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Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I’m Johnny Mack with your Daily Comedy News. I don’t know if you ever know about this. Did you hear? Saturday Night Live is turning fifty?
Yeah, so something a little different today. I was trying to figure out when would be the best time to do this, and I decided today. The choices were today, Saturday or Sunday, but I went with today because today is the kick off for the Saturday Night Live fifty weekend. Today’s Daily Comedy News is only about SNL. I’m going to dive into best sketches ever, best characters ever, So stick around for that.
If SNL doesn’t interest you, you are dismissed. Tonight on Peacock, it’s the SNL fifty Homecoming Concert, a three hour live concert at Radio City. Jimmy Fallon is your host. Musical performances from past SNL musical guests, including Arcade, Fire, Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Bonnie Rait, Brandy Carlisle, Brittany Howard, Chris Martin, David Byrne, Devo, Eddie Vedder, Jack White, Jelly Roll, Lady Gaga, Miley, Cyrus, Mumford and Sons, Post Malone Preservation, Hal Jazz Band, Robin the b fifty two’s The Roots and more. This is on Peacock starting at eight eastern today.
I also saw a spoiler that Will Ferrell and and a guest I are going to do their middle school sketch thing. I have no patience for that sketch, but that’s going to be part of the show as well on Saturday on NBC Now. This hasn’t ready aired, but it’ll be back on Ladies and Gentlemen. Fifty Years of SNL Music a feature length documentary celebrating the five decades of SNL’s musical performances and musical comedy sketches. This thing includes interviews with musicians like Bad Bunny, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry, Mick Jagger, Duelipa, dmc Casey Musgraves, Paul Simon, Justin Timberlake, Jack White, and Moore.
Also interview Geene Curt and Jimmy Fallon, Eddie Murphy, Agel, Nuotam Conon, O’Brien Meyer, Rudolph Paul Schaeffer, Sarah Sherman, and various SNL band members plus Lonely Islands, Samberg and the other two Lonely Island guys. This thing re airs Saturday night at eight pm Eastern on NBC Proper. It will also be on Peacock. If you’ve never seen episode one of Saturday Night Live captured in the recent film Saturday Night While an exaggerated version, that movie’s fantastic. It’s on Netflix.
Stop listening to me right now and go watch that movie. I thought it was fantastic, absolutely loved it anyway, in the SNL slot on Saturday Night Live, the original broadcast from October eleventh, nineteen seventy five. Your host George Carlin, musical guests Billy Preston and Janis Ian. Then Sunday Night, which is weird that they did on a Sunday, Like, I get how TV works, but the show is called Saturday Night Live. You’re doing the thing on Sunday eight.
Sunday Night, the Big fiftieth Anniversary Special eight pm on NBC Hot Ticket and Studio eight Ah. Can you imagine the audience in this thing? Lorne Michaels declared years ago, no plus ones scheduled to appear, Keenan Thompson, Adam Sandler, Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Chase Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Fred Armison, I’m just saying Eddi Murphy, like that’s not a big deal. Eddie Murphy, Fred Armison, Garrett Morris, Gen Curtin, Jason Sadaikas, Jimmy Fallon, Kate McKinnon, Kristin Wig, Lreen Newman, Maya Rutolf, Molly Shannon, Pete Davidson, Seth Meyers, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Will Ferrell, Will Forte, Martin Short and Moore. Former host who will appear include Adam Driver, Io, Edaberry, bad Bunny, Dave Chappelle, John Mulaney, who’s also a former writer for the show, Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Pedro, Pascal Peyton Manning, Quinna Brunson, Robert de Niro, Sabrina Carpenter, Scarlett Johansen, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, and Woody Harrelson.
Sunday Night, nbcn Peacock eight to eleven PM Eastern Looking Ahead. I’m going to cover this on Tuesday’s podcast. I’m going to watch it, but to put together a show at midnight to get it out. I’ll do a better job if we wait the extra day. So on FAQ, who was in the first SNL cast and why won’t all of them appear?
One of the FAQ answers why they’re not appearing? Why aren’t Gilda Radner and John Belushi appearing? Do you know the to do this? Yeah? They’re no longer alive.
Dan Ackroid has not been announced. It is unclear why he may be absent to Akroyd’s publicists did not return The Associated Press’s request for a comment on that. Should we do a list? I haven’t looked at these, I’m looking at this cold. Indie Wire put out an article titled the fifty best Saturday Night Live Sketches of the twenty first century.
I haven’t looked at this at all. I like doing these cold. I will flip through it, they wrote. We know what you’re thinking. Why I choose to highlight only the later seasons of SNL a’s posted to the full fifty years?
