like a fool on live TV.

That's such a good point. I never thought of it that way as far as having zero modesty. But you're actually super right.

That type of commitment to the character and the bit.

And I know over the years, oftentimes there's cast members that come along and something doesn't feel right about the fit of the cast member.

And I think a lot of times it's that they seem self-conscious up there and it makes me feel bad for them.

And I don't want to feel bad for somebody who I'm watching on SNL.

I want them to be completely confident and I want to feel like as a viewer, I'm in good hands with the person on screen.

And sometimes I don't get that with certain cast members over the years.

And those seem to be the ones that kind of like peter out as far as cast members.

But you're right like it's just like that lack of.

Track 4:

[16:31] Being self-conscious, like, you know, the lack of modesty, the, the commitment.

And I think our subject today, Kate McKinnon exemplifies that to a T along with like a lot of the other traits that you mentioned, like, Hey, she could sing a little bit, right? Ashley.

Track 4:

[16:47] Yeah. Again, I think just, just well enough where you're like, I mean, I'm not, maybe not like a Cecily strong, you know, type where Cecily could actually sing, but, um, I think enough.

And she definitely sunk herself into a character like yeah you're right kate was like maybe one of the least self-conscious cast members that i could ever think of on the show and her physicality was great i mean we'll probably get to all of that but i think if you built a snl cast member in a lab it would look a lot like kate mckinnon honestly yeah no i agree i kind of thought that when i was you know going through my head and thinking about them like wow it sounds like i'm just describing kate you know like this is a shameless plug just for this topic but no like Like I genuinely believe that those are really good traits and that, yeah, she embodied all of them. And I think that's what made her so great.

Yeah. And do you have a recollection of like what your reaction was to Kate when she joined SNL? She joined in 2012.

So it's like April. We're coming up on 12 years almost of when she started on SNL. It was April of 2012.

Do you have any recollection of like what you may have, what some of your first impressions might have been of Kate?

I do actually. And I do this every season. And I always have this, like, cause you really do kind of grow to, to be fond of some of these.

You're right. Maybe not so much the ones that kind of peter out and Lauren gave him a chance and it's like, okay, maybe not.

Track 4:

[18:04] Um, but especially like you said that year, that was when Kristen wig left and she was hired to replace Kristen.

And so I think I was really like, hold on, who do you think you are?

Nobody can come in here and replace Kristen wig. Are you serious?

Is like there's no way anyone's going to be able to top what Kristen did and so I remember being like okay let's let's see what what this girl can do um but her first sketch ever on SNL that Sofia Vergara um Penelope Cruz impression that she did oh my gosh I just remember thinking, holy cow I wouldn't believe that she's a brand new featured player I thought that she embodied such confidence and comfortability in that sketch.

Like she'd been doing it her whole life.

And to be sitting next to such a big star at the time, Sofia Vergara and I'm sorry, I'm laughing because I'm thinking about the sketch, but I thought, wow, okay, she can hang. Maybe this is going to be okay.

And that was kind of my first impression, even though I was kind of, you know, like a mean girl attitude about it at first, like my loyalties to Kristen, not to you. And it's funny to look back because now I say that about.

Track 4:

[19:16] Yeah, exactly. You know, I think a lot of people felt that way.

There were obviously a lot of really hardcore Kristen Wiig fans, even someone like me who she wasn't my total favorite, but I loved her a lot of her characters.

I think Kristen Wiig's an all time all timer.

So having so you do look at somebody like Kate a little bit with like a skeptical eye and it's like, okay, well, you know, it seems like you're the person that they hired to replace Kristen.

I don't know if the show Out and Out said that. I don't know that they would because they don't want to put that in there.

Kind of pressure on her but the optics were such that Kate McKinnon seemed like she got hired to replace Kristen Wiig and so you're gonna look at her skeptically and be like okay well I don't know show us what you got and that Penelope Cruz sketch the Pantene one with uh yeah that with Sophia was just it showed me like the confidence with which Kate sunk herself into this character i must have given the show and snl fans like assurance like she was going to be a keeper on snl i can't imagine that was her first episode too that sofia vergara episode that was kate's first episode the sketch happened later on in the show and it was almost like i couldn't think of a more perfect introduction to somebody that was potentially going to replace a legend than this It's like, what kind of pressure is that for Kate? Gosh.

Track 4:

[20:40] Right. Oh my gosh. Like she could, like you said, we as audience members could have felt so bad for her.

Like, you know, she could have been so nervous and unsure, you know, even with her, you know, prior experience in improv.

I mean, it's so different when you do it, you know, for such a big institution like SNL.

And I think that demonstrated too, because not all SNL cast members have been good impressionists necessarily.

Necessarily um and i think that showed too what her range was going to be that she could come on and do such a big impression again first sketch first show ever and just nail it glossy nice.

Track 4:

[21:22] No no no no no no no penelope it's phytomorphogenesis, refrigerator no no sweetie listen to me it's it's not refrigerator okay say it with me fido fido good morpho morpho genesis jeff bridges no.

Track 4:

[21:44] What i love about kate's impressions too is a lot of times they are like pretty accurate she can do the accurate thing but a lot of them are always maybe 20 20 20 to 25 off kilter like she has that perfect she sprinkles in the perfect amount of caricature for a lot of these impressions and we saw that right away with this penelope cruz the way she was pronouncing things and then she kind of like turned penelope cruz into this sympathetic human kind of person where she kind of says is it it just me am i the only one who thinks that like i'm getting the big words here or you know what's going on like so she kind of turned penelope into this more human like you kind of relate to her like yeah she's right she is getting the hard words isn't she so kate did that little trick right away with with this one yeah it was so genius even then in her first sketch like you know she could have turned penelope into a diva or something but it was just kind of this like nice little timid like um excuse me but are you not seeing this am i the only one who thinks this and i just thought it was so so genius to bring to the sketch yeah that was great season 37 episode 18 kate's first episode on the cast and she already turned in something memorable and that just completely fits what what kate would become on snl so she started her first full season, season 38, that's the post-Kristen Wiig era.

Track 4:

[23:10] What kind of stands out to you, Ashley? Like what should we start with in terms of, of Kate McKinnon's work on SNL?

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Where do you start with somebody like Kate? Um.

Track 4:

[23:22] You know, I think Ellen DeGeneres was one of her big impressions, for sure.

Like you said, doing just enough to nail it, but kind of taking her a little bit over the top and making it a caricature.

Now, as many of you know, this Sunday I am hosting the Oscars.

And I can only hope that somewhere a guy named Oscars hosting the Ellens. I'm kidding.

Track 4:

[23:44] But you know what movie I love this year? Twelve Years a Slave.

Slave that's about how i've been forced to dance on this show every day for the last 12 years, i'm just kidding it's about slavery i'm alan the justin bieber again the mannerisms you know the shrugging of the shoulders and the you know thumb in his nose and um but gosh i think my favorite i lump those two together though and it's kind of it's cool that you started like with those two specifically mentioned those two because i do lump them together the ellen degenerates and the Justin Bieber and you'd mentioned physicality with the performer like you're going to build somebody in the lab you want them to have some sort of physicality and Kate she's not necessarily like like Chris Farley like or Molly Shannon like jumping through sets and tables and and stuff like that with like Ellen and Justin Bieber but she's just doing those little moves like with Ellen it's like how she just kind of contorts her body when she's dancing, Too bad this isn't a video podcast because I'm sitting here like kind of like swaying in my chair.

So only Ashley gets treated to my little chair dance moves here.

But yeah, the way Kate...

Track 4:

[24:57] Moves her body as Ellen, and then I love even her exasperation.

Like, you know, I shouldn't have danced my first episode because now everybody just expects me to dance and I have to do this.

And so she takes that, like, kernel of something about Ellen or something about Justin Bieber and kind of dials it up, puts that absurdity, that caricature on it so perfectly.

It's interesting that I, in my mind, associate Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres.

Those two are kind of almost one of the, they're very different, but I just lumped them together in my mind.

Yeah, no, so epic. You're right. And I think she kind of debuted him around the same time as well.

And I like when she takes, you know, celebrities like that in the impressions.

And regardless of how much kind of they grow and change throughout their careers, I like that she kind of picks an era and kind of keeps the characters that, like, Justin Bieber, no matter how much he grew up, she kind of still played him as this, like, you know, baby heart.

Heartthrob, you know, kind of still a little bit nervous and playing flirty, like throwing the hood up.

It's okay. People can't see me doing my little shoulder shrug either, but, um, throwing the hood up and trying to act all coy.

And I just thought, oh my God, it was so spot on.

Track 4:

[26:06] Yeah. Her Bieber, he, she played him like, uh, she captured the spirit of this young oblivious pop star who's so in love with himself.

And I think that maybe that's the angle that Kate saw. And she just captured that aloof kind of thing about bieber that he just like really loved himself he did those they did those parodies of those calvin klein ads and i think that's where we first saw that seeing kate and tidy whiteys that was hilarious i think that's what you're saying like lack of modesty like she didn't care she she would parade around in tidy whiteys and for a sketch.

Track 4:

[26:42] And go all in. Like, I just, yeah, I love that about her.

And I loved, too, if we're going to keep talking about favorite impressions, her, of course, Ruth Bader Ginsburg impression.

And it makes me think of RBG like that and kind of wish that she was like that in real life.

And I'm, like, convinced myself that that's how she was.

But, you know, I mean, the Ginsburg.

That's just so brilliant. It seems so simple, but I can't tell you how hard I laughed every time she came out on Weekend Update and did Ruth Bader Ginsburg and then would just burn all these people and, again, get up and dance and have the Ginsburg and just be all into it and being this little frail old 80-year-old woman just getting down.

Let's focus. Now, were you swayed by any of the arguments you heard on Tuesday?

Oh, man. They were useless.

Useless. next time I'm just gonna put a crumpled up black cocktail napkin in my place no one will know I'm good the arguments I heard they were so weak I just hope they're not holding up Justice Scalia's chair oh that's a gills burn.

Track 4:

[27:57] Total commitment to to the character and to the bit that's what I always know Kate from her time at SNL as just somebody who just immersed herself into something.

This Ruth Bader Ginsburg was perfect. And this wasn't even...

Her voice was pretty spot on, the squeaky voice, but that was about it.

This was kind of Kate putting on a robe and dancing on Weekend Update, and it was endlessly entertaining. So that's a really good call out.

Track 4:

[28:29] Gosh, I could go on and on. But even not just her impressions, but I think her ability to create an original character, too.

I don't know that you can talk about you know Kate McKinnon potentially being in the hall of fame without talking about Colleen Rafferty in the close encounter sketches like oh my gosh I think I shed tears I laughed so hard during each and every one of those and again yeah the physicality and not just her own lack of modesty but I think forcing those in the sketch with her you know to kind of get up all up close to them and touch them and you know and get up all into their face and usually make them break um but gosh i just thought that was brilliant too to portray you know the third of a trio who clearly did not have the same experience these other people did, these fancy cats are seeing god meanwhile i'm starting phase two which is me sitting on a stool while 40 gray aliens take turns gently batting my knockers in.

Track 4:

[29:32] Did y'all get the knocker stuff? Uh, no. No knocker stuff. Sorry.

And did you feel threatened, Ms. Rafferty? No. No, no, no, no, no.

They were, uh, they were real respectful about it. They were... they were in a line.

And then, uh, one by one, they'd step up, slap a knocker, and then go to end the line, wait for another turn.

Kate, as a performer, you could tell she was like, well, it's not just going to be me that goes to 11, basically.

I'm going to take all of you with me. I'm going to climb on Ryan Gosling.

I'm going to do all this stuff to Liev Schreiber and...

I'm going to bring you all along with me into this absurdity, whether you like it or not.

I'm going to take you with me. That's like a powerful performer right there in Kate.

I never thought about it totally that way, but she just was just such a powerful presence in kind of like a small stature.

But she was so powerful up there on screen.

Track 4:

[30:38] Seriously. And I love this. I know Lauren hates it when they break, but I know the audiences love it.

And especially in those, I mean, yeah, she wouldn't just make Ryan Gosling, you know, completely break down and laugh.

But even like Aidy Bryant and those, you know, conducting the interview just could barely hold it together and ask their simple lines.

So it's just, I think watching her was so great. They couldn't help but get immersed and forget where they were too. And you're at kind of go along with her.

Yeah. Lauren, Lauren's like, oh, we're, uh, we're not the Carol Burnett show.

We don't, uh, we don't do that kind of thing. but I guess it's okay for this one Kate keep doing your thing so that's probably that's probably in my mind what Lauren what Lauren told Kate right there it was a real good Lauren by the way I've been working on I've had like years to kind of like start fine-tuning my Lauren and at some point I'm gonna make all my guests do do their Lauren impression too so oh gosh please don't start with me and I would probably be terrible.

I basically just do Dr. Evil when I try to do Morn.

That's kind of my cheat code for it. I know it's like the worst kept secret that Mike Myers Yeah.

Track 4:

[31:50] This was Colleen Rafferty. Yeah, these close encounters.

Perfectly weird like Kate character. It made me cry with laughter but also honestly made me tear up.

I don't know some sadness some joy some sentimentality because she chose this as her unofficial send-off in her last show for a reason it was yeah it was the cold open, uh in her last show and she did calling rafferty and she did this like send-off where she was gonna go into the spaceship for good well earth, i love you thanks for letting me stay a while.

Track 4:

[32:39] Live from new york it's saturday night, it made me tear up i'm not even afraid to to say it like i was sitting there watching her last episode like what is this salty discharge like i'm i was like kind of crying like did it have that effect on you Ashley oh 100% yeah like you could ask my husband I was in tears because when I was devastated that she was leaving of course because I think Kate became SNL and it was so hard to imagine SNL without her so yeah obviously it was tears of you know just sadness that she was leaving and just that kind of oh trying to have to process that reality but just so brilliant that she chose that and what a way to kind of I love that she had the say in it and And kind of how she laughed on her terms and, and.

Track 4:

[33:29] To give that character that closure too and of course i you know you could tell that kate was tearing up so how could you not i mean yeah what a career like you said um she was on it for so long and um yeah don't don't worry i was absolutely bawling like a baby not even just tears like i was probably sorry yeah i think i think most snl fans like through the hardcore fans were sitting there on their couches crying a little bit another oddball character that i think we need to to bring up with kate she just excelled at playing these really odd i mean there's like probably a laundry list but she did this one nine times uh including her first full season in season 38 she broke broke out uh sheila savage the last call at the bar so so this this is hilarious she says like kate has this gift of saying like the grossest things with such sincerity and confidence, What's your name, sweetie?

It's, uh, it's Sheila Sauvage. You can remember that because if you mix up the letters, it almost spells Vagisil.

Track 4:

[34:42] What's your handle, brother? They call me Ace Chuggins. Ace, get out!

I'm wearing one of your bandages right now because I ran out of underwear.

Mom, wow. Oh, my gosh. yeah like just the complete lack of inhibition like she did it with what like um dave chapelle louis ck adam sandler um larry david would just go yes oh and keenan's you know like pouring gasoline in his eyes on the side because you're right just these absolutely gross grotesque things coming out of her mouth and what she's doing you know at that bar and for keenan to be that kind of sane person that like, this is not okay.

Like anyone else watching this would be completely tortured by it, but you couldn't help it. Just be me.

Track 4:

[35:29] At least for me, I get almost in tears laughing just so hard.

I think the one with Dave Chappelle, especially, was one of the best ones.

I just loved, again, like we keep saying about her, she goes all in and she takes it from a 10 to at least an 11, if not higher.

There's certain performers. So there's different classes of performers.

And some were if they're asked to do something like say say these insane gross things be so oddball and out there you could tell that that's against type and as they're performing it there they know that they're playing against type and so they're not all the way committed like that happens a lot of times with hosts so they bring a host on and then they have the host do this weird character maybe like scarlett johansson she's great love scarlett johansson but you could tell maybe sometimes it's scarlet's playing somebody weird that there's maybe an element of her that's almost calls attention to it while she's doing it but kate doesn't you think that this is really kate when when she's playing these characters like it's almost like a dana carvey kind of gift of sinking into a character and not calling attention to it so much Yeah, no, 100%. I think you're right.

Oh my gosh, yeah, Dane is a perfect example of this, where they become so immersed in it.

Track 4:

[36:55] And I love that they don't take themselves too seriously. You're right.

You see it a lot with hosts who just, they're so afraid of being embarrassed or how it's going to look and what the reviews are going to be that you can tell that they're holding back.

And it completely changes the dynamic of that sketch. whereas yeah what Kate goes all in because she doesn't take herself too seriously I think she takes what she does very seriously clearly because she's so brilliant at it but I think that's the key of a good SNL performer is take what you do seriously but not yourself and I think that's why we got such amazing characters that other otherwise you could have walked away from a sketch being like okay wow that was odd why'd they do that and instead you got this oh my gosh what an epic, epic result we got from her yet again.

I love that. What'd you say? Take the work seriously, but not yourself so seriously. Yeah. I love that.

That's almost a perfect way to describe Kate and why maybe a lot of what she did worked on the show because she did find that formula of taking the work seriously, but letting herself go in the process. That's such a great way to put that.

Ashley, I love it. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I just, to me, that just seemed like the best way to describe it, because there's no way she could have done what she did if she took anything about herself seriously.

Track 4:

[38:15] Yeah, yeah. One last oddball character that I think about, too, is her, DeBette Goldry, the old, the actor, the actress from old Hollywood.

Who's always on these panels sharing matter-of-fact anecdotes about how women were treated back then.

What do you think is still holding women back?

I think there are all these tiny little things. Like, you've got to change your hair to fit your type.

Yeah, and you have to act a certain way so you don't get labeled as difficult.

Yeah, you gotta eat arsenic to make your skin pale.

What? Well, yeah, I mean, Samuel Goldwyn had a rule that all of his starlets had to eat arsenic tablets to make their skin glow.

And then they discovered it made us, um, I'm sorry, what is the word? Psychotic.

So to calm us down, they'd send in the monkey with a tray of opium, you know how it goes.

Track 4:

[39:09] That works because Kate is so matter-of-fact. as a performer about how she's sharing this awful stuff about what would happen to actresses in the whole of Hollywood.

Right. Yeah. And it would have been so easy for that to have too closely mirrored Colleen Rafferty of, you know, trying to deliver this deadpan of all these horrible, ridiculous things.

But that was such a different character. And it made you think it was a totally different concept again, because she was just so great at, again, the accent and her delving into that character made you believe you were talking to this old timey Hollywood actress.

And, you know, when the interview is over and she's like, OK, I know what that means. And she starts undressing to lay on the table.

Track 4:

[39:49] It's kind of it could go right up to a point where you almost feel uncomfortable because there's probably way too much truth to that.

But to that reality, but in a way that still lets you laugh at an otherwise very unfortunate reality.

Reality yeah she's talking about things like forced marriages and tranquilizers being like just all sorts of very vivid descriptions of what what it must have been like and she just totally this like said and then she looks at the other people i think jen remember jennifer aniston being being on one or amma stone i think they were on actually the same one and she's just kind of looking at them like what that just what that's that's how it was like like am i right ladies like yeah am i right like you can relate that way probably yeah yeah yeah that's such a perfect kate like oddball character and she i think she did that four times it was toward more toward like her later the later half of her snl career but we love those and i speaking of like the almost later half of her snl career i think she had kate had a lot of things working against her as far as the era that she worked in because she was saddled with a lot of thankless roles because around 2016 Trump era hit unfortunately and it had a weird effect on comedy and SNL as well so I think Kate.

Track 4:

[41:19] Was almost i don't know doing sketch comedy with like weights attached to her in some ways with having to do political figures but ashley i don't know if you agree with this i think she did the best she could i think she did a really good job with a lot of potentially thank thankless political roles no i 100 agree you're right it's such a you know there's been unfortunately times in our country where it's is hey is it okay to laugh and i think snl has always been brilliant about reminding us as a country that it's okay to do that.

Um, even when you otherwise don't feel like you should.

And I think for, you know, a lot of people that Trump era was really jarring.

And I know sometimes I've commented, gosh, is this too real to be funny?

It's almost, it's not even satire anymore. This is real. But I think Kate was such a breath of fresh air through that.

Track 4:

[42:12] And I think by giving, I mean, they, she didn't just do, you know, female impressions. I know we talked about Justin Bieber, But she did Jeff Sessions and Rudy Giuliani.

And again, just turned to these people that were certainly not very likable or well liked by most of the country and just made you laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

And I think reminded people that it was okay to do that.

And kind of like, okay, good. Yeah, this is ridiculous, right?

Like, she's kind of highlighting, you know, the ridiculousness to what was going on in a way that I think made us not so scared anymore. more.

And you're right, that could have really gone either way, I think, depending on the temperature of our country and were people ready to laugh at it.

And I think Kate just had that knack of making it successful and getting us through that era.

Track 4:

[43:03] Yeah, I think she did the correct thing as far as you take like Jeff Sessions, Rudy Giuliani. Those are great examples.

She didn't try to do spot on impressions, like maybe a little bit, certainly with the accents and things like that.

But then she she inserted she tried to find the right angle to make it a unique impression, but also kind of roast those people. So like with Jeff Sessions, she played him like a possum.

And she even, I mean, she made that obvious.

I think there was even one time where Sessions was on maybe Weekend Update or a sketch and she had him eating like something like a possum would, like a rodent.

So that's how she decided to play Jeff Sessions as this like rodent type of squirrely kind of character.

And I think that was the perfect way to go about it. Do you really not remember meeting with George Papadopoulos about Russia?

Well, you know, Colin, I've had some memory problems stemming from a childhood trauma.

A childhood trauma? What was that?

The passing of the Civil Rights Act.

Track 4:

[44:13] Yeah, and I think, too, I think we would be remiss if we didn't talk about her Kellyanne Conway impression through all of that, And especially the Pennywise pre-recorded sketch that they did, or was it Kelly wise?

I'm not really sure. I can't remember now that I'm talking. Yeah. They turned it into, but again, just taking it just far enough to be a little bit roast of the character, but also, you know, enough past it for us, you know, the logical parts of our brains to remember that this is a parody of, And, you know, not taking it too far to like, I think, actually, you know, forget that those are still human beings.

Track 4:

[44:51] She's just so brilliant at towing that line and taking it over the top.

Just again, like like Kelly Wise.

Yeah, it was almost. Yeah, it was almost perfect that she played Kellyanne Conway.

Like that was the Kelly Wise one was a logical extension of how she played Kellyanne.

She almost played Kellyanne like a horror, like a movie villain, like a horror movie villain anyway.

Yeah, there was this emptiness. behind her Kellyanne behind those eyes just like really creepiness and slightly unhinged that's how she played Kellyanne so like dressing her up as a clown and doing the whole Kelly wise thing was like almost a perfect extension of just how she played that character in general and she had to do this like 16 times so so it could have just been become another boring political impression Russian, but she made it her own.

It's me, Kellyanne Conway.

Track 4:

[45:43] But you can call me Kellywise. Kellywise, the dancing clown.

Track 4:

[45:49] It's Kellyanne. What'd you do to your makeup? I toned it down.

Put me on TV. I have to go. Wait, don't go.

Don't you want a coat? No. I'll give you a coat. I'll give you a crazy, crazy coat.

How about this? Okay, so Puerto Rico actually was worse before Hurricane Maria and the hurricane actually did blow some buildings back together.

And I don't know why Elizabeth Warren won't tweet about that. That's insane.

I know. I think, too, just, yeah, playing off the fact that there was always something in it for Kelly.

She wasn't doing it for anybody else. And I think that Kelly Wise sketch really sold that message home, too.

I keep thinking, too, of her physicality. With Rudy Giuliani, she decided to play him almost like the Crypt Keeper or like a serpent in some ways.

Her Giuliani would sit there and he would manipulate his hands like they were spiders.

Track 4:

[46:45] These little mannerisms. It was just so perfect the way she played Giuliani because she could have just said, I'll just do an impression and let the crazy things that he says in real life speak for themselves.

I think that was a crutch that SNL maybe still hasn't shaken, is sometimes they'll just do verbatim what the person said.

But I appreciate Kate, because she tried to find a different angle, even if it was with her physical performance.

So a lot of people don't necessarily appreciate that, about that era of political SNL was how Kate approached it.

It yeah 100 because i think too they get so stuck on okay we need an impressionist who's gonna nail it and be so much like this person and i think you know will ferrell's george w bush i think kind of lulled snl into that because he was so spot on with it and then trying to find i think they go through like three or four different cast members trying to find someone to replace will ferrell's george w bush after that because they wanted so badly for it to be the way will ferrell did it and they just couldn't they couldn't replicate it and i think that's what was so genius about kate was once a cast member would leave who had otherwise done that impression and she stepped in to do it she made it her own she made it totally different so that way it wasn't like it was an exact comparison to either the real person or the cast member who had done it before.

Track 4:

[48:07] Yeah yeah that's a really great point kate almost played a president that she played hillary clinton and I think she really found...

She did it over 20 times and I think she really...

Track 4:

[48:23] To me kind of subtly found this great angle on hillary like this element of desperation, but also competence at the same time like part of the joke was that she was so competent that it was boring so she would try to like spice things up and maybe the real hillary tried to do that a little bit too in 2016.

Besides who can remember how many states i've lost in a row is it a two or is it three i don't hey miss clinton i'm here to fix seven holes in your wall.

Track 4:

[48:55] Come to think of it it might have been seven and and that's fantastic it humanizes me i'm the underdog now i'm this election's rudy and i like that after all i don't want to be a big old b and win every single state that's no fun she captured like like i said like the desperation but also So there was competence in how she played Hillary.

Yeah. And again, she had to follow Amy Poehler's impression of Hillary Clinton, which was super popular.

And again, made it her own.

And they were both such perfect, you know, Hillarys, for sure.

And same with Elizabeth Warren.

Her impression of Elizabeth Warren was just so...

I think that one was probably a little bit more like spot on to how she was.

Um or at least how i i saw her in in media i put down enthusiastic nerd for uh elizabeth warren, yes yes oh my god yes oh and then she did that tiktok with her i don't know if you saw that where it was like the the drake um was the the drake song was the trend i think oh okay gosh again i'm an elder millennial i'm not cool enough to remember the names of these songs anymore but But, yeah, and just taking it outside of, like, a live SNL sketch and, you know, portraying, you know, some of these people in things like TikTok, I thought was genius.

