The Coneheads are a fictional family of extraterrestrials with bald conical heads, created for a series of recurring sketches on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' (SNL). They first appeared on the January 15, 1977 episode hosted by Ralph Nader (episode 35: season 2 episode 11). They are portrayed by

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

as father Beldar, Jane Curtin as mother Prymaat, and Laraine Newman as daughter Connie. In 1993, they appeared in a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

with Michelle Burke playing Connie.

Summary

The Coneheads are natives of the planet Remulak, stranded on Earth. Their distinguishing feature is the tops of their heads, shaped like large, bald

cone In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the '' apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines ...

s. The father's name is Beldar; his wife is Prymaat, and their teenage daughter is Connie. Beldar and Prymaat sometimes use the pseudonyms Fred and Joyce. Beldar states his occupation as "timekeeper of Remulak"; this means he is a spy tasked with alerting his home planet to the optimum time for an invasion of Earth, which he fails to do. At one point he reveals that Remulak's invasion will turn Earth into "a minor refueling station for the Emperor's Star Cruisers". Connie is assimilating with Earthlings through association with her peers at school, and some family stress is caused by her desire to live as a typical Earth teenager. Beldar gives his family a cover story to explain their strange behavior by saying that they are "from France".

Physiology

The Coneheads speak in a very fast, nasal monotone. Their speech is characterized by the failure to understand idioms used by native English speakers, and their unnecessarily formal use of the language. They refer to food as "consumables", and say "I summon you" when asking to speak to another person. The adults refer to Connie as "the young one" and themselves as her "parental units". They will say "Maintain low tones!" (one of their catchphrases) when voices rise in heated family discussions. They use the word "Mebs!" as an expletive when highly upset. The Coneheads have much larger appetites than Earthlings, eating large amounts of food during meals (which they identify by another one of their catchphrases, "consuming mass quantities"). They drink entire six-packs of

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

at once, and smoke whole packs of

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

s at a time. On the 1977

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

episode (October 29), a neighbor complains about their choice of trick-or-treat handouts: beer and fried eggs. They also consume substances and items inedible to Earthlings, such as cleaning fluid, pencil shavings, and fiberglass insulation. Coneheads have sex by rubbing their cones together and placing "senso-rings" over them. When the neighbors bring a dessert bundt cake to a dinner invitation, Beldar, who takes it to be an edible senso-ring, grabs it and shouts, "No! Not in front of the young ones!"

Conceptual origins

Dan Aykroyd said he was inspired to create the Coneheads by marijuana consumption and based the characters' appearance on the

Moai Moai or moʻai ( ; ; ) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but h ...

, the mysterious and ancient stone statues of Easter Island, which have similarly long heads, and the (LSD-inspired) people of the Land of Point from

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

's fable '' The Point!''. Dan Aykroyd also mentioned in an interview that he drew inspiration from the film '' This Island Earth'' where the very tall foreheads of the aliens go largely unnoticed by humans.

Music

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

wrote a song based on the sketches, titled "Conehead". It appeared on his 1981 album '' You Are What You Is''. When he hosted ''SNL'', Zappa also appeared in a Coneheads sketch as a man dating Connie, where he makes note that he prefers French women.

Adaptations

The concept was turned into a Rankin/Bass animated special, ''The Coneheads'', which aired October 14, 1983 on NBC. Aykroyd, Curtin and Newman reprised their roles from the original sketches. A live-action film, '' Coneheads'', released in 1993, starring Aykroyd and Curtin. Michelle Burke took over the role of Connie in the film, with Newman appearing as Connie's aunt on Remulak.

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

produced a comic book limited series, with all-original stories set after the events of the film. The feature film was licensed to

Playmates Toys Playmates Toys Limited is a Hong Kong toy company. The company was founded in Hong Kong in 1966 by Sam Chan Tai-ho as Playmates Industrial, manufacturing dolls for other companies. In 1975, Playmates began marketing its own line of preschool to ...

and a line of action figures was created, designed by the development team from Pangea Corporation, but was a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

''SNL'' appearances

*January 15, 1977: The Coneheads at Home (Host: Ralph Nader) *February 26, 1977: The Coneheads at Home (Host: Steve Martin) *March 26, 1977: The Farbers Meet The Coneheads (Host: Jack Burns) *April 16, 1977: The Coneheads At Home (Host: Elliott Gould) *May 21, 1977: Return Of The Coneheads (Host:

Buck Henry Buck Henry (born Henry Zuckerman; December 9, 1930 – January 8, 2020) was an American actor, screenwriter, and director. Henry's contributions to film included his work as a co-writer for Mike Nichols's ''The Graduate'' (1967) for which he re ...

) *October 29, 1977: Return Of The Coneheads (Host: Charles Grodin) *January 21, 1978: Family Feud (Host: Steve Martin) *March 18, 1978: The Coneheads On Earth (Host: Jill Clayburgh) *May 13, 1978: Cone Encounters Of The Third Kind (Host: Richard Dreyfuss) *October 21, 1978: The Coneheads At Home (Host:

) *February 24, 1979: The Coneheads At The Movies (Host: Kate Jackson) Source:

Licensed usage

As of late May 2015, State Farm Insurance created a Coneheads version of its commercial "State of Unrest," in which Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin reprise their Coneheads roles and put a Coneheads spin on the original commercial that features a husband calling the State Farm 24-hour policy line, while his wife is sure he is talking to his mistress despite his protests that he is talking to State Farm. A second Conehead State Farm commercial is set on their spaceship. When the microwave breaks, the Coneheads (Aykroyd, Curtin and Newman) invoke their State Farm representative by singing the company's jingle. The agent assures them they saved money on their policy, but then notices they are in space and not in France, where the Coneheads are supposedly from, so the Coneheads sing the jingle again, but add "in France!" and they all end up sitting at a table outside a French bistro, with the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

in the background.Sternberg, Brian
"The Coneheads Are Latest ‘SNL’ Characters to Turn Up in Commercials"
'' Variety'' (May 11, 2015)

References

External links

Transcript of ''SNL'' sketch, Season 3, Episode 15
{{Lorne Michaels Saturday Night Live sketches Saturday Night Live in the 1970s Topcraft Science fiction television characters Extraterrestrial characters in television Fictional immigrants to the United States Fictional families Television characters introduced in 1977 Works by Dan Aykroyd Moai