“Over and over, it was these labored connections they would make, in the most verbose way possible,” Smigel said, “in order to get back to reassuring each other that the Bears were gonna win the Super Bowl.” At one point O’Brien even popped up as one of their sons. Played by Smigel, Odenkirk, and Dave Reynolds, who went on to cowrite Finding Nemo, the pals passed the time by riffing about their favorite football team. Also making their debut: a group of buddies sitting in lawn chairs and drinking beer. The production featured versions of In the Year 2000, later a signature of O’Brien’s late-night program, and a bawdy nude beach bit, which ended up on SNL. Running from late June to early August at Victory Gardens Studio Theater in Lincoln Park, Happy Happy Good Show inadvertently turned into a comedy testing ground. With time on their hands, Smigel, Odenkirk, and SNL colleague Conan O’Brien starred in their own stage revue. Then, in the spring and summer of 1988, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. He eventually joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live. What Smigel lacked was somewhere to put the characters living in his head. “You have to be from Chicago to know that.” “The little hiss at the end,” Smigel said. Odenkirk gave his friend a tip: emphasize the final two letters in the word bears. “I happened to find him to be the funniest person in Chicago,” Smigel said. Read ’em and weep.” He told only one person about the idea: an improv classmate who grew up in nearby Naperville. “That arrogant way of saying it,” Smigel said before turning on his still-properly-nasal Chicago accent. But initially, all he had was a two-word phrase: “Da Bears!” Success, Smigel said, “just allowed for the swagger to grow.” Around that time, he considered the possibility of dropping hardcore Chicago fans into a sketch. Then the Ditka-led ’85 Bears tore through the NFL like it was a soggy Italian beef. That fall, the Cubs ended a 39-year postseason drought. In June 1984, the Bulls drafted Michael Jordan. In 1983, the White Sox made the postseason for the first time since 1959. Soon after he moved to Chicago to begin his comedy career, the city’s sports franchises started to ascend. Whatever it was, Smigel banked the memory of those lovable oafs. Or maybe it was their cartoonishly large aviator shades. Maybe it was the unwavering, borderline delusional faith they had in their teams. Yet there was something about these hirsute galoots that was endearingly hilarious. You can barely make it to the bathroom with all the beers you’ve drunk. You’re a fat guy sitting in the third row. The arrogance of, ‘We kicked your ass!’ No, you didn’t. “There was just a swagger among these very virile-looking men,” Smigel said.
SNL TINY BALLS SKIT MOVIE
In addition to Old Style, the crowd seemed to be under the influence of both the movie and the man. It was 1983, three years after The Blues Brothers hit theaters and a season into Mike Ditka’s tenure as head coach of the Bears.
Heavyset fans sporting walrus mustaches and big sunglasses were everywhere. When Robert Smigel first visited Wrigley Field, he immediately noticed the look.
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