{"id":3327,"date":"2024-10-31T00:35:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T00:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3327"},"modified":"2024-10-31T00:38:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T00:38:04","slug":"ftv-snl-at-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3327","title":{"rendered":"FTV: SNL at 50"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Having done a couple of quizzes about songs and lyrics, I will take a different tact on this outing about <\/span>Saturday Night Live.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 <\/span>AARP – The Magazine <\/span><\/i>ran a \u2018test your knowledge of five decades of <\/span>Saturday Night Live\u2019 <\/span><\/i>feature recently.\u00a0 Using their quiz,\u00a0 I am going to do a Johnny Carson ‘Carnac the Magnificent\u2019 bit and give you the answers before revealing the questions.\u00a0 Here we go:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Answer 1:\u00a0 <\/span>Wayne\u2019s World – <\/span><\/i>Question:\u00a0 Which was the highest grossing movie based on a sketch?\u00a0 A2: Howard Johnson –\u00a0 Q:\u00a0 Who was the first band leader on SNL?\u00a0 A3: Papyrus – Q:\u00a0 In a skit gone viral, Ryan Gosling plays a man obsessed with the <\/span>Avatar<\/span><\/i> film\u2019s use of what font?\u00a0 A4: \u201cWe come from France\u201d – Q:\u00a0 What excuse do the Coneheads use to justify their strange behavior?\u00a0 A5:\u00a0 Schweddy Holiday balls – Q:\u00a0 This pitch-perfect NPR holiday spoof centered on Alec Baldwin\u2019s – what?\u00a0 How are you doing?\u00a0 Have we stirred up any <\/span>SNL<\/span><\/i> memories yet?\u00a0 How about the fact that the show wasn\u2019t even called <\/span>Saturday Night Live <\/span><\/i>in the first season?\u00a0 The show began its run simply known as <\/span>Saturday Night<\/span><\/i> (see A19 below).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Back to the <\/span>AARP <\/span><\/i>quiz.\u00a0 A6: 11:30 – Q:\u00a0 [Producer] Lorne Michaels says that \u201cthe show doesn\u2019t go on because it\u2019s ready.\u00a0 It goes on because it\u2019s . . .\u201d\u00a0 A7:\u00a0 Bill Swerski\u2019s Superfans – Q. Name the skit with Chris Farley and his pals ARE all made up like Mike Ditka.\u00a0 A8:\u00a0 Drive a car – Q:\u00a0 Toonces was a cat that could . . .\u00a0 A9: Sushi – Q:\u00a0 In the fake ad for Taco Town, what is <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> included in the new menu item?\u00a0 A10: \u201cVolume\u201d – Q:\u00a0 How does First Citi-wide Change Bank, which does nothing but make change, do it, according to the 1988 fake commercial?\u00a0 I remember watching the A9 segment on Taco Town and while it made a very good point about how silly some of the fast foot joints got with \u2018specials\u2019 – it also\u00a0 made me a little nauseous watching them back layer upon layer of gloppy items into a take out shoulder bag.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A11:\u00a0 Mr. Bill – Q:\u00a0 Which bit was sent to SNL on videotape by a recent high school grad?\u00a0 A12 – A17:\u00a0 Katie Lee Gifford, Beyonce, Alex Trebek, Ed McMahon, Mister Rogers, Julie Child – Q:\u00a0 Which cast members parodied these celebrities? – Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd\u00a0 A18:\u00a0 True – Q:\u00a0 Tina Fey made up this quote for her impression of Sarah Palin: \u201cI can see Russia from my house.\u201d \u00a0 A:19:\u00a0 TRUE – Q:\u00a0 For the first season, the show was called <\/span>NBC\u2019s Saturday Night <\/span><\/i>because ABC had a comedy\/variety show called <\/span>Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, <\/span><\/i>featuring Bill Murray and Christopher Guest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We all know that Bill Murray went on to join SNL when Chevy Chase bolted for Hollywood and the lure of making big bucks in the movies.\u00a0 Come to think of it, Murray has also done pretty well in the movie department.\u00a0 Christopher Guest would go on to be part of the \u2018Lenny and Squiggy\u2019 duo on <\/span>Laverne and Shirley<\/span><\/i> before his movie making star turn as guitarist\/vocalist Nigel Tufnel in the 1984 comedy\/musical <\/span>This is Spinal Tap<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 While the whole movie runs like a series of <\/span>SNL <\/span><\/i>skits, the gag where he explains why their amp dials go to \u201811\u2019 and not just the typical \u201810\u2019.\u00a0 The exploding drummer schtick was also pretty funny, if you weren\u2019t the drummer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A20:\u00a0 FALSE –\u00a0 Q:\u00a0 The Smithsonian museum displays Eddie Murphy\u2019s Gumby costume.\u00a0 A21:\u00a0 TRUE – Q:\u00a0 Is the <\/span>Seinfeld<\/span><\/i> episode \u201cThe Revenge\u201d based on Larry David angrily quitting <\/span>SNL <\/span><\/i>right before taping and then returning to the office on Monday, pretending he never quit?