Rutger Hauer passed away this week after a short illness at the age of 75. Hauer’s iconic role as Roy Batty in Blade Runner is what he is most remembered for. After that, he almost aways played the bad guy.

SNL’s first head writer and comic genius, the late Michael O’Donoghue, was a good friend and after he has left the show, he pitched a pilot to HBO called simply, TV. It was much ike aspects of SNL and SCTV with O’Donoghue’s bizarre sense of comedy which was always played with a straight face.

In the early 90s I had worked for a decade as and designer and art director for magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair and I thought I wanted to make the transition to art direction for TV and film.

I asked O’Donoghue, after the got the green light to do TV, if I could be the art director. He said yes, and I found myself in LA for three months creating graphics on the computer, for the first time, for parody’s of everything from BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE to HEAVYWEIGHT ALERT, both featured here.

The pilot featured James Brolin, Ann Magnuson, Kelly Lynch and others in various roles, with music by Devo‘s Mark Motherbaugh.

O’Donoghue cast Hauer against type to play Kid Satin, a gunslinger so confident that he wore a frilly dress to prove a gun fight. It’s not quite drag, and it’s far from hilarious, but Hauer plays it down the middle. And it’s bizarre.

This clip was posted by Mr. Bill creator and director of this bit, Walter Wiliams.

Watch.