This weekend, Daffy and I are getting ready to record the next episode of our podcast. We have been working on some ways to improve the show from content to sound quality. The next episode has a Saturday Night Live-inspired theme. So as we build up to the next episode, we are going to run an SNL bracket game to pick your favorite former SNL cast-member.
The battle of 30 Rock was pretty lopsided.. Tina Fey walked away with more than 65% of the vote. Probably not all that surprising given that 1. Morgan owes much of his post SNL-career to Fey casting him in her show and 2. Morgan has been a controversial figure in recent years.
Our third showdown features two SNL stars who died tragically young; Chris Farley and Phil Hartman. Hartman joined the show in 1986 and stayed on for an impressive run of eight seasons. He was what you would call a “utility player”. You could put Hartman in practically any sketch and he would make it funnier. Hartman left the show in 1994 and went on to star in the sitcom News Radio. He appeared in several movies and did voice work for animation including numerous characters on The Simpsons.
Farley, on the other hand, was a bull in a china shop. His characters tended to shout and sweat a lot. He joined SNL in 1990 and left in 1995 for a film career. Farley made two movies with fellow SNL castmember, David Spade. The duo seemed poised to become the Aykroyd and Belushi of their day. But like Belushi, Farley died young due to health problems caused in part by substance abuse.
Le Blog
I know Hartman was the more cerebral of the two, but I just couldn’t get enough of Chris Farley.
This one is the first tough decision for me. I went with Hartman because I feel he is vastly underrated. But I could have just as easily gone with Farley. Back in my days as an amateur stand-up comedian, the club I frequented the most played a series of SNL clips before the show started. And one of them was the Chippendale’s sketch with Farley vs. Patrick Swayze. I must have seen that sketch 100 times. It never stopped being hysterical.
I still miss both of these guys.
Farley was good, but Hartman was one of the true greats. He could do any character and make it funny. Farely was great in his loud fat guy roles, but that is all he had going for him. Ok, to be fair, his Chris Farely Show character was my favorite and was his only good character that didn’t fit that mold. Had they lived I think Farley would have been big for a while then people would have gotten tired of him doing the same thing over and over (kind of like Will Farrell or Melissa McCarthy). Hartman probably wouldn’t… Read more »
hartman had more range as good as farely would he didnt have hartmans acting range just a stuntman he would had a jack black career sadely hartman never wanted to be a leading man had hartman lived he would have had john ritter like career supporting roles in some movies plenty of tv work respected actor but not reaching a list still nothing wrong with that ps i strongly thing u should have a costner affleck thing
phil hartman was one of the f uniest guys alive its sad what happen lebeu did u think the tribute episode of him in newsradio was respectful i think it could have been alot more serious no laugh tracks or jokes. but it paid good tribute he was on the most talented guys on snl funny thing is despite playing jerks he was a nice guy. his death is more depressing than ritters cause he didnt have to die it wasnt a medical his life taken. i stopped watching newsraido after his death
has anyone seen modern family or breaking bad had hartman or ritter not died i could picture them as bran cranston or ed o neil roles
Leabu sad episode of newsradio dealing with hartman character death. this willmake you cry. good tribute could been more serious. heres is link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1DVN7ig9QA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1DVN7ig9QA
Leebau u need to take a look at this. Its insulting legacy of phil hartman mocking his death if his kids watch it they would be mad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI2ZGMutfXE
I won’t show it to his kids then.
Honestly, it’s pitch black, but I have to admit I laughed. I mean, I felt guilty about it, but I laughed all the same.
you laughed really. This douchbag made light of a tragic event. Phil hartman despite playing jerk was actually a nice guy who didnt deserve this kind of mockery. I place blame on the theatre that would allow this guy to make a play about this. Gary Shaprio is a jerk , I repeat there is nothing funny about this I am sure if gary lost a family member he wouldnt want anyone make a comic skit about it.
The audience seemed to be laughing too. Yes, what happened to Hartman was tragic. That doesn’t mean you can’t joke about it. It just means you better be funny. I can definitely see where this bit wouldn’t appeal to everyone but it didn’t offend me at all. I definitely wouldn’t advocate for censorship.
