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Saturday Night Live
1975 · TV series · 52 seasons
Created by Dick Ebersol, Lorne Michaels
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest.
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18 comments on Hacker News
SNL gave him a lot of shit, but SNL's "Ask President Carter" skit was perfect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-68iTvhWNB0
Jimmy Carter will always be my favorite Amazing Colossal President, as Rodney Dangerfield described in the SNL "The Pepsi Syndrome" sketch:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=533858710873763
https://snltranscripts.jt.org/78/78ppepsi.phtml
Dr. Casey: “It means, Mrs. Carter, your husband, President Carter, has become [camera zooms in on Dr. Casey] the amazing colossal president.”
Mrs. Carter: “Well, how big is he?”
Dr. Casey: “Well, Mrs. Carter, it’s difficult to comprehend just how big he is but to give you some idea, we’ve asked comedian Rodney Dangerfield to come along today to help explain it to you. Rodney?”
[Rodney Dangerfield enters]
Rodney: “How do you do, how are you?”
Denton: “Rodney, can you please tell us, how big is the president?”
Rodney: “Oh, he’s a big guy, I’ll tell you that, he’s a big guy. I tell you, he’s so big, I saw him sitting in the George Washington Bridge dangling his feet in the water! He’s a big guy!”
Mrs. Carter: “Oh my God! Jimmy! Oh God!”
Rodney: “Oh, he’s big, I’ll tell you that, boy. He’s so big that when two girls make love to him at the same time, they never meet each other! He’s a big guy, I’ll tell you!”
Mrs. Carter: “Oh no! Oh Jimmy! My Jimmy!”
Rodney: “I don’t want to upset you, lady, he’s big, you know what I mean? Why, he could have an affair with the Lincoln Tunnel! I mean, he’s really high! He’s big, I’ll tell you! He’s a big guy!”
Mrs. Carter: “No! No! No!”
Denton: “Rodney, thank you very much. You can go.”
Rodney: “It’s my pleasure. He’s way up there, lady! You know what I mean?”
—Saturday Night Live, Season 4: Episode 16, “The Pepsi Syndrome” skit, Apr. 7, 1979
And poor old Billy always got the cardboard box.
https://snltranscripts.jt.org/78/78ncarter.phtml
>SNL Transcripts: Gary Busey: 03/10/79: The Carters In Israel
[...]
>Lillian Carter: Jimmy.. Jimmy.. I’ve come to talk to you about your brother.
>President Jimmy Carter: Oh, Mama. Let’s not talk about Billy now.
>Lillian Carter: Ohhh.. Jimmy, you’ve gotta remember that it hasn’t been easy for Billy. You were the oldest and the favorite – you got the wagon, he got the cardboard box; you got the bicycle, he got the cardboard box; you got the brains, he got the cardboard box.
[...]
> sometimes I literally can’t pay to watch it.
Yup. Top 2 reasons I became a pirate again after not being a pirate since maybe 15 years ago:
#1 I literally couldn't give someone money to watch/listen to what I wanted
#2 I was paying someone money to watch/listen to something and then they removed it
Even popular things like Saturday Night Live are still impossible to acquire legally in my country.
Edit: Forgot another point that became very annoying, the show is available but not with the subtitles I want and/or need. For example, watching a Swedish TV show on Spanish Netflix doesn't let me have English subtitles for example. But if I use Swedish Netflix, it would work, but technically breaking Netflix's ToS. Content rights have completely fucked up the user experience.
Your rant reminds me of a 40 year old Saturday Night Live sketch where they're doing an open access television show called Women's Problems. And it's all guys.
It bothers me because I feel there are political repercussions I don't like. Because the people trying to force Latinx on Hispanics keep trying to force people to think of them as an oppressed minority. That's a problem because they're trying impose a low status. That's never a winner.
Reposting my proposals regarding copyright:
Any content, once published/distributed/broadcast in the US, that is not made readily available to the public going forward loses copyright protection. This includes revisions.
* A film, TV show, sound recording, book, or any other copyrighted content must, once made available for public purchase, always remain available. If the only streaming service willing to pay to stream your movie has the smallest market share, too bad; the market has spoken on the value of your content. An ebook can fulfill this purpose for a print book; streaming can fulfill this purpose for a theatrical or physical-media film. But it must be available to maintain copyright.
* Compulsory licensing should apply; if Netflix wants to pay the same amount of money as the above-mentioned small market-share streaming service for the film, Netflix must be allowed to do so. The film's rights owner can demand more, raising the price for all, but if every outlet refuses, the film immediately goes into public domain. This process is reversible, but it would set a ceiling to prevent the owner from setting a ridiculously high price to prevent its availability.
* If a Blu-ray of a film or TV show has excised or modified scenes for whatever reason, and the original isn't also made available (whether on a different "theatrical cut" release, or as a different cut on the same disc), the entire original version immediately goes into public domain.
* If NBC posts Saturday Night Live skits on YouTube that have removed "problematic" scenes[1] without explaining the differences—a diff file, basically—the entire original skit loses copyright protection.
