Jan Hooks in the Wilderness
October 22, 2015 4:35 AM Subscribe
One year ago, the Saturday Night Live family lost one of its greatest talents when Jan Hooks passed away at the age of 57. Though there are many SNL players that fade into obscurity once their term at Rockefeller Center is up, most people are surprised that, aside from a recurring role on 30 Rock, Jan Hooks had pretty much disappeared since the turn of the 21st century. Grantland provides a bittersweet look back into her history and into what happened during those years.
“She absolutely brought Saturday Night Live out of its dark hole and paved the way for the strength of today’s women comedians,” one fan wrote.
This is so true. Good piece; Jan Hooks was always one of my favorites, part of the cast that became what was for me peak SNL during my late teens and early 20s. I'm glad her talent was recognized by so many, sad that it was hard for her to live with. But even beyond a celebrity story, this is a poignant human story about a life and how it ended. Glad I read this.
posted by Miko at 5:27 AM on October 22, 2015 [9 favorites]
This is so true. Good piece; Jan Hooks was always one of my favorites, part of the cast that became what was for me peak SNL during my late teens and early 20s. I'm glad her talent was recognized by so many, sad that it was hard for her to live with. But even beyond a celebrity story, this is a poignant human story about a life and how it ended. Glad I read this.
posted by Miko at 5:27 AM on October 22, 2015 [9 favorites]
When she died last year, I was surprised, disappointed and saddened that so few people seemed to take much notice. I can recall more than one FB friend whose reaction was "Who?" when I posted the news there. Even SNL underplayed it a lot more than I would have expected, given her great peformances (although they did show the wonderful "Love Is A Dream" short with Phil Hartman). So, I guess she got what she wanted as far as fame goes.
posted by briank at 5:44 AM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by briank at 5:44 AM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Over five increasingly celebrated seasons, Jan became well known if never breakout big for her comic timing and crackling impersonations of Tammy Faye Bakker, Nancy Reagan, and Kathie Lee Gifford, to name just a few."I always really dug Jan Hooks and that's not a bad piece, but, Lord, that sentence makes me long for the day when editors roamed the Earth.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:10 AM on October 22, 2015 [11 favorites]
What a nice tribute. I never knew anything about Hooks (which was obviously her preference), but I'm glad I know a little more now.
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posted by overeducated_alligator at 6:22 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
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posted by overeducated_alligator at 6:22 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think it's clear that she suffered from a level of anxiety that impacted her life and health very negatively, but I wish the piece didn't take the tone that not wanting to be famous, and not enjoying performing, is inherently bizarre behavior. If my job stressed me out as much as hers did, and I had a choice in the matter, I'd quit doing it too.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:30 AM on October 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:30 AM on October 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
I feel like the article did a good job of showing that the people who knew her professionally thought it was weird she didn't want to perform, but that the people she was actually close to understood it completely.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 6:45 AM on October 22, 2015
posted by Elementary Penguin at 6:45 AM on October 22, 2015
C&P from a comment I left on The Toast: Jan Hooks was brilliant. She and Phil Hartman brought a level of sheer jaw-dropping performing ability that a lot of other SNL cast members with flashier or more famous recurring characters couldn't match. One of my favorite bits of hers (and Hartman's) was when Garry Shandling hosted; at the time, he was doing a show (It's Garry Shandling's Show) that was all about breaking the fourth wall (it was almost like a half-hour standup routine that was occasionally interrupted by acting), and the conceit of the opening SNL sketch was that he was supposed to be doing a regular sketch, but doing it in the style of his own show, and Hooks and Hartman were trying to stay in character but gradually lost it at Shandling for fucking things up. They did it so seamlessly and convincingly that it wasn't until later that I found out that it was all part of the sketch. (Sadly, I can't find the sketch itself--Yahoo has Shandling's opening monologue, but it stops right at the beginning of the sketch itself--but here's one of my favorites (with Alec Baldwin) and a bunch of others.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:51 AM on October 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:51 AM on October 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
I agree she was one of the unsung talent during a time when several broader and hammier cast members like Myers and Carver were soaking up the fame. Since I've lived most of my life in some part of upstate NY, I'm not sure I see her years living in the Catskills as quite the wilderness purgatory exile that the Grantland author portrays it to be.
