Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber

Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber was a recurring comedy sketch on the American television show Saturday Night Live during the late 1970s. The title character was a barber surgeon played by comedian Steve Martin, a frequent host of the show. The central gag revolved around Theodoric's insistence on using bloodletting as a solution to any complaint or illness by his customers.

In one memorable episode, Theodoric said:

Also, during the sketch he would propose profound, innovative ideas that had the potential to change the course of history, but he would ultimately dismiss them, as in:

Martin also appeared as Theodoric of York, Medieval Judge, in skits that lampooned both the medieval and modern judicial systems. In these skits, Martin's character Theodoric would summarily pass judgment based on the outcomes of trials by ordeal, such as throwing the accused, weighted, into a river to see if she would drown, in cases of suspected witchcraft. If the accused floated, she was determined to be guilty (because only by using her occult powers could she have risen to the surface), and if she sank and drowned, she was innocent. Upon deciding the accused was guilty, Theodoric would refer to the Book of Common Wisdom (a huge, dusty tome) to decide appropriate punishment. In the case of a man found guilty of adultery, Theodoric could not seem to find an appropriate punishment specified in the Book, so he pondered aloud, putting his hand on his chin and gazing up at the ceiling:

As with Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber, Martin would end his Medieval Judge skits by proposing modern legal concepts such as trial by a jury of one's peers, provision of defense counsel, innocence until proven guilty, prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments, etc., but end by saying... "Naaaaaaaahhh!"

A similar skit (appearing only once) was aired on SCTV around the same time, focusing on a medieval couple living in England in the same era, and was called Master Ralph Roister Doister.

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