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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 21
"Buck Henry/Sun Ra"
April 10, 2009 - 07:04p.m.
Well friends, we have come to the end of another season of Saturday Night Live. I apologize if this post is brief and/or incoherent. I just had a root canal and am currently riding the Novocaine train (or Novatrain ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 20
"Richard Dreyfuss/Jimmy Buffet"
March 27, 2009 - 01:03p.m.
By the end of Saturday Night Live’s first season a palpable sense of exhaustion had set in. Spring fever had swept the cast and crew. The Not Ready For Prime Time Players were like kids on the last day ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 18
"Steve Martin/The Blues Brothers"
March 20, 2009 - 12:03p.m.
How do you solve a problem like The Blues Brothers? They’re the goofy novelty duo whose enduring popularity says a great deal about our country’s thorny racial history and the commercial cooption of great American art form. To ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 17
"Michael Sarrazin/Keith Jarrett"
March 12, 2009 - 03:03p.m.
The jury is still out on a lot of the teenybopper-friendly recent Saturday Night Live hosts (I’m looking at you, Hugh Laurie) but many of the show’s early hosts brought an awful lot of iconic baggage with them ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 16
"Michael Palin/Eugene Record"
March 4, 2009 - 03:03p.m.
You know what’s awesome? Watching Michael Palin trying to shove two cats into his pants at the same time. Actually “awesome” doesn’t begin to do justice to that stunt. And these are no doped-up kittens or anything. We ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 15
"Christopher Lee/Meat Loaf"
February 26, 2009 - 06:02p.m.
Dan Aykroyd got off to a rocky start as a “Weekend Update” co-anchor. For a virtuoso comic performer renowned for his precision and gift for rattling off reams of incredibly precise, technical material at a machine-gun pace he fucked up ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 15
"Jill Clayburgh/Eddie Money"
February 13, 2009 - 08:02a.m.
Jill Clayburgh is one of those quirky only-in-the-seventies movie stars. She’s not particularly attractive, let alone sexy in the atomic fashion we now angrily demand of our movie stars (like Paul Giamatti) and she doesn’t exactly radiate charisma ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 13
"Art Garfunkel/Stephen Bishop"
February 6, 2009 - 10:02a.m.
The Paul Simon-hosted second episode of Saturday Night Live is unique in the show’s storied history. The future comic institution was still mutable enough that Michaels and the gang weren’t shy about changing the show's format dramatically ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 12
"O.J Simpson/Ashford & Simpson"
January 30, 2009 - 10:01a.m.
O.J Simpson’s late-period infamy long ago usurped his early fame. It can be hard to remember that Simpson was once a widely beloved Hall of Famer, commercial pitchman, Heisman Trophy winner, movie star, 1st & 10 cut-up and ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 11
"Chevy Chase/Billy Joel"
January 23, 2009 - 08:01a.m.
I know it's been long as a camel's dong since I last rapped at ya but I've been busy as of late, rocking and rolling and whatnot. Also, I went on break, then I went to Sundance ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 10
"Robert Klein/Bonnie Raitt"
January 9, 2009 - 04:01p.m.
Though he isn't held in the same high regard as some of his contemporaries, especially those with the great fortune to die young and lead wildly self-destructive lives, Robert Klein was a hugely popular figure in the seventies, a ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 9
"Steve Martin/The Dirt Band and Randy Newman"
December 19, 2008 - 04:12p.m.
I've always found it amusing that Saturday Night Live always introduces its musical act as the "special guest" of its host. It's never just Miskel Spillman and musical guest Elvis Costello: it's always Miskel Spillman and her ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 8
"Miskel Spillman/Elvis Costello"
December 12, 2008 - 03:12p.m.
Saturday Night Live's "Anyone Can Host" contest raised an interesting question. Could just about anyone host Saturday Night Live? Paris Hilton's hosting gig a few years back seemingly answered that question with a definitive "Oh God yes." If ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 7
"Mary Kay Place/Willie Nelson"
December 5, 2008 - 03:12p.m.
By 1977 Saturday Night Live was very firmly established as an old boy's club, especially if those boys happened to be of the Caucasian persuasion. Yes, early Saturday Night Live was all about honkys doing their honky thing while ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 6
"Buck Henry/Leon Motherfucking Redbone"
November 21, 2008 - 04:11p.m.
Buck Henry is that rarest of show-biz anomalies: an apparently egoless comic performer. Watching Henry in his many, many stints as guest host on Saturday Night Live you never get the sense that he's hungry for laughs or eager ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 5
"Ray Charles"
November 14, 2008 - 01:11p.m.
Would Saturday Night Live be able to crank out ninety minutes of gut-busting hilarity every episode if it weren't for that ingenious crutch known as the cue card? Cue cards are the training wheels that keep the show from ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 4
"Charles Grodin/Paul Simon
October 31, 2008 - 04:10p.m.
Saturday Night Live is an institution ruled by ritual and repetition. Though the host and musical guest might change every week audiences can expect to see plenty that's familiar week in and week out, whether it's recurring characters ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 3
"Hugh Hefner/Libby Titus
October 24, 2008 - 11:10a.m.
Shows like Saturday Night Live sometimes pay a steep price for access to top newsmakers and super-duper big-name celebrities. When I interviewed Colin Quinn a while back he groused that the star-crazy comic institution's habit of inviting the people ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 2
"Madeline Kahn/Taj Majal"
October 17, 2008 - 04:10p.m.
In her opening monologue for the second episode ofSaturday Night Live's third season, seasoned old pro/great comic actor Madeline Kahn parrots the oft-recycled opening-monologue cliché about live television being such a crazy medium and the cast of ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 3, episode 1
Steve Martin/Jackson Browne
October 3, 2008 - 05:10p.m.
After I finished watching/writing about Saturday Night Live's second season for TV Club Classic several centuries ago, I was in no hurry to race into its third season, which had just been released on DVD and sat on ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 22
"Buck Henry/Jennifer Warnes"
May 30, 2008 - 05:05p.m.
Host: Buck Henry. Well, friends, it appears that the long national nightmare of me blogging about the second season of Saturday Night Live for TV Club Classic has finally reached a merciful end. What began with the faintest flicker of ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 21
"Shelley Duvall/Joan Armatrading"
May 23, 2008 - 01:05p.m.
The Host: Well, friends we have reached the magical second-to-last week of the second season of Saturday Night Live, or as fancy-pants college types might call it, the season's penultimate episode. That's right, we are officially celebrating the ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 20
"Eric Idle/Neil Innes and Alan Price"
May 15, 2008 - 10:05p.m.
Host:Well, friends, it appears that we are nearing the end of the second season of Saturday Night Live and the Spring Fever is palpable. Like school-children impatiently waiting down the final tick-tick-tick of the clock, the cast and crew ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 19
"Elliot Gould/The McGarrigle Sisters"
May 2, 2008 - 12:05p.m.
Elliot Gould was the ultimate seventies guy, a lanky, incorrigible smartass whose whole laconic vibe said "I'm just here for the party". He was the original Dude, just as The Long Goodbye was the original Big Lebowski. He was ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 18
"Julian Bond/Tom Waits"
April 25, 2008 - 03:04p.m.
Host: The host of today's episode of Saturday Night Live Classic is a handsome, charismatic light-skinned African-American darling of the American Left who made history via his revolutionary dalliance with Presidential politics. Yes, that's right, I'm talking ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 17
"Jack Burns/Santana"
April 18, 2008 - 12:04p.m.
The Host: Saturday Night Live hosts don't come much more obscure or forgotten than Jack Burns, a veteran writer and performer best known for his partnerships with George Carlin and later fellow Second City alum Avery Schreiber as well ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 15
"Sissy Spacek/Richard Baskin"
April 11, 2008 - 01:04p.m.
The Good: A commenter a few weeks back called today's episode the single greatest episode ever. That struck me as just a tad bit hyperbolic (Can any SNL episode be deemed truly great without an appearance by the "Makin ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 16
"Broderick Crawford/The Meters/Levon Helm/Dr. John"
March 28, 2008 - 04:03p.m.
Host: For Saturday Night Live writers, having an athlete/old-person/politician/non-performer as a host can be either liberating or dispiriting. It can be liberating in the sense that, I dunno, Norman Lear is undoubtedly cool with appearing in as ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 14
"Steve Martin/The Kinks"
March 21, 2008 - 07:03p.m.
Host:Being a bicentennial baby, I was too young to experience Steve Martin's stand-up super-stardom and early Saturday Night Live fame so one of the interesting aspects of writing this TV Club Blog entails experiencing the comic icon in ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 13
"Fran Tarkenton/Leo Sayer"
March 14, 2008 - 12:03p.m.
The Host:Well, sports fans, it appears we have stumbled onto another Saturday Night Live first. Today's episode marks the very first time a professional athlete yucked it up alongside the Not Ready For Primetime Players. The guinea pig ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 12
"Ruth Gordon/Chuck Berry"
March 7, 2008 - 12:03p.m.
Host: I'd love to be able to tell you that Ruth Gordon absolutely rocked today's episode of Saturday Night Live, that she showed the young whippersnappers of her great, great grandkids' generation what true comic genius looks like ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 11
"Ralph Nader/George Benson"
February 29, 2008 - 03:02p.m.
Host: Nader, Nader, Nader. It's a name that once inspired rapt admiration but now is more likely to angry up the blood. Few figures are more divisive. Depending on who you ask Ralph Nader–whose Presidential campaigns are now ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 10
"Candice Bergen/Frank Zappa"
February 22, 2008 - 12:02p.m.
Host: In Bob Woodward's John Belushi biography Wired Candice Bergen cites the third show she hosted Saturday Night Live as the moment she grew bitterly disillusioned with the show and vowed never to host again. For Bergen, it was ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 9
"Jodie Foster/Brian Wilson"
February 15, 2008 - 03:02p.m.
Host: The shining example of Jodie Foster gives hope to future generations of kiddie superstars that not every child star is doomed to end their days robbing liquor stores in Reno while clad only in a g-string and cowboy hat ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 8
"Paul Simon/George Harrison"
February 8, 2008 - 03:02p.m.
Host: One of the more intriguing aspects of early Saturday Night Live is how malleable the show was in its infancy. When Paul Simon hosted, for example, Saturday Night Live stopped being a sketch comedy show with a few musical ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 7
"Dick Cavett/Ry Cooder"
February 1, 2008 - 01:02p.m.
Season 2, Episode 7th
Host: The opening monologues included in Shout Factory's invaluable series of Dick Cavett Show box-sets provide a fascinating window into what wasn't particularly funny in 1972 or 1973 or 1969 and has only grown ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 6
"Buck Henry/The Band"
January 25, 2008 - 03:01p.m.
The Host:Blame Buck Henry. According to Saturday Night Live legend the seeds of a thousand obnoxious recurring characters and endlessly recycled catchphrases were planted when Buck Henry noticed that the very first Samurai skit had gone well and asked ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2
Mardi Gras Special
January 18, 2008 - 01:01p.m.
Host/Musical Guest: Throughout the long national nightmare of Hurricane Katrina I found myself returning over and over again to Randy Newman's "Louisiana, 1927". I wasn't the only one. The song enjoyed a resurgence in popularity during Katrina ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 5
"Steve Martin/Kinky Friedman"
January 11, 2008 - 03:01p.m.
Host:Is any non-cast member more intimately associated with Saturday Night Live than Steve Martin? Saturday Night Live and Martin have enjoyed a long, mutually beneficial relationship: as the top stand-up comic of his day, Martin helped transform Saturday Night ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 4
"Karen Black/John Prine"
January 4, 2008 - 02:01p.m.
Opening segment: I wrote earlier that the cast and crew's resentment of Chevy Chase provides an endlessly fascinating subtext for the show's first and second season. In this brief cold open it officially went from subtext to text ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 3
"Eric Idle/Joe Cocker"
December 21, 2007 - 04:12p.m.
Opening segment: In yet another meta bit the show opens with an uncredited Richard Belzer at the Weekend Update desk pretending to be the injured and absent Chevy Chase. When an indignant Chase calls in from his hospital bed wondering ... -
Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 2
"Norman Lear/Boz Scaggs"
December 14, 2007 - 04:12p.m.
Well, home-skillets, it looks I'm going to be doing things a little differently here in the second installment of Saturday Night Live: Season Two TV Club Classic. Long, rambling, borderline incoherent free-form essays are out and neat little categories ...
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Classic Saturday Night Live: season 2, episode 1
"Lily Tomlin/James Taylor"
December 7, 2007 - 03:12p.m.
As regular readers of the A.V Club know, I am a shameless Saturday Night Live completist. I devour every book written about the show, up to and including Jay Mohr's dreadful, yet strangely compelling memoir Gasping For Airtime ...
