McCann: We did about a dozen of those Frankenstein bits. Certain bits we did would be used more frequently because they required less lead time, but “Frankenstein Wastes a Minute of Our Time” wasn’t a “3 o’clock emergency” bit. It required makeup and a camera with the proper amount of wire, because there wasn’t wi-fi back in those days.
Stack: The makeup for Frankenstein was done by Louie Zakarian, who does the makeup effects for SNL. The first time he did it, it probably took an hour, but after that, it was done in about half the time. The costume was a basic, Herman Munster kind of costume with platform shoes that made me like 6-foot-10.
Even outside of the sketches, I had some funny moments as Frankenstein. Once, I was getting out of the makeup chair and Walter Cronkite was being led into the makeup room. I completely forgot what I looked like — I was in full shoulder pads, with the bolts in my neck and all the makeup. I saw Cronkite, and I just reacted with reverence, telling him, “It’s an honor to have you here, sir.” But he was totally startled by me.
Neil Young may have been on that same show. I was coming out after doing Frankenstein, and Neil Young was just about to do his interview. I walked right into him as Frankenstein and said, “I just wanted to say thank you for your music. I’ve been a big fan for so long.”
“Thanks,” he responded. “That Frankenstein bit was funny, man.” That’s when I remembered what I looked like.
McCann: We always tried to escalate stuff, so we expanded it to include Tom Hanks in one of them. Frankenstein runs out into the hallway and Tom Hanks is there, but he just wants to show off a light switch behind Hanks.
Stack: Tom Hanks was really into it. He’s just a dream guest — he’s funny, authentic and really into comedy. He contributed, too. Originally, I was just supposed to push him out of the way, but he suggested, “What if I get just as excited about the light switch?” So he got excited and started jumping up and down with Frankenstein.
McCann: I think that was the last one we did, which was a good one for us to end on. Honestly, the reason we didn’t do more was because we ran out of things within camera distance for Frankenstein to show. It was a solid bit though, and it always was fun. Plus, the punchline was safely in the title. And so, the audience couldn’t be too pissed when it turned out that Frankenstein really did just waste a minute of their time.