If Kevin Nealon was right that Hooks lived the life she wanted to live then, though it's tragic she died so relatively young from cancer, I don't feel bad she chose not to pursue super-stardom, particularly if performing made her unhappy, but instead to live modestly in relative peace in a scenic rural area. (And all the emphasis on her smoking Merits and drinking non-trendy wine also felt like condescending cheap shots, an "OMG Jan Hooks was so NYC cool once and now she's white trash" vibe I thought sucked.)
Also, the author's grasp of geography is poor - from Bearsville to the nearest point on the Pennsylvania border is close to a 2 hour drive - PA abuts the western edge of the Catskills and the Delaware River; where Hooks lived is on the eastern edge of the Catskills near the Hudson - so it's pretty unlikely she make runs to "nearby" Pennsylvania for cheap lower-tax smokes. I am guessing that the Woodstock / Woodstock thing confused him, as it has many people over the decades - the Woodstock concert was not in Woodstock, NY, near where she lived, but in Bethel, NY, which is like 10 miles from the PA border. (Sorry for the pedantry but obvious errors like that in articles shake my faith in the author's grasp of the whole subject.)
posted by aught at 7:43 AM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
If Kevin Nealon was right that Hooks lived the life she wanted to live then, though it's tragic she died so relatively young from cancer, I don't feel bad she chose not to pursue super-stardom, particularly if performing made her unhappy, but instead to live modestly in relative peace in a scenic rural area. (And all the emphasis on her smoking Merits and drinking non-trendy wine also felt like condescending cheap shots, an "OMG Jan Hooks was so NYC cool once and now she's white trash" vibe I thought sucked.)
Also, the author's grasp of geography is poor - from Bearsville to the nearest point on the Pennsylvania border is close to a 2 hour drive - PA abuts the western edge of the Catskills and the Delaware River; where Hooks lived is on the eastern edge of the Catskills near the Hudson - so it's pretty unlikely she make runs to "nearby" Pennsylvania for cheap lower-tax smokes. I am guessing that the Woodstock / Woodstock thing confused him, as it has many people over the decades - the Woodstock concert was not in Woodstock, NY, near where she lived, but in Bethel, NY, which is like 10 miles from the PA border. (Sorry for the pedantry but obvious errors like that in articles shake my faith in the author's grasp of the whole subject.)
posted by aught at 7:43 AM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
I will always remember Jan Hooks for her pitch-perfect portrayal of an overly perky Alamo tour guide in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
posted by duffell at 7:47 AM on October 22, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by duffell at 7:47 AM on October 22, 2015 [9 favorites]
I love that clip too. She is "earnest white Texas lady" personified.
posted by Miko at 7:51 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Miko at 7:51 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
She had a nice little turn in Batman II as the campaign advisor. Charmingly bewildered.
posted by Trochanter at 7:57 AM on October 22, 2015
posted by Trochanter at 7:57 AM on October 22, 2015
I found myself surprisingly sad when I heard that she had passed away. Kevin Nealon made a good point in the article: despite the anxiety about performing she evidently felt, there was also something sort of effortless and uncomplicated about her talent. She never seemed to be working hard for laughs, she just had incomparably excellent instincts.
Also, I was utterly delighted by this line from the article, relating what Tina Fey had to say about her:
Fey added: “It made me sad when she [died], and it made me mad at the time how available she was. Jan should have had a bigger career. Jan deserved a big movie career — certainly as big as Rob Schneider’s fucking career. She was a bigger star on SNL.”
Ohhhh boom, Rob Schneider
posted by clockzero at 8:07 AM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
Also, I was utterly delighted by this line from the article, relating what Tina Fey had to say about her:
Fey added: “It made me sad when she [died], and it made me mad at the time how available she was. Jan should have had a bigger career. Jan deserved a big movie career — certainly as big as Rob Schneider’s fucking career. She was a bigger star on SNL.”
Ohhhh boom, Rob Schneider
posted by clockzero at 8:07 AM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
Since I've lived most of my life in some part of upstate NY, I'm not sure I see her years living in the Catskills as quite the wilderness purgatory exile that the Grantland author portrays it to be.
