The First Three Shows

I’ve reached a small window of opportunity. The American networks which normally keep me pinned down with quality show after quality show appear to be having a few weeks off – none of NBC’s Thursday night comedies, and the hour-long light dramas that USA Network does so well appear to be quiet too. So, I decided to start watching Saturday Night Live from the very beginning, witnessing the evolution, the cast changes, the great sketches, the weird sketches that end nowhere, and so on.

How long will I manage? Will the apparently relentless awfulness of the 1981 season (spoken of in hushed tones by those unfortunate enough to live through it) be enough to stop this project dead in its tracks? Will I get bored after about 6 episodes and stop writing this? Will I discover another blog where someone’s already done this, better than I ever could?

Episodes 1-3

Because I only had this idea at the end of the third episode, and because they’re all really different.

Nowadays, there seems to be a formula for the episodes, and it’s fairly rigidly stuck to. First, the cold open which lampoons some very recent political event; credits; then the host’s monologue. Unless the host is a standup the monologue goes – plug for upcoming thing; self-deprecating joke, occasionally about the public perception of the host; then a song. They’re nearly always awful too, especially the most recent season (saved only by Russell Brand and Zach Galifianakis). Sketch sketch sketch, musical guest at around halfway, Weekend Update at around the hour, music part 2, then one last sketch, then the end.

I only mention this now to compare it to the very earliest days, as it’s fascinatingly different. I have the book “Live From New York” sat on my bookshelf, but I figure if I read that I’ll find out the answers to all the things I’m going to idly speculate about, and I like idly speculating. I’ll start reading it at the end of this season, I figure, so from season 2 on I’ll be able to fill in this blog with bits and pieces about what was really going on. Oh, and there’s the “E! True Hollywood Story” of SNL to come as well, I might even review that here.

First thing, it’s not called “Saturday Night Live”! Was it not shown live in its early days? These are questions a smarter blogger would have found the answers to before starting. The cold open ends with “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday night!”, same as always, so I guess it is live…just one of those things that will eventually be changed. “Saturday Night” is the most boring generic title though, and Paul Simon (when doing a trailer for his appearance on episode 2) sorta stumbles in calling it “NBC’s Saturday Night show”. It needs changing.

The hosts. This is where these early episodes will be the most fascinating, in being a window into what the show could have been like had it chosen to pursue this particular line. George Carlin is the first host, and he has zero interaction with the rest of the cast, just doing a number of small standup segments throughout the show. This isn’t the worst idea in the world, and gives them time to switch sets and whatnot, but the problem is that you’re not going to get too many other comedians who are close to as good as Carlin. Paul Simon is the second host, and I kept watching it going “when is the first sketch going to be on?” Aside from 20 seconds onstage in their bee costumes, the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” don’t appear in this episode at all, and the only sketch is a pre-filmed bit where Paul Simon thrashes an NBA player in a one-on-one basketball game (aside from a very short Weekend Update bit). The episode is based around a Simon and Garfunkel reunion (possibly their first appearance together since breaking up the duo in 1970) and the roar of the crowd when Simon introduces Garfunkel shows that the crowd aren’t really that bothered by the lack of comedy.

Rob Reiner in episode 3 is the first host to actually appear in a sketch, with his then-wife Penny Marshall. He’s great, as is to be expected. What these first three episodes show, though, is how the show in its early days could tool itself to the skills of its host. Carlin gets to do standup; Paul Simon effectively gets the entire episode to himself to sing; and Reiner is the first host who’d be recognised as such to someone who’d only seen the episodes of this decade. Much as I love the show it became, I am a little sorry this changing aspect of the show was dropped down the line.

I’ll break down the season 1 regular stuff a little now, before probably retreating to properly review the episodes starting with episode 4. First up, Andy Kaufman (who along with the rest of the cast, doesn’t appear in episode 2). He’s done two sketches where he stands next to a turntable which plays a song – “Mighty Mouse” and “Pop Goes The Weasel”, so far. He acts out one of the parts on the song, which in “Mighty Mouse” consists of one line, sung three times, in a 2-minute song. I feel a bit Emperor’s New Clothes about this. His legacy has grown down the years, and I admire the sheer balls it must have taken to do something like this, and then decide to put it on the air, but…I think it’s impossible to “like” this (although if there were anyone reading this, I’m sure there’d be some comments to prove me wrong).

I really liked the Albert Brooks short films. I watched the “SNL Backstage” TV special a while ago, and Lorne Michaels mentioned how, after he asked Brooks for 3-5 minute films, the first one he delivered was 11 minutes long and he knew he was going to have trouble. The 11-minute one wasn’t til episode 3, where Brooks decided he wanted to do open-heart surgery and put an advert in a paper asking for volunteers among his fans. It’s not laugh-a-second stuff, but they’re clever, funny things, and the first one is a quick-fire series of jokes, showing how much adaptability Brooks had.

I’m really enjoying this so far. My viewing companion has been a watcher of SNL pretty much since the beginning (although they claim to have not seen these very early episodes) and apart from the very occasional episode and sketch through the years, I’ve only been a regular viewer since season 35. There is a lot of catching up to do, and I hope to do most of it through this blog. I might even develop an interesting writing style as I go along, you never know. I’m looking forward to the cast getting some serious sketches under their belts (aside from the recurring bee characters, they’ve not really been in the first three episodes all that much), looking forward to the unusual hosting choices that seem to abound during the early years, and particularly looking forward to finishing this season so I can start that book.