Sprockets (Saturday Night Live)

Sprockets was a fictional television talk show created by actor, writer and comedian Mike Myers for the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. Myers played Dieter, a bored, dissolute German expressionist and minimalist who would interview celebrities in whom he was barely interested and always bring the discussion around to his "limited" monkey Klaus. The sketch made fun of German art culture in the 1980s. Dieter himself was based on a real person, an art student who attended college with Myers (and who was known to actually say many of the catch phrases heard on the show).

The theme song for the sketch as heard on SNL is a remixed and sped-up version of Kraftwerk's Electric Cafe.

File:Dieter mit kyle mclaglen.jpg

The sketch was to be made into a film in 2000, featuring Myers and David Hasselhoff. However, Myers did not approve of the script and refused to participate. This resulted in a major lawsuit against Myers for breach of contract.

Memorable quotes and catch phrases

• "Would you like to touch my monkey? Touch him! Love him!"
• "His agony was gorgeous. I need to be slapped."
• "Rühren mein affe. Liebe meine affe-monkey!" (excite/agitate my ape. love my ape-monkey!)"
• "Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance."
• "Now I am as happy as a little girl!" (spoken while pinching the fabric of his shirt at the nipples and pulling it away from his body)
• "Sadly, Klaus is limited. But he is beautiful, is he not?"
• "Your setup has become tiresome."
• "I appreciate a warm hand on my opening."
• "Karl-Heinz, your body is beautiful and angular, and if you were a gas, you'd be inert."
• "Gregor Was, your presence intimidates me to the point of humiliation. Would you care to strike me?"
• "Textures intrigue me."
• "Why is it that the truly brilliant are doomed to a life of obscurity, surrounded by a sea of mediocrity, only to end up covered in sores in a pool of their own filth? Oh well, the beat goes on."
• "That has disturbed me to the point of insanity. There. I am insane now."

Quotes from the real Dieter

• "I once had an art course where we had to touch tapioca, styrofoam and monkeys. Michael, perhaps we can go to the zoo and touch monkeys."
• "Michael, you really must come to Stuttgart. It's a town that's really on the go-go-go."

are you the real Dieter?

See also

• Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches