Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute (1979)
The great Margot Kidder, playing a bank vice president on a business trip, receives a visit from a profoundly Midwestern, profoundly decent, assuredly unsexy sex worker: Fred Garvin, male prostitute.
Dan Aykroyd brings big dad energy to the role of a kindly, folksy gigolo, and Kidder is a perfect straightwoman. The setup is absurd, but everyone plays it with endearing vulnerability. Like many Aykroyd characters, Fred Garvin would provide the template for many played-straight ridiculous characters to come.
This one doesn’t always turn up on lists of the best SNL sketches, but it should.
Key line: “Ma’am, you’re dealing here with with a fully qualified male strumpet.”
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