There have been quite a few movies based on Saturday Night Live sketches throughout the years. From Wayne’s World to Coneheads to It’s Pat, SNL movies have been a staple of the cinema since shortly after the show began airing.
And given how many movies were successfully movie-fied, it seems clear there would be loads of sketches that almost, but not quite, made it to the silver screen. Here are 6 SNL skits that didn’t make it to your local cinema.
1. HANS & FRANZ: THE GIRLY MAN DILEMMA (1993)
Photo Credit: NBC
The Schwarzenegger-worshipping Hans and Franz almost made it to film. Actor Kevin Nealon said, “Yes, we wrote a musical! Hans & Franz: The Girly Man Dilemma. I wrote it with Conan O’Brien, Robert Smigel, and Dana Carvey. Arnold Schwarzenegger was co-producing with us, and he was going to star in it. We got it written, sold it to Sony. But I think Arnold got cold feet.”
Robert Smigel added that Arnold was fresh off his box office bomb Last Action Hero. Smigel said, “That movie came out and it was a failure and I was told by his agent that Arnold decided [adopts Schwarzenegger voice], ‘I will never be myself in a movie again! It can’t be done, this is the proof. I can’t play myself in a movie, automatic failure.’”
2. BILL SWERSKI’S SUPERFANS (1995)
Photo Credit: NBC
A classic SNL skit featuring a group of Chicago sports-loving average Joes. SNL had a rough year with critics, so it was decided that this sketch wouldn’t get the big-screen treatment.
3. COFFEE TALK (1995)
Photo Credit: NBC
The same year’s bad reviews also sidelined the Coffee Talk movie, a sketch based on Mike Myers’ former mother in law.
4. THE AMBIGUOUSLY GAY DUO (2005)
Photo Credit: NBC
Now this would’ve been a good one! SNL’s TV Funhouse animated sketch is (IMHO) one of the funniest things on the show. The movie version was supposed to be a go back in 2005, but, alas, we’re not anywhere closer to seeing Ace and Gary on the big screen.
5. STEFON (2013)
Photo Credit: NBC
Bill Hader’s ridiculous character Stefon was supposed to hit the screen back in 2013, and Hader even told talk show host Larry King he wanted to make it happen. Hader also told King, “We talked a little bit about an idea for a movie, and then we were kind of like, ‘I don’t think it’ll work. We did have one funny scene that was making John and I laugh, which was Stefon coming out to his family. His parents are, like, blue-collar people from the Bronx.”
Let’s keep our fingers crossed for that one.
6. SPROCKETS (2000)
Photo Credit: NBC
Mike Myers has always been a great creator of characters, and his German TV host Dieter was another solid sketch. In 2000, Universal sued Myers because he was no longer satisfied with the script that he had written himself. Myers said, “The question has always been can Sprockets move beyond a sketch into a full-length feature. Despite my greatest efforts, I have yet to achieve that. I cannot in good conscience accept $20 million and cheat moviegoers … with an unacceptable script.”
