Three years ago today, we were subjected to Gilly for the first time – and we still haven’t quite recovered.
Since "SNL" premiered in 1975, the show has seen more than 800 recurring characters, according to the indispensable SNL Archives. Many have been hilarious and used sparingly (like Blue Öyster Cult cowbell player Gene Frenkle), but many more have been dreadful, overexposed, and increasingly nerve-grating through repetition. Because obviously unfunny characters become funnier the more they’re featured.
Here are 10 “SNL” recurring characters who should have stopped after an appearance or two (minimum four appearances), including the three-year-old Gilly. Finally, she actually has something to say “sorry” for.
Character: Church Lady
Played by: Dana Carvey
Appearances: 21
The Church Lady was funny at the beginning, like when "she" interviewed Tammy Faye and Jim Baker (Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman), but grew increasingly obnoxious after the fifth, tenth, fifteenth, twentieth, and, finally, twenty-first appearance, ranging from 1986-2011. (It's a weird feeling when an ongoing "SNL" sketch is older than you are.) Special? Not quite.
Character: Billy Smith
Played by: Fred Armisen
Appearances: 4
Doesn’t it seem like the “joke” of most of Fred Armisen’s characters is that they’re not funny? Take Native American comic Billy Smith, for instance. Here’s a transcript from a 2003 episode:
Billy Smith: It sure is a pleasure to be here in New York. Is anybody here from out of town? How about you, where do you come from?
Jimmy Fallon: Uh…I'm from upstate.
Billy: Sorry.
Jimmy: I said, I'm from upstate New York.
Billy: I know! And I'm greatly sorry! Do you see? I am disparaging the place of your birth!
The intentional non-joke joke is rarely funny; it only works when the subject material is really dark, like when Lars Von Trier made his infamous “I’m a Nazi” joke. It also helps to have “FU*K” tattooed on your knuckles.
Character: Leon Phelps
Played by: Tim Meadows
Appearances: 19
There have been 11 movies based on nine “SNL” characters, from 1980’s The Blues Brothers to 2010’s MacGruber. Most of them, to put it gently, HAVE BEEN TERRIBLE. But only three have Rotten Tomatoes scores under 15%: It’s Pat, A Night at the Roxbury, and The Ladies Man, the worst of the trio. Why? The Pat movie itself isn’t funny, at all, but the IDEA of a Pat movie is fantastic, while Roxbury stars Will Ferrell, which at least gives it some credibility. The Ladies Man, as a character, is just BAD; Tim Meadows always seemed so desperate for a laugh, which took away the entire point of the supposedly “cool” character. Plus, that lisp!
Character: Opera Man
Played by: Adam Sandler
Appearances: 10
Canteen Boy/Cajun Boy/Herlihy Boy > Opera Man
Character: Christy Henderson
Played by: David Spade
Appearances: 7
I wanted to include David Spade's Total Bastards Airline "Buh-Bye" guy, but he only appeared in two sketches. So, instead we have Christy from the Gap Girls series, which realllyyy hasn't aged well.
Character(s): Marty and Bobbi Culp
Played: Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer
Appearances: 21
In his seven seasons on "SNL," Will Ferrell played 27 original recurring characters. Most of them — including Frank Henderson, Jeffrey's Supervisor, and Jacob Silj — were classics. But there were a few duds, too, like the Culps. Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer played two unhip music teachers who sang modern classics by DMX and Pink, and though they both do their best to make the material funny (and it kind of was at first), it’s hard to find THAT much humor in the duo singing Nine Days’ “Absolutely (Story of a Girl).” Over 20 appearances for a one-joke act was too much, particularly when it’s just a rehash of Bill Murray’s Nick the Lounge Singer character.
Character: Mango
Played by: Chris Kattan
Appearances: 16
Mango, the exotic dancer you loved to hate, appeared on "SNL" 16 TIMES. By comparison, "The Blues Brothers" only had five sketches, while "Celebrity Jeopardy" had 14. That's why I chose Kattan's Mango over Mr. Peepers — he's the epitome of an at-first vaguely amusing character getting run into the ground for reasons beyond comprehension. They needed to fill air-time? They needed to find someone who made Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow look humble(ish) by comparison. Who knows.
