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| From NY...the day I met SNL alum, Ben Stiller and Tina Fey ("are you an actor?"). Queens, NY, 2008. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
I enjoyed the SNL40 special (even if, like the regular show,
the strongest material was at the beginning). The opening with Jimmy Fallon and
Justin Timberlake rapping about the show’s history was impressive, and it was
cool to see many of the former cast members return as favorite characters ("Wayne’s
World, Wayne’s World!"). Will Ferrell
was probably the highlight for me, and Celebrity
Jeopardy! was hilarious (with Jim Carrey doing a spot-on Matthew
McConaughey). The only true disappointment was the return of Eddie Murphy, who
did not do much but thank the crowd. I learned later in the week that Murphy had
been asked to portray Bill Cosby (the subject of so many rape allegations) during
the Jeopardy sketch, which would have
been amazing…but probably smart that he declined.
I was too young to have witnessed the brilliance of the original
Not Ready for Primetime Players (John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray), but
have fond memories of Eddie Murphy’s stint on the show in the early 1980s. His
impressions of Stevie Wonder and James Brown, Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood, Gumby, Buckwheat… I was particularly
mesmerized by the “Who Shot Buckwheat” sketches... O-tay!
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| SNL's talented Season 10 cast- clockwise, left to right: Billy Crystal, Gary Kroeger, Rich Hall, Pamela Stephenson, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jim Belushi, Martin Short, Mary Gross. Photo credit: NBC |
One thing I have seen repeated in article after article
about the show’s anniversary, is the idea that the show never seems as funny as we remember
when we were 13 or 14 years old. This theory seems pretty accurate to me because,
to this day, my fondest memories of SNL are reserved for the year I really
started watching: 1984/1985. Eddie Murphy had left for the movies, and Season
10 was the year they brought in several “high-profile" comedians to save the show
(jokingly referred to as the “Steinbrenner Season”).
Billy Crystal became a bit of a sensation with his “You Look
Mahvelous” Fernando bit (my friends and I used to play his comedy album over
and over). I was surprised to learn, later on, that he was supposed to appear
on the first show with the original cast back in 1975, but his stand-up routine
was cut due to time. He made up
for it during this season, where you could say he emerged the true star (his Sammy Davis, Jr. impression was amazing).
Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer were fresh off their success
with the hilarious rock mockumentary, This
Is Spinal Tap (1984), and they contributed some truly memorable skits and
short films (including a hilarious 6o
Minutes parody, looking at the manufacturing of fake novelty items like
whoopee cushions and fake vomit).
Guest and Crystal also teamed up for Willie and Frankie, two guys who were always hurting themselves (“I hate when that happens”).
Guest and Crystal also teamed up for Willie and Frankie, two guys who were always hurting themselves (“I hate when that happens”).
As deadpan as Guest was, I think Rich Hall took the prize.
The creator of Sniglets, he had some really funny stand-up segments, impersonated
radio host Paul Harvey (“good day!”) and magician Doug Henning, and played a
character who used to wander on to the news set.
The cast member who probably made the greatest impression
on me that season was Martin Short. The spastic Ed Grimley... defensive lawyer
Nathan Thurm… the weird albino performer, Jackie Rogers Jr (that “$100,000 Jackpot Wad”
game show segment is a classic)… Short’s manic energy really fit the live show
format. He also teamed up with Shearer and Guest for the unforgettable male sychronized swimmers film.
This was the last season before the show's creator, Lorne Michaels returned from a five year hiatus. All of the 84/85 cast, which included a pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus, left at
the end of the year to make room for a horrible cast that included Anthony
Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jr. (who else suffered through that? Hands up).
The show eventually got it’s groove back in the late 80s/early 90s with the
introduction of such talents as Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, Mike Meyers, and
Dana Carvey (who I think is one of the funniest comedians ever), resulting in a second "golden age" for the show.
