Saturday Night Live Classic Skit Samurai Hotel With John Belushi, Chevy Chase And Richard Pryor

This is one of the greatest SNL skits of all time. It features in incomparable John Belushi as the Samurai Futaba or Samurai Hotel clerk and Chevy Chase who in my opinion is one of the greatest comedians of all time. It's interesting how Chevy Chase ended up having more big screen success than John Belushi even though John was the bigger mainstream star at the time and I don't mean this because of Belushi's early death.

This Saturday Night Live skit was featured in the 7th episode of the first season and is Belushi's first portrayal of Samurai Futaba. He would go on to do a total of 18 sketches as this character. The role is based on Toshiro Mifun's character in Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. In that movie Toshiro plays a peerless Samurai named Sanjūrō Kuwabata who's mind is even quicker than his sword.

Although the role may be based on a more serious character Belushi turns it into comedy genius. Speaking mock Japanese to Chevy Chase's perfect English, the two seem to understand each other despite the language barrier and that is part of the underlying comedy here. Richard Pryor makes an appearance as another Samurai employee of the hotel. Apparently there is some confusion as to who is the bellboy at this establishment and a mock sword battle ensues.

I won't give away all the laughs in this one but if you haven't seen this classic SNL skit you must watch it immediately. If you like vintage Saturday Night Live clips and you like reading about the history of this great American sketch comedy series then stay connected to this blog because for the next few months I will be posting tons of great SNL skits from the 70s and 80s and adding lots of great commentary.