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On his animated holiday sketch "Christmastime for the Jews" on Saturday Night Live; on how he got (Phil Spector singer) Darlene Love to sing for the sketch; on the "Journey to the Disney Vault" animated sketch with animator Robert Marionetti; on how the sketch was intended to make fun of racists and "intent should matter in comedy"; on the autonomy he had doing the animated "TV Funhouse" sketches for SNL; on a controversial sketch he based on Michael Jackson; on "Conspiracy Theory Rock!" (as a parody of Schoolhouse Rock); on the influence that the Peanuts Christmas specials had on him as a kid; on the parodies he did on A Charlie Brown Christmas; on his involvement with the 25th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live; on the animated sketch "Life of a Catchphrase" he created for "TV Funhouse" on the 25th Anniversary show; on his affection for Lorne Michaels 31:36
Interview: Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel on how much Lorne Michaels liked the "Ambiguously Gay Duo" sketch that Smigel brought to Saturday Night Live; on Lorne Michaels’ return to SNL; on Michaels asking Smigel to return to the show; on pitching the “Saturday TV Funhouse” animated sketches to Lorne; on the "TV Funhouse" catchphrase “Come back here with my show” mimicking Lorne Michaels; on impressions of Lorne Michaels by himself and others including Tom Hanks and Mike Meyers; on a parody of Lorne Michaels which inspired the idea for a "Five Timers Club" recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live which Smigel wrote with Conan O’Brien 09:05
Interview: Robert Smigel | Person: Lorne Michaels
Robert Smigel on hiring J.J. Sedelmaier to work on the animated “Ambiguously Gay Duo” sketches, and on the style of the sketch being based on 1960s cartoons like The Green Lantern 02:05
Interview: Robert Smigel | Person: J.J. Sedelmaier
Robert Smigel on writer Dino Stamatopoulos making suggestions for Smigel’s cartoon idea and working on a Superhero parody of "Batman" and "Robin" as "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" for The Dana Carvey Show (and later Saturday Night Live's "TV Funhouse"); on playing with ideas of homoeroticism and masculinity in writing the sketches 06:11
Interview: Robert Smigel | Person: Dino Stamatopoulos
Robert Smigel on his "TV Funhouse" animated sketch on Saturday Night Liveskewering NBC's parent company GE; on getting notes from Standards & Practices at NBC to tweak his "Conspiracy Theory Rock!" sketch; on the sketch airing on SNL just as NBC president Bob Wright happened to be watching; on this sketch never re-airing; on SNL assistant director Robert Caminiti letting Smigel know the sketch had been pulled; on Lorne Michaels' continued support for Smigel's sketches despite the backlash; on the sketch's continued popularity; on J. J. Sedelmaier getting original artists who had worked on the original Schoolhouse Rock to animate "Conspiracy Theory Rock" 05:26
Interview: Robert Smigel | Person: Bob Wright
Robert Smigel on his "TV Funhouse" animated sketch on Saturday Night Live skewering NBC's parent company GE; on getting notes from Standards & Practices at NBC to tweak his "Conspiracy Theory Rock!" sketch; on the sketch airing on SNL just as NBC president Bob Wright happened to be watching; on this sketch never re-airing; on SNL assistant director Robert Caminiti letting Smigel know the sketch had been pulled; on Lorne Michaels' continued support for Smigel's sketches despite the backlash; on the sketch's continued popularity; on J. J. Sedelmaier getting original artists who had worked on the original Schoolhouse Rock to animate "Conspiracy Theory Rock" 05:26
Interview: Robert Smigel | Person: Lorne Michaels
Robert Smigel on his "TV Funhouse" animated sketch on Saturday Night Liveskewering NBC's parent company GE; on getting notes from Standards & Practices at NBC to tweak his "Conspiracy Theory Rock!" sketch; on the sketch airing on SNL just as NBC president Bob Wright happened to be watching; on this sketch never re-airing; on SNL assistant director Robert Caminiti letting Smigel know the sketch had been pulled; on Lorne Michaels' continued support for Smigel's sketches despite the backlash; on the sketch's continued popularity; on J. J. Sedelmaier getting original artists who had worked on the original Schoolhouse Rock to animate "Conspiracy Theory Rock" 05:26
Interview: Robert Smigel | Person: Robert Caminiti
Robert Smigel on his involvement with the 25th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live in 1999; on the animated sketch "Life of a Catchphrase" he created for "TV Funhouse" that aired during this special; on another "TV Funhouse" sketch he wrote for the special which aired later on the "X-Presidents: episode; on his penchant for making fun of SNL’s producer Lorne Michaels and his deep affection for Michaels; on the special celebrity audience that was present for the anniversary show 11:48
Interview: Robert Smigel | Person: Lorne Michaels
Robert Smigel on writer Dino Stamatopoulos making suggestions for Smigel’s cartoon idea and working on a Superhero parody of "Batman" and "Robin" as "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" for The Dana Carvey Show (and later Saturday Night Live's "TV Funhouse"); on playing with ideas of homoeroticism and masculinity in writing the sketches 06:11
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Writers
Robert Smigel on why he turned to animation and his early attraction to cartoons as a kid 00:55
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Animation Professionals
Robert Smigel on one of his goals with The Dana Carvey Show being not too similar to Saturday Night Live; on writer Dino Stamatopoulos making suggestions for Smigel’s cartoon idea and working on a Superhero parody of "Batman" and "Robin" as "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" for The Dana Carvey Show (and later Saturday Night Live's "TV Funhouse"); on playing with ideas of homoeroticism and masculinity in writing the sketches 08:34
