Lost

Beautiful...absolutely beautiful. That has been my reaction after the finale of the final season of "Lost," arguably the greatest television drama in history. There has been a certain amount of audacity with "Lost" that cannot be found anywhere else on television.

And here is a list of my favorite moments:

WARNING: Nobody likes (or should like) spoilers. "Lost" is a show filled with an enormous amount of twists. If you have not seen "Lost," if you are not caught up on all the episodes, if you have never seen the show and actually don't expect ever to see the show (there's still a chance you will change your mind), please, I implore you, I beg you, please don't read this post.

25. Joe Purdy's "Wash Away" (season 1)
24. Desmond is on Oceanic 815 (season 6)
23. There is a light in the hatch (season 1)
22. "Who's the President of the United States?" (season 5)
21. The first DHARMA Initiative video (season 2)
20. "Ben Linus, European History" (season 6) (of course the show's main "bad guy" teaches European History)
19. Hurley writes "The Empire Strikes Back" (season 5)
18. The tables are turned and Sayid is tortured by DHARMA (season 5)
17. Ethan's name can't be found on the flight's list (season 1)
16. The black chick? Rose's husband is found (season 2)
15. Ben confronts Whidmore off the island (season 4)
14. The introduction of Jacob and the Man in Black (season 5)
13. Richard is reunited with his dead wife (season 6)
12. Boone visits Locke in a dream (season 3)
11. The death of Charlie (season 3)
10. Desmond finally contacts Penny (season 4)
9. Mikhail's "death" (season 3)
8. "I was wrong"--the destruction of the hatch (season 2)
7. In a cabin in a woods--the introduction of Jacob (season 3)
6. The hatch is more comfortable than one would think (season 2)
5. "You guys got any milk?" (season 2)
4. Oceanic 815 in retrospect (season 1)
3. The plane crash (season 1)
2. Jack's flashback isn't exactly a flashback (season 3)
1. Locke's walkabout, sort of (season 1)

Aside from season four, which was the only season that seemed to provoke more anger and frustration from me than happiness and satisfaction, all seasons were tremendous. If I were to list them in order of least greatest to greatest, it would be as follows: seasons 4, 5, 6, 2, 3, 1. Season one in particular was exceptional because of its ability to construct a more entertaining form of "Castaway" and do so by introducing its audience to such profound characters, which only grew as the seasons progressed. Season two had much of that same energy, and it introduced great characters like Ben Linus, Mr. Eko, and Desmond, but it seemed to digress as the characters were now washing their hair with shampoo and wielding guns against the Others. Season three seemed to return to that sense of energy and adventure of season one, and had such a brilliant finale. Season four, again, was frustrating, with new characters who were not quite as engaging, and season five's only flaw that I can remember was its time travel which became taxing. Season six, other than the mythology episode and some other minor annoyances, was stellar.

Take, for example, the opening of season six, which opened with the sky. Jack stared out the window of the plane, and it was as if nothing--no Smoke Monster, no Others, no Jacob--had happened. Some things, though, were quite peculiar. Astute observers would have noticed that unlike the actual opening on season one, Jack was now a bit alarmed by the plane, while Rose was the calm one. But things were really peculiar when Desmond, who certainly had nothing to do with the flight, happened to be on the plane. Why? Viewers would have to wait literally to the end to find out. But it was an immediate, succinct, and calm way to start the newest and final season with a bit of a twist.

There were some very humorous moments, as well, such as when Dr. Chang discovered that several new members of the DHARMA Initiative were actually from the future. Dr. Chang suddenly believed that Faraday was right--Faraday, Hurley, and Miles were from the future, and Miles was Chang's son. Could it really be? Miles, angry about his father and the lack of guidance he had from him in his life, denied the fantastical reality. Hurley also wanted to deny the allegations. "Dude, that's ridiculous," he assured Chang. But Chang knew he was dealing with an idiot. "What year were you born?" he immediately asked. They were in the year 1977, and Hurley was not capable of doing such quick math. "Ah...19...31," was his answer. That would make him forty-six years old, Chang wondered out loud. That's correct, Hurley replied. "So you fought in the Korean War?" he is asked. "There's no such thing." (Perhaps Hurley shouldn't be blamed, for the Korean War is practically skipped in U.S. History classes.) A final question: "Who's the President of the United States?" Unable to understand that it was Jimmy Carter, he surrendered: "Alright, dude, we're from the future." Not groundbreaking or surprising, but nonetheless it was quite funny. (On a side note: I suppose I was a bit disappointed that in season six, it was never explained what happened to Chang in the real timeline, and since Miles left the island, it could be assumed that Chang was left behind.)


