Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
while performing a skit he wrote, CHC balks when a fall is requested
— Boy, these jokes are getting a tepid audience reaction so far.
— Hmm, this has turned into another meta opening with Chevy again taking a stand against being SNL’s resident fall & news anchor guy.
— The fall at the end was too telegraphed.
— Overall, a weaker opening from this season.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
host & Joe Cocker (JOB) sing “Superstar”
— A very nice, energetic entrance from Raquel at the beginning.
— This has immediately gone into what seems to be a non-joke song.
— Whoa, John as Joe Cocker out of nowhere.
— Haha, John is definitely helping this monologue with his always-reliable Cocker impression.
STARS: ***½
PURINO RAT CHOW
pied piper (CHC) pitches Purina Rat Chow for apartment pests
— Gilda and Garrett are playing the same couple from the “Jill Carson, Guidance Counselor!” sketch from a few episodes ago; they’re even wearing the same clothes they wore in that one. SNL seems to occasionally do things like this in these early episodes, like how the couple John and Gilda played in the Home Security sketch in the premiere later re-appeared in the National Pancreas Association sketch.
— A great laugh from the demonstration with the model rats fighting to eat from bowls of the chow.
STARS: ***½
THE DECABET
Joseph Franklin (DAA) introduces 10-letter metric alphabet- the Decabet
— I love the premise already.
— The increasing absurdity of this new alphabet is great.
— This is a perfect example of a quintessential Dan Aykroyd premise. It feels like only he could’ve written something this bizarre, creative, and brilliant.
— Very funny ending with him “singing” the new alphabet song.
STARS: ****½
MUPPETS SPOT
Scred & Ploobis learn they’re no longer booked on the show
CHC attempts in vain to get host to remove her shirt
— The “until you’ve made it with a Muppet…” line was pretty funny.
— This ended in an abrupt way. Maybe it’ll be continued later in the night.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PHOEBE SNOW)
THE CLAUDINE LONGET INVITATIONAL
ski competitors are “accidentally” shot
— Oh, this is a notorious and well-known Michael O’Donoghue-written sketch that I’ve heard about but have never seen for myself until now.
— “Jessica Antlerdance”? Wasn’t the Antler Dance something they would later do on SNL this era (with Lily Tomlin, maybe)?
— Unlike some of the other topical references SNL made around this time, I actually get this one, due to having heard so much about this sketch over the years.
— This is great; I especially like how the second skiier got shot multiple times.
— Is it true that in the next episode, SNL would actually air an apology for doing this sketch?
STARS: ****
POLAROID
(no synopsis available)
— Oh, man, I was hoping they had stopped doing these sponsored Polaroid ads.
— John and Jane randomly pretending to be each other is pretty funny, at least.
— This ended strangely with no audience applause.
STARS: N/A
GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY
Howard Hughes (DAA) tests propellor bra
— The bizarre role that Dan was born to play.
— Funny ending with the propeller bra causing Dan to flail around. Raquel’s panicked yelling also added to the humor.
— A lot of technical issues at the end from the control room.
STARS: ***
NEXT SHOW
JAC announces Madeline Kahn & Carly Simon will be on the next SNL
— “Madeline Kahn was on before, but because of the strike, she couldn’t do a complete show.” Huh??? When did this happen? None of the SNL episode guides have a Madeline Kahn-hosted episode listed before this point in the show’s run.
STARS: N/A
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
election analyst LAN reviews survey of people who answered “don’t know”
Baba Wawa (GIR) tells GAM that Tom Snyder’s hair bothers her
— Chevy and the cameramen both seemed to be mixed up regarding which camera Chevy’s supposed to look at during the escaped prisoners story.
— Slow start to tonight’s Update. Not crazy about most of the jokes so far.
— Okay, they’re now getting better.
— Much like Garrett’s Olympics commentary from earlier this season, Laraine’s commentary tonight had a weird delayed start.
— Wasn’t all that crazy about Laraine’s commentary overall.
— The debut of Baba Wawa! They introduced her as the actual Barbara Walters, though, instead of as “Baba Wawa”.
— Oh, wait, now they have a graphic on the bottom of the screen naming Gilda as “Babwa Wawa”, which is close enough, but slightly different with the ‘w’ in her first name that would later get taken out.
BISEXUAL MINUTE
Gore Vidal (host) traces his family’s history
— Well, I’m ALREADY loving this just for the, uh, sight that Raquel’s giving us, if you catch my drift…
— Why is she looking to the side instead of at the camera?
