"Classic SNL"

Let's see it the other way around.
Which sketches have you seen?

There's a great Weekend Update bit with Belushi telling a story about his drunken Irish friend trying to get him to bail him out of jail. The story gets out of control and Belushi completely loses his shit. Not sure exactly what you'd search for on YouTube to find it, but that's always been one of my favorite moments of his.

You didn't find the landshark bit funny?

I was just about to mention those reports he did where he increasingly lost his shit on camera. Those were great.

And what about (Non-Belushi skit) Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute?

Even classic comedy has a shelf life.

Don't get me wrong- I enjoy plenty of classic comedy, but comedy is ephemeral in that so much of it is tied to a certain time or place. I'm not surprised that you don't find classic SNL funny.

One way to approach it might be to check out the 'Best of' collections for the people you thusfar do not find humorous.

http://www.amazon.com/SNL-Best-Belus...1892257&sr=8-1

For example. Or at least try and youtube clips from the stuff in these sets, as I would have to assume it's some of the better stuff out there. I've seen a Steve Martin one which was decent, but can't speak for the others.

For years all I had ever really seen from the "early days" were the highlights and "Best of" selections. A lot of which I liked.

But I have to admit that watching the first complete season on disc was a bit of a chore, at least in comedic terms. A lot of that has to do with the show not really finding its focus early on. I'm still glad I picked the set up because it is fascinating to watch as a historical document.

That being said I love Akroyd as the President of Mainway Toys, Irwin Mainway.

One of my favorite bits is the commercial for the Bassomatic 76.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75qbassamatic.phtml

As someone who has organized toy safety press conferences during my activist days, I always loved the skit with Dan Aykroyd extolling the virtues of "Bag-O-Glass" and "Johnny Switchblade" dolls.

You didn't live through 1985-1989 in first-run. It made us all miss the original cast.

It's after the original cast, but I almost wrecked my car the other day because I flashed back to two two Eddie Murphy sketches that made me laugh really, really hard just thinking about them:

1. The Clarences, when he plays the guy who claims to have been kicked out the The Beatles. "She's got a ticket to ride and the bitch don't care, man."

2. Little Richard Simmons.

Back to the original topic, the Exorcist sketch with Richard Pryor as the apprentice priest is gold.

(*Beats Patrick to death with a walker. Is quickly caught by police when they find a jar of Icy Hot left behind at the murder scene.*)

Seriously though - check out "Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute", both of the sketches with Dan Akroyd as Irving Mainway (they're both the consumer safety ones - one for toys and another one for Halloween costumes), and Belushi's "Little Chocolate Donuts" commercial. Oh, and there's a great "Final days in the White House" sketch, with Akroyd as Nixon, Belushi as Henry Kissinger, and Madeline Kahn as Pat Nixon. You'll (hopefully) Akroyd dragging Belushi down onto the floor to pray with him. "You don't want to pray with me... JEW BOY??"

Oh god, Little Chocolate Donuts...brilliance in easily digestible baked goods.

I'm not sure if it's a few years too late, but I have a deep love for Steve Martin's 'King Tut' and the James Brown Hot Tub Party.

It's not just the chocolate donuts that kill me; I love the cigarette in his hand the whole time he's popping them into his mouth.

Twenty years from now you're going to tell some college kid who doesn't get Will Farrell this same thing-
You had to be there.

Very first sketch on SNL - John Belushi as the immigrant and Michael O'Donaghue as his teacher:
"I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines."
Then the punchline with the heart attack - has me rolling everytime.

The Weekend Update after Chevy left "Jane, you ignorant slut!". The Blues Brothers! Coneheads! Chevy making faces behind Jane Curtin while she's giving a report!

All this flashbacking, not one mention of Mr. Bill? Oh, noooooo!!!!!

Mr. Bill doesn't hold up to repeated viewings. Or perhaps I don't find it as funny now that I'm not eight years old anymore.

I'm always referencing Chase and Aykroyd's Carter/Ford debate. "It was my understanding there would be no math." Chase as Ford looking absolutely nothing like Ford murders me every time.

Another favorite, Aykroyd as Carter opening up the White House phone lines for a call-in Ask The President show, and at one point talks a kid down off a bad acid trip.

I think what was great about the original SNL was that you had such a great variety -- there'd be some high-concept sketches, some broader, more slapsticky pieces, some political humor, and some that maybe weren't laugh-out-loud funny but were incredibly well-crafted character pieces. Toss in some Mr. Bill and some Albert Brooks shorts, and you had a range of comedy not really seen before or since. Sure they tried to avoid but eventually embraced the catchphrase/breakout character, but at least their breakout characters evolved into that instead of being forced on us the way so many of them seem to be on the show today.

There's a YouTube clip out there of the famous Chevy Chase/Richard Pryor word association sketch that's a great example of how the show was topical, edgy, yet still funny.

Plus, I think with SNL, you always love the cast you saw first.

"Sounds like you've done a little orange sunshine there, Peter."

It was later, but my favorite "before my time" SNL sketch has to be the presidential debate with Franken as Pat Robertson and Akroyd as Dole. "Heal my arm!"

I never thought the original cast was funny, short of some of the Chevy pratfalls and Steve Martin guest hostings.


My Dad sure loves that shit though.

I always liked the one with Franken as Paul Simon.

"Why...the bow tie?"

Walter Cronkite: Thank you, Mr. President, ha ha! Our next call is Peter Elkin of Westbrook, Oregon, whom I am told is 17 years of age.