Character: Fericito
Played by: Fred Armisen
Appearances: 8
Fred Armisen is the only repeat offender on this list, but that's what happens when you're credited with 31 characters. Honestly, very few of them are any good, and Nicholas Fehn, Manuel Ortiz, or Gunther Kelly all could have been here instead. Fericito just bugs me the most because of that “womp-womp” thing he does EVERY DAMN TIME. Armisen should really just ditch playing a variety of "ethnic" roles on "SNL," and instead solely focus on "Portlandia," where he's actually quite endearing.
Character(s): Wendy and Doug Whiner
Played by: Robin Duke and Joe Piscopo
Appearances: 10
As their name implies, they whined. A lot. In loud voices and stretched-out syllables. That's it. They're like if you took Paul Rudd's character from Wet Hot American Summer, particularly the scene where he dramatically throws his body around while cleaning up his mess, but made him uncool, unfunny, and obnoxious, and did it TEN TIMES in two years.
Character: Gilly
Played by: Kristen Wiig
Appearances: 4
Looking for a good time on the Internet? Do a YouTube search for "Gilly Impression":
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/679/thumb)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/tumblr_may1uv5Iva1qbhzp1_large-150x150.gif)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/bill-hader-puppet-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/the-7-best-snl-season-38-musical-performances-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/snickers-affleck-150x150.gif)
Don’t forget Goat Boy. That shit was terrible. Baaah!
How…dare you.
I love Will Forte saying “GIIIIILLY.” I dunno, call me a masochist.
That was the true saving grace of that sketch, but it still wasn’t enough.
That’s weird, #1 is misspelled. It should read NICHOLAS FEHN.
I’m not so sure that character is worth even one sketch.
Yeah, I know you mention him in the article itself. But I hate him SO much.
I would add Kenan Thompson’s recurring role as “On-Air Performer”
I love the “What’s Up With That?” sketch. But I agree. He’s gotta be one of the worst SNL regulars in years.
Kenan Thompson is good at being “the black guy.” But there are plenty of black guys who are actually funny. So I concur: Thompson is awful.
I absolutely HATE the Scared Straight sketch. Thompson is awful in it.
Maybe it’s because I have such fond memories of Kenan chilling in a bathtub on All That, but he doesn’t bug me. I think “What’s Up with That?” is pretty great, and his dumber characters, like Beef Jelly and DJ Dynasty Handbag, are funny enough. Not a fan of Scared Straight, though.
Who is “David Space”?
I’d like to add the Stuart Smalley character to this list. F’ing terrible character.
I can’t help it…I still wanna fuck Kristen Wiig
I had never seen Gilly before. WOW, she’s terrible.
Although the first sketch on Hulu that comes up for Gilly does feature Casey Wilson with the best line of the whole thing: “I’m sorry; in the bum’s ass.”
Also: is Casey Wilson hot? I really can’t decide.
I say yes. Very hot.
I’ve always had a thing for her, but I think it’s because she’s chubby and therefor attainable.
Is Casey Wilson hot?
Yes. Yes she is.
I reeeeaaally didn’t like Casey Wilson on SNL, but she’s pretty adorable on Happy Endings.
Patty: Really? Wilson’s time on SNL is the reason I’ve never watched Happy Endings. I always thought she was the exact opposite of funny. Guess I’m going to have to catch up now…
YUP.
Also, sorry for introducing Gilly to you?
Good to know.
And Josh: no sweat. The daily content of WG is more than enough to make up for a million Gillys.
SNL has always ignored that only certain cast members can make recurring characters funny. Amy Poehler’s “Amber” was as one-note as they come but she was hilarious every time. Maybe they just need an enforcer on the show who isn’t afraid to tell Wiig that Gilly and Target lady are horrible.
