Coffee Talk

Mike Myers, Madonna and Roseanne Barr as their characters

Coffee Talk with Linda Richman was a sketch performed by Mike Myers on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. It ran from October 12, 1991, until October 15, 1994, although Myers (who had since left the show) reprised the role once more on March 22, 1997.

In the sketch, Myers plays a stereotypical Jewish middle-aged woman named Linda Richman with an exaggerated New York accent who sports long, painted fake nails; lots of gold jewelry; gaudy sweaters; large dark glasses; and big hair, which she constantly adjusts. This character was a spoof on his real-life mother-in-law, Linda Richman.^[1]

Paul Baldwin period

Introduced on the January 19, 1991, episode, this sketch was originally called Coffee Talk with Paul Baldwin, with Baldwin also played by Myers. The main joke was the use of as many words that accentuated the stereotypical New York accent as possible. The name itself is an example. Starting with the October 12, 1991, episode, Paul Baldwin was written out and replaced with the character of Richman as the substitute host. In subsequent episodes, Linda Richman explains that Paul Baldwin is a good friend of hers and is recuperating in Boca Raton, Florida, because he developed shpilkis in his genechtagazoink.

Ongoing gags

Streisand fixation

Richman's hero was Barbra Streisand. She constantly "dedicated" the show to her, often claiming her to be the greatest actress in all of history.

In what could be considered to be the sketch's most memorable moment, Myers was joined on February 22, 1992, by special guests Madonna and Roseanne Barr as other stereotypical Jewish women. Madonna also lampooned herself by having her character attack Madonna as a bad example for teenage Jewish girls ("She is such a tramp. Please! Every week with the different boyfriend already!"). They discussed Streisand's movie The Prince of Tides on the show.

Near the end of the sketch, the women compared Barbra to "buttah"--and suddenly, a voice announced, "All this talk about food. I'm getting hungry, girls." It was Streisand herself in a surprise appearance; none of the actors had any idea that she was to appear. All three managed to remain in character as the audience went wild. (Myers as Linda screamed, "I can die now! Excuse me; I have to go die now!") The real Richman, sitting in the audience that night to watch her then son-in-law lampoon her, has acknowledged being "tickled to death" at the moment, as Streisand is one of her actual heroes as well.^{[citation needed]}

Though Streisand only stayed long enough to give each character a kiss and wave to the audience, the moment has become one of the most memorable in the show's history. Streisand later revealed that she had been giving a performance at Radio City Music Hall (which is located in the same building as NBC Studios) and happened to overhear that the sketch was being done that night. In the TV special "Saturday Night Live: 101 Most Unforgettable Moments," this particular sketch is moment #6.

Call-ins

Linda would occasionally take callers. The number to call was always 555-4444, each "four" again said with the same accent (though, in some later airings, the 555 is bleeped out and covered up on screen, as 555-4444 is no longer a "fictitious phone number"). "Give a call, we'll talk, no big whoop."

Mannerisms

Richman occasionally added Yiddish or pseudo-Yiddish words into her speech: "OK now, this show used to be hosted by my friend Paul Baldwin, but he developed shpilkis in his genechtagazoink. So now he's in Boca Raton, Florida recovering nicely, thank you very much." The catchphrase often used to describe things Linda admired was "like butter", which in the accent becomes "like buttah". A typical example is, "Her voice, it's like buttah."

Discussion topics

Whenever Linda would get upset, she would put her hand on her chest and say "I'm all verklempt" or "I'm a little verklempt." Then she would say, "Talk amongst yourselves," sometimes waving her hand in a dismissive gesture toward the audience. She would often follow this with an example by saying, "I'll give you a topic." The topic would usually follow this format: "[two- or three-part phrase] is neither [first part] nor [second part] (nor [occasional third part]). Discuss." (Or: "Discuss amooangst yooaselves"). Barbara Streisand herself lampooned this in her '93/'94 New Year's Eve concert at the MGM Grand in which Myers, lampooning Richman, appeared. After claiming to be verklempt, "Linda" said, "The Prince of Tides is neither about a Prince nor tides - discuss."