There were some inevitable angry moments. Admittedly, it took me a bit to be at peace with the decision to kill off Locke and have his persona sort of reincarnated through "the Man in Black," or Jacob's nemesis. I was eventually able to appreciate that Terry O' Quinn was provided another vehicle to demonstrate his range by being a full-flown villain (and, after all, we saw John Locke often in the flash sideways story line). One thing that could not be initially reconciled, however (until the writers fixed it), was the revelation early in season six in which the Smoke Monster returned. After killing several adversaries, Locke/Man in Black reemerged and apologized to Ben. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." The Smoke Monster was Jacob's enemy? But eventually it seemed that the creators fixed their mistake, for it was revealed (though not explicitly explained) that the Smoke Monster had emerged from the magic light, killed Jacob's brother (which turned out to be "Adam") and thus only occupied his body, just as it had later done so with John Locke's body. At least my conclusion has been that, alas, the Smoke Monster is a genuine monster, not simply an arbitrary tyrannosaurus periodically showing up, or Jacob's brother, but some sort of genuinely evil entity, a demon per se. Either the writers had planned this all along, or they heeded the viewers' complaints.

There were other minor annoyances. I did not like how Mikhail was "killed"--and by killed, I mean blood squirting from his head--but then randomly showed up again, only to die a second time (and sort of, at least, a third time). If the justification was that his character was good enough to arbitrarily return, I suppose I could be satisfied with that. There was also the weird thing about the "darkness" inside "crazy Claire," which was just ignored for the remainder of the show. And many reviewers were so impressed with Evangeline Lilly's performance (she has always been one of "Lost's" best performers), but I could not help but find it silly that she "remembered" her time on the island after viewing Claire's you-know-what during the childbirth scene, with that vaudeville crossed-eye look of hers.

One thing that I was satisfied with was the writers' refusal to answer every question. With season six, there was a growing chorus arguing that virtually every mystery must be answered. The writers had mixed results with this. There was Hurley literally saying, "So...that's what the whispers are?" when that pointless revelation was issued, but there was also the right path chosen: not every mystery needed to be solved. I was reminded of "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," one of the better "Star Trek" films. The film begins with a group of aliens who return to Earth, and it seems that these aliens are angry without explanation, for they start to destroy the planet. Spock and others conclude that the aliens have been trying to communicate with whales, which in this hypothetical future, the whales are extinct. Thus, the crew must journey home to 1986 to bring back a whale to the future and calm the aliens down. But the studio was not happy with the opening, and insisted that subtitles be issued to assure that the audience would understand what was going on. But director Leonard Nimoy and others stood their ground--ambiguity is sometimes necessary. As was the case with many of "Lost's" mysteries.


At first I wanted to concentrate on my anger about the lackadaisical manner of killing off some of the characters, or the ill-timed mythology episode featuring Allison Jenning. But why focus so much energy on forgettable things? Will I really remember such anger? Or will I remember the brilliance of such a show, and the fantastic moments I have had watching it? How can I possibly offer sincere criticism of the writers simply because I slightly disagree with some of their actions? If I were on their level of brilliant writing and creativity, then perhaps such criticism would be acceptable, but as of now, it is not.

One side note that has almost nothing to do with the aforementioned observations: Did you ever notice that Fisher Stevens, the man who plays the ill-fated crew member of the freighter and who later appeared in season six as flash-sideways Desmond's driver, is the Oscar-winning producer of "The Cove?"