They wrote, being perfectly honest, most of the people involved in making this list weren’t born until nineteen ninety. Okay, fair enough, let’s see what these millennials think. I’m looking at you number fifty here, and I already don’t even know what this sketch is, so I’m just gonna quick take. You can write me a letter and be like Johnny mag How do you not know what number fifty sketch? Mafia meeting is?
No idea, but I don’t want to bog down and analyze fifty sketches. I’m just going to quick take here. Number fifty is Mafia Meeting number forty nine. Mark Wahlberg talks to animals forty eight December to Remember car commercial. So far, this list sucks forty seven Colonel Angus forty six, Meatballs forty five, Welcome to Hell forty four Short shorts for the USA, Will Ferrell doing Will Ferrell things in short shorts?
Forty three traffic altercation? Are these? Ringing a Bell? Forty two? Dunken Donuts?
Forty one punk band reunion at the Wedding? Forty You’re a rat bastard? Charlie Brown thirty nine, What’s that name? Thirty eight Glengarry Glenn Christmas Elf motivation, Wow, this is bad. Thirty seven Bridesmaid’s speech, thirty six dream Home Cousins.
This list’s gonna get a lot better Isn’t it for? Thirty five Christmas Robe thirty four, Iran so Far, The Lonely Island thirty three, Mcgruber’s Sensitivity Training thirty two, Do It on My Own twin bed. Jeez, this list is terrible thirty one The Shooting AKA Dear Sister thirty Lisa from Temecula twenty nine, A Thanksgiving Miracle? When does this get good? Okay, it gets good here?
Twenty eight Star Wars on Undercover Boss, Star Killer Bass twenty seven, Sewn Spicer Press Conference, Now We’re Cooking twenty six, Dinner Lobster twenty five, The Iceberg on the sinking of the Titanic. That’s Bowen Yang in character twenty four, Farewell Mister Bunting twenty three, Super Showcase Spokesmodels, This is getting bad Again twenty two, Natalie Raps Danelly Portman twenty one, Chad Horror Movie twenty Washington’s Dream, Nate Brigetzi nineteen, The Day Beyonce Turned Black eighteen, Haunted Elevator featuring David S. Pumpkins. That’s only eighteen, That’s all right? Seventeen, Protective Mom sixteen, Wells for Boys fifteen, Totinos fourteen Katie Kuric interviews Sarah Palin thirteen, Debbie Downer, Disney World, twelve, The Actress, eleven, Meet Your Second Wife.
You know that’s way up there. I actually for real watched that again last night. Somebody had tweeted it. Ten Close Encounter. You remember Kate McKinnon in that one.
Pretty good? Nine step on Halloween’s Hottest Tips. Eight Lazy Sunday. That’s an old timer. Seven Mom Jean’s Okay.
Six of the Lawrence Welk Show. Five I’m on a Boat. By the way, if two of the top ten are Lonely Island sketches, think about that for a second. Four Papyrus, three, Blank in a Box. You remember that one with Justin Timberlake and again Lonely Island.
So they’re three of the top ten. Maybe we should give Lowly Island a show. Two Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks. That was fantastic, And according to Andy Wire, the number one SNL sketch of the twenty first century is Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton Addressed the Nation, Amy Polar and Tina Fey in character. There not the worst list I’ve ever seen.
Again, I’d have to do homework and come up with my own list, and I’m not going to do that. So it’s fine, but I feel like there should be better things, or maybe the things in my mind happened in the nineties and I’ve lost track of time. Anyway, let’s take the break here, we’ll come back and we’ll look at the top fifty cast member is according to USA Today. Okay, another list I haven’t looked at yet. I like to react.
This is from USA Today. SNL turns fifty. We ranked the best cast members over fifty seasons. One hundred and sixty seven cast members have appeared on the show. Here’s their list at number fifty.
Bowen Yang, he’s been on the show since twenty nineteen. Just gut react here. Now we’ve had one hundred and sixty seven. Do you think there are forty nine people better than Bowen Yang? He’s pretty strong.
I don’t know who else is on the list, so I can kind of have see who forty nine is because I half scrolled down. If Bowen Yang is fiftieth, this is a strong list. Forty nine Love It’s forty eight, Sherry O Terry forty seven. Nora done. There’s no way.
Nora Dun’s better than bo Yang. There’s no way Cherry O Terry’s better than Bowyang. But I’m not going to sit here and just nitpick the list. Just accept my premise that Bowen Yang should be higher up this list. I’m not going to keep going.
