Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1995–1996 Oscar winner "Raging Bull", the first movie to star both De Niro and Pesci), and "Li'l bit" (a shortened version of a line from "Goodfellas" (where De Niro accuses another mobster of being a "little bit out of line" for insulting Pesci's character), another film starring the two actors). The real Pesci and De Niro appeared on one episode, criticizing Breuer for playing caricatures of their film characters. Quinn suddenly says he is not De Niro, but "Colin Quinn from "Remote Control"." Breuer's and Quinn's weak defense of themselves insults Pesci, who asks De Niro if they were just insulted,
Robert De Niro successful at the box office. De Niro had to turn down a role in "The Departed" (2006) due to commitments with preparing "The Good Shepherd" (2006). He said: "I wanted to. I wish I could've been able to, but I was preparing "The Good Shepherd" so much that I couldn't take the time to. I was trying to figure a way to do it while I was preparing. It just didn't seem possible." In June 2006, it was announced that De Niro had donated his film archive (including scripts, costumes, and props) to the Harry Ransom Center at the University