Help me find this obscure Bill Murray SNL skit

March 14, 2013 11:53 AM

When I was a kid, Saturday Night Live celebrated its 25th anniversary with a lavish television special. It featured clips from all eras of the show, but there was one particular that just sent me in hysterics every time I even thought of it. A Bill Murray centered sketch that was a satire of both Greek legend and foreign Greek Adventure movies. Bill Murray playing a sadly out of shape Hercules, his voice dubbed over by.. someone. Possibly Murray, I don't know.

I taped the 25th anniversary special when it aired, so I had the 2 minute or so clip of the skit for years.. but that tape is long gone now. I even tried ordering the tv special directly from NBC video several years back.. but it was a shortened version.. didn't have the skit. I've never even seen the full version. But here is a link to the SNLTranscripts of it. Internets are failing me in finding it, which seems crazy.. but NBC are almost as good as Prince at pulling copyrighted material down.

posted by mediocre to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

Uncanny--I thought about this skit just days ago for the first time in a decade ("That boulder is too large; I could lift a smaller one."). Some quick searching doesn't turn up anything, but it seems like the kind of thing you could just look every couple of days on Vimeo or YT or whatever, and eventually find it posted for a brief window...
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:00 PM on March 14, 2013

If you Google "Il Returno de Hercules" I see a couple links to things like Dailymotion. I can't check them out from work, but assuming you're willing to risk quasi-shady websites surely it must be out there?
posted by Wretch729 at 12:05 PM on March 14, 2013

I know exactly the sketch you are thinking of. This link appears to be a link to the streaming episode, but it is only available for Comcast Xfinity subscribers. Any chance you are one (or know one who could screencap it somehow for you)?
posted by Rock Steady at 12:08 PM on March 14, 2013

it seems like the kind of thing you could just look every couple of days on Vimeo or YT or whatever, and eventually find it posted for a brief window...

Hercules mutters: "I'd like to see *you* try it."

(Hilarious skit. My dad & I used to break each other up with the above line. Thanks for the memory!)
posted by Infinity_8 at 12:16 PM on March 14, 2013

Via reddit! Here's a link to a download. I didn't download it so I can't vouch for authenticity but if the comments are any indication it is indeed the skit you seek!
posted by youandiandaflame at 12:28 PM on March 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yay download! The Xfinity version of the episode is probably the same as the Netflix version, in which Il Returno de Hercules is edited out.
posted by mediocre at 12:31 PM on March 14, 2013

Just as an FYI, this was a parody of Italian movies on the Greek myths which were broadcast in the US dubbed into English.
posted by deanc at 12:32 PM on March 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Also.. I just realized that the clip I had seen as a kid was from the 15th anniversary special. Not 25th.
posted by mediocre at 12:33 PM on March 14, 2013

Oh no! I don't think the download works! Squizz...

You can, however, watch this via Hulu Plus with a free trial.

[Oddly enough, I put in the link in the address bar and the request to sign up for a trial disappeared and I'm now watching the episode. Wha?]

Edit: Wrong link! Ugh. I'm not helping. Sorry. THIS is the link you seek.
posted by youandiandaflame at 12:40 PM on March 14, 2013

Those stones are very large. I will lift one of these smaller stones.

(aaaand, I got the quote wrong. Still, I will not change it. Perhaps it will fix itself. Maybe if it lies flat).
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 1:32 PM on March 14, 2013

I remember that. It was awesome. Thanks for the memory.
posted by Che boludo! at 7:34 PM on March 14, 2013

I had forgotten all about this wondrous sketch and now cannot view it? Send in the Hydra!
posted by orme at 5:39 AM on March 15, 2013