Toonces - Toonces The Driving Cat

Toonces The Driving Cat

Dana Carvey and Victoria Jackson play a couple who allow their pet cat Toonces to drive their car; Toonces subsequently drives the car off a cliff. Debuted May 20, 1989.

Toonces was the family pet of Lyle (Steve Martin in the first sketch, thereafter by Dana Carvey) and Brenda Clark (Victoria Jackson), an enthusiastic couple who would allow their cat to drive the family car. At first, they were delighted that their cat had such an ability, but were always horrified to discover (too late) that Toonces was actually not a skilled driver at all. The running gag was the punch line: "See, I told you he could drive! Just not very well!". Inevitably, Toonces would drive the car over a cliff whenever he got behind the wheel. This sequence was characterized by someone in the car yelling "Toonces, look out!" with the Toonces puppet appearing to scream also, followed by the car falling off a cliff, and sometimes exploding (as shown in a series of stock footage scenes—sometimes the same one used multiple times within a sketch).

Toonces was portrayed by a live cat (for the title sequence and certain close-up driving scenes) and a puppet. The puppet was made up of three parts. The first part was a head and torso piece, which was a simplistic rendering of a grey and white striped Domestic short-haired cat. The other two parts consisted of two separate paws, which were manipulated so as to simulate Toonces actually steering the car.

This sketch first appeared on the show that Steve Martin hosted when he broke Buck Henry's record for most hosting stints.

In 1992, NBC aired a half-hour Toonces special. Toonces, the Cat Who Could Drive a Car (1992) was a prime time special that aired on February 2, 1992. The special featured the first half of the first Toonces sketch & "The Tooncinator" both from SNL plus one new Toonces sketch "Toonces Without A Cause" three short little pieces before commercial breaks to remind you it was a Toonces special "Toonces The Cat's World Of Nature" "Toonces & Spunky Play Ping Pong" "Toonces Mows The Lawn" & the end credits featuring "Toonces Flies A Plane"

The special also featured a few new non-Toonces sketches.

• Coach Dobbs in "The Big Game"
• Scruffy The Rat
• Abe Lincoln And His Time Machine
• The Fugitive Couple
• Zactu & Mondo From Way, Way Beyond-O in "A-door-able Martians"

The special was released on video as The Best Of Saturday Night Live: Toonces And Friends.

On the September 27, 2008, episode of Saturday Night Live, the stock footage of a car going over the cliff was reused in a different sketch. It was edited so that after going over the cliff, the film reversed, the car returned to the cliff top, and then exploded as it landed on the ground.