Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford-on-tape [real] starts show after Dead String Quartet lead-in
— I didn’t know they did this sketch multiple times in this era.
— Wasn’t Dan in the first one? John’s in his place this time.
— What’s with the audience’s weird delayed applause?
— Garrett’s dead-eyed stare at the camera the whole time is a little detail that’s cracking me up.
— A rare non-Chevy LFNY this season, as a pre-taped President Ford says it this time. His appearance must’ve been a huge deal at the time, and unless I’m mistaken, to this day, it remains the only time a sitting president ever appeared on SNL.
— Overall, this dead quartet gag still made me laugh and everything, but was it really necessary to re-do?
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— A lot of differences in the theme music tonight.
— Pardo announces the show as “Saturday Night” this time, which makes me wonder if it was a mistake in the preceding episode when he announced it as “NBC’s Saturday Night” despite the fact that it was the first episode where the “NBC’s” was taken out of the show’s title.
— “Comedian Bill Crystal”.
— Pre-taped Ford returns at the end of this to announce “the press secretary of the president of the United States”. Something about the stiffness of Ford’s scenes is giving me an unintended chuckle.
MONOLOGUE
from Washington D.C., Gerald Ford calls host to tell him he’s fired
— What’s with the camera angle on Nessen?
— So far, a lot of typical but pretty funny jokes about Ford’s clumsiness.
— Nessen is surprisingly coming off not too stiff here.
STARS: ***
SUPER BASS-O-MATIC ’76
(DAA) pitches a device that creates liquid fish
— Ah, yes, this well-remembered classic.
— For some reason, I thought they did this sketch in season 2, but maybe I’m thinking of a sequel I remember them doing where it was “bats” instead of “bass”.
— I’m happy to see that all of this is still holding up well. The insane premise, Dan’s fantastic manic rapid-fire pitchman delivery, the disgusting visual of the fish liquefying in the blender, Laraine’s brief testimonial… every detail of this sketch is perfect.
— An aged Dan and Laraine famously re-did this sketch in SNL’s 40th anniversary special, and I’m sure SNL meant well, but it was a bit depressing seeing that Dan could no longer come anywhere close to pulling off the rapid-fire delivery.
STARS: *****
AN OVAL OFFICE
host briefs Gerald Ford (CHC) & asks for permission to be on SNL
— The Nixon comment was really funny.
— A funny little touch with Chevy briefly saluting the flag after getting tangled in it.
— Overall, this was good, but a step down from the last “An Oval Office” sketch, where Buck Henry played Nessen.
STARS: ***½
FLUCKERS
jam hawkers one-up each other with progressively disgusting brand names
— Is that the Bass-O-Matic set again?
— Fun premise with different cast members coming on one-by-one with their own jam brand name.
— Ha, Dan playing a pitchman once again tonight.
— I’m loving the increasingly-repulsive brand names.
— Funny ending.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 1
Catherine the Great’s press secretary (host) relays news of her death
— This seems like this could be fun, assuming this will be Nessen doing quick back-to-back costume changes and playing different press secretaries throughout history.
— Oh, that’s it? We only get one scene? Maybe this will be a recurring piece scattered throughout the night.
STARS: ***½
LIE DETECTOR
David Eisenhower’s (DAA) lie detector test reveals his anti-Nixon actions
— Unique format, only showing a lie detector while the performers in the sketch are speaking off-camera.
— The paper got jammed and torn by the lie detector pen at the end, which didn’t seem intentional.
STARS: ***
THE NEW ARMY
stoner (JOB) is an example of the hip new image of the Volunteer Army
— Eh, this wasn’t anything special. Not even John’s fall out of his chair at the end could do much for me.
STARS: **
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
Gerald Ford’s [real] identity crisis therapy is a variant of CHC’s line
(host) spins Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s death during LAN interview
— Another appearance from Pre-taped Ford, this time doing his own version of the “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not” line. His delivery of it was SO stiff, that it actually made me laugh.
— And funny how that segued into a joke about Ford recovering from an identity crisis.
THE BERKELEY COLLECTION
— Rerun.
— Just now, in the middle of this, I could hear what sounded like Chevy speaking off-camera to someone. I guess they forgot to turn off his mic while this fake ad was running.
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is puzzled about the 1976 presidential “erection”
— Emily Litella – (sigh) no comment. I complained enough in the past about SNL’s non-stop usage of her this season.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): **½
GARBAGE
by Gary Weis- interviews with NYC sanitation workers
— Man, I swear, Gary Weis picks the most boring topics to do films on. I think I just don’t “get” him as a filmmaker.
— At least this isn’t yet another Weis film about pets.
