Tim Meadows is Comedy’s Secret Weapon

The 2004 comedy Mean Girls is an enduring modern favorite. From “You can’t sit with us” to Glen Coco to the vaunted October 3rd, Tina Fey’s highly quotable, immensely meme-able movie remains a beloved early-aughts trove of hilarity. Mean Girls features no shortage of exceptional comedic performances, but when I think about it 15 years after the premiere, the first person who comes to mind is Tim Meadows.

The long-time Saturday Night Live cast member isn’t the star of Mean Girls, obviously. In fact, other than his 2000 movie The Ladies Man, the Second City alum isn’t primarily known for starring roles. Tim Meadows is the guy who’ll pop into your movie and deftly deliver the greatest Tony! Toni! Toné! joke ever crafted. He’s the guest star who’ll inject subtle humor and stark realism into a silly lawyer character known for “trying his best” and being a “mack” at cases involving dog bites.

Simply stated: Tim Meadows has a knack for making everything he’s in just a little bit better.

The above bit and Meadows’ (non hyperbole) brilliant line read of “Hell, no. I did *not* leave the South Side for this!” are two of my favorite Mean Girls jokes. Sure, “Stop trying to make fetch happen!” and the Toaster Strudel line are firmly entrenched in the zeitgeist, and deservedly so, but the veteran comedian’s performance being comparatively overshadowed makes sense when you consider that one of Meadows’ best comedic traits is being the perfect scene partner.

The actor often plays the straight man, but it’s usually a straight man with a twist. On Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Meadows portrays Jake’s prison friend Caleb, a fellow inmate who’s passionate about woodworking and cannibalism. Similar to Phil Hartman, Meadows’ greatest comedic gift is elevating the people around him. Few people are as inherently funny as Meadows, so he doesn’t need the big laugh line to get a reaction.

This rare ability is one of the many reasons the comedian is in such high demand, making guest appearances on Bob’s Burgers, Detroiters, and The Goldbergs, among many other shows.

Meadows has an ineffable comedic quality that simply can’t be quantified. His time at Second City and SNL transformed the actor into a versatile, surgical performer. One of the most under-appreciated Weekend Update segments from the ’90s is Meadows’ bit about how much he loves hockey.

Minus the intro and outro, the whole monologue is only about a minute long, but it’s so delightfully bizarre. The subtle tonal shifts are next level. First, he just randomly lists the names of popular hockey players before heightening his emotional involvement: “I swear to God there are only a few things that really get to Tim Meadows: racism, sexism, and no hockey.”

If you read the transcript of the sketch, it’s not really all that funny. But therein lies the power of Tim Meadows. He makes a line like “I need my hockey like I need air, or water, or food, or clothing, or whatever” work.

The “or whatever” still kills me.

Nobody does relatable, cozy strangeness better than Tim Meadows. Everyone loves him, yet he’s still somehow under-appreciated, which to me is unacceptable. I swear to God there are only a few things that really get to me: racism, sexism, and a lack of reverence for the comedic stylings of one Tim Meadows.

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