Rookie Cop

A rookie falls ill at an alley crime scene, setting off a chain reaction among the officers, coroner and police commissioner. Reporter Brenda Hamilton spreads it through a live broadcast to two television viewers and their dog. At City Hall, Red Skeffington negotiates a cleanup deal with Mayor Rudy Giuliani before a plate of deviled eggs makes matters worse. Even the man rotating a newspaper-headline display joins in, and the rookie’s final confession gives the officers one more reason to lose their composure.

The sketch archive documents mistimed practical effects and notes that reruns substitute dress-rehearsal footage for the Giuliani scene.