Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1995–1996
The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between September 30, 1995, and May 18, 1996, the twenty-first season of SNL.
Get Off The Shed!
A Will Ferrell and David Koechner and Nancy Walls sketch. Debuted September 30, 1995.
Mickey The Dyke
A Cheri Oteri sketch. Debuted September 30, 1995.
Rita DelVecchio
Rita DelVecchio (Cheri Oteri) is a grouchy, sharp tongued, Italian-American, Brooklyn housewife. Rita hates it when the neighborhood kids's toys wind up landing in her front yard, so she claims the item saying that it's "hers now, I keep it!" and tells the kids to go away. Other times Rita tries to one-up any of her neighbors when it comes to things like the who has the best decorated front lawn on Christmas, or who has the better car, etc. Debuted October 21, 1995.
Mary Katherine Gallagher
A Molly Shannon sketch. Debuted October 28, 1995.
The Spartan Cheerleaders
A Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri sketch. Debuted November 11, 1995.
Stan Hooper
A Norm Macdonald sketch. Debuted November 11, 1995.
The British Fops
The British Fops, or Lucien Callow (Mark McKinney) and Fagan (David Koechner) appeared in several episodes during SNL's 1995-1996 season. The characters first appeared on "Weekend Update" as the presidents of the Norm Macdonald fanclub, but later appeared in several other sketches, namely monologues. The Fops would appear in late restoration period clothing, and used a silly take on the period's language, mannerisms, and culture, not sparing the subsequent perversion also known for the time. Debuted November 11, 1995.
Joe Blow
Joe Blow was played by Colin Quinn. A blue collar worker by trade, Blow came onto Weekend Update as a New York public service to deliver local news from Brooklyn, New York. Most of his "news" included family problems and neighborhood gossip. Joe Blow regularly concluded his commentary by asking anchor Norm Macdonald if he would join him for "a beer", which Macdonald (who clearly did not want to socialize with him) would avoid by making up an excuse, or putting it off until a later date. Debuted November 18, 1995.
Gary Macdonald
Gary Macdonald was the fictitious younger brother of anchor Norm Macdonald. Played by David Koechner, he was supposed to be the funnier of the two Macdonald brothers, but would be overcome by fear and freeze on camera and end nearly everything he said with "no". Because of this, his commentary consisted of choppy, nervously delivered lines such as, "Hey, Janet Reno. Hey, how does that song go, '(Dude) Looks Like A Lady,' no." Debuted December 2, 1995.
The Joe Pesci Show
This sketch starred Jim Breuer as Pesci, the host of his own late-night talk show. The heard-but-not-seen cameraman was meant to be Pesci's brother. The sketch would usually begin with Italian accordion music and Breuer cheerfully saying "Hey. I am Joe Pesci. I got my own show, my cameraman, and all my friends." Debuted December 2, 1995.
Pesci's personality on the show does not so much resemble the real Joe Pesci as it does Tommy DeVito or Nicky Santoro, his characters from Goodfellas and Casino respectively. While interviewing his guests, each guest would invariably, inadvertently say something that Pesci took as an insult. He would then produce a baseball bat, and proceed to beat the guest senseless.
There were a few guests who were notable exceptions to this fate. The first sketch featured Anthony Edwards as Macaulay Culkin, Pesci's co-star in Home Alone. Pesci hit him on the head with a paint can as he was angered by the fact people laughed at Macaulay Culkin doing it to Pesci. On one episode hosted by Jim Carrey, Carrey played legendary actor James Stewart, while regular cast member Mark McKinney played Carrey. Pesci and Stewart teamed up to beat up Carrey, with Stewart going on to beat up Pesci himself. One episode featuring then Mayor Rudy Giuliani was about to get beaten when his security detail grabs Pesci, then Giuliani grabs a stickball stick and proceeded to beat Pesci. Pesci also spares actors who, like him, are of Italian ancestry and who came to prominence in films about the Sicilian mafia. However, while Italian-Americans were often spared physical assault, Pesci made disparaging remarks, such as when he had his My Cousin Vinny costar Marisa Tomei, Pesci mentions her Academy Award and comments that it must have been quid pro quo ("Whose Joe did you DiMaggio to win that?"), prompting an angry Tomei to state she won it fairly and storm off the set. Kevin Spacey appeared as Al Pacino in one episode, in which the two of them teamed up against Rodney Dangerfield (portrayed by Darrell Hammond). Alec Baldwin, John Goodman and Colin Quinn made appearances as Robert De Niro, though he is reduced to monosyllabic responses to Pesci's prompts: his lines are usually "I heard some things" (a line from Oscar winner Raging Bull, the first movie to star both De Niro and Pesci), and "Li'l bit" (a shortened version of a line from Goodfellas (where De Niro accuses another mobster of being a "little bit out of line" for insulting Pesci's character), another film starring the two actors). The real Pesci and De Niro appeared on one episode, criticizing Breuer for playing caricatures of their film characters. Quinn suddenly says he is not De Niro, but "Colin Quinn from Remote Control." Breuer's and Quinn's weak defense of themselves insults Pesci, who asks De Niro if they were just insulted, to which De Niro responds, "I heard things." The two of them then proceed to beat up Breuer and Quinn.