— An unexpected turn with that one garbageman talking about finding dead bodies, which is pretty funny in a dark way.
STARS: **
AUTUMN FIZZ
for that fresh & clean feeling, (GIR) uses Autumn Fizz carbonated douche
— A pretty funny feminine hygiene commercial.
— The “Don’t leave him holding the bag” line at the end was hilarious and really made this.
STARS: ***½
TOMORROW
Tom Snyder (DAA) asks host for the scoop on Washington D.C.
— The debut of Dan’s famous Tom Snyder impression.
— The audience is already loving this impression, mere moments into the sketch.
— Dan is absolutely great here. He’s cracking me up all throughout this.
— I don’t get the ending with a giant peanut coming onstage as Jimmy Carter’ s campaign manager (which got a huge reaction from the audience).
— Interesting segue to the next short film.
STARS: ****
MEN’S ROOM URINAL
by David Massar- bathroom goers perform a round from their urinals
— The operatic harmonizing from the increasing number of urinal users is pretty funny.
— Good quick laugh from the janitor walking back out as soon as he walked in and saw what was going on.
STARS: ***
PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 2
Oedipus’ press secretary (host) announces king’s new living arrangements
— I was right, this IS going to be a recurring piece throughout the night.
— Not as funny as the first, and I still think it would’ve been more fun to do these as one single sketch, with Nessen doing fast costume changes in between each scene.
STARS: **½
SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court “inspects” sex of (JAC) & (CHC) for “unlawful practices”
— A creative premise that I really like.
— Nice way for a lot of the male writers to get airtime.
— Can’t find anything else to say about this, other than it was an overall solid and enjoyable sketch.
STARS: ***½
PRESS SECRETARIES THROUGH HISTORY, PART 3
Thomas Jefferson’s press secretary (host) denies slavery accusations
— The comments about the slaves are funny.
— The humor of this died down afterwards and ended on a weak note.
STARS: **½
BILL CRYSTAL
BIC does monologue about reunion with his father’s jazz musician friend
— Feels strange hearing him being announced as “Bill” instead of “Billy”.
— Oh, is this going to be like those one-man character monologue sketches he often did in season 10? I never was crazy about those.
— Ohh, boy… this is the dreaded “Jazzman” routine I often hear about.
— The studio audience isn’t laughing at all so far, and neither am I.
— “Can you dig it? I knew dat you could!” (groan)
— Overall: man, was this a chore to sit through. The non-responsive audience didn’t help, either. I don’t mind a lot of stuff Crystal would later do on SNL as a host and as a cast member, but THIS stand-up set felt more like the type of hacky comedy routine I would expect to see from him in modern times.
STARS: *
MISCONCEPTIONS
the cliche “too many cooks spoil the broth” refuted
— It’s like we’re seeing tonight’s earlier supreme court judges as chefs now. They’re played by the same writers.
— Uh, okay. This was kinda cute, I guess, but not exactly funny.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
GOODNIGHTS
— Nessen says that Toni Basil and the Muppets both got bumped from the show tonight. No big loss regarding the latter.
— Some funny time-killing antics here.
— For some reason, Pardo still announces the names of the actors who played the Muppets, despite the fact that they got cut tonight. One of the names Pardo mentioned was Richard Hunt, so I guess that means Wisss (Ploobis’ hippie stoner son) was going to appear in tonight’s Muppets sketch.
_______________________________
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall average, decent episode. Some strong material, a few rough spots after Update, and mostly just pretty good sketches.
— Ron Nessen did better than I was expecting. He wasn’t anything TOO great, but he handled himself well for a non-actor and came off as a good sport.
— A strong night for Dan Aykroyd, as two of his best performances of the whole season was in this episode (Bass-O-Matic and Tomorrow). This is a very welcome sight after the preceding episode, where Dan only appeared in that baffling Dance Party sketch at the end of the show. As I said sometime before, watching these 70s SNLs in chronological order day-after-day is giving me an even greater appreciation for Dan than I’ve ever had before.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Anthony Perkins):
— about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Raquel Welch
I shoulda gone with my other routine, but I can’t do Victor Mature in two minutes! Can you dig it? I knew dat you could.
I think adding the y to his name helped his comedy.
The weird camera angles and lighting were due to a NABET (technicians union) strike that ran from March 31 to May 24 of that year; lighting, sound and camera operations were affected, so they had to a lot more technically simple sketches with minimal camera movement during that period (none of the shows that aired during the strike had tech credits during the goodnights). This show and Welch seem to be the most obviously affected by the strike.
