For a moment there, the 50-year celebration of “Saturday Night Live” seemed to be veering off-course. Then it kept getting better, funnier, more entertaining.
The night (Feb. 16) started with a great monolog by Steve Martin (shown here), but followed with several sketches that were long on commotion and short on wit. Such sketches are a part of the “SNL” tradition, but why front-load them?
Just in time, however, the special rebounded with a bit involving questions from the audience. Interestingly, a football guy (Peyton Manning) had some of the best lines.
From then on, there were several good moments and lots of great ones — an expanded “Weekend Update” … an original song from Adam Sandler … Merle Streep as the mom of Kate McKinnon’s perpetual UFO abductee … Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell unleashing “Scared Straight” vibes … and more.
Overall, it was a terrific night. If you missed it, catch it now on Peacock. That’s also the site of “SNL” documentaries, the 50th-year concert and past episodes … including the show’s first episode. That one reran Saturday (Feb. 15) on “SNL”; here’s my commentary:
At first, it seems, “Saturday Night Live” didn’t know where its strength was.
That was in its young actors (shown here) and writers. Some would become icons, maybe superstars; at first, however, they were seemed like a mere afterthought.
As part of its 50-year celebration, “SNL” reran its first episode Saturday (Feb. 15), leading into the anniversary special the next day. After a half-century of the show getting bigger and brighter, the opener felt like an ancient artifact.
Onscreen were immense talents – John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase. But often, they just had brief bits in a scattered variety show:
— Instead of two songs nowadays, there were four – two deeply passionate ones by Janis Ian, two forgettable party ones by Billy Preston.
— Instead of an opening monolog, George Carlin did four mini-monologs, scattered through the show.
— Instead of an occasional (very funny) film, there was a film by Albert Brooks and a Muppet sketch by Jim Henson, both moderately funny.
— And there were two extra comedians. Andy Kaufman did his bizarrely funny Might Mouse bit; Valri Bromfield did a so-so schoolteacher monolog.
With all of that, there wasn’t much room for sketches. Some were merely setting up one joke; one, by modern standards, had no joke: Chase simply did a “my wife” commercial, standing next to a guy.
Admittedly, some of the snippets were worth it. Chase had some clever moments in the mini-newscast … Carlin did his bit about oxymorons (“jumbo shrimp,” “military intelligence”) … Carlin contrasted the combative words of football (“blitz, block, clip, tackle”) and the benign ones of baseball (“sacrifice,” “running home”).
There was even a bit – passing a note to an unsuspecting juror – so clever that writer David E. Kelley later used it twice, in the movie “From the Hip” and in an “L.A. Law” episode.
But the show used its sketch people only randomly. Belushi did a hilarious little opener, learning English. Chase had his newscast. A closing sketch showed Aykroyd’s knack for machine-gun dialog, as he played a security guy, invading the home of Belushi and Radner.
Soon, those four would soar. They would be followed by others – Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Bowen Yang and many more.
(You can seem most of them at the anniversary show, 8-11 p.m. ET today, Feb. 16, on NBC, with red-carpet show at 7. And everything — including old episodes and music specials — will be on Peacock.)
“SNL” would be known for long-ish sketches – some very funny, some just weird – and for “Weekend Update.” It’s people would become stars. At first, though, they were small pawns in a late-night variety show.