Rob Schneider's Richmeister Debuted on SNL 30 Years Ago Today

On January 19, 1991, Rob Schneider made his biggest splash on Saturday Night Live with the character of Richard Laymer, the guy at the office whose desk is by the copy machine, and whose only form of communication involves making up nickname permutations of his colleagues' names. 

Phil Hartman, wearing one of his famously unnecessary wigs, turns it around on him in this first outing and dubs him "The Richmeister," which became the unofficial name for the sketch.

It was a simple, silly little idea that may not have caught on if they hadn't brought musical guest Sting in as himself at the very end. The audience response when Richard plays with that name was enough of a hook to bring the character back nine more times.

SNL Deep Cut Trivia Note: This same episode also premiered the first installment of "Coffee Talk with Paul Baldwin," and it was actually hosted by Paul Baldwin. Later in this season, they would rewrite it so Mike Myers could play Linda Richman as the host of the show, who would then proceed to make excuses as to where Baldwin was. It usually involved developing "shpilkes in his genechtegezoink." As you can see below, the sketch really needed Linda to make it pop. 

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Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.