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Dana Carvey recalls the filming of one of SNL’s greatest skits: “Fresh Pepper”

Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,909
Dana to me, is one of the funniest people ever on SNL. I've always remembered this skit from the 90s-even if it wasn't a huge skit or even one that was constantly mentioned. It's so simple, funny and has great actors.

He was on Howard Stern last week and was asked about this great skit and had great memories to share.

Fresh-a-pepper?


And here's the original sketch:
 
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Zaryn

Zaryn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
217
Even at its worst, I will forever be a fan of SNL, and I love behind the scenes bits like this. Farley playing his line straight all week during rehearsals, and then going big during the live show, forcing Sandler to break is hilarious. I'll forever miss him and Hartman.
 
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Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,909
Zaryn said:
Even at its worst, I will forever be a fan of SNL, and I love behind the scenes bits like this. Farley playing his line straight all week during rehearsals, and then going big during the live show, forcing Sandler to break is hilarious. I'll forever miss him and Hartman.
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Me too. Whenever Howard has SNL alums on like Sandler or Bill Heder he always has them talk about it.

JB Smoove actually had my favorite behind the scenes stories about when he was a writer there. He said he had an idea for a villain that was so evil he wore two eyepatches.
 
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uncelestial

uncelestial

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,060
San Francisco, CA, USA
Oh my gosh I thought I was the only one who loved the Pepper Boy sketch so much. My family can all recite the lines. The fact that they talked about it in I Am Chris Farley was also so awesome.
 
Marshall

Marshall

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,980
I was a waiter at a small family owned Italian restaurant when that sketch came out. We even had those tall pepper grinders that we'd bring out to tables exactly (well, not exactly) like they did in the skit. That was som realy funny shit to us.
 
kittens

kittens

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,237
kinda just feels like racist italian stereotypes from Carvey + vague mental ableism from Sandler + cheap slapstick
 

B.K.

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,021
I wish there was a way to watch full episodes of SNL from the late 80s to late 90s.
 

B.K.

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,021
Seraphis Cain said:
I remember the good old days when Netflix had basically the entire run of the show (albeit with many skits/all music performances cut out).
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That's what I hate about the reruns of the show. Even when Comedy Central was rerunning episodes years ago, they cut so much out of it. I don't mind them cutting the musical numbers. Those are always the worst part of the show to me. I never care about the musical guests. I just hate that they cut so much sketches.
 
Previously on Lost

Previously on Lost

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,665
B.K. said:
I wish there was a way to watch full episodes of SNL from the late 80s to late 90s.
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I Know Conan has his own full archive streaming service launching soon, but I've always found it crazy that pretty much every network does nothing with their decades worth of late night tv archives besides the occasional "best of" specials.
 
Border

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
The sketch seems weirdly long and unfocused -- like one of the weird ones they usually try to squeeze in during the final 20 minutes of the show. Does anybody know what the sketch's placement was in the original broadcast?

The customers' orgasmic reactions to pepper and Sandler's dimwitted character are not that funny, and immediately upstaged by Farley's absurdity. Without his ridiculous "That's the perfect amount of pepper!" I don't think this is at all memorable.
 

nitewulf

Member
Nov 29, 2017
7,193
A bit long winded, but still that's peak SNL. Jeanean Garofalo....has such a crush on her back then, whatever happened to her?
 
gaugebozo

gaugebozo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,828
B.K. said:
I wish there was a way to watch full episodes of SNL from the late 80s to late 90s.
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I think it's on hulu.

Edit: okay, they have seasons 1-5 and 30 and up, which is Ferrel era. That does suck because I used to go to my Dad's on Saturdays and will always associate that era with him.
 
Bane

Bane

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
5,904
nitewulf said:
A bit long winded, but still that's peak SNL. Jeanean Garofalo....has such a crush on her back then, whatever happened to her?
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She still pops up in things now and then. Recently she played Aidy Bryant's mom in her show, Shrill. And she was a great guest star on an episode of Brooklyn 99 this past season.
 
Jmille99

Jmille99

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,098
Farley really is fantastic. One damn line and he fucking goes for it in the best way possible.
 
OsakaDon

OsakaDon

Member
Oct 29, 2017
964
Osaka, Japan
Does anyone know where to find the Twilight Zone sketch with Norm MacDonald doing the host? Apparently the story behind that sketch is great and I'd love to watch it.
 
Bog

Bog

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,428
That's weird. I heard that interview then looked up the sketch the other day.
 
kittens

kittens

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,237
Thaedolus said:
Time to cancel Charles Martinet tbh
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yeahhhhh I can't disagree

and yeah, the pepper skit employs shitty stereotypes and random mental ableism as humor. it's funny at times but I don't like those elements. I don't see how that evokes such an overreaction in the replies, but that's okay we're all different.
 
The Real Abed

The Real Abed

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,720
Pennsylvania
Despite its problems, it's a good sketch. I mean it's at least better than most these days even if it's all stereotypes.

My favorite part is Michael McKean coming in at the end to fire them. Farley is good too but not enough. He didn't really have much time to try and ruin the sketch unless the funny voice he did was unexpected or something which I could see. Sandler did seem to be surprised by it.

Kind of off topic, but I'm sure you all remember The Dana Carvey Show. Well if you haven't seen it, the documentary on Hulu "Too Funny to Fail" is amazing. I loved that show for its short-lived life. It was fun to see who would sponsor it every week.
 
wafflebrain

wafflebrain

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,206
UltimateHigh said:
didn't laugh once at the actual skit, but I do enjoy the behind the scenes stuff.

hell of a cast tho.
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SNL lore tends to be infinitely more interesting than the actual airing. Something Tina Fey recognized and ran to the bank with. Well, Lorne's bank anyhow :p

It's a testament that the talent of the cast tends to far outweigh the quality of the sketches. See pretty much any of the alum's film and TV work afterwards. Ok maybe not Sandler but hey those first couple weren't too bad.

I'll never get tired of Nick Swardson's Chris Farley story of him chain smoking doing cartwheels down the street in Aspen, Colorado as Swardson fights to adjust to the altitude. Was on Norm's old youtube show, I'd link to a clip but those chuckle fucks at Netflix took it all down.
 
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