And oh, how much I have left out. I did not write about my favorite characters--the complexities of Ben Linus, the flaws of John Locke, the struggles of Jack Shepherd, Michael Giacchino's excellent musical score, the Biblical symbolism of Jacob (notice that Benjamin is the son of Jacob in the Bible), or even some of the Korean moments. I did not write about the feud between Ben and Charles Whidmore, or the beautiful moment of Penny and Desmond being reunited, or the satisfactory way in which the secret of Richard Alpus's everlasting youth had been revealed. There was philosophy ("man is the author of his own soul" as John Locke the actual philosopher said), religion (not really faith versus science so much as order versus nothingness, according to the writers). There was science fiction (time travel and parallel universes), mythology (Jacob and his brother, plus a considerable amount of mythological archetypes), mystery (everything) and pop culture references (mostly to "Star Trek" and "Star Wars").

I do not profess to be a deep thinker of these things. Indeed, I did not foresee that Dr. Chang would be Miles' father or that Juliet would be Jack's ex-wife in the sideways story line. But that further justifies my main thesis of "Lost": while adding additional layers of "thinking persons'" material, it has always been essentially a show to entertain. One could totally ignore all the symbolism of the show and still be truly entertained by it. It was, at its essence, a show about characters lost on an island. And it was absolutely brilliant. And it will absolutely be missed. There will never be another show like "Lost."

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The Best of SNL--Part 2

The final part: the Best of SNL--Part 2...

14. Canteen Boy (1994)

Criticized for being too raunchy and controversial for suggesting pedophilia, Alec Baldwin's role was as a creepy Boy Scout Scoutmaster attempting to seduce his young Scout, Canteen Boy, played by Adam Sandler. After being teased by the fellow Scouts, the Scoutmaster, played by Baldwin, insisted that the boys leave Canteen Boy alone and that they return to their tents to sleep. After Canteen Boy insisted that their taunts were simply "sticks and stones," the Scoutmaster's arm was thrust around Canteen Boy's shoulder, and there was an immediate recognition of the situation. Ripping off his shirt, the Scoutmaster claimed--"Whoops, my shirt fell off." Wine spilled on Canteen Boy's sleeping bag, so it was insisted that Canteen Boy share the sleeping bag of the Scout Master, then to rub bug repellent on his chest (though Canteen Boy points out that it is February and the bugs must have hibernated). The skit was controversial enough to persuade SNL to clearly state the next time that Canteen Boy was in fact a twenty-seven-year-old man.

13. Coffee Talk (1992)


Though heavy on the Jewish stereotypes, "Coffee Talk with Paul Baldwin" and later "Coffee Talk with Linda Richman" (both starring Mike Myers in the title role), featured a number of traits, such as a passion for Barbara Streisand and historical topics, like "The New Deal was neither new nor a deal--discuss" and "the Progressive Era was neither progressive nor an era--discuss." The most memorable moment was when Streisand herself made an unexpected appearance. Myers was joined by guests Roseanne Barr and Madonna (both also as stereotypical Jewish women--large, hard hair and periodically licking the teeth). The three of them (two actually, for Roseanne's character was a bit distracted and "gassy") were disappointed to the point of crying in lieu of the multiple nomination's Streisand's film "The Prince of Tides" received--the disappointment came in the omission of a Best Director nomination for Streisand. They became chocked up--or feklempt--but were disrupted by Roseanne's story of a man whose gallbladder exploded. The skit continued. A caller mentioned it would be a good idea for Barbara to do a duet with Madonna, to which Madonna's character, though expectedly, dismissed it as a bad idea. "She's a tramp--every day with a different boyfriend." Myer's Linda though mentioned that her legs were like "buttah." Finally, they repeated: Barbara's movie was "like buttah" (Madonna), "like buttah" (Myers), "like a big stick-ah buttah" (Barr). Then, unexpectedly, approached Barbara, who mentioned that with all the talk of food, she was getting hungry. The three of them--and the audience--burst into applause. Apparently, only Myers knew of her appearance ahead of time.

