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Erin Sullivan

Dr. McLaughlin

Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric

18 November 2015

The Women of Saturday Night Live’s Take on Slapstick

“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” rings through the houses of thousands of

Americans each and every weekend. First airing in October of 1975, Saturday Night Live still

remains a prominent late night television show to this day, not only proving its ability to produce

great entertainment but also its success. Most shows disappear after just a few short seasons and

the lucky ones maybe span a decade or so. So, how has Saturday Night Live managed to

maintain such high recognition and ratings for four decades? Unlike other television shows, it

focuses on comedy rooted in the cultural practices and political entities rather than developing

and following a specific premise. More specifically, Saturday Night Live specializes in a

particular form of comedy, slapstick comedy, which was primarily recognized in the 1920s. Yet,

at this time, it was filled predominantly with male actors because women were “too fragile, too

precious to slip on a banana peel or fall down a flight of stairs” (Clayton 148). Thus, as it has

been modified along the way to embody a more contemporary form, it has also extended to

include female performers. In particular, the women of Saturday Night Live have demonstrated

the evolution of slapstick comedy. From Gilda Radner to Maya Rudolph, the women

transformed the elements of slapstick comedy to embody a new form which alludes to reality

through character adaptations, portrays characters that are culturally rejected, and causes

suffering to the source of mockery rather than each other.

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While slapstick comedy seems to be an easily concocted, self- explanatory concept, it has

deeper roots dating back to early Italian theatre. This term slapstick is derived from “the English

translation of ‘batacchio’, or rather the Italian word to describe the wooden stick carried by

Arlecchino in the commedia dell’arte” (Peacock 15). More than simply a wooden stick, a

slapstick resembled a club like “stage prop constructed of two wooden paddles, joined at one

end, used by circus clowns to hit each other, thereby producing a slapping sound” (Trahair 47).

Contrary to its predicted purpose based on the piercing sound and name it was capable of

producing, slapsticks were hardly ever used to inflict pain upon another character. For example,

the performers of commedia dell’arte, theatre characterized by masked performances, would

make sure to navigate the stage in a way that would distance themselves far enough from the

slapstick so that they would not feel its effects (Peacock 19). Thus, these actors would still create

the illusion of pain without experiencing it and the audience could pick up on this trickery,

ensuring that no harm was done and laughter could appropriately ensue.

Drawing from the European theatres use of slapstick, Americans began to incorporate

this concept of slapstick comedy into their own film industry during the early 1920s at the peak

of the silent film industry. Although these movies lacked the extra dimension of sound, they

made up for it by utilizing slapstick comedy. Slapstick provided the opportunity to explore

humor stimulated by the body. For example, Mack Sennett’s “Tillie’s Punctured Romance”

portrays two people who meet through the girl accidently hitting the guy with a brick and these

types of accidents are sustained throughout the whole film (Andrin 228). Although this form of

slapstick causes great harm to the actors, its exaggeration and constant turmoil of injuries leaves

no time for the audience to respond emotionally and feel their pain. Rather, the audience

chuckles at the couple’s misfortunes. As technology advanced and the machine age emerged, this

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body focused slapstick comedy transformed into “crazy machine” comedy. Crazy machines are

more than just a machine, but rather one “that produces nothing other than a process that

destroys itself” (Gunning 138). In the movie Get Out and Get Under, Lloyd transforms a car into

a “crazy machine” as it fails to turn back on until it eventually receives a shot of heroin, jolting

away without a driver (Gunning 148). This not only shows how the car’s fails to achieve its

primary purpose of transporting a driver to its desired destination, but it also alludes to the idea

that in the end, the car will eventually destroy itself as it races away with no sign of return. Thus,

rather than slapstick being based upon a wooden weapon, it slowly yet surely have evolved into a

source of comedy that draws upon its cultural surroundings rather than violence to generate

humor.