Track 4:

[50:18] Yeah, so. You should look it up if you haven't seen it. Yeah, I will, because I actually haven't seen that one pass me by.

Again, elder millennial, Drake, TikTok, these are all, like, words I barely know. So.

Track 4:

[50:33] I'll go take a look. Recently, like Robert Mueller, Anthony Fauci, like those could have been really thankless.

Track 4:

[50:40] But I think she found like a funny angle on Fauci, too.

Track 4:

[50:45] Just like especially that was a little more spot on and the way she looked and like her Fauci was just fun to listen to and look at.

So even in like the later Kate years, she still tried to I think she still tried to work hard to find angles on on different societal and political figures.

Figures and i think too we saw that with um doctor we notice kind of late on i think she only did that maybe two or three times but um i love how that kind of blended and it always turned into kate are you okay you know joe's asking her you know being that fourth wall even more so um and kind of reminding us hey kate um are you are you gonna be okay and her trying to get through the rest of that sketch i thought was really great and really again kind of captured how everyone was processing you know 2020 and 2021 um yeah like her doing those fourth wall breaks like i remember a cold open that she she hosted a talk show where it was just essentially her i think even the title of the talk show is like like what the hell is happening it was like in something along those lines where kate was just like marveling at just like the the craziness of of what was happening in the world.

Track 4:

[51:57] And I like seeing Kate start to almost share her exasperation about what was happening in the world through characters and sketches like that.

So we started seeing Kate more, kind of come out of her shell a little bit in that way, as far as just like, the doctor we noticed was perfect.

Track 4:

[52:16] Fourth wall break and asking her like are you are you okay what's going on kate like i yeah i just i thought that was perfect and now he's holding rallies yeah who does this he did this we notice we hate us he do this we notice.

Track 4:

[52:31] I'm sorry doctor we notice um yes are are you saying we know this or are you just saying your last name oh okay we know this is greek in english it translates to we know this like we're aware of this okay okay yeah i think i think i got it are there any like almost hidden gems or one-off, sketches or anything like that that might maybe maybe she did once or twice that just always like tickled you oh my god yes did you did you see or do you remember the birds sketch it had john mulaney in it and it was keenan it was like the turner classic movies and he is playing you know reese to what and it's this you know supposed cut scene from alfred hitchcock's the birds, that oh my god gets me every time because it's just so ridiculous you've got to do something Please, these birds, they're the jerk of the year.

Has anyone said, like, shoo, get out of here, bird, like with a hand wave?

No, no, there's too many and they're too mean. Okay, so these are birds of prey, like a hawk or an eagle?

No, no, they're seagulls, you know, the little guys that eat french fries at the beach. Oh, no, look!

Track 4:

[53:57] They set fire to the gas station. How? Wow.

Sir, I cannot explain. She plays the main actress in the movie who's running from the birds and Kate runs into this phone booth, locks herself in and she calls the sheriff and the sheriff is played by john mulaney and kate's just hysterical and beside herself and the birds the birds are killing everyone and john mulaney is basically playing himself in this sketch and it's like i'm sorry like they're just like pecking a lot of people or like what's happening just like no they're murdering us all she's so hysterical he's trying to be like she's like there's no time to explain you have have to come quick and he's like no no no i need you to explain like you just said the birds murdered a man i need you to explain how that's possible and to me that is just one of the funniest one-offs that i think she ever did and um beck bennett kind of runs off and on screen every now and then getting attacked by the birds and then it just keeps getting more ridiculous and now now the birds have picked up turtles and they're throwing turtles at people and now the turtles can fly like the bird it just look at this could have been the most random dud tank of a sketch and to me it's one of the funniest things that she did the entire time.

Track 4:

[55:20] She's so good about playing that dramatic old hollywood kind of delivery that affectation that's so good i remember that sketch i found it hilarious and it was it was just like the premise was super silly the premise was almost like yeah that makes sense like you watch the movie and you're kind of you are thinking I remember I saw it when I was like a teenager or something and I remember thinking wait these birds are like murdering people like what what this doesn't make sense why I like Hitchcock but what so I think yeah that's where they were coming from and Kate delivered that so well I love her affectation it's kind of funny that you bring up like how when she played like a 1950s actress because the one off that really like spoke to me with kate was from season 44 i don't know if you remember teacher fell down yes oh my god i almost forgot about that one yeah the sketch started with uh it just shows a shot of the outside of a school then you hear like this commotion in class and the students are like oh like gasp and then the sketch starts with kate just like on the ground just laying with her legs out almost like I'm a seated but with her legs out and she does this monologue this dramatic monologue almost like a scene from a.

Track 4:

[56:38] 1950s movie about how she fell down and we got in this predicament and we're in this together and and, I've been doing some thinking about this. And then just the reactions of the students like Jonah Hill, A.D.

Bryan, and Pete Davidson have these like perfect reactions to this teacher who's just like she fell down and she's monologuing. And it's because she was wearing willies. Her shoes had wheels on them, so she fell.

Track 4:

[57:05] But just Kate's just like commitment in her delivery, her affectation is this 1950s dramatic delivery.

Like Teacher Fell Down is kind of like, over the last five or ten years, one that I always go to is like, this was such like a possible, unappreciated, one-off, weird kind of thing that I totally connected with. Teacher fell down.

Are you okay? Yeah, because you really fell down there. No, you need like help?

No, no. It's too late for that.

Track 4:

[57:42] Teachers on the ground like a silly little girl well i'm not a little girl and i didn't fall.

Track 4:

[57:50] Yes you did do you want to like get up.

Track 4:

[57:53] Though no no we're staying in this i loved it i think because i am also kind of weird and random that i connected so much with kate and the characters that she did because it's like she made it okay to be weird and random and people celebrated it and enjoyed it and yeah like again just this she's having this existential crisis in front of a bunch of high schoolers like on the floor but it it made it funny like i just yeah um even even the one-offs like you said are so memorable when 80s says he said she's sharing her existential crisis with the students and when 80s says don't tell us stuff like that i love like i could just imagine like some 16 year old like i don't want to hear about my teacher's life like don't tell us stuff like why are you saying why are you telling us this yeah did you have any any more were you about to say oh gosh i don't know if it was a one-off but i loved when she did the russian like olia um and she was like again same thing like this deadpan delivery of like all these horrible things happening to her in russia um but oh don't worry america like you know you're going through this but you know we don't have you know like food um but no i don't think that was a one-off because i think she did olia a few times but yeah that was a great weekend character yeah yes it's around the same time she was doing the the angela merkel.

Track 4:

[59:23] One-two-one weekend update yes yes oh god see she did so much i can't imagine kate not being a candidate for the hall of fame like i think that would just be criminal i know i know it's amazing my wife's a french teacher so one sketch that this is like maybe the last one that i'll bring up but one sketch that i had to show my wife because she's a french teacher was the america's funniest pets okay well then i'm gonna let you guys handle this next clip of a cat who has this It's his first taste of ice cream.

Track 4:

[59:55] This cat has seconds to live. She purposefully cut off her oxygen.

This life is too much to bear. She is quietly backing out of this world.

And she will not be missed.

That's a funny cat. Yeah, very funny cat.

Kate and Cecily were playing these French women commenting on pet videos.

And they were these cute pet videos, but they were playing these nihilistic French women who were inserting these like these like kind of messed up scenarios with these pets and it was such wonderful caricatures and i showed my french teacher wife and she's like that's really funny like it's kind of a funny uh take on like a stereotypical take on like french culture aspects about french culture but that was one where she she and cecily were great in that and She was a really good teammate and especially had great chemistry with Aidy Bryant.

Is that one of the better duos, do you think, that we've seen on SNL, Kate and Aidy?

Oh, I think that would definitely be up there with Molly Shannon and Sherry O'Terry and those kind of duos. Like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, I think.

Track 4:

[1:01:06] Maybe not quite as iconic as that um again tina's my queen um but i think kate and ade like fats and, is it dyke and fats um the top duo sketches that they did together and then the um the spiced meats that they were selling on weekend update um the like um whatever farms they're both vegetarians and they're trying to talk about this like rancid meat that's sitting in front of them um yeah Yeah, their duo together was perfection.

I loved it so much. Yeah, they were so good together.

And you could tell that they just fed off of each other's energy so well.

There was a fairly recent one.

John Krasinski hosted the episode. I thought it was a great episode all around.

But they did one where it was like a game show from the early 90s. And they were partners.

But they went on like there were these couples. And then it was Kate and 80.

And it was obviously they wouldn't say because it was the early 90s.

But they were a lesbian couple. couple and the way they talk to each other like you're my soulmate you're my life I like this.

Track 4:

[1:02:09] Just like they're you can do it yeah you can exactly there's chemistry was so so great that was like a wonderful encapsulation to me of just how Kate and 80 work together so well now let's learn a little bit about our front runners what do you guys do for work I have a doctorate in grocery riddles that's right I'm a I'm a Unitarian minister neat what will you do with the money if, Well, our blind horse needs a full-time nurse.

My snowshoes are looking a little ratty. And I do need titanium ankles, because mine are just sort of bone on bone. Ouchie!

Track 4:

[1:02:43] Well, good luck catching up, couples, because these two are really in sync.

Yeah. We got a really good thing. Yeah, this woman taught me how to trust.

Sometimes I lie awake, praying that we die in the same moment.

Kate is one of the... She was in one of the biggest movies of, like, last year, Barbie.

I thought she did really great. She played weird Barbie, of course, but other Barbie would, would Kate play and do well.

I mean, she could probably play any Barbie, but she was just so perfect as weird Barbie, really memorable performance.

That said, how could you see her post SNL career kind of playing out like types of roles?

And what would you like to see her do with her post SNL career?

Track 4:

[1:03:25] Oh, gosh, yeah, I mean, she was brilliant in it. And I think obviously, you know, uh, Greta Gerwig was, you know, her friend since forever.

And so I think knew that too about that Kate would be perfect for that role. Um, I mean, it's hard to say as much as I love her. I don't know that I see Kate in this, like, you know, she's the main kind of starring character.

I think she's always going to kind of be this like supporting actress role, but you're right.

Like you said earlier, she's such a good teammate that I think she understands that that kind of followership role in comedy or in a movie is just as important as like the lead.

And she really makes it such a well-rounded project to be in.

And so I would just love to see more of that.

I know she's had, you know, a few of those things here and there where it's been that side character.

I think Barbie, again, was the biggest and most brilliant and kind of the most mainstream that we've seen her do.

I would love that. I know we've seen like Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig get a lot of like recurring kind of shows now.

Track 4:

[1:04:26] I do think kind of in that smaller kind of show realm, Kate would be perfect for like a main role like that.

Just anything that Kate wants to be in, I will watch. watch um is essentially all that i ask is that she keeps making comedy and kind of showing us that it's okay to be weird and random and people will enjoy it yeah 100 i can see you're settling in so you said maya because maya appears for guest spots and so many different things and it's always appreciated will forte is another one where he he appears in so many things he did get a chance at a leading role in the last man on earth and maybe kate will get a chance to do something like that but I can see her settling into like how will Forte settled in as we bring in this person to do a few minutes on this episode and they totally steal the show and they're so great and I think that's the kind the type of energy that she has I can totally see her settling into something like that and you're right whatever whatever she wants to do especially if it's in comedy.

Track 4:

[1:05:27] I'm all aboard. I'm just so interested to see what she's going to do in the next few years.

Yeah and i hope that barbie was that kind of catalyst for more projects to come her way because she certainly deserves it yeah we always we talked a lot about her sketches as that kind of old hollywood actress and her making fun of the drama but really if you isolate those i mean i think she could pull it off too like she has that seriousness and the commitment to it to really do anything and have such a range of work available to her hopefully yeah i think so so So, not like it should even be a question.

To me, this is one of the more obvious ones that we have, just in general, especially this season.

Track 4:

[1:06:13] But, why do you think SNL Hall of Fame voters should put Kate in the Hall of Fame in her first season of eligibility?

Track 4:

[1:06:21] I think she's just iconic. I think she really became one of those big names that you think of when you go through all those different casts over the years.

I think her name holds up.

And again, elder millennial, as we keep saying, so I still have the actual D of the best of, you know, when they would actually publish the DVDs of, you know, there's like three or four volumes of Will Ferrell and best of Chris Farley and everything.

And I think that is kind of when you think of what goes on those types of, I don't even think we call them DVDs anymore, but those, those movies that you're going to put together is, can you fill 90 minutes of just this this one player and you could i think fill two or three volumes for kate mckinnon because she became so iconic and had so many roles that we identified with and love and quote and reference today in pop culture um and i think too one snl is such a big part of pop culture but i think the mark of a hall of famer is you know when that comedian comedian and their characters become part of pop culture outside of SNL.

And I think Kate's really done that for comedy and continued to really kind of evolve it and evolve it for women.

And I think be such a great role model for, you know, comedians to look up to and try to emulate.

Track 4:

[1:07:46] Like we said, the kind of the traits of an SNL character in a lab, I mean, she has them all.

I think if you you could literally build somebody to be on SNL, I think they would look exactly like Kate McKinnon.

And I can't imagine anybody else not being eligible, even though it's just her first year.

Track 2:

[1:08:17] So there's that. Kate McKinnon nominated for the SNL Hall of Fame in the cast member category.

Track 2:

[1:08:26] It's going to be interesting to see what kind of votes she receives.

She's a first ballot Hall of Famer to me. It's a slam dunk.

And it's just a matter of what percentage she gets in with. Does she top Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell?

Does she you know just squeak through ultimately the percentages don't matter once you're in but they are curious to note and we will be noting them to satisfy your curiosity speaking of curiosity why don't we go to a sketch now with ms mckinnon this is a good sketch and i I want to just set it up for you.

That's right. It is from season 44 and this one's a bit of a hidden gem that Kate pretty much carries, except for some interjections from Aidy Bryant and Pete Davidson and the host Jonah Hill.

There's also not much to the visual. It's just Kate sitting on the ground after falling in class. So let's go to that now.

This is Kate McKinnon in Teacher Fell.

Track 5:

[1:09:54] Are you okay? Yeah, because you really fell down there. No, you need, like, help?

No, no. It's too late for that.

Teacher's on the ground. Like a silly little girl.

Well, I'm not a little girl, and I didn't fall. Yes, you did.

Do you want to, like, get up, though? No, no.

We're staying in this. Because I've got a hunch. I'm no psychologist. Yo, this is driver's ed.

But maybe you're laughing because you're afraid.

Teachers on the ground. Everything's different. Are we okay?

Yeah, we're good, but are you okay?

Oh, because I tripped. Because I was teaching too fast. You remember how fast it was?

No, I think you just didn't realize that your shoes were Heelys.

Say, honey, we're at a what now? Uh, uh, Heelys are, uh, sneakers with wheels in them. Impossible!

Track 5:

[1:11:04] This is all funny now, but... it's not gonna be funny if it turns out I've got two broken legs...

And I'm in a full-bottom mermaid cast... wheeled around in a trash bin, Yeah, covered head to toe in stinky trash.

That's not funny. Spaghetti in my hair.

Track 5:

[1:11:33] This is some episode of Friend. Do you mean friends?

I don't know movies. I can't take this. I got to help her. Halt!

I can teach from the ground, can't I? Yes.

Let's place our hands on the wheel, okay? Remember, how old are my kids? 10 and 2. Oh.

Oh, my dear God.

Track 5:

[1:12:03] Teacher fell more. It's honestly not that different. You're, like, three inches lower.

God, I'm on the ground. Oh.

I'm where I belong. Yeah, we said I was too frail.

Said I wouldn't live past three, and I wish I hadn't. Oh, no, don't tell us stuff.

You know, I've fallen down before. Once, at my own wedding. And a thousand other times.

Stop sharing. My ex-husband used to tell me, "'Gayle, you're too weak.

Gayle, you're too clumsy.

Gayle, those shoes have wheels. Put that phone away!" -"Yo, I'm calling the nurse." -"You know what?

This is good. Film this. Film this." Hello.

How does it feel to see teacher, teacher who used to lord over you with such power, fallen down?

Knowing you could get up and kick her. Could step on her.

Come on now. Take a whiz on teaching. Oh, my God! Get up, you. Spit in my hair.

Okay. No! What she said to you. Oh.

Look at us.

The world's gone topsy-turvy, and so have we. We're all here.

We're all laughing like cats.

Track 5:

[1:13:29] You ought to try it. Falling down. See the world differently down here.

You realize how small we all are, how big the floor is.

All right, I learned my lesson. Someone help me up.

Well, they've left. I guess school is over. And wha-? Would you look at that?

There's a wheel in my shoe. What?

Track 2:

[1:13:56] That is stellar work from Kate McKinnon.

Virtuoso, if you will, in the cast member category.

I remember seeing her the first time, and you won't believe me when I say this, but I remember her popping off the screen and just thinking, she's going to be a star.

She's going to be a star. She just looked different on my television and sounded different on my television and was funnier on my television than anybody I had seen since the third golden age.

So there's that.

Track 2:

[1:14:32] Voting again opens next Monday, May the 6th.

We'll be back with the Don Pardo Award winner, which you don't vote for.

So it won't get confusing for you but the ballot will be ready for you it will be emailed to you if you've signed up for the uh to be registered as a voter and if you haven't you can go to snl hof.com and you can vote through the link there we'll also have it on our all our social and.

Track 2:

[1:15:01] You'll be able to get access to it quite easily i really want to thank matt and thomas and And especially our guest, Ashley Bauer. It's been great to have you.

And that's what I've got for you this week. So if you would please do me a favor.

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.

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.

This week on the show we welcome back Jon Schneider into Hall for a conversation with Thomas about the late Herb Sargent.

If you've got questions about the show or would like to be a guest on an episode in the future please reach out - jamie@snlhof.com

You can follow and support the show through discussion and sharing in all the usual places: https://kite.link/snl-hall-of-fame

We're back with episode 27 of the podcast. It's a little late but better late than never.

Today we're joined by Thomas Sena who regales us with tales of Emma Stone and her hosting prowess.

Does she belong in the Hall?

We shall soon find out...

If you've got questions about the show or would like to be a guest on an episode in the future please reach out - jamie@snlhof.com

You can follow and support the show through discussion and sharing in all the usual places. Twitter - @SNLHOF Web - snlhof.com

jD, Matt, and Thomas are joined by Will Norman to discuss the potential Hall of Fame career of Rachel Dratch.

Transcript:

Track 2:

[0:42] All right. Thank you so much, Doug DeNance. It is great to be back here at the SNL Hall of Fame podcast.

Step inside the SNL Hall of Fame if you would, but please wipe your feet.

The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair.

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.

That's how we play this game.

It's all about you, ultimately. You get to listen, you get to vote, you get to enjoy the members as they regale us in the SNL Hall of Fame.

So there's that i hope you're doing well this week we've got a spectacular episode for you we are talking about rachel dratch and we're going to be joined by a repeat guest will normanwho always brings the goods in conversation with thomas senna but before we do any of that it's time for me to walk down the hall to our friend matt's.

Track 3:

[1:56] Minutiae minute corner hey matt Matt, how's it going, buddy? Great, JD, and you?

I am super star-rific. Talking about Rachel Dratch today, and I think she's funny as hell.

Me too, me too. She is one of those people who I have always felt is underappreciated.

Underappreciated, yeah. All of the heavy lifting that she does.

So you want to hear some facts about Rachel? Sure do. Okay, Rachel Dresch, 4'11 and 1 1⁄2, born February 22, 1966.

She grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, attending the National Theater Institute at Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut.

Now, she is a Second City alum, and she attended Second City and Improv Olympics with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

Many of their sketches are still available on YouTube.

So if you want to see very young Tina, Amy and Rachel, just Google them.

And it's it's actually it's still it still holds up a lot of old Second City sketches done by the theater groups back then did not hold up. But this one did.

[3:11] It's because it's pure Rachel just being Rachel.

Now, she studied under Del Close and that for improv nerds out there is like improv Jesus.

He is.

Like one of the creators of the form. And additionally, she also spent time in the Groundlings.

[3:34] And so she's done the improv trifecta, as well as being a founding member of UCB.

Jeez. Not to mention, she was also on the Harvard Lampoon.

So she is basically a member of the comedy Illuminati at this point.

So she graduated in 1988 from Dartmouth College and has played cello since high school.

So she's a talented musician in her own right.

[3:59] She has 127 acting roles and was the original Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock before being recast. Right, I forgot about that.

Yeah, if you watch that original pilot, it's a very different energy.

As much as I love Rachel, I can understand why they changed the casting to mix it up a bit.

The good thing about that is we have her variety of bonkers secondary characters, from the cat wrangler to the weird blue hallucination when the gas is left on in the gas episode.

Her first television role was on SNL, but she simultaneously made her film debut on Serious Business that same year.

She is also a published author with Girl Walks Into a Bar, which is flipping awesome.

And if you get it, I recommend getting the audiobook because she reads that, which is really, it's on Audible.

Not a plug for Audible, but it's on there and it's awesome.

She has produced a one-woman show called My Life as an SNL cast member, which she ran at UCB before her Broadway debut in Wicked.

[5:10] Um as tina after which she wrote the off-broadway play tail spin uh this tail exclamation mark spin exclamation mark which is why i said it a bit weird there yeah she's won thejoseph jefferson award for an actress in a review for paradigm lost uh in 1998 and for promise keepers losers Losers Weepers, in 1999 at Second City Chicago.

So from the get-go, she was recognized for her improv chops, has done voice work appearing in movies and television shows, including Spider-Man Across the Universe, or excuse me,Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse, as Ms.

Weber, the guidance counselor, which when you look at the picture, like a still of that character, of course it's her.

It looks so much like her. Oh, wild.

[6:34] Um, yeah. So for example, she did the escape from Scientology trivia obstacle course, the Julia Robsticle course, uh, Julia Roberts themed trivia obstacle course, and the escapeMargot Robbie's moment course.

And they are all as bonkers as you can, can guess.

They she and billy are actually quite close and she subsequently did a parody of jay-z's empire state of mind with billy eichner called forest hills state of mind and it is hilarious also onyoutube which i highly recommend, Cool. Well, I think we're locked and loaded here and ready to go downstairs with Thomas and his special guest, Will Norman.

Excellent. Can't wait. All right, Thomas, take it away.

Track 4:

[7:50] All right, J.D., Matt, thank you so much for that.

And we are in the midst of season five of the SNL Hall of Fame.

This is our second nominee that we're talking about this season.

The one, the only Rachel Dratch is our topic today. And to join me to talk about all things Rachel Dratch on SNL, a returning guest here on the SNL Hall of Fame, it's Will Norman.

Mr. Will Norman, my guest for Beyonce and for Daryl Hammond.

Welcome back to the SNL Hall of Fame, Will.

It is great to be back, Thomas. Thanks for having me. I'm just trying to slowly climb towards a five-timers jacket, so thanks for letting me come back, at least today.

But yeah, I'm excited to talk about Rachel with you today.

Obviously, we'll get into the details, but, you know, one of my favorite cast members and excited to kind of talk about her career and all her contributions to the show.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It was a lot of fun going back and rewatching stuff, doing the prep for this.

It's always fun. Rachel kind of pops off screen.

[8:53] So it's always fun to revisit a lot of what Rachel did on SNL.

And you are my guest, Will, for Daryl Hammond, who is a newly minted SNL Hall of Famer.

Will, so pat yourself on the back. What do you think, Daryl Hammond, Hall of Famer? We did it. We did it, Thomas.

I feel like we made a great case for him. And Daryl's definitely deserving of it. So happy that he was able and the fans recognized his contributions and got him in. So it's awesome.

Yeah, absolutely. In my book, probably in your book, we've mentioned top 20 cast member, in my opinion.

To me, that's an SNL Hall of Famer. If you're top 20, you're an SNL Hall of Famer in my book. So people agreed. That's awesome. Yeah, couldn't agree more.

Yes, absolutely. So we'll see if Rachel Dratch can get there.

I know on the SNN's cast member countdown, she was pretty high.

I think she was in the top 30 on the Saturday Night Network's cast member countdown.

So she appears to be beloved by a lot of viewers and a lot of fans, myself included, yourself included, Will.

I wanted to ask you about Rachel. So what were your impressions of Rachel Dratch when you first saw her?

It could be on SNL or wherever you first saw her.

[10:04] Yeah, I mean, I think my introductions to Rachel, I think were, you know, obviously during her time during SNL, I think in my time watching the cast that she came into was one ofmy favorite casts and kind of seeing her grow a little bit.

And, you know, I've always thought of her as just being a very, you know, a great character actor, like she is so good at finding these nuances and weird characters to bring to life.

She's also really good at being a part of an ensemble you know she's willing to be in the mix just not necessarily be centered in the sketch but she always makes the sketch better being apart of it and a couple other things that like i might still got to know rachel was like, she's very good at self-deprecation which i think uh yes you know is is is something i really appreciateit's one of my favorite types of of humor since the humor so she always brings that to her her comedy styles and her sketches and then this is kind of an another i think separate But a lot oftimes we talk about all the male performers, how well they are at portraying women.

And I feel like Rachel is very great as a performer portraying men.

And you see that in some of the characters that she does so much.

And I think that kind of goes under the radar a lot.

But I've always heard her ability to play different characters and kind of be really weird with it.

[11:14] Great line delivery, be in the mix, but also make everything better has always stood out to me. And so it's been it was fun to go back and rewatch her stuff and watching herprogression as a cast number two and get her flowers throughout her time on the cast.

What about you? Yeah, no, you're right. That's such a good point.

One of the things that I did know was how she portrayed like especially older men really well, older, kind of like kooky, squirrely kind of men really well.

Well, she almost inhabited or, you know, harnessed like a Dana Carvey kind of spirit in an interesting way when she did those characters. That's something that stood out to me.

And then that's an interesting point you brought up about the self-deprecation.

And that came through the, I automatically think of like these weekend update corresponded things that she would do with Amy and Tina.

Where she would be like, I'm on location out here reporting the blizzard or whatever.

And then they make her stay out there. where Amy and Tina are drinking like hot tea at the desk and they're like, oh, this is so good.

