Live from New York...

For a quarter century now, America has heard these words on Saturday night. For some of those twenty-five years, it has meant getting ready to laugh until your sides hurt. For other years, it meant saying, "Honey, what else is on?" According to this poll, most everyone misses the old days.

The top three finishers in the poll all came from the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players". I was too young to see these shows or this cast live but I have seen most of them on either "Best of" shows or on some type of tribute. The only Samurai skit I ever saw was with Buck Henry when Belushi was the Samurai in the deli. Pretty funny, but not THAT funny. Maybe I just didn't see the others and they would have changed my opinion. Same goes for Wild and Crazy Guys. I think that one was more time-intensive. By that I mean it was necessary to have lived and partied in the disco era in order to truly appreciate it.

Weekend Update has been a staple of SNL since the early days. Mr. Obscure Reference, Dennis Miller, seems to be the clear choice for favorite anchor. I agree with that. My two favorite all time Dennis Miller jokes were both on one of those Comic Relief specials. The hot topics that night had been the Menendez brothers, Lorena Bobbitt and the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding debacle. Everyone had been running those themes into the ground all night and out comes Miller. The first words out of his mouth are: "Last night my brother and I snuck into our Hispanic record executive father's bedroom and cut off his dick with an ice skate. Just wanted to cover all the bases there." That is all he said about it and it was perfect. Then he goes into a routine where he says: "I was getting my Mom a card for Mother's Day and the rack was a little picked over. I got stuck with 'I can't believe you fucked Dad.' " I nearly pissed myself when he said that. He is one of my favorite comedians if for no other reason than I really enjoy trying to figure out all of his wacky ass references. And I don't care what Scoop says, he and Miller have to be related in some fashion.

As you can probably tell, I voted for the eighties cast. I grew up with them, so I really had little choice. Once on a dare, I actually dressed up for a costume party in high school as the Church Lady. I finally understood how women feel when they wear a skirt and try to sit down. Not the easiest maneuver. That experience also let me know that I would never be a drag queen like that guidance counselor told me I would be after reviewing my aptitude test. Just kidding.

Speaking of costume parties, a buddy of mine and another guy dressed up as Ace and Gary, the Ambiguously Gay Duo this past Halloween at the Gist's house. They were the hit of the party but we couldn't convince them to pose for a picture in the patented "69" flying position.

So I was trying to think about why sometimes SNL sucks and other times it is great. Everyone used to blame it on the writers when it was bad. And it has been painfully bad. I don't think that you can blame it all on the writers though. I think sometimes they just get lucky and get a cast with some chemistry and they can pump some life into even the bad material.

My favorite skits were always the ones where a member of the cast plays a celebrity/politician. Carvey was probably the best at that. He could do Bush better than Bush could. My favorite of his was Tom Brokaw though. That's not someone that would come immediately to mind as a good subject for a skit but when he did it, it was hilarious. Phil Hartman was also golden when he did Sinatra. They both did myriad impressions but those two were my personal favorites.

I would have to say that my favorite performer all time on the show would be Jan Hooks. I may be the sole member of the Jan Hooks fan club but I truly think she is an absolutely fabulous actress. I saw a skit once where she was playing an old lady at a drive-thru and she was unbelievably good. The skit sucked and it wasn't that funny but she WAS an old lady. You could see past the makeup and the wig and see an old lady in there. That was probably the best acting I have ever seen on that show. I wonder why she never had any kind of film career.

The highest finisher from the current cast would have been my choice for that cast as well, "Celebrity Jeopardy". Ferrell does a good Trebek caricature and that guy that plays Sean Connery is a riot. That sketch also gives the guest host an opportunity to poke fun at one of their peers. My nomination for best guest host impersonation on that skit would have to be when David Duchovny did Jeff Goldblum.

The new poll will be the third installment of our "Best Movie of the 90's" poll. This one concentrates on the action genre. I didn't realize there were this many until all of you guys started firing in the nominations. Thanks for the emails.

The new poll will be "Best Supporting Character on The Simpsons". From Chief Wiggum to Barney Gumbel to Sideshow Mel, we will see who ranks as the best. The only characters who don't qualify are Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Send your noms to me at lawdogusc@hotmail.com.

Poll Topic: Best SNL Skit
Samurai - John Belushi	11.5% - (86 Votes)
Wild & Crazy Guys - Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd	9.9% - (74 Votes)
The Blues Brothers - John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd	9.1% - (68 Votes)
Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood - Eddie Murphy	7.7% - (58 Votes)
Wayne's World - Mike Myers and Dana Carvey	7.6% - (57 Votes)
Weekend Update - Dennis Miller	6.3% - (47 Votes)
Celebrity Jeopardy - Will Ferrell et al.	5.6% - (42 Votes)
The Church Lady - Dana Carvey	4.8% - (36 Votes)
Greek Diner - John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd	4.6% - (35 Votes)
Weekend Update - Norm MacDonald	3.6% - (27 Votes)
Deep Thoughts - Jack Handey	2.9% - (22 Votes)
Rosanne Rosannadanna - Gilda Radner	2.9% - (22 Votes)
The Ambiguously Gay Duo - Cartoon	2.8% - (21 Votes)
Weekend Update - Chevy Chase	2.5% - (19 Votes)
Sprockets - Mike Myers	2.4% - (18 Votes)
The Liar - Jon Lovitz	1.8% - (14 Votes)
Ed Grimley - Martin Short	1.7% - (13 Votes)
The Lounge Singer - Bill Murray	1.7% - (13 Votes)
Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute - Dan Aykroyd	1.4% - (11 Votes)
Cheerleaders - Cheri Oteri and Will Ferrell	1.4% - (11 Votes)
Toonces: The Driving Cat - Phil Hartman and Victoria Jackson	1% - (8 Votes)
Massive Headwound Harry - Dana Carvey	1% - (8 Votes)
Mr. Short Term Memory - Tom Hanks	0.9% - (7 Votes)
Nat X Show - Chris Rock	0.9% - (7 Votes)
Flirting Losers - Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz	0.8% - (6 Votes)
Junior High Music Teachers - Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer	0.6% - (5 Votes)
Gumby - Eddie Murphy	0.5% - (4 Votes)
Catholic Schoolgirl - Molly Shannon	0.4% - (3 Votes)
Weekend Update - Colin Quinn	0.2% - (2 Votes)
Jackie Rogers, Jr. - Martin Short	0.2% - (2 Votes)
Total Votes: 746