— Uh, what??? This whole segment just came and went with absolutely none of the material making any sense to me. I didn’t get this at all.
STARS: *½
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
JOB takes issue with songs written about the weather, sticks up for Toto
— John’s commentary seems to be going in the same direction as his last one, with him getting increasingly worked up.
— John going on about Toto from The Wizard of Oz was pretty funny.
— Overall, not as funny as John’s last commentary, but I like how when he flailed himself out of the chair, he made the whole Update wall shake.
— Yay, no Emily Litella tonight! Though I should’ve already known that, considering Gilda’s Baba Wawa appearance earlier this Update.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (JOHN SEBASTIAN)
— What in the world went wrong at the beginning? After beginning to sing, he asked someone off-camera if he can start over again, then continued singing for a short while before busting out laughing, then the song stopped and then re-started properly.
— Hey, it’s Belushi as Joe Cocker again!
— Well, that was quick. Belushi just held a harmonica for John Sebastian to play for a bit, then left.
BEATLE OFFER
LOM offers the Beatles $3000 to appear on SNL
— Oh, is this gonna be the classic Beatles thing?
— Yep, it is! I always enjoy watching this.
— Lorne’s line deliveries were actually really good back in these days. I guess it’s a surprise to me, because I’m more familiar with modern-day Lorne’s dry, deadpan delivery.
— Hilarious line about giving Ringo less money.
— Legend has it that two of the Beatles (I forget which ones) were in a New York hotel watching the show this night, and after seeing this sketch, decided it would be funny to take the show up on its offer by going over to Rockefeller Center and making an unannounced appearance at SNL while tonight’s episode was still airing, which would’ve been epic. But unfortunately, the two ended up changing their minds and didn’t go through with the idea.
STARS: *****
ONE FLEW OVER THE HORNET’S NEST
institutionalized Bees talk Oscars
— Haha, Belushi as Nicholson. I can already tell I’m gonna like this.
— Gilda’s making the same facial expression she would later make as her recurring character Colleen.
— Not the best Nicholson I’ve ever seen, but John is performing this sketch so well.
— Raquel’s reaction to not being heard behind the glass window is cracking me up.
— Overall, this Cuckoo’s Nest parody had a very odd structure, but there were enough aspects of it that were well-done.
STARS: ***½
GILDA’S EQUAL TIME
GIR says she has the same body parts as host
— Uh, okay. I can’t think of anything to say about this, other than it was decent.
STARS: ***
RAQUEL
by Gary Weis- scantily clad host dances seductively
— There’s no joke in this, but it’s a sexy video to watch and is well-edited-together visually.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PHOEBE SNOW)
RAQUEL WELCH: “AIN’T NECESSARILY SO”
host performs “Ain’t Necessarily So”
— Oh, I guess THIS would be the serious non-joke song that I was worried the monologue would be…
MUPPET TRUNK
The Mighty Favog advises Ploobis & Scred to pack it in
— Man, this has kind of a sad, depressing vibe. You’d think this was the Muppets’ swan song.
— Scred: “Hiya, Wisss, haven’t seen you since November.” Uh, wasn’t Wisss in the Muppets sketch from the Christmas episode in December?
— For once, Mighty Favog had a closing line that actually made me laugh.
— I’m confused. They sure made this seem like it’s the official end of these Muppets, but I remember hearing that their final SNL appearance is the first episode of season 2. Which is correct?
STARS: **½
GOODNIGHTS
CHC’s fake telegram convinces host to take off her shirt
— Raquel’s chroma-key top was a random but fairly funny gag.
— As the ending credits are rolling, only Raquel and Chevy are onstage, with nobody else in the cast joining them.
— Pardo makes a joke on the subject of turning the clocks ahead one hour tonight. Daylight Savings Time was in late April back in those days?
_______________________________
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode. Not outstanding as a whole, but almost nothing was terrible and there were two well-remembered sketches in Claudine Longet Invitational and Beatle Offer, and there was also a forgotten gem in The Decabet. Raquel Welch performed fine in most of the pieces and got at least two or so laughs out of me.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ron Nessen):
— about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Madeline Kahn
They appear two more times: Madeline Kahn and Lily Tomlin
I always wondered what they meant about the Madeline Kahn show and the strike.
The Antler Dance was next season and Don Pardo did read an apology the next week after being threatened with a lawsuit.
The 2 Beatles who almost went on the show were Lennon and Mccartney.
The Decibet was actually written by Tom Schiller. It’s a favorite sketch of mine too.
