SNL Goes to The Courtroom

JOOTB_FinalThis weekend's events celebrating Saturday Night Live's 50th Anniversary had me thinking about the times the show featured skits about lawyers.  There were more than you probably think.  And while this column isn't intended to be an exhaustive list, here are some of my favorites.

I wanted to lead off with a clip of the first lawyer sketch.  It happened on the very first episode back in 1975.  It was also Gilda Radner's first appearance.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find it online.  Here's a summary from screenrant.com:

In the "Trial," a courtroom witness (Jane Curtin) can't bring herself to voice aloud what was said to her when a man pulled her into an alleyway.  Instead, she writes it down so the judge, lawyers, and jurors can all read what was said.  When John Belushi's juror hands the piece of paper to the juror next to him who'd been asleep, the woman (Gilda Radner) naturally thinks she's being hit on by Belushi's character.  Radner's juror is also pretty enthusiastic about doing whatever was written down, creating a comedic contrast to the rest of the courtroom's reactions, which had hilariously been quite negative.  This proved to be very funny, both thanks to Radner's natural comic ability and the fact that she was making a ridiculous situation out of something that was dire and frightening to the witness, making the entire thing look like a dark and disturbing joke.

Chris Farley did a recurring character on the Weekend Update named Bennett Brauer.  He was an obnoxious commentator who loved to use air quotes when saying things like "I'm not likeable" and "I don't shower regularly."   I don't know if the character was a lawyer, but I've met a few lawyers over the years (I won't name names) who remind me of him.

Norm McDonald's relentless roasting of O.J. Simpson was something of a mixed blessing.  It was genuinely hilarious, but it ultimately got Norm fired.  To this day, I laugh when I think about "careful, that's my lucky stabbin' cap."

Lawyer commercials are often the most unintentionally funny things on TV.  This parody, featuring Kate McKinnon and Bobby Moynihan, is hilarious.  There is an uneven distribution of talent in the firm of Broderick and Ganz.  This will become very evident early in the bit.

Sometimes lawyers are saddled with bad facts.  In a 2018 sketch, Donald Glover does his best defending Jurassic World after dinosaurs ate a couple of patrons. 

In a skit from 2019, SNL reimagined "Shark Tank" as a show where celebrities pitched their cases to a panel of lawyers consisting of Michael Avenatti, Jeanine Pirro, Alan Dershowitz and Rudy Guiliani.  Cecily Strong manages to nail Pirro's lunacy and lack of self-awareness flawlessly.  And John Mullaney kills as Dershowitz, when he tells Jussie Smollett "you've got everything I love in a client. You're famous and you're probably guilty."

And now, my favorite? It's a tie.  I simply can't choose one over the other, as they are both classics.  Martin Short as Nathan Thurm kills me.  In this clip he's aggressively defending the tobacco industry because, well of course because that is exactly what Nathan Thurm would do.

And last but certainly not least, there is the brilliant Phil Hartman as the "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer."   This is vintage SNL – an utterly absurd idea with Hartman completely committed to it.  The Caveman is frightened and confused by our modern ways – especially when he hears loud noises while driving his BMW.  Fantastic.

Whenever I do a column like this, I usually hear from readers who share their own favorites.  I am looking forward to the feedback on this one.  

About The Author

Jack Greiner | Faruki Partner