\u00a0 A22: TRUE – Q:\u00a0 George W. Bush never said, \u201cNot gonna do it.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t be prudent.\u201d\u00a0 Dana Carvey made it up for his impression.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Okay, the \u2018True \/ False\u2019 answers didn\u2019t give you much to go on, but the matching section labeled \u2018Hair Flair\u2019 would have been really hard to translate into article form without pictures.\u00a0 You will just have to get a mental picture of the hair style each of the following characters (actors) sported in skits:\u00a0 Ed Grimley\u2019s gelled up pointy do (Martin Short), Church Lady\u2019s prim bob (Dana Carvey), Buckwheat\u2019s iconic friz (Eddie Murphy), Stuart Smalley\u2019s blond manicured wig (Al Franken), Rosanne Roseannadanna\u2019s wild bird\u2019s nest (Gilda Radner), and (okay, head shape and not actually a hairstyle), Coneheads (Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtain, Laraine Newman).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When <\/span>NBC\u2019s Saturday Night <\/span><\/i>came on the air in 1975, I was in my first year teaching in Ontonagon.\u00a0 I remember catching the first three episodes in October (11, 18, 25).\u00a0 The Friday after the third episode I went to Duluth to visit my only Marquette buddy Wayne Nevala who was attending the University of Minnesota Duluth Medical School.\u00a0 Another mutual acquaintance from Marquette, Randy Vonk, and Wayne’s girlfriend Joan said they would pick me up in the afternoon and we would have dinner when we got to Duluth.\u00a0 It was Halloween and knowing I would be gone, I didn\u2019t bother to pick up any candy for the trick or treaters.\u00a0 I watched them going up and down the street and ignored knocks on my door as I waited to be picked up.\u00a0 Afternoon turned into early evening and they finally pulled up about 7 pm – apparently Joan had failed to mention she had to work until 5 and couldn\u2019t leave until then.\u00a0 To make it a perfect weekend, I started coming down with a head cold on the three hour drive to Duluth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The weekend is kind of a blur because with a fresh cold, I didn\u2019t feel much like hitting the town.\u00a0 I did rave about the first three episodes of <\/span>Saturday Night<\/span><\/i> I had seen and had everybody set to watch the November 1, 1975 show.\u00a0 We were really disappointed.\u00a0 Without the luxury of social media to warn us about the change, a documentary (actually, more of a \u2018mockumentary\u2019) came on with no explanation.\u00a0 I have searched the NBC archives high and low and so far have not been able to recover the name of this fill-in show.\u00a0 We first wondered if <\/span>SNL<\/span><\/i> had already been canceled (not likely with the ratings it had drawn).\u00a0 Then we speculated that it was so new they were working on the timeline needed to put on a 90 minutes live show every week.\u00a0 The only part of this other show I remember was a segment about astronaut Neil Armstrong\u2019s hometown of Wapakenta, Ohio.\u00a0 Much to my relief, the Ready for Prime Time Players were back in place the next weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The format for the show changed as <\/span>SNL<\/span><\/i> more or less invented this new late night live format.\u00a0 The producers (Michaels and Dick Ebersol) decided to forego having a regular host and to bring in a guest host each week.\u00a0 Chevy Chase became the first to do a cold opening sketch with the now familiar, \u201cLive from New York, it\u2019s Saturday Night\u201d tag line.\u00a0 In fact, Chase would do all but two of the cold openings during the first season.\u00a0 With George Carlin hosting the premier, they made good use of his standup talents and had him do four segments.\u00a0 The musical guests on that show were Billy Preston and Janis Ian with Preston\u2019s hit <\/span>Nothing From Nothing<\/span><\/i> coming on right after the first skit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rapid set changes were needed to segue from one skit to the next.\u00a0 There were many times in those early years when the broadcast would come back from a commercial break showing a screen saver shot with the band playing music in the background.\u00a0 I found out later that the set designers for the first seasons were Eugene and Fran Lee who have a local connection.\u00a0 Eugene is the twin brother of former Ontonagon Area School\u2019s librarian (and founder of WOAS-FM radio), Tom Lee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The house band went through many different musicians and musical directors over the years.\u00a0 In the first five seasons when Howard Johnson was directing (composer Howard Shore was the musical director and he turned over the directing to Johnson), Paul Shaffer played the piano and it only appeared he was the one in charge.