# SNL 40th Anniversary Special



## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Anyone watching this? Seems like they most of old cast members, including the living ones from season 1 and Eddie Murphy are in it. The opening musical wasn't that great, but Steve Martin was good as usual.

It will be interesting to see all the old cast members reprise their SNL roles.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

i'll watch some of it, but i'm not sitting through 4+ hours (with pre-special, special) - predicting liberal use of the ffwd button on my remote once i start.


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## Win Joy Jr (Oct 1, 2001)

Well the updated "Bass-o-matic" skit shows that live TV is still subject to things not going as planned...


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Celebrity Jeopardy is one of my favorite old recurring skits. Nice to see it again. Just as good as I remember.


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## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

We had it set to record and it isn't working. It missed the red carpet show and has a blank playbar when we look at the show that it thinks is currently recording. Roamio is not a our friend tonight


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## Win Joy Jr (Oct 1, 2001)

Regarding the Red Carpet, Chevy Chase didn't look so good...


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## Win Joy Jr (Oct 1, 2001)

McCartney first musical act...


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Win Joy Jr said:


> McCartney first musical act...


And he doesn't sound too good.


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## mwhip (Jul 22, 2002)

LoadStar said:


> And he doesn't sound too good.


 he's 72!


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

mwhip said:


> he's 72!


I don't think it's age. I think he's just either under the weather, or he's strained his vocal chords. He still has a decent voice last I checked.


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## Win Joy Jr (Oct 1, 2001)

LoadStar said:


> And he doesn't sound too good.


Yeah, that too..


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

I so have never understood "The Californians."


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## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

LoadStar said:


> I so have never understood "The Californians."


The Californians makes me laugh a bit, but I always feel like I'm missing something. I wonder what the inspiration for the sketch was.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Welshdog said:


> The Californians makes me laugh a bit, but I always feel like I'm missing something. I wonder what the inspiration for the sketch was.


It reminds me of when UK sketch shows make fun of Australian soaps. I can only imagine that was the inspiration. Since US people wouldn't get Aussie references, they just switched it to ridiculous Californian accents and references, which of course makes it make no sense whatsoever.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

This audience is dead. Yeah, I get that they're probably mostly if not all VIPs, and many of them are half dead regardless, but still.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Welshdog said:


> The Californians makes me laugh a bit, but I always feel like I'm missing something. I wonder what the inspiration for the sketch was.


Who were the "extras" in the skit. I didn't recognize most of them and they didn't name all of them at the end.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

Bradley Cooper, Taylor Swift were two.


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## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

Larraine Newman, Betty White too


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

Bill Murray singing "Jaws", not as funny as the audience enoyed it.


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## Win Joy Jr (Oct 1, 2001)

Blues Brothers!!!


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Win Joy Jr said:


> Blues Brothers!!!


And.... nothing from the audience.

Someone get out the cattle prod.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

What has Eddie Murphy done in the last 20 years?


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

I'm sure the cast feels that this is a special night.
I just don't feel it.
I keep waiting for something great to happen.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

JammasterC said:


> I'm sure the cast feels that this is a special night.
> I just don't feel it.
> I keep waiting for something great to happen.


I think at this point, I'd rather watch a "best of" episode. The only solidly funny part so far in this entire show was Jeopardy.


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

I'd like to see a backstage reporter/camera.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Ugh. You have Paul Simon in the house - the real Paul Simon - and you choose to have Miley Cyrus do this song?!? WTF?


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

Awww, Miley all grown up!


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

JammasterC said:


> Awww, Miley all grown up!


Was about to post that she is one of the better things of the night so far.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

jsmeeker said:


> Was about to post that she is one of the better things of the night so far.


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

This is cool, the Seinfeld piece.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

LoadStar said:


>


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

I think this whole show is exhibit A that they need to clean house at SNL, from Lorne on down. They had 40 years of planning towards this, have some of the funniest people on the planet in the house, and probably had their choice of musical performers... and this is what the result was? Ugh. I think the cringe to comedy ratio is about 10:1 at this point.

There's no reason that this show should've been this half-assed. None.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

Oh Jeezus.


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

Time waster.


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

This must be Kanye's tribute to those awful skits that were left for the very end of the show.


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

Jack and Triumph show, oh my.


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

Haha! They gave Jon Lovitz a memorial.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

I admit I did find myself saying "I didn't know Jon Lovitz had died..."


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

pdhenry said:


> I admit I did find myself saying "I didn't know Jon Lovitz had died..."


He was just as surprised!


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

pdhenry said:


> I admit I did find myself saying "I didn't know Jon Lovitz had died..."


You must have missed Steve Martin's "monologue" in the first 10 minutes of the show where he mentioned a few cast members who died including "Jon Lovitz" and they cut to him with a "what the hell" expression.

Would that be considering rehashing a joke or doubling down?

BTW I think Lovitz runs a comedy club in LA or something.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

morac said:


> Would that be considering rehashing a joke or doubling down?


Put charitably, it was intended as a callback.

In reality, I'd say it was rehashing the joke.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

morac said:


> Celebrity Jeopardy is one of my favorite old recurring skits. Nice to see it again. Just as good as I remember.


"I'll have Whore Ads for $200"


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## MLR930 (Dec 26, 2002)

Loved Melissa McCarthy as Matt Foley! I will always miss Chris Farley who would have been 51 today


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

The Miley Cyrus cover of 50 Ways wasn't all that bad, and even her nip slip was unintentional.


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## GoPackGo (Dec 29, 2012)

Wow, I liked pretty much the whole show.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

GoPackGo said:


> Wow, I liked pretty much the whole show.


Agreed. I really enjoyed almost everything. I FF'd through Kanye, but the rest was pretty solid. However...



MLR930 said:


> Loved Melissa McCarthy as Matt Foley! I will always miss Chris Farley who would have been 51 today


I thought it was in poor taste for them to have people impersonating the iconic characters from cast members who have died.


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## MLR930 (Dec 26, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> Agreed. I really enjoyed almost everything. I FF'd through Kanye, but the rest was pretty solid. However...
> 
> I thought it was in poor taste for them to have people impersonating the iconic characters from cast members who have died.


Do you feel the same way about them imitating dead celebrities? I didn't find it tasteless at all.


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## Beryl (Feb 22, 2009)

Recorded and FF through 95% of it but It seemed like an enjoyable show for die-hard SNL fans. 

Chris Rock looks exactly the same after so many years. Ferrell, Martin and Murphy haven't changed much.


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

I enjoyed it for the most part. I'm the nostalgic type.  But man, did that Californians sketch run on and on and on. At least it had a punchline: Betty White and Bradley Cooper canoodling!

That was the most restrained performance I've ever seen Miley Cyrus give. If it's the start of a new direction for her, it would be good. Fast-forwarded through Kanye.


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## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

I'm surprised at the negative reaction here. I laughed a LOT.

Though I have to say Jane Curtin's line about how she used to be the only pretty blonde on TV reading the fake news was my absolute favorite.

As much as I miss Gilda, I didn't think Emma Stones Rosanne Rosannadanna was very good. 

I was pleased to see Norm McDonald in the news lineup, given how he left the show, and a nice tribute to Chevy at the end, though Chevy himself really seemed out of it.

I'm sure I'm watching it with nostalgia colored glasses, because I love so many of the people and things that were on display. 

And my hats off to Sarah Palin for that bit. Total surprise there, and she actually didn't flub her lines!


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## jilter (Oct 4, 2002)

George Lucas and Spielberg in the house with their respective wives. Michael Douglas with CZ-J!! Thought they split...

Some things never get old:
Murray's lounge singer/Ferrell's dead-panning.

Palin was a show stopper to be sure -say what you will -the lady has class AND a sense of humor.

This show was a clear demonstration of why SNL shoud be killed - lack of skilled writing. It was so apparent watching this - very little in the last 15 years has been funny.

Michaels would have been very smart to have closed the show with his announcing this was the final SNL. Would have stayed legendary. Instead it is more and more pathetic week after week.


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

jilter said:


> Michaels would have been very smart to have closed the show with his announcing this was the final SNL. Would have stayed legendary. Instead it is more and more pathetic week after week.


Sorry, that just means you're getting older.


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## Beryl (Feb 22, 2009)

pdhenry said:


> What has Eddie Murphy done in the last 20 years?


I am not a big fan of his but quite a bit:

Shrek movies
Dr. Doolittle movies
Nutty Professor movies 
Tower Heist
Dream Girls (Golden Globe Award and Oscar nominee)

Per wiki:


> As of 2014, films featuring Murphy have grossed over 3.8 billion in the United States and Canada box office, and 6.6 billion worldwide.


And a bunch of really forgettable movies like most actor/comedians.


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## Gregor (Feb 18, 2002)

Painful to watch for the most part. WTF thought a long Californians sketch in a retro show deserved that much time, especially when you had tons of stuff like the Coneheads (and the original actors) in house.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

jsmeeker said:


> Was about to post that she is one of the better things of the night so far.


I agree. And I've dissed her quite often in the past for her stupid antics. Shows she can act like a grown up and sing the heck out of a song. Nice job Miley.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Graymalkin said:


> I enjoyed it for the most part. I'm the nostalgic type.  But man, did that Californians sketch run on and on and on. At least it had a punchline: Betty White and Bradley Cooper canoodling!
> 
> That was the most restrained performance I've ever seen Miley Cyrus give. If it's the start of a new direction for her, it would be good. Fast-forwarded through Kanye.