12. The Ambiguously Gay Duo (1996)


Always bound to inspire laughter, Robert Smigel's "TV Funhouse" cartoons featured the hysterical "Real Audio," in which dialogue from celebrities (usually politicians) would be animated to create bizarre situations. The real gem from Smigel was his "Ambiguously Gay Duo" of Ace and Gary, a take on the Batman and Robin archetypes. Smigel capitalized on the ambiguous nature that was clearly evident in superhero comics (particularly Batman--keep in mind this was not the seriousness of the 1940s period but instead the "nah-nah-nah-nah-nah Batman! and before the Frank Miller/Tim Burton/Christopher Nolan period), Ace and Gary were two crime-fighting and highly-friendly heroes, animated in the style of cartoons from decades ago. Voiced by Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell (neither were SNL members, but they were members of Second City, "The Dana Carvey Show" and "The Daily Show" together), the two characters happily saved the city from the villainous villains, only to have friend and foe unlike be perplexed by the, well, ambiguity of their actions: patting each other, climbin on each other, and driving a peculiar car. It didn't help the two that their episode titles were also ambiguous, like the one titled "A Hard One to Swallow."

11. Clinton-Bush-Perot Debate of 1992 (1992)


While interesting enough of an actual debate to watch, 1992 featured not only the first televised debate featuring three candidates, but also a hilarious spoof on SNL. While Phil Hartman was Bill Clinton, Dana Carvey played both Perot and Bush, which allowed the audience to see the contrast in his calm, wimpier-John-Wayne voice of Bush with the hyperbolic and staccato annunciation of Perot. The funniest moment was when each was allowed a final response. The camera would zoom in on an opponent, and the audience would see what that candidate was thinking. So when Clinton gave his final thoughts, Bush envisioned the Arkansas governor as a 1960s radical, pot-smoking hippy; when Clinton focused on Bush, he saw an old lady from the World War II-period. Finally, for Perot, both Clinton and Bush saw the Mayor of the Munchkin City.

10. The Ford/Carter Debate of 1976 (1976)


By the time this faux-debate came about in 1976, Chevy Chase had already established Gerald Ford as a bit of a goof, falling down frequently. As it has been stated often, even on the show, Chase looked and talked nothing like Ford, but he capitalized on the fact that Ford had a tendency to fall down and trip. The highlight of this skit was when the moderator, Jane Curtain, began a rather long question for the president. "Mr. President, you said that the Humphrey-Hawkins bill will cost a possible six billion dollars. But isn't it true that the jobs provided by the bill will create up to a hundred and fifty billion dollars in increased production--using Walter Heller's figure that for every one percent unemployed, there is a resulting thirty-nine percent billion dollar loss in GNP. Now, at the present rate of taxation of GNP of thirty-nine percent, doesn't this come to about the same sixty billion dollars in increased revenue?" The whole time Curtain had delivered the question, the camera slowly zoomed in on Chase's face, as the sweat on his forehead became more and more obvious. Finally, he said, "It was my understanding that there would be no math during the debates."

9. Land Shark (1976)

A spoof of "Jaws," with John Williams' score and everything, Land Shark detailed a conning shark (even claiming to be a dolphin) who eventually tricked his victims into opening the door for him (voiced by Chevy Chase) to devour. There is hardly anything to write, but perhaps no skit sums up the absurdity of SNL's humor better than the Land Shark.

8. Julia Childs Cuts Herself (1978)

Fans of the recent Meryl Streep film "Julie & Julia" would have noticed a scene where Amy Adams' character and her boyfriend watch a scene from "Saturday Night Live" with Dan Aykroyd as Julia Childs. The sketch would have sufficed had Aykroyd simply been in drag and a high-pitch Childs-esque voice and manner, but the stakes were raised when the character cut herself while cutting chicken. Aykroyd hardly looked or sounded like Childs (see above regarding Chevy Chase and Gerald Ford), but it was the gratuitous amount of fake blood that sprayed about the set that elevated his performance. The advice to "first, stop the bleeding" was good enough only to spare perhaps a drop of blood. Eric Idle, who hosted the show in the 1970s, said that Aykroyd, for his ability to write and act in these skits, made him the only SNL cast member worthy of being a member of Monty Python.

7. Schweddy Balls (1998)


The skit already started as pure gold--Anna Gasteyer, Moll Shannon and a guest (usually Alec Baldwin) somehow kept a straight face as they lampooned the incredible monotony of the radio voices of NPR. Shannon's character mentioned that she would be asking Santa for some rat traps to help her with the "excessive" rat problem she was having, while Gasteyer's character mentioned that she always leaves out tap water and rice for Kris Kringle (Shannon's could not leave out food due to the excessive rat problem). It only became better when host Alec Baldwin as Pete Schweddy brought out his special food--in the case of the first time, it was his Schweaty Balls. "Tell us about your balls, Pete." With the amount of laughter from the audience, especially the double entente after double entente, it was truly testimony to the ability of these three actors to keep a straight face. "No one can resist my Schweddy Balls."

