Happy birthday to SNL’s Happy Fun Ball Skit. Don’t taunt this toy

I don’t know about you, but every time the word “taunt” comes to mind, I think of one thing and one thing only: don’t taunt Happy Fun Ball. Back on February 16, 1991, 32 years ago this week, Saturday Night Live presented to the world a new toy with mysterious origins.

NBC’s comedy sketch show has delivered plenty of hilarious fake ads over the years – the Amazon Alexa for seniors is one of my favorites – but Happy Fun Ball might be the most cited.

The parody commercial begins simply: an orange ball bounces down the street to the delight of the SNL cast members playing kids. (Hey, there’s Mike Myers!) Phil Hartman’s perfect voice announcer (still much missed) zooms in to plug in Happy Fun Ball, the “nation-sweeping toy sensation.” Only $14.95!

Hartman’s sale of the toy is pure Ronco Bass-O-Matic infomercial perfection, but then the disclaimers start rolling in, and that parody ad goes nuclear.

“Pregnant women, the elderly and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball! Warning: Happy Fun Ball can suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds! Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core which, if exposed due to breakage, should not be touched. , inhaled or looked at!”

The warnings keep coming, including an endless list of when you should stop using Happy Fun Ball. (heart palpitations! slurred speech! loss of balance or coordination!)

Then things get even weirder. “Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain skin types.” CERTAIN TYPES? Like… human?

When not in use, Hartman calmly tells us, HFB should be stored in a special container and refrigerated. Failure to do so releases Wacky Products Incorporated and its confusingly named parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, from any liability.

Then everything shifts into the twilight zone. Happy Fun Ball, we learn, contains “an unknown glowing substance that fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.”

But it’s the next line that made this ad as quoted as Monty Python or The Big Lebowski: “Don’t make fun of Happy Fun Ball,” warns Hartman. Whichever SNL author chose the word “taunt” should win a Pulitzer Prize for commercial parody, once we invent one, because that word, in this context, is perfection. Why would you… and what if you… and… mockery?

Thinking back to the Happy Fun Ball ad 32 years later, I marvel at its excellence. Part of the hilarity is that Happy Fun Ball itself is just a plain old ball. We only see him briefly in action, but he seems to have no skills other than… bouncing? Like any bullet ever?

Yet, in the old tradition of infomercials: BUT WAIT! THERE IS MORE! And “more” isn’t an included Ginsu knife set, or a buy-one-in-one-free offer, but rather a terrifically delivered, simple, and hilarious backstory with a menacing edge that completely pops out of the left field. The Happy Fun Ball ad manages to poke fun at infomercials, lengthy drug warnings, and trendy new must-have toys before taking this sci-fi, alien, Welcome to Night Vale/Black Mirror twist.

Nine months later, the Happy Fun Ball ad had a baby, of sorts. Hartmann’s Unfrozen Caveman Avocado Sketch aired in November 1991, and Happy Fun Ball was listed as one of the show’s sponsors. “Still legal in 16 states,” the new sketch announces.

Luckily, SNL didn’t kick Happy Fun Ball into the ground, as this show is known for everything from memorable characters to catchy catchphrases. Other than that brief mention of November, Happy Fun Ball was one and that was it.

But 32 years later, better not taunt him.