I came here to watch this and show it to my husbance - because last night, while Trick or Treating, my kids were given little colorful calculators by one of our neighbors. When they got home, they poured out their buckets - grabbed the calculators, and ran around raving about how much they loved their calculators. It was unbelievable, and a lot like this sketch. I'm convinced that the writer experienced something similiar.
I think I wouldve also been excited, it's just something unexpected and different from candy. Kind of like when you get popcorn balls or little toys from trick or treating.🎃🍬
oh thank god they got the calculator i would’ve been so upset if they hadn’t. i also love how their family doesn’t make fun of them for it, they just look on in pride and love. those are some good parents.
When I bought my Casio fx-82SX plus, I was so happy. After about three years, I forgot it in train. I was devastated. I bought another, identical, but pain for first one is still here.
"Do you have any idea how fast we are going to be able to calculate square roots? Multiply and divide?" Sounds like people satisfied with their obsessions, though I agree that this is different from materialism and greed.
welcome to the reaction once the students get to the calculator portion of the test. "it's a calculator! it's a real calculator! I can go so much faster now!!!!"
**snl writers sitting in the writing den** "hey guys i have a great idea for a short" "what" "so there are these twins" "okay" "and they want a calculator for christmas" "what" "and then they get super excited" "YOURE A GENIUS THIS WILL MAKE MILLIONS"
Mary Jane I remember when I was really young and had no concept of money I just assumed that the more I wanted something the more expensive it must have been so I would beg and beg for things that as an adult I realize were super cheap lmao
That's me in 1970 or 1971 when I received my first calculator for Christmas. No square roots, percentages, or memory functions, just a simple 4-function calculator. I think I burned through batteries faster with that machine than I did with my battery-powered hot wheels a few years later.
This is actually me! All I wanted for christmas was a beautiful Texas Instruments 84 plus, and when I got it, I almost cried! Prop stat class hasn’t been easier!
No exaggeration: when my twin brother and I were 13, my parents got us TI-89 graphing calculators for Christmas because we'd "need them in high school." I was fairly disappointed, because, you know, who wants a calculator for Christmas? 14 years later, I'm a high school math teacher, and I use that same TI-89 constantly. It's been a loyal companion. So, you never know!
My mom used to have all of our Christmas presents wrapped at the Department Store, with that slick high end wrapping paper. The slick paper made it easy to lift the scotch tape and slide the box out so that we could see what we were going to get on Christmas morning. It ruined the surprise, but it was still fun to peek.
I love how they say calculator lol but this is more of a sweet sketch than a funny sketch. I'm glad they got the calculator that they wanted as Christmas is just about giving joy to others no matter what they ask for. 😊
Worst thing about calculators, graphing calculators that are required for math classes. The Ti83. Using the same tech its used since the last 70s, but still coasts $90-$120.
Here in Germany we ordered Texas Instrument calculators via the school and they were expensive as fuck. Don't know how they got in the system, but damn that's easy money raking it in by the class loads.
Supply and demand are what determine price, not material cost. They charge $90-120 because people are willing to pay $90-120, and for no other reason. Though, it should be said that's it's a pretty shady practice, requiring calculators for school. Effectively a way to keep the lower class in the lower class. Sad part is, almost all of the mathematics a person would do in school or in a career is something that'd be faster without a calculator. Case and point, I used my calculator exactly 4 times in my entire AP Calculus course, but it was required that I show up with it regardless.
I got a TI-84 for Christmas in 8th grade. I love that thing! I carve a little notch in it at the end of every math class. I used to call it my 'first cellphone,' and carry it everywhere in my jacket pocket. Possibly the most useful gift I've received, behind my laptop.
If someone had shown me this skit's script, I would've been like "huh?" But to see it...I don't know exactly why, but it slays me every time! Malkovich in that horrible wig, a great actor trying & failing miserably at playing a college kid. His very strange delivery of his lines, I don't know...it's like trying to explain why some people like yogurt.
"Ma! Ma! All we want is a calculater!" Just thinking about this shit makes me chuckle. Got drunk at my niece's last Christmas, we were going on & on about this skit. Every present that I opened was like "It's a calcualater!" Ah, when SNL was funny...
Its funny how theyre right, the one thing that matters the most is how you percieve things and what they mean to you. But then again its just a sketch.
What I love about this sketch is that it works on a basic level as innocent, goofy comedy but it's really a satire about affected 'retro' kids wanting outdated things that were once really expensive (Texas Instruments* (one of the first manufacturers) was the giveaway here) but made for boring presents that few kids actually wanted back in the 70s & 80s. *My dad had an led one that ran on 9v batteries...for about 5 minutes at a time!
SNL writer: I have an idea. 2 overgrown kids want a calculator for Christmas. Lorne: That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. SNL writer: Fred Armisen & John Malkovich say 'cowlculateh' 19 times. Lorne: So let it be written, so let it be done.
I think the skit is just seeing Christmas from the perspective of the kids. When you're a kid, the power that suddenly makes something appear, out of thin air, is magic. It's really weird that you can wish for something and it appears. It doesn't really matter what it is. The older brother's experience of Christmas is already what Max Weber would call "disenchanted" (entzaubert). He gets a Wii. Big deal. The two kids aren't so much transfixed by the calculator per se as they are just by the sheer thrilling excitement with which some object of their choosing appears every year.
I read some of the comments here... There is nothing to get. It's just 2 kids that freaking love calculators and Fred and John kill it! It's funny as hell the way they do it. So freaking excited! Classic, brilliant, love it
They did specifically say that it's *all* they asked for. And they seemed extremely pushy about it, and frankly it was a bit beyond disturbing. I'd have been tempted to get them nothing, as a way to punish their greedy, entitled attitudes. Though, knowing how I am, I'd still have gotten them something, actively avoiding anything calculator related.
@@dontmisunderstand6041 wth? they just want one thing so much. it doesnt even cost alot. and because they want something so simple and pure so much u want to punish them for it? sounds like really really bad parenting. ure just gonna dull youre kids enjoyment in life like that.
My 6 year old grandson likes to make outfits out of plastic store bags, he has all kinds of toys to play with but that’s his favorite thing to do here. So I totally understand this sketch!