The “Gorch” sketch in this episode was written by Jim Henson himself — the only time he actually wrote one of the “Gorch” sketches (which, due to WGA rules, could usually only be written by the SNL writing staff).
O’Donoghue wrote “The Antler Dance” (with Paul Shaffer). I think he does it on a wall on the Mardi Gras special.
Bisexual Minute: Gore Vidal, who Raquel plays, wrote “Myra Brickenridge”, a novel about a transsexual which was turned into a very unsuccessful film starring Raquel. Presumably he said something tarty about Raquel, hence the dig at him being a whiner.
Chevy wrote the exploding shirt bit at the end except it was originally footage of the Hindenburg. Another Chevy idea – a cameraman gets distracted and only films Raquel’s cleavage – was used thirteen years later on the Dolly Parton episode. So was a Franken and Davis sketch Raquel refused to do – “Planet of the Enormous Hooters.”
If memory serves from the Weingrad/Hill book, when Raquel would want to talk about ideas for the show, they would just suggest she go and work on her song. Kind of sums up dynamics of that era, and to be fair, she probably was the type of talent who was best suited to the musical performances anyway. Her “Superstar” duet with Belushi is my highlight of this episode.
Raquel had a number of variety specials in the first half of the decade, if you ever want to see any.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5u433r
It was Lennon and McCarthy who were watching and they decided not too because they were too tired, or something, lol.
“Oh, and there’s another skier accidentally shot by Claudine Longet!” Always gets me every time!
Regarding your confusion about Madeline Kahn being on before, she was originally scheduled to host an episode on April 10, but because of the NABET strike the episode was rescheduled to May 8.
Re the apology to Longet: I believe a factor in the apology was that NBC had a prior, longtime relationship with her ex-husband, Andy Williams, who once had a variety show on the network. He still was very publicly in her corner. I wouldn’t be surprised if, besides her lawyers, there was pressure on Lorne from NBC brass because they had worked with Williams in the past.
To add on to Matt Edson’s comment, Madeline Kahn did appear live on NBC on April 10 at 11:30pm, but it was at homebase surrounding an empty audience-less Studio 8-H to announce the cancellation of “tonight’s show” and her move to host on May 8th before introducing the last-minute scheduled repeat of the Richard Pryor episode. (**never seen a clip, this was reported in newspapers at that time.)
“Gilda’s Equal Time” was reportedly written by “Mary Hartman” star and future host Louise Lasser. She would frequent SNL during rehearsals when in NYC and seemed more socially-open and contributive than the week she actually hosted (*New Times Magazine May 28 1976)
Raquel’s over-the-top sign language bit in Hornet’s Nest was a take on Louise Fletcher’s “recent” use of sign language to thank her hearing-impaired parents while accepting the Oscar for her “Nurse Ratched” role.
I wonder if the bumper photos for Kahn were originally shot for the April 10th show.
Since this ep marked the first appearance of “Babwa Wawa”, I’ll just say R.I.P. Barbara Walters
R.I.P. Ms. Welch!
https://www.tmz.com/2023/02/15/raquel-welch-actress-model-dead-dies-82/?adid=social-twa
Kind tweet from Laraine, where she also mentions a cut sketch:
https://twitter.com/larainenewman/status/1625989918798524416
The original seasons of SNL have an almost dismissive attitude to a number of their hosts–sometimes I get it, and I think they almost needed to have that style in order to establish itself–but one does wonder if Raquel hosted in a later era, if she would have a better type of sketches to feature her.
(I do notice that in almost every episode, the host is given like a vanity piece, though, like something they get to do without real interference. It’s like the reverse of the show now in which the host is integrated and featured through the night but rarely gets to do something completely on their own.)
Raquel was way before my time, as was this episode, but recall my dad introducing many classic movies with relevant actors like Peter sellers and Jack Nicholson..though I can’t recall anything w RW he showed me except maybe showing me a picture of her at some point..
I think the whole writing department was bombarded with mostly male dominated territory. I love the Carvey Miller Hartman Era, but damn, I even shuttered when Miller said the word “hooters” in his weekend update once. As a female I rather just hear boobs, not sure if that was a censored word at the time but kinda surprised to hear Franken & Davis proposed a sketch a la hooters. I understand with Dolly Parton, or even Pam Anderson, but ok yes I see Raquel has quite the rack, but didn’t know that’s what defined her status as a sex symbol, I thought it was her curvaceous body?