6. Celebrity Jeopardy (1996-2002)

The absurdity was simple: celebrities playing Jeopardy. The categories were also simple, a bit too simple: months that end in "tober," presidents who are on the one dollar bill, countries between Canada and Mexico, and members of Simon and Garfunkel. Jimmy Fallon usually had great impersonations, as did Norm McDonald as Burt Reynolds, but while Darrell Hammond would usually play different celebrities--from Michael Donohue to John Travolta---once he settled comfortably into an impersonation of an unlikely player named Sean Connery, a Sean Connery who constantly annoyed the host Alex Trebek (Will Ferrell), did the skit really take off. Connery usually would challenge Trebek's authority, and Trebek desperately tried to keep his composure as he was dealing with idiots. What seemed to annoy Trebek the most (in addition to the Bond-like quips Connery threw at them) was his sophomoric, probably-intentional ability to incorrectly pronounce the categories (like "anal bum cover" instead of "album cover"). There were also accusations that he slept with Trebek's mother. Another thing that seemed to make this skit work was the existence of videos on the internet of the actual Trebek being rather annoyed (Trebek himself made a cameo during one of these sketches). Supposedly, according to Macdonald, the skit was created only for him to do his Burt Reynolds impersonation, and Reynolds actually enjoyed the skit, so much that the show planned for Reynolds to crash the set, punch Macdonald, and finish playing the game with answers even dumber than before (with Macdonald being fired from the show, that never came to be).

5. The Joe Pesci Show (1996)

So many things were magical about "The Joe Pesci Show," chief among them the bizarre idea of Joe Pesci, the actor who portrayed such violent characters in "Goodfellas," "Casino," and "Home Alone" having a talk show. The sketch usually featured the host, Pesci, with a spot-on impersonation from Jim Brewer, and an SNL host (frequent hosts Alec Baldwin or John Goodman, for example) as guest Robert De Niro, and usually climaxed into an angry assault by Pesci and/or De Niro on the guest(s). One highlight was when the actual Pesci and De Niro showed up, in perfect deadpan, and turned the tables. But the greatest moment was when host Jim Carrey (a natural from his days on "In Living Color") appeared as Jimmy Stewart. Hunched over and frequently shifting his jaw in Stewart fashion, barely finishing his poem about a fish he caught but released due to sympathy (a spoof of Stewart's poem to his late-dog on "The Tonight Show"), Carrey was perfect. The skit got better as Pesci's second guest was none other than Jim Carrey (Mark McKinney). McKinney's impersonation was good, but the pricelessness of the situation was the angry look on Carrey/Stewart's face. "Smoke a lot of dope, do ya?" an annoyed Stewart asked. McKinney/Carrey then did an impersonation of Stewart, but was one-upped as Carrey/Stewart slowly rose to his feet to return the impersonation: "I'm Jim Carrey! I'll do anything for a laugh. I need attention twenty four hours a day. Look at me! Look at me!" He then proceeded to imitate a donkey. As expected, Pesci assaulted McKinney/Carrey with a baseball bat, and Carrey/Stewart protested that he did not agree with "gratuitous violence," which provoked Pesci to whack him in the head. But James Stewart, a veteran of World War II, did not go quietly, as he nabbed the bat from Pesci and wreaked havoc on the set.