Good. Keep that in mind the next time you read something generalizing about "the midwest".
all the emphasis on her smoking Merits and drinking non-trendy wine also felt like condescending cheap shots
Hmm, I didn't take it that way. And I'd hardly call it emphasis. He only specifically mentioned them once. Writers love details. And the attitude you're implying isn't apparent elsewhere.
It's not at all out of order to point out nicotine and alcohol habits when assessing the dying and death of someone who died of throat cancer.
I have to say that I've known many excellent musicians in all genre who do not perform publicly. People with passion, precision, imagination -- charisma, even. People for whom the 'rewards' don't -- or at some point ceased to -- justify dealing with the rest of the gig.
No surprise at all that this applies to people in other fields.
There's a biblical parable that admonishes us not to 'hide one's light under a bushel', but for some, that bucket can be quite large enough.
posted by Herodios at 8:21 AM on October 22, 2015
" . . . Jan should have had a bigger career. Jan deserved a big movie career — certainly as big as Rob Schneider’s fucking career. She was a bigger star on SNL.”
Ohhhh boom, Rob Schneider
It's not a competition. And don't even mention Schneider on this head until you've finished with Sandler and Samberg, at least.
posted by Herodios at 8:24 AM on October 22, 2015
Ohhhh boom, Rob Schneider
It's not a competition. And don't even mention Schneider on this head until you've finished with Sandler and Samberg, at least.
posted by Herodios at 8:24 AM on October 22, 2015
Good. Keep that in mind the next time you read something generalizing about "the midwest".
I've lived in the Midwest and my partner of decades grew up in the Great Plains. I'm plenty sensitive to coastal attitudes, friend.
Writers love details.
Yes they do. And these were judgy details, was my point.
It's not a competition.
Um. You might want to take another look at how the whole show biz thing works.
posted by aught at 8:33 AM on October 22, 2015
I've lived in the Midwest and my partner of decades grew up in the Great Plains. I'm plenty sensitive to coastal attitudes, friend.
Writers love details.
Yes they do. And these were judgy details, was my point.
It's not a competition.
Um. You might want to take another look at how the whole show biz thing works.
posted by aught at 8:33 AM on October 22, 2015
Anyway, the article seemed lovely, and reminded me that Kevin Nealon was alive, which: how about that!
Now we know how Kevin Nealon feels every morning!
posted by clockzero at 8:46 AM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
Now we know how Kevin Nealon feels every morning!
posted by clockzero at 8:46 AM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
I like to imagine he starts the day by looking in the bathroom mirror and saying, "oh wow, it's Kevin Nealon!"
". . . and that's news to me."
posted by Herodios at 8:49 AM on October 22, 2015 [9 favorites]
". . . and that's news to me."
posted by Herodios at 8:49 AM on October 22, 2015 [9 favorites]
Bobby Mo.
posted by ColdChef at 9:31 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ColdChef at 9:31 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
I can totally relate to her feelings about performing. I hate public speaking, I really hate it. I manage not to think about it until it's close to time for me to speak and then I get really really nervous. Once I start, I only get slightly less nervous and I have to really concentrate on not just rushing through to the end.
However, I'm actually a pretty good public speaker. I was the best man at my brother-in-law's wedding last year and got a lot of compliments including one stranger who told me it was the best best-man toast that he had ever heard. I was happy that I did well but more happy that it was over.
Being a decent public speaker is a handy skill to have for a lot of reasons so I've made a point of never refusing to do it just because I hate speaking in public and I've gotten enough practice that I've gotten pretty good at it. But I can say with 100% certainty that no matter how good I get at speaking in public, I will always hate it. Even if I was a world-class orator who could get paid tons of money to come and give a speech, I would do it as infrequently as possible.
Even a lot of people who LOVE performing on stage don't like that the fame that comes with it. She didn't like performing and didn't like fame so the way she choose to live doesn't surprise me at all.
posted by VTX at 9:32 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
However, I'm actually a pretty good public speaker. I was the best man at my brother-in-law's wedding last year and got a lot of compliments including one stranger who told me it was the best best-man toast that he had ever heard. I was happy that I did well but more happy that it was over.
