Instagram story viewer> @janhooksforever> Posts

Jan Hooks Forever

@janhooksforever

1.1K

followers

211

following

Remembering and honoring the life and comedy legacy of SNL’s Jan Hooks.

POSTS STORIES REELS

Nora Dunn shared a little nugget on Facebook. She posted about “The Carol Burnett Show” and its frequent cast crack-ups.

When Nora was on SNL, Lorne took a dim view of this laughter. It wasn’t the norm for everyone to start laughing in the middle of a sketch. However, she came close a few times.

She wrote: “I almost laughed out loud when Christopher Walken did a sketch Jan and I did. Attitudes. A talk show. He never understood the character he was playing, Rainbow Head. So when he came out live he stopped and asked me ‘Who am I?”

That’s the most Christopher Walken thing ever.

Looking back on Phil Hartman losing it as Frankenstein, Nora said she was glad she didn’t turn to look at him.

As for “The Carol Burnett Show”…

“The Carol Burnett show was wonderfully silly. And they didn't have a host to honor and show off. We had to maintain order!” -~ Nora

For the record, Jan didn’t like the new SNL casts laughing all the time. I’d love to hear what she would say about it now.

#janhooks #janhooksforever #noradunn #christopherwalken saturdaynightliv by @janhooksforever

Here are Jan and Nora, post Sweeney Sisters performance, at the 1988 Emmys.

The ceremony was held earlier than usual that year due to the Seoul Olympics.

Lorne Michaels produced the show. His influence has made it a favorite of SNL fans.

But it seems many audience members were a bit clueless when it comes to some of its most popular sketches.

“We opened the Emmys in 1988 and back stage we decided to chat with George Will and Sam Donaldson in character. They shunned us as if we were two backstage barflies trying to slut it up with a couple of genuine prime time newsmen. No one enjoyed something like that more than Jan Hooks.” ~ Nora Dunn, in a Facebook post after Jan’s passing.

Mary Tyler Moore also loved the Sweeney Sisters and asked for them to be included in the SNL she hosted in 1989.

Jan later attended the 1991 Emmys as a new member of the “Designing Women” cast. She was also nominated for an Emmy in 1998 for her work on “3rd Rock From the Sun.”

In my opinion she should have been nominated for Verna on “30 Rock.” I think that’s a popular opinion.

#janhooks #janhooksforever #noradunn #saturdaynightlive #emmys by @janhooksforever

Not the greatest shot of Martin Short, but it is an especially good shot of Jan.

“The Martin Short Show” aired in September 1994. Three episodes made it on out of a total of 13 shot. This was already its second incarnation. Jan was not in the first. She came in after the show was retooled.

NBC pulled the plug early, and in a TV Guide interview from around the time, Short said he expected the show to come back. It did not.

He did follow it up with Jan on “The Show Formerly Known as The Martin Short Show” in May 1995. This was a summer SNL replacement the network didn’t publicize heavily. It’s Jan’s tour de force, and she got to work with her buddy Phil Hartman again. You can find it on YouTube.

Just as an aside, Wikipedia says @thekristenjohnston appeared on “The Martin Short Show” pilot episode. She later went on to work with Jan on “3rd Rock From the Sun.”

Thanks for the screenshot @earthdogbb !!!

#janhooks #janhooksforever #martinshort #saturdaynightlive by @janhooksforever

40 years ago tonight, at 11:35p est, season 12 of “Saturday Night Live” premiered. With the exception of Nora Dunn, Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz, and A. Whitney Brown, a slew of new faces debuted. Many of them looked a bit familiar.

Jan was one of them. Coming off her two movie roles in “Wildcats” and “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” this was a pivotial evening, which thrust her into the national spotlight.

NBC was nervous. Its TV Guide ad showed Jon Lovitz. Even Jan was unsure of the longevity of her new gig. The cast couldn’t breathe until the middle of its season, when the network gave the nod for the show to continue.

Jan was uneasy in this new spotlight and later said going live was like “being attacked by a wild animal.” Phil Hartman and @kevinnealon helped soften the blow, even as they entered the whirlwind.

These are the people who opened my eyes to sketch comedy. SNL seemed accessible and raw, sometimes boom mic shadows happen or audio backfires. It seemed dangerous.

The first show I watched live was the 1989 Steve Martin one, the night after Gilda Radner died. I was immediately hooked. I remain grateful to everyone who made it happen. Jan Hooks - and this cast - were one of a kind.

#saturdaynightlive #janhooks #janhooksforever by @janhooksforever

Jan, as she appeared in a small photo in the September 11, 1992 issue of Entertainment Weekly. The picture is likely SNL-era, based on the hair.

That September, “Designing Women” was heading into its seventh and last season. Julia Duffy was out and Judith Ivey joined the cast. The fab @thesherylleeralph joined up too.