Separate issue, but also very worthwhile:
* Streaming services must make all data regarding their content available in some standardized format. Consumers should be able to use one application to access all content they have access to. The creator of SmartTube (a very nice YouTube-compatible player) should be able to add the appropriate API support to search for and play Netflix/Prime Video/Disney+/Paramount+ content.
The above applies to software, too. Legalize abandonware!
[1] Something I understand already happens
What about the opposite? Any content, once published/distributed/broadcast in the US, that is not made readily available to the public going forward loses copyright protection. This includes revisions.
* A film, TV show, sound recording, book, or any other copyrighted content must, once made available for public purchase, always remain available. If the only streaming service willing to pay to stream your movie has the smallest market share, too bad; the market has spoken on the value of your content. An ebook can fulfill this purpose for a print book; streaming can fulfill this purpose for a theatrical or physical-media film. But it must be available to maintain copyright.
* As michael1999 suggested, compulsory licensing should apply; if Netflix wants to pay the same amount of money as the above-mentioned small market-share streaming service for the film, Netflix must be allowed to do so. The film's rights owner can demand more, raising the price for all, but if every outlet refuses, the film immediately goes into public domain. This process is reversible, but it would set a ceiling to prevent the owner from setting a ridiculously high price to prevent its availability.
* If a Blu-ray of a film or TV show has excised or modified scenes for whatever reason, and the original isn't also made available (whether on a different "theatrical cut" release, or as a different cut on the same disc), the entire original version immediately goes into public domain.
* If NBC posts Saturday Night Live skits on YouTube that have removed "problematic" scenes[1] without explaining the differences—a diff file, basically—the entire original skit loses copyright protection.
Separate issue, but also very worthwhile:
* Streaming services must make all data regarding their content available in some standardized format. Consumers should be able to use one application to access all content they have access to. The creator of SmartTube (a very nice YouTube-compatible player) should be able to add the appropriate API support to search for and play Netflix/Prime Video/Disney+/Paramount+ content.
EDIT: The above applies to software, too. Legalize abandonware!
[1] Something I understand already happens
Do you not actually know what satire is? We can 'impersonate' our government officials on national TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmUhLMLnatk
https://theweek.com/feature/briefing/1019449/a-history-of-presidential-parodies-on-saturday-night-live
Katt Williams: “Police can kill your ass today and come up with a story for the news tomorrow.”
https://letterboxd.com/popdetective/list/police-brutality-as-comedy/
On the live-action front, there was Laugh-In, which runs in syndication now, and seeing an episode 50+ years after originally seeing it aired (when I was under 10 years old) gives me a whole new perspective on the show. I realize now how much of it flew right over my little head. While today some of the jokes have aged like milk, it's surprising how much of it is spot-on even today.
Saturday Night Live with the OG cast was also a groundbreaker. To this day, I find myself imagining a Dan Aykroyd voiceover for a wide variety of current commercials.
The first time I ever heard Philip Glass was a performance he did on Saturday Night Live.
To put it mildly, it was fucking wild. It blew my 13 year old mind. I had never heard anything like it.
I went over to my neighbor's house to get the TV guide the next day so I could read who the musical guest was because I had missed it.
It's known as one of the weirdest episodes of SNL ever: https://www.vulture.com/2013/03/the-weirdest-episode-of-the-weirdest-season-of-saturday-night-live-2.html
It was a "lost" episode that I searched online for for decades.
Luckily a VHS copy emerged in 2020: https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live-s-11-e-13-george-wendt-francis-ford-copolla-phillip-glass
I was curious what SNL factoid you were referring to -- here is the snippet from TFA in hopes others find it interesting or at least convenient :)
> Simply put, an event’s format is a plan for the event, expressed in units of time. For example, every episode of Saturday Night Live follows this exact format. The format is so consistent that, in 45 years of weekly run time, the show deviated from its published format only nine times.
https://snl.fandom.com/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live_Episode_Synopsis
Some do, Saturday Night Live is a similarly long running and prolific show owned by NBC.
As to why PBS should have negotiated, they where getting well over 100 new 1 hour episodes per year as PBS was also running a lot of reruns. I am not saying very young kids don’t deserve that much new content but PBS would have been better off owning fewer episodes they could rerun than paying for that deluge and then also paying to rerun episodes. It's one thing not to negotiate after year one, but by year 30?
Reminds me of the classic April 1979 Saturday Night Live "Pepsi Syndrome" aka "The Amazing Colossal President" skit, where Jimmy Carter gets irradiated, and Rodney Dangerfield tells how big he is.
In my opinion, it's one of the funniest, most memorable old school SNL episodes of all time, including Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Richard Benjamin, Tom Davis, Al Franken, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, and Gilda Radner.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=533858710873763
I'm sorry for the Facebook link, but for whatever reason it's impossible to find on youtube, and not included in the SNL archives. My theory is the Pepsi company got pissed off about it, and threatens anyone who publishes it with legal action.
Script and screen snapshots:
https://tmi.papost.org/the-pepsi-syndrome-saturday-night-live/
>Dr. Edna Casey: It means, Mrs. Carter, your husband, President Carter, has become [ camera zooms in on Dr. Edna Casey ] The Amazing Colossal President.
