Steve Martin Has a Hilarious Ulterior Motive in SNL's "Spanish Tutor" Sketch
¡Pablo está aquí! Steve Martin delivered a side-splitting Spanish lesson in SNL's iconic Season 5 sketch.
In the weeks leading up to February 16's three-hour 50th anniversary celebration on NBC, the team behind Saturday Night Live has selected one sketch from every single season — 50 seasons in 50 days — to reflect the show's rich legacy across five decades. Presenting the sketch chosen to represent Season 5: "Spanish Tutor” starring Host Steve Martin along with cast members Gilda Radner and Bill Murray.
The early days of Saturday Night Live put forth some truly hilarious and quirky sketches: Look no further than Season 2's "Bill Murray's Apology." The creative writers came up with ideas like Toonces, the cat who could drive (but not very well), the Coneheads, and...Steve Martin as a very eager Spanish tutor who wants to shower in a stranger’s bathroom.
When Martin hosted SNL’s Season 5 premiere on October 13, 1979, the episode included the memorable “Spanish Tutor” with now-legendary cast members Gilda Radner and Bill Murray. Decades after it aired, SNL fans have described the sketch on YouTube as “weird … but it worked!” and “funny as hell.”
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Read on to revisit the hilariously weird “Spanish Tutor” sketch below. Heck, you just might learn a few Spanish phrases while you’re at it.
Steve Martin gives Bill Murray and Gilda Radner a language lesson in SNL’s 1979 sketch “Spanish Tutor”
As the sketch begins, married couple Sharlene (Radner) and Paul (Murray) are relaxing at home when the doorbell rings. Señor Smith (Martin) walks right in, introducing himself as a Spanish tutor who will have them speaking the language in “no time.” And, best of all, it’s free!
“It doesn’t cost a thing!” he says. “See, I’m a volunteer. I live nearby and give my service free of charge. I think the best way to help people is to teach them something you do well, and I always did well in Spanish in school.”
Despite Sharlene insisting several times that she and her husband aren’t interested, Señor Smith persists, teaching her that Paul’s name in Spanish is Pablo.
“¿Ese es Pablo?” the tutor asks. “¡Hola Pablo! Hola, Pablo, hola. Me llamo Señor Smith, en español, Lopez. Me llamo Señor Lopez. ¡Repíteme!”
“Sharlene, who is this guy?” Paul asks his wife.
“He wants to teach us Spanish,” she answers. “It’s for free!”
Señor Smith eventually coaxes Paul into repeating a few Spanish phrases before he's ultimately asked to leave. “Thanks a lot for the lesson, I think we’ve learned enough now. Nice of you to stop by,” Paul says as he gestures Martin's character out the door.
“En español, Pablo,” Señor Smith, aka Señor Lopez, tells him.
“Aww! He wants you to say it in Spanish!” says Sharlene, now fully invested.
“Well I don’t know how to say it in Spanish, so just get him the hell out of here, okay?” Paul says.
Ever persistent, Señor Smith brings out dictionaries to help them with their translations, asking Sharlene in Spanish to locate Pablo.
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“¡Pablo está aquí! Repíteme, Sharlene,” Señor Smith says as they both repeat “¡Pablo está aquí, Pablo está aquí!”
“Honey! Why are we doing this?” Paul chimes in and proceeds to ignore Señor Smith’s unsolicited lesson.
“Now you’re never gonna be able to learn Spanish if you don’t cooperate!” Sharlene tells her husband who begrudgingly joins in.
Señor Smith then asks them where the bathroom is before running down the hall. Moments later, he jumps out of the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist and asks where the shampoo is.
“What’s he doing with his clothes off?” Paul asks and then grabs Señor Smith by the shirt and tells him to scram. “Can you believe the nerve of this guy? He comes in here and wants to teach us Spanish and take a shower?” Paul says as he hears the shower turn on and then quite literally kicks Señor Smith out of their home.
Señor Smith quickly returns for his clothes and Paul tells him to drop dead (en español, of course). Watch "The Spanish Tutor" from Season 5, Episode 1 above.
Steve Martin has hosted SNL 16 times
Martin’s history with SNL dates back to 1976, when he was just a rising comedian, and he hosted for his first time in Season 2. “I had a record, a comedy record, out at the same time. And that’s the reason I got on Saturday Night Live as a Host,” Martin shared in a 2010 interview with CBS, referring to his Let's Get Small release.
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While The Father of the Bride star was never a cast member, he’s returned many times since then. In total, Martin has hosted SNL 16 times, second only to Alec Baldwin as most frequent Host in history.
Martin's iconic SNL sketches include “King Tut”, playing Family Feud with the Coneheads, and asking Murray, “what the hell is that…?", to name only a few.
