The Ink Stained Wretch #173 2/19/25

Samurais, Saturday Nights, and Kung Fu Comic-Con Commissions!

Here we go with another of the tacky, tasteless, and tumultuous tomes that are these newsletters! This week we caricature a katana, reveal the job that started us on this SNL sketch series, and peek at a commission with a glow... on with the 'Wretch!

Sketch o'the Week: John Belushi!

Click here if you are interested in this original sketch.

Here's another sketch for our "Famous Saturday Night Live Characters" series. This week it's the late John Belushi as "Samurai Futaba", from the early days of SNL. The samurai would appear in sixteen different skits over the four seasons Belushi was on show, and become one of the comedian's and SNL's trademark characters.

It's likely Belushi's samurai would never have become a recurring character at all except for frequent early show host Buck Henry. The original sketch with the character aired on December 13, 1975 and featured Belushi as a samurai hotel desk manager with that episode's host Richard Pryor as a samurai bellhop. The two duel over who has to carry a guest's luggage. The character in that first skit was not quite the one that would be best known later… for example the samurai spoke in English at the end of the segment.

Having loved the original skit, Henry insisted there be another samurai sketch when he hosted his first SNL on Jan 17, 1976. That skit, "Samurai Delicatessen", established the character as he is best remembered. The basic premise of the sketches were that the samurai would be doing mundane, everyday tasks and jobs but use his samurai skills to do them and despite all odds accomplish them perfectly. The character was, among other things, a tailor, doctor, dry cleaner, TV repairman, hit man, and psychiatrist in various sketches. While the samurai appeared with many other guest hosts, there was always a samurai skit on the show when Henry hosted and while Belushi was in the cast.

During the "Samurai Stockbroker" skit on October 30, 1976, Belushi accidentally cut Henry's forehead with his katana, which required a bandage which was visible on Henry's head for the rest of the broadcast. In solidarity, and as a running gag, the rest of the cast wore a similar bandage on their foreheads for the remainder of the episode.

This has been another lesson in “Saturday Night Live” history, which was not written by ChatGPT.

So Why the SNL Sketch Series?

In case you've been living under a rock this year is “Saturday Night Live’s” 50th anniversary. This past week there were a couple of specials celebrating the show's anniversary and legacy, and over the last month or so there have been numerous stories and features written about the show, its history, and its influence on comedy and pop culture. That alone is reason enough for me to do this sketch series, but I had a more tangible reason.

The image above is an illustration I did for New York magazine (well actually for its online counterpart "The Vulture") for their story on the show's 50th. This was a very quick turnaround job. In fact I colored most of the piece while I was in L.A. doing a workshop earlier this month as it was due the day I got back. Here's how it looks on the website (link included, but you may hit a paywall):

Here's the pencil sketch I sent in for approval:

Now, before you write me an angry email saying "HOW COULD YOU NOT INCLUDE (insert SNL character/skit here) THIS IS A TRAVESTY AND AN AFFRONT TO THE UNIVERSE!!! ETC! ECT!" I was told exactly what characters to include and no others. You can direct your complaints to Vulture.com. The story itself is based on a survey they took of 65 current and former SNL cast and writers, so many of the choices of what was included are based on who responded and what they said.

After banging this out I thought it would be fun to take a bit more time doing some of these characters and ones that are missing as well, like this week's Belushi sketch. I intend to tweak the ones from the illustration, add in the new ones I do, and make an SNL 50th caricature print sometime this spring.

Comic Con Kung Fu Commission

Believe it or not I am STILL doing the last of the extremely long list of commissions I took on back in October at New York Comic Con and via my "Virtual Artists Alley" online event. I got most of them done by the end of November but a crazy number of freelance jobs, many with immediate deadlines, and other stuff has usurped my drawing board time since the beginning of December, so these last few have been a long time coming.

This one was a fun one, featuring the 1980's cult camp classic movie "The Last Dragon". I do these "Comic Con" level commissions using Tombow brush pens and Copic markers. I started using these markers a few years ago at conventions and after all this time I have a technique down that gives me a nice final look but still allows me to do them at my comic-con table or in the studio without taking forever. Still. I spend a few hours on something like this from initial sketch to final.

If you are curious about how I use Copics, this week's Premium Subscriber video is of me coloring part of this very piece! If you are a premium subscriber, keep reading below!

Thank you for being a subscriber! As always, if you liked what you saw please share it with others. Remember I'm always looking for feedback, questions for the mailbag, and suggestions for future Sketch o'the Week subjects. Just reply to this email with any of the above! And always remember... it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide!