With the Bears undefeated and leading the NFL in scoring offense (31.2 points per game) and scoring defense (7.2), it’s only natural to resurrect that relic from the 1985 Bears: the Superfan.
The TV debut of Bill Swerski’s Superfans–and their famous “Da Bears” catchphrase–came in a Jan. 12, 1991, sketch on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
Tribune sports columnist Mike Downey caught up with one of the Superfan actors, George Wendt of “Cheers” fame. The former Second City performer, Notre Dame alumnus and devoted Chicago sports fan (he attended the Super Bowl XX victory in New Orleans) had plenty to say about “Da Bears”–the skit and the team. You can read Downey’s full column in Thursday’s Tribune.
– Wendt believes Conan O’Brien, an “SNL” staff writer before getting his own talk show, helped Robert Smigel create “Da Bears” premise and characters. O’Brien and Smigel performed together in Chicago in the summer of 1988 at the Victory Gardens Theater in a production called “The Happy Happy Good Show,” at a time when Bears mania was still in full bloom.
– On public clamor for his Superfan impression: “Not so much yet. But if they keep on being undefeated, it’s coming. You know it’s coming.”
– “I was Bob Swerski, brother of Bill Swerski–who was Joe [Mantegna]–who was supposed to be recovering from one of a series of heart attacks. Or was I Bill Swerski, brother of Bob? I forget.”
– “I went back on the show as Bob Swerski a few years ago. But this time for the Weekend Update news segment. They’d just had the Academy Awards. I said, ‘So what won as Best Picture? Dat’s right, my friends. ‘Chicago.’ And what lost? ‘Gangs of New York.’ Put dat in your crackpipe and smoke it, New York.’ “
– “I did a bit for the Super Bowl pregame show with [Mike] Ditka last year. But they cut all the fun stuff out. A lot of funny Levitra jokes, for one thing.”
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SUPERFAN EXCERPTS
FROM “SNL”
Bob Swerski: “Now what if Da Bears were to enter the Indianapolis 500?”
Todd O’Conner: “How would they compete?”
Bob: “Well, let’s say they rode together in a big bus.”
Carl Wollarski: “Is Ditka driving?”
Bob: “Of course.”
Carl: “Then I like Da Bears.”
From Super Bowl pregame show
Mike Ditka: “I’ve done some other things besides coaching.”
Bob Swerski: “Like bringing da Bears back to da top?”
Ditka: “I don’t coach the Bears anymore, Bob.”
Swerski: “Oh, please! We all know you control Lovie Smith’s thoughts through your teleDitkanesis!”
Ditka: “No, Bob, I do ESPN, and I do a lot of commercials.”
Swerski: “Those are hilarious. The one about the male enhancement pills. Ah, the idea that you would require pharmaceutical assistance to perform, that gets me every time!”
Ditka: “Bob, I really use the stuff!”
Swerski: “If you were to take that pill, we’d have to evacuate half the bar.”
— Tribune, RedEye
