Tuesday, March 14, 2017

SNL, Celebrity Jeopardy and Norm Macdonald

Norm Macdonald's final episode as a castmember of SNL aired on this date in 1998.  Aside from imitating Bob Dole and Larry King, he hosted "Weekend Update" and kicked off the show's seeming obsession with "Celebrity Jeopardy," which well outlasted Norm's run on the show.  Here's a Splitsider article explaining the sketch's genesis.  Norm says it was an homage to SCTV's "Hi-Q," which I wrote about here.  (I also wrote about Norm's "WU" here).  Below is a guide to all of SNL's "Jeopardy" parodies, with links to the videos... even the ones that weren't the "Celebrity" type.  Note that Sean Connery is always played by Darrell Hammond, and Burt Reynolds is always played by Norm Macdonald.

Martin Short/No Doubt: December 7, 1996
Jerry Lewis (Short), Sean Connery (Darrell Hammond), Burt Reynolds (Norm Macdonald). Connery is not Trebek-hating and sex-crazed as he would be in all subsequent appearances.

John Goodman/Jewel: May 10, 1997
Phil Donahue (Darrell Hammond), Burt Reynolds, Marlon Brando (John Goodman).

Matthew Perry/Oasis: October 4, 1997
This installment is the only one not online, but a transcript is here. It features Burt Reynolds, Darrell Hammond as John Travolta and Perry as Michael Keaton.

David Duchovny/Puff Daddy: May 9, 1998
Jeff Goldblum (Duchovny), Minnie Driver (Molly Shannon), Sean Connery. This is the first edition after Norm Macdonald's departure (his last show was March 14).

Ben Stiller/Alanis Morissette: October 24, 1998
Sean Connery, Adam Sandler (Jimmy Fallon), Tom Cruise (Stiller).

Drew Barrymore/Garbage: March 20, 1999
Calista Flockhart (Barrymore), Nicolas Cage (Jimmy Fallon) and Sean Connery. Contains the category "The Pen Is Mightier."

Norm Macdonald/Dr. Dre: October 23, 1999
French Stewart (Jimmy Fallon), Sean Connery, Burt Reynolds. I've always wondered if the ending was ad-libbed or not?

Tobey Maguire/Sisqo: April 15, 2000
Hillary Swank (Jimmy Fallon), Keanu Reeves (Maguire) and Sean Connery. This is mis-labeled as being from 1996 (season 22) on nbc.com.

Lucy Liu/Jay-Z: December 16, 2000
Robin Williams (Jimmy Fallon), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Liu), Sean Connery.

Reese Witherspoon/Alicia Keys: September 29, 2001
Chris Tucker (Dean Edwards), Anne Heche (Witherspoon) and Sean Connery. First episode after 9/11.

Winona Ryder/Moby: May 18, 2002
Sean Connery, Bjork (Ryder) and Dave Matthews (Jimmy Fallon). This installment is slightly different since it's billed as a "Rock and Roll Edition" (which aired on VH-1 around this time, with host Jeff Probst). Connery explains that he's included because he cut an album of dirty limericks just to be eligible.  This was Will Ferrell's final show as a castmember, and includes a surprise cameo at the end.

Will Ferrell/Queens of the Stone Age: May 14, 2005
Bill Cosby (Kenan Thompson), Sharon Osbourne (Amy Poehler) and Sean Connery.

Will Ferrell/Green Day: May 16, 2009
Kathie Lee Gifford (Kristen Wiig), Tom Hanks, Sean Connery, Burt Reynolds. Includes the category "Catch These Men."

SNL40: February 15, 2015
Sean Connery, Justin Bieber (Kate McKinnon), Tony Bennett (Alec Baldwin), Burt Reynolds (Norm Macdonald), Matthew McConaughey (Jim Carrey), Chrisoph Waltz (Taran Killam). A behind-the-scenes look at how this was acommplished is here.

Along with Celebrity Jeopardy above, SNL has used the format several times over the years...
Steve Martin/Kinky Friedman: October 23, 1976
This episode features "Jeopardy 1999," which contains no celebrities but does include a dig at Chevy Chase. It's online here, and a transcript (in case that link is subscriber-only) is here.

Nicole Kidman/Stone Temple Pilots: November 20, 1993
This episode features the long-running sketch, "Sprockets," which includes a German-themed "Das Ist Jeopardy."

In recent years, there have also been installments of "Black Jeopardy"...
Louis C.K./Sam Smith: March 29, 2014
Elizabeth Banks/Disclosure: November 14, 2015
Drake: May 14, 2016
Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga: October 22, 2016

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