SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE {CHARLES GRODIN, PAUL SIMON} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of live, late-night comedy/variety programs featuring topical satire. A running joke throughout the program portrays Charles Grodin as an incompetent guest host because he missed much of the week's rehearsals and has never even seen the show. Grodin stops several sketches in progress because he is unfamiliar with the material. Highlights include the following: Grodin appears in the cold opening bearing gifts for the cast, after having gone shopping during dress rehearsal; a commercial parody promotes the Kromega III wristwatch, a digital watch that takes two people to operate; Halloween at the Conehead house, where the hydrocephalic aliens distribute fried eggs and beer to neighborhood children; "Consumer Probe" with Jane Curtin as an interviewer who questions a sleazy children's Halloween costume manufacturer about his company's rather dangerous-looking products; "Samurai Dry Cleaners," with John Belushi as the swordsman and Radner and Grodin as patrons; "Weekend Update" with co-anchors Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd, including special reports from Bill Murray about the recent trend in the theater towards one-man shows, and Garrett Morris as an FBI field officer who brings along a bag of bones which may include parts of Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart; Grodin appears in an "Art Gurkunkel wig" to perform a duet of "Sounds of Silence" with a rather stunned Paul Simon; later the real Garfunkel appears briefly to take the wig away from the actor; Grodin and Radner play a couple who receive a visit by trick-or-treating Killer Bees; Radner appears as Judy Miller, a litle girl in a Brownie uniform who puts on "The Judy Miller Show" alone in her bedroom; Morris hawks the "Professional School of Football," a correspondence course; and Grodin speaks on behalf of the rights of the incompetent, with testimonials from Bill Murray as a grocery bagger, Newman as an air traffic controller, and Radner as a burger slinger with a striking resemblance to Roseanne Roseanadanna. Musical guest Paul Simon performs "Slip Slidin' Away" and "You're So Kind, So Kind." Includes commercials and a promo. (This is a rebroadcast of a program that originally aired live on October 29, 1977.)
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: August 5, 1978 11:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:18:55
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:20259
- GENRE: Comedy; Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Music, popular (songs, etc.); She Made It Collection (Anne Beatts); She Made It Collection (Marilyn Suzanne Miller); She Made It Collection (Rosie Shuster); TV - Commercials - Parody; TV - Parody; TV - Parody - News
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1975-
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Bic shavers
- TV - Commercials - Body on Tap shampoo
- TV - Commercials - Doritos tortilla chips
- TV - Commercials - Dr. Pepper soft drink
- TV - Commercials - Gatorade sports beverage
- TV - Commercials - Honda automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Levi's Womenswear jeans
- TV - Commercials - Marriott's Essex House hotel
- TV - Commercials - Memorex cassette tape
- TV - Commercials - Pepsi cola
- TV - Commercials - Rose Milk face cream
- TV - Commercials - Schlitz malt liquor
- TV - Commercials - Vanish toilet bowl cleanser
- TV - Commercials - Volkswagen Dasher automobile
- TV - Commercials - Wella Balsam shampoo
- TV - Promos - "National Lampoon's Animal House" (feature film)
- TV - Promos - "Saturday Night Live"
CREDITS
- Lorne Michaels … Producer, Writer
- Jean Doumanian … Associate Producer
- Audrey Peart Dickman … Associate Producer
- Dave Wilson … Director
- James Signorelli … Direction (Misc.), Film commercial parodies by
- Dan Aykroyd … Writer
- Anne Beatts … Writer
- James Downey … Writer
- Al Franken … Writer
- Tom Davis … Writer
- Neil Levy … Writer
- Marilyn Suzanne Miller … Writer
- Michael O'Donoghue … Writer
- Herb Sargent … Writer
- Tom Schiller … Writer
- Rosie Shuster … Writer
- Alan Zweibel … Writer
- Paul Simon … Singer
- Charles Grodin … Host
- Don Pardo … Announcer
- Art Garfunkel … Guest
- The Persuasions … Guest
- Dan Aykroyd … Cast
- John Belushi … Cast
- Jane Curtin … Cast
- Garrett Morris … Cast
- Bill Murray … Cast
- Laraine Newman … Cast
- Gilda Radner … Cast