The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between September 29, 1990, and May 18, 1991, the sixteenth season of SNL.
A Dana Carvey sketch. Debuted September 29, 1990.
A Mike Myers and Chris Farley sketch. Debuted October 20, 1990.
Simon is a sketch about a young British boy, played by Mike Myers, who likes to draw, and has his own BBC television program, Simon. The sketches always begin by showing the BBC logo with a faux British announcer back-announcing some ridiculously insipid sounding programming on right before it. The show borrows its theme song from a British children's television series called Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings, though, aside from the concept of a young boy who draws, the premises are completely dissimilar. Simon broadcasts his program from his bathtub, in which he appears to be nude. On the show, Simon displays his drawings (pronounced drawerings in an exaggerated British accent), which he bends over to pick up, whereupon he scolds the audience, by yelling his catch phrases, "Don't look at my bum!" and calling the audience "Bum Lookers!" and "Cheeky Monkeys!"
His drawings often depict scenes that are disturbing or morbidly violent, presented with a naïve and childlike innocence. From the context of his show, it can be inferred that Simon has an extremely skewed outlook on life due to his upbringing: His mother is deceased (or, as he refers to it, "with the angels"), and his father is somewhat of a reprobate who associates with nefarious figures and leaves Simon unattended for long periods of time while he gambles. Simon is seemingly oblivious to his abnormal nature, maintaining a jovial temperament, and a typically juvenile sense of humour. Simon also suffers from gigantism (an obvious explanation for having a body of a full-grown man). He sometimes has guests on his show, who appear in the bathtub with Simon, and also show their drawings (which are as equally disturbing as Simon's). Simon typically ends his show when he determines that he has been in the tub too long, as indicated by his "prune hands." Debuted November 10, 1990.
In the early 1990s, Chris Rock portrayed "Nat X", a militant talk show host with a huge Afro hairstyle. He once remarked that he had only a 15-minute show because, as he explained, if he had any more, "The Man" would regard it as welfare. Many of Rock's original stand-up comedy bits were incorporated into Nat X's dialogue.
Segments on The Dark Side include the "White Man Cam" in which a video cam with a police siren sound effect walks up to Nat X's desk and places a graphic image of prison bars in front of him as he screams and mimics being in prison until the White Man Cam goes away. Another segment includes the Top 5 lists because "Ten would make The Man lose sleep.".
Nat X was cruel to all of his guests, "greeting" nearly all of them with, "Sit yo' ass down!" Perhaps the most memorable episode featured host Kevin Bacon as Vanilla Ice. Nat told Ice that he could not dance, and even persuaded his other guest, Colin Powell, to dance with him in order to show Ice how to do it.
Spike Lee made a surprise appearance as himself on another episode, donning an "X" cap that was made popular by his film Malcolm X. Not knowing this at first, Nat explained to him that he had been seeing these caps all over town but had personally not seen a dime in profits.
Chris Farley often appeared as "Sandman", a manic clown armed with a broom who swept guests away when Nat had had enough of them. Sandman was modeled after Howard "Sandman" Simms from Showtime at the Apollo, who performed the same function on that show's famed "Amateur Night" episodes, when substandard performers fell short of audience approval.
A Rob Schneider and Kevin Nealon sketch. Debuted November 10, 1990.
Julia Sweeney plays an androgynous character. Debuted December 1, 1990.
A Tom Hanks sketch. Debuted December 8, 1990.
]]David Spade\\ takes potshots at celebrities.
A group of Chicago sports fans discuss upcoming sporting events. Debuted January 12, 1991.
I'm Chillin was a spoof of public-access television cable TV rap shows. Its host was played by Chris Rock and the show's sidekick was played by Chris Farley. Farley's character was introduced by Rock with a string of nonsensical rhymes such as "My Ace in the hole, my buttered roll, my grassy knoll," etc. This show was notable for its "Mother Joke of the Day" which would be sent in from (fictitious) viewers, all of whom lived in one housing project or another. The winner would typically receive some early-Nineties-themed gangster item (a red, yellow and green jacket with an 8-ball on the back, for example). Chris Rock's character was named Onski and Chris Farley's character was B-Fats. Onski also plugged local fictitious sponsors, like "Bullet Hole tampons: 'cause sometimes you bleed in other places!", and "F'ed Up Malt Liquor." The sketch usually came to an end when Onski received a beeper page from his "baby's mama" and he'd have to go pick her up somewhere (from work at Popeyes, or the check cashing place). Onski's parting words each episode were "Always wipe, stay off the pipe, and if someone gets in your face, tell em 'I'm Chillin!'" Debuted January 12, 1991.
Jack Handey offers interstitial one-liners. Debuted January 19, 1991.
A Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon sketch. Debuted January 19, 1991.
A Rob Schneider sketch. Debuted January 19, 1991.
Al Franken plays the effeminate host of a self-help show. Debuted February 9, 1991.
A Kevin Nealon sketch. Debuted April 13, 1991.