or Skit Happens
During my time with Olympia Dukasis' Whole Theater, I managed to impress Ms. Dukasis with my comedy material. Here's how I know:
At this time, 1988, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” had a mini-tradition of asking Oscar nominees for best supporting actor to host the show. And they asked Ms. Dukakis. Good for her. But then the weirdest thing happened. Tom Gilpin called me aside after one of our rehearsals and asked me if I wanted to meet with Olympia Dukakis. Sure?
At this time, 1988, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” had a mini-tradition of asking Oscar nominees for best supporting actor to host the show. And they asked Ms. Dukakis. Good for her. But then the weirdest thing happened. Tom Gilpin called me aside after one of our rehearsals and asked me if I wanted to meet with Olympia Dukakis. Sure?
As it turns out, she wanted to go to SNL with some material in hand, stuff she would ask to do. She had been so impressed with our work that she asked Tom and me to come up with some sketches for her that she would present to the show. I was floored. You have to realize that I thought that SNL was the greatest show in the world. I’d watched it from the beginning. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to write comedy. It influenced my work through college and the humor magazine. I subscribed to NATIONAL LAMPOON because of it. It was an once-in-a-lifetime chance to present material to comedic Valhalla and I was going to seize it.
In a frenzy, I wrote several sketches for her. I knew the show, I thought for sure I knew how to cater my material to them. Dana Carvey did a wacky Robin Leech? I wrote a skit called Change of Life-Styles of the Rich and Famous, where we looked celebrities who hit their biggest success late in late. I even managed a Donald Trump joke in there. 1988! Hey, in NY, Trump had been kind of a joke for years.
Next, At Home With the Dukaki, an Olympia/Michael Dukakis sketch that would have been a natural since Jon Lovitz was scoring big with his impression of the candidate. It was a thing about famous cousins (The Roosevelts, Jerry Lee Lewis & Jimmy Swaggart, Jesus and John the Baptist, Patty Duke, etc.). Politics and show business, comedy gold!
Of course there was a movie parody (an SNL tradition), Moonstruck II, as produced by Hammer Films, featuring werewolves.
Finally, a sketch about the gods on Mt. Olympus (hitting on her Greek heritage) that I was particularly proud of. Zeus was dealing with a walk-out of the creative Muses, which referenced the threat of a writers strike which loomed over the entertainment industry at the time.
Olympia Dukasis read them. She liked them (even more after a little tweaking). She wanted to bring them with her. Naturally, she couldn't guarantee anything, but she was really anxious to be proactive as a host. Worked for me!
I couldn’t believe my luck! My sketches were going to be presented to SNL! Then my luck became more believable: That March, the Writers Guild, as foretold in my Greek sketch, went on strike. SNL went dark for that week and for many, many weeks after. Dukasis was never asked to host again. To balance out that disappointment, she did win the Oscar in April.
Coincidentally, the Mt. Olympus sketch focused on the Muses wanting Zeus to pay them more for their work, parodying the issues of the time and the ultimate reason for the WGA strike; payment for VHS sales.
I couldn’t believe my luck! My sketches were going to be presented to SNL! Then my luck became more believable: That March, the Writers Guild, as foretold in my Greek sketch, went on strike. SNL went dark for that week and for many, many weeks after. Dukasis was never asked to host again. To balance out that disappointment, she did win the Oscar in April.
Coincidentally, the Mt. Olympus sketch focused on the Muses wanting Zeus to pay them more for their work, parodying the issues of the time and the ultimate reason for the WGA strike; payment for VHS sales.
