Bill Swerski's Superfans - Sketch History - 1990-1997

1990-1997

The sketch typically depicts a television program wherein a group of Chicago sports fans obsessively discuss any topic at hand, usually the Chicago Bears football team. It first appeared on January 12, 1991 starring Joe Mantegna as the show's host Bill Swerski, along with Chris Farley as Todd O'Connor, Mike Myers as Pat Arnold, and Robert Smigel as Carl Wollarski. Subsequent sketches starred George Wendt as Bill's brother Bob, with occasional appearances by Beth Cahill as Bob's daughter Denise. John Goodman played Pat Arnold upon Myers' departure from SNL; the change in Pat Arnold's appearance was attributed to "massive weight gain." Mantegna's absence was invariably explained away by Wendt, saying his "brudder Bill" had just "had anudder heart attack."

Smigel originally wrote the sketch for the improvisational comedy show Happy Happy Good Show. Under the name "Chicago Superfans," it was performed in Chicago during the summer of 1988. The inspiration for the characters were radio hosts in Chicago during the 1970s and 1980s. The name "Bill Swerski" was likely derived from Bill Jauss, the moderator of the WGN radio panel show The Sportswriters (1975–1993), and from WGN radio and WGN-TV sportscaster Chuck Swirsky.

The characters were typically shown in Mike Ditka's sports bar, drinking large amounts of beer, smoking, and gorging themselves on ribs, Polish sausage, and similar foods. All of the characters wore dark sunglasses and thick mustaches to resemble Ditka, the popular coach of the Chicago Bears at the time, and who was the idol of all the Superfans. In addition to discussing Ditka and the Bears, another frequent topic of discussion was the Chicago Bulls basketball team, and their star player, Michael Jordan, who were winning their first three NBA Championships at the time. Both Ditka and Jordan would make appearances (playing themselves) in episodes of the sketch.

SNL alumni Dan Aykroyd also appeared on the sketch as Todd's cousin, Irwin Mainway, who originated in the Consumer Probe and On the Spot sketches.

Early sketches had posters in the background with the call letters WBBM, the CBS O&O TV, AM and FM stations in Chicago, though later sketches changed the call letters to WCBM.

The group would discuss upcoming sporting events and inevitably predict a huge victory for the Chicago team, using an exaggerated Chicago accent (a variety of Inland Northern American English), normally culminating in a uniform toast to "Da Bearss" and "Da Bullss". Their predictions were likewise exaggerated and their topics of conversation often ludicrous. Typical debates involved Mike Ditka versus a hurricane (in this particular debate, the Superfans believed that Ditka could defeat the hurricane, until it was revealed that the name of the hurricane was Hurricane Ditka, at which point Todd O'Connor had a heart attack out of confusion); who would win in a competition for World Domination – "Da Bearss" or "Da Bullss"; Mike Ditka winning the Indianapolis 500 driving the Bears' team bus; or how many points Michael Jordan could score if he played an entire game by himself while lounging in a recliner.

One episode asked the outcome of the Bulls/Pistons game where Todd said the Bulls would win 402-0—but Jordan would be held to under 200 points. Todd usually predicted shutouts. During another episode, he predicted that the Bears would defeat the New York Giants by a score of 79-0, claiming that "the Bears' defense is like a wall. You can't go t'rough it." Pat once predicted the Bears would win their game by a score of 31 to negative-7. When asked how a team could end up with negative points, Pat replied, "Ditka'll find a way." He then asked oddsmaker Danny Sheridan, played by Kevin Nealon, who he'd take in matchup between Ditka and the Giants, to which Nealon's character replied, "I'd take the Giants by 800." One episode featured a Jeopardy!-like game show starring Bob Swerski as host and the other Superfans as contestants. All the questions dealt with the Chicago Bears, Chicago, or Mike Ditka. The Final Jeopardy! question was "Bears vs. Bulls," which produced hilarious responses from the contestants. The correct answer was revealed to be that such a match-up would tear the fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the planet, meaning the United Nations would have to step in prior to the match to prevent the mass destruction.

The characters appeared in nine episodes in two years. With Ditka's departure from the Bears in 1993 and significant cast changes on SNL, the sketch and characters all but disappeared. They did, however, make a special appearance at the celebration of the Chicago Bulls' 1991-1993 "Three-peat" championship victory. The NBC television network interrupted daytime television to broadcast the short speeches made by the Superfans. Bob Swerski and Carl Wollarski also made a special appearance during Michael Jordan's original jersey retirement ceremony at the United Center in 1994. The final sketch featuring the original Superfans was on October 25, 1997 in an episode hosted by Farley. This featured the second appearance by their idol Mike Ditka (he had appeared on an episode of SNL after his firing by the Bears); although, he was at the time coaching the New Orleans Saints, which resulted in a schism amongst the Superfans. Farley's death two months later seemed to preclude the possibility of future Superfan sketches.