Month: June 2018

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October 25, 1975 – Rob Reiner / (no musical guest) (S1 E3)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
wheelchair-bound (CHC) briefly regains his ability to walk, then falls 
— Chevy slowly coming to the realization that he had just walked was pretty funny.
— I’ve seen funnier pratfalls from Chevy, but this was still a fairly funny ending gag. I like the simplicity of these early cold openings.
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— Hey, Michael O’Donoghue’s back in the cast list, after being taken out of it in the previous episode. George Coe’s still missing from it, though. I guess the plan so far is for Coe and O’Donoghue to only be credited in episodes that they actually appear in.
— Also, after listing the cast alphabetically in the previous episode’s opening credits, SNL does something a bit strange tonight: the cast is mostly still listed alphabetically, except for Gilda, who’s name is put between Chevy and Jane for some reason:

MONOLOGUE
host lives out his dream by portraying a smarmy lounge singer
— Hmm, a specially-decorated stage with floor lights. This should be interesting.
— I’ve always been curious to see this, after Robert DeNiro built it up as this strange experimental piece when he talked about it in SNL’s 40th anniversary special.
— The “This is not Irving Berlin, but Rob doesn’t know it” caption gave me a good laugh.
— Reiner’s giving a very committed performance to this.
— Interesting ending with him actually dropping character and taking off his wig.
STARS: ***

NATIONAL PANCREAS ASSOCIATION
a trip to the doctor (DAA) reveals that (JOB)’s pancreas is on the fritz 
— Are John and Gilda playing the same couple from the home security sketch in the first episode? They appear to be wearing the exact same clothes from that sketch.
— Dan is pretty funny as the doctor.
— So refreshing to actually see several cast members in this, by the way, after the Paul Simon episode where they were virtually non-existent.
— How is John able to go from set-to-set so fast? Though it did seem like Dan was stalling a bit at the beginning of the doctor’s office scene to give John time to make it to the set. This is one of the things I’ve always loved about SNL being a live show.
— Overall, this was nothing really noteworthy, but it had a certain charm to it that I liked, partly due to the performances.
STARS: **½

FASHION DON’TS
host & Penny Marshall [real] emcee a fashion show of style mistakes  
— This sketch has a weird but fun structure.
— LOL at the way Garrett’s walking.
— The Aykroyd/leisure suit bit was really good.
— Still feels strange seeing O’Donoghue among the cast.
— O’Donoghue’s bit, however, was a funny ending to the sketch.
STARS: ***½

GOLDEN NEEDLES
(GEC) pitches surgery-free healing via Golden Needles voodoo acupuncture

— Oh, so George Coe IS in this episode after all. Wonder why he wasn’t in the opening cast list tonight. I guess after the season premiere, they’ve ALREADY relegated him to only making non-credited appearances.
— His pitchman delivery isn’t bad in this and he comes off believable in this role, but he doesn’t seem to have quite the comedic touch that someone like Aykroyd, Harry Shearer, or Phil Hartman would’ve given this sketch. I think I’m starting to see why this guy didn’t last long on the show.
— The concept of this ad is decent.
STARS: ***

ANDY KAUFMAN
Andy Kaufman [real] lip-syncs “Pop Goes The Weasel”

— Oh, geez, already they’re trying to replicate the success of the classic Mighty Mouse bit from the first episode, right down to him coming out in the exact same outfit.
— I’ve never seen this one before, except for a very brief clip in an Andy Kaufman documentary.
— He’s lipsyncing the WHOLE song this time? Where’s the joke in doing that?
— Oh, wait, it is pretty funny seeing him lipsync the dad’s non-singing dialogue while having that cheesy “1950s dad” expression on his face.
— This is paling terribly in comparison to the Mighty Mouse bit and feels below standards compared to the usual weirdness I love from Andy. However, I’m still finding myself laughing. I guess Andy can crack me up doing ANYTHING.
— Great bit towards the end with the record temporarily stopping but him still bopping along, then miming the “pop” sound effect with flawless timing right as the song came back on.
STARS: ***

DANGEROUS BUT INEPT
Squeaky Fromme (LAN) is unable to shoot JAC

— Haha, I’m really liking Laraine’s performance.
— Overall, quite a bizarre little mini-sketch, but I definitely enjoyed it.
— I love how short and to-the-point a lot of SNL’s early live sketches are.
STARS: ***½