There’s no way he shows but at bow Yang forty six, Chris Parnell forty five, Julia Luis Dreyfus forty four, Arren Killem forty three, Sadekas forty two, mikey Day forty one, Seth Myers forty, Gene Curtain thirty nine, Beck Bennett he was on from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty one. Thirty eight, Tracy Morgan thirty seven, Lorraine Newman thirty six, Vanessa Bear thirty five, Leslie Jones thirty four, To Meadows thirty three, Heidi Gardner thirty two, Eighty Bryant thirty one, Chris Rock, Yeah, I think in terms of SNL, Chris Rock’s not the most memorable cast member thirty, Jimmy Fallon twenty nine, Will Forte twenty eight, Mike Myers. Mike was a pretty strong ensemble player. Let’s se who’s ahead of him. Molly Shannon at twenty seven, Chevy at twenty six, Norm at twenty five, and at Gasteyer at twenty four.
I’m not sure I agree with that ranking. Twenty three Andy Samberg. You know the guy who came up with three of the top ten sketches. Maybe we ought to have him a little higher Guys twenty two, Fred Ormiston twenty one, Sandler twenty Cecily Strong. I’m a big fan of hers nineteen, Bill Hayter eighteen, Tina seventeen, Darryl Hammond sixteen, Jana Hooks, who has been forgotten USA today, writes, Hooks was the every woman SNL desperately needed in the late eighties, grounding every sketch with her bright smile.
Fifteen, Rachel Dratch Yeah, fourteen, Bill Murray thirteen, Kristin Wig twelve, Keenan eleven, Dana Carvey ten, Maya Rudolph nine, Akrooyd eight, Kate McKinnon seven, Chris Forley six, Amy Poehler five, Will Ferrell, Okay, top five here Will Ferrell. I mean, I’m not the biggest Will fan, but clearly one of the all times on that show. Four Belushi, John Belushi Jim Belushi did not make the top fifty, but John Belushi. Three Gilda Radner, and poor Gilda has just been forgotten. I’m glad she’s high up on this list.
Two Phil Hartman and number one, the best cast member of all time on Saturday Night Live, Eddie Murphy. And they write no cast member has made a bigger impact on the show or created a better launching pad for the crew than Eddie Murphy. For five years, the man was sa l the lynchpin on which every sketch was built and every joke was centered. From mister Robinson’s neighborhood, which parodied Fred Rodgers with a biting satire of what white people think of the ghetto, to mannic mumbling little Rascal Buckwheat to a two four impression of James Brown singing and dancing in a hot tub. It was impossible to take your eyes off Murphy on Saturday Nights.
Yep, he was incredible. I’m going to call up the Wikipedia of who has been on the show and just see who they might have left out comes to mind. So what about somebody like Colin Jost who’s been a writer on the show and anchoring the show for was it a decade already? Victoria Jackson. She was pretty good.
That’s my era Dennis Miller, So, I guess we’re underrating the news desk. I mean Dennis Miller was a key part of that show. So same comment on Kevin Neil, and I guess we’re not really paying attention to the news desk. I mean, Joe Piscopo should have made that list. I’ll go back and look at the bottom of the list.
You know that was my SNL. I was a little young for the initial cast, but was definitely watching the Piscopale Murphy years. So just to scrape the bottom here, Bowen love at Scherio Terry, Like, you can’t tell me Joe Biscopo shouldn’t be head of Scherio Terry, Nora Dunn, Joe Piscopo, Come on, Joe bisco should be on this list. He was Drysdale to Eddie Murphy’s Cofax. He was the Keith Richards to Eddie Murphy’s Mick Jagger.
You know what I’m saying. Like pisk Po is a huge part of those shows. I know he’s been forgot, but pisk Po was great. He should be on the list. Colin Quinn again, no love for the News desk Ratio Sans didn’t make it, Rob Schneider didn’t make it, Spade didn’t make it.
Anyway, it’s just a list. I’m not gonna get too upset about it. Be curious to know who’s on your list. That’s a good conversation for the Facebook group Daily Comedy News podcast group. I will start that discussion.
You can show him in. Esquire asked does it Saturday Night Live still matter to young comedians? Abigail Covington tells us about Jess Engel. Jess was auditioning for SNL, a thirty year old comedian from Midland, Texas. She auditioned in front of Louren and Colin Jost.
Esquire writes, with a deep breath, she stepped into the light and delivered her set, a mix of stand up and character to work, focusing her gaze on Joe’s to friendlier face than the famously inscrutable Michaels spoil alert. She didn’t get on the show and doesn’t know why. She says, they don’t give you any feedback. Her team tried to console her with reminders of SNL’s low pay and brutal schedule, not to mention the fact that the show hardly mid’s movie stores like it used to, but it didn’t comfort her much. Esquire writes that her agent had a point.
