Rewatch Matthew Perry's Uncanny Michael Keaton Impression on 'SNL'
Throughout the years, dozens of top-notch hosts have graced the Saturday Night Live stage, many of whom have flaunted unforgettable celebrity impressions. Just last week, Ariana Grande had us cackling with her takes on Celine Dion and Jennifer Coolidge. One uncanny celebrity impression you may have forgotten is Matthew Perry's take on Michael Keaton in an iconic 1997 “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketch. With the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice actor returning to Studio 8H to host Saturday Night Live this week, it only seems right to revisit the late Friends actor's Keaton impression.
Perry only hosted SNL once, on Oct. 4, 1997, during his tenure on Friends. Interestingly enough, the musical guest that week was Oasis, who SNL spoofed last week in a Weekend Update segment. Perry's episode marked the third appearance of the show's famed "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketch.
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During the 1997 sketch, Alex Trebek (Will Ferrell) tries his best to wrangle the unruly and often dense Micheal Keaton (Perry), Burt Reynolds (Norm Macdonald) and John Travolta (Darrell Hammond) as they play Celebrity Jeopardy. Even as Ferrell tries to spoon-feed the actors the answers to questions, they continue to guess incorrectly. When one softball question gets thrown to Perry, the late Friends actor embodies Michael Keaton’s physicality with spooky precision, though he’s not able to produce an answer. “I don’t think we can accept facial expressions as an answer,” Ferrell’s Trebek replies. When Perry’s Keaton finally does manage to answer, it doesn’t help him much. “I am Batman,” he rings in to say at one point. Later he simply takes digs at other actors who played Batman.
Perry delivered several stand-out moments during his time as host, including an impression of his Friends co-star Matt LeBlanc, but his “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketch is the one that still has us splitting our sides two decades later.
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You can rewatch the classic sketch here:
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