The opening theme on the DVD was actually altered from the original airing; when this original aired and repeated on NBC, the switch from the film of Ford to the studio audio during the montage (and back again) wasn’t smooth, so there’s a few seconds of silence after the LFNY, then the music suddenly appears (but is mixed horribly). Pardo also messes up a bit when announcing the cast, ending with “and Laraine Newman” before quickly adding “And Gilda Radner!”. It switches back to the film of Ford with no audible music, then back to the home base with the organ pretty much drowning out every other instrument (making it sound like a roller rink or church basement). I’m guessing the music and Pardo announcemnts come from the old early 80s syndication package, which took out the reference to NBC in the montage in the early shows (some of that package’s redone bumpers were used for the earlier shows in the DVD set). The added applause between sketches instead of bumpers also obscures that the audience reaction to the second Patti Smith song was VERY muted.
When Comedy Network ran full SNLs on the weekends, they had the 1978 repeat of this show; the original montage audio was left in, but the rerun added some feedback squalls over the “goddamns” in the second Smith song, cut a bit off the beginning of the goodnights (no mention of Muppets, Toni Basil or Raquel Welch), and added a repeat of Try-Hard.
Great comment Ben!!
The giant peanut being Carter’s campaign manager may have something to do with Carter’s pre-political occupation as a peanut farmer. Simple, but still effective, joke.
Muppet Wiki has a photo of what would have been the Muppets’ appearance this week (from dress rehearsal, I assume). Actually looks like Richard Hunt is assisting (operating the right hand of) whichever humanoid character Frank Oz is performing (Leo from the Muppet Meeting Films?).
https://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:Gorch-Nessen.png
Considering one of the main reasons they supposedly did ads like the douche ad and Fluckers was to embarrass Nessen and Ford, it’s a credit that they work as well as they do – Fluckers is an all-time classic.
I’m watching these early eps via Xfinity/Comcast/Peacock/whatever, and the “goddamns” were left in, as well as Nessen’s references to Welch, Basil & the Muppets during the goodnites. It also seemed to me that the audience reaction to Smith’s 2nd song was loud and genuine, but if it was indeed sweetened, it’s worth noting that “punk” was pretty new and unknown at the time. Her LP had been out about 6 months at that point, and while critically acclaimed, it wasn’t exactly burning up the charts or getting a lot of national radio airplay. Also: who was the guy who handed Nessen the phone during the monologue? Richard Hunt?
“Also: who was the guy who handed Nessen the phone during the monologue? Richard Hunt?”
It was SNL staff member Neil Levy.
The Men’s Room Urinal film I think was my introduction to SNL. I was very young, maybe 10 or so. I had no idea what was going on but I was so intrigued. I wish they had continued with mailed-in film segments.
In later years I became a fan of early music so I now know that round they are singing is Purcell’s “Farewell to Wives” and the opening intro on lute is Dowland’s “My Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe”.
Short, partial interview with Chevy from 1976. Nothing shocking, but it’s fairly rare to see a piece from around this time. I’m posting it in here because Ron’s episode is briefly mentioned.
Yes, “My Lady Hunsdson’s Puffe” opens the home movie, as mentioned. Great piece, but it begs the question: what the heck is a puffe, anyway?
I think I enjoyed this episode more than you, especially Nessen, Weis’ garbage film, Belushi’s druggie recruitment officer and Crystal’s Jazzman routine. I suppose that such a bit as the latter (as well as others Crystal did) would be considered a racial stereotype today, but he obviously had great affection towards such characters. Is it funny? Not really, but I found it very interesting and accurate (I could easily imagine “Can you dig it? I knew that you could” becoming a catch phrase in an alternate reality).
That’s a Pete Seeger song in the Weis film, by the way. Not sure who the performer is though. If anyone knows, please post.
Peanuts and Jimmy Carter were synonymous at that time. I actually still have a VacuSealed box of peanuts from his farm in the 70s, along with a can of Billy Beer. Not valuable, but fun relics of the era.
Nessen references “up against the wall, mother f**cker” in one of his bits, which was a ’60s Coulterculture catchphrase (immortalized in Jefferson Airplane’s “We Can Be Together”). Is this why they re-ran the Jerry Rubin commercial? It seems to reason that if the writers were interested in countering the presence of Republicans Nessen & Ford somehow, this would fit with the vibe of the whole show, really.
And man, Aykroyd….what more is there to say?! What an odd and brilliant guy, and he’s really starting to hit a stride here. I saw him live with the Blues Brothers at Joliet Prison a couple of months ago. Yeah, he’s lost the rapid fire edginess of stuff like Rubber Biscuit, but some of the tones are still there. Great to see him.
