Saturday Night Live/Canteen Boy

Canteen Boy Saturday Night Live
Actor(s)	Adam Sandler
Creator(s)	Adam Sandler
First Appearance	18x15 - John Goodman/Mary J. Blige
Last Appearance	20x08 - Alec Baldwin/Beastie Boys
Episode Count	7

Canteen Boy is a simple, perhaps retarded, teenaged boy with a gentle, trusting nature. He is portrayed and was created by Adam Sandler on Saturday Night Live.

Basic Information

Canteen Boy is one of the simplest (in more ways than one) characters ever to recur on Saturday Night Live. In fact, the opening sentence of this article says pretty much everything about him as a character which needs to be said. As his name would imply, he carries a canteen and can often be seen wearing a Boy Scouts uniform. Sandler portrays the character with a vacant grin and few words, creating almost a silent character in the tradition of Jackie Gleason's Poor Soul or Jerry Lewis' Bellboy. Also like those previous characters, Canteen Boy's sweetness and trusting nature means the comedy comes more from other characters in the sketch, who seek to take advantage of him.

While there is little else to say of the character, much can be made of Sandler's portrayal. Canteen Boy appeared at a time in SNL history when most of the more popular characters were turned into movies, inspired by the success of Wayne's World in the theaters. Although very popular, Canteen Boy never had his own movie. However, Sandler portrayed similar characters, variations on the Canteen Boy theme, several times in his immensely successful 1990s comedy movies—including the similarly titled The Water Boy—as well as on his own comedy albums. In a sense, many of Sandler's more "serious" characters, seen in such films as The Wedding Singer, Punch-Drunk Love and Reign over Me, could be seen as extensions on the basic Canteen Boy concept—mild-mannered (at least outwardly) characters used and abused by others who are more cunning but more cruel.

Appearances

1. 18x15 - John Goodman/Mary J. Blige. "Block Party."
2. 18x17 - Jason Alexander/Peter Gabriel. "Food Union." Canteen Boy annoys two co-workers in a supermarket who are trying to find a safe place to take a break.
3. 19x03 - Jeff Goldblum/Aerosmith. "Garage Sale."
4. 19x05 - Christian Slater/Smashing Pumpkins. "The Headline Store."
5. 19x13 - Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger/UB40. "Canteen Boy Goes Camping."
6. 19x20 - Heather Locklear/Janet Jackson. "Heather Locklear's Monologue."
7. 20x08 - Alec Baldwin/Beastie Boys. "Alec Baldwin's Monologue."