Even though the show had high ratings in its previous season, the wheels came off for season seven.

Jan evidently saw the writing on the wall and went back to SNL to make guest appearances. According to a former CBS employee, this did not endear her to the top brass at the Tiffany network.

“Batman Returns” was also released in June 1992 and Jan got some buzz for her role as image consultant Jen.

Still, “DW” was a steady gig at the time, and Jan found it much, much more welcoming than the rat race of SNL.

“I never got into the rhythm of performing live. My body reacted as if I were being attacked by a wild animal,” she told Entertainment Weekly on October 4, 1991. “I feel like I’m home.”

Thanks muchly to @austintolin for scanning and sending this wonderful picture. I like Jan’s shirt.

#janhooks #janhooksforever #designingwomen #saturdaynightlive by @janhooksforever

More than forty years ago, on September 2, 1986, Jan’s mother Sara Margaret Brannon Hooks died.

Jan’s father Wyatt said the family was close and they all shared a funny bone.

“When the kids were growing up, we spent a lot of time laughing, really enjoying each other,” he told the Fort Myers, FL News-Press in 1992.

Sara “Sadie” Brannon was born in 1923 and grew up in Cedartown, GA. After graduating from high school, she attended Young Harris College and transferred to LaGrange College, southwest of Atlanta and not too far from home. She was studying to be a music teacher. The picture of her comes from the 1945 LaGrange yearbook. It says she was in a couple sororities, a member of the Chapel Choir, vice-president of the Curtain Raisers and of Alpha Psi Omega. Also, she was a member of the Chapel Choir, the Concert Choir, and the Sextet. Plus, she was in the Dance Club.

How she met Wyatt Hooks is a question. But she did and fell in love with the World War Two veteran. They got married and settled down in Decatur, an Atlanta suburb. Wyatt worked for Sears and Sadie taught school until the kids came along. Jan was the youngest of three, a baby sister to two rowdy big brothers.

As time wore on, it became clear Jan was just a little different than the other kids, and more performance -geared like her mom.

“It was hard to discipline her because she’d go into dialect and making funny faces. I never dreamed she’d make money making people laugh,” Sadie said to the Atlanta Journal in August 1981.

In the same Journal interview, Jan talks about the character she created Bonnie and Terry Turner for “Tush” who spoofed television evangelists. Tammy Jean was saccharine sweet on camera and all bite off. Jan admitted Tammy “is a great deal like my mother.”

Sadie was Jan’s biggest fan. She didn’t get to see Jan go live from New York. But for the rest of her life, Jan remembered one of their last conversations, which would help her through some difficult years ahead.

“Just before my mother died she told me, ‘It’s your time. Destiny waits.’ I continue to get inspiration from her.”

#janhooks #janhooksforever @pchsmuseum #cedartownga #saturdaynightlive by @janhooksforever

“The 1/2 Hour Comedy Hour” had some hype in 1983, but it ultimately never got past the summer replacement show status.

That sweet face on the lower right is Jan. If you look across the ladder, there’s another familiar SNL mug. This was Jan’s first interaction with Victoria Jackson.

Arsenio Hall and Thom Sharp hosted the variety show, which aired on ABC from July 5 to August 9. Jan got to stretch her stuff onscreen, playing a variety of characters.

This was Jan’s first big job in Los Angeles. According to friend and Atlanta co-star Bill Tush, they moved out there to take their chances and try Hollywood as a united front. Jan and Tush and a former writer for “Tush” were roommates.

After “The 1/2 Hour Comedy Hour” was canned, Jan picked up work where she could get it, finally gaining major traction in 1985 with “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.” Frequent Pee Wee collaborator John Paragon was also on the show, so she already had some ties to Paul Reubens.

Even though they never worked together again, Arsenio Hall remembered Jan as a “wonderful lady” after she passed away.

Jan and Victoria had a rough working relationship. Jan was (often justifiably) critical of Victoria and Victoria couldn’t understand why Jan didn’t like her.

But a lot of the men on SNL were catty with each other and we don’t hear much about that.

#janhooks #janhooksforever #saturdaynightlive #80stv by @janhooksforever

One of the lesser-known sketches of the April 1990 Alec Baldwin show is Lovitz’s cable access host who wants to see more naked people on TV.

Jan popped up as a casual guest on The Nude Talk Show.

Her costume is discreet. @jon_lovitz goes beefcake.

Not long after Jan died, Lovitz remembered his longtime co-star for her major acting ability.

“I was on the show with her for four years… and she was a talent," he told Entertainment Tonight. "We always thought of her as like the female Phil Hartman. She could play anything and do anything, and she was a great actress. A great comedic actress."

#janhooks #janhooksforever #saturdaynightlive by @janhooksforever

The thing is, Jan wasn’t planning to be funny.

