THEY'RE ALL COMING BACK
'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
Why isn't Jan Hooks famous?
by Eliot Glazer, posted May 9th 2009 12:50PM
Radner. Louis-Dreyfus. Poehler. Fey. Shannon.
Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Update anchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor.
But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also aDavid Gary Kroeger, A. Whitney Brown, and Charles Rocket for every Melanie Hutsell, too). (And for the record, no, you shouldn't recognize those names.)
But maybe - just maybe - we aren't thinking hard enough when trying to come up with the names of SNL's most talented women. Having already professed my adoration for Molly Shannon, I feel it's only right to bring light to one of the landmark sketch comedy show's least-appreciated, underrated starlets: Jan Hooks.
A five-season cast member (from 1986 to 1991), Hooks never much became a household name with viewers. The most recognizable recurring character she brought to the show was big-haired lounge lizard Candy Sweeney, one half of The Sweeney Sisters (with Nora Dunn). And while the bit was funny, Hooks, herself, was always much funnier. Her wide-eyed Kathie Lee Gifford was impeccably obnoxious, but equally matched Dana Carvey's cartoonish evisceration of an infuriated Regis Philbin.
But it was in both colorful character acts and smaller, marginal roles that Hooks excelled. Yet she never quite seemed to acquire the amount of attention garnered by the dudes at the office, like Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, and David Spade. But she deserved it.
After SNL, Hooks showed up on sitcoms Designing Women and 3rd Rock From The Sun, neither of which really allowed her to thrive like she did in sketch comedy, from character to character, impression to interpretation. In fact, there are very few videos online featuring her, but even in the ones below, it's hard to deny that Hooks always appeared at the top of her game.
Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Update anchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor. But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also a
But maybe - just maybe - we aren't thinking hard enough when trying to come up with the names of SNL's most talented women. Having already professed my adoration for Molly Shannon, I feel it's only right to bring light to one of the landmark sketch comedy show's least-appreciated, underrated starlets: Jan Hooks.
A five-season cast member (from 1986 to 1991), Hooks never much became a household name with viewers. The most recognizable recurring character she brought to the show was big-haired lounge lizard Candy Sweeney, one half of The Sweeney Sisters (with Nora Dunn). And while the bit was funny, Hooks, herself, was always much funnier. Her wide-eyed Kathie Lee Gifford was impeccably obnoxious, but equally matched Dana Carvey's cartoonish evisceration of an infuriated Regis Philbin.
But it was in both colorful character acts and smaller, marginal roles that Hooks excelled. Yet she never quite seemed to acquire the amount of attention garnered by the dudes at the office, like Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, and David Spade. But she deserved it.
After SNL, Hooks showed up on sitcoms Designing Women and 3rd Rock From The Sun, neither of which really allowed her to thrive like she did in sketch comedy, from character to character, impression to interpretation. In fact, there are very few videos online featuring her, but even in the ones below, it's hard to deny that Hooks always appeared at the top of her game.
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