A cel-shaded rendering of an episode of The Joe Pesci Show appears in a scene of the movie Waking Life where the television is scanning through several channels.
G-Dog
A 1990s sitcom about a bald-headed, foul mouthed gangsta rapper played by Tim Meadows who usually appeared wearing only a Speedo or leather pants. He first appeared in a sketch with Teri Hatcher about a sitcom called "The Princess and the Homeboy". Debuted December 2, 1995.
Lenny the Lion
Visiting from the Bronx Zoo, Lenny the Lion (Colin Quinn in a lion suit) would come onto Weekend Update to talk about his life problems. His accent and set of problems (including a violent father, a chaotic family situation and an addiction to tranquilizer darts) are meant to suggest an ethnic working-class man in the Bronx. Lenny would always end his rant with the line "fur is murder". Debuted December 9, 1995.
The Rocky Roads
A Will Ferrell, Tim Meadows and David Alan Grier sketch. Debuted December 9, 1995.
Gerald "T-Bones" Tibbons
A David Koechner sketch. Debuted January 13, 1996.
Bill Brasky
A Will Ferrell, David Koechner, Mark McKinney and Tim Meadows sketch. Debuted January 20, 1996.
Kevin Franklin
A Tim Meadows sketch. Debuted February 10, 1996.
Suel Forrester
A Chris Kattan sketch. Debuted March 16, 1996. In each appearance by Suel Forrester he has a different occupation in which good, articulate clarity of speech is very important (a teacher, a trial attorney, an air traffic controller), yet he speaks almost entirely in unintelligible gibberish.
Appearances
- March 16, 1996: host John Goodman. Suel is a substitute teacher.
- April 13, 1996: host Steve Forbes. Suel is an army drill sergeant.
- October 5, 1996: host Lisa Kudrow. Suel is an air traffic controller talking a flight attendant (Kudrow) through landing a disabled plane.
- February 8, 1997: host Neve Campbell. Suel is the host of a quiz style game show and the contestants can not understand any of the questions.
- May 10, 1997: host John Goodman. Suel is a talk show host.
- November 14, 1998: host Joan Allen. Suel is a trial attorney.
- March 13, 1999: host Ray Romano. Suel is an NCAA coach.
- March 17, 2001: host Julia Stiles. Suel is a movie director.
The Roxbury Guys
The Roxbury Guys was a recurring sketch that debuted March 23, 1996. It followed the exploits of brothers Doug and Steve Butabi (portrayed by Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell respectively), habitual clubbers dressed in rayon suits, as they attempt to pick up women on their outings. Their trademark was bobbing their heads in unison to the song "What Is Love" by Haddaway, which always played throughout the duration of each sketch. The brothers were extremely unfortunate with the women at the clubs, often gyrating against them in an attempt to get them to dance, but always causing a negative reaction. They were frequently joined by a third person, often the host, who would dress and act in a similar fashion (notably Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, Sylvester Stallone, Martin Short, and Alec Baldwin); this character was usually credited as "Barhop". Skits starring Pamela Anderson and Cameron Diaz were also featured. The final run of the sketch during the September 26, 1998 episode featured another team of two club-hopping brothers: Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd, reprising their early-SNL roles as "Two Wild and Crazy Guys". The sketch spawned a film titled, A Night at the Roxbury.
Appearances
- March 23, 1996
- May 18, 1996: host Jim Carrey.
- September 28, 1996: host Tom Hanks.
- December 7, 1996: host Martin Short.
- February 22, 1997: host Alec Baldwin.
- April 19, 1997: host Pamela Anderson.
- September 27, 1997: host Sylvester Stallone.
- December 13, 1997: host Helen Hunt. Jack Nicholson makes an appearance as the therapist's boyfriend.
- September 26, 1998: host Cameron Diaz.
Bobby Coldsman
A Phil Hartman sketch about an overbearing, self-obsessed acting class teacher. Debuted March 23, 1996.
Goat Boy
Goat Boy was a half-human half-goat hybrid SNL character who hosted the fake MTV show, "Hey, Remember the 80s?" He was played by Jim Breuer. At the outset, Goat Boy was a typical veejay-talk show host who would introduce 80s video clips and guests from the era. During the sketches, he would start braying and kicking and would be subdued by scientists standing by with electric prods. Debuted May 11, 1996.
Rolf
A Colin Quinn sketch. Debuted May 11, 1996.