Claim OwnershipThat Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
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Join us as we explore vintage episodes of SNL, analyzing the show and the bizarre pop culture ephemera that surrounded it. Tangents are had. Jokes are made.
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(Originally posted on Patreon on Oct. 16, 2023) What happens when you mix an iconic singing duo from Japan with minimal knowledge of the English language with a comedian of dubious quality and wrap it all up in a dying variety show format? You get Pink Lady! Or...is it Pink Lady and Jeff? Even the show itself doesn't know what to call this glorious mess. We dig into the history of this infamous disaster and cover it's fifth, and last, episode to air on NBC.
(Originally posted to Patreon on September 18, 2023) Barely making it through it's first televised airing in some parts of the country, completely unseen in others, and more or less cancelled before the whole thing was even over, Turn-On was exiled to the land of wind and ghosts, never to be seen again...until now. We discuss the history and fallout of this beguiling assault on the senses and bravely attempt to cover the two episodes they managed to produce before the entire house of cards came tumbling down.
(Originally posted on Patreon on September 8th, 2023) We're finally closing up shop on The Richard Pryor Show by looking at the three sketches that were produced but never aired and a smattering of stuff that was written but never produced!
(Originally posted on Patreon on August 31, 2023) It's been one hell of a journey but we've finally come to the end of the road with The Richard Pryor Show. It's clear all involved in the show are pretty happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel and the material collected for this episode is of generally lesser fare than you might expect but there's still moments of fascination and at least one more whale of a sketch. Also, tune in on Friday for the final part of our discussion wherein we dissect the deleted and unproduced sketches from the show!
(Originally posted on Patreon on August 11, 2023) On one hand, The Edge is just another semi-forgotten 90s sketch show of little renown. On the other, it's one of the most insane assemblage of talent in front of the camera and behind that the fact that it failed is kinda shocking. This week, we dig up as much history on this bizarre little show show as we can possibly could and dissect it's final episode: a best-of special that is both decidedly not the best of the show and also, at least in the copy that we have, unfinished.
(Originally posted on July 28, 2023) By popular demand, this week we're covering one of sketch comedy's most fondly remembered entries: Upright Citizens Brigade! Lasting for only three beautiful seasons on Comedy Central, UCB (both the show and the theaters) nevertheless created a wave of cherished performers and influence that can still be felt to this day. In this episode, we briefly dig into the history of the group before diving headlong into two S1 classics!
(Originally posted on June 30, 2023) It's the Chevy Chase/Dog film you never knew existed! Eddie Ham and Mattalamode drop the show once again as we dive into the feverish world of Bob Clark's The Karate Dog, a family film about Dirt Nasty and a CGI dog getting revenge for the death of Pat Morita. Oh, and Jon Voight is there and he's, uh uh, cranked up to 11, baby!
(Originally posted on June 16, 2023) In the midst of a week of intense personal chaos for Richard comes this episode, a dreamlike outing of the show that balances melancholy with silent-era pantomime. Oh, and there's a good chance a bunch of stuff ended up getting cut by the network so we gotta fill that time somehow! How about some...uh, standup and improv?? Strap yourselves in for a wild one, folks!
(Originally posted on June 2, 2023) This week, we've got the first of our community/catching up on things podcast! Let us know what you think of this! What you'd like to see more of from it or, maybe, you'd like to see that we never do it again! Anyway, in this one, we discuss the long history of SNL episodes lost to various writers strikes, answer a few questions from the audience, and discuss Evil Dead Rise & Let Me Die A Woman. Music: Austin TV - Hasta Las Hifas, Un Micelio Tennis - Let's Make a Mistake Tonight L'Impératrice - Anomalie bleue Ginger Root - Over The Hil
(Originally posted on May 15, 2023) We're doing something we haven't done in a looooong time: doing an Off Week episode about the current season of SNL. Timmy has more or less missed the bulk of the season and so, as selected by you, our lovely Patrons, we're digging into the Quinta Brunson episode to see if we can win him over. Will we find some boom stamp classics? Will we find some bombs? I mean...yeah. It's SNL. We probably will. The real question is; how the hell do you rate Lil Yachty?
It's the end of our eighth season of the podcast and so we're celebrating by going all the back to the season finale of the very first season (well, if you don't count those summer episodes as being part of the season). Anyway, our ol' pal Jon Schneider is back with us again to discuss Elliott Gould's second hosting gig and what be the first of many for musical guest Leon Redbone. This episode is mostly known for Micheal O'Donoghue's lengthy Star Trek sketch and generally not much else and truth to be told, I had vague memories of it just kinda being a gassed out finale with a mini-epic tossed in the middle. But no! Turns out there's more here than meets the eye, including the first of the show's two moments of female nudity, Collins & Everson performing a song that would never be officially released, and a strange 1930s-ish theming to the whole thing. So join us as we close out our season the only way we know how: by talking WAY too long about vintage comedy. Who loves ya, baby?
Sometimes you get towards the end of a season, you're getting tired and you just say "screw it" and hit the big red button labeled John Goodman. It's the eighth time hosting for the beloved character actor and this go-around gives us a chance to finally cover a perennial SNL favorite that has somehow alluded this podcast: Celebrity Jeopardy. Elsewhere, it's a pretty typical slice of this era: some real diffie takes on current events, recurring sketches aplenty (featuring the debut of Collette Reardon), a Mike Myers cameo and so on and so forth. Grab a glass of your favorite vintage of Will Ferrell vomit and enjoy.
