SNL at 50, Me at 67
Remembering the original episode nearly fifty years later
I watched the rebroadcast of the original Saturday Night Live episode this past weekend, aired during its regular time slot on Valentine’s night.
Fifty years ago, I crowded with fellow freshman broadcasting majors in a cinder-block Iowa Central dorm room, gathering around a 13 inch black and white TV for the first SNL. We plied ourselves with short-bottle Falstaffs (on sale for $1.99/12 pack) from the Fort Dodge Safeway.
Satire and subversion were my lane. National Lampoon and Mad magazine. Monty Python and 60’s Batman reruns. I wrote for Labyrinth, our “underground” high school magazine that allowed for wider perspectives than I-Hyh, the student newspaper.
And when KWWL’s “Boogie Brother” Brian Lang played No More Mr Nice Guy, nobody screamed along with Alice Cooper louder than this Methodist farmboy.
We were Watergate-weary in the fall of 1975. Nixon had resigned and Gerald Ford had us wearing “Whip Inflation Now” buttons. Saigon fell a few weeks before I graduated; homecoming soldiers were being spit on in airports.
America needed Saturday Night Live.
Random thoughts on a second viewing, fifty years later, while sipping Seagrams instead of Falstaff. Do they even make Falstaff anymore?
A George Carlin album I bought at a record show in Clear Lake a few weeks ago, once belonging to a station I worked at for a few years. Unlike some vinyl I may own, this one was NOT stolen!
–First off, George Carlin was brilliantly incisive.
But I gotta think it was awkward for him, popping into four different segments after commercial breaks for a few jokes instead of doing a single monologue.
His observations about religion would make an entertaining adult Sunday School discussion. Challenge your church group to watch it and let me know how that goes. Better do it before the Christian Nationalist Militia sweeps in!
Carlin mused, “Why are dashboard Jesus statues always looking at the driver instead of watching out for accidents like he should be doing?”
The first segue from Carlin to Janis Ian seemed awkward, like going from Black Sabbath’s Paranoid to Roberta Flack.
Seemingly unfazed, Janis strummed her way into At Seventeen. Mellow lyrics reflected teenage angst; an homage to “ugly duckling girls.” And she pecked away at the gussied-up debutants who get everything they want but true happiness. The gentle song bites as hard, in its own way, as anything that coked-up George delivered.
The crowd sat, spellbound.
–The “Show Us Your Guns” short film poked fun at mid-70s gun culture. Riders in a pickup truck bed drove along residential streets, filming everyone willing to “show their guns!”
What if we tried this today?
Hook up a tractor with an old hay rack wagon and recruit some feisty but harmless rebel-rousers armed only with cell phones. Announce on Facebook you’ll be coming to some little town. Honk loudly and encourage the second amendment embracers to SHOW THEIR GUNS!
It’s a great idea for a float! Maybe for the Iowa State Fair Parade?
–SNL’s other musical guest, Billy Preston, is a forgotten legend–the “Get Back” organist for the Beatles. His 2nd song “Fancy Lady” was not the hit Don Pardo introduced it as. But research Billy Preston and be amazed. A brilliant career, derailed by the usual rock & roll demons.
–The funniest line? During Weekend Update, Chevy Chase announced that a stamp honoring prostitution would soon be released. It would cost a dime, or a quarter if you wanted to lick it. (Sorry, I’m still laughing).
–I’d forgotten all about Jim Henson’s puppet segment! WOW…surrealistic and trippy, a little long. Sesame Street it ain’t. (Unless…are sesame seeds opiates? No wait, those are poppy seeds. Never mind).
–The BEES segment. “Delivery Door” shoulda been labelled “Beelivery Door.” That’s a dad joke, and you’re welcome to steal it. I’ve heard that Belushi HATED the bee sketches. But the Bees evolved into the Killer Bees…and that evolved into the Blues Brothers!
–The Not Ready For Primetime Players actually had little cumulative screen time. Dan Aykroyd dominated. Were I a grifter, he’d be my #1 pitchman.
–The ad for “Cantopenit” arthritis pain relief child-proof medicine bottles hit too close to home. Recite the product name slowly.and.aloud if you don’t get the joke.
–The three-blade razor “ad” didn’t hold up well, not when you can get five-blade razors at CVS!
–Who was the manic blonde school teacher comedian at the end, and what became of her?
–The “Bud” insert with the rolling end-name-credits got old. Lorne “Bud” Michaels…Anne “Bud” Beatts… etc. Budweiser? Oh wait…BUD=WEED!! Hahaha! We get it! Now knock it off!!!
Like most SNLs, brilliance mixed with a few groaners. But that original episode reflected well that strange post-hippie, pre-Carter era, providing some zingers that hold up well a half-century later.
Do any other boomers out there remember the first episode? Or have any thoughts about the rebroadcast?
(The movie “Saturday Night” is now airing on Netflix. It’s a somewhat fictionalized version of the chaos leading up to the original October 11, 1975 SNL broadcast. I saw it in the theater & highly recommend it).