# Remember G.E. Smith from SNL? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244 "2020-07-04T02:58:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/1 "2020-07-04T02:58:03Z")
G.E. plays Mike Bloomfield’s Telecaster. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-B4yavD9AEY/maxresdefault.jpg "G.E. Smith Jams on the Guitar That Killed Folk!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B4yavD9AEY) ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/2 "2020-07-04T03:02:44Z")
I remember him. He was also Hall and Oates lead guitarist through the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/3 "2020-07-04T03:05:01Z")
G.E. Smith toured with Bob Dylan, and is a good friend and sometimes musical companion to Jorma Kaukonen. The dude has genuine credibility. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/4 "2020-07-04T03:37:05Z")
I remember him from SNL and saw him play with Bob Dylan and also with Moonalice. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/5 "2020-07-04T12:14:40Z")
I recall the hullabaloo when Dylan turned electric. I was 8. Older sis was pissed (she was a folkie), but I thought is was great! She eventually came around, later turning me on to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Hendrix, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/6 "2020-07-04T14:44:36Z")
He was Gilda Radner’s first husband. They were married for two years. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/7 "2020-07-04T15:18:42Z")
If I recall correctly, he is the only SNL bandleader who had his name attached to the band and mentioned in the opening credits (“G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band.”) ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/8 "2020-07-04T15:58:46Z")
There’s a long interview with him that was done a few years ago by the Television Academy Foundation as part of a series of interviews of people that had made interesting contributions to American Television. It’s fantastic. He may be a better storyteller than guitarist even. I’ll post the link to the full 2.5 hour chat here, but know that it’s broken up on YouTube into segments about specific things if you want smaller bites. I’m not necessarily a fanboy of his, but he’s been in the right place at the right time so often and has so many amazing stories that I don’t know how you’d not love this. > **[G.E. Smith](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/ge-smith)** > > In his two-and-a-half hour Archive interview, G.E. Smith talks about his early life, how he first got into music, getting his first guitar, and joining his first band. He describes attending a broadcast of the show Hootenanny and then later, in 1969,... ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-g-e-smith-from-snl/914244/9 "2020-07-04T16:31:56Z")
Howard Shore got lots of shots like “Howard Shore and his All Nurse Band” wth Lily Tomlin. He was a character on the show anyway.