Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1981–82
Recurring SNL characters and sketches introduced in the 1981–82 season (Oct 3, 1981–May 22, 1982)
- Andy Rooney parody (Eddie Murphy): Debuted Oct 3, 1981. Murphy impersonates Andy Rooney for a spoof of the 60 Minutes segment “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney.”
- Opposite-world DC Comics spoof: Debuted Oct 3, 1981. A parody set in a DC Comics-style world where characters have big ears, speak with vocoded voices, and everything is reversed.
- Buckwheat as an adult (Our Gang): Debuted Oct 10, 1981. Eddie Murphy plays Buckwheat singing current hits in garbled speech. Subtitles show song titles phonetically as Buckwheat would say them; one line even notes to send money to a fictional address. This character also headlined sketches titled “Who Shot Buckwheat?” spoofing real-world assassination coverage and Dallas’ “Who Shot JR?” storyline.
- Robin Duke sketch: Debuted Oct 10, 1981. Robin Duke appeared in a recurring sketch (no further details given here).
- Pimp and author “I Wanna Be A Ho” (Eddie Murphy): Debuted Oct 17, 1981. Murphy portrays an entrepreneurial pimp and author.
- Tony Rosato sketch: Debuted Oct 31, 1981. (Details of the character not provided here.)
- The Whiners (Doug and Wendy Whiner): Debuted Jan 30, 1982. Joe Piscopo as Doug and Robin Duke as Wendy Whiner, a couple who speak in a whining, nasal tone and claim to suffer from diverticulitis; they live on macaroni and cheese.
- Dr. Jack Badofsky (Tim Kazurinsky): Appeared on SNL Newsbreak (Weekend Update era). The doctor rhymes about disease strains, delivering pun-filled lines in a timid, stuttering voice. The character is named after a real person Kazurinsky knew and helped write the sketches.
- Gumby impression (Eddie Murphy): Debuted Mar 27, 1982. Murphy impersonates Gumby, giving rise to the famous line “I’m Gumby, dammit!”
- The Whiners note: The duo’s popularity and reception were discussed by writers later, reflecting on Murphy’s airtime and audience reaction.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:02 (CET).