Posted on 04/27/2025 7:27:00 AM PDT by DoodleBob
There's never really a way to know whether a Saturday Night Live sketch will become an instant classic or quickly fade from memory. As Will Ferrell taught audiences on April 8, 2000, however, you can tilt the odds pretty drastically in your favor if you fall back on a Blue Öyster Cult hit, some banging cowbell and a fittingly bizarre Christopher Walken performance.
That's what drove the now-legendary "More Cowbell" segment. In the re-imagined recording session that produced the radio classic "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," sideman Gene Frenkle (Ferrell) is aggressively encouraged by cowbell-craving producer Bruce Dickinson (Walken).
None of it ever really happened, and the whole thing was so surreal that it ended up being tucked away toward the end of the episode. But "More Cowbell" quickly took on a life of its own — a victory for Ferrell, who had to fight just to get it on the air.
"Every time I heard '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' by Blue Öyster Cult, I would hear the faint cowbell in the background and wonder, 'What is that guy's life like?'" Ferrell told Rolling Stone.
The sketch was actually cut the first several times it was pitched for inclusion in an episode, but the idea lingered. "I held on to it for, I think, three months, until Christopher Walken was the host and rewrote it for him," Ferrell added. "His odd rhythms fit so perfectly. He gave it that special sauce."
Naturally, word quickly filtered back to the members of Blue Öyster Cult, who were in the midst of a resurgence of sorts. Two years before the "More Cowbell" sketch aired, they released 1998's Heaven Forbid, the band's first album of new material in a decade; they were prepping their next effort, 2001's Curse of the Hidden Mirror. While neither of those releases garnered the sales Blue Öyster Cult enjoyed in their heyday, they continued to tour steadily. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" remained a setlist favorite, and it had origins that weren't that far removed from the version Ferrell imagined.
"Ironically, it was similar to what happened in the skit," Blue Öyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard told Fox5 New York. "We had put a whole bunch of overdubs on the song, and one of them was Randy Brecker — he put a flugelhorn part on it, or a trumpet or something, in the middle part. We didn't like it so I said 'Hey, I want to do a triangle in that part. That's what I want — I really hear a triangle in my head."
Who Decided to Add a Cowbell?
According to Bouchard, it was composer and jingle creator David Lucas who made the fateful call to add a cowbell instead of a triangle. "'I just want to hear that sound,'" Bouchard recalled Lucas insisting. "I said 'Okay,' so I play it, and I'm like 'Yeah, it's not working,' and he's like 'Oh, well, put some tape around it,' so I put some tape around it. I used, like, a timpani mallet and everybody's like 'Yes, that's it!' So it's funny that [Ferrell] even noticed it because it was mixed very low. You don't even really notice it in the track."
Little of this mattered to SNL viewers who were keyed into Ferrell's performance, which combined his typical aggressive clowning with the sort of desperate yearning for acceptance one might expect to see in a guy relegated to playing the cowbell in a rock band. That, coupled with eminently quotable Walken lines ("Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell"), helped the sketch snowball from late-night curiosity to viral phenomenon — and a part of Blue Öyster Cult lore.
Longtime frontman Eric Bloom admitted it took some repeat viewings to fully "get how hysterical it was," but he said he immediately appreciated the skit. He actually happened to see it air in real-time: "It was a rare Saturday when we weren't on tour, so I saw it live," Bloom later recalled. "We had no idea. It was a jaw-dropping experience."
As for Ferrell, Gene Frenkle is just one among a series of lovable man-children in his repertoire, but he's proven thoroughly memorable over the years despite his limited screen time. As far as the comedian is concerned, the sketch's appeal has a lot to do with the stuff people don't necessarily notice while they're laughing. That might also explain why Ferrell was willing to reprise the character during a Saturday Night Live appearance by Queens of the Stone Age in 2005.
"To the less-observant eye, the sketch was an excuse to let my belly hang out and wear tight '70s clothing," Ferrell told Rolling Stone, "but it really was about the exuberance of a guy who was given the green light to really express his art. Even though it's funny, it was rooted in something real."
Like and agree with the SNL comments, Walken was great in the sketch, Ferrell overplaying the annoyance, and the actual band along for publicity ride.
For those who might not have been around, 30 years before the SNL skit, Procul Harem had a huge UK/US hit for its day—
with cowbell expertly inserted into the percussion persistently there in the final mix. Good actually:
“Whiskey Train”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZoN0-OyqQQ
Whiskey Train was released in 1970, 30 years before the SNL skit, and uh....55 years ago from today. Some old rockers might remember from that era.
Another great "cowbell song" from that era with a really cool video:
He’s too over the top, obnoxious. The Pat McAfee of comedians.
Pretty sure he was being facetious.
One of the few times Will Ferrell was actually funny, but really Christopher Walken stole the skit...
I don’t get it when people say Will Ferrell is funny. I have a great sense of humor, but Ferrell make everything he is in NOT funny.
All I have to ask is, did you watch a video of the sketch? If you didn't, watch it and get back to me.
Ah yes, Mississippi Queen, now there was some serious cowbell.
Now here is a good cover of Never Been Any Reason by some kids and it is not only good but got some serious cowbell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=4RJvj5HZai8
I did, Ferrell is OK. Christopher Walken steals it.
He ruins most everything else he is in...
I agree. I think Christopher Walken was the major contributor to the success of that skit. Will Ferrell wrote it, but Christopher Walken knocked it out of the park.
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