And then Rachel's out there shivering and freezing. And so she's able to, yeah, she's able to poke fun at herself.

There's also another one where she and Tracy Morgan had like a little talk show and John Stewart was on.

And she was almost kind of she was the straight laced one, like kind of nervous talking to John Stewart. And Tracy was kind of ribbing her a little bit.

John, do you think you're going to remain on cable or might you consider expanding to a wider market?

[12:41] Look at Dress pretending to be all interested in TV markets when she's just trying to get her freak on.

What? You don't care about no daily show. You're just trying to be his daily ho.

[12:53] Freaky, that is not true. Look at Dress starting all red.

Oh, my God. I'm really sorry. um okay um so she makes fun of herself a lot of the uh the writing on the show made fun of her but it's in a loving way like everybody obviously lovedrachel and it's just sort of like in a in a it was almost like big hug when when they would do that with rachel she's so likable that's something that stands out to me and stood out to me atthe time will she's so likable yes yes she definitely is and that's where you know i think she's she's already likable in her presence on on the show and the sketches that she shows up in andthen her willingness to make fun of things to find the funny and to your point never felt like it was a mean spirit it always felt like it was something that she was like if this is funny i'mgonna do it and going to you know put my all into it and so i've always really liked how um like i said like you said how likable she she has been in the sketches that she did and how she'shas a warmth to her performance a lot of times but can be super weird as well where you're rooting for even she's playing weirdo yeah exactly and And and when when when she joinedthe cast.

[13:57] I remember when she did, she almost reminded me of like a Sherry Oteri who was still on the cast. And they overlapped for one year.

They were on the cast together. It's one of those strange SNL things where it's like, oh, I forgot Rachel Dratch and Sherry Oteri were on the cast together.

That's certain pairings that happens sometimes.

Like you forget. Like I was going through old sketches today.

I'm like, I forgot that Vanessa Bear and Melissa Villasenor were on the cast at the same time.

That's just kind of a weird one to me. but sherry and rachel uh well that was that was one of those weird ones but rachel reminded me of sherry so i think initially i was wondering like youknow they kind of have somebody like this but it turned out that was sherry's last season so i think rachel was a good successor to sherry but also added some different elements i think shewas able to even get a little bit.

[14:43] Weirder uh in in some ways than even sherry did yes no i agree she definitely i do think she did did get weirder than than than sherry did for sure and i think uh to your point whenyou have those new cast members that come in and they're on it's a deep cast and there's a bench coming in it's one it's fun to go back and see someone they're a featured player you knowthey're going to be awesome later you're like oh that's that's fun like there's that crossover there and.

[15:08] She did, you know, as you mentioned just now, like she definitely did bring a Sherry O'Terry energy and vibe to the show.

And I think one thing we'll talk about over the time here is similar to Sherry, such a great scene partner that Rachel was with a lot of the cast that she was with, specifically Jimmy Fallonor Will Ferrell.

She was a really great scene partner with him and able to, you know, find great characters to have lasting impressions on the show while inhabiting that same energy that Sherry brought.

Yeah yeah exactly another one i just thought about molly shannon was on the cast with chris farley and adam sandler no i didn't realize that that's kind of weird you know she started at theend of season 20 so she overlapped by a few episodes but technically molly shannon was on the cast with chris farley and adam sandler so that that's another one that's kind of wild to me.

[15:56] Yeah so you had mentioned and we talked about you know she joined sherry o'terry was there but also Also, I mean, she joined and established Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, AnaGasteyer, Chris Catan, all those people were on the cast already for a few years. Rachel joined in season 25.

So this was the fifth season that a lot of those people had been on the cast together.

So what do you think might be like the expectations of a new cast member when you're joining a big group of veterans?

Where does a new cast member from a viewer standpoint, where do you want them to fall in?

Yeah, you know, that's a great question. And I think when, when you see, when you have a stack cast that you love and you, and you like all the people that are on the cast, you see a newperson show up, I think in some ways it's, it's helpful for the cast member because there's not pressure on them to immediately be great.

You know, you had those years where all of a sudden there's a bunch of new people and it's like, okay, I got to love somebody here. Like someone's got to take the torch.

[16:51] But when you have an established cast, you're kind of wondering one, okay, what role is this person going to fill?

You know, we have an absolutely stacked team. We brought in this rookie. what skill set are they bringing to the table are they going to be you know of the archetypes of SNL they'regoing to be the impressionist are they going to be someone who's going to be great as a character actor are they going to be someone who's going to um just be a you know a feature playerjust kind of be in the mix of things they're straight person to sketches kind of figuring out what their actual style of comedy is going to be and then you're also looking at it morespecifically do they inhabit any of the same kinds of personality types that a current cast number does is this the next generation's version of you know a sherry or terry is this person goingto be like an adam sandler they're going to do songs and stuff on update or they're going to be doing features you're trying to figure out where they fit in the grand scheme of the show andso.

[17:39] I think when I'm watching new cast members, my own personal criteria is I'm just kind of seeing how do you meld with the rest of the cast?

Who are they pairing you up with? What parts are they giving you as they kind of help you go along?

And then I've said this before, I'm sure in previous podcasts, but I'm always a big, fairly or unfairly, I really judge people's first weekend update appearances because it's one of the firsttimes you get to see that cast member somewhat as themselves, probably doing something they auditioned on the show with to see what their style is.

So those are kinds of the things you have that wait and see approach with new cast members.

I want to love every new cast member that comes in. I think most fans don't see them on the bumper and go, I hope this person's terrible.

You want the show to be good, right?

[18:19] So I'm rooting for them. I just want to see where they fit in.

So that's kind of where I view it. But what about you? What are your criteria? What are you looking at?

Yeah, I think a lot of it's similar. It's almost like a new present in a way that the show is giving us every year.

It's just like the possibilities are endless like what skill set to this person have i don't i i tend to look for something that's like skill sets that aren't overlapping is is a big one because if it'sjust complete overlapping skill sets just like okay well show's probably not going to use that much because i already have somebody who does this so it's just like finding out how thatperson sticks out uh then a good example this year chloe trost joined an established cast and chloe trost we found out it's a really good singer first of all so they're using her a lot as far assinging goes maybe a lot of the stuff that cecily strong maybe we used to do chloe trost is starting to do so she's kind of finding her niche she's gonna get more other things to do that's anexample of like this person's finding their niche you bring up a good point about weekend update too that's really that's a lot the weekend update desk i always harp on this is the castmembers struggling.

[19:26] They want to do well on the show. They want people to know who they are.

Write a good weekend update, Vs. Get that on.

If you're going to get on the show, be on a weekend update. It's going to be on every week. They don't put a weekend update. Yeah, exactly.

And those tend to be memorable.

And right away, like last season, Michael Longfellow endured himself because of weekend update in a lot of ways. So did Marcelo Hernandez.

Those are two examples of people who just like shined on weekend update.

And now we're hoping like when's Longfellow going to be on weekend update? Right.

His last one. What weird character. what costume is he going to wear what is he going to be on his himself and do stand-up or what so I think that's a good point about the update desk soshe Rachel Dratch joined in season 25 episode three she made her mark right away like she played Calista Flockhart in her in her very first she did a really oddball version of CalistaFlockhart in her very first episode that was season 25 episode three so she was officially joined the cast like like three episodes into that first season so So right away, I think we saw thatshe was a bit of an oddball, Rachel Dratch, which is a good thing.

That's like when I when I call somebody an oddball, that's like that's like a really high compliment coming from me. Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah.

Yeah. So she she shined right away. She had other good characters and sketches right away in season 25.

[20:42] But, you know, you're my guest. Let's I want to give the floor to you.

Like what characters or or sketch would you like to lead off with in this discussion? and Will?

Yeah. So, I mean, there's so many to choose from and I feel like there's going to be a couple of deep cuts I think we'll get to eventually.

And I want to start with this one just because I think that it's probably one of the ones we're talking about a potential Hall of Fame resume.

It's probably one of the ones that let's say the general population is most familiar with and that's Debbie Downer, right?

So Debbie Downer, obviously for those not familiar, is a character where Rachel would play essentially a Debbie Downer in real life, someone who is always bringing up bad news ingroup settings and always bringing and finding the negative and the way they did the sketch, obviously a lot of fun sound effects and womp womps and sad trombone and, you know,animal noises, whatever there was, they were talking about and a lot of closeups on Rachel. And.

[21:35] They did a sketch quite a few times over the course of the show.

I think obviously many are familiar with the most famous one of them breaking a Disney world with Lindsay Lohan.

I personally enjoyed that. That is a favorite of mine.

I, you know, I just don't like when people don't break as much, but it's, it's obviously a classic for a reason.

That's an example to me that breaking works, breaking like elevated a sketch in that case.

Yes. Yes. And same thing with, um, you know, there's a lot similar thing with birthday party with Ben Affleck.

There's a Thanksgiving dinner with Luke Wilson. There's a lot of iterations of the sketch.

And whether you look in the Disney World example or not, we're talking about from a cast and performance standpoint, understanding kind of what Rachel brought to the table.

[22:13] It is a fun premise, right? Someone that's, you know, we all know a Debbie Downer of sorts in our lives, but the use of her having to try to be the straight person in the sketch and,you know, or not necessarily a straight person, but trying to like say, deliver these lines and these very sad news about feline AIDS being the number one killer of domestic cats or talkingabout how bird flu is worse than SARS and these close-ups of her with a ridiculous sound effect and making a face to camera and then going back into the normal life of the world of thesketch.

Those kinds of things are the ones obviously very fun to watch, but just as a cast member, having someone who's able to do those kinds of things and be really silly and play into theridiculousness of the sketch, sketch, trying to keep it together.

I think it's just a really good example of what Rachel Drash brings to the table.

So if you're looking at the highlight reel of like, all right, give me some Rachel Drash sketches.

That's why I say Debbie Downer is obviously one I think most people go to or have shared with their friends to say, hey, this is kind of who Rachel Drash is, what she brings to the table.

Yeah, her face was so expressive. I think that's a lot of what made the sketch and probably what contributed to them breaking in that first debbie downer sketch in the first place was justrachel's expressive face and especially when you do like a tight zoom.

[23:36] Onto her expressive face and she she knows what face she's making everybody the whole rest of the cast see it so that's that was part of the charm and i think if somebody elsewould have played debbie downer let's say amy poehler was in that role i think it would have been solid but i don't think they would have had necessarily the same exact reaction as likerachel dratch because she was she she could contort her face and she's very expressive and that was one of her big qualities as a cast member 100 and i think to your point too with thatwith that um character i think it would be really easy for someone to maybe ham it up more and the negativity and be you know but i think the fact that rachel tried to play it so so straightand And so like really trying to just like, you know, bring that energy down in the room when she's doing it with other people who notoriously don't break a lot.

[24:29] And they're like, they can't hold it together. And they're trying to keep it going.

And she's still committed because, as you know, they know she has another close-up coming. She has another line coming.

She has, you know, increasingly more dark and dark news to deliver.

And she's still kind of just in the mix trying to keep the sketch going.

And so, yeah, her expressions, the line delivery, the way she played it, it's just absolutely perfect and, like, a great use of her talents.

And, you know, it is a formulaic recurring character. and you know that's a lot of ways a lot of our you know hall of fame candidates have a recurring character recurring impression and isay uh for her with this one definitely one that's gotten the most circulation i think for for non-snl fans that have seen this one and seen uh the iterations of debbie downer yeah to yourpoint about like them waiting because they because the cat her castmates know what she's about to say that the most famous part to me my favorite part part of the original Debbie Downerwas when she kind of pauses because they all know that she's going to say that line. By the way, by the way, it's official.

Kidnapped children.

[25:56] And that that line i could i could watch the debbie downer sketch 100 times and that line cracks me up like i laugh out loud big time every time she says that it gets me every timei'm with you just because it like you said it's it's it's just this increasingly darker news it's such a dark thing to say right like it's not funny that somebody can't have children you wouldn'tthink but just in that context that was the funniest thing imaginable yes yes and like i said she she delivers it i mean she they're breaking obviously but having so much fun with it beingable to do it in a fun way and like you know like i said that's one that the whole cast was enjoying the sketch and with rachel too like a lot of times we'll talk about she's such a good scenepartner with people and so seeing her centered in a sketch and still being able to do a really good job with it and making it fun and making it funny i'm just saying it speaks to her hertalents and things she was able to bring to the show yeah i'm wondering about debbie downer specifically but just in a general sense so on one hand for me i wish they would have keptthis to maybe one installment or maybe tried it again they did it seven times and then on the other hand i don't blame them for trying it more and more because the first one caught on sowell like where do you stand on that like the the balance between not running something into the ground trying to recapture that magic i I think we saw that fairly recently with Lisa fromTemecula.

I go, I love that first sketch, but then I don't think they quite could capture the same magic. So where do you stand on just like that general idea?

[27:25] Yeah, so I'm with you in that. I was going to say that the Lisa from Temecula sketch was, I think, a perfect recent example of them using that.

And I think with a lot of sketches, I'm kind of of the opinion that if the reason it's going viral is mainly because of the breaking, even if the premise is really funny and the delivery isreally funny, I'm usually a fan of one and done.

Because i do think that sometimes the pressure is on the cast to break again in subsequent you know uh iterations of it because that's kind of what made it the first time and i think ithonestly makes it more special like if we saw lisa and temecula one time and didn't see it again i think that it you know it makes that sketch even more special because it was like that wasdelivered so well in that live format that one time that like people couldn't bring it together and then you you don't see it again with Debbie Downer.

I think that it did work as a format to repeat because that is kind of a universal trope of the Debbie Downer. Right.

[28:25] But I do agree that like two to three times maybe, but I think seven is probably probably got to be too much.

And that's really no fault of, of Rachel's because of, you know, she obviously was a capable performer. You're really great.

[28:36] But I think that I'm personally on the side of if the breaking is the main reason why it's getting traction, I'm more a fan of us to do it one time.

That was fun for what it was and then we just let it go yeah exactly that those jeffries sketches with jimmy fallon and will ferrell in the early 2000s another example for me is like that theythose kind of work because they couldn't keep it together can imagine that jimmy fallon couldn't keep it together during the sketch breaking news i don't blame him for the debbie downerwhen actually fred armisen did a really good job of not breaking he's the only one because he had had Horatio Sanz wiping his tears with the waffle Lindsay Lohan couldn't evenremember when she had to say her like Fred had to kind of look at her and be like okay it's your line to like Lindsay so it's just kind of funny watching all the different performers andAmy Poehler was in that just how they all reacted to that and Debbie Downer in general like I don't mind it as a premise at all as you as you said it's universal Rachel's a capable performerI think it could have worked as a premise if the breaking in the first installment didn't overshadow the premise necessarily so that's what debbie downer became it became a sketch wherethey broke instead of like a sketch where the premise is the star so maybe that was like it was just like the fans the fans decided here's what your sketch is about now yeah exactly bring itback yeah yeah exactly So that was in she debuted Debbie Downer season 29.

[30:05] A little toward the end. She she was a cast member until season 31.

So her last three seasons we saw Debbie Downer. I wanted to go back to her first season, actually her third episode.

[30:18] Where she and Jimmy Fallon debuted their Boston teens.

Oh my God, Sally, I scoped it out. Apparently your $35 gets you chips, pretzels, and English muffin pizzas.

Four-star cuisine? I beg to differ.

Luckily, Denise and I bring a party with us wherever we go. Oh yeah, these are my own creation.

Zazu's famous shots in a blanket.

[30:44] Simply soak an everyday hot dog bun in vodka and enjoy.

To pass us by, you appear to be simply eating a bag of hot dog buns. Yes.

This near-perfect food coats your stomach as it inebriates. My girl is a genius.

She played Denise or Zazu.

Zazu. Zazu. So, yeah, those Boston teens. Another Rachel one that people remember fondly, right, Will?

Yes. No, 100%. And that's funny. That was next to my list. I thought so.

Yeah. I want to talk about that to talk that we know who we know that we know about it. But yeah, Boston is one of my favorites.

[31:22] Same thing, like a very obviously very formulating sketch.

Sketch but like the energy that her and jimmy bring to it in terms of having you know tommy recording um them being able to um kind of talk as as boston teens and really lean into a lotof the you know the boston accent and you know just make it very boston specific um always ending with some kind of sexual innuendo and you know fialan saying hey tommy tell meyou got that um they were super you know they're obviously like they've done they did a lot of iterations of the sketch but all like probably one probably one of them my favorite uh we'llget to my favorite but this one my favorite uh dratch character especially with jimmy like they play so well off of each other as the boston teens um there's a lot of different iterations onethat my favorites is one obviously not with uh ben affleck um there's one that they did with a birthday dinner with justin timberlake but the um the the them leaning into like i said a lot ofthe uh i said i guess just boston stereotypes and being kind of troublemaking kids and that are just always trying to get in trouble and and you know making out constantly and you are idon't know how i probably yelled at someone you are over the course of my life and making out so uh but just that there's There's so many good, it's so quotable.

Poor Nomar Garcia-Pera, by the way. Like Nomar, like that's what, that's kind of almost what he's known for in a way.

Right, people just yelling Nomar at him, I'm sure, everywhere he goes.

[32:52] And so, yeah, there's so many good quotes in that and so many good, like even that's the one we talked about.

[32:59] Having a great idea great characters that don't necessarily rely on the breaking like that one brought back and you knew what was going to happen you knew what was coming butthe amount of joy and fun that rachel and jimmy had with that sketch was just made it and i was always i mean they've come back and done it when jimmy's come back to host and stuffand and whenever rachel pops up as that like always fun to see that is one of my favorites for sure but i wanted to get your thoughts too on i mean the first appearance and then also withother with their other boston teen sketches yeah for some reason the one i always remembered uh probably because of my age when i watched it was the britney spears one but yeah butyeah so that that's that's one that always uh that always thought was funny that kind of stood out to me i liked when they were because a lot of times they were at like a party likesomebody's house or something but when they were actually doing something in public in front of other people so with that one they were at this amish.

[33:49] Uh cosplay kind of place and like britney spears was asked jimmy fallon to come up and like show had a churn butter and it got flirty and then and then uh rachel as zazu gotjealous a little bit and then it holds you as you mentioned the beats like it had all those classic beats of them calling each other names and then of course making out and and and theinnuendo at the end and all of that so i always i always liked that britney spears one uh they did they did it 12 times times they did this uh the boston teens so there was a lot of meat onthat bone and i don't think like for for them to have having done it 12 times it didn't get all that stale to me honestly it was always very fun to watch and like you said jimmy and rachel hadgood chemistry together what i like about that that too when you talk about sketches of characters and how timely they are and how well they they go over watched obviously i watchedsome when rachel's in the cast did one one with uh it was like they're at a um they're going out to a birthday dinner with uh just to relax playing uh jimmy cotton's little brother and hekeeps setting things on fire at uh at the dinner and they do another one where i think it was jimmy came back to host and um they are like now kind of adults essentially and kate mckinnonis their daughter and they're touring harvard and you know they're and they're and they're having these you know they kind of updated like instead of a reporter they're you know tommy isrecording on a on a camera phone on a countess camera phone and.

[35:18] Uh, you know, their daughter's really smart going to Harvard and they're still kind of in that, that same kind of mindset they were as teens, but they're like parents now.

And why is Tommy there with them on the tour?

Who is Tommy? Why is he? Why is Uncle Tommy here? Yeah.

And so it's like, it, to me, that speaks to like, it speaks to the fact that she had these characters and had these, um, moments on the show that still, um, hit and resonate with latergenerations and later fans of the show like you can start a show with a cold open with the boston teens and the fans of the show we're like oh my gosh yes we're gonna get a chance to seerachel and jimmy be the boston teens and to your point thomas it never felt like it got beaten to the ground like they could show up they could show up in you know they could show up onthe next episode of snl whenever that airs right like and people would say be excited to see those characters so um it's it's a really it's a tough balance i'm sure to have recurring charactersthat people really enjoy that doesn't that doesn't get run into the ground and people are excited to see return so you know that kind of speaks again to rachel's ability to be a really likablecast member have likable characters regardless of the iteration whether they're super super sad at a dinner table or i don't you know a crazy boston teen so yeah another uh another featherin rachel's cap there with uh the boston teens and debbie downer too two really memorable.

[36:37] Characters and sketches from that era.

Will, where do you want to go from here with Rachel Dratch?

Yeah. So I think next I'd like to go to the professors, Clive and the lovers, better known as the lovers.

I think first appearance was during, and for those not familiar with the sketch, two professors that are very big on PDA and talking about their lovemaking in front of people to make themuncomfortable their first appearance was um at the katie holmes hosted episode with uh and it's rachel as virginia clarvin and uh will ferrell her husband professor clarvin um and they areconstantly talking to um they're at the time they're talking jimmy fallon and katie holmes about their relationship and the importance their their love making traditions and as the charactersgo they're essentially you know just talking about that and uh whatever whatever smoked meats that they like smoked meats yes and so they uh they bring these characters back uh i'mgonna say maybe five times you can correct it i think i have seven times oh seven they're on my on my list yeah gotcha so seven times and um each time same kind of same kind of thingwhere there's a lot of pda a lot of groping a lot of kissing i think one of my favorite um versions of that one i'm sure many people have seen is the one with uh drew Drew Barrymore,where they are at the Wellesley Arms Hotel that they talk about.

[38:03] It's with Rachel Dratchwell Farrell, Jimmy Fallon is there, and then Drew Barrymore shows up.

[38:09] Does anyone care for spiced lamb shakes? What is that? Well, at this point during the soak, my lover and I usually crave spiced meat.

[38:24] We all do.

We always order them up special from the Welsh.

And keep them here in this igloo cooler. The wealthy arms. They are talking about Jimmy Fallon, who's there alone.

Who's breaking a lot. Yeah, who's breaking a lot. I know what you're saying.

You got the tallies going for Jimmy. But there's a lot of, you know, the way that they say everything, their pronunciations, it's called the lavas, and there's Barbara Hernandez.

[38:58] And, you know, they feed each other smoked meats and lamb shanks in this hot tub.

And they're calling it the hot tub and like all these different little iterations they have and the way they talk about things the chemistry between obviously drash and feral is great they havea really fun time like interacting with each other but then also making jimmy uncomfortable i think you can tell that like feral's definitely like rubbing found on the leg oh yeah he's a lot ofdeep eye contact that's what i heard he's kind of playing footsie with fallon in that hot tub trying.

[39:28] To get him to break it's yes and and it's the way that they like they do in that and in that that sketch like obviously the the the professors clarvin are centered and they are the maindrivers of the comedy and the ridiculousness and everyone there is a is reacting around them but similar to the boston teens like rachel brings that same kind of fun scene partner energy ina totally different way she's not uh you know a troublemaking teen from boston he is a college professor who just likes to talk a little bit too much about her you know public displays ofaffection and lovemaking and it's still a really fun sketch and a fun character and while there's some crossover there like with the you know with the characters it's totally different it's atotally different energy in a totally different way that she that she brings it to life and so um that's as i said another one that's really fun for me and there's a lot of breaking and stuff but ithink it just goes to how much fun everyone's having listening to them uh you know going back and forth and and making everyone uncomfortable yeah that drew barrymore one's theprobably my favorite one to the one that I remember most.

[40:31] Rachel and Will Ferrell in these lover sketches, they inhabit a very specific type of person who I've encountered quite a bit.

I don't know if you have, Will. I grew up about an hour from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

[40:46] And there's so many people like this around Santa Fe, like the hippie, yuppie, I guess yippie kind of types of people.

You could tell they have money, but they're still kind of earthy in a way.

They're probably like very liberal minded people, maybe misguided at times in some ways.

They probably donate to a lot of causes.

Oftentimes college professors and artists and stuff so i think rachel and will ferrell inhabited the specific type of person really really well in my mind these characters live in santa fe newmexico because that's the exact yes i've i have countered or taos or somewhere in the mountains There's some trendy mountain village spot. Yes. Yes.

[41:40] No, no. I definitely know the archetype type of person that you're referring to.

And I think in my time in school in California, I think I ran into some professors like that as well.

Well, where, you know, generally speaking, like whether it's professors or, you know, the very like, you know, seemingly high minded people, just that feeling people have had whereyou're with a couple that wants to let you know how much they enjoy each other's company when you're not there.

I think that general feeling of just being uncomfortable and kind of being kind of stuck in a spot where you're like, I don't really want to, I can't only want to engage this conversationnecessarily.

We're all just kind of watching the two of you be very affectionate with each other and then trying to make it okay for everyone to be that same way it was it's a very um i think relatable toyour point relatable uh level of uncomfortable uh that everyone has been at some point in time so the way they do that and make it so hilarious that everyone you know whether it's youknow katie helman or drew barrymore jimmy fallon like on you know unable to keep it together I think makes the sketch and is another fun feather in the cap for Rachel as well.

Yeah, a good teammate with Will. She could partake in Will Ferrell's off-the-wall goofiness easily.

She's a good companion with Will Ferrell in that type of humor.

[43:00] I think she does such a good job. Another recurring character I want to talk about, Will, is another season 29 one.

I want to talk about this because we had alluded to it earlier in the podcast.

[43:13] She played an old Hollywood producer named Abe Scheinwald.

[43:18] That's an example, probably the example for me about how good she was at playing a wacky older person.

Pops, I thought Shine World Studio was, you know, moving towards more award-winning fare and a gay, you know, way from, you know, bumping ta-tas.

Since when do you decide what interests us? This one wanted me to make a movie about a kid at school who had magical powers.

I said I liked it better the first time when it was called Teen Wolf.

It was Harry Potter. We passed on Harry Potter.

[43:48] Now who do you see in the role of potty hoe number two well there's only two choices abe scheinwald one of my favorite rachel characters it is i don't know if it's one of theviewers have seen obviously just tell us like the first time to see i think that started as a weekend update feature uh i want to say yes um and uh with seth and then was later turned into asketch and essentially the idea is that it's this old uh old man who's a movie producer and he he makes he makes motion motion pictures and he's like and he set this his grandson who istrying to move their movie studio into like a much more intellectual you know way and direction whereas he is very much into uh you know very sexual themed or sexual in a windowthemed movies with like russ meyer films i don't know if you're familiar with old like 60s russ meyer films but no no but yeah so i think that's what they were going for russ meyer madelike these b movies we'll call them that had a lot of sexual stuff a lot of you know they weren't it was almost like if they at the time it would have been like straight to video so yeah so it'skind of like that yeah and he you know a lot of the titles i mean nit nipple institute of technology you know a lot those are kind of the the vein of titles that we're talking about and like umit's one of my favorite characters once again there's a lot of like recurring themes.

