Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
having missed dress rehearsal, host is surprised to find that SNL is live
ā Ah, yes, the famous premise of Charles Grodin missing the dress rehearsal.
ā The concept of having an entire episode where the host doesnāt know how the show is run, doesnāt know itās live, doesnāt know thereās an audience, etc. is one of the most creative and intriguing ideas the show would ever do, and would go on to be one of SNLās very few āconceptual episodesā that deviates from the format of a normal episode.
ā I remember seeing the syndicated 60-minute version of this episode way back in early 2002, and despite going into the episode with eager anticipation after hearing so many things about the big running premise, I recall being underwhelmed by the result of it. Weāll see if that opinion changes after this current viewing, 16 years later.
ā John: āHe doesnāt smoke dope; heās just not one of us.ā
ā I liked the joke of everyone acting like itās tragic that Charles forgot to get a gift for Garrett.
ā An overall great way to kick off tonightās premise.
STARS: ****
OPENING MONTAGE
ā The jumbotron montage has been modified once again. For starters, the SNL logo is completely different, and I remember this being the logo they would go on to use for the rest of the season.
ā The guestsā names are in the same font as the new SNL logo.
ā A new animated graphic of the NBC logo appears in a rolling ball throughout this.
ā New cast shots.
ā In Garrettās shot, he does the same āsuspiciously hiding a seemingly-stolen handbag while innocently smiling at the cameraā bit he does in the montage from the preceding two episodes. BTW, I canāt help but find it kinda racist that they gave the āstealing a handbagā bit to the one black guy in the cast.
ā Laraineās shot is a little strange. Not only does she not do anything beside stare stone-faced at the camera, but her shot is noticeably a few seconds shorter than the rest of the castās.
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
ā Hmm, bright light bulbs surrounding the stage floor. I wonder if this is just for a guest performance tonight, or if itās a now part of the overall look of the homebase stage.
ā A continuation of the cold opening, with Charles not knowing there was going to be an audience.
ā I liked his comment about how this ālooks like a really cute showā.
ā Wow, this was short.
STARS: **Ā½
UPDATE PROMO
Weekend Update reporter DAA works overtime, but doesnāt accomplish much
ā Another plane commercial with Dan.
ā A Weekend Update commercial!
ā I got a good laugh hearing Dan announced as an āaward-winning newsmanā.
ā Funny reveal of the typewriter a sleep-deprived Dan is using not having any paper.
ā Another surprisingly short segment.
STARS: ***Ā½
RETURN OF THE CONEHEADS
neighbors (BIM) & (GIR) investigate Coneheadsā odd Halloween treats
ā I remember seeing this when I was much younger, probably in one of SNLās Halloween compilation specials. Back then, I recall loving one part where the Coneheads give trick-or-treaters an inappropriate gift, though I canāt remember what exactly it was.
ā The audience went nuts at the beginning when one of the Coneheads entered.
ā Ah, a 6-pack of beer. So THAT was the hilariously inappropriate gift I was trying to remember.
ā After growing back a slight mustache in the last two episodes, Dan has gone clean-shaven again.
ā Overall, this was a more straightforward installment compared to the extensive preceding Coneheads sketch where they travel back to their home planet, but this was still very strong and and one of the more memorable Coneheads installments.
ā Knowing how hugely influential SNL was in the 70s, I bet self-made Conehead costumes were a hot trend among SNL fans that Halloween.
STARS: ****Ā½
CHUCKāS FILM
hostās long-winded set-up leaves little time for chase scene clip
ā The clip getting cut off before anything interesting happened in it, and Charlesā reaction to that is fairly funny.
ā Another short sketch.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
CONSUMER PROBE
Irwin Mainway promotes some unsafe Halloween costumes
ā LOL at Janeās character being named āJoan Faceā. Also, a rare change of pace not seeing Jane play a talk show host with her own name.
ā Great to see Irwin Mainway back, after his classic debut in the previous seasonās Christmas episode.
ā As usual, some very funny dangerous toys so far, especially Invisible Pedestrian.
ā Jane has started a coughing fit that she seems to be having trouble getting out of.
ā I liked Jane indignantly saying that āJohnny Human Torch ā is nothing more than oily rags and a lighter.
ā I like how at the end when the camera panned above the set and into the audience, you can see the Weekend Update set directly behind this sketchās set. Thatās also interesting since this sketchās only two performers are also the two Update anchors.