4. The Katie Couric and Sarah Palin Interview (2008)


Sarah Palin was a good enough joke before SNL took advantage of the situation. Recall that when John McCain picked her as his running mate in August of 2008, SNL had not yet returned for a new season. But everyone noticed Palin as looking remarkably similar to Tina Fey, a former cast member and writer for the show. Not letting a perfect opportunity go to waste, Fey returned to open the next season as Sarah Palin, noting that she could "see Alaska for my house" (which helped define the narrative of Palin). But that skit featured Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton, and while Poehler's impersonation of Clinton was never really good, it also seemed to distract the skit for the sake of being fair. The next time, however, SNL could not resist but to decimate Palin. The disastrous interviews Palin did with CBS's Katie Couric, in which Palin could not cite a moment of McCain supporting financial regulation while he was a senator (though moments early she said he had a record of it) and where she could not recall which newspapers she read, provided such an opportunity. The perfect moment was Fey/Palin's explanation of the "ill" bailout, using big words like "ultimately" and "deficit" while juxtaposing it somehow with health care reform and "shoring up" the economy and small business and "reining in spending" with a heavy emphasis on "reining." The real painful reality, though, was that, as numerous videos on the internet have demonstrated, Fey's impersonation of Palin seemed to be a word-for-word mimic of what the latter had actually said, confusion and all.

3. Gerald Ford Dead Today (1996)

The idea was perfect: Tom Brokaw (Dana Carvey) of NBC was ready to go on vacation. As a precaution, NBC ordered Brokaw to film any potential stories that might occur while he was away. The hypothetical was tragic--Gerald Ford dead. "Gerald Ford, well he's in good shape." But they wanted to just make sure. Then the other, less-likely hypothetical situations came: being shot (Ford was actually shot at twice in one week), suicide, drug overdose, and my two favorites--eaten by wolves and strangled to death by the corpse of Richard Nixon. Brokaw became angrily skeptical, but was reassured when it was explained that "it happened to Taft."

2. King Tut (1978)


The king of SNL's sophomoric nature was Steve Martin's rendition of a musical homage to Tutankhamen. While starting as what seemed to be a sincere tribute to the late king evolved immediately into a bizarre dance that was perfected by the absurdist behavior that has defined Martin's sense of comedy over the decades. Wildly shaking his arms and bizarrely singing about Tut's consumption of a crocodile and the fact that "he gave his life for tourism," "King Tut" has been a defining moment for "Saturday Night Live."

1. More Cowbell (2000)


I will concede that my number one and number two choices are essentially a tie as I believe that both do the best job at visualizing what "Saturday Night Live" has been these past thirty-five years. In this skit, starring one of SNL's greatest hosts, Christopher Walken, the audience was explained the behind-the-scenes story of the Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." What probably was conceived as SNL's explanation for the odd-sounding cowbell in the song, Will Ferell played a long and overbearing (and offended) cowbell player who conflicts with the direction of the cowbell's sound with other band members. It was Walken, as Bruce Dickenson ("yes, the Bruce Dickenson") who insisted that there must be more cowbell. The confrontations increased, but Dickenson demanded more--"I gotta have more cowbell, babe!" Walken has been one of Hollywood and the theatre's best actors for the past thirty years, but it was SNL (and Quentin Tarantino's casting of him in "Pulp Fiction") that introduced the world to a more humorous Walken. He utilized every aspect of that persona in those sketches. Walken has mentioned in interviews that people will randomly approach him and request a bit more cowbell. "Guess what? I got a fever. And the only prescription is more cowbell!" And thus was spoken SNL's immortal line (that, and "live for New York, it's Saturday Night!").



There were of course some that did not make the list but of course deserve recognition. In 1982, Frank Piscopo and Eddie Murphy gave a perfect duet as Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder respectively (was that word really needed?). Martin Short and Billy Crystal's characters and sketches were both left out, but both delivered quality performances. A favorite actor of mine, Tim Curry, hosted the show in the early 1980s and performed "the Zucchini song" with suggestive lyrics. Current senator from Minnesota Al Franken had great moments not only as a writer but also as his Stewart Smalley character (Franken's enemies of the right still refer to him as Senator Stewart Smalley). Did you know that Robert Downey, Jr., Anthony Michael Hall, and Ben Stiller were at one point cast members? Or that Sarah Silverman and Conan O'Brien were once writers on the show (the latter was the one who wrote the infamous "penis sketch")? Perhaps it was the biggest crime on my part to have not seriously discussed Gilda Radner's role in the show.

"Saturday Night Live" is, simply put, a remarkably important part of American pop culture and even history. If nothing else, it is the funniest show on television, certainly with regards to longevity and consistency. There were the periods of doubt (notice that not much of the early 1980s is represented? This was the period when producer Lorne Michaels had left the show), but for the past thirty-five years, hearing that "live from New York, it's Saturday night," has been an essential.