FELINA CAT FOOD
in-store test proves Felina Cat Food is indiscernible from regular tuna
— Okaaaayyyy……
— Well, THAT just came and went without any visible punchline. What exactly WAS the joke here?
STARS: *

THE LOCKERS
Toni Basil, Fred Berry, other Lockers [real] dance around Studio 8H  
— Just now, as one of the Lockers is making his entrance, I can see the set for the pancreas sketch from earlier, and now I understand how Belushi was able to quickly go back-and-forth from the living room set to the doctor’s office set: they were both actually just one set, but with different-colored walls to make them look like two individual sets.
— THAT’S the “Mickey, Mickey, you’re so fine” girl? Really???
— Hey, it’s Rerun!
— And hey, during his solo dance, he unintentionally kicks one of the floor lights into the audience! Ha, just now, I spotted a lady in the audience pick the light up and just look at it confusedly.
— I won’t give this a rating, but this sure was fun to watch.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
at the Blaine Hotel, kidnappers use DOP to voice their demands 
— I liked the randomness of the Sirhan Sirhan joke.
— Hmm, didn’t realize that the Blaine Hotel bit with Laraine from the first episode’s Update ended up being a recurring segment.
— I didn’t get Laraine’s joke about the kidnappers calling themselves “Blowfish”. The audience liked that joke a lot, so I’m guessing it was a topical reference.
— Oh, wow, I love this bit with an unseen Don Pardo being held hostage and reading off a list of the kidnappers’ demands in a “gameshow announcer” manner.
— “Still to come”? Ah, I see this is another Update that’s going to have a break in the middle for a fake ad.

MIDDLE AMERICAN VAN LINES
Middle-American Van Lines moves people, not possessions

— Eh, movers moving people as furniture is a pretty corny, kinda-outdated (even for the 70s) joke.
— I did kinda like the little detail at the end with the teddy bear being left behind, though.
STARS: **

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— Was it really necessary to the repeat the ‘guests of SNL stay at the Blaine Hotel’ bit from the first episode? It was hilarious the first time, but that kind of joke doesn’t work with repetition. The studio audience apparently agrees with me, judging from their tepid response to the bit.
— Did I just see the picture in the news screen jump suddenly in the middle of Chevy’s joke?
— Ah, the very first appearance of the classic “news for the hard of hearing” routine. Always funny, and a good way to end this Update.
— We’re three episodes in, and interestingly, there has yet to be an Update guest correspondent who does a commentary at the desk. I wonder when we get our first one.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (JOE COCKER)
spastic Joe Cocker (JOB) sings “With A Little Help From My Friends”
 
— Oh, THIS famous Belushi sketch! I had no idea this appeared so early in the show’s history.
— Haha, Belushi’s already making me laugh hysterically before he’s even started singing. The close-up of his insane facial expressions and gestures is KILLING me.
— Wow, he’s doing an excellent vocal impression of Cocker.
— Loved the sudden spinning fall to the ground, then him rolling around on his stomach.
— Overall, just… wow! What else can I say? This was fucking perfect and well-deserving of its status as an all-time classic.
STARS: *****

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Ploobis discovers his son Wisss (Richard Hunt) has been smoking craters
 
— The initial sight of that puppet smoking craters was good for a laugh.
— LOL, everything about this is so 70s, from the drug premise to all the ‘hippie speak’ from the son.
— Another terrible punchline from The Mighty Favog. I’m starting to realize that he’s probably my least favorite aspect of these Muppets sketches so far.
STARS: **

DROOLERS ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
Droolers Anti-Defamation League representative (CHC) promotes awareness

— The way Chevy looks in those glasses & mustache is already making me chuckle.
— Oh, man, this is gross, but pretty funny so far.
— Loved how Don Pardo was randomly mentioned as one of the famous droolers.
— Ha, Chevy’s starting to crack up. I guess you can pinpoint this as the very first instance of character-breaking on SNL.
— At first, I was wondering how he was able to speak so clearly while drooling, but now he’s starting to flub some lines and mispronounce words. I guess his laughing has thrown off his ability to speak clearly while drooling.
— The ‘sealing envelopes’ line was great. That and Chevy’s breaking boosted the sketch’s rating a bit.
STARS: ***½

SQUARE DANCE
a deranged, sadistic hoe-down caller (DAA) torments square dancers
 
— Haha, this is really twisted so far.
— Dan’s maniacal performance is great, especially the sadistic wild laugh he keeps doing.
— Ha, Dan reacted to getting shot a few seconds BEFORE the gunshot sound effect even went off.
— Wow, what an insane little sketch overall. I loved it. I’m always a big fan of seeing Dan do crazy stuff like this.
STARS: ****½