[45:16] And sketches but the way that one let's focus on rachel the way that she plays.

[45:20] This old man who is always eating potato salad out of a container it's a great.

[45:26] Choice for a character you're right and like like really loud and really just kind of, and is the energy she plays off of Seth as well.

[45:34] Where Seth is very like the straight person and is like clearly annoyed with his grandfather who is like very, you know, has an outdated way of thinking.

And Rachel has just kind of been this, like, I'm the expert.

Like we make pictures and, you know, we need to do all these things to like drive money and do all these things.

And she's just so over the top and so silly, but it's so hilarious seeing her inhabit this and have this character. and.

[45:59] One of the ongoing things, and this is just a little peek into my life, there's a lot of things that she says where they're constantly talking about a movie and they'll say, you know, Ihad a movie, you know, there was a movie that we wanted to do and it was about, let's make one up, like, oh, a guy who ran across the country, but we passed on it. And Seth is like, it wasForrest Gump.

We passed on Forrest Gump, you know? And so it's like, it's that constant, like, you know, same thing.

And I, and I, you know, it's like, I, you know, these movies, oh, I have a movie about this.

I liked it better the first time when it was this, you know, and I will say when I go to movie theaters, I am sure my fiance is tired of hearing it.

Every movie preview, I find myself saying, I liked it better the first time when it was and saying a movie title. For me, it's such a quotable sketch, and I love repeating a lot of the thingsthat Rachel says in it.

She plays that old man, Abe Sheinwald, so well.

I think your point, the first one, I think, maybe was with Alec Baldwin, where it's the three of them, the father, grandfather, and Seth.

[47:03] You can tell that they're trying to keep it together with just the energy that Rachel is bringing to it as Abe Sheinwald.

Yeah this is an example too of Rachel I try not to do this like I guess I don't know I can sometimes I compare cast members to other cast members but Rachel inhabits a lot of the thingsthat I love about certain cast members past and present so with this one it's like a lot of what I love about Martin short I think Rachel Dratch inhabits in a character like this yes there aresome Jimmy Glick.

[47:38] Energy kind of jiminy glick you know i had like another like a hollywood producer kind of character uh too but just in how like she i don't know just how she presented herself andher mannerisms and her commitment her and that's a big thing like rachel we haven't said it this episode but i think just her commitment is admirable in a sketch honestly and that'ssomething that's like even cast members come through here and there over the years and i could tell like this person's like not fully in the sketch i wish they would commit more never hadthat problem with rachel oh 100 and i think one of the things we were talking about before too as she's committing when she's committing in sketches no matter what she's playing we wetalked about this a little bit earlier in her ability to play men you know there's a lot of things that she does and has fun with um as she's committing to playing an old man as a woman andthis basically like a sexist old man right and the line delivery she has and things she says and i mean even when she's uh.

[48:39] Talking about i think one point they said i think in every sketch where you know she's talking about having you know women in in bikinis and like to make the movie make moremoney and you know pull out a dollar out of her pocket and is like double d's double d's and like pulling you know a dollar and it's like it's such a ridiculous thing to say and trying tomake seth say it as well but like Like she has this commitment.

Like I'm going to be fully like inhabit this type of person who would one say this, who would believe this, um, be over the top with it and bring that kind of energy.

Like it's one of my, that character is just one of my favorites of Rachel. And I don't know if it's.

[49:14] Something that the average fan obviously has heard of or would see or like people would recognize it but you just popped up obviously like in another sketch but um to your point areally great a really uh great example of her ability to commit to a character play other people um and then also be able to just have great line delivery and be centered in the sketch in away that um you know she was always willing to be a partner but to be a to be front and center the energy i think was was great yeah exactly so she uh she played abe shinewald fourtimes We urge everybody to go seek those out and watch Rachel Dratch shine as a kooky old man.

She did that so well.

Any other gems, characters, sketches, Will, that pop to mind with Rachel Dratch?

[49:59] You know, those are like from a character standpoint, those were some of the main characters that I kind of want to talk about for Rachel.

But if you had any others, I was going to talk about a couple of sketches.

But like if you have any other, I mean, there's a few more.

Yeah give us a sketch that stands out if you got one okay so they're uh one of them i think that it's kind of on the same the same lines as we're talking about her playing a guy but there's asketch called um it's basically it's a harry potter themed sketch and it's about uh it's with lindsey lowen on the sketch in the sketch and she is um playing hermione and coming back from asummer vacation and lindsey low hands playing lindsey low hands yeah sorry lindsey Lindsay Lohan's playing Hermione, and Rachel is playing Harry Potter, and they're coming backfrom summer break, and Hermione, as Lindsay Lohan says, developed, we'll say, over the summer.

And all of the guys that are in the sketch are very much distracted by Hermione.

I got here hours ago. I've been in the library researching cloaking spells.

[51:03] Hermione, um... Hello?

Boring nothing.

[51:19] Seems like a lot happened i don't know what you're talking about there's a lot of to your point before in that sketch um as they do a lot of visual gags and they have a lot of peoplecoming in out of the sketch there's rachel's very expressive and like a lot of it's like her facial expressions as she's playing harry potter and being very much like trying to not bring bringattention to um you know uh hermione and her kind of like low-cut shirt yeah um and trying to kind of be the mix and it's just like one of those funny ones once again we talk about rachelplaying all these different you know different types of characters she played harry potter another time during a weekend update sketch or feature as well which is also great um but like herability to kind of fully be in those characters and um it's a very silly sketch obviously just with the idea of that happening in the harry potter the harry potter universe right but um She justdoes a really good job of facial expressions, trying to be kind of a straight person in the sketch, but also not bring too much attention to it, which I feel like is another good example of justhow silly she was as a cast member.

That's just one. Yeah, she knows how to deliver.

[52:25] She knows the beats to play any given character. And with this Harry Potter, it was almost like that.

Oh, I'm noticing this, but I can't say it.

And I need to contain my obvious enjoyment enjoyment of these new developments with, with Hermione and all this.

So like, yeah, yeah. So Rachel knew how to like, she knew the beats of, of, of how to play that scene perfectly. That's a really nice pull.

Yeah, I got one. I'll throw one out there. And then I want to hear from you too.

Like, this is the one is the Rachel it's it's it's the fun friends club.

Yeah. And this is one. Yeah.

[53:06] So like, kind of around the opposite of that. Rachel is basically playing a 12-year-old girl who is a part of a kid's show, but is much more developed than the other kids that are onthe show to the point that it's distracting for the main actor, the guy playing the dinosaur. I think it's Ray Liotta. Ray Liotta.

Yeah, Ray Liotta is playing the kid's dinosaur character who's very upset with this process. And they're having her do a lot of things that are totally fine for a 12-year-old to do, but becauseshe is more developed, this is distracting, and they really aren't comfortable with her doing some of these things.

And Rachel does such a good job in the sketch of playing this very innocent kid who doesn't understand what – she doesn't get the joke.

And so many times, she's centered on the joke. She is the main delivery vehicle for the joke.

But in this one, she does such a great job of being like, I don't understand what's going on.

And the audience is losing it uh ray leota is getting visibly more angry like i'm uncomfortable with this i don't want this kid on the show anymore and jimmy fallon's being the producerkind of like trying to talk to him like i got i'll try to talk it through i'll try to figure it out trying to find workarounds and whatnot yeah um and to his credit by the way i don't think jimmyfallon breaks in this sketch so i want to call that out where it's due there we go.

[54:21] Broken clock right uh but i'm saying he does a great job as the director coming in front of the the camera and kind of trying to direct the energy and, and also calming down RayLiotta, who's doing a good job at playing.

He plays it perfectly in terms of like.

[54:36] I'm angry with this. I don't want this kid on the show. Like I, it's not good.

Like we can't have this, you know, 12 year old jumping around and doing all these things.

Um, and get me does a great job of, like I said, keeping the energy on, on Rachel and kind of making it believable that she doesn't know what's going on.

And, um, it's just a really fun way for, uh, another example of her talents in terms of, uh, being able to play, you know, like a kid, like just brings a kid energy to it, which I think in a reallyfunny way and a really innocent way, that's still really funny in the way that they do it from a visual standpoint yeah this one the fun friend club from season 28 uh that that's a nice pull aswell i think rachel that particular role that type of role is almost thankless in comedic circles but it's vital like the character who doesn't know that they're part of a humorous situation butthey still have to play it like to where that the the the humor is still conveyed something that chris parnell would do really well that we talked about in last season and i think rachel does itreally well here she's oblivious she's just innocent and she and she has to play it play it that way because it serves the comedy and rachel's has a good enough comedic mind to know toplay it that way because that's what's going to serve the comedy at any point she doesn't always have to be the wacky center of attention.

[55:54] Type like i can just play innocent and oblivious and that's what's best for this uh this joke in this sketch yes she plays it perfectly and um i think it's a it's a fun way to show herrange yeah absolutely i i have a couple of uh um one-off sketches please with rachel that that really stand out to me i don't know if you remember if you've watched uh it's uh with jenniferaniston it's called christmas urchins it seems we've been discovered perhaps they'll I'll throw us a crust of bread.

A crust of bread might cure me rickets! Right!

[56:29] Hello, um, if you please. My brother and I were terribly hungry.

Yeah, we escaped from me and Mr Grimmswargle in the foundling town, and we've come to the Jersey to seek our fortune!

Could you find it in your heart to let us in so it's from season 25 so it was rachel dratch's fourth episode it was the christmas episode jennifer aniston hosted by the way jennifer anistonwas a really good that was a really good episode she's a really good host back in the day but basically the premise.

[57:01] Is that rachel and jennifer aniston play these christmas urchins like these 19th century british 19th century british urchins who this family rents out just to have it on their lawn aslike a deck christmas decoration or whatever and so they're acting like urchins like like oh look at look at them they're like peeking through the window jennifer aniston and rachel dratchand watching the family have a good time and they're cold and hungry and then the family decides to let them in and so rachel and jennifer as these urchins sing songs that are.

[57:36] So that are graphic they talk about the diseases that they have and all this stuff like it it turns into something it like evolves like there's such good escalation in this one jenniferannison's great in this and rachel her fourth episode and she like pops in this sketch it's almost like an underrated classic in that era um back in what was this 99 2000 like in that so thatlike christmas urchins from season 25 that's to me that's like a one that kind of slipped through the cracks a little bit but i went and re-watched and i'm like this is fantastic it soundsamazing i'm gonna have to check that one out because i mean especially like you said to your point four four episodes in like that is you know those are kind of like you're looking forsomeone that's new like what do you bring in and to pop like that that's that's incredible yeah yeah that was a great one and then there's another one from season 28 it's called game night isaid it's a guy five more seconds five seconds uh elia whitney time what what the hell.

[58:45] Oh i'm sorry i just i'll clean it up i just um i just get really into games, i'll clean that up really into games, Uh, you know what, you guys, um, why don't we just watch a movie? I gotSpider-Man on DVD.

Oh, I'd love to do that. I'd love that movie. Let's watch a movie.

No, we agreed to play games tonight.

That's what we're going to do. We're playing games.

[59:10] Come on, let's go. Let's go. It's with, uh, with Eric McCormick.

And you're like, yes, that's, yeah. So I think this is fondly remembered amongst fans.

So basically it's a chance for Rachel to, to, to get wild and absolutely unhinged.

Do you remember this one will yes i do um this is one that i had on my list for sure and i think for those that are that happen that may not may not have seen it you know the premiseessentially playing like a kind of like a if you ever play like so people call different things like a celebrity guessing game like family fishbowl where you kind of write names and put it in ahat and trying to guess with your partner and it's two it's three couples playing this this round and you can see as it goes around the first time like one couple is very supportive and havinga good time one couple was kind of like you know also really supportive each other having fun and then rachel is very competitive and eric mccormick is not good at this game and is thatperson who doesn't know celebrities doesn't want to do it and the escalation in this one is just so funny because as it goes on you can see rachel getting more and more competitive andbringing a different type of energy than she typically would yeah where she's playing things way more angry and like over over the top than she would.

And the way that the sketch kind of ends with her basically losing it because Eric McCormick doesn't know what the celebrity is.

And someone wrote, I guess, Felix Mendelsohn. What?

[1:00:35] Who the balls put Felix Mendelsohn? The celebrity?

[1:00:42] Mendelsohn?

[1:00:53] And he smashes things and like runs through the wall and is just like so mad and it's such it is such a hilarious sketch and it's so funny seeing rachel take it to that level where shereally is centered in the sketch she's not just one of the guests that's kind of like wow like this is getting out of hand like she's the one driving that level of energy and i think how relatableit is for those who like to play games or have done game nights like you kind of have have all those types of people there someone who there's always someone who might be way morecompetitive than everyone else and wants to win and the way that she takes that to 11 you know out of 10 is is incredible and i i'm so glad you brought that one up because i want to talkabout how much fun it looks like he has in that sketch it's fun to see her center in it yeah that was so fun and she all she she's very good about playing oddball characters and weird but youYou rarely see, you rarely saw her play like unhinged to that extent. So you put it perfectly.

She dialed it up to 11 and that's so much fun.

That was season 28, episode four. That was the Eric McCormick episode, Eric McCormick from Will and Grace.

So go check that out. So I think we have done a good job of like pointing out the highlights of her time at SNL. well i mean that was that she's done she did so much on the show it's fun torevisit.

[1:02:16] Yeah, I would agree. I think that she, this is one of those where, you know, we talked about it, her being in the Saturday Night Network's top 50 cast members, obviously comingin like 30, right?

And the great job that she did there. And it's fun to see her recognized by fans, like the contributions that she had to the show.

Because I think that she is obviously one of the best cast members I've ever had. And rewatching a lot of these sketches, it was so much fun and such a good, you know, I encourageanyone who's obviously listening to this, you should be, you know, I'm hoping you're a fan.

[1:02:48] And, you know, Rachel Dratch is a fun rewatch to go back.

There's so much of her work that she's a part and just even if she's just in sketches where she's bringing something to it, whether it's like the Colonel Angus sketch or she's, you know,James Madison, the 2000 election, like she's doing all these random things that she's a part of great moments in the show's history and seeing the ones where she's centered was a reallyfun thing.

Fun treat yeah definitely so 2006 was her last year as a cast member on snl after snl she actually was almost a co-star of 30 rock so she was gonna play originally she was gonna play thejenna character that ultimately went to jane krakowski but that was gonna be rachel playing that but i believe rachel and tina had a had a history together and you know um and and thatwas like the impetus for rachel possibly doing the jenna character but she didn't end up doing that but but that's okay.

And Rachel is not mad about it. She said that like that, that was the best thing for the show.

And she's totally happy with how it played out, but she did pop up quite a bit on 30 rock, which I always thought was fun.

[1:03:49] Yes. Agreed. And it's, it's a really to your point with that, with that fact, that's such a fun. What if, yeah.

Wondering what she would have brought to that character. Jane Krakowski, obviously killed it as a pilot with Rachel as, as, as Jenna different last name, but her name is Jenna.

But I think there's some video out there that.

[1:04:07] Yeah, we got to find it, but okay. Well, to your point, the way that she ended up being still involved in the show and obviously Tina wanting to utilize her skills.

I love what I love that, you know, well, Tina Fey is another episode.

That's another thing in her talents or as a writer.

But I loved how well she used Rachel's skills as a character actor to have her be on 30 Rock.

And she is essentially a different character all the time.

Exactly. she's popping up as a cleaning lady she's a random blue hallucination she is tracy sees when he's not on his meds yeah yeah yeah it's like yeah elizabeth taylor i think randomly ithink she's like she she pops up like i think she has like six or seven different iterations of like character shows and it's so fun because every time you see here you're like that's racheldrash but she is playing someone totally different yeah Yeah.

[1:05:01] And that's kind of, you know, you're not, you asked me earlier, like, you know, getting familiar with Rachel and like, obviously knew her on the show.

And then I was a big 30 Rock fan and seeing her being able to still be a part of my life as a TV viewer in 30 Rock was really fun because, you know, she, she got to still do what she'sgreat at, which is just come in, do a great character, be really weird.

[1:05:29] Have fun with it Make it your own And then You know, like it's a one-off like we're done and then you come back and you do something else and you're always i'm around thirdback i'm always always excited because it's like i know it's rachel dratch but oh what is she this time like you said oh she's the cat wrangler who's dealing with the live animals for thisepisode or you know whatever so i really um like her her post snl career has been fun too the time she's chosen to pop up um i've always enjoyed it's always fun to see rachel dratch yeahabsolutely if you go look at her wikipedia and imdb she's one of those character actors who just popped up in a lot of things made a quick impression my wife and i just finishedunbreakable kimmy schmidt and rachel had such a memorable appearance she was in one episode but she played kimmy schmidt's college professor and she also played her her owngirlfriend so her kimmy schmidt's college professor was a lesbian and so rachel dratch played her but rachel dratch also played her girlfriend or her wife in in the show so it was it was theway they the way they filmed that and the dynamics there was it was really really funny rachel is always so memorable she also has a really good book i like devour snl books by if you'rea former cast member.

[1:06:42] If if i haven't read your your biography autobiography it's on my list i'm looking at my leslie jones book as i say that waiting to be read but so rachel has a book that she that publicwas published in 2012 called girl walks into a bar comedy calamities dating disasters and a midlife miracle that's a really good read found out a lot about rachel she opens up quite a bit it'sa really uh neat read about rachel dratch i urge everybody to check that out have to check that out yeah yeah it's really it's really fun so uh yeah will thanks thanks so much for joining me iwanted to know like just to put a little bow on this like how would you sum up Rachel Dratch's legacy on SNL for everybody at home.

[1:07:28] Yeah, I mean, you know, Tom, once again, thanks for letting me join you today.

This was absolutely so much fun to talk about Rachel Drash and go to memory lane with her time on the show and kind of anywhere we started, you know, when you look at Rachel Drashand the cast that she came into, you kind of don't know what you're going to get out of new cast members and what they're going to bring to the table.

And I think when you look at Rachel's career overall, as a cast member, she was someone who was incredibly likable, who brought a very unique and likable energy to all the charactersshe played.

She was an awesome scene partner with the people that some all-time greats on the show as well. We're talking about Will Ferrell. We're talking about Jimmy Fallon.

[1:08:04] She obviously did some great stuff in character work with the great writing of Tina Fey.

She was someone that the cast obviously wanted to utilize and has left us with characters.

So we talked about Debbie Downer, Boston Teens, Amy Scheinwald, some awesome moments and sketches that are going to be part of Best Of compilations for years and years to come,long after, whenever the last episode of SNL is.

I think she'll be remembered for her time on there. And so when you're looking at someone who got the most out of their talent, who gave their all to the show, who was committed tobeing as funny as possible, if they were in a scene for five seconds or for five minutes, Rachel Dratch is definitely one of the best.

And like I said, I'm happy I had a chance to talk with you about her today.

And I hope that the fans get a chance to rewatch and make sure that they give her her flowers when the ballots are due.

Track 2:

[1:09:05] So there's that thank you so much thomas and will and rachel you know for bringing the laughs all these years i think that she should be celebrated and that's what we do here inthe snl hall of fame is we celebrate some of our favorites and rachel as thomas mentioned off the top you know is a top 30 cast member according to the snn countdown of top 50 castmembers i believe she's in the top 30 so she's in good company and she should be she is a hyper talented And, well, you just heard Thomas and Will wax philosophical about her for thebetter part of an hour, and I concur.

This is going to be an interesting one for me. i i don't know that she makes it on the first ballot but i think.

[1:10:10] By the time she gets to the second or third ballot i think there's a path i think there's a path for her and uh it's a it's it's a path that uh is reasonable mind you you look at maya, andwho else? Molly Shannon.

And they're both still in the quagmire.

Let's go to the sketch right now. This is Abe Scheinwald on Weekend Update.

Track 5:

[1:10:37] With the year winding down, it's time to look back at the best movies of 2004.

Here with the report is Hollywood producer Brad Scheinwald.

Thank you, Amy. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. It's great to be here.

Well, I think it's safe to say that 2004 was an incredible year for American filmmaking. Ha! Told you right there!

[1:11:03] Why are you letting this kid tell you about pictures? Grandpa, I thought I told you to wait in the car. What? Freeze my balls off? I don't think so.

Okay, who's this? This is my grandfather and founder of Shinewold Studios, Abe Shinewold.

I made all the 51 pictures, including cheerleader zombies of Sorority Row, Japanese bikini squad Kill Kill, The Chimp and the Pimp, one, two, three, and five!

And NIT! NIT? Nipple Institute of Technology!

The thing is, Pops, I'm trying to move Shine Wall Pictures in a more intelligent direction, a direction a lot of films took this year. Bah! One!

Okay, an incredible film, Sideways, a story of two friends driving through wine country, and...

You want to sit through a road movie about two guys drinking booze, rent the ape-shine-walled classic buddy pic, scooch and mondo take Daytona Beach.

[1:12:12] Okay, what about the film Kinsey? Oh, I went to see that picture because I heard it was about a sex doctor who did experiments on people.

What a letdown! if you want an erotic thriller try the Sheinwald hit The Curious Doctor.

[1:12:36] Napoleon Dynamite? Dynamite with the explosion! Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind! Eternal One of the Honey, where?

All right, okay, so you're saying that there's nothing worth seeing this year.

Please, Amy, don't let my grandfather change the way you feel about movies.

Don't listen to this one. This one wanted me to make a movie about the misadventures of a blind guy.

I said I liked it better the first time when it was called Mr. Magoo.

It was Ray, the Ray Charles story. We passed on Ray.

Brad and Eve Sheinwald, everybody.

Track 2:

[1:13:16] They passed on Ray, and they made Nipple Institute of Technology. Oh, my.

That is some good stuff. stuff and on that note i want to remind you uh speaking of good stuff to check out will norman check out thomas senna check out matt ardell they are allwonderful podcasters and uh there's a lot going on here at duvra so check us out there's something for everybody that's pretty much what I've got for you this week.

You can start carving out your ballots now.

There's two names on it already.

Adam Sandler, Rachel Dratch. Next week in the hall, we invite Ryan McNeil to join us where we'll talk about Pearl Jam and their legacy at Studio 8H. So there's that.

[1:14:11] That's what I've got for you this week. So if you'd please, as you're walking out, when you get to the weekend update exhibit, there's a light switch on the wall.

Turn it off, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.

We're back in the Hall and this week we're talking about David Bowie, Join jD, Matt, and Thomas as they welcome Ryan McNeil to the pod.

Transcript:

[0:42] All right, thank you so much, Doug DeNance. It is great to be here inside the SNL Hall of Fame.

You may have arrived yesterday only to find that the doors were locked.

Well, it's Thanksgiving here in Canada, and that explains that, because this is, of course, where the hall is located in my recording studio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

How are you doing, everybody? I hope you're well. Uh, whoa, hold on.

That doesn't mean come inside. You got to wipe those feet first.

Now, now that you're here, the SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair.

Each episode, we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guests, 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 inside the hall.

[1:43] It's really quite simple how this game works. We invite a guest on to tackle one of our nominees.

They build the case for them. You listen and you ultimately get to cast the vote to determine whether or not they make it inside the hall.

This year we'll be doing things a little bit differently. You will be getting an email if you have registered in the past to remind you to vote, but there is no actual registering to vote this year.

You can just vote with your email address and you'll be good to go. So there's that.

This week on the program, we have a good one for you. We have a, we always have a good one for you. I need to strike that.

Can you strike that from the record, please? Very few people understand the operation here at the Hall of Fame, but we do have a stenographer that sits beside me as I recite thisintroduction, and she's wonderful.

She's just wonderful. Her fingertips are like lightning.

[2:49] She does a great spine massage as well. Anyway, before we go too much further into this and I incriminate myself, uh, let's head over to Matt's minutia minute, because I understandMatt is chomping at the bit this week to talk about David Bowie, who we will be joined by Ryan McNeil in the recording cellar with Thomas to talk about David Bowie and hisnomination.

But before that, as always, we are going to track down our friend Matt, and he is going to talk to us in the... Oh, Jamie. Yes, Matt!

Track 3:

[3:25] Oh, Jamie!

Track 2:

[3:25] Yes, I know you!

Track 3:

[3:26] I am very excited about this one! I know, I know! You're gonna have a hard time stopping me talking, my friend.

Track 2:

[3:31] Okay, let's just do it.

Track 3:

[3:32] Can't wait.

Davy Jones, aka David Bowie, was born January 8, 1947.

He was 5'10".

[3:45] Along with Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, David is the source of a lot of my youthful sexual awakenings.

A little bit of TMI off the top, but just thought I'd get that out of the way.

Born in London's working-class borough of Brixton, David Robert Jones changed his name so he was not confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees.

Another heartthrob, but for very different reasons.

[4:13] He had a rather unremarkable musical career early on, with his choir teacher calling his voice adequate, but he found inspiration in artists including The Teenagers, The Platters, FatsDomino, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard of whom he said upon hearing Tutti Frutti he declared that he had heard the voice of God.

That early rock and roll really shook and shook people to their bones and you know if somebody's gonna be the voice of God, I wanted to be Little Richard.

Now, he had some pretty incredible childhood friends, one of whom was Peter Frampton, who he met when he went to Bromley Technical High School, where Frampton's dad wasteaching David Bowie art and possibly creating the future of music secondhand.

Just shows the importance of teachers. He was also at this time friends with David Jones's friends with a certain Reginald Kenneth Dwight, aka Elton John.

Sadly, they drifted apart as their fame began to grow and did not have a chance to reconcile prior to David's death.

[5:28] David formed his first band at the age of 15 called the Conrads, a skiffle band aping the Sound of the Beatles and other British skiffle bands of the time, which drew from US guitarmusic and blues.

