Beware of anyone promising this when you ask who’s at your door — it might be a delivery of stale chocolates, or it might be the landshark from “Jaws II,” looking for his own tasty morsel.
Chevy Chase, in the guise of President Gerald Ford, gave this response to a lengthy question about the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act in a parody of the 1976 presidential debate.
The landmark 1991 grunge album by Nirvana? Oh, you mean how the hapless Emily Litella (Gilda Radner) would wave off a pointless Weekend Update editorial inspired by a word or phrase she’d misheard? That’s very different.
The last thing you’re likely to hear Mr. Bill cry in terror before he gets flattened like a pancake.
The Czech brothers Georg and Yortuk Festrunk (Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd) were socially inept horndogs who dressed loud and talked louder, forever in search of “swinging foxes.” (Their words, not ours.) Their jiggling style of movement — not to mention this catchphrase — became so pervasive for a time that Martin’s stand-up act was infiltrated by it; what else could he call his 1978 solo album but “A Wild and Crazy Guy”?
The early years of “S.N.L.” were so powerful at minting catchphrases that John Belushi made one out of just these two words, generally delivered at the peak of a Weekend Update tirade.
Don’t expect a tuna salad sandwich, an egg breakfast or anything other than this menu item at the Olympia diner operated by John Belushi, and inspired either by Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern or a real-life restaurant owned by Belushi’s father (depending on who’s telling the tale).
As Roseanne Roseannadanna, Gilda Radner pulled off a pitch-perfect send-up of a vapid TV commentator’s sign-off that was so associated with her it became the title of her 1989 memoir.
What’s the most egregious thing you could imagine a male TV commentator could say to his female counterpart? If it’s more offensive than this line, said by Dan Aykroyd to Jane Curtin, we don’t want to know.
If you’re an aging icon of claymation (as played by Eddie Murphy), you should get to do or say whatever you want. In his meteoric time on “S.N.L.,” Murphy pretty much did, too.
Fernando, the debonair host of “Fernando’s Hideaway” (played by Billy Crystal), always thought that he looked good — but that you, his guest, looked even better. And it is better to look good than to feel good.
I guess the biggest one was probably “Well isn’t that special?” Because that reoriented my entire career basically, in five seconds.
I was doing standup in San Francisco at the Other Cafe in Haight-Ashbury [before joining “Saturday Night Live”] — that’s where the Church Lady came from. I would improvise at the second show and interview people in the audience, and “Well isn’t that special?” came out of that as a patronizing, condescending thing. It shockingly got a big laugh, but I don’t think you can really plan that.
When I think of my seven years at “S.N.L.,” there was always pressure, but I don’t think it was ever like, “Come up with a catchphrase.” If it works, it works. You’re just doing characters. Like, it’s not me; Hans and Franz, they’re corny. [As Hans] “We are here to pump! You up!” It just sort of fit.
Those two idiots are still my favorites. Because they are so paranoid and so insecure that they not only do the little exercise show, but they think of fanciful ways to torture anyone who might doubt them. [As Hans] “If you don’t think we’re properly built, let me tell you something: We could very easily come to your house and stretch your flab out into the shape of a ladder, so you can crawl back down in the sewer where losers live.”
I love silliness. I love fun. I love things that you can’t totally explain why they’re funny. I can’t write a joke, but I love musicality where there is no real joke. [As Hans] “Hear me now and believe me later.” It’s a repeated phrase that has a rhythm to it.
“S.N.L.” just lends itself to that. “Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger” — I was coming from all that, and so was Mike [Myers]. “Wayne’s World! Party on! Excellent!” “Talk amongst yourselves.” “Touch my monkey” — the madness of a guy asking people to touch his weird monkey is just great. I love stuff that is inexplicable.
Wayne’s World is Mike; Mike is Wayne’s World. I was invited in as Garth. I had done my brother Brad as a character — the rhythm of Garth is just from him. [As Garth] “If you’re gonna spew, spew into this.” It was nice woven around Mike’s “Schwing!” and all the different catchphrases he had. We were just kindred spirits, and it frequently sort of meshed.
The one that took the longest was “Not gonna do it,” George Bush Sr. [As Bush] “Not gonna do it, wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture.” That became its own little song. I eventually extrapolated the syntax from “Not gonna do it” to “Na gana da it,” and on. By the end the cue card just said “Na ga da it.”
I wanted to extend these rhythms so the audience catches the wave and gets helpless, because I’m always trying to get back to the Volkswagen Bug in junior college. My friends were stoned, and I was doing an impression of the water polo coach and winding it, winding it, winding it more and more intensely, taking liberties and having them helpless. Because there’s no waiting for the punchline. — As told to Jeremy Egner
This gentle verbal placeholder is about the most aggressive utterance you’re likely to ...
[Short citation of 8% of the original article]