Glad I came across your channel. I first saw SNL on 4/16/76. I was 21 years old, and my wife had had our baby that evening. I left the hospital in time to channel surf, and tuned to our NBC station just as Ford Press Secretary Ron Nessen was holding what I believed was a Real Press Conference. Of course I soon became bewildered at his answers, and then started to laugh when I realized what was going on. Such an odd but fun experience, and I was hooked for the next 25 or so years.
Our English "homework" during the first season was to watch and episode of SNL. On Monday morning we "discussed".. I never missed an episode during the initial 5-year run. Parties would stop cold so the TV could be dialed in for SNL. A unique time frame in Network TV history for sure.
I'm 24, with most of my SNL experience being contemporary (generally speaking it's mostly stuff from after the 40th anniversary). Started watching about 5 years ago, and it hooked me, although there's plenty of things that could hook me for several months at that age. Nowadays I can get massively invested in a series of media for maybe a week or two, or fall into a routine of weekly check-ins for a month or two, which works well for how SNL operates anyway. I've never seen much of the early series (surprisingly I think I've episode from some international versions before them, but I might be thinking of another show), but the biopic's gotten me very interested in it, which did lead me and many others to watch that first episode for the first time. It's of course impossible to really appreciate it because I only have the second-hand context for what set it apart at the time. Even the format is different, since back then the only expectation was that people would watch a full episode, seeing each routine once. Now I can watch in whatever order I'd like, rewatch something to experience it more, or even skip something that's not interesting (though I'll usually watch all the videos of a newly dropped episode). Even the promotions for the show are now rewatchable and made to have at least a little staying power. I've never a promo for old SNL. Liked seeing that first episode with all its retroactive quirks, still really want to see the movie. Andy Kaufman's very cool, I'm a drummer so the ending did wonders for me.
I remember watching that first night and realizing that this was a new kind of comedy/variety that was smart, a little subversive, but relied on the talents of the cast. Luckily, they had what was needed. I went to see two different rehearsal shows, one with Dick Cavett hosting, and one with Peter Boyle. It was fun to see, and I can still see the sets in my mind.
Saturday Night Live is so stale and tired now. You're so right that in 1975 and through the '70s, the show was revolutionary with powerful social commentary with the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players and the musical guests had such diversity, depth & talent.
I completely agree that the first five years were a very distinct experience that bears no relation to anything that came after. Those first five years were cutting edge, darkly satiric and counterculture. After the original cast run, it became mainstream and something different.
I was too young to watch SNL in its original run, but I have seen clips, and they were brilliant! Today, I only watch the cold opens on the show but not too much after that. I feel like the show has become like the Simpsons. They been around a long time with occasional brilliance but not as groundbreaking as it was in its prime.
Minnie Riperton - Maya Rudolph. The original cast had 6? Now has like triple that. I think the cast works tirelessly through the week and parties long and hard after airing. I think there may be one or two good sketches now. The show still breeds excellent comedians that go on to do a thing here and there. Writers vie for a spot on the show. It's very competitive and features skits that aren't live. They should call it Saturday Somewhat Live. Lorne?
@@RickM01 yes and I'm willing to bet that even the most loyal viewer today does not know all the names of the cast members. All of us in high school did for The Originals.
Yes it was revolutionary but not entirely out of left field. The show was preceded and clearly influenced by Laugh-In, The Smothers Brothers and Monty Python. Also I was just waiting for all the comments complaining about how it has all been downhill since the original cast left. There were plenty of laughs and talent in later casts including Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman, Will Ferrell, Dana Carrey, Chris Farley, Chris Rock to name a few. I admit I haven’t watched it much in the last ten years but then again I don’t watch as much TV period especially late at night. I subscribe and watch individual sketches on UA-cam which I suspect many other people do as well these days.
The original cast of SNL was, for me, the greatest cast the show has had. I bought the first five seasons of the show on DVD because the shear flying by the seat of your pants ethos the show had was smoothed out the the later seasons. The writers were different by then, and the show no longer had any new ground to break. John Belushi was comic Madman. He was a brilliant counter culture parodist for the seventies. It's a lost opportunity now, but can you imagine the result of SNL was hosted for one episode by The Firesign Theatre? One counter culture comedy troup is joined by the literal kings of the genre. I can fully agree with TJR when he says that talk and variety shows in the seventies were tame. They were all about promoting some celebrity's newest project. Or some writers' new book. Later that same evening SNL would mock all of that homoginized sameness and introduce us to new music artists (Devo) and make fun of everything we saw everywhere in our lives.
The show is really hard edged for its time that some of the sketches could never be shown today. For instance the recurring sketch of Buck Henry playing the pedophile amongst many others dealing with drug use. It was a fantastic show and I do remember being introduced to Elvis Costello on that show and I must say it looked very weird to me at the time or should I say he did. But now it is just regular entertainment to me here's an interesting thing to wonder when you watch that you were on the west coast so it must have always been on tape when you watched it. I doubt the cast redid it live for the West coast. Great video!