I also really enjoyed it. I haven't been a die hard SNL fan since the Dana Carvey, Billy Crystal era (and go back to the very first episode), but I do watch on occasion. I agree, the Californian thing went on WAY too long (as did the Jeopardy bit, but at least that was somewhat funny). I liked the song by Sandburg and Sandler, and the Weekend Update bit.

Kanye West...I don't get why they even bothered. I am sure he was a guest at some point, but I don't remember anything memorable about him being one, and his song had nothing to do with the show. McCartney was on a few times I know, and Miley song was a Paul Simon song he sang on the show in the past.

You could also tell the cast members who really wanted to particpate and those who didn't. Farrell was in quite a few bits as was Fred Armadson. Was disappointed that they didn't use Eddie Murphy at all. Also was nice to see Joe Piscapo rehash Frank Sinatra, which I always enjoyed back in the day.

Would those who didn't like it, would you have rather seen a straight clip show? At least they did something different than most of these anniversary shows and it was very much in the spirit of SNL.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

jilter said:


> Michaels would have been very smart to have closed the show with his announcing this was the final SNL. Would have stayed legendary. Instead it is more and more pathetic week after week.


In other words, "Saturday Night Dead?"


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

MLR930 said:


> Do you feel the same way about them imitating dead celebrities? I didn't find it tasteless at all.


No, I don't have a problem with them doing impersonations of dead celebrities.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

I watched pretty much all of it. I did fast forward through Kanye's performance, though I did watch a bit as I was wondering why he was performing with a dust mop. It turns out it was Sia.

Overall I thought it was funny for the most part. Somethings were funnier than others and a few things fell flat, but I think the good outweighed the bad.

As for killing SNL, it tends to run in cycles, with good years and bad years. It really depends on the cast and writers. If it was killed every time there was a bad year, it would have ended in the 70's. As Mike Meyers said "Saturday Night Dead".


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## hairyblue (Feb 25, 2002)

I watched this. It was fun to see all the stars come back. The comedy was hit and miss. I think Steve Martin did a great job. Louis CK and Seinfeld nailed it. 

I was disappointed with the Eddie Murphy speech. I was expecting him to do a part in the show or be funny. It just looks like they paid him to come back and say a speech. Or did he get paid?

And I remember what they were talking about, SNL sucked when everyone left. They fired the whole cast that year except Murphy and I think Joe Piscopo.

I've enjoyed SNL today sometimes. Some of it really hits home.

I also fast forward through K West song, but I thought the bit he did where he wanted to jump up and run to the stage was funny. I do think it shows some class to be able to laugh at yourself. Kudos to Palin for this too.


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## Alfer (Aug 7, 2003)

We enjoyed bits and pieces of it. I had to FF through a lot of it (Californians..WTF?). Didn't enjoy the new folks impersonating the old classic skits, Matt Foley etc. Just lame IMO.

My wife laughed the hardest at Celebrity Jeopardy...specifically Sean Connery. She said she'll never look at the song "Let it snow" the same ever again.

LOL!


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## jilter (Oct 4, 2002)

Turtleboy said:


> Sorry, that just means you're getting older.


I considered that possibity. And rejected it.<grin>


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Sepinwall's thoughts on the special: http://m.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watc...40th-anniversary-special-is-snl-in-microcosm/


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

The only thing that made me laugh out loud was Bill Murray and that Jaws bit - hilarious!

And the most impressive performance of the night was Miley Cyrus, of all people! I am NOT a Miley fan, but I thought she did a great job with that song - one of my favorites!

Overall, the show was OK - mainly what it did was to remind me how great it was at the beginning, and how far it has fallen since.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

The main thing that confused me was the timing of the special. The show first aired in 1975, but in October.


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## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

jilter said:


> George Lucas and Spielberg in the house with their respective wives. Michael Douglas with CZ-J!! Thought they split...
> 
> Some things never get old:
> Murray's lounge singer/Ferrell's dead-panning.
> ...


See, I think this season has been better, consistantly, than the previous few.


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## Win Joy Jr (Oct 1, 2001)

Some general comments:

I think Eddie Murphy was a last minute commitment, rumor was he was not going to be there.

Was Joe Piscapo there?

Several missed opportunities:

Paul Simon could have performed with Miley Cyrus. It would have killed even more. I know he may not have wanted to risk it...

A live "Jane you ignorant slut" with Jane C and Dan A on Weekend Update.

A "Cheerleaders" skit since both Will and Cherri were both there.


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## Win Joy Jr (Oct 1, 2001)

Oh, one more thing, I guess the rift between Dan A and Bill Murray is real. Never saw the two of them together.


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

Joe Piscapo was there - he did the Sinatra bit...


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## Cainebj (Nov 11, 2006)

I thought it was great fun.

I intended to watch the opening and come back to it later and instead stuck around for the entire thing.

I genuinely laughed out loud several times (which hasn't happened much during SNL in a while).

As others have mentioned - celebrity jeopardy - the misread categories had me rolling along with Alec Baldwin's Tony Bennet, jane curtin's dig at Fox, and Billy Murray's Jaws song

Kanye West is a waste of air - I don't know why we have to be subjected to him. oh wait. FF.

Eddie Murphy - it felt like the only way they could get him there was give him an overblown tribute to stroke his ego.


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## Howie (May 3, 2004)

I liked Miley Cyrus, too. She makes a good grownup.


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## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

I am old.


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

uncdrew said:


> I am old.


I am older. 

I remember when this show launched. I was 13 years old and would watch every Saturday night (mostly while babysitting).

It was a brilliant, fresh idea when it started. Like many things, it grew stale with age. There have been flashes of brilliance since (usually in the form of a very talented cast member), but they never lasted very long IMHO.

Like I said earlier, what the special did for me mostly was to remind me how good the show USED to be...


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## TIVO_GUY_HERE (Jul 10, 2000)

Wow, didn't FF once. I thought it was very well done.

I did like the "break up" rap, but would of liked to actually hear some of those skits again.


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## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

Ereth said:


> I'm surprised at the negative reaction here. I laughed a LOT.
> 
> Though I have to say Jane Curtin's line about how she used to be the only pretty blonde on TV reading the fake news was my absolute favorite.


Jane's line about how she used to be the only pretty blonde on TV reading the fake news -- best line of the night, hands down.

I liked the rapid-fire musical numbers with the couple-of-seconds recap of the favorite characters. I thought that maybe -- since they were trying to cram in as much as possible into the show -- we would escape the problem Saturday Night Live has always had -- sketches that might have been good, except that they ran way way too long.

But Nooooooooooooooo. They had to do The Californians.

Still can't stand Celebrity Jeopardy, still love Wayne's World.

I laughed a lot more than I was expecting to. I liked bits of the show, and I thought there were bits that could have been a LOT better. Just like the real show. Funny how that works.


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## JohnB1000 (Dec 6, 2004)

Overall I thought the show was really great. Celebrity Jeopardy & Martin Short (blowing away from Beyonce's wind machine was hilarious) were standouts. I'm not a huge fan but I wonder if people understand that the "terrible songwriters" is done real time, she has no idea what he is going to say.

McCartney was terrible, I thought Miley was terrible but based on the comments here I have to assume very few people have actually listened to any of her songs, we can't stop is an extremely mature modern pop song. I thought Paul Simon was terrible as well. Kanye I at least found interesting.

It was a great show and flew by.

There were a lot of clips from sketches I would like to see again in full.


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## Alfer (Aug 7, 2003)

TIVO_GUY_HERE said:


> Wow, didn't FF once. I thought it was very well done.
> 
> I did like the "break up" rap, but would of liked to actually hear some of those skits again.


You actually willingly sat through that WHOLE godawful Californians skit? That was pure torture and a must FF moment for me.


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## Marc (Jun 26, 1999)

I thought the show was enjoyable enough. I really liked Betty White being included.

I was a bit surprised to see Fred Armisen playing the tambourine while Miley Cyrus sang. At least I thought it was he.


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

JohnB1000 said:


> Overall I thought the show was really great. Celebrity Jeopardy & Martin Short (blowing away from Beyonce's wind machine was hilarious) were standouts. I'm not a huge fan but I wonder if people understand that the "terrible songwriters" is done real time, she has no idea what he is going to say.
> 
> McCartney was terrible, I thought Miley was terrible but based on the comments here I have to assume very few people have actually listened to any of her songs, *we can't stop is an extremely mature modern pop song*. I thought Paul Simon was terrible as well. Kanye I at least found interesting.
> 
> ...


I am confused. 

She sang "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover".

I have no idea what the highlighted refers to...


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> I thought it was in poor taste for them to have people impersonating the iconic characters from cast members who have died.


I thought it was a nice tribute. Although I took longer than I would have hoped to realize that Melissa McCarthy was not playing "Pat".