STARS: ****
ANYONE CAN HOST
BIM plugs Anyone Can Host Contest while MOD disqualifies entries
ā Is this gonna be a sequel to Billās famous āI donāt think Iām making it on the showā piece? Billās dressed in the exact same outfit he wore in that sketch. And judging from the huge pile of letters on the desk, I guess this is going to be him reading fan mail. Why is OāDonoghue there, though?
ā Oh, this is actually an Anyone Can Host follow-up segment.
ā OāDonoghue deadpan-edly calling out the minor flaws of some of the postcards (āsmudged cornerā, āuneven marginsā, ātyping errorā, etc) is really funny.
ā Bill to viewers: āLorne Michaels is willing to take a chance on an unknown, just like he did with me. Heck, this time next year, you can have my job.ā LOL, did Bill really think he was still in danger of getting fired? Heās been doing undeniably well so far this season, and has come a long way from his awkward days as a newbie in season 2. Iām sure viewers came to like him by this point. Eh, Iām probably looking too much into what was simply a funny throwaway line.
ā I like how Bill ended this with his smarmy, playful āget out of here, ya knuckleheads!ā catchphrase that weāve been hearing a lot this season. Itās almost become a personal game for me to predict when heāll say it in sketches/Update segments where he either plays himself or a character like himself.
ā I donāt usually rate these Anyone Can Host segments where itās usually just Lorne or a cast member straightforwardly explaining the rules, but this one actually had a lot of humor in it, as well as a funny performance from both Bill and Michael, soā¦ā¦
STARS: ***Ā½
SAMURAI DRY CLEANERS
Futabaās antics cause host to break character
ā Futaba!
ā I like Charles ruining the sketch with his constant little fourth wall-breaking comments while Gilda keeps trying to shush him.
ā I got a good laugh from Charles actually reading Johnās fake Japanese gibberish off the cue cards
ā Good ending with a frustrated John angrily destroying the table with the sword after his sketch has been ruined.
STARS: ***
WEEKEND UPDATE
NBC Dancing N hands DAA a filler bulletin as an excuse for dancing
BIM criticizes one-man theater for being cheap
silent DAA mimes news stories for silent film buffs
FBI agent (GAM) refutes claims of Jimmy Hoffaās skeleton being found
ā I liked the opening bit with Pardo reading āJane Curtinā backwards (āEnaj Nitrucā).
ā Another review from Bill ānow get out of here, ya knuckleheadsā Murray.
ā Some funny lines here and there, but overall, Billās done better commentaries that this. Also, the bit with him telling bad ant puns seemed out-of-character for his Update role.
ā Loved the āNews For the Silent Movie Buffā segment. Dan may have been considered by many to be a poor Update anchor (Iām personally still up in the air about him; he had a disastrous second Update, but he hasnāt been TOO bad yet in the other Updates so far, despite occasional flashes of awkwardness), but this silent movie bit was something he was absolutely PERFECT for. It also reminded me of some of the random fun side bits that Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey would do in their Updates decades later.
ā Is this Garrettās first appearance of the whole night?
ā I liked the āthe baby is holding his ownā punchline to Janeās news story about fetuses experiencing sexual stimulation in the womb.
STARS: ***
SIMON & GARFUNKEL
host as Art Garfunkel & musical guest try to do āThe Sound of Silenceā
Art Garfunkel [real] halts hostās pitiful āBridge Over Troubled Waterā
ā Haha, oh my god at Grodin in that Garfunkel wig.
ā I like Grodin defending his not knowing lyrics by saying heās learning them as they go along.
ā Itās over already? This wasnāt quite as funny as I wanted it to be.
ā Oh, wait, now Grodinās starting another song after Paul walked off.
ā Him singing the wrong lyrics to āBridge Over Troubled Waterā is hilarious, especially the random bad attempt at a high note.
ā Interesting that theyāre actually replaying audio of what he just sang.
ā Hmm, the real Art Garfunkel has shown up.Ā Doesnāt he actually host later this season?Ā Canāt imagine how that episode went.
ā That was great, with Garfunkel bluntly saying āChuck, hand it overā and Grodin shamefully pulling off his wig and handing it to Garfunkel.
ā Great ending to an overall solid sketch. I really liked the way all of this built up.
STARS: ****
THE KILLER BEES
hostās unpreparedness ruins skit about trick-or-treating Killer Bees
JOB & GIR confront host about his absence at rehearsals
ā Another example of Grodin breaking the fourth wall and Gilda shushing him while John and the others try desperately to keep the sketch going.