While Saturday Night Live does embrace its cultural surroundings, one of the original

elements of slapstick comedy, it also maintains the lack of reality and physical violence that also

characterize slapstick comedy as expressed through male characters on the show. It is proven

that “a certain element of fantasy and unreality was essential to achieve comic distance” of

slapstick comedy (Riblet 173). For example, Dan Aykroyd embodies toy company president

Irvin Mainway whose company sells products like Bag O’ Glass and a teddy bear with a built- in

chainsaw. While these “toys” are immediately alarming due to their dangerous nature, the humor

lies in the fact that no sane business owner would create and market such toys that would injure

kids because it is inherent that parents would never purchase anything that could harm their

precious children, a custom deeply understood in society. Thus, audiences “appropriate

slapstick’s comic anarchy to their cultural presents, whether as a challenge to the dead weight of

tradition or a goad to cultural change” (King and Paulus 4). In The Dark Side with Nat X, Chris

Chris Rock plays a zealous, militant talk show host who not only draws on cultural events of the

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time like the OJ Simpson’s murder case and Jesse Jackson’s democratic campaign but also

focuses on the racial inequality through terse yet explicit comments. For example, he insinuates

how he can only have a top five because the man wants to deprive him of ten and how if Mike

Tyson touches a white girl, he could get them all (the black men) killed. Thus, this not only

challenges the tradition of white men being superior but it also calls for society to be well-

informed on their current nation’s events and recognize and amend the gap between whites and

blacks. Finally, original slapstick embraced the “knockabout physical humor, which emphasized

kicking, punching, stumbling and flailing” (Karnick and Jenkins 67). For instance, Chris Farley

plays a motivational speaker by the name of Matt Foley who was invited to talk to two teenage

kids in their home after their parents discover a bag of pot in their living room. Like every good

motivational speaker, he passionately delivers his speech, utilizing a variety of violent hand

motions which include punching the air. At one point, he becomes so carried away that he

accidentally falls and smashes a wood table, relating back to the physical violence as a source of

humor for slapstick comedy. Thus, the men of SNL were able to exemplify the original elements

of slapstick.

Contrary to the men, the women performers began to modify the elements of slapstick to

further its evolution. While these “new” elements may seem more different than similar, they are

merely an extension that retain the psychological nature of slapstick. In particular, the first

element, central absurdity was adjusted to allude to relatively realistic commodities whether it be

based on the characters’ mannerisms or the cultural undertones of the sketch. For example, Tina

Fey portrayed Sarah Palin along with her sidekick Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton giving a non-

partisan address. Not only dressing the part and adopting Sarah’s Alaskan drawl, Fey also

primary bases this address on the issue of sexism and even ventures into addressing global

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warming briefly. Thus, the combination of these elements acts contrary to one of the defining

original elements of slapstick, central absurdity which assumes a lack of reality (Peacock 30).

While this scenario is absurd in more than one way including the assumption of false identities

and the scenario of Palin and Clinton working together, it is rooted in the illusion of reality

through the costumes as well as the acknowledgment of prominent political issues in the world.

Similarly, Ana Gasteyer acts as an NPR host named Margaret Jo McCullen by speaking in a

monotone voice about her relatively uninteresting life where getting greedy for Christmas

includes asking Santa for a wooden bowl and oversized index cards. While the jokes quickly

grow wildly absurd, the mannerisms of the characters are maintained and allude to the publicly

accepted boring nature of NPR. Thus, the execution of this sketch not only upholds the rather

somber tone of NPR radio, but it also catches its true essence by portraying it in the light of how

the majority of society views its impacts on the radio industry. In both these sketches, the women

of Saturday Night Live affirmed the transformation of early slapstick comedy into a new form

where humor lies in the realistic representation of certain aspects of society.

Similar to this newfound realistic aspect to slapstick comedy, if the women were not

mocking celebrities, they were portraying characters that were culturally rejected by society,

including Debbie Downer and Mary Katherine Gallagher, rather than mocking society in order to

incite social change. Although original slapstick drew on violence, as it evolved it developed into

“reckless jokes that seemed to throw more fuel on to the fire of change” in society (Katrib 114).

