Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1988–1989

The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between October 8, 1988, and May 20, 1989, the fourteenth season of SNL.

Mr. Short-Term Memory

A Tom Hanks sketch. Debuted October 8, 1988.

Celebrity Restaurant

A Dana Carvey sketch. Debuted December 3, 1988.

Tony Trailer

A Kevin Nealon sketch. Debuted January 21, 1989.

Stuart Rankin, All Things Scottish

A Mike Myers sketch. Also featuring Christopher Walken and Jon Lovitz. This sketch featured Myers as the Scottish owner of a Scots-themed gift shop, who bellowed at his customers, "If it's not Scottish, it's crap!" This phrase went on to become a minor SNL-inspired catchphrase in the late 1980s. Debuted January 28, 1989.

Other characters in later skits included Tim Meadows as Rankin's employee Rodney, and Kiefer Sutherland as Ronnie Rankin, Stuart Rankin's brother.

A Grumpy Old Man

Portrayed by Dana Carvey, he was an embittered archetypical grandfather figure with white hair, glasses, and a sour sneer. He would usually appear as a commentator complaining about the state of the world, mainly in regard to many modern conveniences. His complaints always included differences between today and "his day" ("In my day, we didn't have safety standards for toys. We got rusty nails and big bags of broken glass! And that's the way it was, and we liked it! We loved it!" or, "In my day we didn't have condoms; you just took a rabbit-skin, wrapped it around your privates, and tied it on with a bungee cord! And we used the same one, over and over again! And that's how it was, and you liked it! You loved it!"). Debuted February 11, 1989.

Wayne's World

Main article: Wayne's World

Mike Myers and Dana Carvey play two metalheads and best friends who hosted a cable access television program from Wayne's parents basement. This sketch was the basis of a popular feature film released in 1992. Debuted February 18, 1989.

Cooking with the Anal Retentive Chef

This series of sketches featured Phil Hartman as Eugene, a fastidious[1] chef who could not bear to be in the presence of anything cluttered or dirty. After peeling some vegetables he advised throwing the peels away by wrapping them in paper toweling, then aluminum foil, then putting them in a paper bag that was then to be sealed with scotch tape. Gene never completed any of his recipes; he always became too distracted by the effects of his psychological complex, and ran out of time. The majority of these sketches featured the Eugene character as a chef, however, he also played an anal retentive sportsman and home improvement expert. The sketch was presented as a PBS program sponsored by the Chubb Group.

Episodes featuring the Anal Retentive Chef

Tales of Ribaldry

Tales of Ribaldry was a series of sketches starring Jon Lovitz as Regency era dandy Evelyn Quince, presenting supposedly "racy, randy, ribald!" tales, presented initially as "bodice rippers" which, to the host's clear and vocal dismay, develop into rather straightforward, "not very ribald at all!" sexual encounters between consenting adults.

Saturday Night Live later featured a one-time sketch called "Tales of Irony" which used a similar premise. Jason Alexander played the host who would become clearly agitated when the scenes developed into quite bland pieces with very little irony at all.

Episodes featuring Tales of Ribaldry

Sprockets

Mike Myers plays a disaffected West German expressionist and minimalist. Debuted April 15, 1989.

Lothar of the Hill People

A Mike Myers and Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz sketch. Debuted April 15, 1989.

Toonces The Driving Cat

Dana Carvey and Victoria Jackson play a couple who allow their pet cat Toonces to drive their car; Toonces subsequently drives the car off a cliff. Debuted May 20, 1989.

Toonces was the family pet of Lyle (Steve Martin in the first sketch, thereafter by Dana Carvey) and Brenda Clark (Victoria Jackson), an enthusiastic couple who would allow their cat to drive the family car. At first, they were delighted that their cat had such an ability, but were always horrified to discover (too late) that Toonces was actually not a skilled driver at all. The running gag was the punch line: "See, I told you he could drive! Just not very well!" Inevitably, Toonces would drive the car over a cliff whenever he got behind the wheel. This sequence was characterized by someone in the car yelling "Toonces, look out!" with the Toonces puppet appearing to scream also, followed by the car falling off a cliff, and sometimes exploding (as shown in a series of stock footage scenes—sometimes the same one used multiple times within a sketch).

Toonces was portrayed by a live cat (for the title sequence and certain close-up driving scenes) and a puppet. The puppet was made up of three parts. The first part was a head and torso piece, which was a simplistic rendering of a grey-and-white striped short-haired tabby. The other two parts consisted of two separate paws, which were manipulated so as to simulate Toonces actually steering the car.

This sketch first appeared on the show that Steve Martin hosted when he broke Buck Henry's record for most hosting stints.

In 1992, NBC aired a half-hour Toonces special. Toonces, the Cat Who Could Drive a Car (1992) was a prime time special that aired on February 2, 1992. The special featured the first half of the first Toonces sketch and The Tooncinator, both from SNL plus one new Toonces sketch, Toonces Without A Cause; three short little pieces before commercial breaks to remind you it was a Toonces special: Toonces The Cat's World Of Nature, Toonces & Spunky Play Ping Pong, Toonces Mows The Lawn, and the end credits featuring Toonces Flies A Plane.

The special also featured a few new non-Toonces sketches.

The special was released on video as The Best Of Saturday Night Live: Toonces And Friends.

On the September 27, 2008, episode of Saturday Night Live, the stock footage of a car going over the cliff was reused in a different sketch. It was edited so that after going over the cliff, the film reversed, the car returned to the cliff top, and then exploded as it landed on the ground.

Sketches

References

  1. [Jeff Smith (chef)]
Preceded by
Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1987-1988
Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches (listed chronologically) Succeeded by
Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1989-1990
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