Land Shark (Saturday Night Live)

The Landshark or Land Shark originates from an early Saturday Night Live skit, performed during SNL's first season, shortly after the release of Jaws. It was one of the first SNL recurring characters, and among its most enduring.

References to "land sharks" appear in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sailing chanties^{[citation needed]}, referring to merchants who cheated sailors. Indeed, the use of "shark" alone may have originally designated unscrupulous people, perhaps from the German "Schurke" — "someone acting immorally", and only later applied to fish.

Original skit

The Season 1, Episode 4 skit, titled "Jaws II," featured the "Land Shark," a cunning urban predator (voiced by Chevy Chase). As narrated by John Belushi (playing the Matt Hooper character from Jaws), "the Landshark is considered the cleverest of all sharks. Unlike the great white shark, which tends to inhabit the waters and harbors and recreational beach areas, the Land Shark may strike at any place, anytime. It is capable of disguising its voice, and generally preys on young, single women."

The skit showed the Land Shark attacking several people by knocking on their doors and pretending to be repairmen, door-to-door salesmen, and the like. Once the victim opened their door, the Land Shark would swoop in for the kill. The skit is typified by the following exchange:

[Scene: A New York apartment. Someone knocks on the door.]

Woman: [not opening the door] Yes?

Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Arlsburgerhhh?

Woman: What?

Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Johannesburrrr?

Woman: Who is it?

Voice: [pause] Flowers.

Woman: Flowers? From whom?

Voice: [long pause] Plumber, ma'am.

Woman: I don't need a plumber. You're that clever shark, aren't you?

Voice: [pause] Candygram.

Woman: Candygram, my foot. Get out of here before I call the proper authorities. You're the shark, and you know it.

Voice: I'm only a harmless dolphin...

Woman: A dolphin? Well...okay. [opens door]

[Huge latex and foam-rubber shark head lunges through open door, chomps down on woman's head, and drags her out of the apartment, all while the Jaws attack music is playing.]

The "Land Shark attack" scenes are intermixed with other scenes directly spoofing Jaws, featuring Dan Aykroyd as Sheriff Brody and the aforementioned John Belushi playing Matt Hooper.

Other appearances in SNL

The character returned in later episodes using the original cast, but then was not used for many years.

Season 1, Episode 6

Titled "Jaws III". The attacked women were played by Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, and guest host Lily Tomlin.

Season 2, Episode 6

Titled "Trick-or-Treating Land Shark". The shark attacks Radner, then announces "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" (the cold opening).

Season 2, Episode 11

Titled "Sketch With No Ending". The final sketch of the show; various sketch endings are attempted.

Season 2, Episode 20

Titled "Land Shark", the shark meets aviator Charles Lindbergh, played by Buck Henry, on a transatlantic flight. Since Chase left the show after this season, the character did not return.

Season 27, Episode 2

During "Weekend Update", as Jimmy Fallon introduces a segment about that year's spate of shark attacks, the Land Shark knocks at the door to the newsroom, then attacks Tina Fey. As Fallon closes the show with "I'm Jimmy Fallon", Chase turns to the camera and replies, "And I'm not. Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow," echoing his own Weekend Update catch phrases.

References in popular culture

Though the Land Shark character appeared only irregularly on Saturday Night Live, it has entered the American cultural Zeitgeist. References to a "land shark" (often preceded by the word "candygram") can be found in movies, print, video games, and other places. Often it is spelled as a solid compound, i.e. as one word. In many forms of fiction, it is used as a name or nickname to a land-dwelling monster similar in appearance, temperament, or appetite to a shark.

Slang for police K-9 dogs.
In the movie K-9, Jim Belushi's character refers to a police dog as a "land shark".
BMW featured the land shark (taken whole cloth from the original skit) in a commercial for the Z4 in 2003.
The Columbus Landsharks were a professional lacrosse team playing in Columbus, Ohio for the 2000-2003 seasons.
"Landshark" is a derogatory nickname for lawyers in the U.S.
Beginning with the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, every edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual has featured a monster known as the bulette. The bulette was essentially a land-based, four-legged, burrowing shark. The description mentions that the bulette's nickname is "landshark".
This term also describes a celebration ritual undertaken by a team who has just won a game of Ultimate. Where four members hold another member on their shoulders and parade around. The member being carried is naked and holds a frisbee in his butt. The practice is also fairly common among liberal arts students as a variation on the streaking theme and may or may not be connected to success in athletic endeavors.
In the comic 8-bit theater the land shark was mentioned briefly by Red Mage, but quickly dismissed by Black Mage in comic 227.
In the video game Armed and Dangerous, one of the weapons available is the Landshark Gun, which fires a shark into the ground that "swims" through the ground, then comes up under the target and attacks.
The Goblin Sappers from Warcraft III tempt the player with quotes.
The Zoids anime series' feature the War Shark, a mecha that resembles a shark, and is capable of moving though the ground as well as it does underwater.
In the movie Striking Distance, Bruce Willis' character ambushes an opponent and announces, "Land shark."
Landshark is the nickname used by paintball journalist Dave "Landshark" Norman in Action Pursuit Games Magazine since 2001.
In the original Masters of the Universe toy line from the 1980s, the villain Skeletor had a vehicle resembling a tank with a shark's head, called, appropriately, the Land Shark.
Land Shark is the trade name used by Southern Oregon-based custom bicycle frame manufacturer John Slawta.
The movie Tremors and the graboids were inspired by the concept of a "landshark".^{[citation needed]}
The shark-like motorized bombs used in an episode of Lupin the 3rd are referred to as "land sharks" by one of the protagonists.

Reality

In September 2006, scientists studying marine life off the coast of Indonesia's Papua province announced the discovery of a shark that walks on its fins. The shark does not venture onto land; it walks on the ocean floor.

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