Catch These Men

Tom Hanks and Norm Macdonald killed on "Celebrity Jeopardy" on last week's SNL with Will Ferrell.

We do all recognize that "Celebrity Jeopardy" is a ripoff of SCTV's "High-Q," right?

I Can't Stop My Leg

One thing that has really jumped out at me while watching SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE's first season on DVD is that Gilda Radner was really, really wonderful. I guess I knew that, but she left us so soon, and I haven't seen her in such a long while, and the end of her career was marked by appearances in terrible Gene Wilder movies that it's easy to forget how sweet and natural and funny she was, particularly when she was just being herself. On the Candice Bergen show, Gilda and Bergen share a short piece in which they sit on stage and chat about the recently defeated Equal Rights Amendment and how Gilda feels insecure around beautiful women. Among the absurd humor that often marked SNL (Land Shark, anyone?), this bit stands out because it's sweet and it's real (and probably written by Rosie Shuster).

Also, John Belushi really was as great as his legend, Dan Aykroyd may well have been the finest sketch comedian SNL ever had (only Phil Hartman is close), and Laraine Newman was pretty hot.

The Robert Klein show features two bizarre and decidedly non-live appearances by ABBA, who were reportedly booked against Lorne Michaels' will. Belushi really stands out in two sketches, one in which he and Klein play exterminators (Belushi seems to be doing a funny Brando thing) and another in which he plays Sam Peckinpah and beats the crap out of actress Radner. It's funny, I swear. Also, Loudon Wainwright III performs some scathingly satirical novelty songs that today's PC SNL--the one that booked Ashlee Simpson as a musical guest--wouldn't dream of (or probably understand).

The Lily Tomlin show has a great Land Shark sketch (c'mon, the Land Shark was funny when I was eight and it's funny now), but my favorite part was the very end, where Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Radner and Newman, dressed as bees, performed a funky "bee scat" with Tomlin at Paul Shaffer's piano. It's the most natural performance I've seen Morris give so far.

Fingertips To The Wolverines

Watching the first three episodes of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE ever broadcast is an interesting experience. The show was, of course, much different than it is today, but it's also much different than the way it would become later in that first 1975-1976 season. Each episode is an unusual grab bag of concepts, blackouts and musical numbers that plays very much like a stage revue. If you don't like what's happening, don't worry, something else completely different will come along in just a few minutes.

The first show, for example, hosted by George Carlin. It offers four different monologues by Carlin, who doesn't appear in any sketches (he was supposed to be in Michael O'Donoghue's big Alexander the Great sketch, but refused after dress rehearsal, and it was dropped). Andy Kaufman does his brilliant Mighty Mouse bit. Albert Brooks produces a funny short film (complete with pedophilia gag). The Muppets have their own spotlighted slot (nothing the Muppets did on SNL is the least bit entertaining). Billy Preston ("Nothing from Nothing") and Janis Ian ("At Seventeen") do two songs each. The Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players (Don Pardo fucks up and calls them "Not-for-Ready..." in the opening) barely appear, and only Chevy Chase, who anchors Weekend Update, makes an impact, though a couple of the sketches are funny. George Coe and O'Donoghue are official Players in the premiere. In all, an oddly structured yet fascinating historical curio.

The second show is almost completely different from the previous week's in every way. Almost all ninety minutes are devoted to music, as host Paul Simon performs several hits and also reunites with Art Garfunkel for a couple numbers (Artie does a hit on his own too). Phoebe Snow and Randy Newman also perform, and, aside from more Muppets and Brooks pieces, the longest comic bit is a tedious filmed one-on-one basketball game between Simon and NBA star Connie Hawkins that is hosted by Marv Albert! Jerry Rubin (!) and Bill Bradley also appear, and the NRFPTP gets less than a minute of airtime on their own show.

Rob Reiner (ALL IN THE FAMILY) hosts the third show with wife Penny Marshall (soon to be on LAVERNE & SHIRLEY) and no musical guest, though a West Coast dance troupe called the Lockers (with Fred "Rerun" Berry!) appears, as does comedienne Denny Dillon, who later become an SNL regular during its notorious 1980-81 season. The NRFPTP make their biggest impact, especially Jane Curtin interviewing Laraine Newman as Squeaky Fromme on her DANGEROUS BUT INEPT talk show and Chevy (who breaks up during it) in a pro-drooler PSA. The Players were pissed about Brooks' film, which ran thirteen minutes, and Reiner's alleged prima donna act backstage.

And the Bees appeared in all three shows, can you believe it?

He's My Favorite Honky

There's no way I can explain in words just how popular Steve Martin was in the late 1970s. And if this video doesn't explain it for you, then I'm afraid you'll never get it.

In 1978, Martin's album A WILD AND CRAZY GUY was on every kid's record player. It won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album, sold more than 2 million copies, and remains the last comedy album to reach as high as #2 on the Billboard pop chart. And everyone was singing along with "King Tut," which was a Top 40 hit that summer.

This clip is from an episode of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE that Martin guest-hosted. His band, The Toot Uncommons, played on the record, but I don't know if they're also playing in this clip or if it's the SNL house band.

Let's Boil The Wolverines

The amazing John Belushi died 25 years ago this week at the age of 33. We all know that the influence of The Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players and the first five seasons of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE on Hollywood, even to this day, cannot be overestimated. But it is worth wondering in what direction Belushi's career would have gone if he had survived past 1982. Would he have become Bill Murray or Chevy Chase? I suspect, given his enormous talent (and he was a very good actor, in addition to his skills as a physical comedian), he would have by now become an in-demand character actor, but hopefully one with more accomplished tastes than Dan Aykroyd. Yes, I realize that Aykroyd was once nominated for an Academy Award, but I think it's safe to say that most of his post-SNL roles are pretty forgettable.

I'm sure that if you go to YouTube, you'll find plenty of Belushi videos there, including tribute clips and SNL sketches and scenes from ANIMAL HOUSE. It certainly wouldn't hurt you to check a couple out and be reminded of what an electrifying performer he could be.

What I found of interest is this, which is the obituary VARIETY wrote for Belushi on March 5, 1982.