But every once in a while I get a bit obsessive, trying to find
out more details about that “oddball” tenth season that I remember from my
youth. Last week’s special sparked that interest again. I can hear Ed
Grimley... “this is insane!” So, in an attempt to put that fascination to rest and perhaps connect with
other kindred souls, here’s what I learned (surprise, most of the cast wasn't that happy):
*Harry Shearer left halfway through the season, although he
continued to be featured in the really cool Season 10 show opening credits (Who
remembers? In the style of the Cars’ music video, “You Might Think”). It sounds
like Shearer might have been hard to get along with, and frustrated with the
lack of material he was getting on the air. This may explain why, when I met
the Spinal Tap cast during an “audition” in Los Angeles back in 1991, they were
a little cold about my suggestion to guest on SNL again (although Michael
McKean later joined the cast in 1994). Shearer has gone on to do some funny
political comedy on a radio show, and contribute several memorable voices to The Simpsons.
*Larry David, the creator of Seinfeld, served as a writer on Season 10. The catch is that he could never get his material on the air, and finally “quit” the show in a tirade against then producer, Dick Ebersol. Realizing what he had done (and the money he would be missing), David returned to work the following Monday, as if nothing had happened. David would later use this real-life event for the inspiration behind the Seinfeld episode, "The Revenge,” where George quits, only to sneak back to the job the next week. Ha ha… amazingly, in real-life, David was able to continue through the season… and he met future Seinfeld collaborator, Dreyfus, so it wasn’t a total loss.
Of course, Crystal and Short went on to become big Hollywood
stars, and Guest went on to become a pretty funny film director. Such movies as
When Harry Met Sally and City Slickers (starring Crystal); and Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show (directed by Guest) are
certainly classics. Some of their recent work strikes me as annoyingly “showbiz,” but I think that thread was present even back in their lone SNL
season.
So, that brings the question… was the 84/85 season really as funny as I remember? On the whole, maybe
not fall-down funny... but extremely clever. I admit that it is the type of
comedy I tend to gravitate towards, and perhaps resulted in my interest in doing
improv and such strange shows as Woman in
Mind, Lives of the Saints and Under
Milkwood (where I impersonated, SNL-style, a half a dozen bizarre characters). There
was also something “heart-warming” about that season; the comedy was far from
mean-spirited, with the likable cast and other writers continually presenting a “tolerance” for the weirdness that was unfolding (maybe some
SCTV carryover there). A reserved, artistic teen at the time, I think I
appreciated that message.
So here’s to Saturday
Night Live and, in particular, the season of 1984—this “big brother” has certainly been watching. To my delight, NBC has just posted highlights from
every episode and season of SNL on their website... now that looks mahvelous!
Related Links:
New York Times, February 16, 2015
Rolling Stone, February 11, 2015
"9 SNL Cast Members Who Made the Most of Their Only Season," Paste,
January 8, 2015
"Howard Stern Grills Larry David About His Utter Failure at SNL,"
Mediate.com, January 8, 2015
"Martin Short: I watched Larry David's profane 'Saturday Night Live" exit,"
Salon, November 15, 2014
Martin Short interview, "The Howard Stern Show," November 5, 2014
"Martin Short: My 'Saturday Night Live' hell," Salon, November 2, 2014
"The Lost Year of 'Saturday Night Live': 1984," Hollywood.com, May 7, 2014
Harry Shearer interview, "The Howard Stern Show," March 3, 2010
Season 10 (reviews), Saturday-Night-Live.com Forum
Saturday Night Live: 1984-1985 Transcripts, snltranscripts.jt.org
"Revived, from New York, It's 'Saturday Night'! New York Magazine," October 1, 1984
"9 SNL Cast Members Who Made the Most of Their Only Season," Paste,
January 8, 2015
"Howard Stern Grills Larry David About His Utter Failure at SNL,"
Mediate.com, January 8, 2015
"Martin Short: I watched Larry David's profane 'Saturday Night Live" exit,"
Salon, November 15, 2014
Martin Short interview, "The Howard Stern Show," November 5, 2014
"Martin Short: My 'Saturday Night Live' hell," Salon, November 2, 2014
"The Lost Year of 'Saturday Night Live': 1984," Hollywood.com, May 7, 2014
Harry Shearer interview, "The Howard Stern Show," March 3, 2010
Season 10 (reviews), Saturday-Night-Live.com Forum
Saturday Night Live: 1984-1985 Transcripts, snltranscripts.jt.org
"Revived, from New York, It's 'Saturday Night'! New York Magazine," October 1, 1984
