Watching the recent 40th anniversary Saturday Night Live special was like taking a ride through two-thirds of my life. The series started when I was 20 and I still remember the buzz it created in my age group. It wasn’t long before John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Chevy Chase became familiar names.
I think part of the initial interest came from the program’s unique blend of skits and music. Variety shows were still common, but SNL drew us to the television late each Saturday night for the political humour, the outrageous characters portrayed in the skits, the great band and musical guests and a stream of guest hosts that started out with the great George Carlin.
Those early years seemed to reflect our own tumultuous lives. Within five years, all of the original cast had moved on and producer Lorne Michaels — known previously to Canadian TV viewers as the guy who had teamed up with Hart Pomerantz to create a short-lived but very funny show here in Canada — packed it in, too.
The 1981 cast included names like Brian Doyle-Murray, Robin Duke, Christine Ebersole and Gilbert Gottfried. It suffered our scorn, not so much for what it did on the screen, but for what it wasn’t. We likely would have abandoned SNL entirely if not for one shining light. The genius of Eddie Murphy shone like a comet in the dark sky and it was very likely his presence that allowed the show to survive until Michaels returned to the helm five years later.
Make no mistake about it — SNL was my generation’s show. It was woven so tightly into our culture that it is almost unimaginable to think what life would have been without it. In the late 1980s Angela and I were flying back from New York and in our stopover in Minneapolis I spotted a familiar face. Al Franken was wandering along with a carry-on bag and I couldn’t help but keep an eye on him. My eyes widen as he caught sight of a popular SNL guest host from season 2, football star Fran Tarkenton.
Franken was always one of my favourites. He was never a member of the repertory cast, but he was always funny as a featured player and was widely considered to be one of the series’ most brilliant writers. I sidled over to listen to his conversation with Tarkenton and heard them reminisce about the show he had hosted and, more interestingly, the party that followed afterward. One can only imagine how a future hall of fame quarterback must have felt in the presence of the likes of Belushi, whose partying ways would soon claim his life.
The 40th anniversary show served as a reminder of what an incredible launching pad SNL has been. No other series had provided such a consistent springboard for talent. Dana Carvey, Jim Belushi, Billy Crystal, Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Elliot, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Farley, Will Farrell, Tina Fay, Janeane Garofalo, Phil Hartman, Julie Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Lovitz, Norm Macdonald, Dennis Miller, Mike Meyers, Randy Quaid, Chris Rock, Paul Shaffer, Martin Short, Sarah Silverman, David Spade, Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler, Damon Wayans — the list is ridiculous for its length and quality.
What other show could make reference not once, but twice, to the passing of Jon Lovitz, who was sitting in the audience? What other show could have given the brilliant Gilda Radner the chance to shine before she was taken by cancer? What other show could have given home to the monstrous ego of Chevy Chase or the apparently limitless talents of Jimmy Fallon?
As I made my way through a second viewing of the anniversary show last week I found myself with a smile that just wouldn’t go away. How great to think back to the days of the Blues Brothers, the cheeseburger sketches, the Weekend Update, the very funny Father Guido Sarducci, Radner’s frighteningly accurate singer Candy Slice or her hilarious Roseanne Roseannadanna, the ridiculous shark at the door, Dan Aykroyd’s Bass-O-Matic or John Belushi’s “Well, excuuuuuse me!”?
I commented to Angela that it felt surprising how many memorable episodes we had watched with friends Gene (“Oh, Pepper Boy!”) Zackowski and Tanna Patterson, including one that didn’t make the anniversary show. We were at our house in Riverview when musical guest Sinead O’Connor performed. Never one to miss an opportunity, she sang with gut-wrenching angst. Then, looking straight into the camera, she held up a photo of the Pope of the day and tore it in half.
“Well, that’s gonna make the news,” one of us said.
It’s remarkable in this time of competition from so many angles that SNL continues. It remains (along with Sesame Street, I am proud to say) a touchstone for my generation. I don’t watch it (or Sesame Street, for that matter) often any more, but it is a comfort to know it still exists. May it outlive me.
Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.