MARK HAMPTON AND DENNY DILLON
nuns (Mark Hampton) & (DED) emcee a convent’s talent night
 
— Feels so strange seeing future cast member Denny Dillon appearing in such an early episode.
— We’re about a minute and half into this, and unfortunately, I haven’t been laughing at all. Neither has the studio audience. Man, this is dying so far.
— Okay, the audience seems to be getting more and more into it now. However, I am not.
— Overall, I really wanted to like this, but found almost no enjoyment. Maybe because ‘nun humor’ just isn’t my bag.
— I hope this isn’t the kind of stuff I have to look forward to seeing from Denny when we reach the 80-81 season.
STARS: *½

WHAT GILDA ATE
GIR rambles about everything she consumed that day

— This is another bit that I’m surprised to see appeared so early in the history of the show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this sketch before, but I read about it and I assumed it didn’t appear until well into Gilda’s tenure on the show.
— I can already tell I’m going to like this. Gilda always has a way of making concepts like this funny.
— Yep, I was right. This got increasingly funny the more she went on and on. This may have been our very first glimpse of the Gilda charm that always helps makes segments like this work.
STARS: ***½

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
“Operation”- a George Plimpton-ish stab at heart surgery
  
— Oh, the Albert Brooks surgery film. I heard about this before; supposedly, this has an unusual runtime of around FIFTEEN MINUTES, which sounds unbearable.
— Well, so far, not bad. I’ve been getting some laughs.
— I really like the part when they sudden realize the patient was never anesthetized and Albert goes “Why the hell is he awake?!?”
— Albert’s growing frustration with that one doctor is pretty funny.
— Okay, yes, this film is noticeably starting to get very long, but I’m actually enjoying this.
— Very nice ending.
— Overall, this was nowhere near as bad as I was dreading. For such a long film, I was surprisingly entertained the whole way through.
STARS: ***½

BEES
host is upset when The Bees ruin his dramatic scene
 
— Ah, a sketch using the homebase stage as a setting. I like that.
— WTF? The Bees?
— I like how starting with the Paul Simon episode, it’s become a running joke that everyone hates the Bees.
— Belushi’s “This is all the writers came up with for us” confession is great.
— Wow, Belushi acted the hell out of his whole rant. His performance is really making this sketch.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS
— The goodnights in the first two episodes were already unconventional, in that neither of them had anybody on stage except the host and, in second episode’s case, special guest Bill Bradley. But, man, THIS episode’s goodnights are definitely our most unconventional yet – they technically don’t even count as “goodnights”. There’s no visual of a host standing on stage giving their thanks and then waving goodbye or ANYTHING – we’re literally only shown still shots from the opening montage with the ending credits scroll displayed over it, while the traditional goodnights music plays.

— Boy, it’s weird seeing an SNL episode end this way. Kind of an empty-feeling way to end a live episode; you’d think this was the end credits of a “Best Of” compilation or something.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Overall, an enjoyable, pretty solid episode. It especially felt nice to see lots of comedy, after the musical performance-dominated episode with Paul Simon.
— There wasn’t much that I disliked in this episode, aside from the Denny Dillon nun act and a couple of subpar fake ads. Everything else was good for the most part; even the insanely-long Albert Brooks film managed to hold my enjoyment.
— Reiner did a fine job as host, though it felt like he didn’t do any actual “characters” aside from the monologue. But let’s remember that this IS only SNL’s third episode and they still hadn’t fully figured out how to really use the hosts yet. They are getting there, though: after all, Reiner was the very first host to actually change outfits/costumes throughout the show and act with the cast in various pieces.
— Chevy didn’t seem quite as dominant as usual tonight. We actually got to see some of the other cast members shine; Belushi especially had a pretty strong night, with his epic Joe Cocker performance and his great ranting in the Bees sketch.
— You can see the SNL that we’re familiar with slowly starting to take shape by this point, though they’re still not quite there yet.

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
— Candice Bergen. This has often been said by many to be the first episode that feels like a typical SNL. I’m eager to see if that’s true.

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October 18, 1975 – Paul Simon / Randy Newman, Phoebe Snow (S1 E2)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host performs “Still Crazy After All These Years”; CHC falls
 
— Our first of what I know is going to be MANY musical performances tonight……
— Ha, Chevy out of nowhere doing a pratfall after the song ended. That was so random, but certainly funny. It’s also noteworthy in that it was the birth of Chevy’s traditional SNL pratfalls. And after this and the previous week’s episode, this opening also pretty much solidified a tradition of Chevy being the one who says “Live from New York…” every week.

