I've never seen this routine before and (unlike your Planes, Trains... recommendation, which I turned off at the end of the second act) I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks a lot and happy Christmas.
I’m old enough to have seen this masterpiece when it ran live. The only thing that really dates it is the 30 million-dollar ask. With all the smarmy billionaire a-holes we have today, that figure seems kind of modest.
I know it’s the most tired canard there is, but SNL used to be better at tight sketches with clean games. The Dana Carvey/Tom Brokaw sketch is another great example.
I remember this burned into my brain as an 11 year old watching it in reruns on Comedy Central (too young for SNL's airtime in the mid-80s, obviously. This was actually a very graceful job of breaking down the mechanics of the humor, tracking exactly with why it always stood out to me. It's the simplest, most elegant comedy sketch: A man sitting there simply talking. No goofy physical humor, nothing to bounce off of except the dialogue itself.
There are some decent step by step translations of this sketch in the comments, but the clip you analysed here reminded me of this Swedish Christmas sketch from the 80s. It's a reporter fishing for an answer from a little girl, getting more and more frustrated every time she answers something a kid would actually say, until he starts yelling at her calling her stupid. When he finally gets the answer he wants he pushes her to the side and looks into the camera trying to make the wholesome point he wanted to.
How does the "arson, murder, and jaywalking" pattern fit in here? E.g. I can imagine this sketch also being funny if the escalatory wishes had been 30 million a month, supreme power, and a Lamborghini", even though the third one stops escalating.
“Arson, murder, and jaywalking” is a joke, not the escalation pattern in a sketch. So, you’ve got a “rule of three” joke (for some reason, when you’re listing stuff, three is almost always the right number), and the joke is that after the first two things, who cares about jaywalking? Heightening is the most common way to turn a joke into a sketch. So, another example would be the Will Ferrell post-9/11 office dress code sketch (https://youtu.be/3mLsU46h8IA?si=nnZW79Xoa48cJ7wD). The joke is that he’s interpreted “relaxed dress code” to mean “booty shorts and a tank top.” Okay, funny…now what? Well, maybe he sits awkwardly at the table and points his nearly exposed taint at people— that’s worse. And then maybe his shorts rip and he ends up wearing basically a g string — that’s even worse. That’s heightening. Another example is every Kristen Wiig “Penelope” sketch; she starts by one-upping people in slightly ridiculous ways and ends by one-upping them in completely ridiculous ways.
Never seen it and it killed. Great bit. Merry Happy Christmas/Hanukkia....
I've never seen this routine before and (unlike your Planes, Trains... recommendation, which I turned off at the end of the second act) I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks a lot and happy Christmas.
I love the delivery on "30 million dollars a month to be given... to me" . The pause is great.
I’m old enough to have seen this masterpiece when it ran live. The only thing that really dates it is the 30 million-dollar ask. With all the smarmy billionaire a-holes we have today, that figure seems kind of modest.
Thanks for the fond Christmas memory; all the best to your young family this season and, of course, may your enemies die like pigs in hell.
Very nice. Could even be Trump's real wish list.
It’s Porizkova. Paulina Porizkiva.
Hilarious! Not to get political, but can’t resist substituting “capitalism” for “the Romans” in the classic Monty Python sketch.
I know it’s the most tired canard there is, but SNL used to be better at tight sketches with clean games. The Dana Carvey/Tom Brokaw sketch is another great example.
That sketch is an absolute powerhouse, written by the great Robert Smigel. And it's another good example of heightening!
But let's be fair: If you watch old SNL sketches, "tight" is not the first adjective that would pop to mind to describe many of them.
How would the Mikey Day war letter writing sketches fit into that? Does that count? (As an aside I think he’s a highly underrated cast member,)
Haha that’s fair. I guess the 8-minute sketch with 15 characters has always been a staple.
I remember this burned into my brain as an 11 year old watching it in reruns on Comedy Central (too young for SNL's airtime in the mid-80s, obviously. This was actually a very graceful job of breaking down the mechanics of the humor, tracking exactly with why it always stood out to me. It's the simplest, most elegant comedy sketch: A man sitting there simply talking. No goofy physical humor, nothing to bounce off of except the dialogue itself.
Did Jack Handey write this? I know he wrote for Steve.
There are some decent step by step translations of this sketch in the comments, but the clip you analysed here reminded me of this Swedish Christmas sketch from the 80s. It's a reporter fishing for an answer from a little girl, getting more and more frustrated every time she answers something a kid would actually say, until he starts yelling at her calling her stupid. When he finally gets the answer he wants he pushes her to the side and looks into the camera trying to make the wholesome point he wanted to.
https://youtu.be/hcxwTgEC7IM?si=cNlHEPZVLG6YMwl2
Expecting to see a thinkpiece any day now from Seth Simons explaining why this monologue is actually white supremacy.
God Jeff, thank you so much for allowing me to revisit that. I don't think I'd seen it since '86!
What a beautiful little Christmas gift, all wrapped up and tied with a blow. Thanks, Jeff.
This is neat.
How does the "arson, murder, and jaywalking" pattern fit in here? E.g. I can imagine this sketch also being funny if the escalatory wishes had been 30 million a month, supreme power, and a Lamborghini", even though the third one stops escalating.
“Arson, murder, and jaywalking” is a joke, not the escalation pattern in a sketch. So, you’ve got a “rule of three” joke (for some reason, when you’re listing stuff, three is almost always the right number), and the joke is that after the first two things, who cares about jaywalking? Heightening is the most common way to turn a joke into a sketch. So, another example would be the Will Ferrell post-9/11 office dress code sketch (https://youtu.be/3mLsU46h8IA?si=nnZW79Xoa48cJ7wD). The joke is that he’s interpreted “relaxed dress code” to mean “booty shorts and a tank top.” Okay, funny…now what? Well, maybe he sits awkwardly at the table and points his nearly exposed taint at people— that’s worse. And then maybe his shorts rip and he ends up wearing basically a g string — that’s even worse. That’s heightening. Another example is every Kristen Wiig “Penelope” sketch; she starts by one-upping people in slightly ridiculous ways and ends by one-upping them in completely ridiculous ways.