TV Gets a New Terrible Lawyer, SNL's Kidney-less Attorney, Jeremy Ganz
Saturday Night Live is having a bit of a renaissance these days, fueled largely by its nearly endless mockery of Donald Trump -- mockery that really seems to get under the president's skin, regularly sending him on early-morning tweet rampages. Not since Sarah Palin ran for vice president has the show been so politically relevant.
But Trump isn't SNL's only target. On their most recent episode, the sketch comedy show skewered lawyers, telling the tale of one struggling, kidney-less, and possibly unlicensed fictional attorney, Jeremy Ganz.
Maybe You Should Have Gone With the Other Firm...
SNL's sketch takes the familiar form of a consumer testimonial, the "I got over $300,000 for my injuries thanks to Dewey Screwem LLP!" type. The fake ad, for fake PI firm Broderick & Ganz, features a client, played by host Aziz Ansari, praising Ganz (Bobby Moynihan). "After my accident, Jeremy Ganz got me a settlement of six thousand dollars!" Ansari exclaims.
Then come Lisa Broderick's verdicts: $1.7 million for a burned tongue, $2 million for a sprained ankle. Ansari quickly suspects that he might have gotten the lesser partner at the firm, given that a cement truck drove into his living room and dumped cement all over him, leaving him trapped for three days.
Those suspicions are confirmed when Ganz declares that his favorite part of being a lawyer is the "real-life police man in the courtroom."
"You can't touch his gun," Ganz says, "but you can see it."
It's soon revealed that Ganz may have earned his partnership by trading his kidneys. Both kidneys. You can watch the full sketch here.
TV's Best Bad Lawyers
Moynihan's Ganz is pretty funny, but he's not the greatest incompetent lawyer we've seen on TV in recent years. (When did this become such a common trope?)
There is, of course, Saul Goodman, the quintessential lawyer parody. The "Breaking Bad" character, complete with amazing attorney advertisements, eventually earned its own spin-off, and inspired plenty of real-life imitators.
Then there's Jack Kelly, on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Uncle to Charlie Kelly, one of the show's main characters, Jack shows up occasionally to help the dysfunctional gang with their many legal problems, argue Bird Law, and worry about his small hands.
Of course, we can't forget Bob Loblaw, the tongue-twistingly named attorney from "Arrested Development," whose early forays into the internet, where he founded Bob Loblaw's Law Blog, helped inspire our very own FindLaw blogs.
Finally, there's the unforgettable Lionel Hutz, from "The Simpsons." A literal ambulance chaser, Hutz operates out of a local strip mall, from a practice named "I Can't Believe It's a Law Firm!"
And those are just a few. (This isn't a comprehensive list, after all.)
If you've got your own suggestions for lawyers so bad they're good, let us know via Twitter (@FindLawLP) or Facebook (FindLaw for Legal Professionals).
Related Resources:
- 7 Lawyer Commercials That Are So Bad They're Good (FindLaw's Strategist)
- Two Family Law Ads: One Brilliant, One Miserable Failure (FindLaw's Strategist)
- Get Ready for Your Close Up, Counselor. TV Is in Your Future (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)