A Transitional Season for SNL: 1984-85

Next year, Saturday Night Live marks 50 years on the air. It’s been a springboard for many funny people over the years, such as Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, Dana Carvey, David Spade, Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Jan Hooks, and many more. It’s an American institution that has stood the test of time. I really enjoyed the 10th season, which was 1984-85. I was in high school at that point and found many other fans of SNL in my classes. This season started on October 6, 1984 and ended on April 13, 1985. A writers’ strike and budget constraints caused it to be an abbreviated season. At this point, Dick Ebersol was in his final season as showrunner. Lorne Michaels took a 5-year break from 1980 to 1985. The cast for 1984-85 included: Martin Short, Billy Crystal, Harry Shearer, Rich Hall, Jim Belushi, Mary Gross, Gary Kroeger, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Pamela Stephenson and Christopher Guest. The opening credit sequence was created by the same person who made the video for “You Might Think” by The Cars. It depicted the cast members as giants among New York City landmarks. The previous season saw the departure of Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Robin Duke, Brad Hall (husband of Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Tim Kazurinsky. Christoper Guest became the host of Saturday Night News.

Harry Shearer left mid-season, in January of 1985, due to creative differences. He did not enjoy the experience and atmosphere of working on SNL. He was the co-creator, co-writer and co-star of the 1984 mockumentary This is Spinal Tap. He has provided many voices for The Simpsons, which has been on Fox since 1989. 

Martin Short joined the cast of SCTV later in its run, 1982-83, where he was known for characters like Ed Grimley, defense attorney Nathan Thurm, and songwriter Irving Cohen. His Ed Grimley character had a shock of hair sticking up like Alfalfa from The Little Rascals. His catchphrase was “I must say.” Ed was obsessed with Wheel of Fortune and its host Pat Sajak. Nathan Thurm was a paranoid lawyer who would appear in a 60 Minutes parody on SNL. In that skit, Christopher Guest played the novelty toymaker, Herb Minkman. Irving Cohen was a very old songwriter, and his catchphrase was “Give me a C, a bouncy C.” He would reminisce about the old days of Vaudeville. Jackie Rogers Junior was an odd albino performer who was in a memorable SNL skit where he was a game show host. It was called “Jackie Rogers Junior’s $100,000 Jackpot Wad.” In his autobiography, “I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend,” Short said that he preferred SCTV over SNL, since the former was taped, not live. He liked being able to perfect a sketch and try it many times, but this was not possible on SNL. He was hesitant to join the SNL cast but said yes after hearing that the show had hired Crystal, Shearer and Guest. Those four signed one-year only contracts. 40 years later, Short is still going, after a career with a wide variety of TV and movie projects. He appeared in the films Three Amigos, Father of the Bride, Innerspace, Captain Ron and Mars Attacks. He played the clueless celebrity interviewer Jiminy Glick on Comedy Central from 2001-03 on the show Primetime Glick. In 2016 he had an NBC variety show with SNL alum Maya Rudolph called Maya and Marty. He currently stars in a Hulu series called “Only Murders in the Building” with Steve Martin and Selena Gomez. Martin Short and Steve Martin have a very funny live stage show that has toured the country. For 50 years, Short has been friends with musician and fellow Canadian Paul Shaffer, who was part of the SNL band before he worked as David Letterman’s bandleader. A memorable skit from the 10th season had Short and Harry Shearer playing dim witted synchronized swimmers. The skit was directed by fellow cast member Christopher Guest. Short is 74 years old but still in demand. All this week he is the guest host on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. 

Billy Crystal had appeared in the sitcom “Soap” (1977-81), but SNL allowed him to appear on a sketch show. His character Fernando, had the catch phrase “You look marvelous.” He would also say “It is better to look good than to feel good.” He was based on the actor Fernando Lamas. He did a segment called Fernando’s Hideaway where he would interview celebrities. Episode 15 had him interviewing Mr. T and Hulk Hogan. Fernando became so popular that he had his own song and music video, “You Look Marvelous.” On SNL, Crystal portrayed New York City talk show host Joe Franklin. People outside the New York area probably did not realize that Franklin was a real talk show host, and Crystal was doing a spoof. One Joe Franklin skit had Martin Short playing magician Doug Henning, and one had Short playing singer Jackie Rogers Jr. 

The writers acknowledged that they did not utilize Julia Louis-Dreyfus as much as they should. It didn’t hurt her career since she went on to have success with Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine and Veep. 

Jim Belushi had the goal of establishing himself as a funny sketch player, but it must have been rough to be in the shadow of his late brother, John Belushi, an SNL legend. Jim starred in the sitcom According to Jim from 2001-2009. 

Rich Hall was a writer-performer on David Letterman’s morning show in 1980. He appeared on the late-night show Fridays from 1980-82. He is the only person to have been a cast member of both Fridays and SNL. He currently splits time between Montana and London. He has become better known overseas than in America. 

After leaving SNL, Christopher Guest became known for his mockumentary films such as Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind and more. In SNL, Guest and Crystal played co-workers Willie and Frankie who describe painful situations they bring on themselves. Their catchphrase was “I hate it when that happens.” Guest played a Spanish ventriloquist who appeared in the Joe Franklin Show spoof. 

Mary Gross is the sister of Michael Gross, who played Steven Keaton in Family Ties. On SNL she played Alfalfa from The Little Rascals, and did many impressions, such as Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Pee-Wee Herman and Mary Tyler Moore. 

