"Buh-Bye": SNL's Total Bastard Airlines Got an SNL40 Callback
The hilariously rude classic sketch starred Host Helen Hunt and most of the Season 19 cast.
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 19: "Total Bastard Airlines” starring Host Helen Hunt and Season 19 cast members David Spade, Kevin Nealon, Jay Mohr, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Melanie Hutsell, Sarah Silverman, Julia Sweeney, Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler, Norm MacDonald, Ellen Cleghorne, and Tim Meadows.
When you look back at iconic SNL lineups, Season 19's March 19, 1994 episode is definitely among them: It was hosted by Helen Hunt two years into her hit NBC sitcom, Mad About You, with Musical Guest Snoop Dogg (the Season 26 The Voice Coach performed now-classics "Gin and Juice" and "Lodi"). And speaking of classics, the night debuted an all-timer so popular that it got a callback during the SNL40 anniversary special.
"We at Total Bastard Airlines are bitter about the career paths that we've taken, and we do tend to take that out on our passengers," the pilot overshares on the intercom at the end of a flight.
The flight attendants (David Spade and Helen Hunt) certainly don't bother to hide their contempt for the deplaning passengers. One by one, they dispatch each one with a brisk "buh-bye." The best their passengers can hope for is a rude improvised song medley from Spade's character before he tells them to get out.
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SNL's "Total Bastard Airlines" sketch starred most of the Season 19 cast
As SNL's many airline commercial parodies have captured so well, American air travel is a fraught experience, and everyone's eager to get off the plane when they finally reach their destination. Not as eager as Total Bastard Airline's flight attendants, though.
"Excuse me, could you tell me—" a passenger played by Season 19 cast member Jay Mohr asks Helen Hunt's character, who's already buh-byed him.
"I'm sorry, which part didn't you understand: The 'buh'? Or the 'bye'? Buh-bye," the flight attendant icily tells him. The next passenger (Mike Meyers) doesn't have better luck seeking info about his connection, nor do Chris Farley and Adam Sandler, the latter of whom tells Spade's character he's going to "pound your face in" when they're both off the plane.
Then Sarah Silverman, who joined the SNL cast for one season at age 22, steps up to give Spade and Hunt's characters a piece of her mind for "being rude to me the entire flight" — but she's soon assailed by a wall of "buh-byes" as another flight attendant (Julia Sweeney) steps in to back up her coworkers.
"How strange! I swear she said 'buh-bye' but I still see your mouth flapping," Spade's character tells a man on crutches (Rob Schneider). "There it is again! The flapping mouth. How odd. I wanna see motion, movement, buh-bye."
In a surprising moment of curiosity, Hunt's character asks Tom Davis — Al Franken's comedy partner and one of the original writers of SNL — what he's listening to on his headphones.
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"Hits from the '70s," he answers, prompting Chase to launch into a disco moment in which he "buh-bye"-ifies "Freak Out," "Do the Hustle, and "That's the Way (I Like It)."
Watch "Total Bastard Airlines" from Season 19, Episode 16 above, and stream every episode of Saturday Night Live on Peacock anytime.
SNL's 40th anniversary special mashed up "Total Bastard Airlines" and "The Californians"
Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary special was a celebrity-packed celebration that teases what you can expect from the three-hour SNL50: The Anniversary Special on February 16. And an A-list-heavy edition of "The Californians" featuring Taylor Swift, Bradley Cooper, Kerry Washington, original cast member Laraine Newman, and Betty White got so complicated, it was honestly tough to wrap up.
Enter the Total Bastard Airlines flight attendants — with Cicely Strong stepping in for Helen Hunt — as she and David Spade arrived to harshly scooch everyone offstage. Watch it below.
