Why Did Jayne Curtain Get So Many Chances?q

Because other people had a different opinion of her abilities. Simple.

I love Jane Curtin. She wasn't the worst one on SNL, but she tended to be the straight-man while the other played wacky characters against her. I don't remember a lot of detail from Kate and Allie, but she was the straight-man on 3rd Rock from the Sun as well.

I would love to have her back on TV regularly.

If nothing else, she should be appreciated for REALLY upsetting conservatives at the end of 2018 when she stated that her goal for 2019 was to see the Republican Party die.

Jane gave it a shot in the movies, but floundered.

She kept not dying, OP.

They’d hire her. She’d show up. They’d make funny. And then she would somehow do it all over again.

Maybe because she knew how to spell her first name, unlike OP?

She is a solid comic actress. Never a stand-up comedian, like some SNL-ers, and not really a comic improv talent, either.

Of course she was overshadowed by the genius (and abundant charm) of Gilda Radner, but she held her own against the big boys (Chevy, Dan, and her nemesis, Belushi, who despised her) during her stay there. Laraine Newman could be great at playing freaky characters, but Jane was always the go-to for most of the featured female parts, much like Phil Hartman would be, another underestimated talent. Gilda became the headliner.

And In hindsight, pleasant, polite, boring Jane, who knew her lines, hit her mark, and rushed home to her husband and family after tapings while everyone else continued partying.... did it all right. KATE & ALLIE and THIRD ROCK both ran for 5 seasons. I'm hoping she's sleeping on piles of money.

We will never forget her Joan, as spokeswoman for the People Born Without Faces Foundation.

Because without her we would not have the immortal line "Jane, you ignorant slut!" from SNL's skit Point-Counterpoint. Jane and Gilda Radner were the perfect foils to Bill Murray, Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and that crystalized Jane as the perfect female "straight man".

She was a great comic actress who played the "straight woman" role to perfection

OP, you ignorant Slut.

“She kept not dying, OP.”

In other words, there was no ‘final Curtain.‘

Why is OP Functionally Illiterate?

She kept changing her name

and her disastrous marriage to Shia LaBeouf after which she became known as Jane LaBeouf-Curtin

[quote] She kept changing her name

She used to be Wilma Wallpaper.

On Belushi....

On 3rd Rock....

So many of you keep misspelling it. Her name is

J A N E

C U R T I N

[quote] She is sometimes referred to as "Queen of the Deadpan"; The Philadelphia Inquirer once called her a "refreshing drop of acid." She was included on a 1986 list of the "Top Prime Time Actors and Actresses of All Time."

[quote] First coming to prominence as an original cast member on the hit TV comedy series Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s sitcom Kate & Allie portraying the role of Allison "Allie" Lowell. Curtin later starred in the hit series 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996–2001), playing the role of Dr. Mary Albright.

It bears repeating that she has two Best Actress Emmys.

I saw her in the George Gobel tour of Last of the Red Hot Lovers. She was riveting in the pivotal role of Bobbi Michele....

Gilda Radner wrote in her book that she was so PROUD of Jane's success. Jane had everything that Gilda aspired to have. Marriage, child and a successful career. Instead of being jealous, she was so damn proud because Jane was a good friend during their SNL days.

She was the one who actually was ready for prime time.

Jane BEAT Mimi Kennedy for last female slot on SNL (as Gilda & Larraine had already been hired)

Many people had lobbied for Mimi Kennedy to get hired, but it was Dick Ebersole who pushed for Jane. Saying that Jane's waspy look would be better in different sketches to contrast with Gilda. Plus Mimi was too similar to Gilda.

If Jayne Curtain were a cougar, and married Shia LaBeouf, she would call herself Jayne LaBeouf-Curtain.

All you have to do is watch one of the great Roseanne Rosannadanna skits to see Curtin's brilliance as a straight woman. She hugely enhances the skit--there was always enormous pleasure when you'd see these because you'd wonder how disgusting it would get before the camera panned back to Jane snarling, "Roseanne, stop: you're making me sick."

