To celebrate the 40th season of Saturday Night Live, NBC will be airing classic episodes they have dubbed SNL Vintage. Airing during the 10 p.m. time slot on Saturday nights, these condensed episodes will replace reruns from the current season of SNL.
SNL Vintage this week is scheduled to be the Feb. 13, 1993 episode with host Alec Baldwin and musical guest Paul McCartney. Normally, we would run down this episode and give you reasons to tune in, but with the recent death of former cast member Jan Hooks, we have decided a tribute would be more fitting.
Hooks joined the cast of SNL for its 12th season in 1986. After a few seasons of mediocre ratings, bad casts, and overall turmoil, Hooks along with Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon joined the cast, and essentially saved SNL from cancellation. Hooks may have been overshadowed by Carvey and Hartman, but she was an integral member of the cast, and is considered by some to be one of the greatest cast members ever.
She spent five seasons at SNL before leaving to join the cast of Designing Women. Hooks also received an Emmy nomination for her guest work on 3rd Rock From the Sun, and appeared as Jenna Maroney‘s mom on 30 Rock.
Here are some of my favorite Jan Hooks sketches:
“Quiz Masters” is from the first episode for Hooks, Hartman, and Carvey. It’s one of my all-time favorite sketches for no other reason than the acting and writing is so well done. This is also the first appearance of recurring character, housewife Marge Keister, who Hooks would portray another seven times over her time at SNL.
Unfortunately, because SNL has a policy of not posting some sketches with music to their sites, fans are left to scour the internet for sketches like this one. The Sweeney Sisters appeared 10 times, and may be the best example of how great Hooks and Dunn were together during their time on the show.
While SNL has always had female performers it had been considered a “boy’s club” with the women never being considered the stars of the show when compared to the men. Hooks and Dunn started changing the dynamic of SNL, and almost 20 years later the women they influenced, from Tina Fey to Kristen Wiig, seem to have permanently burned the “boy’s club” to the ground.
Tammy Wynette was just one of about 50 impressions by Hooks. She famously portrayed two first ladies, Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton, with Clinton returning to SNL even after her departure in 1991 when Bill Clinton was elected President. Along with the first ladies and Wynette, she also portrayed Bette Davis, Sinead O’Connor, Ivana Trump, Diane Sawyer, and Tammy Faye Bakker.
Another sketch that is not on any of the SNL sites is “Love is a Dream” from 1988. For anyone who started watching SNL in the late 80’s, it is hard to imagine Jan Hooks without Phil Hartman. Dana Carvey might have been the biggest star of those seasons, but Hartman and Hooks were close behind and probably better overall performers. Joined at the hip due to the fact they portrayed so many couples, Hartman and Hooks were “the glue” together in so many sketches.
Hopefully SNL will pay tribute to Hooks on Saturday night, but if not, we can search for our own favorite Jan Hooks moment whether it was watching her sing to a monkey or tell us about the Alamo basement.
Saturday Night Live with host Bill Hader and musical guest Hozier airs Oct. 11 at 11:30 P.M.