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

I think for me, my biggest pet peeves:
1) The audience was dead. I don't know what they could have done about this, but perhaps having what seemed to be an entirely VIP audience probably wasn't the best idea. It sapped a lot of the energy out of some of the borderline funny stuff.
2) It felt very unrehearsed/unplanned in many areas. For example, I don't know if they had planned that Eddie Murphy would have done something except to say "Hey, great to be back," but it felt like they had hoped/planned for something more there, and it felt really awkward. Same thing happened with Chevy Chase.
3) "The Californians" took an inordinate amount of time. They could have done easily 3-4 mini-sketches during that amount of time, sketches possibly more iconic than that one ever could be.
4) While I personally didn't care for Miley Cyrus' performance, I'll grant that others thought she did well. Still, if I had my choice of musical performers to include in this type of show, Miley and Kanye wouldn't be anywhere near the top. I just don't think they represent the history of SNL music performance particularly well. Names I'd toss out there would include Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, U2 (if they were available to perform, which I know they're not at the moment)... groups like that. Yes, they skew old, but the 40th is a chance to look back.

Most notably: for a lot of the people returning, it didn't come across that they were having fun there. It felt very obligatory, like something their agent said would be bad PR if they missed it. (I'm looking at you again, Chevy and Eddie.) And if they're not having fun, the audience won't have fun.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

jilter said:


> This show was a clear demonstration of why SNL shoud be killed - lack of skilled writing. It was so apparent watching this - very little in the last 15 years has been funny.
> 
> Michaels would have been very smart to have closed the show with his announcing this was the final SNL. Would have stayed legendary. Instead it is more and more pathetic week after week.


I guess you watched at least as far the end of the Wayne's World sketch, otherwise you would have called the show "Saturday Night Dead".


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

I kind of disagree with the music thing - I think SNL has always been know to showcase all different kinds of performers, and they did so here.

Granted - Sir Paul sounded awful, and I FF'ed through Kanye (yuck), but they did cover a few different genres and generations.

And I though Miley's homage to Paul Simon - who was a frequent guest - was very appropriate...as was Simon's final number (Still Crazy After All These Years)...


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Win Joy Jr said:


> A "Cheerleaders" skit since both Will and Cherri were both there.


That's one of the mini-sketches that I'd liked to have seen in place of The Californians. I'd also liked to have seen Two A-holes. (I think Jason Sudekis was there; I'm fairly sure Kristen Wiig was.)

Regardless, do a few sketches under 2:00, instead of one really long one; it'll help keep the flow of the show going, rather than coming to a grinding halt.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

LoadStar said:


> Names I'd toss out there would include Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, U2 (if they were available to perform, which I know they're not at the moment)... groups like that. Yes, they skew old, but the 40th is a chance to look back.


They had Elvis Costello for the 30th anniversary special, maybe they'll have him back for the 50th.


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## mrdbdigital (Feb 3, 2004)

Speaking of former cast members who have passed away over the years, why no mention of Phil Hartman or Jan Hooks?

(Although I haven't watched the entire show yet).


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## TAsunder (Aug 6, 2003)

I range for vehement dislike of Miley Cyrus songs to don't totally hate them but don't like them. I thought her rendition of the Paul Simon song was very good, and the best thing I'd ever seen her sing.

Kind of disappointed that Win Butler was just there to introduce someone else. Would have loved to see another Arcade Fire performance -- though perhaps not the right audience for that.

I really enjoyed the Californian sketch. That said, I don't disagree that it was not exactly the best choice of things to do with everyone who was there on a 40th anniversary special. I am heading to LA tomorrow for a family medical thing, though, and plan to use the accent a lot.


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## lambertman (Dec 21, 2002)

mrdbdigital said:


> Speaking of former cast members who have passed away over the years, why no mention of Phil Hartman or Jan Hooks?
> 
> (Although I haven't watched the entire show yet).


Might be too soon for you to ask the question, then?


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

nyny523 said:


> I am older.
> 
> I remember when this show launched. I was 13 years old and would watch every Saturday night (mostly while babysitting).


I'm old enough to remember _WHY _it wasn't originally called Saturday Night Live.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

mrdbdigital said:


> Speaking of former cast members who have passed away over the years, why no mention of Phil Hartman or Jan Hooks?
> 
> (Although I haven't watched the entire show yet).


They did an "In Memoriam" segment toward the end and they were definitely mentioned.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Regarding The Californians: I agree that it went on really long, but that was always kind of the joke of that sketch. It always did three separate segments and they always seemed long. So I think it wouldn't have worked as well if they hadn't done all three. As for why they did it at all? I think they figured this was a good opportunity to include lots of cast members, plus a few guests, all at the same time. What other classic recurring sketches from the last 10 years could they have used where they would have been able to use 10+ people in the sketch?


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## lambertman (Dec 21, 2002)

Of note: James Andrew Miller (coauthor of "Live From New York") reported on today's "Dan Patrick Show" that among those who performed at the afterparty were Elvis Costello, the B-52s, and Prince.

I heard another report elsewhere that Paul McCartney played backup for Taylor Swift.


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## JohnB1000 (Dec 6, 2004)

nyny523 said:


> I am confused.
> 
> She sang "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover".
> 
> I have no idea what the highlighted refers to...


It was in reference to the usual old fatt 'Miley Cyrus is terrible' comments, she's actually pretty good but this performance, I thought, was poor.

I enjoyed the Californians.


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## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

pdhenry said:


> I'm old enough to remember _WHY _it wasn't originally called Saturday Night Live.


It was either not on Saturdays, not at Night of not Live.

Am I right?


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

Nope, wrong on all three.

Believe it or not, in the fall of 1975, Howard Cosell had a live show on Saturday nights on ABC. It was called Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

pdhenry said:


> Nope, wrong on all three. Believe it or not, in the fall of 1975, Howard Cosell had a live show on Saturday nights on ABC. It was called Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell.


And hence the greeting:

Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!


----------



## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

What is the root of the John Lovitz is dead jokes? Had be been reported as dead at some point in the past? Or is it because he hasn't been in anything in forever?


----------



## mrdbdigital (Feb 3, 2004)

lambertman said:


> Might be too soon for you to ask the question, then?


Thanks for your most useful comment.


----------



## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

JohnB1000 said:


> It was in reference to the usual old fatt 'Miley Cyrus is terrible' comments, she's actually pretty good but this performance, I thought, was poor.


See - I thought this performance was quite good.

Very nuanced, and a nice take on a great song.

I guess I am an "old fart", and not a Cyrus fan - but I will always acknowledge a good performance.

This was most certainly one of those. Honestly, I was watching the TV with my mouth hanging open. She showed me she has a lot more going for her than I previously thought...I was impressed.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

I'm glad I am not the only one that was pleasantly surprised by Miley's performance. Sure, maybe she was an unusual choice given who all they COULD have put up there. But she did well. That's more than I can say about some of the other musical performers that night.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

I liked it as a retrospective type thing which I guess was the point. There were no memorable new sketches. They could've really added some new classics with the star power available. 

I also think the new shows are just as good as the old. It's always been uneven to me. Some sketches are great and others fall flat. Even watching the encore of the premiere on Saturday night, some of it worked & some didn't. George Carlin was one of the better hosts so the premiere had that going for it.


----------



## lambertman (Dec 21, 2002)

mrdbdigital said:


> Thanks for your most useful comment.


Please take it in the intended spirit.


----------



## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

busyba said:


> They had Elvis Costello for the 30th anniversary special, maybe they'll have him back for the 50th.


I saw him in the audience. I think it was during the Sinatra bit.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

mrdbdigital said:


> Thanks for your most useful comment.


Says the guy who smeeked the television show itself.


----------



## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

pdhenry said:


> The main thing that confused me was the timing of the special. The show first aired in 1975, but in October.


October 2015 would be during the show's 41st season.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

Arcady said:


> October 2015 would be during the show's 41st season.


Which would be its 40th anniversary. After all, season 1 wasn't its 1st anniversary.


----------



## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

jsmeeker said:


> What is the root of the John Lovitz is dead jokes? Had be been reported as dead at some point in the past? Or is it because he hasn't been in anything in forever?


I think it's the latter. For a few years after he officially left the show he would keep showing up on the show periodically. He really hasn't really starred in anything since he left SNL other than "The Critic" and that ended in 1995.

He ran a comedy club for a number of years, but it closed in November because of financial mismanagement and supposed corruption by his financial partner.


----------



## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

realityboy said:


> Which would be its 40th anniversary. After all, season 1 wasn't its 1st anniversary.


Yes, but October isn't sweeps month.

A lot of movies are filmed over the summer. I suspect Feb. was chosen because it would be the the easiest time to get many of the people that showed up.


----------



## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

morac said:


> I think it's the latter. For a few years after he officially left the show he would keep showing up on the show periodically. He really hasn't really starred in anything since he left SNL other than "The Critic" and that ended in 1995.
> 
> He ran a comedy club for a number of years, but it closed in November because of financial mismanagement and supposed corruption by his financial partner.


Yes, he's not dead, just his career.

Actually if you look at IMDB he's actually been relatively involved, mostly in small parts and voice-overs.


----------



## spartanstew (Feb 24, 2002)

To echo many, I really enjoyed it, although it was far from perfect. Yes, the Californians was way too long (I ff'd through it), and Kanye had too much screen time (also ff'd through his number). Really enjoyed Miley, but also thought Paul Simon would join her.

Overall I thought it was funny and well worth watching.


----------



## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

realityboy said:


> Which would be its 40th anniversary. After all, season 1 wasn't its 1st anniversary.


They are celebrating 40 seasons, not 40 years. Every one of these specials has been in the season number they are celebrating. SNL 25 actually aired in 1999 instead of 2000, because it was aired earlier in the 25th season.


