Dear Mr. Thompson,
It is with great concern and anguish that I sit down to write you this letter. I can only begin by trying to describe the important role you have played in shaping an entire generation, so that you will hopefully understand the place of love this letter is coming from…
Your portrayal of mouthy, inner city, street hockey enthusiast Russ Tyler was nothing short of legendary. An entire generation of young people were influenced by your “jive”character, and the lessons you taught about the true spirit of hockey. And of course the lasting effect of the realistic insider look you gave us to the thriving Los Angeles street hockey scene present in the African American community is immeasurable.
I sincerely believe that before the first clang of puck in overturned garbage can, you had begun to hold up a mirror for hockey fans everywhere to examine their passion for the sport versus the corporate agenda of advertisers. And you didn’t let up until the end of the movie when the team proudly took the ice for the third period in their brand new Anaheim Mighty Ducks jerseys. (Suck it, Team Iceland. U.S.A.! U.S.A.!)
And don’t even get me started on the genius of the “knuckle puck.” Seriously, I challenge you to find me one young hockey player that hasn’t tried to work this trick shot of all trick shots into their game. Go ahead, I’ll wait…
While I’m waiting, I’ll get to the point of this letter.
You are in danger.
No, not physical danger, like the kind often faced by your coach, Emilio Estevez, but danger of undermining your legacy; of erasing all the good you have done in the world…
You see, with every passing season on Saturday Night Live you chisel away at this legacy, sketch by sketch, by turning in performance after performance of different ‘characters’ with the same exact voice and delivery. It’s almost like you’re just… playing yourself for money.
Please stop this insanity! The world can’t bear any more.
Sure, it’s funny in small doses - like when you get emailed a YouTube link of a sketch once a year or whatever - but the idea is to have people watch the entire show every week right?
I mean yeah, if you want to just look at the odd sketch you could be considered the funniest cast member on the show in the last twenty years not named Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, Tracy Morgan, Chris Parnell, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Will Forte, Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah, Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, Leslie Jones, Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, Heidi Gardner, Chris Redd, or Bowen Yang, which I’ll admit is a special honor that nobody can take away from you.
However, Mr. Thompson, I think if you take a good, hard, honest look in the mirror you will have to admit that your fans expect a little more from the creator of the greatest trick shot in hockey history.
Sincerely,
Brady.lol