Not watching these in order (picking and choosing). I expected more, I found this to be a pretty blah episode, was surprised how little the female cast members appeared, i know Garrett was used just as little if not less, seems like DA and CC and JB are the only ones that appear, in this episode it’s a lot of DA and CC and host got so much air time. Odd choice in host. Appreciated the Ford live from New York and “I’m gerald ford” during the weekend update.
Enjoyed watching Patti Smith Perform. I know this is the first seasons and remember trying to watch the full season a few years ago but couldn’t, those muppets and some other reacuring things that needed to go, also I never liked the bee sketch which seemed to remain for years. Can’t stand some of GR characters, the Emily Litella is indeed annoying and it seems like some of her characters, too many actually, just have the same voice, barba wabba, ugh and not a fan of many of her recurring characters now that I remember, but like it when she plays a grown up role, I never minded the nerd’s character I think that’s later with bill Murray, but can’t stand the juvenile GR characters plays.
Weird as mentioned, to hear Billy Crystal introduced as Bill. Ugh this episode is super dragging. Can’t blame Chevy for bailing next season…
I’m not sure if this was planned, but when Smith began performing “Gloria,” it was just after midnight… which means it was Easter Sunday. The song’s opening lines are “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine…”
I’m sure you noticed at the end of that song performance she says “Happy Easter, CBGB.” Apparently the song is about a loved one that died ten years before, named Gloria Gordon. I enjoyed watching her perform but have to admit the only song of hers I know is “because the night” which I know Springsteen originally wrote but gave to her as she was a better fit, even though he’d record his own version later.
I remember seeing Billy Crystal do that Jazzman routine at a Comic Relief show about a year after Hurricane Katrina. It was so painfully unfunny.
On the debut of Aykroyd’s iconic Tom Snyder impression, here a fun “fact”:
Here’s a video of Harry Shearer’s pre-dated impression as Tom Snyder with his Credibility Gap comedy team buddies David L Lander and Michael McKean (“Lenny & Squiggy”) that turned up at NBC Studios and aired on the real TS’s Tomorrow Show October 2nd 1975.
Some speculation on my part, this might have served as an audition tape for Lorne Michaels as he’s prep’d for “NBC’s Saturday Night” premiere. Also, it was confirmed that an already hired Dan Aykroyd watched a video of Harry’s impression and was inspired to create his own impression of Snyder. I’m guessing this was the video he saw (*I wouldn’t call this plagiarism; Aykroyd def did make it his own)
https://youtu.be/r0kOcP0b5LI?si=F_GXec5Z4C3Z9w-6
Following Chevy Chase getting public attention and being asked by interviewer if he’s out to replace Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, Carson said in a well-known quote, “(Chase) couldn’t ad lib a fart at a bean-eating contest,” Longtime SNL journalist/critic/biographer Tom Shales claims first-hand that Carson was responding to what seems like (my guess-timation) the abysmal time-killing attempt in the goodnights of this Nessen episode.
(fair call! (imo), and did Nessen actually use the word “nifty”???)
(source: https://www.rogerebert.com/tom-shales-at-large/johnny-carson-interviews-on-tcm )
Billy Crystal’s “Face”, I knew of at age 14 as part of the then-newly-released comedy album from Crystal “Mahvelous”
https://youtu.be/dk6VkV60DNM?si=m4IlnBPkfxPUwnVv
My question is how did the quote from Face, “Can you dig it, I knew that you could…”, make it into the dialogue of Saturday Night Fever (produced spring-summer 1977). Did John Travolta see this episode and it just stuck to him? ( Also, Crystal coulda done the Face routine on Mike Douglas or some other show. Stand-up bits were repeated everywhere then….)
I know Billy Crystals father was a jazz promoter and had his own record label Commodore Records. He was surrounded by jazz musicians as a child and the character in his monolog may have been based on someone he really knew. I heard once he had Billie Holiday as a baby sitter!
this episode is definitely full of more grossout shock humour than other episodes this season, I dont believe its a coincidence. Nessen thought they could coopt the audience and save Fords election chances, if all the hip young people watched the show and saw how cool Ford was. I’m sure the cast and writers saw it exactly the opposite: all Ford’s establishment republican friends are going to be watching, lets take this chance to offend them all. It was Franken who invited Nessen to host, and that seems like his sort of idea.
Patti Smith as musical guest goes along with that. all other musical guests this season were mellow singersongwriters, soul or jazz fusion. there werent even any other normal rock bands, but they got a punk rocker for Nessen’s show. The sacrilegious opening line of Gloria wouldve been just as shocking as any of the sketches to the expanded audience that week.
“I’m Gerald Ford and youre not” is a good line as it responds to both “I’m Chevy Chase and youre not” and “This is not the President of the United States” at the same time