----------



## Tracy (Mar 12, 2000)

I didn't understand why Betty White didn't have an accent in The Californians. Bizarre. I never liked that sketch.

I don't think they needed to do any live musical performances. Put in more sketches.

I liked the whole "Beyonce" music section but don't understand why they included Garth and Kat (is that their name?) when they are still doing that now. That's another idea that was funny once or twice but not 13 times.

I didn't really see the point of having people like Jack Nicholson speak. 

I would have liked to have seen as many old cast members as possible--even the bad ones.

Having said all of that, I enjoyed the show, particularly things like the Wayne's World redo.


----------



## Marc (Jun 26, 1999)

Tracy said:


> don't understand why they included Garth and Kat (is that their name?) when they are still doing that now.


Are they? Both Fred Armisen and Kristin Wiig had already left the cast.


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Marc said:


> Are they? Both Fred Armisen and Kristin Wiig had already left the cast.


They both left but they recently did a guest shot.


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Somebody should've run onto the stage during kanyes number.


----------



## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

TonyD79 said:


> Somebody should've run onto the stage during kanyes number.


Taylor Swift

That would have been funny.


----------



## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

Tracy said:


> I didn't understand why Betty White didn't have an accent in The Californians. Bizarre.


She's 93. The fact that she can speak intelligently is laudatory.


----------



## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

Arcady said:


> They are celebrating 40 seasons, not 40 years. Every one of these specials has been in the season number they are celebrating. SNL 25 actually aired in 1999 instead of 2000, because it was aired earlier in the 25th season.


The name of the show, like the name of this thread, is the *SNL 40th Anniversary Special*. I don't celebrate my anniversary until it has been that many years, how 'bout you?


----------



## chuckbutler (Feb 18, 2009)

What I want to know is why my regular SNL Season Pass didn't pick this up. I understand that it was a special, but shouldn't TiVo be smart enough to recognize that this is something that someone who (a) has a Season Pass for SNL and (b) has given SNL 3 thumbs up would likely want to watch? I mean, if it can't figure that out, how is it any better than the cable company's DVR (which would at least let me watch the show On Demand--which I also can't do with my TiVo)? Frustrating.


----------



## smak (Feb 11, 2000)

I thought the Kanye bit would have been hilarious if they just panned the audience and there were 2 guards standing at his seat.

They don't actually have to explain what the joke is, by having him try to get up.

People would have gotten it, and it would have actually been funny.

-smak-


----------



## Marc (Jun 26, 1999)

chuckbutler said:


> What I want to know is why my regular SNL Season Pass didn't pick this up.


Try checking your recording history to see whether it couldn't be recorded for some reason.


----------



## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

chuckbutler said:


> What I want to know is why my regular SNL Season Pass didn't pick this up. I understand that it was a special, but shouldn't TiVo be smart enough to recognize that this is something that someone who (a) has a Season Pass for SNL and (b) has given SNL 3 thumbs up would likely want to watch? I mean, if it can't figure that out, how is it any better than the cable company's DVR (which would at least let me watch the show On Demand--which I also can't do with my TiVo)? Frustrating.


My Tivo picked it up. And my Tivo also has On Demand.


----------



## mrdbdigital (Feb 3, 2004)

busyba said:


> Says the guy who smeeked the television show itself.


Why is what I said originally a smeek?

And, for your information, I had read the entire thread first.


----------



## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

mrdbdigital said:


> Why is what I said originally a smeek?
> 
> And, for your information, I had read the entire thread first.


You took it to a whole new level... you didn't smeek the thread; you smeeked the television show.


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## mrdbdigital (Feb 3, 2004)

busyba said:


> You took it to a whole new level... you didn't smeek the thread; you smeeked the television show.


So help me understand this. I smeeked the show because I asked about something in the show before I finished watching it?


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

mrdbdigital said:


> So help me understand this. I smeeked the show because I asked about something in the show before I finished watching it?


You asked why they didn't do something on the show that they in fact did do on the show, which you would have known had you actually watched the whole show.

That's some next-gen stuff right there.

Although it admittedly wouldn't have been nearly as noteworthy without the subsequent indignation after someone called you on it.


----------



## mrdbdigital (Feb 3, 2004)

busyba said:


> You asked why they didn't do something on the show that they in fact did do on the show, which you would have known had you actually watched the whole show.
> 
> That's some next-gen stuff right there.
> 
> Although it admittedly wouldn't have been nearly as noteworthy without the subsequent indignation after someone called you on it.


OK. Well, you'll have to forgive me. I asked about Jan Hooks because we worked together back in the 80's when we were both at TBS. I miss her.

Thanks.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Wow, long thread.

I actually watched a decent amount of it faster than realtime, on my XS32.. (dubbed from the Tivo). Various sketches and bits I watched at normal speed.

I thought it was entertaining, and succeeded at what it tried to be.

Were there any sketches from the non-Lorne seasons? They showed/mentioned Charles Rocket (wow, I knew he was dead, I didn't realize he committed suicide), and someone else mentioned something like Lorne's "5 year absence".. Those were the only references I could pick up.

Wow, Billy Crystal was only on one season?! I know the "mahvelous" sketch is what everyone thinks of first, but I still think of the "don'tcha hate it when ...." sketch.. which they did show a bit of.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

mattack said:


> Were there any sketches from the non-Lorne seasons?


When was that, 1980-84?

Those were Eddie Murphy years. so Gumby, Mr. Rogers...


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

chuckbutler said:


> What I want to know is why my regular SNL Season Pass didn't pick this up. I understand that it was a special, but shouldn't TiVo be smart enough to recognize that this is something that someone who (a) has a Season Pass for SNL and (b) has given SNL 3 thumbs up would likely want to watch? I mean, if it can't figure that out, how is it any better than the cable company's DVR (which would at least let me watch the show On Demand--which I also can't do with my TiVo)? Frustrating.


Looks like they're repeating it Friday. Something will be cut though since it's only 3 hours instead of 3.5. My regular SP picked it up.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

I didn't catch it all. Was Billy Crystal on?


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

cherry ghost said:


> I didn't catch it all. Was Billy Crystal on?


yes


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

Jimmy Fallon is telling a great story about the after party right now...


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## Azlen (Nov 25, 2002)

Something I was discussing with some people but nobody could really come to an agreement on but what is the most recent SNL catch phrase that was big in pop culture? All the ones I remember were from years ago.


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## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

pdhenry said:


> When was that, 1980-84?
> 
> Those were Eddie Murphy years. so Gumby, Mr. Rogers...


Dick Ebersol also had a full placard with his name and face, so it's not like they ignored those years.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

Azlen said:


> Something I was discussing with some people but nobody could really come to an agreement on but what is the most recent SNL catch phrase that was big in pop culture? All the ones I remember were from years ago.


I think they moved away from catchphrases and more towards recurring characters that are formulaic such that the scripts are practically like Mad Libs templates. For instance, the two former porn stars who shoot spec commercials for various luxury products. They've done that sketch 3 or 4 times at this point, and each time the structure was identical, they just had different details.


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## vman41 (Jun 18, 2002)

Ereth said:


> Though I have to say Jane Curtin's line about how she used to be the only pretty blonde on TV reading the fake news was my absolute favorite.


I never thought of Curtin as a blonde, but she got a dig at Fox News so that made it funny

I liked the segment with the screen tests. It shows a lot of the favortite characters had been honed by the cast members before they were hired.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

nyny523 said:


> See - I thought this performance was quite good.
> 
> Very nuanced, and a nice take on a great song.
> 
> ...


This. She was really quite good and very talented, and because of her immature nonsense it gets buried because all people talk about is the twerking and such. Maybe if you like that sort of thing, you might have been disappointed in her performance. Same with Kanye. I'm certainly not a fan of him or his music, but underneath all the crap, he's certainly a talented lyricist. But he's such a d-bag, that he's minimizing his talent.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

smak said:


> I thought the Kanye bit would have been hilarious if they just panned the audience and there were 2 guards standing at his seat.
> 
> They don't actually have to explain what the joke is, by having him try to get up.
> 
> ...


I get the feeling that Kanye has zero sense of humor, which is why they didn't "ruin" his performance. I don't know if he was acting but he looked downright angry when they were funning him.


----------



## brebeans (Sep 5, 2003)

LoadStar said:


> I so have never understood "The Californians."


Totally!


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

I also thought Paul Simon would join in Miley's rendition of his song. I also thought she sang it quite well.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

The thing about SNL, and why so many of us don't think it's as good as it used to be, is it's always been very topical, very pop culture and very generational. Maybe more than anything else on TV. Thank back on some of those 70s bits, and some don't work today, or take too much explaining. Does Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead mean anything to a millennial? Or Gilda's Patti Smith bit? Or an infomercial like Bass-o-matic? Very 1970s. So today's SNL complete with 2010's pop-culture jokes probably doesn't resonate well with us 50 somethings. There are bits that are funny, no matter what, but if you don't get what they are poking fun of, it might not seem all that funny.


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> The thing about SNL, and why so many of us don't think it's as good as it used to be, is it's always been very topical, very pop culture and very generational. Maybe more than anything else on TV. Thank back on some of those 70s bits, and some don't work today, or take too much explaining. Does Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead mean anything to a millennial? Or Gilda's Patti Smith bit? Or an infomercial like Bass-o-matic? Very 1970s. So today's SNL complete with 2010's pop-culture jokes probably doesn't resonate well with us 50 somethings. There are bits that are funny, no matter what, but if you don't get what they are poking fun of, it might not seem all that funny.


