Killer Bees - Hostile group of insects
seen on segments of the late night comedy series
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE/NBC/1975+.
The Killer Bees segment was inspired by news
report in the 1970s that real Killer Bees were
migrating north from South America with a
predicted arrival by the 1990s.
The cast and
guest stars of SNL - John Belushi, Laraine Newman,
Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, Neil Levy, Tom
Schiller and Elliot Gould - occasionally donned
yellow and black stripped costumes and springy
antennas tipped with yellow ping pong balls to
become a surly group of grizzly Mexican banditos
bees who toted machine guns, drove motorcycles
and spouted such cheap lines as "Your pollen or
your wife, Senor!"
A sample of the original
"We interrupt this (radio) program
to bring you this bulletin from the news room.
Swarms of South American Killer Bees have been
spotted crossing the border into California.
Sightings have mostly been confined to rural
areas....Eyewitnesses say that the bees are
yellow and black and dress much the way Eli
Wallach did in the movie, The Magnificent Seven
(1960). The bees are also overweight...(radio
The real Killer Bees
were created accidentally at the University of
San Pauolo, Brazil in 1957 when a researcher
mistakenly released a swarm of African bees into
the wilds of the South American jungle.
African bees are identical to the US honey bee
except for their ferocious temper and harmful
sting. They are moving North into the USA at 200
miles a year.
Scientist hope the colder climates
will halt their advances or that interbreeding
with native bees during their journey will
curtail their aggressive nature.
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