OPENING MONTAGE
— The audio quality of the theme music is noticeably A LOT better than the muffled/cardboard box sound it had in the first episode.
— Wow, are George Coe and Michael O’Donoghue gone from the cast ALREADY? The cast list in this episode’s montage just lists the seven Not Ready For Prime-Time Players that everyone’s familiar with nowadays. And unlike last week, they’re listed alphabetically this time, too:

MONOLOGUE
host & Jesse Dixon Singers perform “Loves Me Like A Rock”

— Hmm, Paul is already standing on stage (along with the Jesse Dixon Singers) after the opening montage ends, instead of making the usual entrance that hosts make after Don Pardo announces “Ladies and gentlemen, (insert host name here)”.
— Ah, our first real sighting of the “basement” homebase stage that I remember from this era. Technically, it was used in the previous episode for Janis Ian’s musical performances, but this is the first time it’s being used for the monologue/goodnights stage.

THE BERKELEY COLLECTION
Jerry Rubin [real] pitches the Berkeley Collection of graffiti wallpaper
 
— Like in last week’s pre-taped segments, there doesn’t seem to be any audience sounds mixed into this.
— Uh… I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be laughing at this commercial or not. But I am finding it strangely enjoyable and this has a nice charm to it. This is serving as a nice little time capsule into the late 60s hippie era.
— This actually seems like this could be a real advertised product.
STARS: ***

We get our very first audience caption, a gag that would go on to become one of the staples of 70s SNL.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Paul Simon)

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Randy Newman)

BEES
host informs The Bees that their number has been cut from the show

— Hi, cast members!
— Hmm, Chevy isn’t there. But there appears to be a guy in his place who I don’t recognize. (He’s the one standing next to Belushi in the above screencap) I’m guessing he’s one of the writers.
— Paul’s line about how the Bees bit “didn’t work last week” is referring to how poorly-received the previous episode’s Bee Hospital sketch was. I read someplace that the higher-ups at NBC ordered Lorne not to ever bring the Bees back after how badly that sketch bombed.
— Bye, cast members!
— Overall, I can’t rate this segment because it was so short, but it was a pretty funny bit. Unfortunately, I know it’s the last we see of these cast members for the rest of the night…..

WEEKEND UPDATE
host goes one-on-one with Connie Hawkins [real]; Marv Albert cameo
  
— The string of President Ford jokes are all pretty funny so far.
— Hmm, I’m starting to notice a Chevy Chase trademark I never caught before: him pounding his fist on the desk whenever an Update joke gets a big reaction from the audience. He did it last week after the famous prostitution stamp joke, and now he did it this week after a joke.
— Well, this sudden Connie Hawkins/Paul Simon pre-tape certainly seems strange.
— Did I just hear audience laughter? I thought audio of the audience wasn’t mixed into the early pre-tapes.
— Hey, this Simon/Hawkins match is actually really fun. I’m loving this.
— I got a good laugh from the “he’s not hurt” caption after Paul got up from the floor.
— Loved the slow-motion part with Paul ducking under Hawkins’ jump, then successfully making a shot.
— That’s the end of Update? Kinda surprised they never cut back to Chevy. That long pre-tape almost made you forget it was even part of Update.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Simon & Garfunkel, #1)

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Simon & Garfunkel, #2)

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Art Garfunkel)

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Ploobis & Scred seek The Mighty Favog’s help during a financial crisis

— Well, I surprisingly didn’t groan when this popped up, but I’m sure that’s just because after so many consecutive musical performances, I’m desperate for ANY comedy on the show, even this.
— Not too bad so far. It feels weird to actually be laughing during this episode.
— The close-up of Scred’s facial reaction to Favog saying he’ll “take” him was great.
STARS: **½

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
traumatic home movies & failed Candid Camera stunts
 
— The interplay between Albert and his little daughter is pretty funny.
— Hey, I’m actually laughing a lot during this film. Again, however, I’m sure part of that is because of how comedy-deprived I’ve been after sitting through musical performance after musical performance all night.
— Man, Albert’s dad ages fast.
— Overall, Albert Brooks gave me some good much-needed laughs in this film.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Phoebe Snow)

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Phoebe Snow, Paul Simon, Jesse Dixon Singers)

