Adam Sandler says Roseanne Barr was originally to sing “The Chanukah Song”
It would certainly be an interesting alternate universe
Aux News The Chanukah Song
Adam Sandler’s iconic Saturday Night Live musical number “The Chanukah Song” is nearly 30 years old, but he just dropped a surprising reveal about the song in a chat with Access Hollywood about his new movie Leo. The song was written for an episode hosted by Roseanne Barr in December of 1994, and Sandler told Access Hollywood that Barr was originally going to be the one to sing it, but she recognized that Sandler (who co-wrote it originally with SNL writers Lewis Morton and Ian Maxtone-Graham) deserved to be able to sing it himself.
The rest is Hanukkah history, of course, with Sandler laughing off a suggestion in the Access Hollywood interview that he’s the “Mariah Carey of Hanukkah” despite the song’s ongoing popularity (it inspired a movie!). He joked that he’ll sing the song alone in his basement these days, but he said that he and his family are actually still proud of it and he still gets excited when he hears it.
And to think that would all be a little different if Roseanne Barr had sung it. Surely the song would be a little more problematic these days if that had been its origin, with everyone having annual conversations about whether or not you can separate the fun of “The Chanukah Song” with the less-fun of modern Roseanne Barr. Would Adam Sandler still be the voice of Leo in Leo? Would Access Hollywood be doing an interview where he said “y’know, I was originally going to sing the song,” and we’d all be like “yeah, that would’ve been better than having Roseanne Barr sing it.”
Leo is on Netflix this week, and Eight Crazy Nights is on Prime Video and Hulu. Old Saturday Night Live episodes are on Peacock. That should cover everything.
7 Comments
No matter what else happens, we no longer live in the worst timeline.
If it’s the second-worst out of infinity, doesn’t that still sound like the worst? I forget the math rule behind it…
Maybe it is the other way around.Had she sung the song it would have been the nadir of western civilization. We would have all stopped and taken stock. Corrected out mistakes. Consumed less alcohol. Forgiven our stepfathers.Decades later we would have flying cars, world peace, a 10-hour work week and solid state sex robots.
Did Rosanne want to add a few lines about the Holocaust?
Two things worth noting.1) he pushes norm out of the frame. Even though this is prettyyoung in his career and norm’s arm was BARELY visible, Adam was sharp enough to spot how he was framed on the monitor and tweak it like a perfectionist.2) “this is a song i wrote”. No, it’s a song you co wrote. Maybe that’s part of the bit, but interesting that he’s clearly made himself not just cetnerd in the frame but centered in the narrative. It’s all about Adam. He knew this moment could be seminal ni his career and he was sure it was just about him.
(who co-wrote it originally with SNL writers Lewis Morton and Ian Maxtone-Graham)
Pretty sure had Barr sung it there wouldn’t be any questions about it because nobody would remember it outside those directly involved.It would have been a screechy unholy mess only fixable by adding Fran Drescher singing high descant.