SNL Turns 37 And The World Of Sketch Comedy Has Been Changed Forever

10/12/2012 2:00 pm by

Yesterday marked the 37th birthday of SNL. And while the proverbial confetti cannons and noisemakers sounded across the nation (mine included), nay the world, I couldn’t help but reminisce about where the show started and what it has become today. Take my hand as we stroll down memory lane and look at some of the most influential moments in SNL history.

First off, there was the original cast of “The Not Ready For Prime-Time Players.” Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and Jane Curtin spearheaded what we consider today to be the “launching pad” for comedians. SNL is like the gateway drug to the big leagues and everyone wants to drink the Kool-Aid. I know I’d be down to shotgun a punch bowl of that shit, but only if it’s stain-your-teeth-red-cherry, which I totally think would be the flavor of choice from these bad mamba jambas. Cherry is the best and Lorne Michaels is sort of the Asshole King of The Best.

original snl cast 1975 590x610 SNL Turns 37 And The World Of Sketch Comedy Has Been Changed Forever

1975 called…they want you all to never, ever stop. ‘Specially you, Aykroyd’s ‘stache.

SNL brought us cult comedy classics like The Blues Brothers, The Coneheads, and Wayne’s World. On top of the skits catapulting into box office success, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t consider The Church Lady, Matt Foley, Linda Richman or Mary Katherine Gallagher a household name. I remember wanting to start drinking coffee so bad just so I had an excuse to become verklempt and ask present company to talk amongst themselves. I’m a joy to grab a cup of Colombian dark roast with. Wanna swing by Starbucks and talk about injured kittens?

mike myers as linda richman 532x900 SNL Turns 37 And The World Of Sketch Comedy Has Been Changed Forever

Mike Myers, you sexy piece of she-bitch.

The pivotal part of the show for me, as a washed up radio industry whore, were the epic musical guest shenanigans. From Ashlee Simpson’s Milli Vanilli moment to parody albums from the likes of Lonely Island and Adam Sandler, it seems the well is far from dry in the super, awesome, terribly cringe-worthy, crazy mindfuckery music department at studio 8H.

Plus, remember how we got to see Justin Timberlake in a got.damn.leotard, dancing like a Single Lady? And let us give the internet a hand job next to a hobo in the alley behind NBC studios for saving that shit for posterity, even if we somehow suffer some type of debilitating blunt force trauma to The Happy Aisle of Our Brains:

Which skits gave you the most glorious giggle bumps over the course of the past 37 years?

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About Jess

Jessi Sanfilippo is a former member of the radio industry turned vessel of The Human Being. Living and barely breathing in the doldrums of Satan's Armpit, or "Arizona" for the layman, she rids the world of mundane drivel with nonsensical obscurities on her site, shuggilippo.

Filed Under: Comedy, Comics, Current Events, Humor and Fun, Internet, Justin Timberlake, Music, Nostalgia, Pop Culture, Popular, Radio, Teh Funneh, Television Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


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  • Nicole

    Dy-ing. This is one of my favorite along with Dana Carvey “choppin broccolli”.

    • Goodtwiin

      I sing that song every time I make broc-o-lee-hee

    • http://twitter.com/shuggilippo Jessi Sanfilippo

      Oh. My. God. YES! “Did you hear about the man…who had five penises…”

    • die Frau

      I literally was just thinking of this skit (and chuckling to myself) two days ago while chopping broccoli because, really, how can you not?

  • ErinTDN

    I adore SNL. Even the bad years make me laugh like mad. I’d say my older fave skit is the Syncronized swimming with Martin Short and Harry Shearer one. And more recently it would have to be The Barry Gibb Talk Show. It’s just such silly humor…I love it.
    I’m 35 now. SNL is part of my history. I can remember what a thrill it was to stay-up late and watch SNL with my Dad when I was a teen. We’d just sit there and laugh like idiots together. (Until a racy skit came on…then I’d die of embarassment.) I can only hope to have that kind of fun with my kids when they get a little older.

    • http://twitter.com/shuggilippo Jessi Sanfilippo

      I totally have the same memories of getting to stay up late on Saturday night to watch the new episode with my siblings and parents, and inherently dying a slow and painful death anytime something sexy-like was on the screen. We’ve already begun the tradition of recording and watch the previous night’s episode with our four-year-old, who doesn’t know the dynamic of the humor, but loses himself in how hilarious mommy and daddy find the skits. Lately, we’ll catch him imitating The Californians face-in-the-mirror gag. Priceless.

  • dovelove1097

    There was an old skit with Joe Piscapo and Eddie Murphy where they were Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder singing ‘Ebony and Ivory’. It makes me laugh until I cry every time.

  • Myrtle

    Dan Aykroyd as Julia Child… Save the liver!

  • SuzyQuzey

    Roseanne Roseannadanna. The weird tween with Bill Murray. Really, anything involving Gilda Radner. Such a talent, such a loss.

  • DeniDee

    Martin Short & Harry Shearer in the “Synchronized Swimming” sketch, Billy Crystal & Christopher Guest as the self-inflicting pain janitors “Oh, I hate when that happens!”, Martin Short as the nervous, sweaty interviewee Nathan Thurm, “I know that! Of course I know that! Why wouldn’t I know that?!” The whole original cast in the Inventors’ Ball: “Lord and Lady Douchebag!” Jane Curtin as Joan Face in the talk show “Heavy Sarcasm”, the coneheads, the Land Shark, Gilda Radner as the child Judy Miller. Pretty much anything before the year 2000.

    • DeniDee

      Oh, and also The Sinatra Group, with Phil Hartman as Sinatra, Sting as Billy Idol, Jan Hooks as Sinead O’Connor, and Chris Rock as Luther Campbell. Also most of the commercial parodies, especially First Citiwide Banks who only make change.

      • SuzyQuzey

        All of this.

    • DeniDee

      How could I forget Mike Myers as Deiter from Sprokets?! “Do you want to touch my monkey?”

  • http://twitter.com/highlyirritable Jeni M

    How anyone can go to the copy room or Kinko’s without saying they’re “Makinnn’ copieeeessss…” is beyond me.
    Also, “Bass-o-Matic,” anyone? Please.

    • DeniDee

      “Makinnn’ copieeeessss…”–especially the time that Sting hosted. “Stiiiing! Sting-a-ling-a-ding-dong!”

  • http://lauriemrauch.com/ Laurie M. Rauch

    I remember staying up late and watching SNL with my parents too… and then talking about it in school on Mondays. I always got a big kick out of Jim Brewer’s Joe Pesci Show, and the episode where Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro showed up and crashed the show…

    And pretty much anything that came out with Mike Myers. Party on, Garth.

  • die Frau

    I have loved Justin Timberlake’s episodes, particularly “Bring it on down to Omeletviiiiille….” But I used to watch the original cast on Nick at Nite as a teenager and fell in love with it. I remember one skit where Gilda Radner was in an ad for “Hey You”, the perfume for one-night stands.

  • http://twitter.com/MamaKaren Karen

    Old clips of the Samurai deli make my day. Also, my family always calls out “Candygram!” when the doorbell rings, just like the old landshark. I always slip into a Roseanne Rosannnadanna voice when things are piling up around me (since, with my life “it’s always somthin’!”) One of my earliest memories of seeing SNL in real time was Eddie Murphy’s Prose and Cons (“Dark and lonely summer night/Gonna kill my landlord/Guard dog barking, do he bite?/Gonna kill my landlord”)

  • Kami

    First skit I remember watching with my parents was ‘The Bees’ and ‘Lord and Lady Douche Bag’ SNL is the reason I studied Dramatic Playwriting in College and went on to write plays! Even won major awards and published a few. Never went much further than that but I still have the writer in me and the SNL writers gave me my inspiration . I am more than grateful for that!

    • http://twitter.com/shuggilippo Jessi Sanfilippo

      Oh I love that it was an inspiration for you to dream. Not only that, but you went and did something with the fuel of inspiration, however “fleeting” it may have been. Good on you. Those SNL writers are pretty boss.