TRY-HARD 1-11
the battery is strong enough to run a pacemaker all night

— Uh… okaaayyyy…
— I have no idea what to say about this overall, other than I feel like I missed why this was supposed to be funny. Man, some of these early SNL fake ads are strange.
STARS: *

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (Paul Simon)

GOODNIGHTS
Bill Bradley [real] presents host with a basketball trophy
 
— The visual of Paul struggling to carry that huge trophy is pretty funny.
— Paul continues to get laughs, with him now challenging Kareem Abdul Jabbar to a one-on-one match.
— Interestingly, when thanking tonight’s guests, one of the “guests” Paul mentions is Chevy Chase, which is strange considering Chevy’s in the cast. But then again, in the previous episode’s goodnights, George Carlin also mentioned the cast (or, as he called them, “The Not Quite Ready For Prime-Time Players”) among the rest of that episode’s guests. I think this, among other things, shows that in these early episodes, the cast wasn’t quite as ingrained into the show as they would soon be.
— Like how last week’s goodnights just had Carlin on stage by himself, this episode’s goodnights just have Paul and Bill Bradley by themselves. To modern eyes, the stage looks so odd not having the cast & musical guest there as the credits are rolling.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Well… what is there to say about SNL: The Concert, besides “wow, what a weird episode” or “this did not feel like SNL”?
— Honestly, I actually enjoyed the musical performances in this episode, but man, the live sketches’ presence was VERY missed, as was the Not Ready For Prime-Time Players’ presence. Chevy was the only cast member who got any real screen time, and even THAT isn’t saying much, as he just made a walk-on (or “fall-on”, rather) at the end of the cold opening and didn’t do many jokes on Weekend Update before throwing to the Connie Hawkins/Paul Simon basketball pre-tape (which was easily the best segment of the night).
— This being such an early episode and the format not being set in stone yet, it’s understandable that SNL was trying different things – that’s part of what makes these early episodes so fascinating. But let’s just be happy this episode’s ‘all music, no sketches’ format isn’t what SNL ended up sticking with in the long run, though I don’t think that was ever the plan anyway; from what I remember hearing, this episode was basically created as an excuse for the cast and staff to take a breather after all the hard work it took putting together the first episode.
— Despite mostly just focusing on music, Paul Simon was a likable and charming guest host and you can see why he became a frequent repeat guest in the future.

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
— Rob Reiner

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October 11, 1975 – George Carlin / Janis Ian, Billy Preston (S1 E1)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WOLVERINES
(JOB) mimics wolverine phrases & heart attack of English teacher (MOD)

— For some reason, I like the kinda-gritty feel of the beginning of this inaugural sketch.
— Ha, all that’s happened so far is John Belushi simply walking down the stairs with a bag of groceries, yet the audience is ALREADY chuckling.
— The disturbing phrases Michael is having John repeat is a hilarious out-of-nowhere reveal.
— It seems fitting that the first sketch Michael O’Donoghue appears in has him acting out an almost-too-realistic heart attack, which is so true to his style.
— A great little touch right before John imitates Michael’s heart attack is this funny puzzled eyebrow raise he does, which is a bit similar to the eyebrow raise that would later become his trademark.
— What better way for SNL to debut than with a bizarre, twisted sketch that let audiences know this wasn’t going to be another Carol Burnett or Laugh-In kind of show?
STARS: ****½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Ah, here we go…
— I, and I’m sure a lot of people, often forget that the show was called “NBC’s Saturday Night” in its early days.
— It’s funny how primitive the theme music sounds in this first episode; it almost sounds like it’s being played inside a cardboard box. Even in other early Season 1 episodes I remember seeing before, the sound quality is definitely better.
— Ah, Pardo’s famous “Not For Ready Prime-Time Players” flub. It sounds like he himself realized his mistake as soon as he said it.
— Another thing I often forget about these early episodes is that the cast members weren’t announced one-by-one accompanied with a picture/clip of them, but were announced collectively as just “The Not Ready For Prime-Time Players” accompanied by a quickly-shown list of their names. And in this first episode, the list of their names isn’t even in alphabetical order, either:

— And let’s not forget that George Coe and Michael O’Donoghue were actually part of the cast early on. Those two only last for a very small handful of episodes (not sure how many exactly) before being taken out of the cast and making non-credited appearances. The fact that they’re the bottom two credited in this episode’s cast list makes me wonder if it was ALREADY planned for their stay in the cast to be short-lived.

MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about football & baseball terminology differences
 
— So unusual to see the host making their entrance through the audience instead of through the ‘basement’ set that would soon become the familiar homebase stage of the early seasons.
— I like his little comments at the beginning about the novelty of this being a live TV show.
— This football/baseball routine is different from the type of stand-up I’m used to seeing from him, but I still like it (especially considering I’ve always liked football and hated baseball). His delivery is helping sell this routine.
— Oddly, at the very end, as the audience is applauding, the band replays the opening theme music for a bit before we go to the next segment.
STARS: ***½

NEW DAD INSURANCE
New Dad insurance covers all your family’s needs, not just financial ones
 
— Hard for me to believe that Dan Aykroyd was only 23 at this time. I think what makes him seem older is the combo of the mustache and his mature demeanor.
— Oh, that’s right, SNL didn’t mix in the audience reactions during the pre-taped segments in these early episodes. It feels so unusual hearing silence during the parts of this commercial that you’d expect to get a laugh.
— A pretty funny premise, and the execution was okay.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (BILLY PRESTON)

THE COURTROOM
sleeping juror (GIR) interprets a piece of evidence as a pick-up line


— Garrett’s accent is pretty funny.
— Gilda’s reaction to the note was great.
— And hey, they ended the sketch right there. I love the simple “set-up/punchline” quick structure of this.
STARS: ****

ANDY KAUFMAN
Andy Kaufman [real] lip-syncs the Mighty Mouse theme song
 
— Oh, yes. As a huge Andy Kaufman fan, this classic Mighty Mouse routine has always been one of my all-time favorite things on SNL ever, and also my #1 favorite thing Kaufman ever did anywhere.
— In addition to the main joke of him only lipsyncing to that one key lyric, there’s a lot of little things he does that helps makes this so great, such as 1) the awkward beginning where there’s just dead air as he nervously stands there for a while before turning the record player on, 2) the brief close-up of him about to lipsync to the wrong part before realizing his mistake and then looking down in shame, and 3) the way you can see him visibly getting prepared to raise his arm & lipsync every time the key lyric is about to come up.
— The water-drinking bit during the song’s long instrumental break is another classic part.
STARS: *****

(SIDE NOTE: The post-commercial bumper pictures in this episode just show still shots of NYC nightlife, instead of a picture of the host like we’re used to seeing)

GEORGE CARLIN STAND-UP #2
host does observational stand-up about many different topics

— Love the line about looking at the crowds in old movies and wondering if they’re dead yet.
— I’m really enjoying the loose structure of this, jumping from one quick random topic to another, which is my favorite type of stand-up comedy.
— The ‘there’s a moment coming, it’s on the way, here it i— aw, it’s gone’ bit was fantastic.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (JANIS IAN)

VICTIMS OF SHARK BITE
(JOB) falsely claims to have had limbs bitten off
 
— Hmm, an opening graphic of a shark. Are we getting our very first Landshark ske– oh, wait, I see from the title that just showed up that this is something different.
— Jane plays her first of what I remember being MANY talk show hosts over the next few seasons.
— Wow, another quick sketch. This was a nice, simple bit that got out before anything could get too one-note.
STARS: ***

JAMITOL
CHC describes how Jamitol allows his wife MOD to be productive

— Ohh, boy. This hasn’t aged very well, as the idea of a commercial testimonial featuring a same-sex couple isn’t as unusual or funny nowadays as it was in the 70s.
— It still is fairly amusing to see Michael O’Donoghue of all people saying sensitive woman lines that the wives in these commercial testimonials usually gets.
STARS: **

NEXT WEEK PROMO
Paul Simon [real] announces he’ll be hosting SNL next week

— Not gonna rate this, obviously, but it is interesting to see the “next week promo” being done with an appearance by that episode’s host instead of it just being a bumper stating the upcoming host and musical guest’s names.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
LAN reports from the Blaine Hotel on its latest murder victim
   
— Wow, right from the very first episode, we get Chevy’s trademark “phone conversation” opening gag, which I wasn’t expecting so soon.
— Hmm, no “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not” intro, which I WAS expecting.
— Did Chevy look into the wrong camera during that one news story just now?
— I was right, he did it again in the next news story… or are the camera people the ones that messed up?
— Ah, and now he acknowledged the camera screw-ups by jokingly looking back-and-forth between both cameras quickly.
— Oh, the famous prostitution stamp joke was in THIS episode? For some reason, I always thought it was a little later this season. Anyway, we can pinpoint this as the very first time an Update joke ever got a HUGE audience reaction.
— Hey, it’s Laraine. I believe this is the first time all night we’ve seen her, which is strange since the show’s halfway over and all the other cast members already made their first appearance much earlier.
— A “still to come” news bit? I guess this is one of those early Updates that has a break in the middle for a fake ad.

