The great Jan Hooks was never better than in “Brenda the Waitress,” an SNL skit that is still my favorite movie. It’s better than whatever movie you like, and it is the source of the oldest and truest wisdom there is: Pie is never free.
“You ready to tell me what you want?”
“I made that decision when I was twelve.”
thank you.
Appetites like yours, they’re a dime a dozen.
This is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this sketch and I already know my life has been immeasurably changed for the better.
I’d never seen it, either, and I have to agree. So many good lines in this, holy crap.
Well, Hulu has decided I’m not in the US. I imagine the State Department would have some thoughts about that.
I’m pretty sure it’s available on the SNL youtube channel!
Jan Hooks is criminally underrated; she’s one of the best they’ve ever had on that show. And damn, I do love some Nora Dunn, too. I’m another who’d never seen this sketch, and it’s fantastic. Thank you.
(Was that a Baldwin?)
I spied a Baldwin in the flesh recently but couldn’t figure out which one. Boyfriend helped me determine it was Billy, upon which we cried, “THE WORST ONE!!”
That cast was, for my money, the best SNL cast, and yes, that includes the original one. (The original cast gets credit for inventing a lot of things, and especially after Chevy Chase left and Bill Murray joined, they came up with some flat-out brilliant stuff, but it’s not like they didn’t have their off weeks, especially after Murray, Belushi and Aykroyd started their movie careers in earnest.) The beginning of the end was probably Andrew Dice Clay hosting; I agree with Nora Dunn in the Salon article you link elsewhere in this thread–if you want to “comment on the phenomenon”, then do something else, don’t have him on the show. (Same for Donald Trump, really.)
“you are driving on BOG TIRES” – new favorite line to tell friends making wildly dangerous social decisions.
Good Lord, vintage Alec Baldwin though. *fans self with menu*
I think it’s actually ‘bald tires’, meaning that the treads have worn down.
….that makes much more sense. May retain earlier pronunciation to give air of impenetrable folk mystery.
The other waitress’s tabloid flicking (“Jim and Tammy TV Movie?”) made me happy.
That was Nora Dunn, who was pretty great herself. She was forced out after she refused to perform on a show with misogynist pig Andrew “Dice” Clay as the host.
Jesus in a whirlpool, that’s a sucky story.
Nora Dunn: hero.
She talks about it a little here:
http://uproxx.com/tv/nora-dunn-explains-why-she-r…
She’d been on the show for 5 years, she was brilliant, she took stand, and that was the end of her.
Also, from the Salon article that link excerpts:
“Which is why you and Sinead O’Connor boycotted the show he was hosting. Why did Jon Lovitz get so angry about it?
I will never know what his problem was. He actually did an impression of Andrew Dice Clay. He used to play that shit on a big boom box. Don’t tell me something isn’t garbage when it’s garbage, because I know what garbage is. Actually, I don’t know because Jon Lovitz had said something to me in front of k.d. lang, on the stage. I was talking to her. She was our host and Jon comes over and says, “Be careful, she’s a lesbian.” She was our musical guest. I was like, “What is that? Is that a joke?” I don’t think that they understood where I was coming from there—I’m not going to perform with [Clay]. It was offensive to me to read [in the press] that I didn’t like him because he was foul-mouthed. My friends know me. I’m from Chicago. I’m a Bears fan, I’m a Hawks fan for my whole life. My brothers played football, my grandfather and my oldest brother were football coaches, and believe me when I watch a game, the language I use is not for the Disney family hour. I don’t have a problem with swearing. I enjoy it.
It’s one of life’s great pleasures.
My objection to Andrew Dice Clay was that his character was only about one thing: abusing women and laughing about abusing women. There was nothing else behind it. There was nothing else about it except to make him look harmless.”
The full article is here: http://www.salon.com/2015/04/07/nora_dunn_snl_is_…
My mother always said that about giving away pie with breakfast. AND YET I PERSIST.
That was Nora Dunn, who was pretty great herself. She was forced out after she refused to perform on a show with misogynist pig Andrew "Dice" Clay as the host.
She talks about it a little here:
http://uproxx.com/tv/nora-dunn-explains-why-she-r…
She'd been on the show for 5 years, she was brilliant, she took stand, and that was the end of her.
Also, from the Salon article that link excerpts:
"Which is why you and Sinead O’Connor boycotted the show he was hosting. Why did Jon Lovitz get so angry about it?
I will never know what his problem was. He actually did an impression of Andrew Dice Clay. He used to play that shit on a big boom box. Don’t tell me something isn’t garbage when it’s garbage, because I know what garbage is. Actually, I don’t know because Jon Lovitz had said something to me in front of k.d. lang, on the stage. I was talking to her. She was our host and Jon comes over and says, “Be careful, she’s a lesbian.” She was our musical guest. I was like, “What is that? Is that a joke?” I don’t think that they understood where I was coming from there—I’m not going to perform with [Clay]. It was offensive to me to read [in the press] that I didn’t like him because he was foul-mouthed. My friends know me. I’m from Chicago. I’m a Bears fan, I’m a Hawks fan for my whole life. My brothers played football, my grandfather and my oldest brother were football coaches, and believe me when I watch a game, the language I use is not for the Disney family hour. I don’t have a problem with swearing. I enjoy it.
It’s one of life’s great pleasures.
My objection to Andrew Dice Clay was that his character was only about one thing: abusing women and laughing about abusing women. There was nothing else behind it. There was nothing else about it except to make him look harmless."
The full article is here: http://www.salon.com/2015/04/07/nora_dunn_snl_is_…
Yeah, I think that he's probably in the Five-Timers' Club (or whatever they call it), the people who have hosted SNL at least five times.
That cast was, for my money, the best SNL cast, and yes, that includes the original one. (The original cast gets credit for inventing a lot of things, and especially after Chevy Chase left and Bill Murray joined, they came up with some flat-out brilliant stuff, but it's not like they didn't have their off weeks, especially after Murray, Belushi and Aykroyd started their movie careers in earnest.) The beginning of the end was probably Andrew Dice Clay hosting; I agree with Nora Dunn in the Salon article you link elsewhere in this thread–if you want to "comment on the phenomenon", then do something else, don't have him on the show. (Same for Donald Trump, really.)
GREATEST SKETCH OF ALL TIME.
He's hosted sixteen times, more than anyone else.
The SNL Youtube channel is blocked in Canada. You people are still mad at us about burning down the White House, aren’t you?