This is another 1970s Saturday Night Live skit that deserves a review. It's from season 4 episode 8. This is one of Dan Aykroyds best impersonations ever in my opinion. Although I think he does a wonderful job of representing Julia Child I do have some problems with this sketch.
Julia Child is a great American icon. A wonderful French Chef and a woman with a huge personality. Her public television show The French Chef ran from 1963 to 1973 and produced more than 200 episodes. She was the author of many books and her TV shows taught professional cooking techniques in a way that made them understandable and accessible to millions of Americans.
Her personality and way of speaking made it inevitable that she would be top shelf comedy material for a sketch show like SNL. Dan Aykroyd dressed up like an older woman and mimicing her mannerisms was spot on in his performance. My only problem is that I think he should have continued with his impersonation of her rather than going for the cut and bleeding hand gag.
Physical comedy is the most difficult type of humorous endeavor, however the bloody finger gag is the oldest trick in the book. Don't get me wrong, I think this classic SNL skit is hilarious. I just think Dan Aykroyd could have gone in a different direction with this.
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