Four hundred and thirty three hours of straight Saturday Night Live.
If you live in Colorado or Oregon, this one might call for what my generation called a Doobie. For riveting convo with info on that topic catch or revisit Nicole’s Friday Weed and Music show here at Radio or Not featuring old pal and activist Bobby Tuna.
Image, NBC
This is the full Saturday Night Live catalogue from now back to its divine conception and delivery in 1975 and relatively accessible on VH1 Classic. Yours truly was a high school Freshman with one primitive tee vee machine in the house so had to hear about it from the hippier Vermont teachers or kids with clever elder siblings.
Forty years of comedic highs and lows that will run in order backwards for 2 and a half weeks, the longest retro view ever and quite the event for those of who missed the reruns from los early early early years (VH1 didn’t have rights for the 1975-1980 re-broadcasts that folks have been missing on cable small screen flashback binges.) As their website touts the event:
VH1 Classic celebrates the 40th anniversary of the longest-running sketch comedy show in history by bringing fans 40 years of “SNL” in one place: “The SNL Rewind: 2015 – 1975 Mega-Marathon” beginning Wednesday, January 28th and wrapping on Sunday, February 15th.
Starting with season 39 and working back to season 1 from 1975, VH1 Classic will bring fans the most loved moments and original skits that became cultural juggernauts. The last episode of the marathon will be “SNL’s” first episode ever, hosted by the late George Carlin, originally aired live on October 11th, 1975. VH1 Classic will air it on Sunday, February 15 from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., leading up to NBC’s three-hour special (8-11 p.m.) celebrating 40 years of “Saturday Night Live.”
The marathon showcases 40 seasons of Not Ready For Primetime Players many of whom are now known around the world: Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers. VH1 Classic will deliver the best moments — which will leave fans demanding “even more cowbell.”
I’d half forgotten Colonel Angus of Shady Thickett.
The catchphrases alone have been decades of manna from 30 Rock. I can SO hear Laffy doing some.
Everybody has their own faves, chime in.
- “Jane, you ignorant slut”
- “We’re not worthy!”
- “We just want to pump (clap) you up.”
- “Cheeburger, cheeburger, cheeburger”
- “You look … mahvelous!”
- “Well isn’t that spec-ial?”
- “We are, two Wild and Crazy Guys!”
- “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
- “Consume mass quantities!” [SO miss the Coneheads]
- “Sprechen sie dick?”
- “Simma down now.”
- “Talk amongst yourselves.” [I’m Vklempt!]
- “Buh Bye.”
The SNL music alone could keep us here for days but I’m still finding bootleg rehearsal foot leg that’s made it through the Intertubez, check out Eddie Vedder and a younger Pearl Jam in 1992. Like 22 years ago, mon. Think I still had a decent rack, then.
Saturday Night Live helped women, feminism and liberal politics immeasurably. And there were some heavy duty lifts!
Jesse Jackson reading Dr Seuss, and Michael Jordan on the Stuart Smalley show are my faves
Those were memorable, CaptainQuality!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DIETlxquzY
I LOVE this. Worth recording and watching instead of the new shit they try to pawn off on us as comedy!
What Nicole said. Like TV news, quality TV comedy is becoming extinct.
Thanks Ladies! I figured you Gliberal Goddesses would know SNL far better than I, but was so excited about the marathon. 🙂
And …. why, “Jane, you ignorant slut!” [obligatory] If only SNL had been born on the West Coast for the chance on nabbing you, Laffy!
Michaels should send the Gliberal Goddesses a glad eye.
I wanted to audition for them so badly! But yeah, wrong coast. Oh well!
I have the first 5 years of SNL on DVD and downloaded a bunch more on my Mac, primarily from the middle years ( Eddie Murphy / Joe Piscopo era ). Still waiting for Lorne to officially release Season 6, unfairly regarded as the “worst” season in the show’s history — the first of 5 seasons that Lorne mostly stayed away from his SNL baby to work on film projects at Broadway Video. That was the year Gilbert Gottfried was on , and it was Joe and Eddie’s first season — cut short after 13 shows due to a writers’ strike. Jean Doumanian was fired as Executive Producer and she was replaced by SNL co-creator Dick Ebersol until Dick was re-assigned to head NBC Sports and Lorne permanently returned in 1985.
The worst year of SNL to me was 1992-93 ,because everyone was sick of Adam Sandler by that time, and the jokes repeated in every sketch was irritating. The show improved ( but not in the ratings ) by 1994, but the total cast overhaul happened a year later when Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri were hired.
I agree that today’s humor is not as cleverly written and the modern SNL is so-so, however “Key & Peele” on Comedy Central is frequently hilarious — particularly whenever Jordan Peele plays President Obama.