Mike Ditka Appears on SNL and Will Ferrell’s Kicking and Screaming
The National Football League continues to mourn and remember one of its most iconic, legendary figures of its 106-year history. The late Mike Ditka, coach of the Super Bowl winning 1985 Chicago Bears. While many may think of Ditka being hoisted on the shoulders of his players, being one of the best dressed on the sidelines or providing football analysis in his later years. We thought we would take a moment to appreciate Mike’s impact on sports pop culture. To do so, let’s look back at when Mike Ditka appeared on SNL and in Will Ferrell’s film Kicking and Screaming.
Long before Mike Ditka became the spokesman for Chicago sausages and Overstock.com, he made a cameo on Saturday Night Live. In fact, he didn’t just make one appearance on the hit NBC classic program. But Ditka gave the people want they wanted twice. Mike Ditka appeared on Saturday Night Live (SNL) on two occasions: on January 9, 1993, and on October 25, 1997.
In 1993, Ditka made a brief cameo appearance during the “Bill Swerski’s Superfans” cold open sketch (“An Open Letter to the Chicago Bears”), which aired just days after he was fired as head coach of the Chicago Bears. George Wendt’s character famously reassures himself: “We do not fear for Ditka. We know Ditka will rise again. Ditka is like the sun, only smarter.”
Four years later, Ditka made his second and final appearance in a later “Superfans” sketch during an episode hosted by Chris Farley, by which time he was coaching the New Orleans Saints. Mike was the head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 1997 to 1999. “The Super Fans Revisited” saw the Superfans coming to grips with the fact that their idol had left Chicago to coach the New Orleans Saints.
Mike Ditka Appears on SNL and Will Ferrell’s Kicking and Screaming
When the “S.N.L.” funny man and alum Will Ferrell needed a proven winner to help him coach a youth soccer team in “Kicking and Screaming” (2005); he called Ditka. “Some of you are going to wish I was dead,” Ditka, of course wearing a Bears sweater vest, tells the kids at his first practice. But it was the ol’ Ditka charm that made the film’s premise a chuckling affair.
Mike of course was known as a head coach first. For his larger-than-life presence that included his haircut, mustache and sleek aviators. But what can’t be ignored was also his acting chops. His comedic timing and facial expressions that gave his lines humorous life.
Yes, NFL fans will continue to immortalize his Super Bowl win. The 1985 shuffle and attire that has become a game-day costume and an October favorite. But Mike Ditka also made TV and movies great… by simply being himself.
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