I agree. SNL was groundbreaking and resonated with us at the time but it really was as uneven as we think it is today. Not everything was funny, some of it only funny in context and some if it downright silly. A lot like today.


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## mwhip (Jul 22, 2002)

pdhenry said:


> She's 93. The fact that she can speak intelligently is laudatory.


And the fact that she has lived in California for 70 years she probably thinks she has the Californian accent.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

vman41 said:


> I liked the segment with the screen tests. It shows a lot of the favortite characters had been honed by the cast members before they were hired.


It was also interesting seeing the people who didn't make the cut. To think SNL passed on both Jim Carrey and Steven Colbert.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Wife and I could barely make it through the first half last night before pausing to resume later (and who knows how much later that'll be). It was painful in many more spots than it was entertaining. And we're both of the age where we've seen it from the beginning...


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## JohnB1000 (Dec 6, 2004)

I feel like they used to do a lot more surreal stuff based on this special, now it's more straight up. Again a reflection of the times.

I generally agree, I've continued to watch SNL and most weeks find somethings that are really entertaining. This season has been worse than recently but I remember people complaining heavily about the Samberg, Fallon, Fey group but looking at this show they really did have some classic stuff.


----------



## spartanstew (Feb 24, 2002)

TonyD79 said:


> I agree. SNL was groundbreaking and resonated with us at the time but it really was as uneven as we think it is today. Not everything was funny, some of it only funny in context and some if it downright silly. A lot like today.


They aired S1/E1 the other day and I thought it was brutally bad (the parts that I watched, anyway). My wife's comment was "how did this show make it past the first episode?".

I still record the show every Saturday, but I mostly ff through it just to watch Weekend Update, unless something catches my eye, and depending on the guest host.


----------



## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

I finally watched this last night, I thought overall it was quite good.

Part of it may be a nostalgia thing.

I didn't mind them doing a Radner or Farley character, it was done as a tribute.

I had to think about why Miley did 50 Ways, it dawned on me, it too came out in 1975.

The Kanye song was a waste

Judging by the reaction from the crowd I'm betting Myers' imitation of what Lorne says was spot on.

I thought the digital short was fun, there was even some breaking up during the show.


----------



## vman41 (Jun 18, 2002)

spartanstew said:


> They aired S1/E1 the other day and I thought it was brutally bad (the parts that I watched, anyway). My wife's comment was "how did this show make it past the first episode?".


I remember stumbling upon the first episode in 1975 and thought it was good just because it was so different. The first season or two it wasn't on every weekend but shared the slot with a news magazine program.


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## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

spartanstew said:


> They aired S1/E1 the other day and I thought it was brutally bad (the parts that I watched, anyway). My wife's comment was "how did this show make it past the first episode?".
> 
> I still record the show every Saturday, but I mostly ff through it just to watch Weekend Update, unless something catches my eye, and depending on the guest host.


Ya, parts of it were VERY painful, Carlin was uneven, the female comic was bad, so bad. I never have understood the appeal of Andy Kaufman and his Mighty Mouse bit.

Again part of it is just that what was funny, or topical then just falls flat now because we have no frame of reference. It'd be like showing someone under 20 some of the old Carol Burnett commercial spoofs, or the "Went With The Wind" sketch.

I did the the Triopinin spot and the fact that the guest of Saturday Night stay at the hotel where the weekend update had just reported a gruesome murder.


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## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

vman41 said:


> I remember stumbling upon the first episode in 1975 and thought it was good just because it was so different. The first season or two it wasn't on every weekend but shared the slot with a news magazine program.


Actually it was pretty study with exceptions for holidays and such.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Saturday_Night_Live_episodes#Season_1_.281975.E2.80.9376.29

Maybe your market didn't air it every time it was on.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

One thing that helps with the nostalgia bit is that a lot of replays of older episodes are cut short. SNL Vintage on NBC on Saturday nights at 10pm runs 1 hour long as do episodes on VH1. I remember watching half hour episodes years ago on Nick at Night.


----------



## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

vman41 said:


> I liked the segment with the screen tests. It shows a lot of the favortite characters had been honed by the cast members before they were hired.


I was amused by how some of the more recent audition pieces ended up also being the one of the first things the person did on the show (in particular, Bayer's Miley Cyrus impression and McKinnon's Penelope Cruz).


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I read a quote the other day, I think it was attributed to Lorne Michaels: "Everyone thinks the best SNL cast is the one that was on when they were in high school." 

Makes perfect sense to me. That's when kids get together and watch, they talk about it on Monday at school, they're saying the catchphrases to their friends, etc. But then you grow up and get a job and get married and now you're watching by yourself and you have no one to talk about the show with, and suddenly there's not nearly as much "fun" associated with watching SNL.


----------



## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

In one of the books I've read about SNL the writers make the point that in the early days they were focused on the skits and they could be about just about anything, but after a few of the characters broke out into movies, they had to change to make it more about creating recurring characters that could be launchpads for the players who performed them.

There's also the Harry Shearer/Christopher Guest/Billy Crystal year which was way more about prosthetics and looking like the characters they were playing than the previous years. Chevy didn't look at all like Gerald Ford, but nobody cared. He had to carry it with the humor. The later casts had makeup to help.

But yeah, the humor is always aimed at younger people. Lorne himself has said that often he doesn't understand why something is funny, but the younger cast says it is so he trusts them and lets it go. 


Tina Feys joke about "The original producer of Saturday Night Live.. cocaine" is spot on, too. The book reveals that the original cast would stay up all night Tuesday writing the show. It was decades before a cast said "hey, just because Belushi did it this way doesn't mean we have to!"


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## gossamer88 (Jul 27, 2005)

Haven't laughed this much in ages. Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery was the best!


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

vman41 said:


> I remember stumbling upon the first episode in 1975 and thought it was good just because it was so different. The first season or two it wasn't on every weekend but shared the slot with a news magazine program.


I have the first season on DVD and watching those old episodes, it definitely took about half the season to hit stride.


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## vman41 (Jun 18, 2002)

Langree said:


> Actually it was pretty study with exceptions for holidays and such.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Saturday_Night_Live_episodes#Season_1_.281975.E2.80.9376.29
> 
> Maybe your market didn't air it every time it was on.


I didn't say it shared the slot evenly, but if you look at the air dates you'll see it only aired the first Saturday of the month once the first 3 years. And they weren't showing reruns on the off weeks the way they do now.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Ereth said:


> Tina Feys joke about "The original producer of Saturday Night Live.. cocaine" is spot on, too. The book reveals that the original cast would stay up all night Tuesday writing the show. It was decades before a cast said "hey, just because Belushi did it this way doesn't mean we have to!"


It's my understanding from listening to interviews with current/recent cast members that it's still part of the tradition to stay there all night Tuesday/Wednesday morning writing for that week's show.


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## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

gossamer88 said:


> Haven't laughed this much in ages. Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery was the best!


Thanks. I missed it the other night. That was great.


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## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

DevdogAZ said:


> It's my understanding from listening to interviews with current/recent cast members that it's still part of the tradition to stay there all night Tuesday/Wednesday morning writing for that week's show.


Maybe they'd do better with a little sleep


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## That Don Guy (Mar 13, 2003)

Langree said:


> Actually it was pretty study with exceptions for holidays and such.


No - _Weekend _with Lloyd Dobyns aired "the first weekend every month" (with one exception: when Eric Idle hosted, I think he was only available for one particular weekend, so they moved that month's _Weekend_ to the second weekend of that month). The one episode I remember from that series was July, 1976, when they researched the question, "If George Washington had been the first King of the USA (note this turned out to be an urban legend that he was offered the title but refused), who would be King of the USA today?"; they actually found two, based on whether or not Salic Law (i.e. "men only") would have applied.

I am under the impression that the reason for this was, it was just too hard on the writers to do four shows in a row. In fact, the first month that had five weekends, they did have to write four in a row, and they were so burned out by the end of the fourth show that they said they would never do that again (and, as far as I know, they never did, because by the time it was necessary, they could start airing repeats).


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

I remember in the 80s that SNL was often replaced by WWF (now WWE) Saturday Night Main Event.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

Turtleboy said:


> I remember in the 80s that SNL was often replaced by WWF (now WWE) Saturday Night Main Event.


I thought that WWF aired at 1am, after SNL.

But I could easily be misremembering.


----------



## tivoboyjr (Apr 28, 2003)

I just watched this last night. I watched the whole thing and generally enjoyed it, though I did FF through some of the musical performances. 

I thought some of the choices were odd. Miley Cyrus? And I know Lorne and Paul Simon are buddies but the show was pretty heavy on the Paul Simon.

I like The Californians in small doses (I love how they all tell the routes they take - it's so LA) but on the anniversary special? No. And the thing that Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig do - the singers - oh I hate that. That didn't belong.

There was so much hype around Eddie Murphy finally coming back to SNL, and then it's like he just walked in off the street and had no idea what he was going to say. What a let down.

Steve Martin is brilliant. I thought so forty years ago and still do.

I loved the little conversation between Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, but it had nothing to do with SNL. I was hoping they would talk about how Larry got fired from SNL (and how that inspired a Seinfeld episode - hey, there was time. The show went on forever).

