Funny moments from years 1975-1979 of Saturday Night Live. For the main index, see here.
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- This Just In! Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!
- "Jane, you ignorant slut."
"Dan, you pompous ass." - From the original cast, the Ronco Bassomatic '76 commercial.
- Lorne Michaels trying to bribe The Beatles to come on the show...with $3,000. "You can split up the money however you want. If you want to give Ringo less, that's fine."
- Turned into a really lost opportunity when you find out that Paul McCartney and John Lennon were in Lennon's New York apartment that night watching the show, and seriously considered taking a taxi down to Rockerfeller Plaza and taking Lorne up on his offer.
- In a second-season episode, Paul Simon opened the show by performing "Still Crazy After All These Years" in a turkey costume, but stopped mid-song and left the stage because it was too silly. As he walks backstage, the camera catches Lorne Michaels talking to musical guest George Harrison, explaining that the money was for all 4 of the Beatles, and that he wouldn't be able to cash in alone.
- Sixteen years later, during an episode hosted by Alec Baldwin, this brief exchange between Lorne and that night's musical guest:
Lorne Michaels:: I just assumed George would have given you the money..Paul McCartney: No, I-I never even heard from George..Lorne Michaels: I mean, I can't be responsible for that. I mean, he said that he would take care of the band.. - The classic Richard Pryor-Chevy Chase racist word association sketch - taking Refuge in Audacity to a whole new level and forever cementing SNL's reputation as the edgy late-night show where anything can happen (scripted or otherwise).
- From 1978, it's the new live entertainment sensation — Elvis Presley's Coat! See his coat live on stage and hear the legendary songs! You may have seen those imitation coat shows but this is the real deal! (This Parody Commercial is also Hilarious in Hindsight; in addition to the Elvis merchandising, tribute shows, and so on that persist to this day, the Los Angeles Times's review of Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour compared its approach to this skit's premise.)
- "The Last Voyage of the Starship 'Enterprise'". A hilarious takeoff on Star Trek: The Original Series, as the crew faces their greatest threat: cancellation by NBC. Features Chevy Chase as Mr. Spock, Dan Aykroyd as McCoy (and the voice of Scotty), and John Belushi as Kirk.
- From season two: in an episode aired in January, 1977 (hosted by Fran Tarkentonnote ), "Weekend Update" opens with Jane Curtin reading a letter from a female viewer who complains that Curtain doesn't have the sex appeal of her predecessor, Chevy Chase. Curtin replies that she thought viewers were interested in good journalism, rather than sex and lowest common denominator entertainment, but that she was evidently wrong. She closes her reply with, "All I can say is, try these for size Connie Chung!", ripping open her blouse and showing her bra. As the audience roars, she adds, "If it's raw thrills you want, it's raw thrills you're going to get!" And she spends the rest of the segment throwing suggestive glances at the camera between stories.
- From Season four: in an episode aired in November, 1978, host Buck Henry gives his monologue, talking about how much he appreciates being asked back to host and how the people on the show appreciate him. While he's talking, a roller caption informs the audience that Buck's wrong. Actually, the writers were exhausted after working hard on the previous show, hosted by Steve Martin. By comparison, Buck is so low key that his show is like having a week off. Then, the caption notes that Carrie Fisher would host next week's show and that the writers had seen Star Wars several times in preparation. They then start running the gunport sequence from the movie, followed by a list of a few ideas they're working on (like "Star Whores" and "Car Wars"). All the while, Buck continues his monologue without a break. This was the second time they'd run captions over Buck's monologue, and they'd do a variation of the gag when he returned for the season's finale.
- From season two: John Belushi doing an editorial on "the luck of the Irish". He quickly turns it into a speech about the "bad luck of the Irish", which then turns into an extended rant about his friend Dan Sullivan, a "drunken, Irish junkie", with Jane Curtin trying in vain to calm him down. As with his other editorials, it escalates until he collapses in apoplexy.
- From season 4, "The Pepsi Syndrome." Despite running 14(!!!) minutes long, it's one of the, if not the only, long sketches to have a hilarious pay-off.
- This was included in a 1992 compilation special tying in to that year's Presidential election, since Jimmy Carter is one of the characters in it. Amusingly, the length issue was handled by Dana Carvey's Ross Perot coming out to fast-forward past some extraneous banter, explaining that while the skipped part was funny, "It's not hee-haw funny".
- The earliest political skits involving Chevy Chase playing Gerald Ford as a befuddled, accident-prone klutz. Chase may not have looked anything like Ford, but he overplayed the mannerisms and goofiness so well that Ford could never shake the klutz image in Real Life (Ford was, thankfully, good-humored about it).
- Topped by the parodying of the Ford-Carter debates (with Akyroyd playing Carter) where Ford would get confused and think he was playing on the Name That Tune game show.
Ford (after an honestly confusing question involving the federal budget): It was my understanding that there would be no math. - "Samurai Hotel", the first Samurai Sketch, featuring John Belushi and Richard Pryor as feuding hotel-clerk samurai. two words: YO MAMA-SAN!
- From the 1979 episode hosted by Michael Palin. "The Adventures of Miles Cowperthwaite" A sketch similar to an episode of Palin's Ripping Yarns series. It is purportedly based on a 19th century novel about a British orphan(Palin) who becomes a cabin boy on a ship "The Raging Queen".
- Dan Aykroyd as "Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute".
- Garrett Morris as frequent Weekend Update commentator Dominican baseball player Chico Esquela when he tried to go back to spring training with his old team the Mets despite being 41 and having written a tell-all book about them. And when he says his Catchphrase. "Basa-ball been berry, berry good to me."
- Steve Martin dressed as and singing about "King Tut".
- There's a season four episode where Franken and Davis perform a skit about male beauty pageants. Davis's dance for the talent portion must be seen to be believed.
- Desi Arnaz displaying various other concepts that were trotted out for I Love Lucy, like one where Lucy never actually appears and Ricky just brags about seeing her, Ricky being an abusive husband, or just professing his love for asparagus. What really makes it work is his utterly stone-faced explanations for each one, really selling the concept that these were somehow genuine pitches.
- Another great Richard Pryor moment comes when he plays Father Karras in a parody of The Exorcist. Demanding the levitating bed be on the floor has the obvious result: "The bed is on my foot!"
- The Lifer Follies skit, in which prison inmates perform the songs they've composed as part of an outreach program with a local theater group:Inmate: (singing) "I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whities I see! I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whities I see—" (guards drag him away)
- Season 4's Carrie Fisher/The Blues Brothers: Carrie Fisher and Gilda Radner play Joan and Jean Loud, the teenage daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Loud who all speak with No Indoor Voice. This leads to awkwardness when their dates try to share a joint with them while their parents are asleep...Joan: WOW, THIS IS GREAT POT!
Jean: YEAH, ONE PUFF AND I’M SO STONED! - Midway through his infamous "Limo for a Lame-O" rant, Al Franken pulls out a list of the top ten TV shows of the 1979-1980 season, noting the amount of As, Bs, and Cs; representing ABC and CBS; before asking the audience if they see any Ns (for NBC). Immediately, an audience member hollers "No!"
