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Rita Delvecchio's Thanksgiving
The setup
The premise
Here’s the bit.
With a house full of relatives watching football, Rita DelVecchio works the phone in her kitchen, gossips about Frank Sinatra's health and threatens any child caught fetching beers for the grown-ups. Her mother, Mrs. Silvestri, lugs a crate of soda up from the basement and settles in at the kitchen table stuffing shells, where she second-guesses Rita's basting, scolds her for buying ricotta from a grocer who spends his money on girlfriends, and quotes Martha Stewart until Rita erupts. Mike the neighborhood cop stops by on Thanksgiving to warn Rita that a complaint about her lawn decorations could earn her a citation, and she blames the neighbor in the see-through housecoat. When a crash outside turns out to be the head of her Miles Standish lawn figure, Rita claims it as her own and chases the vandals off with a volley of Pilgrim-themed threats while her mother joins in and loses a shoe. Back in the kitchen Rita reminds her mother that the holiday is about gratitude, only to walk into a basting pun her mother sets up, and the two end up trading insults.
The funny people
Meet the cast. 3
Say it with us
Highly quotable.
Any kid who can't walk a straight line by dinner gets my foot for dessert.
Guess what? I keep it! It's mine!
Keep running, because the next time I'll kick you in your Plymouth rocks!
A little extra
Notes from the archive.
Host Rudy Giuliani, then the mayor of New York City, plays Rita's mother in drag. This Thanksgiving installment is the seventh and last Rita DelVecchio appearance listed by SNL Archives and Wikipedia.
Script
Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.
- 00:04
Rita DelVecchio
Happy Thanksgiving! Hi Bella! Oh yeah, Yeah, you're kidding. I got a house full in there. Some are watching the game. Some are planning their next crime. Don't listen, Val. I'm there. Uncle Joe would like another beer. In the fridge, baby. In the fridge. How's your turkey? How many pounds did you get? Yeah? How long did it take? Okay, that's it! Hold on! No more kids getting beers for adults! Okay? My Okay? Any kid who can't walk a straight line by dinner gets my foot for dessert. Oh, now mother's down in the basement. I don't know what the hell she's doing down there. Hey, listen. What's the update on Frank Sinatra's health? What do you hear? You're kidding! Hold on one second. All Everybody, Frank, sign up. Yeah. right, baby, I got to go. Okay. Talk to you later. Bye-bye. What Mom, what the hell are are you doing down there? Don't carry that yourself! What are you, crazy?
- 01:06
Mrs. Silvestri ?
The kids need more pop!
- 01:07
Thanks.
- 01:11
Rita DelVecchio
What did you say?
- 01:13
Mrs. Silvestri
The kids need more pop!
- 01:14
Rita DelVecchio
The kids are smashed, Ma.
- 01:16
Mrs. Silvestri
No, they're not. They're just happy.
- 01:18
Rita DelVecchio ?
Just sit down.
- 01:19
Mrs. Silvestri
All right, all right, I'll... right, all right, I'll finish stuffing the shells. When was the last time you basted the turkey?
- 01:36
Rita DelVecchio
Three minutes ago, Ma.
- 01:39
Mrs. Silvestri
Rita, where'd you get the ricotta cheese to stuff these shells?
- 01:43
Rita DelVecchio
I don't know. Tony's.
- 01:44
Mrs. Silvestri ?
Tony's. How can you support Tony's store? I know, I know, when he spends all his money buying high-class jewelry for his girlfriends. His poor wife's walking around in a rabbit fur poncho.
- 01:55
Rita DelVecchio
It don't affect the cheese, Ma.
- 01:59
Mrs. Silvestri
It does if you cook with love like I taught you.
- 02:02
Mrs. Silvestri ?
There's love in there. Keep eating. Keep eating.
- 02:04
Speaker 1
Aunt Rita, we're starving!
- 02:07
Rita DelVecchio
Yeah, so are Sally Struthers' kids. Now go upstairs. It's finish watching the sound of music upstairs and stay away from grandma's mustache cream it's poison.
- 02:16
Mrs. Silvestri
It won't hurt them. Let them have fun.
- 02:19
Rita DelVecchio ?
Okay, okay.
- 02:21
Mrs. Silvestri
Martha Stewart says not to stir while you simmer.
- 02:24
Rita DelVecchio
Martha Stewart. If I hear Martha Stewart tell me how to cook one more time, I'm gonna shove a Cornish game hen down that waspy bitch's throat.
- 02:32
Mrs. Silvestri
She's She's bad. I hear she doesn't pay her bills and she's single.
- 02:39
Rita DelVecchio ?
There's a surprise.
- 02:40
Mrs. Silvestri ?
Yeah, see? There you go.
- 02:44
Mike
Hi, Rita. Hi, Mr. Silvestri. Happy Thanksgiving.
- 02:48
Rita DelVecchio
Oh, happy Thanksgiving, Mike. Ma, you know Mike the Cop.
- 02:52
Mrs. Silvestri
Sure, sure. Did you eat?
- 02:54
Mike
not yet my wife forgot to thaw the turkey so we won't be eating till after the rose bowl
- 02:59
Mrs. Silvestri ?
she's Irish
- 03:00
Mike
Oh Rita I hate to bug you about this but you got to get rid of some of those Thanksgiving decorations off your lawn or I'm gonna have to give you a citation
- 03:10
Rita DelVecchio
who called who called the complain I knew it was my my neighbor Teresa Castiglione the one with the see-through house coat yeah you want to give her latest hair do a citation that ugly pain in the ass
- 03:21
Mike
come on Rita you know it's not me
- 03:24
Mrs. Silvestri
she knows don't worry baby grab a piece of pepperoni and go in the living room with the guys go ahead
- 03:29
Mike
thanks okay sorry rita
- 03:30
Rita DelVecchio ?
that's all right
- 03:31
Rita DelVecchio
what the what the hell was that what now it Sheesh! Oh, it's the head of my mild standish, Ma! Yeah, yeah, you mothers have no respect for your forefathers, you know that? Guess what? I keep it! It's mine! Wait a second. is mine oh yeah keep running, because the next time I'll kick you in your Plymouth rocks! You heard it, you pill-popping, spook-cooking bastards! They broke my Mayflower! Go get them, Ma! Go get them! Show them what you're made of! Get them off the knees! Get them off the knees, Ma!
- 04:11
Mrs. Silvestri
Great. I threw my shoe. Now, now I'm out of wedgie!
- 04:19
Rita DelVecchio
Come on, thanksgiving it's a day to think about what you got
- 04:22
Mrs. Silvestri
you're right rita and i'm gonna have a dry turkey on my hands if you don't baste it for crying out loud
- 04:28
Rita DelVecchio
ma if i baste it anymore i'll be committing a sin why because i'll be a master BASTER, BASTER, MA!
- 04:34
Mrs. Silvestri
Oh, Rita, you're a bitch!
- 04:36
Rita DelVecchio
Oh, Ma, you set me up, you bitch! I mean, Ma. I mean, Ma. Ma, Ma!
The rabbit hole continues
One more couldn’t hurt.
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