When Radner did her one-woman show on Broadway, she didn't have Curtin to react to her for either Roseanne Rosannadanna or for Emily Liutella, and the skits just weren't nearly as funny as they were on SNL without her. She really was Margaret Dumont to Radner's Groucho.

Well she certainly was no Peter Kurten!

I don't know why his name ever came up, but why is it Shia LaBeouf and not LaBœuf? Were his ancestors illiterate?

OP is Susan Saint James.

Curtain admits that K&A went on one season too many. They'd done everything they could with premise already.

Just when you think there’s no one around whose carin’. Just when you think there’s no one around whose sharin’. Just when you think you’re alone and can take off your pants, you’re not.

Jane was hilarious on Kate and Allie.

Speaking of that show, here is Fred Koehler nude.

Is OP the same fuckweasel who tried to kill off Katie Lange?

I didn't recognize her at first when I saw her in Can You Ever Forgive Me? playing the literary agent, but I thought she was brilliant.

(At first, I thought she was Diane Keaton.)

Jane Curtain was hilarious on Kate and Allie. I loved both her and Susan but you can't deny how much Curtain brought to the show and why she was justly awarded with 2 Emmy Awards.

And she was fucking hilarious in The Heat as Melissa McCarthy's mother.

I love her

Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd in the classic "Point/Counterpoint" sketch. They'd never get away with this in the "Me, too" era.

I think Jane is terrific in "How to Beat the High Cost of Living". Very underrated little comedy. Susan Saint James is good as well and I think Jessica Lange looked her most beautiful.

grating voice and personality.

She is one of those women with genetically heavy legs that don't decrease in size no matter how slender one is. Hillary Clinton is another. While on SNL Jane almost always wore boots no matter the time of year, or, like HRC wears slacks/pantsuit.

We have a wonderful family friend who also is like that, and she exclusively wears dresses and skirts anyway. Hee attitude is "Fuck 'em. Don't like? Don't look."

She is one of those women with genetically heavy legs that don't decrease in size no matter how slender one is. Hillary Clinton is another. While on SNL Jane almost always wore boots no matter the time of year, or, like HRC wears slacks/pantsuit.

We have a wonderful family friend who also is like that, and she exclusively wears dresses and skirts anyway. Hee attitude is "Fuck 'em. Don't like? Don't look."

Jane Curtin cousin is Oscar nominee Valerie Curtin

Jayne's daughter is sexpot tv star Tawny Curtain.

The line of dialogue for R10's GIF:

"Try these on for size, Connie Chung!"

My cousin’s best friend who is a stylist to ALL the big names in dental hygiene says that Jane Curtain is a fucking obnoxious eater - Loud sighs, chewing, cawing

It was like you couldn’t tell if she was eating or fucking the hoagie.

Jane has a second career as a dental hygienist?

For those of you who can't get enough of Jayne Curtain.

Her show “Kate and Ally” was a success. I watched it.

I know it's low brow humor for DL, but I still like The Coneheads movie

Don't forget she was also a Conehead

I think she's great. If the original cast we on today they wouldn't last a week. Jane has mad e a nice career in supporting character parts.

Belushi would never be a star in today's culture.

Did Jayne play Cate or Ally? Suzan played the other, correct?

I thought she was very good as a college professor and John Lithgow's boyfriend on 3rd Rock From The Sun.

She was not a showy performer like John Belushi or Gilda Radner. But she was very talented. And she apparently was the only one of the original SNL members who had her act together; she didn't do drugs, wasn't anorexic or bulimic and was in a stable marriage. Her career has lasted a long time, simply because she's talented and professional.

Yes, Jane didn't participate in all the debauchery and partying during the SNL years. At the end of the night she went home to her husband.

Why does the Irrelevant Actress Stalker hate women?

ENVY

She is one of the few performers I would literally pay to watch read the phone book.

She's so inventive but makes it look so easy and natural—everything she's done has cracked me up.

The sarcastic, no-bullshit talk-show hosts and newscaster she did on SNL would have earned her a bigger DL fanbase, I'd think. She always cut to the chase of the comedy; she wasn't as desperate to be loved as the other original cast members, whose characters and performances could get gooey. Rewatching those episodes, the contrast is really striking.

