''Sprockets'' was a recurring comedy sketch from the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
television series ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', created by and starring comedian
Mike Myers
Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollyw ...
as a fictional
West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
television talk show. The sketch parodied German art culture in the 1980s.
Development
The sketch parodied
German stereotypes, especially those pertaining to German seriousness, efficiency, and precision. Originally created for the Toronto company of the
Second City comedy troupe, Myers later imported the character to television for the Canadian sketch comedy show ''
It's Only Rock & Roll'' and the American sketch comedy show ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
''.
Myers played "Dieter", a bored, disaffected
West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
and
minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
who interviewed celebrities in whom he was demonstrably barely interested. He invariably sought to bring the discussion around to his "limited"
monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
, Klaus, seated on a platform atop a miniature column. Myers has stated he based the character on a waiter he encountered, working at
The Cameron House
The Cameron House is a small bar, live music venue, and informal cultural centre located on Queen Street West, just west of Spadina Avenue, in the city's downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Cameron has a front lounge and a back room, bo ...
in Toronto, as well as German musician
Klaus Nomi
Klaus Sperber (January 24, 1944 – August 6, 1983), known professionally as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona.
In the 1970s Nomi immersed himself in the East Villag ...
(after whom said monkey was named). Appearing
effeminate
Effeminacy is the embodiment of traits and/or expressions in those who are not of the female sex (e.g. boys and men) that are often associated with what is generally perceived to be feminine behaviours, mannerisms, styles, or gender roles, rather ...
(in his 1997 return as host Myers introduced his lover Helmut, played by
Will Ferrell
John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...
), Myers' "Dieter" costume consisted of black tights with a matching
turtleneck sweater
A polo neck, roll-neck (United Kingdom, South Africa), turtleneck (United States, Canada), or skivvy ( Australia, New Zealand, United States) is a garment—usually a sweater—with a close-fitting collar that folds over and covers the ...
, round wire-rimmed glasses, and slicked-back hair.
On several occasions, the sketch featured a section titled ''Germany's Most Disturbing Home Videos''. This showcased such scenes as an old man's head spinning around; a fat man, clad only in a diaper, cavorting in a lawn sprinkler; a man throwing up after being kicked in the genitals; the seemingly-lifeless body of a tramp whose face is covered with ants; and a man's trousers falling down in public, while he and his girlfriend are viewing an art gallery (the man is wearing a thong). The sketch typically ended with Myers declaring, "Now's the time on ''Sprockets'' when we dance!" and performing a jerky, robotic dance with several male stagehands who were similarly dressed in black tights and turtlenecks.
The theme song for the sketch was
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
's 1986 song "
Electric Café" from a 33 RPM LP record which was sped up by playing it back at 45 RPM.
Some later sketches featured Dieter outside of his talk show environment starring in parodies of game shows, TV dance parties, and art films.
List of ''SNL'' episodes featuring Dieter
All appearances were in the form of ''Sprockets'' shows, except where indicated.
* April 15, 1989 host:
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...
(featuring
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as ...
as
Butch Patrick
Butch Patrick (born Patrick Alan Lilley; August 2, 1953) is an American actor and musician. Beginning his professional acting career at the age of seven, Patrick is perhaps best known for his role as child werewolf Eddie Munster on the CBS comedy ...
)
* May 20, 1989 host:
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...
* September 30, 1989 host:
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...
(featuring
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1993, which earned him fiv ...
as
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...
)
* November 18, 1989 host:
Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...
(featuring Harrelson as filmmaker Gregor Voss...whose work includes ''The Dead Coat'', ''Irritant #4'', and ''Here, Child, Finish Your Nothing'')
* December 16, 1989 (in "Dieter In Space") host:
Andie MacDowell
Rosalie Anderson MacDowell (born April 21, 1958) is an American actress and former fashion model. MacDowell's known for her starring film roles in romantic comedies and dramas. MacDowell has modeled for Calvin Klein and has been a spokeswoman ...
* March 17, 1990 (in "Dieter's Dance Party", a parody of ''
American Bandstand
''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...
'') host:
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
* September 29, 1990 (in "Germany's Most Disturbing Home Videos") (featuring
Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...
as Karl-Heinz Shalke, the wacky neighbor in Munich TV's hit sit-com ''Who Are You to Accuse Me?'')
* December 15, 1990 host:
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include ''Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...