Thanks....You are correct. They did not redo the show for the west coast...but who knows, they may have fixed technical mistake or edited out a gaffe or two?
@@chrismcgovern1647 yes! Because I remember he began doing a song and stopped the band. And then they performed radio radio. Which for some reason Lorne Michaels did not want them to do. I can't for the life of me understand why but I believe he was banned from the show
LUVVED Gilda Radner! But you didn't mention the Elvis Costello segment when he changed the song at the very last minute! One of the most punk things ever to happen on live TV
I did think about that moment....Believe me there were so many other things I could't mentioned in the video....but then it wouldn't have gotten posted today either LOL
@@TJRtheOriginal I hated that I didn't see it for a long time until after the fact, would have luvved watching it live! I did, however, see the segment of Sinead O'Connor tearing up the Pope's picture when it was live.
I remember watching live when he recreated that moment with the Beastie Boys. They started playing "Sabotage". Elvis ran out on stage and stopped them said the thing. Adam H quickly took off his guitar and ran over the keyboard. They jammed to Radio Radio. ua-cam.com/video/22wwbTQYKxc/v-deo.html
I am Mexican and I loved the Killer Bee's sketches.....But do wonder how it would go over in the present day. On the other hand....everyone seems offended by Speedy Gonzalez these days, except us Mexicans. 🤣
You could do it now and a handful of people would complain....and the media would blow it up to make it seem like a significant number. And there were people back then who would have complained too...but there was no internet and social media. It takes a lot more effort to write letters....and send them to who? The network? or gather people and stage a protest...again without the tool of social media. It just wouldn't be worth the effort.
I'll take a pass on this movie. Looking at the trailer it appears it's a chaotic, coked out frenzied mess of a movie which the show probably was behind-the scenes. Those kind of movies give me a headache- I'll stick to the old episodes of the original cast on streaming for now.
As far as I'm concerned, SNL jumped the shark probably 40 years ago; that's when I stopped watching it as a matter of routine. I did get a couple of glimpses of it in the nineties. Geez, it was so pretentious and not funny. A couple of times, out of curiosity, I'll view a UA-cam upload in its present day guise. Nothing about the show these days calls forth even a whimsical smile.
Glad I came across your channel. I first saw SNL on 4/16/76. I was 21 years old, and my wife had had our baby that evening. I left the hospital in time to channel surf, and tuned to our NBC station just as Ford Press Secretary Ron Nessen was holding what I believed was a Real Press Conference. Of course I soon became bewildered at his answers, and then started to laugh when I realized what was going on.
Such an odd but fun experience, and I was hooked for the next 25 or so years.
Our English "homework" during the first season was to watch and episode of SNL. On Monday morning we "discussed".. I never missed an episode during the initial 5-year run. Parties would stop cold so the TV could be dialed in for SNL. A unique time frame in Network TV history for sure.
I'm 24, with most of my SNL experience being contemporary (generally speaking it's mostly stuff from after the 40th anniversary). Started watching about 5 years ago, and it hooked me, although there's plenty of things that could hook me for several months at that age. Nowadays I can get massively invested in a series of media for maybe a week or two, or fall into a routine of weekly check-ins for a month or two, which works well for how SNL operates anyway.
I've never seen much of the early series (surprisingly I think I've episode from some international versions before them, but I might be thinking of another show), but the biopic's gotten me very interested in it, which did lead me and many others to watch that first episode for the first time. It's of course impossible to really appreciate it because I only have the second-hand context for what set it apart at the time. Even the format is different, since back then the only expectation was that people would watch a full episode, seeing each routine once. Now I can watch in whatever order I'd like, rewatch something to experience it more, or even skip something that's not interesting (though I'll usually watch all the videos of a newly dropped episode). Even the promotions for the show are now rewatchable and made to have at least a little staying power. I've never a promo for old SNL.
Liked seeing that first episode with all its retroactive quirks, still really want to see the movie. Andy Kaufman's very cool, I'm a drummer so the ending did wonders for me.
I remember watching that first night and realizing that this was a new kind of comedy/variety that was smart, a little subversive, but relied on the talents of the cast. Luckily, they had what was needed. I went to see two different rehearsal shows, one with Dick Cavett hosting, and one with Peter Boyle. It was fun to see, and I can still see the sets in my mind.
right up to the mid 90's the show was relevant , it was great , by 98 , it went downhill fast ,
Saturday Night Live is so stale and tired now. You're so right that in 1975 and through the '70s, the show was revolutionary with powerful social commentary with the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players and the musical guests had such diversity, depth & talent.
I completely agree that the first five years were a very distinct experience that bears no relation to anything that came after. Those first five years were cutting edge, darkly satiric and counterculture. After the original cast run, it became mainstream and something different.
I was too young to watch SNL in its original run, but I have seen clips, and they were brilliant! Today, I only watch the cold opens on the show but not too much after that. I feel like the show has become like the Simpsons. They been around a long time with occasional brilliance but not as groundbreaking as it was in its prime.
