“Had to Wear a Baby Bunny Once”: When Charles Barkley ‘Hilariously’ Played Shaquille O’Neal While Hosting SNL

Charles Barkley has had the great pleasure of hosting SNL on four occasions. Given all these opportunities, it’s hard to believe that Barkley wouldn’t take his time to poke fun at his lifetime nemesis, Shaquille O’Neal. The moment came during Barkley’s 2012 return to the show, where he played his TNT co-host in a skit. Barkley appeared on the show, dressed up as Shaq, and did an impeccable job at it, while Kenan Thompson played Chuck.

The SNL actor did a great job playing Sir Charles, as he roasted Shaq [played by Barkley] on every possible occasion. On the flip side, Barkley played a rather dumbed-down version of O’Neal, a trope that would follow O’Neal for the rest of his career. In one such segment, the crew showed a version of Shaq who was bad at storytelling.

As soon as the co-host pulled out a “baby hat” to initiate a discussion, Shaq started another “dumb” story as Barkley (portraying Shaq) said,

“I had to wear a baby bunny once, when I was a baby.” 

Unknown to many, O’Neal had a hard time launching his career as an analyst on ‘Inside the NBA‘ in 2011-12. He wasn’t nearly as articulate, attentive, and proactive as now. He was often relegated to being Barkley’s punching bag, which would often lead to heated arguments on the set of the show.

Returning to Barkley’s 2012 SNL Show, the former NBA player would be joined by SNL legend Bill Hader, who played Ernie Johnson, and Jay Pharoah, who played Kenny ‘the Jet’ Smith. The trio would end up ganging up on Shaq, as he (Barkley) took insult after insult while maintaining an absolute stoic expression. The show also used lines from the show, ‘I’d rather be watching Free Willy 2 than Kazaam 1’, making fans relive iconic moments from that show.

Shaq blossomed into a lovable giant

After 19 seasons in the NBA, Shaquille O’Neal hung up his shoes and decided to join the broadcasting world. After retiring from the Boston Celtics, Shaq already had his eyes set on it, as he had already signed onto ‘Inside the NBA’ as a studio analyst.

Shaq quickly made the TNT gig into a full-time job, as the show began to morph positively. O’Neal had his rookie moments during his first few seasons, but slowly caught his grove.

Shaquille O’Neal soon enough got his segment called “Shaqtin A Fool”. It was an instant hit and even continues to this day. It’s safe to say that Warner Brothers made no mistake in drafting Shaq into the TNT fold. In fact, without Shaq and Charles, the show would have had a hard time combating ESPN, with Skip Bayles and Stephen A. Smith.

But everything worked out just fine, as the TNT crew has won over six Emmy awards for their fantastic contribution to the sport of basketball, and the art of broadcasting.