He drifted from band to band, including The King Bees and The Lower Third, before striking out on his own as David Jones.

That didn't last long, shortly after he changed his name.

His first release was the single Can't Help Thinking About Me, flopped, like all of his prior efforts with his bands to date.

During his hippie era, David began working with producer extraordinaire Tony Visconti, who continues to talk about working with David to this day, and their relationship continued upuntil David's passing.

He studied dramatic arts under Lindsey Kemp, including avant-garde theater, mime, comedy del arte, and all of this really does carry through to a lot of Bowie's performances, whichembrace movement, extreme performance, and, honestly, a lot of the time, comedy of the absurd.

[6:37] His career exploded out of the gate with Space Oddity, which was released at a very timely moment, right before the moon landing.

The BBC decided to use the song over top of their coverage of the moon landing, and that catapulted him from an obscure hippie to one of the most influential musicians that catapultedhim from an obscure hippie to one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

[7:15] Over his career, he embraced a host of characters, including the most famous being Siggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, and Aladdin Sane, but he also included characters likeMajor Tom and art detective Nathan Alder.

His first song in character was the 1967 bassoon-driven single, The Laughing Gnome, which is as weird as the name makes it sound.

Seriously, listen to it. Your life will be changed. There's a tiny talking gnome.

I thought I dropped acid. I haven't dropped acid since high school.

It was triggering.

[7:58] He has 99 composer credits, 38 film acting credits including the alien refugee Tom Jerome Newton in The Man Who Fell to Earth and source of much sexual consternation, Jareth inLabyrinth, not to mention a delightful cameo as himself in Zoolander and appearance on Broadway and in London's West End as the Elephant Man.

His first recording, I Never Dreamed, was recorded in 1963 when he was 16 and a member of the Conrads.

His fellow bandmate and drummer, David Hadfield, was moving house in 1990 and found it in a bread box wrapped in wax paper.

You can actually go back and hear that. Young David Bowie. Big difference from later David Bowie.

[8:50] Now a myth about David is that he has heterochromia, but he does not.

What happened was he was punched in the eye by a band member and developed a condition called anoscleruria, a permanently dilated pupil, which is the cause of why some people thinkthat eye is a slightly different color.

Many songs were inspired by his brother, who suffered from complex mental health issues, jump, they say, and these issues led to him being institutionalized and then sadly his eventualsuicide.

[9:30] Bowie is a cultural icon, so much so that there are multiple Barbies that have been released celebrating his unique looks, and I am sad that none of them appeared in the Barbiemovie.

An innovator, he launched his own ISP in 1996 called Bowie.net, which is one of the earliest social media platforms where he basically invented the AMA.

Not long after, he also pioneered artists monetizing their products and creations by selling shares in David Bowie.

You could own a share of Bowie.

I don't know what part I'd want to own, but I wish I had had the money at the time.

His last album, Blackstar, was released on his birthday, January 8th, in 2016.

A deep, penetrating meditation on death, loss, regret, pain, and hope, ultimately.

Two days later, he died at the age of 69. His life ended as it was lived, a piece of art.

Track 4:

[10:59] Yes, indeed, Jamie and Matt, thank you so much. I am down here in the recording cellar and I will not leave until the business at hand is done.

Today we are talking about David Bowie and here to discuss all things Bowie and SNL with me is a great guest that we've had on, this is his fifth time on the podcast. Oh man, do I get ajacket?

Well, I see, you know, I think, uh, our previous five timers have just been okay, Ryan, with, with like, uh, your bragging rights and there, you know, you could, we could send you businesscards if you want something like that.

You know, I see, I make that joke and yet I have, I'd say at least a dozen people who have been on my own show five times. I have nothing for them.

I don't have stickers. I don't have buttons, nada.

I've got people who've been on like seven, eight, nine times.

I don't even, like not even a gift basket.

So I'm just happy to, happy for the acknowledgement. Yeah, well, rest assured we have nothing for you as well. So, you don't feel the need to pay it forward with this.

So you, yeah, so Ryan's been on, Ryan McNeil has been on for the Prince episode.

He's been on to talk about Justin Timberlake, Bill Murray.

[12:19] Dave Grohl was a wonderful episode. We've gotten a lot of great feedback still on the Dave Grohl episode.

And Ryan McNeil, host of the Matinee Cast as well, a podcast, over 300 episodes now.

Ryan, geez, tell me this is it. One of these days, I hope to get paid.

[12:39] But yeah, when we recorded 300 this year, it was wild to think that I'd been doing it as long as I have.

You know, there's times... My cat, every once in a while, will make an appearance.

So I do apologize to your listeners. Okay. If they hear Lord Baelish crying, he's crying for nothing, really. 300 episodes. Yeah, you know, there's times where I think nobody's listening,just like any other show.

But it's been great. I've met some really fantastic people doing it.

I've seen some fantastic films that I might not have otherwise have seen.

And it's part of the reason why I got the job I have.

I'm not podcasting for a living, but I was able to put myself out there and kind of create a portfolio beyond just my own work of, if you're interested in learning about me, go listen to thisbecause this is, you know, something I create and can give you an idea of who you're talking to.

Yeah, it's a good one. And this is coming out in mid October.

Is there anything specifically that you might have in mind for mid October, we'll be getting into a new season, I usually take September off because it's kind of a wasteland for movies andcoming out of the Toronto International Film Festival, I can usually use a bit of a breath.

So we'll be starting a whole new season of of shows mid-October.

[14:00] I think the new Scorsese will be showing up by then. So we'll probably have an episode dedicated to that for sure.

Yeah, that's a good one. I just read the book, by the way. So so I'm really looking forward to the movie. If it's anything like the book, it's gonna be outstanding, I think. So definitely. Yeah,that's the matinee cast course with Ryan McNeil.

Go check that out. And today here on the SNL Hall of Fame, we are talking about another musical guest again, David Bowie And Ryan, this is your third musical guest that you've beenon for, of course, Prince and Dave Grohl.

And I find it fascinating how viewers of SNL and voters of the SNL Hall of Fame look at musical guests.

And I'm curious, why do you think people have been so hesitant to vote musical guests into the SNL Hall of Fame at this point? Paul Simon's the only one that's in now. I'll pat us on theback and say, I think we did a great job advocating for Dave Grohl.

But why do you Do you think voters might be hesitant to put musical guests into the hall?

I do think that the musical component of SNL is something that the most avid viewers.

[15:07] You know, they go get a beer during that part of the show, especially if it's a band they don't know.

I, I've actually found, discovered a lot of bands because they were on SNL.

And I kind of felt a little foolish for not having known about them before, because SNL, as much as they can promote music and, and, you know, create an interesting showcase for a widearray of artists.

And I got to give them credit for that too. They, they really have all kinds of different musicians on.

It's not what everybody tunes in for. So if it's not your thing, if you're rather, if you're waiting for update or if you're waiting for, you know, the next round of the Target Lady or the nextround of the Wild and Crazy Guys, the Four Strunk Brothers or whatever you happen to be waiting for, that part of the show doesn't latch for you.

This is just one of those things for me where where the Venn diagrams overlap, where the comedy nerd and the musical nerd are both delighted at the same moment.

So I know that's not everybody, and that's cool.

Get from things what you want to get from things. But for me, it's one of the highlights of SNL is the way they can work with a musical act and the way they can highlight and promoteand foster musical careers.

[16:26] Yeah, I'm sometimes that way too. I'll admit, I oftentimes, especially if it's a musical guest I've never heard of, I'll use that time to go use the restroom or let my dogs out for for onelast pee before they go to sleep for the evening.

So that's that is like a convenient break in between.

I know I'm not going to miss update. I know I want to see what sketches come up.

So unfortunately, like something sometimes in an hour and a half has to kind of fall through the cracks for some people and this does but depending on the artist and I think the one we'retalking about today if I was you know I was watching SNL for probably two or three of his appearances but in his prime there's no way I would have gotten out of my seat to go dowhatever get a snack or whatever I would have been glued to the TV of course to watch David Bowie so there's those certain artists that you just have to, I think, just stay there for.

And I think we're talking about one of them today, Ryan, in David Bowie.

And I wanted to ask you to start off, like, if you just can put into context for anybody who might not totally be familiar, anybody who wants to reminisce, like where David Bowie was likeon the rock star hierarchy, like throughout the 70s.

His first appearance was 79, so throughout the 70s, where was Bowie in that hierarchy?

[17:47] What's interesting about him showing up for the first time in 79 is, it's not like our Dave Grohl episode, where the first time Dave Grohl shows up, he's still got that new car smell.

He looks like he's going to freak out if he misses a beat. David Bowie, by the time he shows up in 79, he's been going full tilt for 11 years.

He is fully formed. He is deeply in the rock.

Parthenon at that point, he's influencing other artists behind him.

He will influence other artists who come after him.

And watching that first appearance, I mean, if somebody is going to go back and watch his appearances in order, the only downside is the first one is the best, and they're all kind ofshuffling in between after that.

But that first episode that he appears in 79, he is firing on all cylinders.

He's actually a little bit subdued in terms of how weird he will be and how weird he'll get later. He's a little, you know, he's a little glossy in this era. He's kind of in between personae.

But when he shows up, that's the great thing, is he is showing up at his prime.

[18:59] It's like watching Muhammad Ali fight, you know, as a 26 year old and beating Sonny Liston.

It's an incredible thing to witness. Yeah, I agree. I think this might be this Bowie appearance. It was season five, early in season five, it was season five, episode seven. So that wasDecember of 79.

I think it was arguably in those early years, maybe the biggest get that SNL had.

I mean, as far as we can run through, I'm sure I'm missing someone, but there are a few musicians around that time who were as big as Bowie.

So I'm venturing to guess like they never had, they didn't have McCartney until the next year, I'm venturing to guess that Bowie was maybe the biggest get in those early years for SNL.

Mm-hmm. I'd say that's pretty much on the nose. And what I like is it's embracing the new, right?

[19:53] At that time, they were still trying to get the Beatles to come back, like Lauren was offering checks.

They were very much interested in some of those New York bands, but they weren't exactly what I'd call leading edge with a lot of the music.

So having somebody like Bowie who comes out and does something a little artier, a little kookier, it's them embracing the way that rock is changing and the way that rock is changingfrom, you know, four white boys copying blues into something a little bit more experimental, a little bit more arty, a little bit more New York.

Bowie, of course, is an English artist, but those records, they feel, along with being very, very Berlin, obviously, they feel very at home with the New York vibe at the time of bands liketelevision and talking heads and those kinds of bands.

Think it maybe lent some credibility in some ways to being a musical guest on SNL.

And because before that, we would see a lot of, I mean, Randy Newman, of course, Paul Simon, he's buddies with Lorne Michaels. He appeared in those early years. But a lot of it wasblues musicians who are great, but they didn't have like the cultural cache.

They didn't pop culturally necessarily like David Bowie did.

So this was this was a great get for SNL. Again, his first appearance season 5 episode 7. This was in December of 79.

[21:21] This was a few months after he released Lodger.

Lodger? I've never actually heard anybody say this album name out loud.

I've always called it Lodger, so we'll go with that.

So he released Lodger a few months prior to this.

The host was Martin Sheen, so we could delve in, unless you have anything else to say about Bowie in the 70s, could delve into this first appearance.

No, let's go for it. I mean, I could, you know, we could be doing a whole other show.

Sure. If we were doing that. But yeah, Lodger, it's a great place for him to be showing up. It ends off his Berlin trilogy, as I said, it's him very, very much in his prime.

[22:03] He's gonna kind of take a weird and interesting wander after this, but it's a great place for him to show up.

And the first song that he did, uh, was not from that album.

It was, it was, it was the man who sold the world from the album, the man who sold the world. What did you think of this performance of the man who sold the world?

So the one thing I adore about this first performance is that he is very much playing the, uh, the, the New York art gallery nerd.

He is, he's putting on these performances that will influence David Byrne and influence Lady Gaga, all of these in the best ways.

I'm a big believer in lineage when it comes to rock and roll.

I don't look at somebody and turn up my nose and be like, David Bowie did that first.

[22:56] I love seeing the influences. Yeah, he does this very cool installation art performance.

Kanye will cop to this later on, where he's in this huge suit and he's basically like, almost wheeled out, although he's carried by these two aliens who are completely – Yeah, those spooky-looking guys who also served as the backup singers, yeah.

Yeah, who are completely blasé about all things, but they carry Bowie out to the microphone, like they're wheeling out Hannibal Lecter.

And yeah, he starts out – that's kind of a flex, is like, I'm going to start with something I did a while ago. I'm promoting a new record, but I'm not going to start with that. I'm going to goback and remind you why I'm here. and he slays as he always does.

[24:00] I might prefer this just the performance and the sound of it.

I might prefer this to the album version. Quite honestly, I think it was it was maybe a little more textured.

It had so many layers. And I think just I listening to it, I was like, God, this is so good.

Like, I like the album version. Quite honestly, I like Nirvana's version on Unplugged.

Right. Better than better than Bowie's album version.

But this was like this really popped to me. I thought it was really interesting.

I think the two scary looking dudes, the backup singers, I added to it quite a a bit. So I really enjoyed this performance and visually, it was something that SNL didn't always do back then.It's half like, as you said, the performance art aspect.

No, because you need the, like that part I feel is driven from the artist.

I feel like every time they book somebody, they're like, okay, so you know what the set is and you know what you're working with, you know, good luck.

And I think it's, it can be on the artist to come back to them and say, well, I want to turn it into a bedroom the way that Lizzo did, or I want to turn it into just a blank white wall the waythat Kanye did.

[25:07] It's on them to change what's in front of you that much. And the set is still static. It's not like David Bowie is doing anything really drastic with the train stations behind him.

But he was the one who's like, all right, boys, you're going to put me in this big clunky suit and you're going to wheel me out forward so that I'm going to sing.

Standing stark still, mind you, like he's not, not so much as a sway.

He's very much locked in place. And yet you can't take your eyes off him because it's the song is that good and he's so charismatic doing it.

Yeah. That's the thing about Bowie is he's someone who you can't take your eyes off. To me, he's one of the most interesting looking people, I think, who has ever lived.

And every time you see him, he has a different look. Like from Gaga today, every time you see Lady Gaga, she looks different.

That was Bowie back then. He just, and he pulled off anything.

He was just so visually, just an interesting person to look at.

The thing that's wild too is, that's a handsome dude.

[26:08] That guy rolls out of bed and just like puts on jeans and a black t-shirt, and that's a good looking cat.

Does not need to do anything. He does not need to put on makeup.

He does not need to change his hair.

He does not need to put on a crazy outfit. He just shows up as a gorgeous human being.

And yet, throughout his career, he's like, I am going to dye my hair bright orange. I am going to dress like an alien. I'm only going to wear the white suit. And it's like, okay, cool, becauseyou just go along with it.

[26:38] It's like he's eschewing his natural beauty because he doesn't feel like that's interesting enough.

Yeah, everything he did made sense with his style.

Even if – like I couldn't pull any of that stuff off.

Most of us couldn't. But anything that he tried, he pulled off.

Whether it was like – and we saw his style kind of change with the times as we will see it here on SNL, but even as he got older, he had what I call like the cool dad kind of haircut. Hegrew into it.

I don't know how he aged that way, especially considering later on in life, he was very sick, but he just, he aged so incredibly.

He's a, like a one of one in terms of just the style.

Like few people, Prince could probably pull off a lot of things, but maybe not as many types of different types of things as Bowie.

And then, I mean, like, so, you know, the big suit was that he could have just kept trotting back out the big suit we all would would have got a laugh but then he comes back out and doesTVC 1-5.

[28:07] Again, not off the new record, so it's like, I have something out, but I'm not going to sing about that right now.

It's like the opposite of a concert where they start with six new songs before they get to the stuff you love.

And TVC15, I mean, again, he's not going back out in the suit here.

He's going out in like a blazer and a dress. He's doing his little sexually fluid androgynous thing that will spark a whole other movement.

Influencing a lot of artists to come, influencing the culture to a better place, I think. So he's out there. He's kind of dressed like a glam schoolmarm.

And now the aliens are bored. Now the aliens are reading the newspaper.

And what's the other alien doing? Oh, the other alien is walking his dog.

You know, they're still seeing – there's a little poodle with a TV.

Yeah, with a TV in its mouth.

[29:02] So yeah, so it's like, okay, we gave them the suit and that worked, but we can't give them the suit again because they won't buy that.

What else can we do? All right.

Let's dress me, let's dress me somewhat in drag, not fully in drag.

And you guys just act bored. Just act aloof, sing when we need you to, trade the newspaper and the dog, and that will work.

Yeah, and everything that happens makes sense. Everything that he wears makes sense. It's just given who he is, it all of this weird, weird stuff on stage makes sense. Yeah, you got it. Yougot to tip your cap to that.

I love it. That was TVC one five from station to station. So we're not even getting anything yet from his, from his new album. But the third song, which by the way, pretty cool. They lethim perform three songs that didn't all. Yeah, they don't do that. Yeah, they don't. Yeah, I know.

That's usually a sign that they're really happy that you're there when they give you a third. I can only count on a very few instances where they give you a third.

They still do. Every once in a while, they'll give you a third song, but it's really, really rare.

Sometimes I think it's because they're light on material.

[30:07] Boys Keep Swinging, I mean, just when you think he's fired the gun empty, Boys Keep Swinging is- This is wild.

It starts out so normal. It actually starts out like the Nazi boy singing in Cabaret, where it's just from the neck up. And you're like, oh, this is pretty.

And then this shot reveals and you're like, oh, it's a little Nazi boy singing.

That's not what David Bowie did here. That's in Cabaret. Watch that movie.

It's an incredible movie. And when that moment comes, it's horrifying.

No, in here, David Bowie is singing from the neck up and you're thinking everything is normal.

[31:08] And then the shot pans down and he's basically composited with a marionette that's being shot offstage and he's like following the marionette.

He's not just sticking in place. He actually can see what the puppeteer is doing with the doll and how it's making it dance and his head is following it.

People can't see obviously because it's an audio medium, but his head is like bobbing back and forth or his head is, you know, bouncing along with the puppet and it's just such a delight towatch.

[31:40] Yeah, it was jarring. And so you're saying, so I was trying to figure out how they were doing this. And so the marionette was on a different, so Bowie was on the stage and themarionette was on a different stage.

I, it's, it's kind of hard to figure out exactly how they're doing it.

I was trying to figure it out. Yeah. Bowie can clearly see what the puppet is doing in real time.

So I don't know if one camera is pointing at him in front of a green screen and another camera is pointing at the puppet and they're nearby, but they don't happen to be on the stage with theband.

That may very well be what it is, but they're definitely aware of each other.

They're definitely in proximity to the band.

That's one where I would love a shot. I'd love a behind the scenes shot where I can see how they did it.

Cause it's also, I mean, it's really low budge. It's not, you know, it's, it's not any kind of like avatar trickery here, you know, this was 1979. Yeah. Yeah. So it's something you couldprobably do with your phone.

[32:40] But it just, it's, it's, it's delightful. It's so kooky. It's all hanging on a song. That's like, not exactly one of his bangers.

You know, you gotta go like 20 songs deep or so, or 30 songs deep before people start talking about Boyz Keep Swinging, but the song slaps, the performance is amazing, he finishes offhis little.

[33:00] Gallery residency and, you know, shows SNL how it's done.

I would have loved to see, like you said, I would have loved to know what this looked like to the studio audience to be there.

But Bowie was just so perfect at coordinating his movements with that marionette, turning it into a cohesive thing.

That's impressive. In 1979, I bet people were watching, going like, what the hell? This is like, this is awesome. I was watching it today going like, this is so fun to watch. It's wonderful.

You know, do you think that these performances on SNL, like captured Bowie's late seventies essence. Like, do you think fans got what they wanted with these performances?

[33:37] Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Like, you know, this is, this is back in the day where seeing a band only ever, you know, if you, you either went to a concert, if they came near your town oryou saw them on TV, you know, like there, there was, you know, there was no YouTube, there were no videos, like you, you, and not only that, but there were very seldom like reruns,right?

Or, or you had to, it was appointment television. had to be on the living room floor, you had to be on the couch at midnight on Saturday night, Sunday morning to see these things.

So, you know, yeah, I think he may have even thought of that, you know, that at the time when people are seeing bands on television, that they are making a point to see them.

Because this is long, long before TV was just company in the room, or, you know, God forbid, a second screen.

If something was on, you were generally watching it with intent.

So he probably thought if somebody's watching me with intent, I want to give them a show.

[34:36] I was really impressed with with all three of these, and visually and the songs to everything kind of gelled.

And so that was like, right under the wire as far as like, him getting on SNL in the 70s. It was the second to last episode of the entire decade.

So he went the entire 80s without appearing on SNL.

Which is weird because his music, like, we talked about this with Prince.

Like, Prince took a really long wander in between appearances, but Prince also took a really long wander with his career.

[35:08] Bowie in the 80s, I mean, Bowie in the 80s was very, very poppy, very much more FM radio, you know? Like, his songs were a lot slicker.

He wasn't doing the arty, weird, alien, I'm going to dress in a giant suit while the aliens are bored behind me thing anymore.

He was doing something much more commercial with songs like Let's Dance and Modern Love and those kinds of things. Love them, but they feel much more like they they could havebeen done by just about anybody.

Um, so, but the thing is, they suit what SNL was doing in the 80s very much.

So it's kind of interesting that he never showed up for any of that.

Yeah, I'm surprised what Let's Dance, the album came out in what, 83?

Thereabouts. Thereabouts. So, so I think he would have been a great fit on there.

And there's well known, I mean, Modern Love, Let's Dance, China Girl, Cat People, like there was some really beloved songs. Yeah. And he was, he was touring. He was big. Like hewas, it wasn't like he was being that guy in the cabin off in the woods, that would come later.

But he was he was around, he was doing stuff, he was touring, he was, you know, doing duets with Mick Jagger.

[36:17] For whatever reason, he just never showed up. I think especially with that album, too.

I think he adapted to like the 80s sound. He made it Bowie, but he still fit in to what the overall vibe of was of that time. Yeah, it's always cool. I don't know.

Maybe Ebersol didn't didn't love him. be. I mean it's always cool to talk about Bowie's fans because everybody has like their era of Bowie that they love.

Stones fans, it's kind of the same sort of thing. People love 60s Stones. People love 70s Stones.

[36:48] There's a lot of people who swear by 70s, 80s, 70s Bowie and then everything after 1979 is trash or there's people who came in much later and find those 90s records really, reallyinteresting and really, really wonderful and anything before or after that is weird.

So it's Bowie's kind of – that's one of the things that I love about him is that because he's got all of these movements like an artist, like you can see he's very, very much inspired by thegreat artists who had their movements.

[37:19] He lends himself to people coming in and out of his work at various points.

Yeah. Where do you find yourself on that spectrum of preferences?

Does it vary just by what mood you're in? It does, actually.

[37:32] I mean, I really clung to him in late 90s. So I have a soft spot for some of those late 90s records that we're going to talk about in a second.

As time went on, I grew to appreciate more and more of, you know, I then like jumped straight back to the 70s stuff first and the 80s stuff kind of took a minute with me.

I have a a bittersweet fondness for those last two records just because I found, I found them so, so intricate and unexpected.

Like he had, as I mentioned, he'd been gone for quite some time and I'd actually kind of squared myself to the fact that he may be gone permanently because it had been so long with himnot doing anything until of course he was completely gone.

Um, but I, I, I very much, I love, I love a lot of it, but I do have a soft spot for those, those 90 records because that's that's where I joined the circus.

[38:22] His second appearance on SNL, it's said went through the entire 80s without appearing on SNL. His second appearance was in November of 91, season 17.

A pretty memorable episode, honestly. Macaulay Culkin hosted this episode.

And I have visceral, kind of vivid memories as a child of Macaulay Culkin saying.

Ladies and gentlemen, Tin Machine. Yeah. And at the time when I was a little kid, I didn't know, I didn't really know who David Bowie, like I think I knew the name. You probably knewhim as that guy from Labyrinth.

Yeah, yeah, honestly, yeah. Like Labyrinth, I knew him from there, but I didn't put it together that Tin Machine was David Bowie's band.

I thought it was just some band that I had never heard of. but Ryan, are you a big tin machine guy?

[39:05] Not so much. Tim Machine is, it's a strange little moment in his career because it comes as an answer to the poppy, glossy, mainstream commercial 80s music that he was doing.

He found himself restless and dissatisfied, understandably, even though, you know, I would say that a lot of that 80s music has its merit.

He just didn't like where he was at and the kind of people he was drawing into the to the theater.

So he decided to take a break and do something different and go work with other people and create this little band 10 machine.

Here's the really strange thing is that it's not, it doesn't feel like that hard of a swing away from what he's doing of everything he he ever did.

It's it feels just fine. It doesn't feel like a drastic shift back to the art stuff, it's not what I'd call like especially harder.

It kind of feels like it's in between the eras of music, you know?

Like yeah, in a time where Metallica and Guns N' Roses and Motley Crue were the biggest things in rock, this feels very different.

But considering that at the same time Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana are about to take over, this feels like a step behind all of them.

[40:27] So I mean, they're good. It's a good performance. It's not the aliens and there's no suit.

It's very 90s. Yeah. The first song they did is called Baby Universal.

And I actually surprised I was surprised I actually like these performances more than than I expected.

I expected it to be a huge, huge drop off because it wasn't like bowie, it was a side project.

But I think I came to the conclusion that I would still like this if it wasn't bowie. Like I think it fits in fine, like it was a fine, good, enjoyable performance In my opinion.

[41:26] I mean, I'm, I'm curious for sure. I'm not, I'm not thinking that, I know, I feel sad that I missed it in this moment. There's a lot of stuff that I, I was really late to the party and I'mlike, why wasn't I listening to this then? Um, this is not one of those moments.

I'm like, Oh cool. I've got something new that I can find out about.

Um, he's very styled in this, you know, he's not doing the, the arty weirdo.

He's, he's very, very much, you know, a handsome dude in like leather jackets and, and sharp collars and that kind of thing. What is it? Mid to late forties around this time? 1991? Yeah.Yeah. Late forties there about the mid forties.

Um, you know, cool guy who's in his mid forties in the early nineties.

