Celebrity Jeopardy!
(SNL)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Will Ferrell (as Alex Trebek) and Darrell Hammond (as Sean Connery).
Celebrity Jeopardy! is one of the most popular recurring sketches
on Saturday Night Live that parodies the television game show Jeopardy! tournament of the same name, which is known to have
easier-than-normal answers asked when celebrities compete. 13 sketches have been aired to date, numbering 2 a season from
1996-2002, and 1 in 2005.
Will Ferrell appears as host Alex Trebek in all 13 of the sketches.
Darrell Hammond appears in all episodes as well, 11 of them as Sean Connery. Norm MacDonald appears in four episodes, all
as Burt Reynolds. Also, Jimmy Fallon appeared in six episodes, and Dean Edwards in two, but never as the same character.
The sketches always begin during the second round of Jeopardy!,
and two of the "contestants" have somehow attained very negative scores, while another "leads" with a score of zero or a ridiculously
low positive score such as 8 or 14. However, Marlon Brando led with negative 4,500 and Chris Tucker led with negative 5,000.
Trebek, being portrayed as the beleaguered straight man, attempts fruitlessly to manage the contestants, who are over-the-top
caricatures of other celebrities. The question categories are usually (with a few exceptions) humorously simple, such as Foods
ending in "amburger" or Months beginning with "Feb" or Colors ending in "urple" or even Movies that begin with the word "Jaws";
the category Potent Potables (which is more in line with a typical Jeopardy! category) is always featured but never selected
by a contestant or Trebek. The contestants, particularly Sean Connery, blatantly misinterpret questions, misread topic titles
(S-Words becomes Swords, for example, "The Pen is Mightier becomes "The Penis Mightier," and Therapists becomes The rapists),
and in general display high levels of neuroticism and incompetence. Meanwhile, Trebek insults the contestants, is bombarded
with sophomoric insults from Connery (often referring to alleged sexual acts with Trebek's mother), and eventually finishes
by giving up on the scripted questions and delivers a childishly simple "Final Jeopardy!" question (e.g. "Things You Like,"
or "Horsies"), which of course is always botched by the contestants (excepting Connery, who occasionally answers correctly
but whose wager transforms the answer into something rude; for example, when Trebek celebrated Connery's answer of "indoors"
to the question "Where are you right now?" he resumed his usual state of disappointment when the wager revealed Connery's
answer to actually read "I <3 BOOBS").
Initially, Burt Reynolds was to be the celebrity that appeared
in each episode. Sean Connery was supposed to be one of the many celebrities that only appeared once. Upon Norm MacDonald's
firing in 1998, writers decided to bring back Sean Connery, who appeared in every episode since, although Reynolds did return
when MacDonald hosted in 1999.
The sketch was apparently retired on Will Ferrell's own retirement
as a regular SNL cast member in 2002, but returned for one more appearance on May 14, 2005, when Ferrell hosted for the first time since leaving as
a regular. The final regular sketch featured the real Alex Trebek in a cameo appearance, and the return featured the return
of Trebek and Connery as characters, with the Final Jeopardy! question "Math questions a first-grader could solve".
See Jeopardy! in culture
Episodes
(Original air date, "celebrity players", and memorable categories
or misreadings)
May 14, 2005
- Sean Connery, Sharon Osbourne, Bill Cosby - Japan-US Relations/"Jap-Anus Relations"
May 18, 2002
- Sean Connery, Dave Matthews, Björk - I have a Chardonnay/I Have a -hardon---
September 29, 2001-
Sean Connery, Chris Tucker, Anne Heche - Horsemen/"Hor-semen"
February 8, 2001
- Sean Connery, Ozzy Osbourne, Martha Stewart - Don't do anything
December 16, 2000
- Sean Connery, Robin Williams, Catherine Zeta-Jones - An Album Cover/"Anal Bum Cover"
April 15, 2000 - Sean Connery, Keanu Reeves, Hilary Swank - Foreign
Flicks/"Foreign Fucks" (the misreading is never actually said; Trebek instead chooses the category "Foreign Flicks" and Connery
answers, "Ursula Andress, Catherine Deneuve, and Charo, twice!"), Below Me
October 23, 1999
- Sean Connery, French Stewart, Burt Reynolds (Turd Ferguson) - Condiments/"The Condom-thing", A Petit Dejeuner/"Ape Tit",
Suck It Trebek
March 20, 1999
- Sean Connery, Calista Flockhart, Nicolas Cage - The Pen is Mightier/"The Penis Mightier," "Buck Futter"
October 24, 1998
- Sean Connery, Adam Sandler, Tom Cruise - Famous Titles/"Famous Titties", Where are you?
May 9, 1998
- Sean Connery, Minnie Driver, Jeff Goldblum - Therapists/"The-rapists"
October 4, 1997
- John Travolta, Michael Keaton, Burt Reynolds - Miso Horny
May 10, 1997
- Marlon Brando, Phil Donahue, Burt Reynolds - Name this color, the current year
December 7, 1996
- Sean Connery, Burt Reynolds, Jerry Lewis - "S" Words/"Swords"
[edit]
Stars
Drew Barrymore - Calista Flockhart
David Duchovny - Jeff Goldblum
Dean Edwards - Chris Tucker, Boyd Tinsley (Helped Dave Matthews
with answer)
Jimmy Fallon - Adam Sandler, Nicolas Cage, French Stewart, Hilary
Swank, Robin Williams, Dave Matthews
Will Ferrell - Alex Trebek
Ana Gasteyer - Martha Stewart
John Goodman - Marlon Brando
Darrell Hammond - Sean Connery, Phil Donahue, John Travolta
Chris Kattan - Ricky Martin (Gave a Video Daily Double clue)
Lucy Liu - Catherine Zeta-Jones
Norm MacDonald - Burt Reynolds
Tobey Maguire - Keanu Reeves
Chris Parnell - Chad Lowe (Seen in audience during Hilary Swank's
Final Jeopardy speech)
Matthew Perry - Michael Keaton
Amy Poehler - Sharon Osbourne
Winona Ryder - Bjōrk
Horatio Sanz - Ozzy Osbourne
Molly Shannon - Minnie Driver
Martin Short - Jerry Lewis
Ben Stiller - Tom Cruise
Kenan Thompson - Bill Cosby
Alex Trebek - Himself (appeared at end of "last" episode, though
the series returned once more in 2005)
Reese Witherspoon - Anne Heche