ā This also keeps alive the general recurring theme of Killer Bees sketches always getting āruinedā by something.
ā I liked Grodin over-questioning the logic of the Bees and starting a chain reaction of the cast members themselves also questioning it.
ā I really liking Johnās passionate āIām a professionalā rant. Not quite as funny as his angry rant to Rob Reiner in the Bees sketch from Reinerās episode, but itās still good.
ā Funny how Grodin keeps moving his head along to the flailing antennae on Johnās head while Johnās ranting seriously.
ā Love how Johnās rant ended with him declaring Grodin āthe lamest host weāve ever hadā.
STARS: ***Ā½
BROWNIE
young girl Judy Miller (GIR) pretends to star in her own television show
ā The famous Judy Miller sketch! I didnāt know that was in this episode. Then again, I think this ended up becoming a recurring sketch, so who knows if this is even the version of the sketch Iām thinking of (the one thatās often shown in highlight reels and compilation specials like āThe Women of SNLā).
ā Gilda is adorable and eerily dead-on as this hyperactive bouncy child character, and itās a lot of fun to watch her throughout this.
ā Okay, thereās the well-known part with her repeatedly throwing herself against the door, which I guess proves this IS the version often shown in specials. BTW, I remember hearing she broke a rib doing that. I always wondered if thatās true or not.
ā Jane as the off-camera mother yelling at Gilda to quiet down throughout this is adding a very realistic feel to this already very accurate, true-to-life piece.
ā Overall, a wonderful sketch, and an excellent sample of so many things that made Gilda a beloved performer.
STARS: ****Ā½
PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL OF FOOTBALL
The Professional School of Football can make you a pro athlete, says GAM
ā I almost thought this was going to be some kind of follow-up to that Ambassador Training Institute commercial from season 1.
ā The repeated āgroin injuryā option in the multiple choice questions is kinda funny and reminds me of the āMesopotamiaā running joke in the ATM bank sketch from season 2. That one was definitely funnier, though.
ā Overall, this was forgettable filler. Garrettās had a long streak of unimpressive solo sketches these last two seasons.
STARS: **
AUDIENCE CAPTION
ā Haha, funny use of tonightās running premise, by having a confused Grodin spotted in the audience. Reminds me of when they did that with Gilda in the episode where she was being āphased outā.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
HIRE THE INCOMPETENT
host speaks on behalf of incompetents like Roseanne Roseannadanna (GIR)
host finally gets to sing his song about his feelings about life
ā Billās dopey testimonial about making grocery bagging mistakes is really funny. āEggs bottom, cans top.ā
ā This feels like Laraineās first appearance of whole night, until I remembered there was a Coneheads sketch earlier. Geez, Laraine was even more underused tonight than Garrett, and thatās saying something. When it comes to airtime in this cast, those two seem to be the low man on the totem pole.
ā The debut of Roseanne Rosannadanna! Knowing she would go on to become a hugely popular Weekend Update-only character, it feels weird seeing her as an unnamed random character among other unnamed random characters giving testimonials in a sketch.
ā Also, itās interesting how we got the debut of two of Gildaās most beloved characters in the same night.
ā The Rosannadanna testimonial has been the funniest part of this sketch so far, and itās making me kinda look forward to her future Update appearances. I just hope I donāt get as sick of her as quickly as I got sick of Emily Litellaās frequent appearances. Rosannadannaās an inherently funnier character, IMO, so I donāt see myself getting TOO fatigued from her.
ā I remember the aforementioned 60-minute syndicated version I saw of this episode abruptly cut this sketch off right after Grodinās befuddled facial reaction to Gildaās testimonial. I guess that edit was made for time reasons?
ā Grodin insulting himself as a host, then stopping and saying āWait, Iāve never seen that cue card beforeā made me laugh a lot.
ā Grodinās intentionally bad short song was pretty funny.
STARS: ***Ā½
GOODNIGHTS
ā Tonightās running premise concludes with Grodin revealing they were just kidding and John (jokingly) brushing him off with a āYeah, whateverā type of attitude.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
ā I mentioned earlier that in my previous viewing of this episode in early 2002, I was underwhelmed by how the whole āGrodin missed dress rehearsalā running premise turned out. Iām not quite sure what 17-year-old me was thinking back then, because I enjoyed the concept MUCH more tonight. It was pulled off well, was interesting to watch the fourth wall constantly break, and added a fun vibe throughout the show. There were also several strong, memorable sketches unrelated to tonightās running premise (Coneheads Halloween, Consumer Probe, Judy Miller). All of these positive aspects add up to a very solid episode.