Yeah. And he works it well. Yeah. It's what I, what I thought was cool about this too, is it's, it's really awesome to have this band documented in the landscape of SNL.

Like that's one of the things I like about this show is that it's around for a lot of moments that are interesting experiments that people may forget about.

Like, correct me if I'm wrong, but there is an episode where the musical guest is Chris Gaines, right? Yeah. Well, Garth Brooks hosted and then the musical guest was Chris Gaines. Yeah.

[42:36] If you tried to explain that to somebody now who was not around at the time, it would seem bananas.

And yet it's like, no, it's right there in the archive.

Go watch it. And it's a perfect snapshot of that time too.

And we're thankful that it's there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

And I would have to say tin machine. I mean, they're good musicians, too Oh, yeah, David Bowie got Tony Fox sales hunt sales and then Reeves Gabriels He's in the Rock and Roll Hallof Fame as a member of the cure and Reeves is gonna play with him for a while Yeah, so it's it's kind of it's kind of neat because you're seeing the beginning of a relationship.

Yeah. Yeah, it's really neat They're their second song to me.

I think the vocals especially sounded more classic Bowie Yeah, the way he was singing his inflection.

Yeah, the song is called if there is something.

[43:51] To me, that sounded like that's how I know Bowie. Yeah, that one was better of the two.

Yeah, yeah, I think I preferred that one as well because like, you know, it's that warm blanket of Bowie that we're probably used to.

Totally. So that was Tin Machine.

That was his second episode on SNL, season 17.

And then we go about six years before the next one, 1997, that was season 22 in February of 97.

He's promoting Earthling, which was released about five days prior.

Yeah. Tell us about Earthling.

You said you liked, you started liking around this era of Bowie.

This is very much where I show up.

So I had found myself very interested in the record that came before Outside, and that was my gateway drug to Bowie.

I started listening to old Bowie around that time, became very, very interested in him as an artist, his looks and whatnot, and listened to the older stuff.

So this was the first one that it dropped, and I latched right away.

I was lucky in that this is where I got to see him perform a show.

Oh, wow. Yeah. And he was performing this record mixed in with his older work.

So I have a soft spot for this, for this record. It is very late nineties.

Yes. It is very, very, you know, grunge is over.

[45:20] Electronic is taking over. You know, we're- To me, it sounded like the Prodigy, like the song, Little Wonder, that the first song that performed, I got the vibes of The Prodigy, whichis a total late 90s.

[46:08] It begins with this beautiful drum lick, which unfortunately is a drum machine.

The drummer's just sitting there waiting for his turn. And when the drums come in, they're fantastic. But it's amazing that this really quick and steady drum line is a machine.

Bowie is kind of reminding you again of his Aladdin sane time, like he's got the bright orange hair again.

Again, he's very, very, his look here is very like.

Sharp and demon-like. He's got this big collar. He's got this very 90s goatee on his chin.

But again, this could just be me talking fondly about the era where I walked into.

It's incredible. It's wonderful. It's powerful. It's strong. It's loud.

[46:53] And it's very, very interesting, again. He's not trying to style up the performance that I found a little bit weird because this era he was doing, he was wearing this really great UnionJack coat at the time.

If people find the cover of Earthling, he had this really great coat around the same time that the Spice Girls were wearing it as a dress.

It was a very, very big time for England.

But he didn't wear that on SNL, even though he was wearing that for some of his concerts. And it's fantastic.

Yeah, what I love, this is an example to me of something that I love about Bowie is that he doesn't thumb his nose at the trends of the day.

No, he's interested. He's interested in it and he really embraces it.

Like we see, like we're hearing electronic elements in this, in this first song, in this album, Earthling.

[47:40] He works with Trent Reznor, obviously maybe a couple of years after this, around this time. So I love that he embraces. This is around the time he was co-head, he was touring. Hewas touring with Trent. Yeah.

The tour before this. Yeah. Yeah. So he's embracing that stuff and I love it.

He's not one of the old school guys who's just sticking to what he knows and everything in my day was great and everything now sucks.

Like, I love that he embraces new, new things in music.

I mean, he was friends with John Lennon and John had that too, right? Like John was always interested in doing new and interesting and different things. So it's, it's, it's, you know, itmakes sense that the two of them would be cut from the same kind of cloth. Yeah, definitely.

And the second performance here, it's a throwback. He gives older Bowie fans something that they love. he performs Scary Monsters.

[49:01] I love this song and I think it was such a great performance.

I love seeing something scary monsters came out in 1980 So it was like a early late 70s early 80s kind of still Bowie vibe Yeah, it's the hinge from one area into the other what I love aboutthis and you know with like if we put the tin machine Performance aside for a second all of his other three performances.

He does something new and then shows you how it fits with something old You know or in the case of the first one does the old stuff and then shows you how it fits with the new stuff.

[49:32] So doing Scary Monsters, Super Creeps and kind of making it just that little bit harder than it was on the record and showing you how well it fits with something like Little Wonder,you know, to anybody who's like, Oh, I liked him better when he was doing Scary Monsters.

It's like, well, this is very much like Scary Monsters. Just, you know, we're doing it a little harder.

Reeves is just shredding on this on this performance, just absolutely wailing.

Bowie is going for it. There's so much bravado in this performance.

It's it's just so cool to see.

Yeah, I love that. He he's given the people what they want. Yeah, essentially.

I mean, he's doing a great performance of a new song, but he's like, I'm going to go back to 1980.

And and when you when you discount, like when you if you if you don't include the tin machine performances, these are five songs and five different albums.

So he performed from lodger station to station, the man who sold the world, we're getting something from earthling and scary monsters and super creeps.

This is like, this is so cool. I love when the when artists say, we'll play you a new one, but then we're going to play you something that's a little bit different.

[50:42] We know that you love, like we're going to take you back. So I love, I love that, that the, again, like the lack of pretension that's in there.

I wish more artists would do it. Like, I know it's important to promote your new work.

You know, especially when you're, when you may not get another chance.

Like, I mean, not everybody is David Bowie. A lot of these bands are going to come on one time and they may never come again. So, you know, along with the fact that they may not haveolder work to draw on, on.

They really want to make the most of why they're there.

[51:11] But the ones who do get another chance or the ones who have been around for a minute, you know, play something older, rearrange it or something and just let us see how it fits.

Yeah. So I think, you know, third episode that he's appeared on as musical guest.

I think we're, we have a high batting average here. Even the tin machine stuff, honestly, I enjoyed. Yeah.

Like it was super enjoyable to surprise me how much I enjoyed his tin machine stuff.

So I think we're, we have a high batting average here with David Bowie on SNL, uh, his fourth appearance, season 25, the, the first episode of the season, Jerry Seinfeld hosting thisepisode in 1999.

And again, Bowie promoting his new album, Hours, but he's given us something old and something new. something new Ryan Thursday's child from ours.

[52:26] So Thursday's Child, I actually kind of love. It's nothing complicated.

It's not something that I would say is like, you know, top 20 Bowie or anything like that, but it's just so sweet.

It's so comforting and just really lyrical. It's kind of like a sundown kind of record.

His performance is actually very subdued.

[52:51] He's dressed like he just walked out of Banana Republic. Um, this is the cool dad look that I was talking about. His hair is a little longer, but it's kind of parted in the middle. It'syeah, but it's shaggy, but it's like intentional.

[53:04] It's like, and he w you're right. He looks like he walked out of banana Republic.

This is what I see. Like, I have an uncle who reminds me that he, like he, he, he, who wears his hair like that so perfectly.

And he, and he just looks like a, like a cool dad kind of vibe.

And, and this is another different look that Bowie's just pulling off.

I wish I could, and I don't know, 15 to 20 years.

I wish I could pull something. Exactly. I will not. Like, that's the thing is that he's still, you know, even with the fact that he looks his out, I kind of wish that he was a little bit more styled,but the fact is he still looks like David Bowie.

You know, this looks like David Bowie on laundry day. Yeah. Did we mention he's married to a supermodel? Yeah. Supermodel. Yeah. There's, you know, it's, it's, it's a little odd. Uh, Imean, maybe that's the thing he settled down now. So he doesn't have to try so hard.

Um, the song is beautiful. The album is somewhat forgettable hours is not what even even somebody who comes to him in the late 90s.

It's not one of the records that a lot of people mention. It kind of it was kind of Thursday's Child and done, but it's a beautiful song.

It's a lovely song. Really sweet, really romantic.

You know, there's no angle on this one. It's just here's a guy who can sing and he's going to sing for you.

Yeah, I just I love that it's a it's highlighting his voice, his singing, and that was the main thing that stood out to me.

It's just like, this is Bowie's voice. We're highlighting that.

And I'm fine with it being more of a subdued performance.

[54:26] I think it shows a different side of him as a performer that I think is necessary.

I think it was a really good addition to the night.

And that's, you know, I think it especially works because we're getting like a really rockin' song to close the night.

Throwback, again a song that I've always loved, Rebel Rebel from Diamond Dogs.

One One of his big songs that I think a lot of people love.

[55:21] This is usually one of the showstoppers. Again, you know, he reminds you how the new stuff fits with the old stuff.

It's all swagger. This performance is all, I know how much you all love this song. I know how much you're all gonna lose it, and I will not disappoint.

I'm not gonna act above it.

I'm not gonna act like I'm tired of singing it. I am here because I know you enjoy it, and it's wonderful.

He even kind of like, cozies up to his bass player for the lines, like, not sure if you're a boy or a girl. Hey baby, your hair's all right.

She's a bald woman of color. So of course there would be kind of that fluidity to her appearance and, you know, any time a woman's hair is bald, it's, you know, I love your hair.

No, who cares if your hair is bald? You know, it's great to see him reinterpreting those lyrics in that kind of way.

[56:15] And I think what I love about it the most is it shows that, yeah, we started with the dog and the TV in his mouth, and we started with the puppets, and we started with the aliens.

We started with Arty Schtick, but the reality is that even if he didn't use the Arty Schtick, if he just went out and sang Rebel Rebel, or if he just went out and sang Man Who Sold theWorld, it wouldn't have mattered because the thing is, the work is genius.

So you can dress it up and you can have fun with it and you can give your audience something more because you want to and you want to create and you want to find and build these littlelasting moments.

But if you strip it away and the work is still genius, it doesn't matter. It still holds.

[57:04] Right, and if he did the arty shtick in 1999 like he was in the 70s...

Probably wouldn't have come across as authentic because that's not where he was as a creative person in his life probably in the time.

That's just not what he was interested in. So if he just forced himself to do the arty shtick, it probably would have fallen flat, I think, if he wasn't as invested in it.

I want to see him be authentic to himself. Yeah. I mean, he will still keep calling back to those earlier records on The Records to Come, Like stuff that he wouldn't even play on SNL, likerecords like, um, when he will later get to Heathen, Heathen has a lot of callbacks to, I mean, other singers, like he does covers on Heathen, but he calls back to a lot of his Berlin, uh,albums, certainly later on when he will do The Next Day, um, The Next Day is a callback to kind of his whole career.

So he's going to keep- cover on the next day is a callback to Heroes.

Because it's just a box that says the next day over the Heroes album cover.

Yeah. Yeah. So he's going to do that. And he will continue to find the way that the new work can be informed by the old work. Not copying the old work, exactly, like he's not, you know,as much as I love the Stones, he's not doing the Stones.

[58:27] Just, he's finding new ways to, to take, to add chapters to, to those earlier stories without necessarily needing to dress in the white suit or dress like the alien or get in the dress.

You know, it's, it's, it's an interesting, it's, it's kind of, it's a very mature approach to, to rock and roll and to, you know, art pop.

Yeah, I agree. And, and we see it here, his relationship to, to older material in here in in 1999 with Rebel Rebel. This was a song, I don't know if you saw this tour.

But this was a song that he hadn't played for like a decade and he decided to start playing it again on the tour.

And you mentioned like it's one that really gets the crowd excited and going.

He decided to reintroduce it to his set list. I guess he took out the Quaaludes reference in the song. Maybe that's why he had a tough time performing it.

But I guess from what I read, he took out the reference to Quaaludes in Rebel Rebel once he started performing it again.

But that's just something that, you know, he took a song, he maybe saw an aspect that he didn't love about it, but then he made it work again.

He's like, hey, I want to perform this again. Yeah. And later on, he would play with the intro, like the intro would actually be stripped down and sound really lovely before the blaringguitar came in at the top of the first chorus.

[59:45] It's yeah, he was always interested in doing that and kind of leaving some songs behind bringing them back in. And, you know, he was never the guy who was like, I don't want toplay that anymore, ever. You know, he got, he got tired of things and he needed to find them again.

But, um, he always found his way eventually, even, even down to stuff like, um, even down to some of that stuff, like the 80s stuff that he was trying to get away from with Tin Machine.

By the time I saw him again in 2003, uh, or 2004, I think the concert was, he was starting the shows with songs like China Girl and Modern Love and those kinds of songs where it's like, Ikind of thought you were ready to put all this stuff in a box.

Man, I wish I could have seen him.

[1:00:26] I'm like jealous. You're telling me that you've been able to see him, uh, what, two or three times, two times, two times. And one of the first one, I got really, really, really lucky.The first of the two times was in a club of about 1500 people.

[1:00:41] And it was completely because I met the right person at the right time and they had a ticket. I got in good and close and, uh, had a transformative experience watching DavidBowie in that kind of room.

Um, I'm, I'm really, really lucky and I always count myself really, really lucky that I had that experience.

Gosh. Yeah. I used to go to the Coachella festival like every, I think I've been six or seven times to those sensibilities maybe a little bit more, but that was always the one artist who whoeverybody would request and want to headline every single year is maybe this is the year that we're gonna get Bowie.

This is the year. You think Bowie's gonna headline? It never happened.

I always thought that maybe that would be the chance I had to see him, but how was he as performer?

He was incredible. He was, so this was, he was touring, he was touring Earthling.

He was mixing the set really, really nicely. Like he started the set with Quicksand it was just him and Reeves and Reeves was playing an acoustic guitar to start the set.

[1:01:56] And then, you know, things would come and go. He was, he was playing very electronic at the time.

So some of these songs sounded like they were a little bit rearranged.

But it was, it was, it was fantastic. And, and he's, you know, I, I like the, the set list is kind of blurring in my brain right now, but it was just, um, you know, trial by fire for me and justkind of very overwhelming.

Um, I got like one of my favorite concert photos I've ever taken is from that show. So I'll send that to you after we're done. Maybe you want to include it in the show notes. Cause it's apretty good shot.

Um, I mean, the, this thing is that's interesting as well about Bowie that, you know, where maybe we should leave off is after this moment.

So from 99, He's got about another four years of an active career, and then he's going to go away for another.

[1:02:47] 10 years. He's going to go away for a very long time and nobody would ever actually really know why.

You know, he would show up, he was around. It wasn't that he was reclusive or it wasn't that he was, you know, we know he was sick, but he wasn't so sick that he couldn't go out.

He would show up at things like Fashion Week or gallery openings in New York.

He did a little, you know, he did a little, he would do little movie cameos and stuff like Zoolander and the Prestige, of course.

But he wouldn't, he didn't record. He went from 2003 to, when was the next, I think the next day was- 1913.

Yeah, that's- It was 10 years. Yeah, and I was very much under the impression of, Bowie is gone, you know?

Certainly after you get to six or seven years of that, I'm like, he's just done.

He wants to do other things. He didn't make a formal announcement.

He didn't say I'm retired or anything like that.

He just, it was kind of part of the mystique of where did David go?

So it was, it was a very strange thing to see, you know, we all just kind of shrugged and be like, well, he's off living his life.

And then, you know, he would come back for this very brief little curtain call right at the end of his life.

You know, the last three years of his life, in the case of his final album, literally the last week of his life.

And then off he went into the stars.

[1:04:12] It was a really, really surreal thing to live through as a fan.

[1:04:18] And it's interesting that SNL ends its relationship with Bowie right before that little sabbatical.

Yeah. And I guess from how you're describing and how I'm remembering the arc of his career, it does make sense that 99 was his last appearance on SNL.

And I remember when the next day came out, it was a shock like amongst me and my music nerd friends.

It's like, Oh my gosh, what do you mean new song? Yeah, what's going on?

And I thought I thought the next day was okay. Like I wasn't floored by it or anything. And I thought it was just nice to hear Bowie back.

And I enjoyed it. But Blackstar is the one that like floored me and I genuinely loved in the timing was eerie.

And it, what Blackstar came out, it was a four day gap between when Blackstar was released and Bowie passed away.

And it almost sounded like, it almost sounded like Bowie was intentionally giving us this thing because he knew that he wouldn't be here much longer.

I'm reasonably sure. Yeah. I'm reasonably sure he knew there are, there are Easter eggs all over that thing.

Like I mean right down to the fact that a black star is a is a.

Another term for a cancerous tumor. He knew.

He must have known. And that's the only reason why he decided to do it when he did.

[1:05:42] But yeah, I mean, there would be a little bit more music that would have been neat to have him show off.

It would have been great if he had shown off something from reality.

And certainly from Heathen, that record that we both struggled to remember what it was called.

They're good records. They're actually, I think they're better than Ours, which he promoted with singing Thursday's Child.

Again, it could have just been the timing or it could have been even just the musical landscape. The early O's was a very, very weird time for music.

And David Bowie didn't really fit into what was happening there.

So it could have just been, you know, it's like, well, we could get David Bowie or hey, let's get the Strokes.

[1:06:20] You know, it's that kind of thing if you're booking. Yeah, I think it was a fine SNL send off in 99.

And it was just a perfect, yeah, I mean, send off as far as just his final album and how it coincided with the end of his life and everything.

And that was just I remember talking to some friends about it.

And it was almost the feeling like, you know, this is like, perfect classic Bowie to give this to the world give this black star album to the world before he leaves us.

There are worse things in life than being your last SNL performance at Be Rebel Rebel. Yeah, Ben, that's perfect. well put too is Rebel Rebel.

The perfect way to go out on SNL, for sure.

So, Ryan, we're at the point of the show where we kind of sum this up in a tidy little way, and I want you to address our SNL Hall of Fame voters now and tell them why they should atleast consider David Bowie for the SNL Hall of Fame.

I believe that you need to consider him on that first performance alone.

[1:07:26] On three songs in a night, three songs in a night. It's one of those magic numbers, you know, it's, it's right up there with like five timers.

Uh, it's right up there with Dave Grohl and, and his, however many, what is he on there? 16 times, what'd he say?

Something like that. By the time this goes to air, maybe he might have more because they have a new record out.

[1:07:44] So he's a, he's a three song, three song performer. And that first performance just is so delightfully arty and cool and funny and Kuki and really sums up exactly where this personwas in his career and what he meant to where music would go in, you know, the decades ahead and how he would influence Talking Heads and Lady Gaga and Janelle Monáe and all ofthese other artists who saw themselves in the the arty weirdo or the non-conforming gender identity and wanted to marry the music stage with the art gallery in the best ways.

Track 2:

[1:08:57] It always throws me, man, that bass breakdown. It always throws me.

But there it is. That's Ryan McNeil, friend of the show, five-timer and eloquent speaker.

Between him and Matt, I feel like we have a very good sense of Bowie, both his career and his impact that he had on SNL.

And I think there's a good case. If we look at the musical guests that have been nominated in the past, he's got to be in that fringe of people that are bound for the Hall of Fame, ultimately.

I just think he transcends the show and yet he's able to be on the show at the same time.

It's a big thing and yeah, I'd like to see if he can make his way into the Hall of Fame.

But that's up to you. That's how it works. It's not up to me.

It's up to you. And I hope you take into account everything that you've heard thus far.

But if you need any more of a nudge toward Bowie and his validity, then look no further because I've got a great track for you for you right now that I'm going to share.

This is David Bowie, the man who sold the world on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast.

[1:13:27] That was great. That was really great. I encourage you to go out and watch the YouTube video of that performance.

It's great. from the Christmas episode, December 15th, 1979 with Martin Sheen hosting, and it's performance art.

Not only is it a tremendous song, and it's tough for me to remember a world before Live at New York when Kurt Cobain and Nirvana covered the song, but this is Bowie's song.

Song this is very clearly Bowie's song and he does wonders with it and it's it's really quite lovely and yeah I think that should seal the deal I don't know I'm not saying he's a first ballotHall of Famer I'm not saying that but I'm feeling pretty good about his chances that's it's just a hunch that you get sometimes when you hang around the hall as much as I do you get thesehunches, you know, and that's what you got to do.

[1:14:42] So the hunches is also the reason I am getting those spine massages, I should say, if you've been listening the whole time, you might understand that.

At any rate, that's what I've got for you this week. I want to thank Matt and Thomas as always, Ryan McNeil as our guest, but now if you do me a favor and on your way out, as you walkpast the Weekend Update exhibit.

Turn out the lights, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.

We're back with a new episode of the SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler. This week Joe, Shari, and jD discuss this weeks episode of the SNL Hall of Fame.

Transcript:

Track 1:

[0:20] Hey, it's JD here, and welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler. I am JD, and I'm thrilled to be here with you this week and every week. But I'm more excited to be hanging out with Joe and Shari because they've done such a great job the last few weeks. So, Joe, how are you doing today?

Track 2:

[0:42] I'm doing great. How are you doing?

Track 1:

[0:45] I'm actually pretty darn good. The sky is blue and there's clouds. I took the dogs to the beach today for a nice walk. So it's been a good time.

Track 2:

[0:57] Okay.

Track 1:

[0:58] Shari.

Track 3:

[1:00] Hello. How about you? I'm doing really well, thanks.

Track 1:

[1:05] Are you ready to talk about Saturday Night Live, guys?

Track 3:

[1:08] Absolutely. Absolutely.

Track 2:

[1:09] We got a great subject this week.

Track 1:

[1:11] We do have a good subject. We are talking all about Garrett Morris.

Track 2:

[1:17] Yes.

Track 1:

[1:19] Shari, do you want to start with a brief recap of the actual episode?

Track 3:

[1:26] Oh, certainly. It was a fun one. Thomas was joined by the fabulous Darren Patterson from the podcast SNL Nerds, which if you haven't listened to it out there in SNL podcast land, It is a fabulous podcast. They break down episodes of Saturday Night Live and in the summer and during the off times, they do movies and other topics. They just did a great interview with a crew member who does one of the film units. So really excited to have Darren. And Darren is a fountain of knowledge and he's bringing that knowledge to discuss Garrett. And making a lot of good points about Garrett's involvement in the show, how he was often a little bit taken for granted, but he was a very much an in the clutch player. And I think there makes a very good case. And Thomas backs him right up, adding that Garrett's also one of the very best singers of all of the cast.

Track 2:

[2:26] I learned that from the podcast.

Track 3:

[2:30] Yeah, I wasn't really aware of that either. Oh, he was a fantastic singer. I actually watched the episode that he was most known for where he sang a song. And he's incredible. I mean, he's an operatic Juilliard-trained singer. And you can hear it.

Track 1:

[2:50] Wow.

Track 3:

[2:51] So that's the episode. And it was a good one. And Darren made a lot of great points, as did Thomas, as always.

Track 1:

[2:58] Joe, what do you think of Garrett Morris as a whole? Do you think he's somebody who is...

Track 2:

[3:09] Now, anyone who's in that first five years, I feel deserves at least special consideration for being in the Hall of Fame. And especially since Garrett was in all five years of the first five. and the thing is uh you'll hear this a lot it was mentioned on the podcast and you'll hear it today he was very underused now i just want to also point out that he was in all five years, however dan akroyd john belushi they weren't they left uh before season five that's right but But they each got best of DVDs. And Garrett did not. So that just shows you how underused. And I feel like people, when you go out and vote, I really suggest that you give him a second look because I believe he really is talented and underappreciated.

Track 3:

[4:10] It's interesting to think of somebody being underappreciated and yet part of that pioneering first cast that's uh very interesting to me um especially.

Track 1:

[4:25] Because he stood out he stood out because the rest of the cast was very white and he was not and a lot of the jokes and and themes of his sketches were racially charged in like a in a great way.

Track 3:

[4:43] Yes yes agreed in an appropriate way yeah definitely i don't know that you could do it now there'd be too too much sensitivity i think, but um it was hard hitting at the time for sure i mean it was something worth addressing, yeah yeah the white guilt relief fund that i know they oh my god and i watched that a couple of times it's unfortunately edited way down and it's not that long to begin with but the part I saw was just it's a riot and that was really really edgy for 70 was it 77 yeah they weren't talking about that, They weren't talking about the book. It was a hot topic when Saturday Night Live started. Yes.

Track 2:

[5:28] So, I mean, that's just worth mentioning that he had to tackle a subject that was very taboo. And he had to do it pretty much, I don't want to say all by himself, I'm sorry to all the writers, but he was the only one to represent the show. There wasn't any other African-American cast members.

Track 3:

[5:44] It was just him.

Track 2:

[5:45] And he had to tackle a very hot-button issue.

Track 1:

[5:48] You i don't even know and this would be something if you know this send us an email uh snl hof watercooler at gmail.com and let us know if and if if shari or joe you know this like let me know but i don't know that there were any african-american uh or or any minorities, as part of the writing staff.

Track 3:

[6:16] I'm so positive there was not.

Track 1:

[6:20] So he would have been somebody looking for his own, he would have been somebody looking for his own voice, you know?

Track 3:

[6:26] And not only that, J.D., but he was also, as they brought up in the podcast, and it hasn't been brought up, anyone talking about Garrett on the show, he was many years older than all of them. And he was the only one who wasn't from a stand-up or an improv background.

Track 2:

[6:45] Excellent point.

Track 3:

[6:46] Which they also talked about, Darren and Thomas also talked about. He was a straight-up actor and musician. He'd come off the Belafonte Singers. And Lauren was interested in him because of his playwright experience, apparently. Which I didn't realize I learned that on the podcast. Because, you know, Thomas does his homework.

Track 2:

[7:08] Kevin, that background is unique for Saturday Night Live just in general. That's very unique. Usually you come from Second City, Groundlings, Stand Up, and I know it's very rare not to come from one of those.

Track 3:

[7:26] Yes.

Track 1:

[7:28] Yeah, it would be interesting to see a list of people that are, and I suspect it would be very short.