While still drawing on culture, Saturday Night Live took these characters in a one step further

than simply creating characters to transform society, they portrayed characters that were

culturally rejected as a source of humor. For example, Rachel Dratch played the role of Debbie

Downer whose interjections into the conversation were always negative. At a birthday party,

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everything out of Debbie’s mouth touches base on either current worldwide crisis like the crisis

in Sudan in 2004 or an absurd personal problem like her doctor saying “if she doesn’t cut down

on her consumption of fish, her mercury levels will reach toxic proportions”. While these

comments call attention to various crisis and could provoke a change in society’s response to

them, the primary reason these cultural elements are incorporated into the sketch is to generate

laughter from the sheer idea that so many negative comment could come out of a single person’s

mouth, a behavior contrary to the cultural norm. In a similar manner, Molly Shannon portrays

Mary Katherine Gallagher, Catholic school girl misfit, defying the pure, wholesome stereotype

through her scandalous interpretation of the school uniform and provocative dance moves. More

so than this, Mary Katherine demonstrates social ineptness when she informs the priest running

the talent show audition that when she gets nervous, she sticks her hands under her armpits and

smells them and proceeds to do this. While Mary Katherine’s promiscuous representation of

school girls could result in Catholic school administrations hammering down on dress code and

behavior, this detail is rather irrelevant to the overall purpose of the sketch. Mary Katherine

could have been a public school girl for all that it matters—the primary focus and humor lies

within the fact that she cannot interact normally with other people. Because of this, she not only

makes a fool of herself, but also makes the priest feel uncomfortable as reflected in his awkward

body movements and rather distressed facial expressions, circumstances which add to the humor

of the scenario. From these two examples, it is apparent that this new slapstick generates humor

through portraying socially unacceptable people rather than relying on social conditions to

provide comical undertones.

As seen with Saturday Night Live’s representation of culturally rejected individuals, the

suffering in slapstick is incurred by those who are being mocked rather than the performers

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themselves. Originally, slapstick focused on physical violence which stems from the object itself

and it evolved into pain and suffering as noted in the movie Three Stooges which reverted “back

to more brutal side of comedy yet focused on pain and suffering from violence rather than

violence itself” (Andrin 133). Furthermore, the performers on Saturday Night Live extend this

evolution further to the pain and suffering which they bring upon the celebrities who become the

butt of their jokes. For example, Gilda Radner’s impersonation of Barbara Walters exaggerates

her lisp by putting the w sound in every word. While people are already insecure about lisps, the

attention Radner draws to its prominence could cause even more grief. Continuing on, Radner

alludes to the idea that Barbara Walters is very self- centered because “instead of wasting time

with extraneous personalities…the whole show’s going to be about one terrific person who I

really respect—me!” With selfishness as a naturally condoned personality trait, this could

embarrass Barbara and cause inner suffering as all her flaws are picked apart in front of millions.

Likewise, Maya Rudolph adapts Whitney Houston’s accent and performs her infamous dance

move and says “alright” after every statement. This emphasizes the obnoxious nature of

Houston’s habits, emphasizing these imperfections as the whole purpose of this sketch. Yet

Rudolph’s impersonation is relentless as she alludes to Houston’s cocaine addiction and recent

divorce. Those two personal problems combined can be a great source of anguish for any person,

and now they have to watch their tragic life story unfold on national television. Arguably, both

these scenarios could not be slapstick since it appears no one suffers, but delving into the

content, one can see how both these influential people are torn to shreds for their shortcomings.

Anyone in their shoes would not find humor in these jokes. In the end, both Radner and Rudolph

experience no suffering since it is just a part of their job in the slapstick industry.

