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(Wikipedia)   47 years ago tonight, a small group of performers changed the face of late-night TV forever   (en.wikipedia.org) divider line
45
    More: Spiffy, Saturday Night Live, 17th episode of the second season, first season of Saturday Night Live, Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, American sketch comedy series, similarly named variety show, Paul Simon  
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1662 clicks; posted to Entertainment » on 11 Oct 2022 at 9:50 AM (22 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



45 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
gunga galunga [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 9:40:51 AM  
"I would like...to feed your fingertips...to the wolverines."
 
NewportBarGuy [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 9:42:23 AM  
SCTV?
 
Serious Post on Serious Thread
2022-10-11 10:04:19 AM  
Ah. SNL. A show for people too young or too old to actually be having fun on a Saturday night.

Granted the cold opens and news have generally been good. And, let's be generous, one in five sketches.
 
Jake Havechek [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 10:10:15 AM  
That was cool when Bill Murray slugged Chevy Chase backstage.
 
Barricaded Gunman
2022-10-11 10:10:22 AM  
Years later, that first episode is a rough watch: multiple uncomfortable George Carlin monologues, jugglers, puppets... it started off as the show that offered nothing to everyone.
 
NeoCortex42 [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 10:15:12 AM  

Serious Post on Serious Thread: Granted the cold opens and news have generally been good. And, let's be generous, one in five sketches.


It's a great hour-long show.

Too bad it has 90 minutes of airtime to fill.
 
The Dynamite Monkey
2022-10-11 10:17:39 AM  
I watched that season.

It stopped being funny years before that.
 
CarnySaur [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 10:17:53 AM  
And fifteen minutes in, people were complaining that it wasn't as funny as the first five minutes.
 
LL316
2022-10-11 10:21:40 AM  
And people have been saying it's garbage and should be canceled every season since.
 
TappingTheVein
2022-10-11 10:26:16 AM  
Legend has it that you could get high from cocaine just by passing through the dressing rooms corridor.
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 10:26:57 AM  
Big fan of the show. Took the NYC NBC tour a few times just to get me on the 17th floor of 30 Rock.
I've been watching since 1975 when it first came on. I don't see every episode now, but I always make sure to tune on the season premier.

Like it or hate it, it's an American icon.
 
Chief Superintendent Lookout
2022-10-11 10:28:38 AM  
Oh no, it's Mr. Bill!!
 
Mugato [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 10:31:36 AM  

Barricaded Gunman: Years later, that first episode is a rough watch: multiple uncomfortable George Carlin monologues, jugglers, puppets... it started off as the show that offered nothing to everyone.


I think you have to be high to find anything in the first season funny.
 
allthesametome [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 10:32:08 AM  
God I'm old.
 
weirdneighbour
2022-10-11 10:41:26 AM  

NewportBarGuy: SCTV?


Yes
 
SpectroBoy [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 10:45:03 AM  

Jake Havechek: That was cool when Bill Murray slugged Chevy Chase backstage.


cdn.shopify.comView Full Size
 
Charles of York [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 10:47:23 AM  
Dead Honkey!
 
TDWCom29
2022-10-11 10:49:36 AM  

Mugato: Barricaded Gunman: Years later, that first episode is a rough watch: multiple uncomfortable George Carlin monologues, jugglers, puppets... it started off as the show that offered nothing to everyone.

I think you have to be high to find anything in the first season funny.


Honestly, the show doesn't really get to be consistently funny until the Hartman/Carvey seasons. I mean obviously there are gems here-and-there, but the show is largely not that good for awhile. Or in my opinion at least, obviously some people found it funny for that decade-plus
 
OldRod [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 11:03:22 AM  
I'm old enough to have watched that season live (I was 14).  Back then it seemed awesome, but, yeah, those early seasons haven't aged well
 
SpectroBoy [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 11:13:48 AM  

Charles of York: Dead Honkey!


That sketch was one of the greatest moments in TV comedy history. IMO
 
harleyquinnical
2022-10-11 11:29:03 AM  
TIL George Coe was technically an original cast member of SNL, even if he was only there for 1 episode.  He never gets remembered.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Kris_Romm
2022-10-11 11:51:27 AM  
Tell us when it's 50.  🙃
 
Slypork
2022-10-11 11:55:26 AM  

Barricaded Gunman: Years later, that first episode is a rough watch: multiple uncomfortable George Carlin monologues, jugglers, puppets... it started off as the show that offered nothing to everyone.


Don't watch the Buck Henry babysitting skits. Yikes.
 
shabu
2022-10-11 11:55:45 AM  
The show is expressly contemporary and that impacts rewatches. The stuff that ages best are classic characters which they get criticism for leaning on.

The first few seasons were searching for the formula, and all the other seasons were dismissed as being too formulaic or failing to execute the formula well enough.
 
TDWCom29
2022-10-11 12:00:12 PM  

shabu: The show is expressly contemporary and that impacts rewatches. The stuff that ages best are classic characters which they get criticism for leaning on.

The first few seasons were searching for the formula, and all the other seasons were dismissed as being too formulaic or failing to execute the formula well enough.


Surprisingly the first...decade or so isn't particularly current-events heavy outside of Weekend Update. Especially not compared to these days.
 
Mugato [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 12:02:01 PM  
There was one perfect episode that I've seen, meaning every sketch hit, even the ones after Weekend Update. William Shatner, 1986.
 
germ78
2022-10-11 12:13:54 PM  
They weren't ready for prime time.
 
Thosw [BareFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 12:17:29 PM  

Mugato: There was one perfect episode that I've seen, meaning every sketch hit, even the ones after Weekend Update. William Shatner, 1986.


For me, it was one of the John Mulaney hosted episodes a couple of years ago. I think it was the one that had him as the drag stalker.
 
