No one has seemingly thought of giving comedy great Will Ferrell a shot at hosting Jeopardy! but they might want to.
Impersonating the late, great Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, Will Ferrell’s Saturday Night Live take on the game show is comedy gold. With a fake mustache and matching suit, one might actually mistake Ferrell’s impersonation for the real deal.
Dubbed “Celebrity Jeopardy!” the Ferrell-led skit is one of SNL’s funniest and most popular segments. The skit’s hook is the over-exaggerated parity of the quiz show and the impersonation of celebrities by SNL cast members. Celebrities are portrayed as “unintelligent” and obnoxious versions of themselves by the cast members.
In this particular instance, Will Ferrell takes the podium as Trebek with Kathy Lee Gifford and Sean Connery impersonators as the contestants. Tom Hanks plays a highly exaggerated version of himself in the skit. There is also a brief cameo from Norm McDonald as Burt Reynolds. Just try not to laugh at the following clip and see how long you can go before breaking down.
Jeopardy! Skit is a Big Hit for Saturday Night Live
“I would like to once again remind our contestants that there are proper bathroom facilities in the studio,” Farrell quips.
Ferrell’s Trebek then introduces the celebrity contestants who all are thousands of dollars in the negative score. Kristen Wiig’s Kathy Lee Gifford has negative 22,400 dollars and has brought her own wine to the show. Tom Hanks, as himself, is $44,700 in the hole and can’t figure out how to properly utilize the pen on his podium. Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery appears in most every Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch, making crude jokes at Trebek’s expense. Somehow, Connery has managed to make his score negative 69 dollars to Trebek’s dismay.
Hilarity ensues as Hanks becomes trapped in a laundry bag, Gifford pours herself a glass of wine and Connery verbally harasses the host. Uninvited, Burt Reynolds shows up to play along, though Connery suggests to Trebek that he isn’t actually there.
The contestants then enter into Final Jeopardy! with more of the same antics. They are to make a wager and come up with a “nonsense word” to claim victory. Hanks knocks himself and breaks his monitor while emerging with a huge gash on his head. Gifford wages that she will be passed out in an hour after consuming the wine. Connery correctly writes a nonsense word and feigns friendship with Trebek, only to reveal a lewd drawing is his wager.
The 2009 SNL skit is one of its most popular, gaining well over 30 million views on YouTube.