You can tell there was some tension about whether to do clips or have live stuff. Why get all of these people in the room and some clips? Well, for the most part, the clips were a lot funnier than the live stuff. I did enjoy seeing the oldsters working with the youngsters. Jane Curtin has still got it.

I echo the comment that it would have been nice to hear from/see more of the cast members. If they invited everyone who was ever on the show, including guests, let's see them. Why trot out people like Jack Nicholson when you have all of these cast members sitting there?

But-- I liked making a big deal for 40, because a lot of the luminaries probably won't be around for 50, or at least they won't be in very good health by then.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I never remembered Larry David as a writer for SNL, but I do remember when he was on Fridays, ABC's version of SNL, which was on in the early 80s (at a time when I guess they thought SNL would be vulnerable after Lorne Michaels left and ratings were declining)


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

I saw an interview in which Lorne said they needed to cut for time and primarily cut clips to give more time to the people who were there to perform live.


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> I never remembered Larry David as a writer for SNL, but I do remember when he was on Fridays, ABC's version of SNL, which was on in the early 80s (at a time when I guess they thought SNL would be vulnerable after Lorne Michaels left and ratings were declining)


In a recent interview, Larry said that they used none of his sketches. I don't think he was exaggerating. But he remembered working with Julia Louis Dreyfus.

Michael Richards was on Fridays too.


----------



## tivoboyjr (Apr 28, 2003)

The "Live from New York" book (which is a great read if you love the show) tells the story of Larry getting upset, telling off his boss and quitting, then realizing he has no job/income, regretting it and showing up for work the next day trying to pretend he wasn't serious about quitting - which was the basis for the Seinfeld episode where George did that.

There are also stories about Julia being upset that she was underutilized, which may be why she and LD bonded - and why she wasn't at the anniversary show (as far as I know, anyway).


----------



## That Don Guy (Mar 13, 2003)

busyba said:


> I thought that WWF aired at 1am, after SNL.
> 
> But I could easily be misremembering.


WWF Saturday Night's Main Event aired at 11:30, in place of what would probably otherwise have been an SNL rerun (to give the writers a break). Note that SNME did not air during the summer.


----------



## scooterboy (Mar 27, 2001)

spartanstew said:


> They aired S1/E1 the other day and I thought it was brutally bad (the parts that I watched, anyway). My wife's comment was "how did this show make it past the first episode?".


Context. It was a very different comedy world back then. What seems tame now was cutting edge then. At that time I would see a Bob Hope stand-up routine and think *that* was brutally bad. But he was cutting edge in his day.

I didn't enjoy this special much at all. They just went a different way than I would have preferred. Having former castmates re-perform their old sketches (Bass-o-matic, Wayne's World, etc), and others doing tributes of classic characters just didn't do it for me.

I would have preferred roundtable conversations. Behind-the-scenes stories, philosophies of comedy, how comedy styles have changed over time, etc. If you ever saw Talking Funny with Louie CK, Seinfeld, Rock, and Gervais, that's the kind of stuff I would have liked to eavesdrop on.

But I'm just one fan.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

scooterboy said:


> Context. It was a very different comedy world back then. What seems tame now was cutting edge then. At that time I would see a Bob Hope stand-up routine and think that was brutally bad. But he was cutting edge in his day. I didn't enjoy this special much at all. They just went a different way than I would have preferred.
> 
> Having former castmates re-perform their old sketches (Bass-o-matic, Wayne's World, etc), and others doing tributes of classic characters just didn't do it for me.
> 
> I would have preferred roundtable conversations. Behind-the-scenes stories, philosophies of comedy, how comedy styles have changed over time, etc. If you ever saw Talking Funny with Louie CK, Seinfeld, Rock, and Gervais, that's the kind of stuff I would have liked to eavesdrop on. But I'm just one fan.


I think that kind of thing appeals to comedy nerds, and I would have loved something like that. But there's no way that kind of thing would appeal to the masses like this special did.


----------



## Cainebj (Nov 11, 2006)

Cheri Oteri was on Watch What Happens Live the other night. 
She said that originally she wasn't able to attend and a few days prior she changed her plans so she could be there - - - which is why _she_ didn't take part in much of anything because it was all last minute.

I forgot how funny she is. 
I am surprised we haven't seen more of her since she left SNL.


----------



## TheBar1 (Dec 26, 2001)

pdhenry said:


> Jimmy Fallon is telling a great story about the after party right now...


Fun story! Here's the clip:


----------



## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

DevdogAZ said:


> I think that kind of thing appeals to comedy nerds, and I would have loved something like that. But there's no way that kind of thing would appeal to the masses like this special did.


It would make an awesome special edition of Inside the Actors Studio. I would love to see it.


----------



## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

scooterboy said:


> I didn't enjoy this special much at all. They just went a different way than I would have preferred. Having former castmates re-perform their old sketches (Bass-o-matic, Wayne's World, etc), and others doing tributes of classic characters just didn't do it for me.
> 
> I would have preferred roundtable conversations. Behind-the-scenes stories, philosophies of comedy, how comedy styles have changed over time, etc. If you ever saw Talking Funny with Louie CK, Seinfeld, Rock, and Gervais, that's the kind of stuff I would have liked to eavesdrop on.
> 
> But I'm just one fan.





jsmeeker said:


> It would make an awesome special edition of Inside the Actors Studio. I would love to see it.


Or do it with Charlie Rose. He's not the best interviewer for performance stuff -- his best shows are with the political guests -- but for a round-table, he would be fine.

For the re-dos of the classic sketches -- I liked Wayne's World, was meh about the Bass-o-Matic. Just like the real show, where I liked some stuff and hated some stuff.

The musical number I would have loved to see was Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers doing "Atheists Don't Have No Songs" -- but it's not a New York-style thing, so I can see why they wouldn't pick something like that.


----------



## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

There are 30 second videos out there of Prince, Taylor, Paul.


----------



## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

i fully respect the effort involved in putting together a show of this size, with so many egos celebrities involved, and zero rehearsal time. it went as smoothly as i expected, maybe a little better, and even with its faults was mostly enjoyable throughout.

i still managed to become a little misty eyed when they showed gilda radner in memoriam, even after all these years. in the book "live from new york: an uncensored history of saturday night live" by tom shales, james andrew miller, bill murray related a great story on the last time he ever saw gilda:



Spoiler


----------



## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

Yeah - the Gilda stuff really got to me, too.

I remember when she died - so incredibly sad.

Hers was the loss in the SNL family that hit the hardest.


----------



## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

Still trying to find more.


----------



## JohnB1000 (Dec 6, 2004)

I like Shake It Off as a rocker.


----------



## Alfer (Aug 7, 2003)

Finally finished watching the last hour of the show last night. Most of it was FF material but I was looking forward to seeing Wayne's World. Sadly it fell pretty flat (even studio audience wasn't feelin' it) 

Overall, there was maybe 30 minutes to maybe a hour total of fun memories but the balance of the show was forgettable for the most part ..for me at least.


----------



## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

Emma Stones "Rosanne Rosannadanna" was so off it really struck home how good Gilda was, and made me miss her more than if they hadn't done any sort of tribute to her.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Ereth said:


> Emma Stones "Rosanne Rosannadanna" was so off it really struck home how good Gilda was, and made me miss her more than if they hadn't done any sort of tribute to her.


I always have a soft spot for that character because it's based on a real life reporter for WABC News in NY in the 1970s name Rosanne Scarmadela (or some spelling close), who did a lot of human interest type stories. I'm sure Gilda (or the writers) saw her on the news and ran with it. Most of the country didn't get the inside joke but us New Yorkers knew instantly who that was supposed to be.

To see someone else do the character was just didn't seem right.


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> I always have a soft spot for that character because it's based on a real life reporter for WABC News in NY in the 1970s name Rosanne Scarmadela (or some spelling close), who did a lot of human interest type stories. I'm sure Gilda (or the writers) saw her on the news and ran with it. Most of the country didn't get the inside joke but us New Yorkers knew instantly who that was supposed to be. To see someone else do the character was just didn't seem right.


Close enough spelling

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Ann_Scamardella


----------



## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

In case you were wondering, she doesn't look like Gilda Radner's character.


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

I've been trying to track down video to no result.


----------



## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

TonyD79 said:


> I've been trying to track down video to no result.


Me too. I found some intros of the whole news team, but I couldn't find any segments with her.


----------



## getreal (Sep 29, 2003)

These photos get closer to RR if you exaggerate the hair to the extreme:


























... even to the detail that her chair has her seated so much lower than her co-anchor. LOL!


----------



## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

The top photo isn't her, if you watch the actual YouTube video. That character is a law firm employee who watches the 11 o'clock news (the newscasters "report to" her)

I think this is her, based on the description on the YouTube page:


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

pdhenry said:


> The top photo isn't her,if you watch the actual You-Tube video. I think this is her, based on the description on the YouTube page: YouTube Link: Rose Ann?


Yeah. The first picture looks and sounds like Gilda's character but it is an ad talking about the real person, not her.

I'm pretty sure that radnor took the name and ran with it rather than impersonated the real person.


----------



## sonnik (Jul 7, 2000)

busyba said:


> The Miley Cyrus cover of 50 Ways wasn't all that bad, and even her nip slip was unintentional.