Mugato [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 12:41:26 PM  

germ78: They weren't ready for prime time.


Chevy Chase still isn't. They fired his ass off of "Community" I still think he's hilarious but apparently he's a huge asshole
 
Barricaded Gunman
2022-10-11 1:06:57 PM  

Slypork: Barricaded Gunman: Years later, that first episode is a rough watch: multiple uncomfortable George Carlin monologues, jugglers, puppets... it started off as the show that offered nothing to everyone.

Don't watch the Buck Henry babysitting skits. Yikes.


Damn, now that you mention it, I vaguely remember that.. something about getting the girls he was babysitting (Loraine Newman and Gilda Radner) to sit on a glass-top coffee table so he could photograph them from below?

Also, there were jokes at the time about how having Buck Henry as the host was a ratings killer, which makes sense.
 
fat boy
2022-10-11 1:12:43 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size


Close
 
NeoCortex42 [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 1:22:41 PM  

TDWCom29: shabu: The show is expressly contemporary and that impacts rewatches. The stuff that ages best are classic characters which they get criticism for leaning on.

The first few seasons were searching for the formula, and all the other seasons were dismissed as being too formulaic or failing to execute the formula well enough.

Surprisingly the first...decade or so isn't particularly current-events heavy outside of Weekend Update. Especially not compared to these days.


Modern SNL tries to be so current, most of the skits age like milk.

"Classic" SNL, aside from the political sketches, was just absolutely random. Like, just film a soap opera scene straight, but they're all wearing bee costumes. Sure, why not.
 
bzdrummer
2022-10-11 1:24:32 PM  
They certainly did
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
whidbey
2022-10-11 1:32:47 PM  
Season 1 is the only Season worth watching.

Sorry fanbois.
 
Slypork
2022-10-11 1:56:05 PM  

Barricaded Gunman: Slypork: Barricaded Gunman: Years later, that first episode is a rough watch: multiple uncomfortable George Carlin monologues, jugglers, puppets... it started off as the show that offered nothing to everyone.

Don't watch the Buck Henry babysitting skits. Yikes.

Damn, now that you mention it, I vaguely remember that.. something about getting the girls he was babysitting (Loraine Newman and Gilda Radner) to sit on a glass-top coffee table so he could photograph them from below?

Also, there were jokes at the time about how having Buck Henry as the host was a ratings killer, which makes sense.


Creepy validation
Buck Henry on his "Uncle Roy" character on Saturday Night Live - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
Youtube HrQZORhBNt8
 
Mugato [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 1:57:18 PM  

whidbey: Season 1 is the only Season worth watching.

Sorry fanbois.


I don't want to get into a whole thing here but what was funny about the first season? The Coneheads? Land Shark? The Samurai butcher?
 
Skarekrough
2022-10-11 1:58:53 PM  
NeoCortex42: Modern SNL tries to be so current, most of the skits age like milk.

But that's also part of what has made it stand out, it didn't lapse into "classic comedy."  It moved with the times and what was relevant today won't be tomorrow.

The parallel I can draw is a comic strip like Bloom County.  Unless you lived through that era a very, very small volume of the content is going to be entertaining to you.

My kids have been raiding the Calvin and Hobbes books for years now.  Lately my 17-year old has been going through the Doonesbury one's now that he's had a chance to learn about the era.  The Bloom County stuff though is still mostly a loss to him.  I can re-read it time and time again.  But I also remember how things were during the Meese Commission, the Jim and Tammy Faye Baker scandal and Gary Hart's failed run for President.
 
common sense is an oxymoron [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 2:24:59 PM  

Serious Post on Serious Thread: Ah. SNL. A show for people too young or too old to actually be having fun on a Saturday night.


Watching SNL stoned with a few dozen stoned dormmates was an amusing diversion, and the parties would still be going afterward.
 
Mugato [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 2:45:20 PM  

Thosw: Mugato: There was one perfect episode that I've seen, meaning every sketch hit, even the ones after Weekend Update. William Shatner, 1986.

For me, it was one of the John Mulaney hosted episodes a couple of years ago. I think it was the one that had him as the drag stalker.


Never saw that but the Shatner episode was the Genesis (heh) of the whole "Get a Life!" thing. And the TJ Hooker sketch and It's a Wonderful Life. Shatner is actually a great comedic actor. See also "Free Enterprise".
 
Wireless Joe
2022-10-11 3:01:27 PM  
flxt.tmsimg.comView Full Size
 
NDP2 [BareFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 3:59:50 PM  

Barricaded Gunman: Slypork: Barricaded Gunman: Also, there were jokes at the time about how having Buck Henry as the host was a ratings killer, which makes sense.


One joke was whenever Don Pardo announced Buck Henry would host the next SNL, you could hear millions of people saying, "I wonder who canceled?"
 
handsome boy model
2022-10-11 5:34:04 PM  
After the first few episodes, the general manager of the NBC affiliate where I lived became concerned about the content of SNL.  The station skipped a broadcast. The GM would watch each week's episode from the feed or a tape of the feed. If he approved of it, the show would air a week late. If he disapproved, the station ran something else in the time slot.
 
Devolving_Spud [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 5:59:33 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size


Gone much, much too soon.  Along with many others.  But it's Gilda I still miss.
 
Devolving_Spud [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-11 6:05:44 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size


The sketch of a "future" John Belushia talking about his long-dead SNL friends and visiting their graves is probably one of the most poignant sketches ever.
 
RosevilleDan [TotalFark]
2022-10-11 6:52:26 PM  
Trivia: Bill and Hillary Clinton were married this same day.

The 1975 World Series (one of the best ever) started.

And I turned 10.
 
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