* April 13, 1991 host:
Catherine O'Hara
Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her comedy work on ''Second City Television'' (1976–84) and ''Schitt's Creek'' (2015–2020) and in films such as '' After Hours'' (1985), ''Beetleju ...
* February 15, 1992 (in "Love Werks") host:
Jason Priestley
Jason Bradford Priestley (born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian actor and television director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–1998, 2000), as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick in t ...
* May 16, 1992 host:
Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...
(featuring Harrelson as filmmaker Graus Grek, giving his plans for his new "EuroTrash" theme park)
* March 20, 1993 (in "Dieter's Dream") host:
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958) is an English actress. She made her film debut playing Ruth Ellis in '' Dance with a Stranger'' (1985) and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for ''Damage'' (1992) and ''Tom & Viv'' (1994). ...
* November 20, 1993 (in "Das Ist
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
") host:
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...
* March 22, 1997 (in "The Insane Academy Awards") host:
Mike Myers
Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollyw ...
Cancelled film adaptation
The sketch was to be used as the basis for a feature-length film titled ''Dieter's Day'', which was to be directed by
production designer
In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...
Bo Welch
Robert W. "Bo" Welch III (born November 30, 1951) is an American production designer, art director, film and television director and occasional actor. He is best known for his collaborations with directors such as Tim Burton and Barry Sonnenfeld. ...
(of both ''
Beetlejuice
''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American fantasy horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson, and Warren Skaaren, produced by The Geffen Company, distributed by Warner Bros., and starring Alec Baldwin, ...
'' and ''
Edward Scissorhands
''Edward Scissorhands'' is a 1990 American fantasy romance film directed by Tim Burton. It was produced by Burton and Denise Di Novi, written by Caroline Thompson from a story by her and Burton, and starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Anthony Mi ...
'' fame) in his
directorial debut
This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...
and to star Myers alongside
Will Ferrell
John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...
,
David Hasselhoff
David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on ''The You ...
and
Jack Black
Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...
, but the project was cancelled in June 2000 after Myers became dissatisfied with his own script.
Less than a week after Myers informed
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
of his decision, the studio sued Myers for their $3.8 million spent in
pre-production
Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content starts ...
costs.
One month later, Myers was hit with a second lawsuit, this time from
Imagine Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment (formerly Imagine Films Entertainment), also known simply as Imagine, is an American film and television production company founded in November 1985 by producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard.
Background
Brian Gra ...
, which claimed that "He
yers
A yer is either of two letters in Cyrillic alphabets, ъ (ѥръ, ''jerŭ'') and ь (ѥрь, ''jerĭ''). The Glagolitic alphabet used, as respective counterparts, the letters (Ⱏ) and (Ⱐ). They originally represented phonemically the "ult ...
claimed he had not approved the screenplay. Who wrote the screenplay--Myers," Imagine claims Myers backed out after it and Universal agreed to his demands for more pay and millions of dollars were spent in pre-production. "This was not the first time Myers engaged in such conduct," the suit contended. "He has followed a pattern and practice of breaking his promises, betraying the trust of others and causing serious damage to those with whom he deals through selfish, egomaniacal and irresponsible conduct." The Imagine lawsuit sought more than $30 million in actual damages plus punitive damages. Myers subsequently countersued both parties and both lawsuits were later settled out of court, whereupon Myers and Welch agreed to make another film with both Universal and Imagine as replacement for the ''Dieter'' film; that film became ''
The Cat in the Hat
''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by the American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow ...
'', which was directed by Welch, released three years later in 2003 and starred Myers as the
titular character
The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...
.
See also
*
Recurring ''Saturday Night Live'' characters and sketches
References
External links
* Sean Nye
"Sprockets + Autobahn: Kraftwerk Parodies, German Electronic Music, and Retro Dreams in Amerika,"in ''Dreams of Germany: Musical Imaginaries from the Concert Hall to the Dance Floor,'' edited by Neil Gregor and Thomas Irvine (New York: Berghahn, 2019): 271-29.
*
Studios See Green in Less-Than-Worthy 'SNL' Film Spinoffs, ''Los Angeles Times'' (1999-10-01)
*
Spielberg to mediate in Dieter dispute, ''The Guardian'' (2000-06-16)
*
, ''Fox News'' (2006-05-11)
{{Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live sketches
Saturday Night Live in the 1990s
Fictional television shows
Works by Mike Myers