The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between November 9, 1985, and May 24, 1986, the eleventh season of SNL.
The Pathological Liar is a character created and portrayed by Jon Lovitz, pre-dating his work on SNL.
The Liar often appeared on Weekend Update segments to share his farcical views, but was also used in full-length sketches and show openings.
The character's name was Tommy Flanagan (/fləˈneɪɡən/ flə-NAY-gən) — not to be confused with the jazz pianist) — and he would tell outrageous whoppers in an effort to make himself seem important (such as his claim that he invented rock and roll).
During the cold opening when Jerry Hall hosted, Flanagan claimed to be an old friend of her then-boyfriend Mick Jagger; when Jagger entered moments later, he shocked her by revealing that the two were longtime friends, and had actually spent the previous weekend together, while she had no idea of his whereabouts, on a fishing trip.
Jon Lovitz plays a ruthlessly ambitious, egomaniacal actor who spoke with a plummy "Shakespearean" English accent and often elicited the sympathy of other characters in the sketch, only to reveal the ruse by declaring his catchphrase, "Acting!"
His arch-rival and mentor, Baudelaire (John Lithgow), often had the last laugh in the escalating one-upmanship, in reality childish pranks and paperthin disguises that they both fell for, ostensibly due to their brilliant acting.
In 2016, Lovitz stated that the character was based on Canadian actor William Needles, who was his drama professor at the University of California at Irvine.
Tom Hanks reprised his Paul character from this sketch in a Cut For Time "Bruce Chandling" Weekend Update feature on October 22, 2016 (Season 42, Episode 4).
A Weekend Update commentary segment, with A. Whitney Brown explaining how several seemingly-unrelated current news events fit into "The Big Picture".
The various mundane events in the lives of a seemingly mentally disabled couple (Jon Lovitz and Joan Cusack).