R53 Please, Jonah Hill is a "star" in today's celebrity culture. Of course Belushi would be a star. The world loves fat male comedians!

No, John Belushi would be cancelled for being misogynist and racist. Imagine those Samurai sketches today, complete with comical Japanese accent. Yikes!

[quote][R53] Please, Jonah Hill is a "star" in today's celebrity culture. Of course Belushi would be a star. The world loves fat male comedians!

Comedy is the only place a fat man can get any respect without becoming a drag queen. Oh wait, what am I saying…

Who is this person again?

She was the funny one in the movie you did with her, Jess.

[quote] Why Did Jayne Curtain Get So Many Chances

Why are straight me so dumb?

Will she give a sly wink at the frequent misspelling of her name and title her autobiography “Curtain Call”?

[quote]Why are straight me so dumb?

What are you asking me for?

During her SNL run, there were Q Ratings showing that she was the public’s favorite cast member. Apparently Belushi went Ballistic when he found this out.

John Belushi was a misogynistic prick, yet Chevy Chase's egomania was where they drew the line?

OP You're no expert on comedy. First, it's Jane Curtin. She was great on SNL. "Jane, you ignorant slut." She was Prymat Conehead. Learn classic comedy. Happy holiday.

She was also wonderful as Mrs. Loopner.

R71 Thanks. Wasn't the late Mr. Loopner born without a spine? And she served egg salad and Tang? I was only like 6 and shouldn't have been watching that. I loved Gilda Radner.

This was a short lived classic!

The Lucille Ball of our time.

John Belushi is only remembered fondly because he knew where to get drugs and he died young. He wasn't funny and made life difficult for everyone he came in contact with.

James Belushi is only even tolerated because he's John Belushi's brother.

R75, I remember the boys in school would often imitate Belushi's characters, the Samurai, "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger," Bluto, Blues Brother Jake, etc. I never got the appeal so I always chalked it up to being a straight boy thing.

My dad was in college then, R77, so I had to get the tail end of it being a child of the 1980s.

Phil Hartman's death was more of a tragedy because he was funnier, better-looking, and had a wider and more interesting range of characters. [italic]The Simpsons[/italic] hasn't been the same without Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure; one wonders if they've been dumbing it down out of respect for his memory.

[quote] one wonders if they've been dumbing it down out of respect for his memory.

No, one does not.

Jane played Allie; Susan St. James played Kate.

Curtin has said Belushi was for the first few years really rude to her backstage, and would say things to her like "Female isn't funny," which she says she knew wasn't how he really felt because he (like her, and like all the cast) was clearly in awe of Gilda Radner's comic abilities. She says, though, that as time went on they got along much better, and he showed her more respect.

I'm not at all surprised she had the highest Q scores. She was more of a comedic actor than a comedian (as opposed to Gilda, Belushi, Aykroyd, Murray and Chase--and she was a much better comedic actor than Laraine Newman or Garrett Morris), and Lorne hired her because he said 'the audience needs someone white bread to identify with." And that was usually her job--to show outrage or disgust at Belushi or Gilda or Aykroyd, and she did it brilliantly. (And Michaels was right--Gilda and Belushi were so over-the-top they needed someone to play off.) At the same time, when she got to do her own comic bits (such as her very memorable Pat Nixon--"God, I need a drink!"--or Mrs. Loopner) she was quite funny herself.

r77, straight boys always like fat boys willing to do anything obnoxious for a laugh. That was a large part of why Belushi was so popular, and also a large part of why Chris Farley, John Candy, Seth Rogan, and Jonah Hill have been so popular. They all genuinely have or had talent, but it's their willingness to exploit their fatness and obnoxiousness for laughs that straight boys love.

R81 it’s actually somewhat surprising to me, because she has by far the least needy, pandering personality of the bunch, and those are the type of people who tend to do well and “connect” with the masses.

Okay R82, I take offence at John Candy being lumped in with those other fat comedians. He wasn't as tasteless and disgusting!!

Belushi was a total straight guy thing, they loved him. The Blues Brothers was two hours of coke-fueled assholery, but straight guys worshipped that movie. Nobody else saw the appeal of Belushi at all.

Kevin James keeps it classy too.