Saturday Night Live’s Jack Handey talks about creating “Deep Thoughts” and his new novel

Stephen Spitz - New Mexico People Places and Ideas

Today’s guest is the most famous comedian you have never seen and didn’t even believe existed. His name is Jack Handey (yes that’s his real name), and the name is undoubtedly familiar to fans of Saturday Night Live.

Jack Handey, a long time resident of Santa Fe, is the person responsible for SNL’s consistently hilarious series, “Deep Thoughts”, along with many other sketches. On SNL Deep Thoughts was an interstitial segment between sketches that was introduced by Phil Hartman and read live by Handey (neither actually appeared on screen). Handey’s one-liners proved to be extremely popular. Hartman would intone “And now, Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey…” and peaceful easy listening music would play while the screen showed soothing pastoral scenes, much like a New Age relaxation video. Handey would then read the Deep Thought as the text scrolled across the screen.

Now Handey has written his first novel, The Stench of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure. The plot is not complicated, a search for treasure in Hawaii, but the humor will definitely appeal to anyone who enjoyed Deep Thoughts.

Please join host Stephen Spitz and Jack Handey as we learn how Handey got into comedy and what makes comedians and jokes “funny”. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green.