Peter (on phone): Hello? Hello?

President Jimmy Carter: Yes. Hello, Peter?

Peter (on phone): Is this the President?

President Jimmy Carter: Yes, it is.

Walter Cronkite: Do you have a question for the President?

Peter (on phone): Uh.. I, uh.. I took some acid.. I'm afraid to leave my apartment, and I can't wear any clothes.. and the ceiling is dripping, and uh.. I, uh..

Walter Cronkite: Well, thank you very much for calling, sir..

President Jimmy Carter: Just a minute, Walter, this guy's in trouble. I think I better try to talk him down. Peter?

Peter (on phone): Yeah..?

President Jimmy Carter: Peter, what did the acid look like?

Peter (on phone): They were these little orange pills.

President Jimmy Carter: Were they barrel shaped?

Peter (on phone): Uh.. yes.

President Jimmy Carter: Okay, right, you did some orange sunshine, Peter.

Peter (on phone): Very good of you to know that, sir.

President Jimmy Carter: How long ago did you take it, Peter?

Peter (on phone): Uh.. I don't know. I can't read my watch.

President Jimmy Carter: Alright, Peter, just listen. Everything is going to be fine. You're very high right now. You will probably be that way for about five more hours. Try taking some vitamin B complex, vitamin C complex.. if you have a beer, go ahead and drink it..

Peter (on phone): Okay..

President Jimmy Carter: Just remember you're a living organism on this planet, and you're very safe. You've just taken a heavy drug. Relax, stay inside and listen to some music, Okay? Do you have any Allman Brothers?

Peter (on phone): Yes, I do, sir. Everything is okay, huh Jimmy?

President Jimmy Carter: It sure is, Peter. You know, I'm against drug use myself, but I'm not going to lay that on you right now. Just mellow out the best you can, okay?

Peter (on phone): Okay..!

President Jimmy Carter: Okay.

Mr. Bill was fucking awful.

I'm actually sort of with Ripoll in that most of the famous sketches, like Samurai and the Coneheads, aren't very funny. They're remembered because they were repeated the most. But there was so much other good stuff, like The Thing that Wouldn't Leave, or the auditions for the jailhouse musical ("Here's a song I wrote myself... IIIII'm gonnaaaa... get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see! Gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see!") and and the entire episode hosted by Richard Pryor (though granted, that's mostly Pryor's doing). Trust me, there's plenty of hilarious, groundbreaking stuff done in those years that a lot of people overlook.

I think most of them would probably admit that stuff like the Coneheads and the Bees were the least of what they did during their run.

Dead honky

Off the top of my head, I always enjoyed the Steve Martin episode that featured the medieval doctor sketch and Bill Murray's Nick the Lounge Singer doing the theme to Star Wars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_the_Lounge_Singer

That clip gets me every time. Pryor was a god.

Well... I liked Mr. Bill (<sniff> mopes, kicks can).

Steve Martin was gold everytime he showed up. Theodoric of York was fantastic, JPL.

I disagree with that - I started the show in the Farley/Sandler generation and while I dug it to a point I ALWAYS preferred the originals once I was exposed to them. Whomever mentioned the English Language coach sketch is right - that shit kills. As well as the "Cheeseburger cheeseburger" sketch. Landshark, the one where Radner and Murray are the nerdy high school kids, Hot Tub Party, and of course the aforementioned word association skit - all glorious, not to mention countless sketches I can't remember. There was one with Candace Bergen and Gilda Radner where Bergen flubs a line and Radner runs with it - making Bergen just lose her shit on camera. Love that, too.

My favorite sketch of all time, and I wish I could find it on YouTube or find my old Best of Steve Martin VHS somewhere, has Martin and Murray walk onto the stage, stare at the camera and say "What the hell is that?" over and over and over. I've seen it a thousand times and I love it no less than the first time I saw it.

Oh hell yes. YES. Ruins me. "Oh, I know! That's a.. uh... What the hell is that?"

Any of the Irwin Mainway stuff kills me. "Johnny Human Torch" indeed or even "Bag of Glass"

The Julia Child sketch is also killer.

"Nigger"
"Dead Honkey"


And Lisa is right, Little Chocolate Donuts was great. They truly are the breakfast of champions.

It's not quite SNL, but I saw Neighbors for the first time a few months back on tv, and thought it was a pretty funny little black comedy.

It stars Belushi & Akroyd, with Belushi putting in a hilarious 'straight' performance. That's as close as I can tie this into a SNL discussion.

Oh wow, that Chase/Pryor sketch was awesome.

It's not classic but one of my favorites had to have been the reenactments of the Clarence Thomas hearings with Dana Carvey as Strom Thurmond and Phil Hartman as Ted Kennedy

"Were you naked at the time?"
"No sir I wasn't"
"Well that helps too."

This is really the first time you guys have seen that?

If the Belushi going nuts on Weekend Update bits don't do it for you, nor the Little Chocolate Donuts commercial, you have two options:

1. Check yourself for a pulse and/or a sense of humor
2. Watch Animal House

I don't even know how to respond to this.

*Edit: Maybe with a tactical strike.

I don't share the love for Little Chocolate Donuts - it was cute but far from a "Classic." The WU "Luck of the Irish" rant was fantastic, however.

No, no. I understand. I suggest you avoid The Blues Brothers like the plague.

He doesn't like it either.

I see The Blue Brothers as a "grower," almost a forerunner to Lebowski. It's pretty good the first time you see it, and it becomes a way of life the more you watch it.