Being a decent public speaker is a handy skill to have for a lot of reasons so I've made a point of never refusing to do it just because I hate speaking in public and I've gotten enough practice that I've gotten pretty good at it. But I can say with 100% certainty that no matter how good I get at speaking in public, I will always hate it. Even if I was a world-class orator who could get paid tons of money to come and give a speech, I would do it as infrequently as possible.
Even a lot of people who LOVE performing on stage don't like that the fame that comes with it. She didn't like performing and didn't like fame so the way she choose to live doesn't surprise me at all.
posted by VTX at 9:32 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Given the meatgrinder that being a female comic actress was in the 80s/90s (it's not great now but then, I can only imagine) I don't blame her either. She didn't owe us her talent, even if we would really have loved to see more of it. As I would have.
posted by emjaybee at 9:46 AM on October 22, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 9:46 AM on October 22, 2015 [5 favorites]
I adored her on SNL. I haven't revisited old clips, but I remember her as having *impeccable* timing, and a thoroughly natural physicality (subtle, textured, fluid), even when she was doing broader stuff. Super tuned in and responsive to Phil Hartman and other scene partners. I don't know how to describe it, exactly, but she managed to do that rare, invisible sort of acting that doesn't look anything like acting. I can easily see anxiety being part of that kind of sensitivity.
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:01 AM on October 22, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:01 AM on October 22, 2015 [7 favorites]
She was nearly also spot fucking on in her work at SNL, in a quiet and workmanlike way that emphasized the teamwork and not personal glory, or so it seemed to me.
"Brenda the Waitress," linked uptopic, is such a gem. I've loved it since it aired; it's just a lovely ensemble piece -- Hooks, Dunn, Hartmann, Nealon, and Baldwin are all working so well here! -- devoid of obvious schtick that still ends up being funny.
"Look at 'im, sittin' on that stool like he's doin' it a favor!"
posted by uberchet at 1:36 PM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Brenda the Waitress," linked uptopic, is such a gem. I've loved it since it aired; it's just a lovely ensemble piece -- Hooks, Dunn, Hartmann, Nealon, and Baldwin are all working so well here! -- devoid of obvious schtick that still ends up being funny.
"Look at 'im, sittin' on that stool like he's doin' it a favor!"
posted by uberchet at 1:36 PM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
What a sad story. She is, by far, my favorite SNL woman (and Martin Short my favorite man.) Does anyone remember her brilliant turn as Bette Davis recording her last will and testament? "Wallace Beery sent me a dead owl!"
posted by Sassenach at 7:05 PM on October 22, 2015
posted by Sassenach at 7:05 PM on October 22, 2015
clockzero: "I found myself surprisingly sad when I heard that she had passed away. Kevin Nealon made a good point in the article: despite the anxiety about performing she evidently felt, there was also something sort of effortless and uncomplicated about her talent. She never seemed to be working hard for laughs, she just had incomparably excellent instincts.
Also, I was utterly delighted by this line from the article, relating what Tina Fey had to say about her:
Fey added: “It made me sad when she [died], and it made me mad at the time how available she was. Jan should have had a bigger career. Jan deserved a big movie career — certainly as big as Rob Schneider’s fucking career. She was a bigger star on SNL.”
Ohhhh boom, Rob Schneider"
Ice burn.
posted by Samizdata at 9:36 PM on October 22, 2015
Also, I was utterly delighted by this line from the article, relating what Tina Fey had to say about her:
Fey added: “It made me sad when she [died], and it made me mad at the time how available she was. Jan should have had a bigger career. Jan deserved a big movie career — certainly as big as Rob Schneider’s fucking career. She was a bigger star on SNL.”
Ohhhh boom, Rob Schneider"
Ice burn.
posted by Samizdata at 9:36 PM on October 22, 2015
She was part of one of my favorite if not the favorite fake commercials in SNL history.
posted by theartandsound at 10:03 PM on October 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by theartandsound at 10:03 PM on October 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
"Compulsion" is a great example of how well she worked with Nora Dunn as well as Hartman. "A little club soda will get that out--" "LIAR!"
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:10 PM on October 28, 2015
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:10 PM on October 28, 2015
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Yeah. Absolutely.
posted by jbickers at 4:48 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]