Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1995–96

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.

A Will Ferrell sketch. Ferrell is Frank Henderson, a dad who, although friendly most of the time, threatens his kids whenever they start climbing on his shed.^[1][2] In the first two appearances of the sketch, Frank is in his backyard making small talk with neighbors, John (David Koechner) and Susan Taylor (Nancy Walls). The conversation is punctuated by Frank's yells which become progressively heated.^[3] The second sketch is similar, but with host Christine Baranski playing Frank's wife who can yell equally loud. The third appearance was a variation on the idea, taking place at a Little League game where Frank and other parents are watching in the stands. Instead of yelling at his kid to get off the shed, Frank yells, "Get on the bag!"^[4] Debuted September 30, 1995.

Appearances

• Season 21, Episode 1 (September 30, 1995): with Mariel Hemingway as Shirley Henderson
• Season 21, Episode 19 (May 11, 1996): with Christine Baranski as Gail Henderson
• Season 24, Episode 19 (May 15, 1999): with Sarah Michelle Gellar as parent

Molly Shannon impersonates Ann Miller and Cheri Oteri impersonates Debbie Reynolds, hosting a faux show about dancers.^[5][6] Debuted September 30, 1995.

Appearances

• Season 21, Episode 1 (September 30, 1995): with Mariel Hemingway as Elizabeth Berkley
• Season 21, Episode 5 (November 11, 1995): with Quentin Tarantino^[7]
• Season 21, Episode 9 (December 16, 1995): with Madeline Kahn as Ludmilla Veshenkova
• Season 21, Episode 16 (March 23, 1996): with Phil Hartman as Frank Sinatra

A parody of the late-night news program Nightline, with Darrell Hammond impersonating its host Ted Koppel.^[1] Debuted September 30, 1995.

A David Spade segment where he gives his thoughts, guest interviews, and Hollywood Minute jokes.^[5][8] The segment aired only in season 21, which was Spade's last as a cast member. The segment makes up fifteen of Spade's nineteen sketch appearances in 1995–96. Debuted September 30, 1995.

Appearances

A Cheri Oteri sketch. Mickey is a stereotypical butch lesbian who, despite identifying as a "dyke", is afraid to officially come out.^[10][11] Debuted September 30, 1995.

Rita DelVecchio (Cheri Oteri) is a grouchy, sharp tongued, Italian-American, Brooklyn housewife.^[5] Rita hates it when the neighborhood kids' toys wind up landing in her front yard, so she claims the item for herself, saying, "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 who has the best decorated front lawn on Christmas, or who has the better car. Debuted October 21, 1995.

Appearances

Mary Katherine (Molly Shannon) is a sardonic caricature of an unpopular, teenage Catholic school girl. She is prone to comically severe mood swings, alternately hyperactive and ponderous.^[5] She suffered from stage fright, but was also hyper-competitive (she once engaged in a sing-off with Whitney Houston) and egomaniacal, believing she was a "superstar". The sketch spawned in the 1999 film Superstar. Debuted October 28, 1995.^[12]

Craig (Will Ferrell) and Arianna (Cheri Oteri) are overeager high school students who, despite not making the East Lake High School Spartan cheerleading squad, show up anyway at events where they are not wanted to cheer.^[5][13] The pair's routines consisted of elaborate choreography and chants.^[14] The Spartans became one of the more popular recurring sketches of SNL's late-90s period,^[15] and were featured on the December 1997 cover of Rolling Stone alongside Mary Katherine Gallagher and Doug Butabi of The Roxbury Guys.^[16] Oteri and Ferrell came up with the idea for the Spartan cheerleaders when they were new to SNL and playing around on an empty 8H stage.^[17] Of the sketch, Oteri said, "One thing I like about [Arianna and Craig] is, they're losers, but they don't know it. I would feel sorry for them if they knew they were outcasts. They have no clue, thank God."^[13] Debuted November 11, 1995.

Appearances

A Norm Macdonald character. In one sketch, Stan wakes up from a coma and is dismayed to learn that the two women who come to visit him—one beautiful and another frumpier—are respectively, his sister and wife.^[18] He tries to insist that the beautiful woman is his wife, despite protests from his actual wife. In another sketch, he is a sketch artist that draws composites of criminals that look nothing like the actual suspects. Debuted November 11, 1995.

The British Fops, Lucien Callow (Mark McKinney) and Fagan (David Koechner), appeared in late Restoration-period clothing, and used a silly take on the period's language, mannerisms, and culture.^[5][19] The characters first appeared on Weekend Update as the presidents of the Norm Macdonald Fan Club, but later appeared in several other sketches and hosts' monologues. Debuted November 11, 1995.

Appearances

A blue collar worker by trade, Joe Blow (Colin Quinn) 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) avoided by making up an excuse, or putting it off until a later date.^[20] Debuted November 18, 1995.

Gary Macdonald (David Koechner) was the fictitious younger brother of Weekend Update anchor Norm Macdonald.^[19] He was supposed to be the funnier of the two Macdonald brothers, but was overcome by fear and froze 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.

This sketch starred Jim Breuer as Pesci, the host of his own late-night talk show, where he speaks in his signature high-pitched voice and frequently references his films like Goodfellas and Raging Bull.^[5] The heard-but-not-seen announcer was meant to be Pesci's "brother". The sketch usually began with Italian accordion music and Breuer cheerfully saying, "I've got my mike here, I've got my chair here, I've got my desk here, I've got my gun here!"^[5] A frequent guest is Robert De Niro, who is played by the host or another cast member. When other guests make a casual comment that Joe perceives to be a personal slight, Joe becomes enraged and brings out a baseball bat, which he beats the guest with as De Niro joins in on the beatdown. In the 17th episode of season 22, Pesci and De Niro themselves make cameo appearances and take offense to Breuer and Colin Quinn's impersonations of them.^[21] The real Pesci gets a baseball bat of his own and beats Breuer and Quinn with it. Debuted December 2, 1995.^[22]

Appearances

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 Anthony Edwards.^[22] His other appearance was in a sitcom called "The Princess and the Homeboy" with Teri Hatcher. Debuted December 2, 1995.

Visiting from the Bronx Zoo, Lenny the Lion (Colin Quinn in a lion suit) came onto Weekend Update to talk about his life problems.^[23] 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 always ended his rant with the line "fur is murder". Debuted December 9, 1995.

A Will Ferrell, Tim Meadows, and David Alan Grier sketch. The Rocky Roads are a motivational troupe who perform for elementary school kids. They demonstrate moral lessons to kids through song and dance, often referencing candy.^[24] Their songs sometimes contain innuendo. The sketch appeared in both episodes hosted by Grier. Debuted December 9, 1995.

A David Koechner sketch.^[19] Debuted January 13, 1996.

A Will Ferrell, David Koechner, Mark McKinney, and Tim Meadows sketch. The format of the sketches resembles the improv game "Two Describe a Third."^[25] Three or four businessmen, known as the "Bill Brasky Buddies", are crowded into the bar during a business conference, drunk on Scotch. They smoke cigars and loudly reminisce about their mutual acquaintance Bill Brasky, known for mythical, superhuman feats.^[26] The Brasky Buddies all have red cheeks, red noses, and big white teeth. Debuted January 20, 1996.

Appearances

A Tim Meadows sketch. Kevin Franklin hosts his own talk show where he "discusses the issues people are talking about". In the February 10, 1996 episode where the sketch debuted, Franklin interviewed guest host Danny Aiello and musical guest Coolio. He accused Aiello of stealing a role from a black actor for his part in Do the Right Thing and claimed to Coolio that rap music is dead, having peaked a decade ago when "The Fat Boys were in their heyday".^[28]

A Chris Kattan sketch. 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.^[29] Debuted March 16, 1996.

Appearances

A satire of nightclubs and clubbing culture. 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.^[14] 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 dressed and acted 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 sketch spawned the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury.^[13] Debuted March 23, 1996.

The Roxbury Guys were created during Kattan and Ferrell's days as members of The Groundlings. Said Kattan, "Will and I were at this bar in Santa Monica, and there was a guy who was just kind of lightly bopping, but not to the degree we exaggerate it. He was definitely looking for somebody. It wasn't specific – kind of a desperate 'anybody.' Like, 'Please look at me, please dance with me.' But he wasn’t actually asking anyone to dance – it was more like, 'Would somebody notice me, please?'"^[13]

Appearances

A Phil Hartman sketch about an overbearing, self-obsessed acting class teacher.^[31] Debuted March 23, 1996.

Goat Boy (Jim Breuer) was a half-human half-goat hybrid who hosted the fake MTV show, "Hey, Remember the 80s?"^[32] At the outset, Goat Boy was a typical veejay-talk show host who introduced 80s video clips and guests from the era. During the sketches, he started braying and kicking and was subdued by scientists standing by with electric prods. Debuted May 11, 1996.

Appearances

A Colin Quinn character. Rolf is a criminal (in one sketch an inmate, another a German Nazi) who gossips about others. In the March 15, 1997 episode with Sting, Rolf is a KKK member who questions the Klan.^[33] Debuted May 11, 1996.

• Gross, Cristofer (June 1997). "Prime Time?". Orange Coast Magazine. pp. 51–57. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
• Tropiano, Stephen (2013). Saturday Night Live FAQ: Everything Left to Know About Television's Longest Running Comedy. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781480366862.