Goth Talk

Goth Talk was a recurring sketch on the American television series "Saturday Night Live" from the late 1990s.

The sketch was about a late-night Tampa Bay cable access show recorded in the home of Azrael Abyss, Prince of Sorrows (Chris Kattan), a goth high school student. Another goth student, Circe Nightshade (Molly Shannon), co-hosted. The show began with the opening theme song, "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus, and a station identification bumper, ironically from "Channel 33: Sunshine State Cable Access." The hosts spoke in a melodramatic, woeful tone, and wore dark gothic clothes and black make-up. Azrael spoke in a grating, high-pitched voice and frequently made noises like a cat. They tried to be as dark and gothic as they could, making regular references to death and the macabre, but always ended up being exposed as , prompting them to end the show abruptly with the slogan "Stay out of the daylight!"

Recurring themes included Azrael's job at Cinnabuns and Jim Breuer's interruptions of the show as Azrael's older brother Glenn, a stereotypical jock attending Michigan State. Glenn would ruin the goth mood by turning on the light in the garage and calling Azrael and Circe by their real names, Todd (Henderson) and Stephanie. Often the dark aspects of their lives were juxtaposed with their surroundings, such as the time they mused that "The Tampa Bay Lightning aren't very goth." The show's sponsor was a clothing store called "The Gloom Room," which had a slogan that went, "It's an orgy of the macabre... located right next to the Pizza Hut on Hibiscus Road." Another recurring theme was having guests on the show who were touted up as being dark and sinister, but were revealed to have regular pedestrian lives despite the hosts' efforts. Will Ferrell also appeared as Baron Nocturna in three sketches. Nocturna, whose real name was Gordy, was an employee at Cinnabuns and a friend of Abyss and Nightshade. In one appearance, Nocturna was scheduled to appear on the show but was "pantsed" and thrown in their pool by Glenn and his friend (Chris Farley).

NL episodes featuring Goth Talk

*April 12, 1997: host Rob Lowe (as "The Beholder")
*May 17, 1997: host Jeff Goldblum (as "Count Feedback")
*October 25, 1997: host Chris Farley
*January 17, 1998: host Sarah Michelle Gellar (as "Countess Cobwella")
*April 4, 1998: host Steve Buscemi (as school custodian "Tony 'Baloney' Fontaine")
*October 17, 1998: host Lucy Lawless (as "Baroness Blackbroom")
*December 4, 1999: host Christina Ricci (as "Hezabiah of the Dusk")

External links

* [http://snltranscripts.jt.org/97/97dgothtalk.phtml Transcript of a 1997 sketch]
* [http://www.waningmoon.com/gothica/articles/6660025.shtml Goth Talk at Encyclopedia Gothica]