SNL, Alec Baldwin, Canteen Boy, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Saturday Night Live, Clinton, Bush, Daily Show, Jaws, Jeopardy, Sarah Palin, Joe Pesci, Tina Fey, Steve Martin, Christopher Walken, Tim Curry

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The Best of SNL--Part 1

In honor of the 35th anniversary of "Saturday Night Live," one of the two greatest television shows in history, here is a comprehensive list of the greatest moments in SNL history.

25. Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood (1982)

Credited with making SNL popular again in the early 1980s and for a time carrying the show on his back, Eddie Murphy provided some of the show's best characters--Gumby, Buckwheat and his singalongs, and a black man attempting to expose racism in the workplace by disguising himself as a white man. Some of his best moments involved his turn as a "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" spoof. Instead of a peaceful, WASPy suburban house, Mr. Robinson appears to be in the projects. The jolly, serene and inviting presence of Mr. Robinson succumbs to a loud, angry, and a bit stereotypical anger as he is disrupted. "Who is it?" he shouts. Mr. T once appeared as his neighbor, and Mr. Robinson was not able to put up as forceful a resistance.

24. Betty White--"Thank you for being a friend" (2010)

With all due respect to the other famous SNL Digital Shorts--"Dick in a Box, "Jizz in My Pants," "Natalie Portman Rap," etc. it was the quasi-tribute to Betty White with her iconic "Thank you for being a friend" song from "Golden Girls" that made me laugh the hardest. Starting very conventionally and cheerfully, host Betty White (who was brought to the show to satisfy the request of a large Facebook fan club) was guided to a chair by Adam Samberg, the creator of the digital shorts. Wishing to express their thanks to her for all she's given, the cast sang "Thank You for Being a Friend," and White chuckled wholeheartedly...until she insisted that she preferred her version better. Pulling a ski mask over her face, she began a rather harsh heavy medal version of the song, with serious hints at BDSM and blood everywhere. "Happy Mother's Day," she said, "mother fuckers."

23. Lord and Lady Douchebag (1979)

Set in the Salisbury Manor in 1730, Lord Salisbury (played by Harry Shearer, a writer for the show who later became a contributor to Christopher Guest's comedic films as well as providing multiple voice characters for "The Simpsons") was hosting a dinner party, with guests including Lord Worcestershire (Jim Downey) and Earl of Sandwich (Bill Murray). The butler (Garrett Morris) announced the newest guests--"Lord and Lady Douchebag!" with host Buck Henry and Gilda Radner as the the lord and lady respectively. Shearer went to great them. "Well, well, well," he says. "I was just asking Sandwich, where the devil are those Douchebags?" Lord Douchebag would be happy to explain what kind of a project he had been working on, but perhaps after his host had finished eating. Murray's character Sandwich was happy to see the couple as well, as he greated him in a buddy fashion of "Douchebagggg!"

"Don't tell me for the first time in memory we're going to have a House of Parliament for the first time without a Douchebag," he says. The puns just kept continuing. This was the last skit of the last episode of the last season featuring members of the original cast.

22. "Star Wars" auditions (1997)

With impersonations of Barbara Streisand from Anna Gasteyer and Richard Dreyfuss from Darrell Hammond, it was really host Kevin Spacey carrying the skit on his back, with hysterical impersonations of Christopher Walken auditioning for Han Solo, Walter Matthau for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and an irritated Jack Lemmon for Chewbacca. Spacey has a talent for a rare amount of impersonations, as evidenced by his interview on "Inside the Actor's Studio" and this terrific skit.

21. Oops! I Crapped My Pants (1998)

The fake commercials have long-been a staple sketch for SNL, among the best being the hyperbolic cereal commercial featuring Phil Hartman and the calm but ridiculous fashion in which a bank promises to provide whatever change amount a customer wishes. One of the best is "Oops! I Crapped My Pants." Starting as expected with happy characters in normal yet complicated everyday situations, a grandmother decided her bowel movements had prohibited her from playing tennis with her family. An older man, presumably the grandfather, insisted that the younger ones go and play while he talks with the grandma. "You're still having control problems, aren't ya?" he asked. He introduced her to a little secret--Opps! I Crapped My Pants: diapers for older adults. "Oops! I Crapped My Pants,"

"I've heard of those," she says. "Do they really work?" Of course they do, and to prove it, the older gentleman demonstrated by pouring a pitcher of ice tea, representing a gallon of feces, into the diapers. It concluded with a thankful Grandma saying, "Thanks, Oops! I Crapped My Pants!"