ā It tickles me that some SNL fans actually think the whole gimmick with Grodin being lost on how to do the show was REAL.
ā IIRC, the only other time an SNL episode would try a running meta-premise of āthe host isnāt on the same page as the castā is when Garry Shandling hosted in 1987. You could also argue the Jason Patric episode from 1994 made a slight attempt at that, but BOY did that particular one not turn out well at all.
ā I canāt wait until the next āconceptual episodeā SNL does later this season, with the Attack of the Atomic Lobsters in the Robert Klein episode. Iāve never seen it before, but have heard so many good things.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Hugh Hefner):
ā a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Ray Charles
Grodin gave me a Will Ferrell vibe to him when watching this episode (especially during the Garfunkel segment (the wig helped) )
Whatās weird is that large chunks of this episode (the two Halloween sketches and Judy Miller) have been constantly shown in ābest ofā compilations, yet theyāre some of the few sketches not to be related to the central premise of the show. I do think it was smart not having that appear in every sketch, and whether by fluke or not, those three sketches are all excellent as well.
I agree that Laraine and Garrett soon fell themselves on the low end of the totem pole. While I think this was fairly predicable for Garrett (sadly), I remember after watching season one, Laraine seemed way more prominent and successful than Jane, who seemed stuck in an inordinate amount of āstraight womanā and meaningless parts. By season two, Jane parlayed the straight woman gig into Weekend Update and began appearing in more and more prominent sketch roles, while Laraine seemed to stagnate and disappear.
Laraine said she was reluctant to repeat characters, which may have contributed to her lack of airtime.
Yeah, Gilda apparently broke her ribs during dress rehearsal ā but gamely threw herself into the door *again* for the live version.
I canāt believe there are people to this day who assume this was real, and Grodin skipped dress and then was totally unpreparedā¦ and that heās banned from the show. He appeared in the Lorne-produced āPaul Simon Specialā several months AFTER this episode!
I saw that Paul Simon special on YouTube a few years ago and remember enjoying it.
I was one of those people initially. That was only because part of this episode was part of a Coneheads VHS compilation and this was sandwiched between two Steve Martin-hosted episodes. In that, Charles Gordin only appeared in the monologue and goodnights/ As well, only the three sketches Michael mentioned were in the rest of the show.
One clue this was all a gad was when Don Pardo introduced Charles Grodin, he knew to mug for the camera like hosts before him.
The Paul Simon Special (co-starring Grodin as the ādirectorā) aired a few weeks after this episode, in early December.
Fun fact: Grodin recommended Jon Lovitz to Lorne after Lovitz had a small role in a film Grodin was starring in
R.I.P. Charles Grodin.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/movies/charles-grodin-dead.html#click=https://t.co/UUOtOWDJDu
Damn, this one hurts. The man was a legend.
I was actually in the audience for the dress rehearsal for SNL that night. I can 100% confirm that Charles Grodin was there! The dress rehearsal ran longer than the show, about 2 hours, so they could decide which skits the audience liked best. Both Paul and Art were there too. I will never forget it.
I just watched this on Hulu and during the goodbyes at the end, I was interesting watching Paul Simon completely ignore Art Garfunkel on the stage with him. That said, the Hulu edit cuts off before the credits end, so I donāt know if they did interact past the point I saw, but Paul looked as if he was doing anything to get off that stage.
On tonightās season finale, a bumper of Charles Grodin from this ep was shown after āWeekend Updateā. By the way, tonightās show was mostly hilarious!
Yea, tonight was up there with Kaluuya and Chalamet as best of the season for me.
What an amazing to end an amazing era for SNL (if that happens.). Tonightās episode was easily the best of the season. They truly saved the best for last. And I canāt wait to see whatās in store for next season.
So let the speculation begin I guess? Cecily def. feels like sheās leaving after that send off on Update. Her, Kate, and Aidy all seemed emotional in the CO as well like it was their last show. Plus Pete thanked the audience for watching him grow up on the show. Another sign?
Yeah, Cecily looked like she was ready to ditch her Jeanne Pirro impression the way she carried on drunkenly like that coming into that way big drinking glass!