First year cast members on SNL make around seven thousand dollars per episode, compare with the twenty thousand and fifty thousand dollars per episode that first time series regulars earn on network TV shows. Previous cast members have described it as a place where you’re always at risk, meaning that you’re only a few lousy sketches and unremarkable performances from getting canned. Now, interesting paragraph here, and I’m going to spotlight it when you hear my conversation tomorrow with Mike Chisholm from The Letterman podcast. We talked about a little of this, and I hadn’t read this article yet, so it’s interesting that this article says something I will say to you on tomorrow’s podcast. Esquire writes, things are different today.
Even with all his power, Lorne Michaels hasn’t been able to escape the realities of a contracting industry. Considered the reaching track records of productions from SNL alumni. Shrill starring Ady Bryant, was canceled after three seasons. There was something called Shrill, starring eighty Bryant that ran three seasons on What Where. I have no idea what that is.
The other two, created by two SNL head writers, ended abruptly amid allegations of workplace abuses. That was a good show too. Keenan Thompson’s Keenan lasted two shows before being canceled. Apple TV Plus dropped Cecily Strong’s Schmigadoon after two seasons. HBO has yet to renew Michael Chase That Damn Michael Chay for a third season.
Mcgruber got one season. Pete Davidson’s book GISs lasted eight episodes before Pete himself pulled the plug on it. I think that’s more about Pete than Lorn’s power. In twenty twenty two, Brian Austin Johnson told Mark Maron he doesn’t plan on ever leaving the show. He says, when I look at at the media landscape, what am I going to be doing in two years?
Where am I going to go next? I read that as the article has it? Did you catch there is no Brian Austin Johnson, It’s James Austin Johnson. I’ll leave it in Esquire has it as Brian and I just read it because I’m a talking horse. They then spoke to comedian Ashley Everhart, who says SNL’s not where people go to be discovered anymore.
It’s where discovered people go. I have people on my TikTok on my Instagram all the time saying why aren’t you on SNL. You should be on SNL, as if that’s the singular highest achievement. Hey, Lorne, call her bluff, offer her a spot. I want to hear her say no.
It’s like, congrats, you did it. You got the one salary job on the planet that aligns with this thing you’ve been training in. And our final SNL story of the Day. The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York will preserve a collection of the show’s creative papers from the first five years of the show. Loraine Newman and original writer Alan’s Wybell will guest curate the collection, which includes the script from the first SNL episode hosted by George Carlin, which airs win this is a quiz We’re paying attention on the first half the podcast.
When is it airing? That’s right Saturday night at eleven thirty Eastern Well. That script will go into the collection along with drafts for weekend Update segments. Early versions of the Blueshey Samurai sketches and the Gilded Radneck character known as Rosanna Rosanna are also included. It’s why Bell said, these papers are a rare encapsulation of the creative, chaos and revolutionary spirit of SNL’s formative years, when so many classic sketches and memorable characters were first brought to life.
It was a watershed moment in comedy history that I was fortunate to be part of, and I’m grateful to know that our contributions are being preserved by the National Comedy Center’s Carl Reiner Department of Archives and Preservations. That is your comedy news for today. Here’s the plan tomorrow. Mike Chisholm from the Letterman Pod and I talk for almost an hour. When Letterman went on Found the other day, I reached out to Mike and I was like, Hey, can we talk about Letteran for ten minutes and you lock us to in a zoom and we wind up going for an hour.
If you can’t wait for tomorrow, Mike releases the Letterman Pod on Friday. That is a video podcast. So if you’re curious what the heck I look like and you want to look at two middle aged guys in zoom boxes for an hour, that’s the thing you could do. The Letterman Pod also comes out in audio forms. You could just download that, or you know, wait till tomorrow.
Here’s what you do. Download Mike’s and then delete it. That way he gets credit for the download, and then listen to me tomorrow to support my advertisers. That’s a good plan, right, Yeah, No, Letterman POD’s really good. You used to check that out.
Sunday will be a normal episode, and if anything else with SNL develops between now and then, I’ll talk about it on Sunday. If you enjoy the program, tell a friend about it. They might like it too. If you’re a new listener who’s discovering this via the Letterman Pod or perhaps my new YouTube loop. In case you missed that, I just started a live stream.
It’s twenty four to seven the audio from the last two weeks of the podcast. The occasional guest in the mix. Kind of like a radio station that just plays Daily Comedy News. That’s how I’m programming it. I’m not overthinking it.
There’s no video. It just runs. You dive in, you go, oh that was good, or I’m sick of this guy on borared and you’d bail. It just runs twenty four to seven daily comed news podcast. But you obviously know how to download the thing.
I guess you do unless you’re listening on the stream. Anyway, I’m here seven days a week. I’mly gonna stop babbling. See you tomorrow.