TRIOPENIN
a child-proof safety cap makes Triopenin arthritis medicine unobtainable

— I was right.
— The ‘hand acting’ from the unseen actor was good. The frustrated attempts to open the bottle was nice and subtle.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
 
— The ‘guests stay at the Blaine Hotel’ ad was a hilarious callback to earlier.
— The baby sandpiper story had a great dark ending after such a long set-up.
— Strong way to end the first Weekend Update.
STARS: ***

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Ploobis (Jim Henson) & Scred (Jerry Nelson) visit Mighty Favog (Frank Oz)
 
— Oh, boy, here we are, the infamous Muppets from Season 1.
— I surprisingly kinda like the voices of these puppets, especially the one for Ploobis’ wife.
— What hideous puppets, though. All of them.
— Some of these lines are actually kinda making me laugh, especially the “massage your moogies” line from Scred.
— Was it intentional for the food deliverer puppet to have trouble letting go of Ploobis’ meal, or was that a real blooper?
— Some of these jokes are pretty corny.
— Wow, that “cheer up, things could be worse” punchline was awful.
— And that’s the joke they end this sketch with? Oh, man. I was actually kinda enjoying some of the humor of this sketch early on, but the last two minutes was pretty bad and made me start to kinda understand why these Muppets segments would go on to be so hated.
STARS: **

GEORGE CARLIN STAND-UP #3
host does stand-up about blue food, vitamins, oxymorons

— This is when you start to realize that he hasn’t appeared in any actual sketches at all tonight; just these solo stand-up pieces on the homebase stage. This is just one of the many unusual aspects of this first episode.
— Love his “Have I done these jokes before tonight?” ad-lib after the jokes started getting a tepid reaction.
— The “why is there no blue food” bit is both very funny and a great point.
— This is another ‘one quick random topic after another’ stand-up bit, which once again is something I always enjoy.
STARS: ****½

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
“The Impossible Truth”- newsreel reports unlikely items
 
— The blind cab driver looks familiar for some reason. Maybe he just reminds me of someone.
— I haven’t been laughing much yet, but I do always like ‘alternate universe’-type premises like this.
— The “I can’t read yet” line from the little girl in the ‘age of consent lowered to age 7’ scene was pretty funny, though aren’t most kids able to read by that age?
— Overall, not bad.
STARS: ***

BEE HOSPITAL
new fathers find out where their offspring rank in the hive
 
— Well, we may not have gotten a Landshark debut in this episode like I falsely thought earlier, but we DO get the debut of another staple of 70s SNL: the bees.
— Feels odd seeing Coe and O’Donoghue paired with the rest of the male cast.
— Eh, not really liking the humor here much. Cheesy jokes like this can sometimes work, but I think I had my fill of that type of humor after sitting through the Muppets earlier.
— This didn’t overstay its welcome, though. This was yet another short sketch tonight. I don’t think there’s been a sketch with the cast that was over two minutes long so far.
STARS: **

ACADEMY OF BETTER CAREERS
call Academy of Better Careers now to become a stand-by operator
 
— Wow, yet another pre-taped fake ad tonight.
— There’s the wife from the New Dad commercial again. I think I remember hearing she was Chevy’s girlfriend at the time.
— I like the “not affiliated with the American Broadcast Company” disclaimer that comes up every time ABC is mentioned.
— Overall, this was just okay.
STARS: ***

VALRI BROMFIELD
Valri Bromfield [real] portrays teacher, high school volleyball player

— Well, this feels strange to see on SNL.
— Not caring much for this teacher routine, though some people in the audience are absolutely loving it.
— She sure has energy, though.
— And now she’s suddenly doing ANOTHER character? Ehhh…….
STARS: **

SHOW US YOUR GUNS
SNL goes to the streets to view citizens’ firearms
 
— Unlike some of the other pre-taped segments in this episode, this is a bit that still holds up surprisingly well. SNL even did a fake ad recently in 2015 that can be considered the spiritual successor to this.
— This has some really good little gags thrown in, like the angry store clerk who’s about to shoot at two robbers but then stops to happily wave at the camera, and the traffic cop finding out his gun’s missing and then just shrugging it off.
STARS: ****

