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How much worse would it be if that job involved singing and dancing in full cat makeup?
AtSNL, you get these packets at the beginning of the week of whats happening in the world.
Mike already knew what he was doing quite well, so he was quick to sign on.
Schur:It was just a very clear, simple, obvious, fun premise.
I remember it not taking very long to write.
What the Hell Is Skimbleshanks?
Parnell:Truthfully, it was almost all Michael.
I wish I had been able to contribute more, but hes a pretty great writer.
Obviously, hes done fairly well for himself.
Schur:If thats true, I have zero memory of it.
AtSNL, the idea is 75 percent of any sketch.
Theyre like one idea that you just execute and get the hell out.
You write it, it goes to the read through, everybody else pitches jokes.
Everybody else benefits from the work of the collective.
Parnell:I had seenCatsin my senior year of high school.
Wed taken a big theater trip, and that was one of the shows wed seen.
It was still relatively new then, in 84, 85.
Schur:I had never seenCatswhen I wrote that.
Like, what is the story?
James Van Der Beek:Thats pretty much it!
It makes no sense at all.
Schur:Parnell was a theater kid, so he knew a lot about it.
He knew some of the character names, if not all of them.
What the hell is Skimbleshanks?
I had not had any time off.
My first thought was,I cant do that.
Now Im hosting the real thing.
This is just a dumb sketch.
We got to move around up there like cats onstage, and it was fun.
Schur:I personally findCatshumiliating.
The actual thing itself is extremely embarrassing, the way they move around and pretend to be sexy.
What are you doing?
Totally onboard and committed.
Van Der Beek:I was a kid who grew up wanting to be an actor on Broadway.
The moment when I thought I could actually host the show happened in the middle of shooting that.
Schur:He was so funny and charming.
Van Der Beek:I think I was a replacement host.
I think all the ideas they came to me with were just like,Well, fuck it.
I come off very normal, but when it comes to creativity, Im closet crazy.
Then theres the second layer, which is, itsCats.
But it did mean something for Parnell.
There was a reverence.
Thats not something you get to do every day, even in a cool job likeSNL.
I think the audience reaction was fairly good.
I also remember thinking how much I looked like my mother in theCatsmakeup.
I was super-proud to be a part of it.
I said, Hey man, I was a writer atSNL.
and he was like, Oh my God!
and we shared our memories of it.
Its a very meaningful week in mySNLcareer, because I was pretty new and Parnell was new.
It has a very fond place in my heart.
Parnell:I think that was the first and last time [Mike and I wrote together].
Its the ideal spirit of whatSNLis about.
I just was kind of too shy and lacking in confidence to really bring a lot to the table.
Schur:I dont remember that to be true.
Everyone always wanted to use Parnell for things.
His nickname was The Ice Man because he never broke character.
It was always Parnell has to be something here, because he was just Mr.
Reliable when it came to knowing his lines and being funny and nailing everything.
If we never wrote together in the same room, that certainly wasnt because he lacked an acumen.
Schur:That sounds like Parnell, yeah.
Thats the best that it ever gets for a writer at that show.