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Animation Professionals
Robert Smigel on his "Fun with Real Audio" sketches (for Saturday Night Live) being the inverse of the Clutch Cargo animated device; on the first "Fun with Real Audio" sketch animating real audio clips between Larry King and Ross Perot 01:23
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Animation Professionals
Robert Smigel on his "Fun with Real Audio" sketches (for Saturday Night Live) being the inverse of the Clutch Cargo animated device; on the first "Fun with Real Audio" sketch animating real audio clips between Larry King and Ross Perot 01:23
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Writers
Robert Smigel on the animated sketch "Journey to the Disney Vault" for Saturday Night Live's "TV Funhouse" 02:17
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Animation Professionals
Robert Smigel on the animated sketch "Journey to the Disney Vault" for Saturday Night Live's "TV Funhouse" 02:17
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Writers
Robert Smigel on his "TV Funhouse" animated sketch skewering NBC's parent company GE on Saturday Night Live 05:26
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Animation Professionals
Robert Smigel on his "TV Funhouse" animated sketch skewering NBC's parent company GE on Saturday Night Live 05:26
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Writers
Robert Smigel on his parody of the Peanuts for his "TV Funhouse" animated sketch on Saturday Night Live 04:37
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Animation Professionals
Robert Smigel on his parody of the Peanuts for his "TV Funhouse" animated sketch on Saturday Night Live 04:37
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Writers
Robert Smigel on his involvement with the 25th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live in 1999; on the animated sketch "Life of a Catchphrase" he created for "TV Funhouse" that aired during that special 03:48
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Animation Professionals
Robert Smigel on his involvement with the 25th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live in 1999; on the animated sketch "Life of a Catchphrase" he created for "TV Funhouse" that aired during that special 03:48
Interview: Robert Smigel | Profession: Writers
Robert Smigel on the animated sketch "Christmastime for Jews" on the "TV Funhouse" segment of Saturday Night Live, and on getting singer Darlene Love to record the song for the sketch 02:09
Interview: Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel on the animated sketch "Journey to the Disney Vault" for Saturday Night Live's "TV Funhouse" animated sketches; on working with animation director Robert Marianetti, who came up with the idea of having skeletons in the Disney vault; on using a songalike of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in the piece; on the piece being a racy piece but the point was that it was making fun of racist people; Smigel's feeling that “intent should matter in comedy- if it matters in crime, it matters in comedy”; on his autonomy making "TV Funhouse" cartoons; on a controversial sketch he made about Michael Jackson 02:08
Interview: Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel on how the Peanuts Christmas specials were important to him as a child; on his parody of the Peanuts for his "TV Funhouse" animated sketch on Saturday Night Live, and on how it surprised him when the audience responded to the ending of the sketch with such genuine emotion 04:38
Interview: Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel on one of his goals with The Dana Carvey Show being deliberately different from Saturday Night Live, such as using short films and cartoons 06:29
Interview: Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel on returning to Saturday Night Live; on pitching the “TV Funhouse” animated sketches to Lorne, and on the catchphrase "Come back here with my show” with Smigel mimicking Lorne Michaels on "TV Funhouse" 03:49
Interview: Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel on the animated sketches he created for Saturday Night Live; on the "Cluckin' Chicken" piece which he first created for The Dana Carvey Show and later brought to Saturday Night Live; on Adam Sandler as the voice of the "Cluckin' Chicken"; on hiring animation director J.J. Sedelmaier for these pieces; on why he turned to animation as a vehicle for comedy; on wanting to be a cartoonist 03:51
Interview: Robert Smigel | Show: Saturday Night Live
Robert Smigel on the animated sketches he created for Saturday Night Live; on the "Cluckin' Chicken" piece which he first created for The Dana Carvey Show and later brought to Saturday Night Live; on Adam Sandler as the voice of the "Cluckin' Chicken"; on hiring animation director J.J. Sedelmaier for these pieces; on why he turned to animation as a vehicle for comedy; on wanting to be a cartoonist 12:25
Interview: Robert Smigel | Show: The Dana Carvey Show
Robert Smigel on his return to Saturday Night Live with his "TV Funhouse" animated sketches, starting with the sketch "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" and then "The X Presidents" voiced by Jim Morris; on how the "TV Funhouse" animated sketches on SNL came about; on using Stephen Colbert and Steve Carrell as the voices of "Ace" and "Gary" in the "Ambiguously Gay Duo" sketches; on mimicking Lorne Michaels for the catchphrase “Come back here with my show” on "TV Funhouse"; on impressions of Lorne Michaels by himself and others including Tom Hanks and Mike Meyers 12:37
Interview: Robert Smigel | Show: Saturday Night Live
Robert Smigel on his animated holiday sketch "Christmastime for the Jews on Saturday Night Live, and on getting Phil Spector singer Darlene Love to sing the song for the sketch 02:08
Interview: Robert Smigel | Show: Saturday Night Live