In 1981 she told the Fort Myers, FL News Press: “I got into it by accident. But I feel more comfortable with it now. I haven't done drama in a long time. I've always had these funny characters running around inside of me."

A lot of it began when she met Bonnie and Terry Turner in Atlanta, when all of them were doing local theater. The Turners lured her into some of their improv shows and plays. All of that evolved into their involvement with WTBS’s “Tush” and the titular Bill Tush himself. The show ran les than a year but made a big impression on its audience. Jan won a local Emmy for her efforts. She nicknamed it Emmy Sue.

"We were a well-oiled machine," Jan told the Atlanta Journal in August 1985. ”It was real pure. No one was thinking in terms of high power, or ego, or hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake - the experience was not tainted by that."

After kicking around Hollywood and working as an Alamo tour guide, Jan joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for the 1986/87 season. She got the Turners to follow not long after.

Some of the concepts from “Tush” worked their way into SNL. The Turners wrote Jan a bunch of diner waitress sketches back in Atlanta. The tradition continued at SNL.

As the clout the Turners had in Hollywood increased post-SNL, Jan seemed to retreat from the business. She took the recurring role of Vicki Dubcek on their “Third Rock From the Sun” show. The consensus is it was a happy set and Jan presumably felt comfortable among friends old and new.

Speaking personally, it’s a blessing to keep the friends you started with. I don’t known if Jan stayed in touch with the Turners after “Third Rock” but I hope she did.

#janhooks #janhooksforever #wtbs #saturdaynightlive by @janhooksforever

Classic film buff Jan Hooks had a lot in common with a certain actress she satirized on April 21, 1990.

“I want to be the Greta Garbo of sitcoms,” she told a reporter right after she started “Designing Women.”

And it’s true. Jan HATED doing publicity. She also “vanted to be alone” like Garbo, the elusive star who also shunned public life and grew tired of Hollywood.

This sketch was part of what is considered by many to be Jan’s best SNL. Her Garbo ends up doing a series of charades to escape a telephone call. She is aided by Alec Baldwin as James O’Brien, who tells of his interactions with Garbo in her later days.

Jan also appeared in the infamous Greenhilly, where Baldwin kisses all the female cast members, Phil Hartman, and a dog. She popped up on the Nude Talk Show, Middle Aged Man and most notably, the diner sketch where she flirts with the cowboy who walked into the restaurant.

In a nutshell, Jan worked her ass off that night. It is her showcase, a tribute to her versatility as an actress and comedian, and a look at what we and Hollywood missed out on when she decided to retreat from acting altogether, just like Miss Garbo.

#janhooks #janhooksforever #alecbaldwin #saturdaynightlive #snl by @janhooksforever

“I loved Dolly Parton. She came in and said, ‘Look, okay, here’s the deal. I won’t use any cuss words and I won’t make fun of Jesus.’ Those were her two demands. And anything else was carte blanche.” ~ Jan in ‘Live From New York’

Dolly’s first and only SNL host gig happened on April 15, 1989. By the looks of it, Jan had a really good time. She told her dad Dolly was a favorite.

“She really liked Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson and there are others. I just remember her talking about what down-to-earth people they are." ~ Wyatt Hooks to the Fort Myers News-Press, April 1992

One thing about Dolly, she had a great sense of humor about herself. She agreed to take part in a sketch Raquel Welch kicked to the curb years before. Who else could come up short on The Planet of the Enormous Hooters?

Nora Dunn shared a tidbit about Dolly a few years ago on Twitter or whatever it is now.

“When Dolly hosted SNL the preppy writers wanted to write a sketch mocking her music. ‘Why would | make fun of the way I earn my money?’ The matter of fact way she said made her the boss yet won them over. She was so smart and funny and bright. We all fell in love with her.”

Isn’t it strange to think of a world without Dolly? She was fun, love, and light. She knew the struggle and never forgot it.

Weren’t we lucky to have her?

#janhooks #janhooksforever #dollyparton #saturdaynightlive

Thanks for sweetening up that pic, @earthdogbb ! by @janhooksforever

“I wonder what was the greater transgression. Loving her, or abiding her immaculate madness.”

Jan plays a woman obsessed with cleanliness, driving both her lover and her narrator insane.

“She was an incandescent angel, dancing on the edge of a ritual that was both innocent and jejune.”

Jan mops up a spill at a party. A condescending Nora Dunn sweeps in with advice.

“A little club soda would get that out.”

“LIAR!”

And as for the mess the party caused, Jan has special and pricey cleaning tool in her cabinet.

“Somewhere between cleanliness and godliness lies Compulsion, theworld’s most indulgent disinfectant. From Calvin Kleen.”

11/14/87

#janhooks #janhooksforever #philhartman #saturdaynightlive by @janhooksforever