Track 3:

[7:34] Pie graph.

Track 1:

[7:35] Pie graph, yeah.

Track 2:

[7:37] I mean, it would be a very thin slice.

Track 3:

[7:39] Yeah, when I hear, because I listen to Fly on the Wall, which I'm sure a lot of our listeners do, And they talk a lot about how it was pretty divided between improv and stand-up, with the bulk being improv. I didn't even hear them discuss any that had, like, theater or serious acting background. They all came from one of the two comedy tracks. So that makes him very unique. If I were to guess.

Track 2:

[8:09] I would say that, like, Michael McKean or maybe Robert Downey Jr.

Track 3:

[8:14] True, true. you know like the whole season 11 cast it wouldn't be a long list yeah agreed, yeah I like that Thomas and Darren talking about how he.

Track 1:

[8:29] May be the best singer because.

Track 3:

[8:32] I you know like there's some strong singers that have been on the show like.

Track 1:

[8:35] I think of Chloe Trost right now.

Track 3:

[8:37] Yes but Garrett Broser why is John Lewis but I don't want to get off topic. But Garrett is a classically chained operatic singer.

Track 1:

[8:53] That's nuts.

Track 3:

[8:54] He went to freaking Juilliard. It's crazy. And like opera and comedy.

Track 2:

[9:00] Those can go together. I mean, if Bugs Bunny has taught me anything, it's that opera and comedy is funny. And they could have used that in multiple ways.

Track 1:

[9:15] Well, tell us.

Track 3:

[9:16] I mean, like, opera.

Track 2:

[9:18] They could have tackled news stories. They could have been a Weekend Update character is an opera man.

Track 3:

[9:24] I mean, right there. Yeah, Gers could have actually sang opera.

Track 2:

[9:28] Yeah, I mean, yeah, where you get an opera singer, you got M. Chandler, who did it ironically, you know? Or you could, I mean, look at, I mean, he could have just sang funny songs. I mean, look at Weird Al. I mean, that's a whole genre is.

Track 3:

[9:42] Like, a funny song.

Track 2:

[9:45] You have this classically trained singer, and that could have been a whole segment. It could have been his reoccurring character.

Track 1:

[9:54] Yeah, I agree.

Track 2:

[9:57] So basically, the whole theme of Garrett Morris or this episode is how underly appreciated he was.

Track 3:

[10:05] And yeah, if you listen to the other podcasts, they pretty much list the best of.

Track 2:

[10:10] If not, pretty much the best of everything that he did.

Track 3:

[10:15] And right there that should if you're gonna vote for him uh it should be off of those, and like even with the douchebag skit yeah or sketch sketch i got it right on my hand he only had one line in it and he delivered it on a bullseye yes so you have the whole grand finale uh sketch where you got all the cast members here we share bill murray everyone doing the last sketch of the last five years and only give Garrett Morse one line and I'll be damned if it's the most memorable line and not only that that's the one they always use in the clip shows of like all the anniversary shows yes I agree and that is the point that Darren and Thomas made even though he's not on screen as much and he doesn't have as many lines when he has a line or he has a bit, it is very memorable. Like we're talking about him now and that was, 50 years ago, almost. 50 years ago? Yeah, coming out. He was definitely memorable.

Track 1:

[11:22] Yeah.

Track 2:

[11:23] And then, also in that superhero sketch, he played Ant-Man. Didn't have that much lines, but was memorable enough for them to reference it in the Paul Rudd movie. So, you know, he had just a couple lines. It was like, oh, wait, yeah, that's right. Garrett Morris played him back in the 70s.

Track 3:

[11:46] He probably had three lines.

Track 2:

[11:48] And it was rememberable enough to be in a Marvel movie.

Track 1:

[11:53] That's hilarious.

Track 2:

[11:57] So, I mean, he's a scene stealer.

Track 3:

[11:59] Yeah, and his new president of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing, that's in every clip show they do. It's so, so funny. Again, you can't really find a lot of his most memorable stuff online. line, and I could only find one of those. I wish I'd been able to watch more. I was just saying I wish I'd been able to find more of those hard-of-hearing sketches, or bits on Weekend Update, because they were so funny, but I could only find one.

Track 1:

[12:31] You guys have Peacock, right?

Track 3:

[12:33] Absolutely.

Track 1:

[12:34] See, we don't have Peacock in Canada. So I don't have access to just dial back into a... I've got a whole bunch on my hard drive, like but there's a lot of them that are dud episodes.

Track 3:

[12:50] Okay. The character is so rememberable that they did it verbatim with Garrett Morris on Family Guy. Really? Yeah, they just, they had him come on and do that.

Track 2:

[13:03] Like, that's how rememberable that character or that sketch was.

Track 1:

[13:10] That's fascinating.

Track 3:

[13:12] Yeah, it's a classic.

Track 1:

[13:13] It really has permeated pop culture in a way that not every star or performer on the original cast did necessarily.

Track 2:

[13:28] Here's another way he was remembered. I just came up with this off the top of my head. Robert Smigel for the 25th anniversary show. He did a joke about how Lorne Michaels was making merchandise based on the show.

Track 3:

[13:41] He had the Dennis Miller talking doll he had conehead suppositories and then he also had I forget the character's name but very very good drink, Chico Azuela Chico Azuela very very good drink so again another character that wasn't used that much but was rememberable enough to be referenced in the 25th anniversary cartoon, wow Wow.

Track 1:

[14:12] I mean, Darren mentions him as an unsung hero.

Track 3:

[14:19] I agree. 100%.

Track 1:

[14:21] Right? Yeah.

Track 3:

[14:25] In the documentary, Saturday Night Live.

Track 2:

[14:29] The first five years, even Al Franken said that he saw Garrett in a sketch performing. And while Al Franken was on stage watching Garrett perform, Al Franken was having this realization like, oh my God, we should use this guy more. Just like year four, we just had this realization now?

Track 3:

[14:51] Are you joking?

Track 2:

[14:54] In the documentary. I mean, I remember it was Al Franken that said it. It was the show, I don't know which basketball player.

Track 3:

[15:01] But the sketch was the basketball player.

Track 2:

[15:06] The host, was sneaking around playing on a basketball team and Garrett Morris played his mom. And he was playing this mom character so well that Al Franken had a realization that, like, this guy is good. And I'm realizing this in year four?

Track 1:

[15:24] I'm telling you, a big part of it would have been that he would have been writing for himself.

Track 3:

[15:31] Right. There was nobody.

Track 1:

[15:32] And, sorry, Shari.

Track 3:

[15:34] No, you're absolutely right, JD. he was he was there on his own and they talk a lot about how important it is for cast members to find a writer who gets them yeah and garrett didn't have that there was nobody who exactly got him both because of his age because of his race obviously and because he was coming from a less comedic background and nobody could hook into that but imagine if they They could have hooked into that. Imagine if Franken had realized the things that could have happened. They could have done some really amazing things.

Track 1:

[16:12] I think so, too.

Track 2:

[16:13] Plus, it seemed like people paired up better or they didn't pair up with them. Like, obviously, Ackroyd and Belushi paired up. The girls kind of lumped together. And Ackroyd and Curtin did stuff on Weekend Update.

Track 3:

[16:31] And I, you know.

Track 2:

[16:33] It's worth pointing out that Garrett wasn't an update host.

Track 3:

[16:37] I think everyone else was, except for Belushi, but not him.

Track 2:

[16:45] He probably would have appeared out better if he was an update host with someone.

Track 3:

[16:51] I also find it interesting, speaking of Jane and Lorraine, I also find it interesting that Jane got in first ballot because I was looking at our current Hall of Fame, who's already in, and I thought it was interesting that the three that I feel get at the case made that they were underutilized are Jane, Lorraine, and Garrett.

Track 1:

[17:13] That's right.

Track 3:

[17:14] And Jane got in first ballot, which I was amazed because I voted for her, but she's not as well known for being on SNL as Belushi or Aykroyd or Murray. So I was happy to see her get in. I'm very sad that Lorraine's still not in. And I feel like, I fear that Garrett's going to have that same fate because people, as I said, have kind of short memories. and I really urge you to look at his stuff and vote for him if you truly believe he does but I really want to, urge people to vote for him and I want to campaign for him because he really was talented and even though he didn't have that much stuff the stuff that he did have is worthy of everyone else that's already in there, A hundred percent agree. And I also want to suggest something to you two and to anybody, any listener out there. I found his ceremony for getting his star on the Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, rather.

Track 3:

[18:29] And it's very it's very basic like i love how bare bones it is they're in a little shelter because it was raining and they're just on the hollywood walk of fame having this ceremony it's not fancy there's not a lot of fancy camera work and garrett gives like a 20 minute speech about his career and it's fascinating stuff it's really fascinating i didn't know how much he had done And he talks a lot about his beginnings, how he was homeless for some time. So I really urge people to check that out to get a full picture of this gentleman's career, because it is really pretty amazing.

Track 1:

[19:10] The burden of voting is a lot. You know, you're sort of expected to have listened to the nomination episodes. episodes, and then now you're listening to Water Cooler, where we're going to remind you even more. And it's interesting. Shari, you mentioned Lorraine. She, last year was her first year on the ballot, and she got 38%. So using that as an over-under number, Where do you think Garrett will land voting-wise?

Track 3:

[19:48] I feel like Garrett's going to be right there with her, maybe right around 37%, 38%. It's going to be real close.

Track 1:

[19:58] So right around the same.

Track 3:

[19:59] I think so.

Track 1:

[20:00] How about you, Joe?

Track 2:

[20:02] Sadly, and this breaks my heart.

Track 3:

[20:05] And I hope I'm wrong, but he might be in the 20% because he's not recognizable as some of the other people and it's hard to research him and, he just doesn't have that much stuff out there and I don't want people thinking he should just get in just because he's in the first five years. I want him to get in because of the stuff that he did in the first five years.

Track 2:

[20:33] But if you're asking me what his percentage is, it's probably going to be low because he doesn't have that much stuff out there.

Track 1:

[20:40] Do you think it'll be lower than Lorraine then?

Track 2:

[20:43] It breaks my heart, but if I was to go above or below Lorraine, it breaks my heart, but I'm probably going to say below. It breaks my heart, though.

Track 3:

[20:55] I think he's a little above Lorraine because he's been in the public eye and people know him more where she's not been in a lot of things. And he's been around, so people know him. People watch Two Broke Girls. People rock some of his stuff. So I think he's going to at least be the same or a tiny bit higher.

Track 1:

[21:19] Well, I wonder how much influence the fact that it's the 50th anniversary this year and will be, whether or not they revisit previous things on the show. You know, there's going to be the 50th anniversary show. I suspect it's going to be with the movie. It's going to be more in people's minds. So I wonder if that'll have any impact on voting.

Track 2:

[21:47] That's a worthy point. And it probably will on some people.

Track 3:

[21:53] And hopefully it'll have an impact on Garrett.

Track 1:

[21:56] Yeah, that's what I mean, mainly.

Track 2:

[21:58] I agree. I'm agreeing with you, yeah.

Track 3:

[22:00] And I've heard the, I just read a Rolling Stone article just before I came on with you two, that they had seen it at the Telluride and it was a bit of a review. And they mentioned Lamorne Morris's, performance as garrett and it was one of the things they pointed out in the article so that that might give garrett a little push it's that performance is getting a lot of talk and uh that will put garrett back in people's consciousness which is a great okay yeah maybe he will be uh equal or above lorraine oh i could you're starting to sway me well i i wonder what What Lorraine will get in terms of a bump this year. Right.

Track 2:

[22:44] Like whether it's going to go down or up.

Track 3:

[22:47] I feel like I've been hearing more about Lamorne's portrayal than I've heard about. I can't even remember the actress who's doing Lorraine. Lamorne's been getting a lot of positive buzz. And I've heard he just nails it. Well, I've got a ticket to see it at the Toronto International Film Festival. Oh, so jealous. Alas.

Track 1:

[23:09] Yeah. So we'll definitely talk about it.

Track 2:

[23:11] I'll follow me and T.D. because he's going to take me.

Track 3:

[23:13] Right?

Track 1:

[23:14] If you can get up here, I'll take you. I got an extra ticket.

Track 2:

[23:19] Oh.

Track 1:

[23:20] Yeah.

Track 2:

[23:21] Well, Shuri's like in Michigan, so she's got a head start.

Track 3:

[23:25] That's true.

Track 1:

[23:26] I'll send my private jet over. I'll send the SNL Hall of Fame jet over.

Track 3:

[23:30] All right. I'll pack my bag.

Track 1:

[23:34] Okay. I want to know a little bit more about some of the other candidates that you guys have talked about this year. You've talked about Beck Bennett.

Track 3:

[23:46] Yeah.

Track 1:

[23:47] And you've talked about Sherry O'Terry.

Track 3:

[23:50] Yeah.

Track 1:

[23:52] Now we're discussing Garrett Morris. So if you had to rank those three, and I'm not saying if you had to, I'm going to say you have to. rank those three in terms of their likelihood to get in or get a substantial amount of the vote. And I could tell you, Oh, Beck Bennett wasn't on the ballot last year. Nevermind. So I can't tell you what he got last year, but, um.

Track 3:

[24:24] Yeah, I'm curious.

Track 2:

[24:26] I would say, if I were to go one, two, three, with one being highest, I would say it would go Shiri.

Track 3:

[24:35] Garrett, Beck.

Track 2:

[24:36] Shiri is recognizable for having multiple characters. Garrett is recognizable for being first five years, among other things. And then Beck Bennett is just newer. So he just hasn't been around as long as the other two.

Track 1:

[24:54] That's right yeah he's only been away from the show for a couple years too.

Track 3:

[24:58] I'm gonna disagree there i think back to the edge because of his recency look at how well kate did now brandon kate's in a class how did kate not get in oh yeah she's very close though i i i do think i do think her chances are good this year but sticking with back i think you're right I think he's got that recency. I think people really like him. I think people are realizing, just like with Bobby, who we're going to talk about in later watercolor episodes, people are realizing how essential these players were to the game now that they're away from it. Because I think we all took back Bobby, maybe not all, but I certainly didn't think about them. But now that I'm watching more and more of their sketches and what a pivotal role they played during their seasons. I think they're both going to do quite well, and I do think it's because they're more recent, and again, people have short memories. So I think it's going to be back, Sherry, and I think Garrett is going to be, unfortunately.

Track 2:

[26:07] I like that reasoning.

Track 1:

[26:09] I don't agree with it.

Track 3:

[26:10] But I like it.

Track 1:

[26:10] You've made mention, Sherry, as well, that you're worried that he doesn't even get the 10%.

Track 3:

[26:17] Yeah, I am kind of, I am worried. I did, I think I mentioned that with Sherry and Garrett too. I just, people have such short memories and Sherry was a long time ago too, but I'm hoping that with the 50th and people re-watching things, like I said, she wasn't on the 40th anniversary. She hasn't been around as much. That's not been back yet, Yeah, but I feel like he's going to be back.

Track 1:

[26:48] I think you're right.

Track 3:

[26:49] I feel like he and Kyle are going to sneak their way in, if not in cameos, in some way. And yeah, I don't think she's interested in coming back. I think she's kind of moved on with her life, which is totally her prerogative. But I think that's going to be a big decision.

Track 2:

[27:12] Because I like that point that you made, is that she kind of just came and went.

Track 3:

[27:16] Kind of like Jim Brewer.

Track 2:

[27:17] Who just came by, did her term, and moved on and never looked back.

Track 3:

[27:23] Yeah, agreed.

Track 1:

[27:24] Well, Jim Brewer, a little bit different. Like, I mean.

Track 2:

[27:27] Yeah, yeah.

Track 1:

[27:28] No, no, no, no.

Track 2:

[27:28] I know, I know.

Track 1:

[27:30] I don't think people look back as fondly.

Track 2:

[27:32] Just, you want to pick someone from that generation.

Track 1:

[27:35] Right. Well, I think a good comp for back might be Will Forte, who was on the list last year, and he ended up with like 63% or something like that. Will did very well. Sorry?

Track 3:

[27:52] Will did very well. I was surprised how well he did because he is such a controversial. People seem to love or totally not love him.

Track 1:

[28:01] Yes.

Track 3:

[28:02] How is that going to seem how well he did?

Track 1:

[28:06] Yeah, I'm very curious.

Track 2:

[28:08] Falcon, Aaron, and McGruder are very specific, either are on board or not.

Track 1:

[28:12] Well, I think he gets in this year because he was only three points away.

Track 3:

[28:16] Oh, I agree. And I feel like Beck's going to get like 60, 63% this year. Very similar to Will.

Track 1:

[28:24] You know, I would have been somebody who years ago would have consciously not voted for Beck Bennett. it. But man, did he ever win me over? By the time he left, I remember his last sketch was, he did Vin Diesel. It was the 10 to 1 sketch. And he just nailed it. And it's Vin Diesel.

Track 2:

[28:52] Just for trivia, do you know someone else that did Vin Diesel? I don't. Richie O'Shans.

Track 1:

[28:59] Really?

Track 2:

[29:00] David Spade hosted.

Track 1:

[29:02] Ah indeed I.

Track 2:

[29:06] Just wanted to point out because there's two totally different performers, that's why it's a cut in my head.

Track 1:

[29:15] So that's how you have them so that's how you have them ranked we'll revisit this next week and see once we add a fourth layer, where they fit in and you know we'll sort of revisit this as the season goes on like we do with your ballots I'm very curious. You guys talked about your ballots in the first episode. I'm curious, by the time we get to maybe the fifth episode, we'll revisit it and see if anything has changed.

Track 2:

[29:42] Okay.

Track 1:

[29:43] Like, Joe, you only used 10 votes, so you've got some room, if you wanted.

Track 2:

[29:51] I went first in the DECA system, but I'll look at it again.

Track 1:

[29:56] Yeah, well, Well, Shari had used all 15, and I believe she said she had two that were on the cusp.

Track 3:

[30:04] Yes, and Garrett was one of those two, and I really want to put him on my ballot. So many of the ones on my ballot are ones that don't have much time left, and I don't want them to fall off. I know.

Track 1:

[30:21] We lost a lot last year.

Track 3:

[30:23] We did, and I have several that are going to go this year because it's their fifth time on the ballot. So I hope they all get in, but I'm not really too hopeful, but who knows?

Track 1:

[30:40] Well, I think one of the things we changed the way the ballot looked last year, and we included little factoids, like last chance, that sort of thing. And I think that helped people realize. I do think that helped. Yeah, I think so.

Track 3:

[30:58] I'm so happy Maya and Molly got in, because that would have been it for them.

Track 1:

[31:02] They were done, right?

Track 3:

[31:04] Yeah, which would have been a travesty. So I'm very glad.

Track 1:

[31:08] This year, we've got Jack Handy, Dave Grohl, Paul Lappel, Candice Bergen, Paul Rudd that could fall off the ballot.

Track 3:

[31:21] Voters, we're urging you. Don't let this happen.

Track 1:

[31:27] Candice Bergen, 35%.

Track 3:

[31:31] The original first female five-timer. Yes. And she still shows up in cameos And I guarantee you she'll be at the 50th anniversary She's such a huge friend of the show She's royalty, Even though she hasn't done any TV shows or movies recently She still shows up And does her time I wouldn't be surprised if she showed up on Only Murders But as far as Saturday Night Live goes She shows up to Acknowledge her place In the Five Timers Club Yeah, so yeah she absolutely does belong in the whole thing I really think, I'm a big pusher of Jack Handy and Paula Pell as well so I hope that people remember this and I'm glad you're adding it to the ballot JD to remind people that they're not on forever that's right.

Track 1:

[32:31] Paul Rudd looks rough. He's got 17%. I don't know that that looks good for him at all. Or no, sorry, he had 12% last year.

Track 3:

[32:39] Yeah.

Track 1:

[32:40] So he went from 23 in his first year, and he's dropped. He went from 23 to 17 to 18 to 12. So I don't feel good about him. Candice Bergen fell from 41 to 35. Whereas Paula Powell went from 29 to 41. so there's good news for her.

Track 3:

[33:03] I'm hoping she gets her name out there more often and gets recognized for her connections Paula? Yeah because I'm not sure how the great majority of people, know what she contributed to the show She's been showing up She was very important Yeah and she's been showing up a lot lately She was in a couple of episodes She was in Kristen Wiig's Five Timers sketch.

Track 2:

[33:33] Oh, that's right. She had a great joke where she goes, I wrote here for five years, but right now, Kristen Wiig's... I'm going to play an audience member, and Kristen Wiig's going to pretend not to know me.

Track 3:

[33:44] She was also in at least one sketch in the Kate McKinnon. I feel like she was in that singing...

Track 2:

[33:54] Yeah, I could see that.

Track 3:

[33:56] I just can't remember the name of it, but they did a big song pre-date and I believe Paula was in it too Tampon Farm Tampon Farm Tampon Farm.

Track 1:

[34:07] Oh right Oh there you go The Kate with the guitar, Yeah.

Track 2:

[34:13] Yeah, she, and I mean, again, she helped with the cheerleaders. So if you're going to vote for Sherry.

Track 3:

[34:18] Vote for Paula.

Track 2:

[34:20] She helped with the cheerleaders.

Track 3:

[34:22] With the cheerleaders, yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm getting pretty excited about next week's episode, J.D.

Track 1:

[34:28] Yeah, I think so. We're going back to the host well after talking about three cast members. Shari, do you want to share who we're going to be talking about?

Track 3:

[34:40] Out you know they were just talking about him on the saturday night network which i know we talk about a lot right they were just talking about him because they're doing that they're doing that host countdown and he's quite high on their list he was number 10 i think uh yeah i believe 10 might be right 10 11 right he's in the top 12 i believe uh of course i'm talking about kylo ren friend himself, Mr. Adam Driver. Again, very recent, but this one I have to say I agree with. He is one of those serious actors like Garrett who does this great comedic turn, becoming a baby on a plane and just undercover boss. I mean, beep, beep. He's got a great couple. Oh, he was in a science room.

Track 2:

[35:34] Which is always great.

Track 1:

[35:40] Cecily and Mikey?

Track 3:

[35:41] Yes.

Track 1:

[35:42] Yeah.

Track 3:

[35:42] So very, very excited to see the case that our guest...

Track 1:

[35:47] So it's actually Bauer will be joining us. And... it should be a great episode because there's a lot of meat on that bone.

Track 3:

[35:59] Oh yeah. I'm very excited to come back next week with you too and talk all about Adam driver and what his possibility of getting into the hall of fame might be where he's going to land on those ballots. Yeah. I mean, he's on his way to become a five timer.

Track 2:

[36:18] So I believe that he could be in the hall of fame.

Track 3:

[36:24] I think so too. I think there's a good chance he's going to be a host in season 50, even though he was just on in 49. Other hosts have done back-to-backs. Yeah. He always has projects. I mean, he's always in several movies. He could be appearing in a couple of TV shows these days with streaming. Who knows? Anything goes. So he'll definitely have something to promote.

Track 1:

[36:50] I would think so. He's always got something on the go.

Track 3:

[36:52] Or he could just show up in cameo and just be a scene stealer that's true.

Track 1:

[36:57] That's true i i suspect he'll have a part of the 50th anniversary i just think oh absolutely he's you know the last 10 years he's one of the most memorable hosts exactly.

Track 2:

[37:08] I was thinking the same thing.

Track 1:

[37:10] So you know he's almost like this cast this generation's jt or walk-in walk-in or yeah Yeah, like how they all had different generations they worked with.

Track 3:

[37:22] I love the I'm all out of cash.

Track 1:

[37:25] I'm all out of cash.

Track 3:

[37:27] That's so good.

Track 2:

[37:28] Oh, yes, yes.

Track 3:

[37:30] And that's another one they could have went to Beck Bennett.

Track 2:

[37:32] But that's like a good team effort sketch. Yeah, yeah.

Track 1:

[37:36] Totally Kyle and Beck.

Track 3:

[37:38] Very exciting. And then he played that elderly teacher.

Track 2:

[37:40] But we'll talk about this next week.

Track 3:

[37:41] Yeah, very excited to talk next week. It was great fun talking with you both this week and always the highlight of my week. so very excited for next week's episode and very excited to listen to next week's episode because I know it's going to be a great one, absolutely I love talking to you guys and I love telling our audience to like and subscribe and do all those fun things with those fun buttons yes David Spade says smash that button smash that button, I will tell you smash the button And then just get another burner phone and just repeat.

Track 1:

[38:20] That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. Do that for sure. And again, the email I want to remind you is SNLHOFWC at gmail.com. So shoot us a mail. We'd love to hear from you. And on behalf of Joe and Shari, this is JD saying stay thirsty.

We're back in the SNL Hall of Fame with guest Jamie Burwood!

Today Jamie and Thomas are discussing the career of SNL Superstar Will Ferrell!

But before that we hear from Matt in his Minutia Minute.

Make sure you've registered to vote!

If you've got questions about the show or would like to be a guest on an episode in the future please reach out - jamie@snlhof.com

You can follow and support the show through discussion and sharing in all the usual places: https://kite.link/snl-hall-of-fame

SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler Podcast – Alan Zweibel

In this episode, hosts Joe, Shari, and jD take us on a nostalgic journey into Saturday Night Live (SNL) history, focusing on legendary comedy writer Alan Zweibel and his contributions to SNL’s early seasons. From the behind-the-scenes dynamics of writers like Zweibel to iconic characters like Gilda Radner’s creations, the hosts delve deep into the essential pop culture moments of SNL.

Tune in as the hosts share their insights, sprinkle in celebrity encounters in podcasts, and rank some of the most memorable moments in SNL history.

[00:00] - Intro to the Show

jD, Joe, and Shari kick things off by introducing the premise of the SNL Hall of Fame podcast. They discuss how their rankings and segments will break down this episode’s focus.

[02:15] - Alan Zweibel’s Career & Contributions

A deep dive into Alan Zweibel’s role as one of the original SNL writers. The hosts discuss his relationship with Gilda Radner, his work on classic sketches like the Weekend Update jokes, and his extensive influence on early SNL.

[04:38] - Classic SNL Sketches Featuring Alan Zweibel

jD highlights how Zweibel worked on some of the classic SNL sketches, including the Samurai and Emily Litella sketches. Shari reflects on Zweibel’s ability to collaborate across the writer’s room with people like Gilda Radner and Robert Smigel.