This reminds me of a Monty Python bio pic i heard about.
Minnie Riperton - Maya Rudolph. The original cast had 6? Now has like triple that. I think the cast works tirelessly through the week and parties long and hard after airing. I think there may be one or two good sketches now. The show still breeds excellent comedians that go on to do a thing here and there. Writers vie for a spot on the show. It's very competitive and features skits that aren't live. They should call it Saturday Somewhat Live. Lorne?
@@RickM01 yes and I'm willing to bet that even the most loyal viewer today does not know all the names of the cast members. All of us in high school did for The Originals.
Yes it was revolutionary but not entirely out of left field. The show was preceded and clearly influenced by Laugh-In, The Smothers Brothers and Monty Python. Also I was just waiting for all the comments complaining about how it has all been downhill since the original cast left. There were plenty of laughs and talent in later casts including Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman, Will Ferrell, Dana Carrey, Chris Farley, Chris Rock to name a few. I admit I haven’t watched it much in the last ten years but then again I don’t watch as much TV period especially late at night. I subscribe and watch individual sketches on UA-cam which I suspect many other people do as well these days.
Yes, I totally agree with you regarding all the later cast member names you mentioned.
The original cast of SNL was, for me, the greatest cast the show has had. I bought the first five seasons of the show on DVD because the shear flying by the seat of your pants ethos the show had was smoothed out the the later seasons. The writers were different by then, and the show no longer had any new ground to break. John Belushi was comic Madman. He was a brilliant counter culture parodist for the seventies. It's a lost opportunity now, but can you imagine the result of SNL was hosted for one episode by The Firesign Theatre? One counter culture comedy troup is joined by the literal kings of the genre.
I can fully agree with TJR when he says that talk and variety shows in the seventies were tame. They were all about promoting some celebrity's newest project. Or some writers' new book. Later that same evening SNL would mock all of that homoginized sameness and introduce us to new music artists (Devo) and make fun of everything we saw everywhere in our lives.
The Firesign Theatre? ….That would have been insanely awesome! 😎
The show is really hard edged for its time that some of the sketches could never be shown today. For instance the recurring sketch of Buck Henry playing the pedophile amongst many others dealing with drug use. It was a fantastic show and I do remember being introduced to Elvis Costello on that show and I must say it looked very weird to me at the time or should I say he did. But now it is just regular entertainment to me here's an interesting thing to wonder when you watch that you were on the west coast so it must have always been on tape when you watched it. I doubt the cast redid it live for the West coast. Great video!
Thanks....You are correct. They did not redo the show for the west coast...but who knows, they may have fixed technical mistake or edited out a gaffe or two?
@@TJRtheOriginal that's a good point!
@@TJRtheOriginalCostello's piece is saved for the ages now, but I wonder if they just skipped him entirely for the West coast
@@chrismcgovern1647 yes! Because I remember he began doing a song and stopped the band. And then they performed radio radio. Which for some reason Lorne Michaels did not want them to do. I can't for the life of me understand why but I believe he was banned from the show
LUVVED Gilda Radner! But you didn't mention the Elvis Costello segment when he changed the song at the very last minute! One of the most punk things ever to happen on live TV
I did think about that moment....Believe me there were so many other things I could't mentioned in the video....but then it wouldn't have gotten posted today either LOL
@@TJRtheOriginal I hated that I didn't see it for a long time until after the fact, would have luvved watching it live! I did, however, see the segment of Sinead O'Connor tearing up the Pope's picture when it was live.
I remember watching live when he recreated that moment with the Beastie Boys. They started playing "Sabotage". Elvis ran out on stage and stopped them said the thing. Adam H quickly took off his guitar and ran over the keyboard. They jammed to Radio Radio.
ua-cam.com/video/22wwbTQYKxc/v-deo.html
I definitely don't think you could do the Mexicans as the Bees sketch today
I am Mexican and I loved the Killer Bee's sketches.....But do wonder how it would go over in the present day.
On the other hand....everyone seems offended by Speedy Gonzalez these days, except us Mexicans. 🤣
You could do it now and a handful of people would complain....and the media would blow it up to make it seem like a significant number. And there were people back then who would have complained too...but there was no internet and social media. It takes a lot more effort to write letters....and send them to who? The network? or gather people and stage a protest...again without the tool of social media. It just wouldn't be worth the effort.
I'll take a pass on this movie. Looking at the trailer it appears it's a chaotic, coked out frenzied mess of a movie which the show probably was behind-the scenes. Those kind of movies give me a headache- I'll stick to the old episodes of the original cast on streaming for now.
As far as I'm concerned, SNL jumped the shark probably 40 years ago; that's when I stopped watching it as a matter of routine. I did get a couple of glimpses of it in the nineties. Geez, it was so pretentious and not funny. A couple of times, out of curiosity, I'll view a UA-cam upload in its present day guise. Nothing about the show these days calls forth even a whimsical smile.