Coffee Talk

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Coffee Talk with Linda Richman is a sketch performed by Mike Myers on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. In the sketch, Myers plays a stereotypical Jewish middle-aged woman with an exaggerated New York Jewish accent named Linda Richman who sports:

• long, painted fake nails
• lots of gold jewelry
• gaudy sweaters
• large dark glasses
• big hair, which she constantly adjusts

Introduced on the 01/19/1991 episode, this sketch was originally called Coffee Talk with Paul Baldwin, with Baldwin also played by Myers. One segment had an off-stage character playing a caller with a heavy Boston accent, to whom Myers, as Paul Baldwin, responded that in calling in he had confused Coffee Talk with Boston Talk. The main joke was the use of as many words as possible that accentuated the stereotypical New York accent. The name itself is an example. Starting with the 10/12/1991 episode, Paul Baldwin was written out and replaced with the character of Richman as the substitute host.

Richman occasionally added Yiddish or pseudo-Yiddish words into her speech: "As you know Paul Baldwin is the usual host who developed shpilkes in his geneckteckessoink." Her show would have guest hosts and take calls. The topics of discussion almost always furthered the Jewish stereotype. She was obsessed with Barbra Streisand. Streisand herself once made a surprise appearance in a sketch, also featuring Madonna and Roseanne Barr as her constantly interfering mother. The catch phrase often used to describe Streisand or other things Linda admired was "like butter", which in the accent becomes "like buttah". A typical example is "it's like buttah, her voice."

Whenever Linda would get upset, she would put her hand on her chest and say "I'm all verklempt" or "I'm a little verklempt". Then she would say, "Talk amongst yourselves." She would often follow this with an example, by saying, "I'll give you a topic." The topic would usually follow the format: "(Two/three-part phrase) is neither (first part) nor (second part) nor (occasional third part). Discuss."

Examples:

• "The radical reconstruction of the south after the Civil War was neither radical nor a reconstruction. Discuss."
• "The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss".
• "The peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss."
• "The Partridge Family was neither a partridge nor a family. Discuss."
• "The Prince of Tides was neither about princes nor tides. Discuss."
• "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was neither Mormon, nor a tabernacle, nor a choir. Discuss."
• "Duran Duran was neither Duran nor Duran. Discuss."
• "The Italian Neo Realist Movement in film was neither Italian nor neo nor particularly real. Discuss."
• "The Progressive Era was neither progressive nor an era. Discuss."
• "The Thighmaster was neither a thigh nor a master. Discuss."
• "Rhode Island is neither a Rhode nor an island. Discuss."

She would then recover after a beat.

Some sketches did use alternate format, such as:

• "The Romanesque church design was based on a Roman basilica. Discuss."

The Fran Drescher sitcom The Nanny once made a direct tongue-in-cheek reference to the Linda Richman sketches, with a similarly-styled character (Renee Taylor, as Drescher's mother) claiming, rather ironically, that the sketch was "so stereotypical."

The character of Linda Richman was inspired by Myers' real-life mother-in-law, a woman of New York Jewish extraction who is actually named Linda Richman. During a Larry King interview of Myers, the real Richman called in and expressed good-natured amusement about the character. During his appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, he claimed the impression of his mother-in-law for the character is "underplayed."

Linda Richman has yet to appear in her own film.

[edit] External links

• Coffee Talk Script from the 10/12/1991 show that introduces Linda Richman.