[07:52] - Ranking SNL Hall of Famers: Beck Bennett vs. Sherry O’Terry

The hosts engage in a lively debate over the rankings of various SNL Hall of Fame contenders, including Beck Bennett, Sherry O’Terry, and Bob Odenkirk. They also discuss the trajectory of SNL cast members and who deserves Hall of Fame status.

[15:02] - Celebrity Encounters in Podcasts

A fun discussion about podcast co-host Jeremy Dove’s story of meeting Pharrell, sparking a conversation about celebrity encounters in podcasts and how they add flavor to episodes.

[18:40] - SNL Hall of Shame Moments

The hosts critique some of the weaker sketches from a recent SNL episode featuring Ariana Grande and Stevie Nicks. They call out the misuse of cameos and how it limits airtime for regular cast members.

[23:02] - SNL Cast Dynamics & Cameos

Shari points out the challenges of balancing SNL cast dynamics with the regular appearance of cameos. They discuss how Heidi Gardner and Eggo Nwodim deserve more screen time.

[30:48] - Closing Thoughts on the Episode

The hosts wrap up by previewing next week’s episode, featuring a discussion with Robin Duke about Joe Piscopo and his impact on SNL.

Listen and subscribe to the SNL Hall of Fame podcast for weekly discussions on the essential moments and key players in SNL history. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a casual listener, our breakdowns of essential pop culture moments will keep you entertained.

Be sure to follow, rate, and review wherever you listen to podcasts!

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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[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...

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

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

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

[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.

Track 2:

[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 –.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

[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.

Track 3:

[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?

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

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

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

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

Track 2:

[11:26] Yes. Vote.

Track 3:

[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.

Track 2:

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

Track 3:

[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?

Track 2:

[12:11] Yeah.

Track 3:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

[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?

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

[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?

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[20:26] Okay, yeah.

Track 3:

[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.

Track 2:

[20:36] Okay.

Track 3:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

[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.

Track 2:

[22:07] That's right.

Track 3:

[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?

Track 2:

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

Track 3:

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

Track 2:

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

Track 3:

[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.

Track 3:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 3:

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

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

[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.

Track 2:

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

Track 3:

[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.

SNL Hall of Fame Podcast – Episode 7 🎙️✨

Tim Meadows: The Unsung SNL Comedy Legend

Welcome back to The SNL Hall of Fame Podcast, where we celebrate Saturday Night Live’s greatest! This week, jD is joined by the ever-insightful Bill Kenney and trivia master Matt Ardill for a deep dive into one of SNL’s longest-tenured cast members, Tim Meadows. We also welcome special guest Victoria Franso as she makes the ultimate case for why Meadows deserves his spot in the Hall of Fame!

Inside This Episode

✅ The incredible 10-season run of Tim Meadows—one of the most versatile SNL cast members ever

✅ His legendary characters: The Ladies Man, Lionel Osborne, and OJ Simpson

✅ The best SNL sketches that defined his career, from Jingleheimer Junction to Captain Jim & Pedro

✅ Trivia Corner with Matt Ardill—test your SNL history knowledge!

✅ Victoria Franso on why Tim Meadows is an SNL comedy legend

🔥 Voting Alert! Don’t forget—voting for the Class of Season 7 begins Monday, May 12th, and closes Friday, May 4th, at 11:59 PM ET. Every voter must select at least 10 inductees, but you can vote for as many as you’d like! Who will make it into the SNL Hall of Fame this season? Cast your votes and make your voice heard!

📢 Join the Conversation!

💬 What’s your favorite Tim Meadows moment? Let us know in our SNL fan community!

📌 Follow us & subscribe:

📷 Instagram: @snlhof

📩 Email: thesnlhalloffame@gmail.com

👥 Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/snlhof

🌎 Website: dewvre.com/snlhof

📺 YouTube: youtube.com/@dewvre1974

🎧 Don’t forget to rate & review the show wherever you get your podcasts! It helps us grow the Hall of Fame community and keep celebrating the legends of Saturday Night Live.

👏 Next Episode: Who will we deep dive into next? Tune in next week for Josh Brolin nominated in the Host Category.

This week we're joined by David Voigt to discuss the Hosting category of the SNL Hall of Fame.

More specifically we talk about John Goodman and his run through the 90's and the legacy he's left at the show.

Will he be part of the inaugural class of the HOF? We shall see.

If you've got questions about the show or would like to be a guest on an episode in the future please reach out - jamie@snlhof.com

You can follow and support the show through discussion and sharing in all the usual places. Twitter - @SNLHOF Web - snlhof.com

This is what we've been building up to! Now is the time to announce the newest inductees into the SNL Hall of Fame. Bill Kenney and Kirstin Rajala join Thomas Sena to reveal the inductees and breakdown the ballot as a whole. Who got in? Are there any snubs? Join us in discussion and celebration as we chat about the Class of Season 5.

We're back in the Hall after a hectic week with the whole foot-wiping thing. At any rate we're thrilled to welcome Rebecca North to the show to relitigate the case for Maya Rudolph who is appearing on her last ballot. Check it out and get ready to start voting May, 6th.

Transcript:

Track 2

[0:41] Thank you so much, Doug Donets. It is great to be here inside the SNL Hall of Fame with you all.

Now, careful listeners of the show pointed out to me that I didn't remind you

to wipe your feet last week. It's not lost to me.

I truly thought I had solidified my stance on this matter to the extent that

it would become the norm.

But alas, if you are paying for the pay-per-view feed right right now,

you can see that I'm holding a mop.

Jeepers, creepers, peoples, wipe your damn 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.

Once the nominees have been announced, we turn to you, the listener,

to vote 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.

Let's go to our friend Matthew Ardill right now, because the game that we like

to play is learning a little bit about our nominee.

And that's exactly what we're going to do.

Let me just put this mop down and okay.

Oh gosh, I'm parched. There's something going on with my voice.

Track 3

[1:59] Matthew, old man. How are you doing this week? I am good, thanks. And you?

I'm a little shaky in the voice, it seems.

Well, maybe you need some water. Let me take a sip of this water.

That's better. It is delicious. We talked about water last week.

We'll put a pin in it until next week.

We don't want to give away the farm, as it were.

Maya Rudolph, huh? Yeah. I mean, I'm really looking forward to sharing about

Maya's life. She is an incredible character.

This is interesting because this is her last kick at the can.

If she doesn't get in this time, and I believe she was hovering around 58% or

59%, so she needs almost 10% to get in, 10% more to get in.

And if she doesn't get in, she's off the ballot.

That would be a shame because she is an incredible performer and a hilarious person.

So take this as a war egg, not telling people how to vote, but just be mindful

of that folks. This is your last chance. Yeah.

Track 3

[3:16] Well, let's hear some, uh, trivia to maybe sway some people.

Yeah. Yeah, Maya Rudolph is 5'7", birthday July 27th, 1972.

She has 118 acting credits, 12 producer credits, 2 writing credits,

and 30 soundtrack credits.

She was born in Gainesville, Florida, but was raised in L.A.,

the daughter of singer Minnie Ripperton and composer Richard Rudolph.

Off her mother is the singer of the song loving you

uh which i've now three times brought up

to my wife and every every time we hear it and she goes if you're gonna tell

me maya rudolph's mom saying this one more time i'm gonna throw a saw throw

a pillow at you but yeah she did and uh in fact if you listen to the single

you can hear her singing maya maya maya maya because this is a lullaby Bye.

Track 3

[4:13] That she wrote for Maya and was used to sing her to sleep. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. Now, and her grandfather on her father's side, Sidney J.

Rudolph, owned all of the Wendy's and Rudy's restaurants in Dade County, Florida.

Track 3

[4:29] So he was a- I know Rudy's, but Wendy's, that would be amazing.

I love Wendy's. Fast food entrepreneur. entrepreneur.

She was childhood friends with Gwyneth Paltrow, and their families were actually

very close to the point that her dad was hired by Bruce Paltrow to supervise music on his film Duets.

Music runs in her blood. Her brother is also in the music industry as an engineer.

When she was seven or eight, this is actually when she fell in love with comedy.

She saw a friend hurt themselves and start crying, so she started doing a funny

voice that made them laugh. And she thought to herself, this is much better than feeling bad.

I want to make her feel good. And that's sort of been her philosophy going forward.

She studied photography at University of Santa Cruz and formed a band called

Super Sauce with classmates before joining the band The Rentals,

which was fronted by Matt Sharp.

Matt Sharp, yeah. Yeah, they released several singles, including Seven More

Minutes, Barcelona, and My Head is in the Sun.

She toured singing. Oh, you got to say Friends of P.

Track 3

[5:40] Friends of P. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, she toured singing backup and playing Moog synthesizer.

Friends with P. Sorry. I apologize. There you go. Sorry.

Yeah. But when the band broke up, she actually decided to start pursuing comedy

and joined the Groundlings. Yeah.

Track 3

[5:59] She has been in two Oscar-nominated films and has indicated her dream reboot

would be to either remake Tootsie or play Violet or Dora Lee in a 9-to-5 reboot.

I want that 9-to-5 reboot.

Oh, that feels like low-hanging fruit. Like, in a good way.

Track 3

[6:20] How has that not been done? Exactly. This is a fall guy, for heaven's sake.

Yeah, like I said, low-hanging fruit in that it's so obviously awesome. Yeah.

Track 3

[6:29] So it's like, why would you not do that? And I can just imagine her singing

the song too, like the, we're gonna do fun. Like, it'd just be beautiful.

Yeah. So she later formed a Prince cover band called Princess with her friend

Gretchen Lieberum in 2011.

And Prince himself was a big fan. Oh my gosh.

So this shows there's no bad blood over the Prince show sketch.

Sketch um now she she first

the first time she actually met prince was on a five-hour plane

ride uh he asked if they had met before

and she thought he must have confused her with someone else but he later came

back and asked if her baby sang to her and she said yeah she makes noise all

the time prince responded maybe that's your mom the first time i saw your mom

was on the mike douglas show So I shed a tear.

So Prince was just such a beautiful human being.

There's like a connection there between the two of them. I'm speechless.

I'm speechless right now. Well, I mean, that's how Prince leaves everyone at

one point or another, you know, just does something so miraculous and wild and

awesome that you're just like, I've got no words.

No words at all. Well, we have a lot more words, though, coming your way in

a conversation between Thomas and Rebecca North.

Track 3

[7:55] This should be a good one, Matt. Yeah, looking forward to it.

So let's head down to Thomas now.

Track 4

[8:30] All right, Matt and JD, thank you so much. Yes, we are talking about somebody

who has been a very beloved cast member who has been on the ballot since season one.

So this is like one of those very special episodes of the SNL Hall of Fame where

we get to almost re-litigate or re-examine somebody's candidacy.

Somebody who I'm surprised isn't already in the SNL Hall of Fame because this

person's so beloved. So I'm excited today to chat about Maya Rudolph and joining

me a first timer here on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast.

Track 4

[9:06] Rebecca North is joining me to chat about Maya Rudolph. Rebecca, how are you doing today?

I'm good, Thomas. I'm happy to be here. This is my first time,

so I'm excited to voice my opinions about someone who I'm shocked.

It's been five seasons now and still has not made it to the Hall of Fame,

and that was groundbreaking to me.

So I'm here to vouch for Maya and kind of talk through her career and history on SNL.

So I can't wait. Yeah, we'll dig in to see why she might not be.

We'll definitely try to make another case for her Hall of Fame candidacy for

sure. And you're a great person to come on and talk with me about this.

You and I were teammates a long time ago, two years ago on the Saturday Night Network's trivia.

We did a little trivia together. So I don't know that we won.

We were going up against Bill Kenney and stuff and he dominated us.

But that's how we first came in contact.

And you've been doing stuff over at the Saturday Night Network off and on.

What have you been up to over at the S&N recently?

Track 4

[10:14] Yeah, I was actually thinking about that. That was my first episode on SNN as

a guest for trivia. And we did get annihilated.

But it was fun. I feel like very insightful. Like I learned a lot through that.

When I was signed up, I was like, Oh, it's gonna be a piece of cake.

And then no, we were up against people who have been watching for live for a

million years and rewatch it and do all that.

So that was fun. But yeah, I'm over at the SNN Saturday Night Network.

And I'm going on a lot of those roundtables recapping the episode.

And just really enjoying this season leading up to season 50 of SNL,

which is going to be a huge one.

So loving kind of the gap bridging between, like, millennials and Gen Z.

Track 4

[10:57] Specifically on the show and the writing staff.

So this has been, like, an exciting kind of transitional season for that at

least I'm viewing, where some of the guests are people that most of the viewers

have never heard of, but they're really exciting to me.

So I'm excited to get really just into SNL this season.

Yeah, it's been a really interesting season. I like hearing you on the hot take

shows and the roundtables because I think you and I often share similar sensibilities

and similar opinions with the show.

And I think your opinions are, they're mostly positive, they're fair,

but you're not like, you're not just going to say everything's great.

That's what I like. You have a discerning eye for this. So I think your voice

on the S&N and the roundtables and such, I think is a really nice perspective,

Rebecca. So I'm glad you're sharing that perspective with us today.

Yeah, thank you, Thomas. I

also know we both have a shared love for pop culture and all things there.

So it's going to be exciting to talk about someone who was on the show and is

really just pivotal in pop culture, I think.

Like, as far as some of those, not earlier, but, like, middle of SNL cast members

go, I think Maya is definitely someone we've seen, is very well known just in the world.

And people that have never even watched SNL know Maya Rudolph.

It's just a name, which is why I'm so shocked that season five,

she's still not in the Hall of Fame. I know. She pops up everywhere, too.

Like, so many shows that I watch, like, is it the –.

Track 4

[12:25] The Good Place. Yes. I didn't even expect her to pop up in The Good Place,

and she played the judge.

And my wife and I were like, oh my gosh, Maya Rudolph. We were so excited.

She just does that. She's just omnipresent in pop culture.

I was actually going to reference that when I was thinking about her before

this. It was such a small character, but had such an impact on The Good Place.

I really loved that. I'm glad you brought that one up. No, absolutely.

That's what she does. Maya just pops up, and then everybody,

we all get excited to see Maya on her screen.

She's like an electric performer. Rebecca, I'm curious about,

since you're a first-timer here on the show, you've never, you know,

haven't shared, obviously, your SNL fandom with us. So tell us about, like, your SNL fandom.

When did you start watching the show? Any particular cast members or casts in general? role?

Track 4

[13:11] So I watched the show a lot. It was very big in my household.

My parents aren't super fans, but they don't miss an episode.

They watch every Saturday night.

No matter what they would do, they would have it on TiVo. I remember growing

up and then DVR to watch it just every Saturday night.

They go to sleep after the news and watch the rest the next day.

And I think around high schools when I started to appreciate SNL, I actually,

the other said, man, big on pop culture, but I became very just interested in

politics and just learning a lot more about this world because I feel like I

would have conversations with people and actually have no clue what I was talking about.

And that was something that I was always, like, missing.

And then I actually really got into SNL because of the politics and the stances

there and seeing Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.

I suddenly knew who Sarah Palin was and knew how to give an opinion and a stance

and know that. So that's actually what really like hooked me.

I've always been a big comedy fan. Like any set come that I even do some standup

now and sketch around New York. Yeah.

I dabble. I'm not super well versed, but I started when I lived in Seattle.

It takes a lot to even dabble. I've done it once.

I did a five minute set once and I'm like, this is tough.

Track 4

[14:28] Five for your furset is a lot. So I lived in Seattle during the pandemic.

And I'm not from there, so I'm from New York. And the way that I actually got

to meet people was I took an improv class.

And through that, I don't – not an improv girl, but I met someone that was like,

I feel like you do good stand-up. You want to come with me one night?

And that's actually how I made a lot of my social life and friends there is

just going to open mics, doing open mics, working on things with people,

So that's how I got into that.

And then when I moved back to New York, the way that I met some other people

here was taking a sketch class at People's Improv Theater.

Track 4

[15:06] And through that, going to a lot of shows and open mics and just making connections with people.

So comedy has always just been at the root of things in my life.

But then really when I started like understanding it and really appreciating

the show that it was like a universal experience, but I just never sat and watched.

I think around high school time is that when my parents would record it,

even if I was doing my thing, running around like at night, every Sunday,

like even today, like I don't usually watch it live.

I watch it every single Sunday. It's part of my routine now.

I watch it like Sunday, 11 o'clock.

I wake up, I'm making breakfast and I'm watching SNL and it's basically just

been a constant in my life. And a lot of it really stemmed, weirdly enough,

from getting to know and learn and understand politics in a fun way.

Yeah. As fun as they can be these past few years anyway.

That's really interesting. Yeah, I don't often hear people say it was politics.

Even though SNL is synonymous with politics, that's a really neat way to get into the show.

I love it. And so when did you first take notice of Maya Rudolph as a performer? Was it SNL?

Track 4

[16:12] It was SNL. So Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig are like my two favorite cast members of all time.

And a lot of it was their interactions with each other.

And I was able to see a lot of like myself and my friends in them and the way

that they interact and the way that they bring each other onto their projects

in real life or even watching them on a talk show or red carpet or they're presenting

an award at the Emmys together.

Like the way that they interacted I also felt

the same similar with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler where I was just like

me and my girlfriend just sit and do this and

we just kind of shoot the shit and talk and

are funny and friends and I think that's what really

felt relatable to me and I think in actually some of the the sketches that I

like think so highly of Maya and a lot of them are her and Kristen are just

her being her but in like a funny way and adopting and I really I really feel

like that's what drew me in to her is I could see myself being friends with her.

I can't say that about everyone that's been on this show, but I'm like,

you're someone that I'd get coffee with and I feel like I'd have a great time.

Yeah, I can see that, definitely. It seems like she'd be easy to be friends with. For sure.

Yeah, if she was my friend, she would probably say, you know what,

Thomas, I'm disappointed. I've been on the ballot.

This is my fifth time on the ballot now, and I'm not in the Hall of Fame yet. What's the deal?

Track 4

[17:34] Yeah, you have to make it up to her to get a friendship. I know. Jeez.

I know. Sorry, Maya. So in season one, she had 47% of the vote.

Seasons two, three, and four, actually, it's been hovering around 58%.

It's been very, very steady.

Track 4

[17:50] So almost like knocking at the door, Rebecca, the candidates need 66.7% of the

vote to get in. So to about two thirds of the vote.

So she's like knocking on that door, but not quite over the hump.

So why do you think, like, do you have any theories as to why Maya hasn't got

over that hump and been voted into the hall?

Yeah. So something that stuck out to me as a reason why I love her,

but I actually could see people not is obviously we've seen her do countless

impressions on the show.

So from Beyonce to Kamala Harris to just all of these different people,

but she's still kind of maintains maya and

that and i think maybe from an impressionist point

of view you look at someone like top of mind right now is

chloe feinman and you look at chloe and she's an

impressionist whenever she puts a wig on she embodies

that person and maya the similar to if sarah

sherman does an impression i'm just relating it to this season is it's sarah

sherman still and you still have all of her quirks and all of that maya is very

that and that's actually why I like her because I'm like yeah you're not blending

completely into this person I think

there are two types of people that do impressions on SNL people J.A.J.

That just completely embodies that and you actually might not be able to tell

who is who if they're talking next to each other and people that sometimes are funnier to me is.

Track 4

[19:11] Someone that, like, their quirks and their characteristics come through.

And it's, like, Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris.

And sometimes that's even funnier to me than an actual spot on impression.

Because if you're not going to do a perfect impression, at least let your comedy come through.

Track 4

[19:27] But that's something that I specifically like. I have dabbled in the space and

I'm not an impressionist.

I made a joke that the only impression I could do is, like, either a 60-year-old

chain smoker or, like, an old man just based on my voice.

And my stature and i'm just like

i you would see me through any impression i've done so

that is something that like shines out to me is that like

i love that and respect them when someone could do that and make it funny and

really let themselves come through that like ad bryant as well as someone that

sticks out like you're laughing at them you're not laughing at the spot on impression

so i see the flip side of maybe people being like maya is always maya no matter

what she is what what character she's playing,

what impression she's doing, it's still Maya Rudolph as that person.

It's not her embodying someone, which I respect, but I think that actually could

be one of the reasons that she hasn't gotten her way onto the ballot yet.

Track 4

[20:20] Yeah, I think that's a pretty good theory. You do bring up a good point about

impressions that I wanted to circle back to, too, because we've talked about,

on the SNL Hall of Fame, we've talked about impressions quite a bit and what

your taste in impressions is and what you look for.

And I think the way Maya's done it is preferable to me over somebody who's technically sound.

We've had a lot of impressionists on SNL who are technically great impressionists.

Some recent ones, actually, who didn't quite hit on the show.

Because I think with an impression, Rebecca, you have to have a take.

And it has to be funny. To me, you only get so much mileage out of just sounding

like the person and looking like the person. You actually have to have some comedic.

Track 4

[21:05] Value to the impression so i don't

want to bring up names because i don't you know but there's been impressionists on

the show uh in in the past who

have been who've done very sound technically great impressions but there's no

comedic take behind yeah so with maya i think we have seen we see a lot of uh

funny comedic takes does she sound 100 like beyonce it's okay like i don't know

You can kind of tell she's trying to play Beyonce,

but there's some sort of take there. Same with Donatella Versace.

She does a weird one of Scott Joplin, who's like a real person.

She did a couple of some of my favorite Maya's work.

It wasn't quite an impression. It was kind of her take on a historical figure, like a funny take.

But there's the comedic value in it. So that was a really good point,

Rebecca, about impressions and Maya and how she does impressions.

But I have a confession for you. Yeah.

I'm one of those people who has been on the fence about voting her in.

Why? Yeah. So here's my – and I'm glad you asked me in that tone because I've

asked myself in that tone. In my judgy tone?

Yeah. No, I've asked myself in that judgy tone too.

Track 4

[22:22] But I finally pinpointed it, I think.

Think so maya was on from 2000 to

2007 and i think i think

she spent much of her time on snl in the wrong era

for her skill set i think like the

early to mid 2000s i think that

catered to a lot of and there's a lot of

like lowbrow kind of humor there was a lot

and i think she was capable of so much more i think

she was very clever and but she always she didn't

always get a lot of clever sketches on i

think she was way more like her skill set was a

lot more diverse than maybe the era catered to

so i and that that's just kind of

my taste but i think that's kind of

what the era was there was a lot of like and it's

hard to describe from like about 2001 to like

2005 it was a lot of edgelord humor

it was a lot of like let's put people let's

let's dress up an athlete in a a wig and a dress let's

put our female host and get just

give her a wig and some jewelry and make her talk like a

hip-hop affectation kind of characters i don't know it's just like a it was

a weird vibe and comedy just in general around that time so i don't i think

i don't know if you could see where i'm coming from with maybe her skill set

she would have been better off in a different time of snl where she could have really shined i think.

Track 4

[23:47] I actually really agree with that. It was also a really saturated cast.

So for everyone to stand out and saturated not only by volume,

but talent and big, big personalities.

Like you see nowadays, even this season, it's a very saturated cast,

but there are a lot of people that are really strong background characters that like they shine in that.

That but I would say from her six seven years on

the show it really was a lot

of huge huge personalities comedically like kind of

fighting for that spotlight there so the edgier or the probably more lowbrow

you could get at the time I feel like the more that you shined on the show and

that's what it needed to be then and that was kind of what we were seeing comedy

at that time So I do agree with you there.

And yeah, I feel like even now, just like learning about Maya and her,

just, I feel like she's very cultured and like intelligent outside of comedy.

And that inspires a lot of it, like her Prince tribute band.

And going through that, she has a lot of niche interests and quirks that I feel

like if she was on a different season, even like on current season,

the writing cast was different and they would really let it shine.

And kind of write things around someone that would understand.

I think about Bo and Yang doing the Troye Sivan sketch.

Track 4

[25:08] Did it relate to everyone? No. But was it funny because it was someone doing

something they were passionate about and understood and got?

I feel like if Maya was on a more recent season, I would say probably from like

2015 till now, the writers would tailor things to her and she wouldn't just

have to fit in and be the funny character in what she was doing.

And you have her and Kristen Wiig as, like, a dynamic duo throughout the seasons

together, and they are so different, and their humor is so different.

And I feel like although their partnership was something that we've seen from

the show on and through that, I feel like it was more for Kristen to shine than

it allowed for Maya to shine.

And I think that is probably the reason she isn't in this Hall of Fame.

But as you look back like taking a deeper eye to this and the reason why I'm

so excited to talk about her is like she was just stunning.

Track 4

[26:02] Standard and reliable like you knew she was

going to say something or sing something and we were going to

laugh whether she was the star of it and whether

it was even her like area to

shine comedically she always did trigger a lot from the audience so although

i you don't want to like pit women against each other but i kind of feel like

the writers then had to pick the star and kristin definitely got that spotlight

and maya was more of a supporting role when i actually feel I feel like they

could have balanced that a little different.

Track 4

[26:32] Yeah, that's something that you just articulated that I think I've always felt,

but I never really articulated it to myself, is that dynamic with her and Kristen

and maybe a little bit Amy. I think she and Amy were actually really good.

Of course, they did Bronx Beat together and stuff, but I think they actually

had a really good partnership.

I really I wish that Maya she

ended in on SNL in 2007

I wish she could have had a few more years because I

think that that cast was just finding its groove

around 2007 so I would wish Maya

could have been a part of them really hitting the

peak like she could I wish she could have done more stuff with Sudeikis

and Hader and even develop more of

a partnership with Kristen so I think she was in a weird era

and she was part of when the show kind of

flipped and got another golden era but

i wish she could have been part more of a

more of that golden era than she was

if that makes sense yeah that that actually is a

really good point like as they transitioned over she was one of the cast members

that transitioned with them but didn't get to see it through fruition the way

that like she probably should have after the year she put into it like yeah

and if she was able to stick around and actually like help with the transition

and do that and move that over.

So that's an awesome point because I feel like the show really flips.

Track 4

[27:56] Each big era from like, is who dominates it?

Especially I think like gender is a big thing. Like, is it being carried by