This nip slip reference confused me at first. When I checked for references to this, I found clips from a previous SNL performance in 2013.

Sure enough, I checked the "50 Ways" performance from the 40th anniversary special. There's a bit where a camera slowly swings in from Miley's left with a direct angle into that top she was wearing.


----------



## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

nyny523 said:


> Hers was the loss in the SNL family that hit the hardest.


For me, by far, it was Phil Hartman, even though he had already left SNL when he was murdered.


----------



## sonnik (Jul 7, 2000)

By the way, I too was a fan of Miley's performance of "50 Ways" - I'd even say I like it better than the original.


----------



## sonnik (Jul 7, 2000)

LoadStar said:


> For me, by far, it was Phil Hartman, even though he had already left SNL when he was murdered.


The _Newsradio_ episode that addressed this was very hard to watch.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

murgatroyd said:


> Or do it with Charlie Rose. He's not the best interviewer for performance stuff -- his best shows are with the political guests


Heh, I tivo Charlie Rose (actually on two of my Tivos, mostly since even 6 tuners are maxxed out most days so I catch the rerun the other day, but my other tivo gets the 'first run' episode at the regular time)... but I delete most of the political episodes, and only listen to _some_ of the entertainment _or_ tech/science oriented interviews. Even a lot of the movie star ones I nuke, but the political discussions almost always get nuked. (I'd enjoy the movie star ones many times, but I already record far more than I can watch, and even already usually listen to just the audio of the charlie rose eps on my phone..)


----------



## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

Norm McDonald's twitter stream story about the show is great.

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/norm-macdonald-eddie-murphy-was-to-be-cosby-in-celebri-1686686768


----------



## Tracy (Mar 12, 2000)

Turtleboy said:


> Norm McDonald's twitter stream story about the show is great.
> 
> http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/norm-macdonald-eddie-murphy-was-to-be-cosby-in-celebri-1686686768


Super Interesting. Thanks for posting the link.


----------



## scooterboy (Mar 27, 2001)

Turtleboy said:


> Norm McDonald's twitter stream story about the show is great.
> 
> http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/norm-macdonald-eddie-murphy-was-to-be-cosby-in-celebri-1686686768


The story was great - thanks.

But man is reading a story that way annoying, or is it just non-twittering me?


----------



## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

scooterboy said:


> The story was great - thanks.
> 
> But man is reading a story that way annoying, or is it just non-twittering me?


It's not you. Twitter really isn't made to do what he did. But I guess it's better than not getting the story at all.


----------



## aindik (Jan 23, 2002)

Arcady said:


> October 2015 would be during the show's 41st season.


NBC is kind of busy on Sundays in October.


----------



## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

scooterboy said:


> The story was great - thanks.
> 
> But man is reading a story that way annoying, or is it just non-twittering me?


Reading it on Twitter itself is a lot more annoying, because the newest tweets would be at the top.

It's nice to see the string of tweets in sequence and to be able to read from the top down.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Turtleboy said:


> Norm McDonald's twitter stream story about the show is great.
> 
> http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/norm-macdonald-eddie-murphy-was-to-be-cosby-in-celebri-1686686768


Thanks for posting that. Fascinating.

I also was watching the video in the comments of Eddie doing a Cosby impression and that was great as well.


----------



## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

Langree said:


> Ya, parts of it were VERY painful, Carlin was uneven, the female comic was bad, so bad. I never have understood the appeal of Andy Kaufman and his Mighty Mouse bit.


I really like the Mighty Mouse bit, and can't even explain it.


----------



## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> I read a quote the other day, I think it was attributed to Lorne Michaels: "Everyone thinks the best SNL cast is the one that was on when they were in high school."
> 
> Makes perfect sense to me. That's when kids get together and watch, they talk about it on Monday at school, they're saying the catchphrases to their friends, etc. But then you grow up and get a job and get married and now you're watching by yourself and you have no one to talk about the show with, and suddenly there's not nearly as much "fun" associated with watching SNL.


"I hate when that happens..."


----------



## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

I recorded it and watched over the past day or so. For me it was very MEH... I fast forwarded through a lot of this. 

I pretty much gave up on the show after the original (Chevy Chase/Bill Murray) generation of the cast left. Would occasionally catch a show now and then, but for me the magic was gone. I think SNL started out as a subversive show that tweaked the mainstream establishment, but then became the mainstream establishment. 

Loved the memorial segment and I remember the short movie when it was 1st run. Very ironic now. 

Wish they had shown of Mr. Bill, and I can't believe there was no mention of Father Guido Sarducci.


----------



## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

You musta missed Mr. Bill in one of the sequences you blew past.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

uncdrew said:


> "I hate when that happens..."


"I know whachya mean..."


----------



## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

Turtleboy said:


> Norm McDonald's twitter stream story about the show is great.
> 
> http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/norm-macdonald-eddie-murphy-was-to-be-cosby-in-celebri-1686686768


What did David Spade say to upset Eddie Murphy?


----------



## Cainebj (Nov 11, 2006)

uncdrew said:


> What did David Spade say to upset Eddie Murphy?


I literally just read about it on TMZ - apparently Murphy did the same exact thing to Garrett Morris.

David Spade was doing a "Hollywood Minute" segment (can't remember if that was part of Weekend Update or not) and said...

"Look children, a falling star"

While a pic of Murphy appeared behind him.

http://www.tmz.com/2015/02/19/eddie-murphy-snl-diss-garrett-morris-david-spade-video/


----------



## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

Thanks.

That seems especially cruel to do that to an SNL cast-member (let alone anyone). Ouch.

With the delicate egos of some celebrities, I can see that hurting a ton and them holding a grudge.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

uncdrew said:


> Thanks.
> 
> That seems especially cruel to do that to an SNL cast-member (let alone anyone). Ouch.
> 
> With the delicate egos of some celebrities, I can see that hurting a ton and them holding a grudge.


Apparently the issue wasn't necessarily with David Spade. The issue was with Lorne Michaels allowing an SNL castmember to kick a former castmember when s/he was down. Supposedly that's always been an unwritten rule on the show and so the fact that Spade's joke made it to air was taken by Murphy as a personal insult by Lorne Michaels for not nixing the joke.


----------



## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> Apparently the issue wasn't necessarily with David Spade. The issue was with Lorne Michaels allowing an SNL castmember to kick a former castmember when s/he was down. Supposedly that's always been an unwritten rule on the show and so the fact that Spade's joke made it to air was taken by Murphy as a personal insult by Lorne Michaels for not nixing the joke.


Not to mention that Eddie Murphy kept that franchise afloat while Lorne Michaels was off doing other things.

Lorne owed him a lot - and repaid him with an insult (and basically kicking him while he was down).

I would have been pissed, too.


----------



## Cainebj (Nov 11, 2006)

I'm gonna go with Eddie Murphy can't take a joke. It's called comedy Eddie.

Plus I think it interesting to see he did almost the exact same joke to Garrett Morris.


----------



## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

Langree said:


> You musta missed Mr. Bill in one of the sequences you blew past.


I saw the short Mr. Bill clip. My post was supposed to read "More Mister Bill", cause those few seconds were no where near enough.


----------



## Cearbhaill (Aug 1, 2004)

We finally blew through this last night. While it was not nearly as bad as the first couple of pages in this thread suggested, it was still a bit ho hum.
So much talent in the room- IMO they just tried to do too much.


----------



## aindik (Jan 23, 2002)

They could have done "What's Up With That" instead of the Californians, if they needed something heavy on celeb cameos.


----------



## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

The Californians is always so long, and this one was longer than normal.

I don't find it funny. I probably would if I were a left coaster.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

aindik said:


> They could have done "What's Up With That" instead of the Californians, if they needed something heavy on celeb cameos.


They did do a very brief version of it. Seeing Sudekis dancing in the red track suit was one of the highlights of the show.


----------



## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

Turtleboy said:


> The Californians is always so long, and this one was longer than normal.
> 
> I don't find it funny. I probably would if I were a left coaster.




It's clearly making fun of SoCal, but I still don't find it funny.


----------



## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

murgatroyd said:


> It's clearly making fun of SoCal, but I still don't find it funny.


It has to go a long way to be funny. First it has to go down the 405....


----------



## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

Ereth said:


> It has to go a long way to be funny. First it has to go down the 405....


Then to the 10 and to the 5.


----------



## smak (Feb 11, 2000)

Turtleboy said:


> The Californians is always so long, and this one was longer than normal.
> 
> I don't find it funny. I probably would if I were a left coaster.


I'll admit, somebody showed me one at work a few months ago, and we were dying laughing.

And reading it on paper, it's not funny, but giving the exact directions to every place they talk about just killed me.

-smak-


----------



## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

Ereth said:


> It has to go a long way to be funny. First it has to go down the 405....





jsmeeker said:


> Then to the 10 and to the 5.


Now that is funny.

But of course, it wouldn't be SNL if they didn't take a gag and run it into the ground.


----------



## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

murgatroyd said:


> Now that is funny.
> 
> But of course, it wouldn't be SNL if they didn't take a gag and run it into the ground.


Which way are they taking to run into the ground? They should start out on Florence, then hang a left at Alameda....


----------



## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

They wrote a skit making fun of Californians describing which freeway to take. When do we get one about New Yorkers describing which subway line to take, because somehow that seems more ridiculous.