If you fast forward to the Sharon stone episode which takes place in season 18 or 19, it highlights how little had changed. Though it seems like she didn’t really mind and she was known to be somewhat of a sexual object at the time, they did reoccurring things with other attractive females that hosted like Heather Locklear, again she was a good sport and I think that finale episode which she hosted in season 19 which was Hartmans last, was really great. But other females I def notice seem like they were overlooked of their talent, and just played on the physical angle.
I suppose it is all objectionable depending on the person, as Natalie Portman is a natural beauty, but I know she never would perform sketches like the ones mentioned. Scarlett Johansson I am pretty sure def did quite a few , maybe mockingly so, but I feel like later versions of her hosting, she got more conservative and less sexualized. But someone like Madonna had fun with it when she appeared in the infamous Wayne’s World “dream” in performing similar to her “censored for mtv” at the time, “justify my love” music video…
I enjoyed watching RW perform superstar along with Belushi, he did such a great cocker imitation. But it also made me think why hadn’t the actual Carpenters performed on SNL? Seems to me they would have been a perfect act to book, and despite them being before my tim as well I am a huge fan of Karen Carpenter, I think she was one of the best.
Since I’m not watching every episode from these early seasons, but picking and choosing, I think so far this episode is doing well, but Im not finished, I’m finishing up the infamous Beatles sketch. Lorne looks sweaty here, wonder if he did some blow…
Ay, it’s one of my dreaded returning characters now, those stupid bees. Haha I got a kick out of Chevy in that dark long wig. This sketch would be so much better without the stupid bees, I don’t get the freaking appeal, it’s a shame cause the one flew over the coo coos nest would have been great if they played actual psychiatric patients Vs bees. Belushi makes a horrible choice as Nicholson, but liked Chevy Chases Chief imitation. RW seems to have checked out at this point. Or maybe she finds the bees equally as dumb as I do…
In memory of Ms Welch (whom I do recall being smitten by at age 5, around the same time this episode aired though I knew nothing of SNL), here is the article I mentioned previously on NBC’s Saturday Night during her episode week (New Times Magazine May 28 1976, 7 pages)
p1: https://imgur.com/eLEsXyo
p2: https://imgur.com/RXd0Ji1
p3: https://imgur.com/3syJ3QP
p4: https://imgur.com/xIkSWQY
p5: https://imgur.com/zvBRVWS
p6: https://imgur.com/HkL74R9
p7: https://imgur.com/tdCOI6F
Thanks for posting this. The author misspelled Belushi and said the show debuted in September. I guess at least some people from the show had a good relationship with Louise Lasser before she hosted.
Wow, I’ve just come back from The Philippines and this is the first time I heard Ms. Welch died! I found this out on a “Laugh-In” page on Facebook. I remember enjoying her only guest spot on that show when I borrowed the DVD set the year Arte Johnson died. As for this “SNL” ep, the only sketch I saw in its entirety was the “Beatles offer from Lorne” and that was on one of the compilation specials (the one showcasing the various musical guests over the years when it aired on 1990).
the story I’ve heard is McCartney was over at Lennons place, they mustve patched things up. As we all learned tragically a few years later, Lennon’s apartment was in a building called The Dakota which backs onto Central Park, not really far away. Of course they were smoking doobies and watching the new late night comedy show and saw Lorne make the offer in real time and said “woah, we should like totally do that, imagine if we left right now” and then of course they never left the couch.
I’ve checked this on GoogleMaps: even with todays traffic, a car could make it from The Dakota to 30 Rock in less than 20 minutes and if theyd arrived at the studio by 12:45 music history as we know it would be completely different! They coulda walked in 30 minutes! at what point during the how did Lorne make the offer? do you think they couldve made it in time if they hadnt been too stoned to get off the couch?
What happened with the Beatles offer is well documented in Hill/Weingrad’s 1985 book about SNL, as well as the 2001 film “Two of Us,” a fictionalized account of John & Paul’s 1976 meeting, starring Aidan Quinn. I believe Paul has spoken about it in interviews, too.
Essentially, as commenter Rusty mentioned above, the pair decided they were too tired. The film goes into it a bit more. In the SNL book, they mention that Lorne sent his cousin down to the 30 Rock security desk, just in case John and Paul DID show up. Otherwise, they might have been hassled by security (who might not have known or cared who they were, or why they had shown up in the middle of the night).
Years later, I think around SNL’s 25th anniversary, I recall seeing an interview with Lorne where he said it would have been great to host a surprise from Lennon and McCartney but they likely wouldn’t have gotten past security — and he seemed to be only half-joking.