RIP, Jan Hooks

Never thought of that, but it's certainly possible. Then again, SNL had done Sinatra plenty of other times, particularly with Joe Piscopo.

And here's another instance of Hartman as Sinatra.

https://screen.yahoo.com/cold-opening-frank-sinatra-000000740.html

 

I think she was the most versatile female cast member ever. She could do it all and did it all on what a lot of us consider to be the best SNL cast of all-time.

I'm not sure I would put her overall at the level of Fey or maybe Gilda, but she was used a lot more than they were.

I remember Kevin Nealon telling stories about her on one of the podcasts. Apparently, she was pretty batshit crazy, but the best ones usually are.

RIP

 

Got a link to that podcast?
Wondering what kind of crazy she was.

 

It was probably Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, but it might have been Jay Mohr's. It was a year or two ago.

 

In that SNL book by Miller and Shales, they had a section there talking about the Sinatra impersonations, and Piscopo didn't have much good to say about Hartman's performances as Frank. Of course, Piscopo was speaking as a Sinatra fanboy, saying Hartman's skits were disrespectful.

 

I remember seeing an interview with Hartman once where he talked about doing Sinatra. He said his impression was based largely on the unflattering Kitty Kelly tell-all biography of Sinatra that came out in the mid-80s.

 

Wow. The next thing you know they'll be saying Will Ferrell's impression of Alex Trebek wasn't spot-on.

 

or the Chevy Chase imitation of Gerald Ford

 

Sounds like pure envy from Piscopo.
He didn't have much range, and often he was not funny.

 

Eh, Piscopo was better than some, worse than many. He had his moments.

He certainly did fade into oblivion after SNL, though.

 

He still does his shtick. He's a big-wig of sorts with Roma Bank.

 

He was good when paired with Eddie Murphy, like so:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/14115/

Though to be fair, Murphy elevated everyone around him in a Jordan-esque way.