I think from this point on, Jane is called āJoan Faceā whenever sheās interviewing Danās Irwin Mainway. And I think I may have watched this ep live as an under-12 kid at the time because I at least remember seeing Paul Simon performing āSlip Slidinā Awayā that night before hearing it on the car radio for the first time after church the following dayā¦
Watching the live version now. Gilda is definitely soft-pedaling her slams against the door. I was thinking there was no way she broke her rib but now that the commenter explained she broke them in dress it makes total sense. She must have really gone for it in dress. Ouch!! Poor Gilda.
I had Alan Zweibel on my podcast and he talked about this episode, how everything was planned, and that Charles would come around every once in a while, for the rest of the first 5 years.
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/1zq7067usyb
This to me is one of my favorite old first 5 season SNL episodes.
It has the extremely talented humble and witty, Charles Grodon.
I love every sketch he appears in but the one I think of the most is when he attempts to play with Paul Simon in that ridiculous Art Garfunkel wig. Then as Iām watching this, Iām thinking of a quote from the movie āthis is 40ā where Paul Rudd is arguing with his wife about how he is Art, and she is Paul, and basically how much it sucks to be the number two man.
Anyways, I love that sketch. I love it when Art comes on and tells him to take off the wig.
I never thought the dress rehearsal thing was real, I loved the premise of him buying gifts and then forgetting one, and then John exchanging a gift cause he liked Bills I think moreā¦however, I did believe he was banned from SNL for well, up until the last month or so when I stumbled on this website and looked it up myself. But it never made sense to me because he seemed so innocent and sweet, so while Iāve never seen all the failed banned members, Milton Berle I think is one that comes to mind, who is so old, and the only way I know of him was cause he was in an episode in 90210 in which Steve looks after him in a nursing home for an episode or two, only to learn he has dementia. But I never watched the SNL episode. He was hard to watch on 90210, and this was my first time (in my late 20s), so I donāt know how Iāll get with his SNL appearance.
That being said, I had only seen this episode once. When I rewatched it a week ago, I was kinda surprised at how much of an asshole John Belushi acted to him during his samari sketch. I def didnāt find that to be part of the sketch, despite āChuckā ruining his it (sorry I donāt find that sketch, the bees, ugh those bees, and the Gilda āJudy Millerā sketch is like nails on a chalk board to me).
I donāt dislike these people, though I think Belushi is semi overrated, but Gilda is very funny, but donāt like her when she plays these over the top childish roles. Itās very similar to how Kristin Wigg had good moments on SNL, for instance I love the Californians and 2 a holes sketches, but the Gilly sketches are awful. I donāt mind her being a target Walmart checkout person but then those sketches seem repetitive as she uses such a similar voice, actions, etc, the novelty wears off. This isnāt to say Wigg is a more talented actor than the great Gilda, but just a reminder that I wish SNL would not overdue things so much, as from my experience in watching various seasons, I notice my fav cast member might be in a sketch, but not a fan of that sketch, and I donāt think he is either, and it appears the following week and so on. So I just wish they would pump the breaks- the bees is a perfect example of that. It is so freaking dumb IMO, I know it isnāt my first and wonāt be my last but it might have been ok the first time, but I can imagine so many other uses of talent these cast members had.
Anyways, aside from what I stated I canāt stand, I loved the consumer probe, and despite my hatred for the bees and samari, I was able to stomach it cause Grodon made it interesting.
I do wonder what it was like after the episode, if they had an after party and what the mood was like, and also if Belushi was just coming down from some bad blow when he snapped at Grodon, itās really hard for me to get a gist from the ending credits, so just a thought. But this def sticks with me, and only wish Grodon had hosted later on in the 90s or so, even the 80s, but he would have been a good host after his huge breakout role as the dad in Beethoven (excuse my awful spelling).
Iām pretty sure it was for Halloween in ā78 and not ā77, but you are correctā¦friends of my parents were Coneheads for a Halloween party.
I donāt know where else to put this, but the account on Internet Archive that had every episode of the show has been taken down by the Copyright Mafia.
That sucks a big one.
I just discovered this as well! What a bummer! Iād be very interested if anyone finds another source that has all (or even most) episodes.
Hereās an Archive playlist that has episodes from S1-39:
https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live
And hereās one with episodes from S31-47:
https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live_202306
Weāll see how long they last, thoughā¦
Thank you for this Jesse! It really is nice to have these somewhere. Itās so disappointing to watch the chopped up shortened versions on Peacock.