----------



## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

Actually I also saw the Californians as poking at things like 90210, Melrose, The OC, etc... all the Southern CA centric soaps.


----------



## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

murgatroyd said:


> But of course, it wouldn't be SNL if they didn't take a gag and run it into the ground.


 I think in this one, part of the gag _is_ that they run it into the ground. You keep expecting it to end, and it keeps going... after a while it's (supposed to) get meta.


----------



## Big Deficit (Jul 8, 2003)

My wife and I both noticed while watching the clips that ~50% o the funny bits were from the initial 3 seasons. The Californians sketch really underlined what's been wrong with the show for quite a while, not knowing when a sketch should end. Though the show had moments, it felt like they had ~1.5 hours of content that they had to stretch out. That they had 40 years of content and came out with this is pitiful. I rarely watch the show anymore, the killing of weekend update by refusing to admit Colin doesn't belong was kind of the final nail in the coffin. I think it's well past time for Lorne to retire and the show to get some new blood. They need to take risk and that element is gone from the show .
`


----------



## Cainebj (Nov 11, 2006)

I wish they had done a sketch where they took a bunch of the cast members most memorable/favorite characters and had them cross paths someplace like a airport or waiting room or something.

I would have rather seen that than The Californians for 10 minutes.


----------



## JohnB1000 (Dec 6, 2004)

Big Deficit said:


> My wife and I both noticed while watching the clips that ~50% o the funny bits were from the initial 3 seasons. The Californians sketch really underlined what's been wrong with the show for quite a while, not knowing when a sketch should end. Though the show had moments, it felt like they had ~1.5 hours of content that they had to stretch out. That they had 40 years of content and came out with this is pitiful. I rarely watch the show anymore, the killing of weekend update by refusing to admit Colin doesn't belong was kind of the final nail in the coffin. I think it's well past time for Lorne to retire and the show to get some new blood. They need to take risk and that element is gone from the show .
> `


You could have just written Saturday Night Live dead.

The show is just as it always was, hit and miss.


----------



## aindik (Jan 23, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> They did do a very brief version of it. Seeing Sudekis dancing in the red track suit was one of the highlights of the show.


Ah. Haven't seen that posted online anywhere and I'm only halfway through show still. Sorry about that.


----------



## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

LoadStar said:


> Put charitably, it was intended as a callback.
> 
> In reality, I'd say it was rehashing the joke.


It's called a running gag.

Did you notice at the end that Chevy Chase was standing by himself in the middle and _nobody_ was talking to him? He is widely known as being an ass to work with.


----------



## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

Turtleboy said:


> Norm McDonald's twitter stream story about the show is great.
> 
> http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/norm-macdonald-eddie-murphy-was-to-be-cosby-in-celebri-1686686768


I paid close attention, and Norm McDonald didn't get any credit as a writer. When he did Burt Reynolds I was racking my memory to remember who that was, knowing that it couldn't be Dennis Miller be after he fell off the planet.

Same with Victoria Jackson.

Who wasn't there and could have sparked a fire: Harry Shearer and Sir Christopher Guest. Harry is pretty bitter about having to fight get stuff on.

We only saw Jim Belushi as Jake Blues II.


----------



## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

JohnB1000 said:


> You could have just written Saturday Night Live dead.
> 
> The show is just as it always was, hit and miss.


SNL has been putting on 90 minutes of content what, 30 weeks a year for 40 years? We are going to remember the occasional great 12 minute segments and forget the rest.

Writing Comedy is hard.

(Dying is easy. )


----------



## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

madscientist said:


> I think in this one, part of the gag _is_ that they run it into the ground. You keep expecting it to end, and it keeps going... after a while it's (supposed to) get meta.


Yeah, I can see that, but if the joke doesn't land for you, it's insufferably long. Which is true of SNL in general.

Look at this thread, where the same sketches are favorites with some of us and on the "OMG not THIS again" list with others. That means overall the show is going to have a wide appeal because there is something for all of us.

I thought The Californians was dreadful, and I hate Celebrity Jeopardy, but I got to see Wayne's World again, so there was something for me.

And let's face it -- any anniversary show is going to fall flat for a lot of us because the people we would most like to see again are dead. They can't walk out on the stage again like Eddie Murphy and talk about their time on the show; the only way they can appear is in clips, and in the In Memoriam segment.


----------



## Tracy (Mar 12, 2000)

MikeAndrews said:


> Same with Victoria Jackson.


She was there. Was that posted here already? Not sure where I saw it. Anyway, she wrote a blog post about it. Apparently there was an "overflow" room for viewing the show on TVs and she was in that room. I believe she felt she was put there for her extreme right wing whack job positions. Anyway, she posted pictures with some folks at a party afterwards and you could tell that people were uncomfortable posing with her. Here it is:

http://victoriajackson.com/12290/snl-40


----------



## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

The show says that she was in the other room because she didn't know if she was going to be late, and they didn't want her disturbing the show.


----------



## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

Tracy said:


> ...she felt she was put there for her extreme right wing whack job positions....


And yet, Palin was in the main room.

Then again, extreme right wing whack job positions and persecution complexes are a common combination.


----------



## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

busyba said:


> And yet, Palin was in the main room.


Not only in the room, but actually got air time. OF course, when she was invented to appear on the show initially, they all knew what she was/is. Victoria Jackson went nanners after she left the show.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

jsmeeker said:


> Not only in the room, but actually got air time. OF course, when she was invented to appear on the show initially, they all knew what she was/is. Victoria Jackson went nanners after she left the show.


Hold on now... Palin was created just for SNL?

[sorry, couldn't resist]


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

astrohip said:


> Hold on now... Palin was created just for SNL? [sorry, couldn't resist]


That would make a lot of sense.


----------



## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

astrohip said:


> Hold on now... Palin was created just for SNL?
> 
> [sorry, couldn't resist]


That would be less strange than the truth.


----------



## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

astrohip said:


> Hold on now... Palin was created just for SNL?
> 
> [sorry, couldn't resist]


haha.. Oops. 

Too bad it's actually not the case.


----------



## Tracy (Mar 12, 2000)

trainman said:


> Denny Dillon doesn't seem to have had a good time and says Eddie Murphy is a plagiarist. (And hadn't heard about the allegations against Bill Cosby.  )


I just read this and am honestly wondering if it is a joke. She writes about making a big stink with security over taking a plate of ribs into the studio. She also complained that none of the characters she performed were featured in the clips reels and went on to name some of them...



> But then, all my SNL routines were completely left out of the highlight reels, and I grew livid. No Leather Weather Report? No Waxmans? No Yoko Ono? Surely, my Amy Carter impression would make it in. But no. Nuthin. It was as if I was never on the show.


I don't remember any of those characters. She seems so shocked. Anyway, she also talks about having a nice conversation with Eddie Murphy on the red carpet--the year she was on the show was Eddie's first year, too--but then gets angry at him during the show.



> I was shocked at the words that poured out of Eddies lips:
> 
> Its such a magical feeling being here.
> 
> ...


What the heck? She says "I'm so happy to be back here" to a random woman at the buffet table and thinks that amazing, unique and insightful comment worked its way through the grapevine to Eddie Murphy who immediately stole it for his speech? Come on.

She also takes credit for talking Eddie Murpy out of doing the Cosby cameo.

She can't be serious, can she?


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Plus, Eddie's speech during the show basically repeated what he had previously said on the red carpet show, almost word for word -- including the "it's like being back at your high school" (which, I might add, isn't exactly an original thought at a reunion).


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## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

Wow, Denny's blog post is the most wank-ish self-centered thing I've read since the NFL season ended. All the people queued behind her were mad at the security guards? They were definitely all thinking "who's this crazy lady who won't let go of her ribs so we can go sit down?" In what world is it OK to bring food into a theater, especially with celebs like that and a situation where people are standing up to applaud, etc. What are the odds Denny's ribs would end up down the back of whomever was unfortunate enough to sit in front of her? Fred definitely just decided Denny was crazy and the best way to resolve the situation was to get her a pass. I guess some people get older but never really grow up.

Jimmy Fallon said he and Eddie had the exact same conversation about going back to high school, and Eddie said "except everything is smaller". I guess it never occurred to Denny that multiple people might have the same reaction when at a reunion like this


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## getreal (Sep 29, 2003)

trainman said:


> Denny Dillon doesn't seem to have had a good time and says Eddie Murphy is a plagiarist. (And hadn't heard about the allegations against Bill Cosby.  )


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

Uh, she was clearly joking.

You think she seriously was saying that a comment she made to JK Simmons's wife was stolen by Eddie Murphy, and that she hadn't heard about Bill Cosby?


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

She must be joking, her daughter's favorite sketch is the Californians.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

Mark Evanier thinks the Denny Dillion the post is a phony.
http://www.newsfromme.com/2015/02/22/blogkeeping-note-2/


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

Weird.
http://garyhasissues.com/archives/14514


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## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

MikeAndrews said:


> Mark Evanier thinks the Denny Dillion the post is a phony.
> http://www.newsfromme.com/2015/02/22/blogkeeping-note-2/


Mark Evanier has now officially stated the Denny Dillon post is a phony.

I'm sorry I posted it -- I've deleted my previous post. (I would have edited it to preserve thread continuity, but this site's database issues aren't letting me do that, and felt I should get the link deleted ASAP.)


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