Pass the podcast 'pon the left hand side, ammirite? Ha ha ha. We have fun. And speaking of fun, here's a wild one from the Ebersol years. Joan Rivers! Y'all know her. Comedienne extraordinaire, red carpet correspondent and world class Liz Taylor hater. She's here to host one of the loudest episodes of the show's history, complete with one of the show's most strangely under-seen moments of joyfully coming off the rails. And then there's poor Musical Youth, exhaustedly performing their early 80s hits late in the night's proceedings. It's a bit of a mess and Update...ooh boy, Update. Are the bits of shocking racism and Joan River's bursting-at-the-seams energy enough to sink Timmy's ship or will the gleeful madness save him in the nick of time? Tune in to find out.
It's another historical outing for the show, with the first political figure to ever host the show: Ron Nessen, Press Secretary for Gerald Ford! What better way for Ford to gain some momentum in the upcoming election against Jimmy Carter then make it seem like he's in on all the fun going on down at SNL? Just have Ron host the show, Ford can make a few pre-taped appearances, everything will be fine! Except it wasn't. Arriving late in the week, Ron didn't quite realize that the show had quietly written it's raunchiest outing to date, but with no time to do anything about it, well...the show must go on. In the end, Ron and Ford were made to look quite the fools indeed. But what about the show? Well, it lands an early classic (Super Bass-O-Matic), exposes America to some early punk with Patti Smith and keeps it's counter-culture image intact by making a fool of the president. Not bad for a show that was still trying to figure out just what the hell it was.
I've been meaning to get around to this one forever and so, by god by Gumby, we finally did it. William Ham returns to fold to discuss an episode that I firmly believe might be the most underrated of the entire OG era. Few outings of the show crackle with as much southern chaos as this one and that's not entirely surprising considering, ya know, Gary, a host the show gives way to so completely that he's actually doing a double duty stint here (with Rick Danko & Paul Butterfield in tow). And then you got Eubie Blake and Gregory Hines as well? Man, this one is a fun one. So pull up a chair, fellow slop jockeys, and join us as we try to figure out just what the Hot Bone is.
The night before the very first Wrestlemania, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan drop by to host the show together...except they mostly don't. It was supposed to be Steve Landesberg but he had to drop out for reasons. I guess? He's still a special guest though, as well as Liberace, Bob Orton Jr. and Rowdy Roddy Piper. I know I say this a lot, but this is an ODD one. It's basically a host-less episode, one of the rare episodes with no Update and the best moments of the show coming from places you would least expect them. And you get The Commodores post Lionel Richie, which is sadly, not great.
Here's a bit of an oddity selected for us by one of our Patrons. Mostly known these days for having a surprise appearance of Barbra Streisand in Coffee Talk (which already has a sketch-long cameo performance from Madonna), there's also the fascinating and far less talked about case of the Red Hot Chili Peppers basically imploding live on stage, with John Frusciante going completely rogue from the band. And you've also got Roseanne, who's, uh...a lot less fun personality these days than here in 1992. Tom Arnold is there too, i suppose. The whole thing is just a strange gumbo. There's a lot of narratively focused sketches that work out both for the better and for the worse, the tricky balance of having two hosts, and just a strange vibe overall.
By special request, we're heading back to S38 to cover Christoph's only hosting gig to date. Why this one in particular? I dunno. Mattalamode really wanted us to do it so...here we are! And it's certainly an episode, that much is true. Join us as we discuss a surprisingly stellar cold open, a memorable pre-tape, whether or not Christoph is a decent host and oh! The Alabama Shakes! They're a really good band. And speaking of music, we also get to hear some of the modern SNL band playing during commercial break so that's fun. Timmy might not agree but I certainly think so.
This week, we've got what is quietly one of the most important episodes of SNL ever. Not only do we get Ralph Nader, who would go on to cameo on the show up until 2000, but it's also the debut of one Mr. Bill Murray on the cast side of things, Jim Downey on the writing side of things and the very first appearance of both the Coneheads AND Rhoda Weiss. Even Andy Kaufman gets in one of his most celebrated bits. It's a big one. Join us as we dig in.
It's the first episode of 2025 and we're kicking it off in style with two of America's most beloved performers still to this day: DAG and Snoop Dogg. It's the first time going back to S22 in quite some time for us and we've landed on a pretty fascinating one. Can the show correctly navigate yet another Jesse Jackson sketch? What does Snoop Dogg have in store for his first album in three years, sans Dr. Dre? Where the hell did that ten-to-one come from? These are only some of the questions we attempt to hash out in this Hugh Fink dominated episode.
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Of the seven SNL related podcasts I've listened to at least semi-regularly, this is always the one I find myself coming back to the most. The thing that makes them stand out from their peers is how their scope of discussion reaches far beyond the current seasons of the show. Obviously, their M.O. is reviewing past seasons of the show but they'll also discuss other sketch shows entirely as well as their favorite music and (more recently) what's been getting them through COVID lockdown. Plus, the hosts are longtime pals who easily build just as strong a rapport with the audience (and the occasional guests) as they had with each other from the moment they decided to do a podcast together. Every episode makes you feel like your hanging out in your buddy's living room having a casual, intimate chat. Truly, the ideal podcast for the longtime SNL fan whose well versed in all eras of the show's history. Even if you don't consider yourself an SNL fan, just listening to one episode completely a