Do they still do “Gilly” with no Will Forte? That seems wrong. I don’t know if it’s so much that they need an enforcer as they need writers that aren’t as lazy as to keep doing these horrible characters over and over.
I also think that the Target Lady is far more egregious than Gilly.
Wiig is extremely talented, but especially when she first started on the show, she was in so many sketches and they let her especially bad ones continue, that my friends and I were sure she was sleeping with Lorne Michaels. I’m also pretty done with all of the Justin Timberlake sketches that they rehash every time he comes on the show.
Amber was great, but I think my favorite of Amy’s characters is Caitlin.
Hanz und Franz…the “Pump You Up” guys, has my #1 vote for most annoying. Even as a kid I couldn’t stand the sketch.
Also, the Tri Delts. Ugh.
What about Rob Schneider’s “Copy Guy”? Are we completely forgetting that he was ever on that show?…. actually, that’s not a bad idea
I’d have to include the Will Ferrell/Cheri O’Teri cheerleaders. God, they were awfule.
*awful
Sorry
kayyyyyyyyyyyyy teeeeeeeeeeeeee…….
Also, does anybody wonder why Jay Pharoah hardly ever gets to do anything besides occasional impressions?
Because the writing staff is terrible. That’s the only other explanation. Otherwise, they’d be grinding Will Smith and Denzel into our brains and Pharoah would be Obama.
Not as much as I wonder why Fred Armison decided he’d like to get into the comedy biz.
I liked the Jay Pharoah talk show this past weekend. Poked fun at how he only does impressions. Some people, no matter how talented they are as comedians, just don’t work on SNL (see also: Rock, Chris)
Tracey Morgan is like that, too. He was totally the token black guy for most of his time there, but Brian Fellow was one of the funniest sketches ever.
Mikey Myers’ character Simon, the kid in the bathtub who did drawings. Myers had too much power on the show at that point. Never funny.
Agreed, not to mention his Coffee Talk lady character.
Phillip was the shit, though. That kid REALLY liked candy.
This list should actually be pretty boring: nothing but Armisen and Wiig characters in the top 10, including that thing where they’re the singing couple.
Also, I liked the Culps, if only because they lampooned the patchouli-smelling teachers that so populated my middle school.
Okay, the current worst offender is the goddamn kissing family. IT’S GROSS. WE GET IT. STOP DOING IT.
Also, you know which recurring characters I miss? The Two A-Holes.
Anything that can lead to a Paul Rudd cameo is fine in my book
PREACH! I caught one of their old sketches – the manger, I think – on Hulu last week and that was Jason Sudeikis at his finest.
Babe. Babe. Hey, babe.
The two-dudes-kissing-because-it’s-funny joke wore out about five years ago.
It is played out. We should just have more two girls kissing scenes…I bet those are funny. Abby Elliot + Nasim Pedrad maing out could be hilarious.
Mike Meyers. Coffee Talk. It’s just the worst.
I wouldn’t watch even THIS gilly “parody” [www.youtube.com]
The Ladies Man is funny. That, Hebrew Hammer, and Boat Trip are my favorite terrible movies. Sometimes you need cheap laughs, and those movies deliver if you go into them with zero expectations and some cheap bourbon. Or Courvoisier.
The Spartan Cheerleaders & Delicious Dish.
/end discussion.
The Falconer. Will Forte is a model human being, but that shit was atrocious.
And yeah, Target Lady/Kat and Garth should both be present.
The Ladies Man, really? You’re trolling, come on.
He was fine the first, maybe second, time. Seventeen appearances later: UGH.
I’m pro Ladies Man, I could’ve easily done with more of that and less of whatever Mr. Peepers was doing that week.
I submit Nicholas Fehn and everything Kenan Thompson has ever done. I like Ferecito.
No way about Kenan. Lorenzo McIntosh is always great. I’ve also been fond of Virginiaca. Ta-dow!
I like googie rene, SHIA!
I think David Spade’s character as the Gap Girl was mainly to put Chris Farely in drag. LAY OFF ME I’M STARVING!
