Friday, February 3, 2012

Doug and Wendy Whiner


Saturday Night Live has been a staple of late night television since its premier in 1975, with its classic first case which included John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, and Jane Curtain.  Over the years, the show went through some big highs and lows, but by 1983 it was on the upswing again, with the likes of Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and others. It was at this time that I started to delve into late night television, and with that discovering the offbeat, sometimes outrageous comedy of SNL. 


I remember that among the features which appeared at this time was The Whiners, a recurring set of skits featuring Joe Piscopo, and fellow SNL star Robin Duke, as the highly irritating duo Doug and Wendy Whiner. According to Wikipedia the two characters "spoke all their lines in a whining, nasal tone, hence, a double meaning of their name." The skits appeared on SNL from 1982 to 1984. I remember them well.