GEORGE CARLIN STAND-UP #4
host does stand-up about the relationship between God, man, religion

— While I was really digging the ‘random quick topics’ format of his last two stand-up pieces tonight, THIS is more the George Carlin stand-up that I’m used to seeing.
— Just now, you could see the musical guest stage for Billy Preston light up in the background behind Carlin, before dimming back down again. I’m guessing we weren’t supposed to notice that. Heh, for some reason, I’m getting a kick out of seeing little errors like that in this first episode; it adds to the charm of these early, primitive SNLs.
— I’m loving this whole religion routine.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (BILLY PRESTON)

TROJAN HORSE HOME SECURITY
(DAA) breaks into house of (JOB) & (GIR) to show need for home security
 
— Wow, I love the concept of this sketch.
— Dan is absolutely PERFECT here. Our first glimpse of his knack for playing pitchmen/salesmen.
— While it was just a throwaway joke, I love the concept of a “toilet bowl piranha” to scare away burglars. That sounds like something that could be a fake SNL ad in itself.
— It feels strange seeing an actual normal-length, fleshed-out sketch tonight, after having so many quick “blackout gag”-type sketches earlier.
— Great bit with John suddenly getting shot at from the back and he reacts in absolute horror, only for it to be revealed the gun was shooting blanks.
— Excellent ending.
STARS: ****

TRIPLE-TRAC
gullible people will appreciate the Triple-Trac shaver’s tricky bladework
 
— I mentioned that the Jamitol commercial earlier hasn’t aged very well, but THIS takes the cake. The then-ridiculous idea of a three-blade razor would later become a case of “life imitates art”, and it’s now considered so normal to use that type of razor that it can be hard to understand what the intended humor of this ad was. If you showed this fake ad to someone without telling them it’s from SNL, they’d most likely think it was a real commercial (which would also be supported by the fact that, again, there were no audience sounds mixed in these early pre-taped segments).
— I did get a laugh from the “Because you’ll believe anything” tagline at the end, which is funny nowadays in an ironic way.
STARS: N/A, because I don’t feel I can fairly rate this nowadays

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (JANIS IAN)

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Adding to the already-long list of unusual things about this episode is that Carlin is by himself on stage during these goodnights, with no cast members, musical guests, special guests, or anyone else.
— Ah, the familiar goodnights music – one of the things about SNL that hasn’t changed after all these decades (aside from Season 6). In a way, hearing that music in this episode really makes me appreciate the history of the show.
— Every name in the ending credits scroll has the nickname “Bud”. Inside joke? Or was that intended to be the start of a weekly tradition where the ending credits scroll would always have a different gag each time? If so, it’s too bad it never took off.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Wow! Well, there it was, the very first SNL ever.
— This was such a fascination to watch, not just because we now know the still-active institution it would become, but also in how primitive everything about the show felt, in how unusual a lot of things about the show were compared to what we’re used to today, and how probably nobody we saw performing in the show knew what an important part of TV history this episode would later be looked back as. Who would’ve guessed back then that this was a program that would still be running 43 years later?
— To me, the most unusual, uncharacteristic aspect of this episode was the “variety show” feel it had. Instead of focusing mainly on sketches like we’re used to seeing from SNL, this episode was jam-packed with everything from sketches, many musical performances, many stand-up performances, many pre-taped segments, and even a puppetry segment. I’m not used to having to review so many segments in a single episode. It’s been said some places that this episode has the highest number of pieces an SNL episode has ever had. From what I saw, that very well may be true, though I know it was common for the early seasons in general to have a lot of pieces per episode.
— The short length of most of the live sketches was refreshingly surprising, which is something I wish became a long-standing SNL tradition that continued to this day. I wonder at what point in the show’s history did they start to gain their bad reputation for doing overlong one-joke sketches. I guess we’ll see as we go along.
— Excluding George Coe (who ALREADY seems like an outsider among the cast), most of the cast seemed to get a fairly equal amount of airtime for the most part, though I can’t help but feel Laraine kinda got the short end of the stick. Unsurprisingly, Chevy had the most prominent presence.

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
— (sigh) If you know your SNL history, you’ll know that the next episode is going to be a very weird one to review, as it consists almost entirely of nothing but musical performances, with very few comedy pieces. Since I don’t review musical performances, that will possibly end up being my shortest episode review ever in this ‘One SNL a Day’ project.