There is one scene where implies he was an idiot for keeping a loaded gun in the house especially in the same house as someone with coke problem. I lost a buddy through suicide he shot himself so this kind of stuff is plain insulting . Sorry if iam harping on this but its similar to that robin williams joke on red 2 or the charlie hedbo joke they made.
I thought the bit actually had a good message about the dangers of keeping a gun in the home. Especially around someone who clearly had problems. It’s controversial material and it could have been a train wreck, but I thought the comic pulled it off. I can see why others would feel differently.
there nothing funny about it. He didnt try to stress dangerous of gun control he made joke about it. Hartman wouldnt find this funny Lebeu god forbid you lose a family memeber someone would make a joke aobut it the tragic incident is why kids are orphanes .I hope the kids never saw this . You can admit hartman was a nice cast members can attast to it its not a good way to honour him
Comedy is subjective, dude. No one gets to decide universally what is funny and what isn’t. By all accounts, Hartman was a nice guy just like you say. And I’m not about to crack jokes about someone’s tragic death. That’s not who I am. Obviously, this bit wasn’t intended to be seen by his close friends and family members. Their personal loss will never heal enough for them to see the humor in this piece. But a comic can’t worry about every single person who could conceivably be offended by a joke. Most jokes are likely to offend someone. As… Read more »
Controvery aside it wasnt anyways. No offense to lebeau but i thought being a hartman fan you would agree with me his daughter has twitter i would show this to her she been thoguht enough.On one hand my friend passed away through suicide through gun shot of course i wont see humour init
I had a brother who took his life. He didn’t use a gun, but the loss is the same. I remember for a long time being uncomfortable when suicide was used as part of a fictional story because it reopened those wounds. Sending Hartman’s family this sketch would be cruel of you – not the comic. Don’t even think about doing something like that. What would be achieved? I understand you don’t find the bit funny. Not everyone will. That’s the nature of comedy. You have to just move on and enjoy comics you enjoy.
In the end he implied phil was dumb for marry a coke addict!!!!!!. He been cleaned when they met. It portrays phil as a dumb clueless buffoon. i loved newsradio I grew up on his clinton impressions. In a way if someone insults actor i admire they insult my fmaily
You can’t take stuff like that personally. I’m willing to bet the comic loved Hartman as much as you do and this was his way of working out his frustration over Hartman’s tragic death.
I misspelled i ment i dont want to send the video to hartmans kids on twitter they been through enough i know comedies subjective. Iam sorry about your brother losing family is tough lebeau. That comic did say in the end hopefully some dumb fan do sent pay a dumb tribute to me 6 years alter. Obviously hearing that he is a fan and he ment it to be a tribute> maybe he didnt mean to mock hartmans death but the way he approached didnt seem to be respectful about the tribute. The sense I got he mocked phil more… Read more »
And that’s your right. I won’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t be offended by. This bit is meant to be borderline offensive. If anyone takes offense, especially if they have had a personal experience like yours, I can’t fault them.
Exactly I might get extra offended by this because of my personal experiences. Also added to the fact that i adore Phil. I hate to bring up touch subject for you once I am sorry about your brother but in the movie ted 2 they make a brief joke about robins death I am sure a joke about suicide would still offend you right. I know it was ment to be a tribute that comic was obviously a fan but he could honored him a different way . Its my opinion using comic approach not a good way to go… Read more »
Keeping gun in house was a bad idea not sure if it was her of his idea. However can we really say it was avoidable , She would have found another way to kill him or herself anyways she had problems. He did obviously love her despite her problems. He kept threaten to leave her if she didnt clean up. Maybe he should have left her. Andy dick supplying her the cocaine when she was trying to clean herself up didnt help matters either.
Here are quotes by farely and hartman admit lack of range tell me if you agree with them. Here is chris farely quote. Basically, I only play one character; I just play him at different volumes. Here is phils As an actor, I felt I couldn’t compete. I wasn’t as cute as the leading man; I wasn’t as brilliant as Robin Williams. The one thing I could do was voices and impersonations and weird characters, an [sic] there was really no call for that. Except on Saturday Night Live.” I tihnk no offense to chris but he was basically same… Read more »
i see him in chris copper americna beauty role, ed harris hours and bill murray lost in transaltion role too.
Lebeu they are making a Phil hartman biopic. http://globalnews.ca/news/2377599/phil-hartman-movie-in-the-works-to-be-directed-by-jason-priestley/