Adam Sandler’s Critical Comeback Is Long Overdue

Earlier this month at Yankee Stadium, in the bottom of the first inning, Yankees All-Star infielder Gleyber Torres came up to bat. A rambunctious fan, seated behind home plate, could be easily be heard both in the stadium and on the TV broadcast.

“You can do eeeeeeet, Gleyber!” the Yankees enthusiast shouted, deploying his best Cajun accent.

And that’s why Adam Sandler should’ve won his first Emmy Award this weekend.

Yes, I am both an entertainment populist and an advocate of “career achievement” honors for a single performance. Those two principles dovetail with the joy I felt when Sandler finally returned to Saturday Night Live, the show where he established his brand in the early 1990s, as the show’s host last May. His appearance earned Sandler an Emmy nomination for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, an award that he somehow lost to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel guest star Luke Kirby. (He was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for his work on 100% Fresh, which he also lost — this time to Hannah Gadsby.)

Despite these losses, these Emmy nominations — his first since 1993 (!!) — served as a fitting tribute for someone whose contributions to comedy have long been underappreciated in the name of hating on his film career.

Do you remember what a distinct comedic tone Sandler struck when he hit the SNL scene over 25 years ago? If you don’t, it’s either because you’re too young or too old. Call up Weekend Update bits like his thrifty Halloween costumes or Cajun Man, or his characters like Canteen Boy or Lucy Brawn (one third of the Gap Girls). You can draw a through line between the minimalist, effortless humor here —like “Crazy Pickle Mustache” as a Halloween recommendation, followed by his mantra “Gimme some candy!”— and that utilized by Conan O’Brien in his “Actual Items” bit on his late-night talk show; it’s no coincidence that the two performers overlapped during one SNL season. Or from Sandler’s silly voices and ludicrous concepts to the sights and sounds of South Park that draw you into deeper ideas.

Fast-forward to his early movies and you’ll see a pattern of subversiveness emerge, from the late, out-of-nowhere musical number near the end of Billy Madison or the fistfight between Happy Gilmore‘s title character and iconic game-show host Bob Barker. His unbridled, self-referential lunacy also passes the test of time, the primary example being Rob Schneider’s aforementioned “You can do it!” townie from The Waterboy, a character who later reappeared in Little Nicky, then was subsequently portrayed by Sandler in Schneider’s star vehicle The Animal and, wackiest of all, ultimately assumed the form of Rudy Giuliani in Anger Management.

This early burst of comedic brilliance naturally dissipated over the years, thanks in large part to the production company Sandler formed, Happy Madison, after the success of his first two hits. The prototypical “Sandler movie” has been produced and shaped by him, and featured his ever-growing list of friends. And sure, many of them feature more empty calories than a Chipwich. Yet name me a Sandler film and I’ll point out at least one redeeming quality it possesses, be it a line, a performance or a plot nuance. When you balance this propensity for effortless fluff with his poignant performances in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and Funny People, you appreciate what a gifted performer he can be.

Sandler’s SNL episode, like 99 percent of its predecessors, certainly could have gone better. A couple of the sketches —namely the cold open “Family Feud” and the music video “Holes (Clothes)”— were stinkers. The highs, on the other hand, soared pretty darn high: The delightful “I Got Fired” monologue song, the return of Opera Man on “Weekend Update,” the low-key Romano Tours commercial and the emotional tribute to fallen SNL legend Chris Farley exemplified Sandlers range, his depth and his comfort in his own shoes. And the “Sandler Family Reunion” showed off his contributions to the cultural zeitgeist, as well as his selflessness as he laughed to others’ impersonations of him.

When it comes to awards ceremonies, I would like to reiterate that my firm belief that voters should factor in a performer’s entire career when assessing the singular performance. The greats should not go unnoticed. For example, I was crushed when Sylvester Stallone didn’t win a Best Supporting Actor for Creed (in all likelihood, his last best shot at Oscar gold), and I did one-armed pushups in my living room when Jack Palance got the Best Supporting Actor award for his turn in City Slickers.

I was disappointed that Sandler didn’t get his long-deserved props at the Emmys this time around, but with any luck, the Academy Awards might come calling for him in a few short months. No, I’m not kidding; his performance in Uncut Gems is drawing early Oscar buzz after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. If this somehow comes to fruition and Sandler ends up with a Best Actor nomination, mark my words: I’ll fly out to Los Angeles, sneak into the Dolby Theater, sit in the audience and approvingly shout in my best Cajun accent, “You can do eeeeeeet, Sandman!”

Ken Davidoff is a baseball columnist for The New York Post. You can follow him on Twitter: @KenDavidoff.

Stream the Adam Sandler-hosted episode of SNL on Hulu