No One Gets Old Runner’s ‘SNL’ References
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A local man’s jokey comments routinely go over the heads of his fellow runners, Dumb Runner has learned, because nearly all of them involve decades-old lines from “Saturday Night Live.”
The man, Tony Manero, 53, grew up watching the weekly sketch comedy show, which has aired since 1975, though he admits he “(hasn’t) seen it for a while.” An avid runner, he’s been a member of the Bay Ridge Running Club for six years.
Fellow club members describe Manero as a genial person and a capable runner, even if many of his comments seem “random and cryptic.”
“He’s a great guy,” said Karen Lynn Gorney, 28, a Bay Ridge Running Club member who often sees Manero on the club’s weekly long runs. “But yeah, he’s always making these random remarks that I guess are supposed to be jokes? Except he’s the only one laughing?”
Gorney and others offered several examples of such comments:
“I’m getting a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves.”
“Well isn’t that special?”
“We are here to pump (clap) YOU up.”
“Living in a van down by the river!”
“Oh, and to get to meet Pat Sajak! Like I suppose you could do better than that, no way. Because it seems to me that he must be a pretty decent guy, I must say.”
“Flowers. Candygram. Land shark.”
“Those are out of context, I know,” said Gorney. “But trust me, even in the moment they made absolutely no sense.”
“One time, during a run, (Manero) suddenly said in a German accent, ‘Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance,’ and he, you know, started doing this weird dance,” she added. “We were worried he was having a stroke or something.”
Manero’s non-“SNL” pop culture references have gone unappreciated as well, sources said—including his announcing during a recent 18-mile group run that he was “hungry like the wolf” and spontaneous singing midway through a trail run, as the group encountered a fallen tree blocking their way.
“It's log, it's log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood,” Manero sang, puzzling his younger friends. “It's log, it's log, it's better than bad, it's good!”
Other comments, such as “Time to make the doughnuts,” “I’m crushing your head,” and “I learned it by watching YOU!” have also been met with silence.
Reached for comment, Manero told Dumb Runner, “No one gets my references? Well excuuuuse me!”
He then laughed and hung up.