\u00a0 Shaffer, who was raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, had worked with Gilda Radner in the Toronto, Ontario production of <\/span>Godspell <\/span><\/i>and had most recently been working on Broadway.\u00a0 He was in NYC at just the right time to get on the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Shaffer regularly appeared in sketches and worked on projects outside of <\/span>SNL <\/span><\/i>with some of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players.\u00a0 Most famously, he was the musical director for the John Belushi \/ Dan Aykroyd Blues Brothers skits and records.\u00a0 It is no surprise that other than Steve Cropper, Donald \u2018Duck\u2019 Dunn, and Matt \u2018Guitar\u2019 Murphy, the rest of the Blues Brothers Band were all former members of the <\/span>SNL <\/span><\/i>band.\u00a0 Shaffer is also the holder of another title but probably not one he brags about.\u00a0 During a live sketch broadcast in the Eastern Time Zone, Paul got a little over excited and inserted an \u2018F-bomb\u2019 where a less forbidden term appeared on the cue cards.\u00a0 To make it just a little worse, the censors didn\u2019t catch up with the mistake before the delayed west coast version had already aired.\u00a0 Perhaps there are worse things one could be known for, but this could have cost a lesser cast member a job.\u00a0 Paul Schaffer, however, escaped unscathed in this case.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Shaffer would have appeared in the first <\/span>Blues Brothers <\/span><\/i>movie as well but Belushi dropped him from the project.\u00a0 John was rankled because Paul was working on an album with Gilda Radner (whom he adored) and Belushi felt he should have been giving 100 percent of his time to the Blues Brothers.\u00a0 When Paul left <\/span>SNL <\/span><\/i>in 1980, he was kept busy in various musical projects until he hooked up with David Letterman as his musical director for many years on NBC and later CBS.\u00a0 \u00a0 Shaffer has also acted as the musical director for the Rock and Roll Museum Induction Ceremony since they began in 1986 and conducted the orchestra when a reunited Grand Funk Railroad recorded a two CD live set to raise funds for war torn Bosnia.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In season six, singer Kenny Vance picked up the baton and then band member \/ trombonist Tom Malone took over (when Dick Ebersol was running the show in 1981-85).\u00a0 When Lorne Michales returned to the show, he brought in former Hall and Oates guitarist G.E. Smith who held that position until 1995 (he was fired during the mass exodus of cast members that year).\u00a0 Since that time, saxophonist and long time band member Lenny Pickett has been in charge.\u00a0 Since 1985, Pickett has been ever present in the front row of the bandstand.\u00a0 He was also a former member of the sought after horn band, Tower of Power, (from 1973 to 1981) who did extensive session work as well as recording some very successful albums under their own name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Michael Arlen summed up the appeal of <\/span>SNL\u2019s <\/span><\/i>first shows in his 1975 review for <\/span>The New Yorker:\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>\u201cWhat is attractive and unusual about the program is that is an attempt, finally, to provide entertainment on television in a recognizable human, non-celebrity voice, and in a voice, too, that tries to deal with the morass of media-induced show business culture that increasingly pervades American life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The other thing that put the show in everybody\u2019s brains were the \u2018water cooler catch phrases\u2019 that every show seemed to produce.\u00a0 I thought of John Belushi the last time I flew through Chicago\u2019s O’Hare Airport and had a hamburger at a hole in the wall (literally) joint called Billy Goat Tavern (named after the real deal located in Chicago).\u00a0 When the Republican Convention was held in Chicago in 1944, the tavern posted a sign stating, \u201cNo Republicans allowed,\u201d which of course caused it to overflow with patrons. \u00a0 Belushi and Bill Murray were familiar with the place from their days with the Second City troup and gave it another dose of publicity with the skit about a place they called \u2018The Olympia\u2019.\u00a0 The Billy Goat website gives this description of how their actual history inspired the skit:\u00a0 \u201cOrdering at the Billy Goat may go something like this:\u00a0 \u2018Cheezborger!\u00a0 Cheezborger!\u00a0 You want doublecheez?\u00a0 Who\u2019s next?\u00a0 WHO\u2019S NEXT!?\u00a0 Don\u2019t look at the menu, look at ME!\u00a0 I order for you – DOUBLECHEEZ!\u00a0 You want fries with that?\u00a0 No fries, CHEEPS!\u00a0 Thirsty?\u00a0 No Pepsi – COKE.\u00a0 Coke or Diet?