Examples:

• "Milli Vanilli is neither a Milli or a Vanilli. Discuss."
• "Palmolive - it's neither palm, nor olive. Discuss."
• "Grape-Nuts - it contains neither grapes, nor nuts. Discuss."
• "The Civil War was neither civil nor a war. Discuss."
• "The radical reconstruction of the South after the Civil War was neither radical nor a reconstruction. Discuss."
• "The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss." (This quote is based on a famous comment by Voltaire.)
• "The peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss."
• "Ralph Fiennes is spelled neither rafe nor fines. Discuss."
• "Duran Duran is neither a Duran nor a Duran. Discuss."
• "Rhode Island is neither a road nor is it an island. Discuss."
• "The Thighmaster is neither a thigh nor a master. Discuss."
• "The Progressive Era was neither progressive nor an era. Discuss."
• "Did Truman drop the bomb on the Japanese to end the war or to scare the hell out of the Russians? Discuss."
• "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is neither Mormon nor a tabernacle nor a choir. Discuss."
• "The New Deal was neither new nor was it a deal. Discuss."
• "The Romanesque Church design was based on the Roman basilica. Discuss."
• "The chickpea is neither a chick nor a pea. Discuss."
• "Transitional Romanesque architecture was neither transitional nor Romanesque. Discuss."
• "The internal combustion engine was neither internal nor combustion. Discuss."
• "The jelly bean is neither made of jelly nor is it a bean. Discuss."

She would then recover after a beat.

Ethnic and religious references

Linda Richman would also make light jokes and good-natured ribbing about people raised in interfaith families, such as: someone who came from a family with Methodist and Jewish parents is called a "Moo Shu", whereas people who came from families with Jewish and Roman Catholic parents were called "cashews". In one of the final episodes of "Coffee Talk", Linda is shown with an Irish-Catholic boyfriend, who is a retired NYPD officer (played by Charlton Heston). When the boyfriend proposes marriage to her, Linda acts stunned, which prompts tremendous cheering from the female audience members.

Cultural references

The Fran Drescher sitcom The Nanny made a direct tongue-in-cheek reference to the Linda Richman sketches by showing brunette Fran Fine (Drescher), her blonde mother (Renée Taylor) and gray-haired grandma Yetta (Ann Guilbert) on the couch watching their respective "Coffee Talk" counterparts (Meyers', Madonna's, and Roseanne Barr's characters) on television, all very similar in their appearance, voice and mannerisms. While "fussing" over their "big hair" in the fashion of the "Coffee Talk regulars", they claim, rather ironically, that the sketch is "so stereotypical."

The character of Linda Richman was inspired by Myers' then real-life mother-in-law, a woman of New York Jewish extraction who is actually named Linda Richman. During a Larry King interview of Myers, the real Richman called in and expressed good-natured amusement about the character. During his appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, he claimed that his impression for the character was "underplayed" and that his mother-in-law actually goaded him into performing the voice of the character when they were in public together.

Mike Myers made an appearance as Linda Richman during Barbra Streisand's '93/'94 New Year's Eve concert at the MGM Grand. Streisand talks about some comments made about her in the New York Times when Myers appears in the audience as Linda Richman and tells her to not pay any attention to it ("Don't listen to that woman, Barbra; what does she know? Please! Feh!"). Streisand then invites Richman up on stage, and they perform a little comedy skit together. (Streisand: "Now, I'm getting verklempt! [To audience:] Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. The Prince of Tides was about neither a prince nor tides. Discuss.")

References

1. ^ Witchel, Alex (2001-01-14), "COUNTERINTELLIGENCE; What's So Funny About The 'Coffee Talk' Lady", The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/14/style/counterintelligence-what-s-so-funny-about-the-coffee-talk-lady.html?pagewanted=1, retrieved 2009-05-18 

External links

• Coffee Talk Script from the 10/12/1991 show that introduces Linda Richman.