"The Nerds" is a series of sketches on American sketch comedy 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 (streaming service), Peacock. ...

.'' The protagonists of the sketch are Lisa Loopner (played by Gilda Radner) and Todd DiLaMuca (played by

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on '' Saturday Nig ...

), whose repartée with one another would be the focus of the sketch, and regular character Mrs. Enid Loopner (played by

Jane Curtin Jane Therese Curtin (born September 6, 1947) is an American actress and comedian. First coming to prominence as an original cast member on the hit TV comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for ...

), Lisa's mother, in whose home the sketches were usually set. Virtually all the time Mrs. Loopner, a widow, would wear a housecoat. She often referred to her "wifely duties" concerning her late husband (who was born without a spine), and told Lisa Loopner to "...go warm up the

Gremlin A gremlin is a mischievous folkloric creature invented at the beginning of the 20th century to originally explain malfunctions in aircraft and later in other machinery and processes and their operators. Depictions of these creatures vary widel ...

..." before they went out somewhere. Todd would often give Lisa noogies by getting her in a headlock and knocking her on the top of the head, and a regular element of the sketches would be Todd making fun of her flat chest. He'd look down her shirt to see whether there were "any new developments" and then make a disparaging comment such as "Better put some Band-Aids on those mosquito bites," to which Lisa's weary reply was often "That's so funny I forgot to laugh," or "The last time I heard that I fell off my dinosaur". Lisa also addressed Todd affectionately as "Pizza Face." Todd's name was originally given as "Todd LaBounta", but was changed in later sketches after legal action was threatened by a real person with that name. When the earlier LaBounta "Nerd" sketches were re-run on repeat SNL broadcasts, the audio was re-edited so that Todd's last name was not heard. Guest stars included

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...

, who played Mr. Brighton, Lisa's piano teacher with an uncontrollable libido, in two sketches;

Buck Henry Buck Henry (born Henry Zuckerman; December 9, 1930 – January 8, 2020) was an American actor, screenwriter, and director. Henry's contributions to film included his work as a co-writer for Mike Nichols's ''The Graduate'' (1967) for which he r ...

as Todd's father, Marshall; and

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 nominate ...

as Todd's rival Chas the Spaz. In 1979, the series producers came up with a sketch in the series titled "Nerds' Nativity". Intended to be aired three days before

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

, the sketch was a source of friction between the show's producer,

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

, and NBC's standards department. The standards department contended that it was inappropriate to spoof the

nativity of Jesus The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of Luke and Matthew. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea, his mother Mary was engaged to a man ...

; the producer countered that in fact the sketch was spoofing

nativity play A Nativity play or Christmas pageant is a play which recounts the story of the Nativity of Jesus. It is usually performed at Christmas, the feast of the Nativity. Liturgical The term "Nativity Drama" is used by Wellesz in his discussion of the ...

s. In the end, the sketch was broadcast, although with some of the dialogue cut, resulting in viewers sending letters of complaint to the program.

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See also

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Further reading