I have to admit that given the whole history, cowbell probably wouldn't make my top 10. The standard of "good skit" is a bit lower nowdays. My top 10 in no particular order;
Mr. Robinson's neighborhood
Convict poet (also Eddie Murphy, "Kill my landlord...")
Point Counterpoint (Jane you ignorant slut...)
Chris Farley's Chippendale's audition
The Ladies Man
Sprockets
Waynes World
Belushi's Samuri
Cheeburger!
Then again, maybe it does crack the top 10.
The cowbell sketch was the #5 skit on SNL according the the E! online website. Here are the top 20
20 Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker
19 The Amy Fisher TV movies
18 The Blues Brothers
17 The Sinatra Group
16 Stand-Up and Win, with Jerry Seinfeld
15 Hanukkah Harry Saves Christmas
14 Black History Minute
13 The Sensitive Naked Man
12 The Church Lady sketch, with Sean Penn
11 The Boston Teens
10 The Partridge Family vs. the Brady Bunch
9 Chippendales Auditions
8 "The Hanukkah Song"
7 "Ebony & Ivory"
6 Barbra Streisand on Coffee Talk
5 The "Cowbell Sketch"
4 Phil Hartman's Goodbye
3 Alec Baldwin's Schwetty Balls
2 The First Show After 9-11
1 Wayne's World, with Aerosmith and Tom Hanks
cowbell made the list. also it is available on one of the Best of Will Ferrel dvds
Gotta go with the classics. Cheezburger, shimmer floor was, Chevy and Richard Pryor Word association
Anyone know if this SNL comedy was in the 101 most memorable moments of Saturday Night Live? I noticed E was playing that last night and I saved the top ones to watch later. I was wondering what number it might be if anyone knows or if it made the list at all.
AN: Your right, maybe I do, but that's my point. It's not very topical stuff in my book. Maybe I expect too much from television....probably why I spend so much time in strip clubs!
AN: Actually I'm a huge Christopher Walken fan. I just didn't care for the skit. I may be being a bit tough on the SNL writers. I'm deal with record producers in my work often and the guy portrayed in that skit is a charicature of the kind of record producer that went out of style about 20 years ago.
OK, opinions differ, and I'll admit that a large part of the skit was physical and the sight of the actors trying to keep from losing it. I'll also admit that the James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub show was ...genius, but I like Christopher Walken (see Fatboy Slim, "Weapon of Choice" video), and these days you take what you can get.
Skits like that are the reason I haven't been a regular viewer of SNL since Eddie Murphy left. How can you put "More Cowbell" in the same friggin league as Eddie doing "James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub"? Now THAT is a freekin classic. OK, I'm dating myself, I know....
I agree it is a bit esoteric, or perhaps idiosyncratic, but it just struck me as funny. When you think Blue Oyster Cult, cowbell isn't the first instrument to come to mind, but there it is. Also, there was a brief "Walken for President" movement. The campaign slogan? "What this country needs is more cowbell."
I searched the internet and even got out an old tape of BOC Don't Fear the Reaper listening for a cowbell. I guess I must have missed something long ago since I don't get it either.
It's a reference to an old SNL skit where Christopher Walken plays a producer who wants Blue Oyster Cult to put "more cowbell" in their music. It never really struck me as that funny, but it's an esoteric favorite for some. Maybe you have to be a Blue Oyster Cult fan to appreciate it.
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