Live From New York - James H. Miller [175]
JACK HANDEY:
Phil was a guy that I really loved to write for. I wrote so many pieces for him — like “Frozen Caveman Lawyer.” I think that the show tended to become more performance-oriented than idea-oriented. And maybe that annoyed Phil.
JOE PISCOPO, Cast Member:
The Sinatra family was not happy with the impression Phil was doing at all, again rest his soul. To this day I’ll go out and do these Sinatra tributes with a seventeen-piece band — which is a riot, by the way. It’s all tongue-in-cheek, because they know me from the SNL thing. But I always check with Tina and the family to make sure it’s okay. When we did the Brisk Lipton Iced Tea campaign, they had me do the voice.
There was a meanness there to the Hartman thing. That was Lorne too, man. And I think there’s some kind of law: Don’t even attempt to do Sinatra unless you’re Italian.
BOB ODENKIRK:
Phil Hartman was amazing. He just delivered every time. He had amazing timing and great power and just — I don’t know what to say about Phil, because he was a very genial guy and he seemed to have a great work ethic. He was an older guy when he got the show, which might have helped him, you know, be more of a steady personality while he did it. But when I got there, he’d been on the show I think for like two years or maybe three, and he just came in every day and it was like an office job for him, and he was very good at it. I don’t think he ever again got caught up in the whole stay-up-all-night routine or worrying about status all the time. He was more sure of himself and he just came in, did his work, and churned out the sketches, and if they didn’t get on, he didn’t get too upset — he just delivered. And he seemed to have a good time doing it.
JAN HOOKS:
We were doing “Beauty and the Beast” with Demi Moore and Jon Lovitz, a sketch about the two beasts, you know, going out on a blind date. Phil and I were in the backseat of a car making out; he was the Beast, I was the Beauty. I just have to tell you this about Phil. At the end of it, they cut to the commercial, and Phil had to rush off and be, you know, whoever. But first Phil said to me, “You gave me a huge boner. Oh God. I’ve got to run!” So there’s like this mountain of manhood, and he had to go on and, you know, make a quick change with a big old boner.
KEVIN NEALON:
I got a death-threat letter once from some crazy person, just saying he didn’t like what I did on “Update.” He said, “How you became so unfunny, I’ll never know, but your days are numbered. I’m going to put a bullet in your big fat head.” Well, for about a week after that, I went around asking people if they thought I had a big fat head.
VICTORIA JACKSON:
I was always trying to figure out a way to make fun of the news, but I just never fit into the news. Then Christine Zander came by and laid this People magazine on my desk, and it said, “I am not a bimbo,” with Jessica Hahn’s picture. And Christine goes, “Hey, this would be perfect for you.” And then she walked away, and I thought, “Write me the thing — you’re the writer.” But I went to my typewriter, because we all had our own offices, you know, but mine was mostly just empty all the time — I had pink and blue tulle stapled to the ceiling to look like clouds and I used the phone a lot to call long distance because it was free — but I thought, “I am not a bimbo,” and in like ten minutes, I typed up the whole song.
But Lorne didn’t put it in the show. And I met with him and said, “Lorne, everybody loved it.” And he goes, “I don’t know. It shouldn’t be the blues.” I asked him, “Could it be in if I changed the melody?” And he said, “Uhhh, go talk to Cheryl.” So I went to see Cheryl, who was the piano player in the band. I told her Lorne wanted more of a pop