\u201d\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t expecting this kind of chaotic scene at O\u2019Hare and just as well, it would have slowed service down with people gawking (like they do at the famous Seattle Fish Market when the fish tossing starts).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Watching a clip of the SNL skit, I noticed there was one subtle difference than the \u2018real life\u2019 tale in the \u2018Legend\u2019 part of the Billy Goat Tavern webpage where the above dialog was taken from.\u00a0 In the skit, they don\u2019t have Coke, only Pepsi.\u00a0 The Greek accents are true enough (as the founder and his family are of Greek descent) but maybe just a little exaggerated.\u00a0 Belushi, Aykroyd, and Bill Murray are the featured players but the whole cast is needed to show the hustle and bustle of a literal \u2018cheezeborger factory\u2019.\u00a0 Okay, the Olympia Restaurant skit didn\u2019t come out until the third season, but by then, <\/span>SNL <\/span><\/i>was a fine tuned machine firing on all cylinders.\u00a0 And yes, the Billy Goat Tavern does have a real billy goat mascot (a descendant of the original) and the original owner\u2019s family still operates the establishment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Just like a big happy (or perhaps dysfunctional) family, <\/span>SNL <\/span><\/i>has had great years and some so-so years.\u00a0 Cast members changed and new favorite characters and skits emerged.\u00a0 After season 11, the entire cast were all fired\u2026.literally\u2026.in skit form.\u00a0 Apparently there were not enough memorable characters created that season so in the last episode, Lorne called Jon Lovitz out of a meeting.\u00a0 While they talk, there appears to be a blast of fire in the room behind them where the rest of the cast was \u2018fired\u2019.\u00a0 In truth A. Whitney Brown, Nora Dunn, and Dennis Miller were also back for season 12 as was writer Al Franken (though he wasn\u2019t credited as a cast member that year).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Who were your favorite characters?\u00a0 Some were great (like the \u2018Killer Bees\u2019) until they used them one too many times and they got a bit stale.\u00a0 Eddie Murphy did so many memorable skits it is hard to pick one, but his \u2018James Brown singing about the hot tub\u2019 still makes me laugh.\u00a0 There have been many books written about the show and I highly recommend <\/span>Live From New York – An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as told by its stars, writers and guests <\/span><\/i>(by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller).\u00a0 The book was published in 2002 so it obviously covers the first twenty some years but I am sure there will be other volumes written to cover the next twenty five.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Current cast member Keenan Thompson is the current record holder for longevity, but Alec Baldwin has hosted a remarkable 17 times and with guest appearances, he has been on the air 50 times.\u00a0 Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, and John Goodman are also frequent fliers on the multiple-hosting and guest appearance roster.\u00a0 The down years have been few and the jury is still out on where this year\u2019s cast and writers will fall on the \u2018favorites\u2019 list.\u00a0 The only way to determine if <\/span>SNL50 <\/span><\/i>is funny enough to continue on to season 51 is to watch.\u00a0 Lorne Michaels has hinted he may bow out but if <\/span>SNL <\/span><\/i>is still a hot property, look for it to continue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0There are no guarantees in TV programming.\u00a0 Remember <\/span>Fridays<\/span><\/em>?\u00a0 ABC trotted out a look-alike show that lasted one season (if that).\u00a0 The only memorable part of that pale attempt to copy <\/span>SNL <\/span>was Michael Richards who would go on to greater fame as Cosmo in <\/span>Seinfeld.<\/span>\u00a0 The fact that <\/span>SNL at 50 <\/span>is still with us is pretty remarkable with today\u2019s \u2018sound byte addicted\u2019 TV viewers glued to their social media devices and streaming services.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The Blues Brothers weren’t the only ones who farmed\u00a0SNL<\/em> as proving ground for hit records!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Having done a couple of quizzes about songs and lyrics, I will take a different tact on this outing about Saturday Night Live.\u00a0 AARP – The Magazine ran a \u2018test your knowledge of five decades of Saturday Night Live\u2019 feature recently.\u00a0 Using their quiz,\u00a0 I am going to do a Johnny Carson ‘Carnac the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,12,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-humor","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3327"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3330,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3327\/revisions\/3330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}