Pamela Stephenson was born in New Zealand. A Rolling Stone writer called her “A bright spot in a weak season.” She has a doctorate in psychology and has been married to comic Billy Connolly since 1989. 

On SNL, Gary Kroeger impersonated Walter Mondale. He played Donny Osmond in a sketch where Julia Louis-Dreyfus played Marie Osmond. After leaving SNL he appeared in various TV shows and has relocated to his hometown in Iowa. He writes a column for a newspaper and has owned a restaurant. He has appeared in community theater productions.

The musical guests for this season included: The Thompson Twins, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Kinks, Billy Squier, Tina Turner, Bryan Adams, The Commodores and more.

I still look back fondly on season 10 and it was my introduction to the comedy of Martin Short. He is my favorite comedic actor. 

 *Some information from imdb and wikipedia.

Looking Back on Laugh-In

My dad was a big influence on me when it came to television. He was a big fan of wacky TV comedy shows. Some of his favorites were Hee Haw, The Muppet Show, The Red Green Show, The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, and the show I will write about today, Laugh-In. When something made my dad laugh, it got my attention. He was also the person who got me interested in Johnny Carson. Laugh-In had something in common with Johnny Carson’s show. They were both taped at the NBC Burbank facility. The Laugh-In announcer, Gary Owens, would say the show originated from “Beautiful downtown Burbank.” The full name of the show was Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. It was hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. The show aired from 1968-73, a tumultuous time for America, with lots of political strife due to the highly controversial Vietnam war. It was a time when people needed some levity to forget the issues of the day. Even President Richard Nixon had a cameo on the show where he uttered the catch phrase “Sock it to me.” He appeared on the show while running for office in 1968. His competitor, Hubert Humphrey, declined appearing on the show and later regretted that decision. The show was a big break for sketch comedy performers such as: Arte Johnson, JoAnne Worley, Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Ruth Buzzi, Henry Gibson, Dave Madden, Richard Dawson and more. During its entire run, due to high turnover, only four cast members stayed with the show, including Rowan, Martin, Gary Owens and Ruth Buzzi. It was known for its rapid fire pace, with quick cuts from one comedic gag to another. Editing the show was time consuming and tedious. The show won 7 Primetime Emmy Awards. As far as all awards, it won 11 and was nominated for 34. In 1969, one of the writers included Lorne Michaels. One has to wonder if he was influenced by Laugh-In to launch Saturday Night Live in 1975. Due to the popularity of the show, Laugh-In attracted many big name guest stars, including: John Wayne, Tiny Tim, Jack Benny, Sammy Davis Jr. (his catchphrase was “Here comes the judge”), Henny Youngman, Phyllis Diller, Rich Little, Tim Conway, Dinah Shore, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles and more. Late night TV icons like Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett and Steve Allen appeared on the show. A 1977 revival of the show was shot but was not renewed after one season. One of the stars was Robin Williams. This was just before he starred in Mork and Mindy (1978). 1969 was the first year of Hee Haw, which became a country version of Laugh-In, with wacky sketches and recurring characters. 1974’s The Muppet Show had some similarities to Laugh-In, with the structure of some of its jokes and skits. The 1968 Pontiac GTO muscle car was nicknamed “The Judge.” The ads used the phrase from Laugh In “Here comes the judge.” It is ranked #42 on TV Guide’s list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of all Time. A staple of the show was the “joke wall” where cast members would stick their heads through holes in the multi-colored wall and recite quick jokes. Arte Johnson’s catchphrase, as Wolfgang the German soldier, was “Verrrry interesting!” Lily Tomlin’s telephone operator Ernestine was known for saying “One ringy dingy…two ringy dingy.” Also, “A gracious afternoon…is this the party to whom I am speaking?” The first season provided music videos by groups such as The Bee Gees, The Temptations, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Strawberry Alarm Clock. The phrase “Sock it to me” was popular on Laugh-In, but had also been used in the 1967 song by Aretha Frankin called “Respect.” A chain of Laugh-In restaurants opened in 1968-69, but all were closed by the mid-1970s. In its second and third seasons, 1967-68 and 1968-69, Laugh-In was the #1 show on TV. For the 1968-69 season, 31.8 million people watched the show.

Live from New York it's...Howard Cosell?

I was listening to Billy Crystal's book on tape called "Still Foolin' 'Em" and he mentioned that he had worked on a show called Saturday Night Live. We know he worked on the NBC sketch comedy show that started in the 1970s with legendary comics like John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Crystal was known for playing Fernando Lamas ("You look mahvelous") and Sammy Davis Jr. But, he was not referring to that show. He was talking about an ABC variety show hosted by sportscaster Howard Cosell. Maybe the creators of the show figured that Cosell's popularity as a sportscaster could transfer to success as a variety show host. This show only lasted 18 episodes from September of 1975 to January of 1976. It aired from 8 pm to 9 pm and it had a cast of comics that included Bill Murray, his brother Brian Doyle-Murray and Christopher Guest. They were called the "primetime players". The show was ripped apart by critics. TV Guide called it one of the worst shows of all time. The first episode had some strong guests including Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka and John Denver. It originated from New York's Ed Sullivan Theatre at 53rd and Broadway, which would later become the home of Late Show with David Letterman in 1993.

In 1977, after the departure of Cosell's show, the NBC sketch show changed its name to Saturday Night Live from simply Saturday Night. Now we know the meaning of the SNL cast being called the "not ready for primetime players". I had wondered why the say "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night".


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