13 Trivia Tidbits About Iconic 'SNL' Characters
![13 Trivia Tidbits About Iconic 'SNL' Characters](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/3/4/762834_320x180.jpg)
Daddy, where do comedy ideas come from? Well, if you're a writer at a little-known, not-at-all mainstream comedy troupe called…(checks notes)…uh, Saturday Night Live, ideas seem to come from writing thousands of jokes and pitching endless sketches in the short time span of a single week until you eventually strike gold.
And look, we're big SNL fans here at Cracked, but we're not going to pretend they haven't had their ups and downs. That's the nature of doing a weekly sketch show for 47 seasons and counting. But man, when they strike that gold, they strike that gold. SNL is behind some of the funniest, most culturally zeitgeist-capturing moments in comedy history. We're here to celebrate those characters. And while it may look effortless on screen, the backstory to a lot of our favorite, most quotable characters are insanely fascinating. Whether it's a weird childhood haircut or a last-minute wardrobe change at dress rehearsal, some of our favorites come from wild places.
Here are the backstories behind fourteen of SNL’s most popular characters.
![THE LADIES MAN TIM MEADOWS CRACKEDCON Meadows worked in a liquor store during high school. Would-be womanizers swaggered in, hoping to boost their rom](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/1/762851.jpg)
![CHURCH LADY DANA CARVEY Carvey developed the Church Lady as a way to deal with demonic hecklers during his 1980s stand-up comic days. He'd shut them d](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/4/9/762849.jpg)
![SPROCKETS MIKE MYERS Myers based Deiter, the avant- garde talk show host, on a Toronto waiter who provided questionable service. He would be taking y](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/4/8/762848.jpg)
![THE BEES BELUSHI ET AL CRACKEDCON One of the show's first notes from meddling network execs: Cut the bees. Lorne Michaels responded by inserting the](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/2/762852.jpg)
![A STEFON BILL HADER One inspiration for writer John Mulaney was an email from a club promoter. Part of the pitch? Rooms full of broken glass. Hader](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/3/762853.jpg)
![GILLY KRISTEN WIIG One inspiration for Wiig's Gilly was a childhood perm she got for a wedding, accidentally tinted red by a bottle of Sun-In. Another](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/4/5/762845.jpg)
![WAYNE CAMPBELL MIKE MYERS CRACKEDCON Myers based Wayne on friends he grew up with in the suburbs of Toronto, believing there was a certain homogenous](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/4/7/762847.jpg)
![GARTH ALGAR DANA CARVEY Carvey based Wayne's pal Garth on his nerdy genius brother Brad. Both Brad and Garth share a love for videos, drums, and red l](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/4/1/762841.jpg)
![DRUNK UNCLE BOBBY MOYNIHAN CRACKED Moynihan spent hours on a sure-fire sketch about a suit salesman, the best character in SNL history. Colin Jost a](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/4/2/762842.jpg)
![IDA BEARS ROB SMIGEL CRAGKED Smigel cooked up the Super Fans from two tasty ingredients: The Sportswriters on TV, a Chicago-based roundtable discussio](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/4/6/762846.jpg)
![CANTEEN BOY ADAM SANDLER Sandler specialized in characters that were losers. Canteen Boy's having a rough day today. I feel like people will respond](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/3/9/762839.jpg)
![CALIFORNIANS FRED ARMISEN CRACKED COM Whenever he returned from the west coast, Armisen would discuss L.A. directions with castmates Bill Hader and Ke](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/3/7/762837.jpg)
![DEBBIE DOWNER RACHEL DRATCH I was on vacation in Costa Rica, and when I told someone that I was from New York, they asked, 'Were you there for 9/11?'](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/3/8/762838.jpg)