SNL on Looney Tunes Music

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A 1991 bit from Saturday Night Live with Jeremy Irons.

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  • http://rachel-and-kevin.com Rachel Newstead

    Funny, but kind of an unfair swipe at the then-newly released Carl Stalling Project albums…

  • http://apelad.blogspot.com Adam

    I love how Daffy gets a round of applause from the audience.
    Also, I freely admit I have bought a classical album or two thanks to Looney Tunes (and I really wish I could buy that one!).

  • http://educatedmetalhead.blogspot.com/ anonymous

    its an incredible fortune for everyone that the classical masterpieces aren’t protected by copyright. (that was one of the main reasons for utilizing the classics – Jery you can correct me if i’m wrong here…)

    Terry Gilliam did the same thing with his cut out animations, he just cut out characters from Raphael paintings because they are free to use without fear of litigation.

    *bonus points for anyone who can cite the painting that he took the famous foot from for the squash at the end of the “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” intro.

  • http://lifeofjacq.blogspot.com/ jacq

    Yup,

    That is how I was introduced to classical music.

    “Welcome to my shop, let me cut your mop, let me chop your crop, daintily, daintily”

    -Rabbit of Seville

  • Corrado (anthony)

    I wish they put this in the 60-minute edit of SNL, back when they showed reruns. This was great stuff. I was impressed with the historical accuracies in the skit, unlike today’s skits which has many historical inaccuracies.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if this was written by Robert Smigel who wrote many classic cartoon-related episodes of TV Funhouse.

  • http://zekeyspaceylizard.blogspot.com ZekeySpaceyLizard

    Kinda odd how Irons himself would go on to provide the voices for cartoon characters himself.

  • http://gagaman.blogspot.com GagaMan

    More evidence that the late 80′s/ early 90′s were a great time to be into classical animation. Thanks to the likes of Roger Rabbit, it was all back in fashion again until around 1995.

  • http://classicanimation.blogspot.com Thad Komorowski

    I want that sculpt of Elmer’s head!

  • Jim C.

    I haven’t watched SNL since about 1980, so I never saw this sketch. I don’t think it’s a slam on the Carl Stalling CDs. I think it’s actually a riff on two things: 1) the classics-in-the-cartoons CDs that existed at the time, and 2) a TV ad with a gray-haired, mustachioed Englishman hawking a classics-in-pop-music CD (‘Did you know “Always Chasing Rainbows’ is from Chopin’s Fantasie-impromptu?’ Etc.).

    Not that funny, really, except for Irons singing “Kill the Wabbit” at the end. THAT is priceless!

  • Paul

    The concept is funny. I remember those commercials with the mustachioed Englishmen all too well (“You may know this song as ‘Stranger In Paradise’, but did you know it’s from the Polovetsian Dance #3 by Borodin?). My only gripe is that the timing of the bit seemed off, like Irons was having trouble reading the cue cards. If they’d nailed the timing, the bit would have been hysterical.

  • Chris Sobieniak

    Well that was a fun trip back in time! Haven’t they already made some odd CD compialtion based on those classic pieces as heard in LT, or am I thinking of some fan-made MP3 effort? Sounds like a nice budget-priced CD I wouldn’t mind selling myself if there’s always someone out there who’d might buy it based out of curiosity!

  • Tom Minton

    Paul McCartney is said to have used one of Rene Magritte’s painted apples for the logo of Apple Records. If he tried that today, there’d probably be twelve lawsuits. Litigation has run amok. That does it, I’m gonna start pasting collages of legal briefs into cartoon backgrounds.

  • Corrado (Anthony)

    Youtube took it off. God, with each passing day, Youtube is starting to really annoy me with their deleting of clips.

    Myspace Videos are the best nowadays.

  • Gerard de Souza

    It wasn’t really that funny. Yeh, we know we’ve all been introduced to classical music through cartoons. And so? Timing is everything in comedy. More a sketch for Robin Williams or even Rich Little than Irons.

    Very telling the biggest response was the Daffy & Porky clip.

  • Chris Sobieniak

    Very telling the biggest response was the Daffy & Porky clip.

    Let alone a Public Dormain one at that. :-)

  • http://vice.parodius.com/ Dave Silva

    I managed to see it, and the biggest problem was in fact Irons. While he is an incredible dramatic actor… the guy just can’t read from cue cards!

  • Steve Waller

    > I remember those commercials with the mustachioed Englishmen all too well…

    That was actor John Williams (not the composer). Hitchcock used him many times. Here’s more… http://imdb.com/name/nm0002369/

    Hope someone will repost that youtube video; I missed it.

  • Maggie Simpson

    I LOVE IT!