>Rosalynn Carter: Well how big is he?
>Dr. Edna Casey: Well Mrs. Carter, it’s difficult to comprehend just how big he is but to give you some idea, we’ve asked comedian Rodney Dangerfield to come along today to help explain it to you. Rodney?
Humor is notoriously subjective and also dependent on mood.
The Goes Wrong Show is reliably funny for me; the premise is that a small-town serious theater troop has lucked into a time slot on a BBC channel, and they do their earnest utmost to do theatre well. But -- it all goes wrong. There's a stage version and two (UK) seasons of the show.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? typically manages a few howlingly good bits in any given show.
Key and Peele did five seasons and I get something hilarious out of basically every show, but I also think they fall flat several times per show.
Saturday Night Live has had good years and bad; they've always had a problem with knowing when to stop a sketch, but they're still worth watching, if not worth staying up for. There's a lot of survivorship bias with SNL: you can see the best bits of 45 years, and compared with that, how's this week's show going to rate?
In some ways this is true, and in some ways it isn't. It's complicated.
You are correct that broadcasters back then were more free to transmit the content they wanted. You could get away with most vulgarities as long as they were after 10pm. Heck, I worked at a radio station in suburban New York where the morning DJs would regularly use words like "apeshit" and nobody cared.
Back then, if someone was offended they would write a letter to the FCC, and the FCC would take it seriously. For the most part, broadcasters genuinely worried about losing their licenses.
Since then, the FCC has declared that it, for the most part, has no authority to regulate the content on the airwaves. That gap has since been filled by political correctness, social media campaigns, and other organized artificial mob outrage. So the broadcasters are kept mostly in line by social pressure instead of the government.
That said, if you watch or listen to old broadcasts from the 1970's, it's amazing how free free speech was back then. Redd Foxx saying the N-word on the sitcom Sanford and Son. Candice Bergen calling Iranians "towel heads" on Saturday Night Live. Stuff that would bring out the lynch mobs today in our so-called "enlightened" times.
Remember: "We don’t care. We don’t have to. We’re the Phone Company"
Fake commercial on Saturday Night Season 2 Episode 1.
(It wasn't called Saturday Night Live until later.)
It's because people want to feel like they have a purpose.
It's the same reason you see Hollywood actors being outspoken political activists. Because if they stay out of politics, they're "only" insignificant entertainers.
It's the same reason you see comedians and TV shows getting political. Saturday Night Live (SNL) is just a show for laughs. But if it takes a political stance, suddenly the writers/producers/actors can feel good about making a positive change. (Whether it's actually positive is beside the point; it only matters they think it's positive.)
And so, Facebook is doing something to enact positive change. (For various definitions of positive.)
Facebook is only different in that it has enough money and influence to actually change things in the world. Whereas comedians, actors, TV shows can only offer political opinions and try to influence people, Facebook can actually change things thanks to its financial status and its staggeringly user base.
I've noticed a change in the general tone of comedy in U.S. media society, in the past some decades. For me, it was exemplified in the changes that occurred on the broadcast television show, "Saturday Night Live".
I used to howl at the early SNL -- well, when they were "on"; individual skits were always hit and miss. Over subsequent "generations", it came to the point where I could no longer watch it.
I've ended up feeling similar about a significant portion of mainstream "comedy" films.
Eventually, I realized: It used to be, even when the portrayals were sometimes a bit vicious, that we, the audience, guided by the writers and actors, were laughing with them.
That changed: Now, much of comedy is taking grossly stereotypical portrayals and laughing at them.
Laughing with, we acknowledge our... weaknesses, flaws, strengths, human-ness, and bond through shared laughter over them. Defuse the discomfort and tension.
Laughing at, we define and separate into groups: "Us" versus "them". And those laughing, as the "us", bond through the process of excluding the "them".
Society's never been easy. But this part of it -- emblematic, for me -- has turned into a nastier place, in the U.S. media.
Aereo is not just for watching live broadcasts. In fact, it's somewhat annoying for that because as soon as one program ends, it kicks you back to the Guide and you have to select the next program to watch it. It's really geared towards using it as a DVR in the cloud.
The DVR functionality is nice. Sure, assuming your antenna can pick up the OTA channels you want, you can build your own DVR but if you want it to be better than an old VHS recorder (simply setting channel start & stop days/times), you need a good source of TV schedule data which last I heard you have to pay for (not $8/month, but something). Aereo can be set to record only new episodes and has options to start a recording early and/or stop it late (especially helpful on Sundays when sports seem to regularly delay CBS programming).
I also pay $8/month for Hulu Plus and mostly watch that. I use Aereo (through a Roku3) to watch shows on channels that aren't on Hulu (CGS, PBS) plus Saturday Night Live (because sometimes Hulu's version is edited).
$8/month for Aereo a bit much for how I use it but it's still cheaper than Comcast's DVR set-top box. One could watch a lot more through Aereo, in the Boston area there ~25 channels available, but they're pretty crappy. https://aereo.com/channels
The very first Saturday Night Live episode had a similar parody. http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75atriple.phtml