Ladies Man has some saving grace because occasionally it’s fun to tell a strange woman that ‘it looks like somebody stole two fine hams and shoved them down the back of your dress.’ just to see what type of reaction it gets.
Ladies Man, Mango, The Felps and Church Lady don’t deserve on this list. They were good in their day. The Church lady sketch with Bieber was pretty good.
In Conclusion, this was a terrible list that drew way too much on the 90′s. Also, Stefon (was great until it became Bill Hader in stupid clothes laughing at random shit that was changed on the fly), Kristin Wig’s “Just Kidding” character and the Vogalchecks are noticeably missing on this list.
#1 should have been, without a doubt, Chris Kattan. And I don’t mean any of his characters. I just mean him. He should be #1 on any list about anything bad about SNL. Even if the list is “Worst black female cast members in SNL history”…..#1? Chris Kattan.
And I actually kind of like The Ladies Man, and the movie wasn’t the worst SNL spinoff by a long shot. Ooohhh….ith a lady.
Oh. And where in the hell is Mary Catherine Gallagher? Goddamn that was awful.
I think Chris Kattan and Keenan Thompson are fighting for that number 1 spot.
Keenan Thompson is far superior to Chris Kattan for one singular reason…..
Just seeing him has never made me want to strangle a baby duck.
I humbly submit Nick Burns, Your Company’s Computer Guy.
Its probably easier to just list the recurring characters that should have gotten more than 2-3 recurrences.
I will say Dieter on Sprockets, Stefon, Wayne’s World, Harry Caray, Da Bears fans, and Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood.
Yelling at home made gilly videos is officially my new release.
Also whats “disposable yogurt”?
That techno music talk show with Kenan Thompson. Kevin Nealon’s subliminal man was stupid too.
After looking at this list I realize that annoying stuff of the ’80s and ’90s is nowhere near as annoying as annoying stuff from today.
Basically, anytime Armisen is on Weekend Update (either as one of his solo characters or with a partner), the best move is to change the channel until his bit is done.
As for Wiig, she was a bright spot at SNL until the new cast came on board. Now she’s basically just trying to stay relevant.
How about Lawrence Welk? I can’t stand that one.
I love Armisen and a good amount of his characters (his most underrated work is as one of the production guys on Bill Hader’s Italian guy talk show) but I agree about Billy Smith as well as now Nicholas Fehn – the political comedian who just holds up newspapers. Sometimes his reactions are good but it’s just the same non joke again and again.
His Roger Brush character always fucking cracks me up though. He’s the producer of those lady type talk shows who always has to fill in for the absent host and answer personal questions from the audience…..that stuff always makes me die laughing when he finally hears their weird question and gives some odd advice.
Cajun Boy > Opera Man, but Herlihy Boy? Nah, bro, nah
Ugh, Canteen Boy was horrible.
Next up: “UPROXX writers who should have been a one-off.”
moded!
The Culps deserving inclusion reminds me, can anyone remember something Ana Gasteyer did on SNL that was funny?
Topless Martha Stewrart, Shwetty Balls
Mango. Hands down Mango. In fact, Chris Kattan was the reason I stopped watching SNL. If there was a less talented, less funny person on Planet Earth, we have not yet discovered them.
Wiig and Armisen as the two people who sing on Weekend Update in the vests and make shit up as they go along are horrible. And having Seth Myers as head writer and Weekend Update anchor is pretty bad too.
You like-a the juice? The juice, she’s a good?
my co-worker’s step-mother makes $84/hour on the computer. She has been out of work for 8 months but last month her income was $7457 just working on the computer for a few hours. Here’s the site to read more… LazyCash10.com
I registered just so I could say, goddamn, do I fucking hate Kristen Wiig. Jesus, how I hate her.
Can we call G.E. Smith a character? I always wanted to see an indie movie where G.E. Smith and Nicko McBrain played Siamese twins. Take that to f’n Sundance!
Directed by David Lynch.