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All these women in Saturday Night Live are not only proof of women’s influence in the

evolution of slapstick, but also the evolution of women in comedy overall. In 19th century France,

women’s humor avoided the male impropriety and was “restricted to a domain—child rearing—

defined as a women’s sphere” (Johnson 48- 49). This not only implies an inherent divide

between each gender’s idea of comedy, but also attributes its division due to social roles of each

gender. Still even into the 20th century, masculine comedy “insistently re-established dominance

over some other, most particularly the feminine” (Burns 153). Thus, women’s role in society

changed little over the course of a century and their prominent role as housewives played a major

part into their humor. But as women gained their rights in the later 20th century and slowly began

their climb towards gender equality, the humor of men and women has begun to morph into a

single form of humor. Because of this, it has been easier for women to integrate themselves into

the comedy industry which has led to better representation of women as humorous individuals

particularly on Saturday Night Live. Thus, the integration of women into comedy was another

factor that raised Saturday Night Live’s ratings and aided the evolution of slapstick comedy. As

the evolution of women in comedy and slapstick happened side by side, the women of Saturday

Night Live were able to leave their mark on slapstick comedy by attributing it with a greater

sense of reality, a greater emphasis on culturally rejected individuals and a greater focus on the

suffering of the target of their impersonation.

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Works Cited

Andrin, Muriel. “Back to the ‘Slap’: Slapstick’s Hyperbolic Gesture and the Rhetoric of

Violence”. Slapstick Comedy. Ed. Tom Paulus and Rob King. New York: Taylor &

Francis, 2010. 226- 235. Print.

Burns, Christy L. “Parody and Postmodern Sex: Humor in Thomas Pynchon and Tama

Janowitz”. Performing Gender and Comedy: Theories, Texts and Contexts. Ed. Shannon

Hengen. Ontario: Overseas Publishers Association, 1998. 149- 166. Print

Consumer Probe: Irvin Mainway. Perf. Dan Aykroyd. NBC. NBC Universal, Web.

The Dark Side with Nat X. Dir. Diamond Jim. Perf. Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan. Yahoo! Web.

Debbie Downer at a Birthday Party. Dir. Mike Halterman. Perf. Rachel Dratch and Ben Affleck.

NBC. NBC Universal. Web.

Down By the River. Perf. Chris Farley. Hulu. NBC Studios, Inc, Web.

Gilda Radner SNL. Perf. Gilda Radner. Yahoo! Web.

Gunning, Tom. “The Mechanisms of Laughter: the Devices of Slapstick.” Slapstick Comedy. Ed.

Tom Paulus and Rob King. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2010. 137- 151. Print.

Johnson, Warren. “The Veiled Laugh: Women, the Body, and the Comic in Nineteenth- Century

France.” Performing Gender and Comedy: Theories, Texts and Contexts. Ed. Shannon

Hengen. Ontario: Overseas Publishers Association, 1998. 47- 58. Print.

Karnick, Krstine Brunovska Karnick, and Henry Jenkins. “Introduction: Funny Stories”.

Classical Hollywood Comedy. Ed. Kristine Brunovska Karnick and Henry Jenkins. New

York: American Film Institute, 1995. 168- 189. Print.

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Katrib, Ruba. "TRANSITION GAGS." Art In America 103.6 (2015): 114-21. Web.

King, Rob, and Tom Paulus. “Introduction: Restoring Slapstick to the Historiography of

American Film”. Slapstick Comedy. Ed. Tom Paulus and Rob King. New York: Taylor

& Francis, 2010. 1- 19. Print.

NPRs Delicious Dish Schweddy Balls. Perf. Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, and Alec Baldwin.

Hulu. NBC Studios, Inc. Web.

Palin/Hillary Open. Dir. Seth Meyers. Perf. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Hulu. NBC Studios, Inc

Web.

Peacock, Louise. Slapstick and Comic Performance: Comedy and Pain. 2014. Print.

Riblet, Doug. “The Keystone Film Company and the Historiography of Early Slapstick”.

Classical Hollywood Comedy. Ed. Kristine Brunovska Karnick and Henry Jenkins. New

York: American Film Institute, 1995. 168- 189. Print.

St. Monicas Talent Auditions. Perf. Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell and Gabriel Byrne. Hulu.

NBC Studios, Inc. Web.

Trahair, Lisa. The Comedy of Philosophy Sense and Nonsense in Early Cinematic Slapstick.

Albany: State U of New York, 2007. SUNY Ser., Insinuations. Web.

Weekend Update: Whitney Houston on Her Summer Plans. Perf. Maya Rudolph and Amy

Poehler. NBC. NBC Universal. Web.