20. Stay the Course--the Great Debate of 88 (1988)

Perhaps SNL's best employments of humor has been through its political satire, cementing in American pop-culture the public's perception of Gerald Ford (Chevy Chase) as a clumsy fool; Ronald Reagan (Phil Hartman) as a kind, sweet, harmless old man in public and yet a fierce hawk in private meetings; Bill Clinton (Darrell Hammond) as a horndog; and George W. Bush (Will Farell) as America's number one idiot (until Sarah Palin via Tina Fey came along). In 1988, an election year that moments like the Pledge of Allegiance debate and Michael Dukakis's ridiculous ride in a tank. SNL nonetheless had fun. Dana Carvey, in one of his thousands of impersonations, was George Bush, running for election after two terms of Reagan, and Jon Lovitz as Dukakis, the "inspiring" candidate from Massachusetss. Carvey portrayed Bush as seriously lacking the Hollywood acting of his boss, and desperate in his Peggy Noonan lines of "staying the course" and a "thousand lights." The length of time it took to utter these lines did not completely fill the amount of time the moderators had given him, so he repeated them, further stressing each word, further motioning his hands, as if he really, really wanted a thousand points of life. Finally satisfied, the moderators turned to his opponent. "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy," was Dukakis's response.

19. The Chris Farley Show (1993)

I hate to cheat and clump skits together, but I will with this one. "The Chris Farley Show" featured Chris Farley as the antithesis of himself, in this case a shy, speechless young interviewer terribly nervous in the presence of his interviewees, such as Jeff Daniels, Martin Scorsese, and Paul McCartney. After listing his guest's accomplishments, he would stumble, ask them if they recalled certain moments (like when McCartney was in the Beatles), or other stupid questions (like if the scene in "The Last Temptation of Christ" where Jesus gets angry at the money collectors in the synagogue was Scorsese's idea). He further digressed, and then stuttered that whatever moment, relevant or not, "was awesome."

18. Bass O-Matic (1976)

Dan Aykroyd was the salesman, in rapid, lightening-speed, of the Super Bass O-Matic 76. Finally, through this salesman, we were offered a means of consuming the whole fish, from head to tail and with all the bones still intact. Laraine Newman took a sip (of hopefully something besides liquid bass) and exclaims, "Wow! That's terrific bass!"

17. Happy Fun Ball (1990)

The king, in my opinion, of SNL's fake commercials, Happy Fun Ball was the most fun little ball sweeping the nation, and with a price of only $14.95! But what appeared to be only a harmless little ball was also described by narrator Phil Hartman as containing a number of warnings--that pregnant women, the elderly, and children should avoid exposure to the Happy Fun Ball, that it contains a dangerous liquid that should not be looked at, the toy should not be bounced on concrete, and a whole host of others. Incidentally, it is also "being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq." Finally, do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

16. The Blues Brothers "Soul Man" (1978)


Admittedly not a funny moment, it was still priceless. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi were the Blues Brothers, not only one of the best musical guests but also spawning the only exceptional SNL movie two years later. This film's only competition, however, from SNL material has been movies such as "It's Pat," "Coneheads," and "Night at the Roxbury."

15. "Jane, you ignorant slut!" (1978)

Many will probably place Chevy Chase, with his sardonic tone and iconic "I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not" line, or Norm Macdonald (who Chase said was the only one who replicated the humor of the original) at the top of the list for the "Weekend Update" sketches. My favorite moment, though, was when Chase had left the show, he was replaced by two co-anchors, Jane Curtain and Dan Aykroyd. The sketch would usually end or climax with a heated, but not over the top, debate between the two regarding a variety of current issues. Curtain usually provided a rational opinion and argument, though she at least once described her opponent as a disgusting pig. Aykroyd, in turn, in a line that has come to be a legendary one, harshly replied, "Jane, you ignorant slut!"


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