He is best known for his "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey", a large body of surrealistic one-liner jokes, as well as his "Fuzzy Memories" and "My Big Thick Novel" shorts, and for his deadpan delivery.
Some of these segments appeared in the compilation video of that program, Doctor Duck's Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce.
Introduced by Phil Hartman and read live by Handey (neither actually appeared on screen), the one-liners proved to be extremely popular.
Hartman intoned "And now, Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey...", and peaceful easy listening music played while the screen showed soothing pastoral scenes, much like a New Age relaxation video.
Other Handey creations that appeared on SNL include the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer,[2] "Fuzzy Memories" which depicted reenactments of a twisted childhood memory and aired in the late 1990s, and the short-lived "My Big Thick Novel", which were spoken excerpts from a very long book in the style of "Deep Thoughts" and which aired during SNL's 2001–03 seasons.
'"[8] In early April 2008, Handey published his first collection of magazine humor pieces, What I'd Say to the Martians and Other Veiled Threats.
Associated Press critic Jake Coyle wrote, "With absurdist musings such as these, Handey has established himself as the strangest of birds: a famous comedian whose platform is not the stage or screen, but the page.