25 best cold-opens in SNL history
By David Rouben
23. Rob Ford can’t stop smoking crack
Everyone knows the late Rob Ford as the mayor who once smoked crack, but even before that came out, he had a large hill to climb. His opponents tried to smear him by calling him racist, drunk and a wife-beater, but his supporters stuck by him since he was the outsider that wanted to “stop the gravy train.” His brother Doug took a very similar approach when he recently got elected Premier.
Once he was elected Mayor, that’s when his substance abuse issues came to light. As a Torontonian, it was bewildering to see Ford get talked about on every late-night talk show, since Toronto politics are never discussed south of the border. But as he went on his press tour, and provided sound bites like “[I smoked crack] in one of my drunken stupors” and “I have more than enough to eat at home” in response to cheating accusations, he was just giving SNL more and more ammunition.
The pinnacle of Ford’s newfound American fame came when SNL decided to lampoon him. What made this sketch memorable wasn’t just their failed attempts at putting on Canadian accents, but the fact that it opened the episode.
Due to his uncanny resemblance to the late, great Chris Farley, it would’ve been great if he was around to play Ford. But while that opportunity never arose, fans did make a “Rob Ford Movie” simply by putting together clips from Farley’s movies, and you would never be able to tell the difference.
It’s a bit ironic how a politician’s most embarrassing moment ends up becoming a city’s point of pride. But after providing so many memorable soundbites, and having them covered in the States, people have been able to look back on Ford’s life in a more positive light.