…the third blade taunts the whisker; the fourth threatens its family, leaving the fifth to cut in cleanly and smoothly.
I recently grabbed the first razor I found in the drawer—a single blade. Let’s just say you can never go back.
Wow, did he not have the opening down. “The Not For Ready Prime Time Players”
The writers really hated writing for the Muppets. Michael O’Donoghue once famously said “I don’t write for felt.”
But the Muppets “World of Gorch” segments were minor classics. Like most on this episode, they took a little time finding themselves, but once they got going, there was some great stuff, and I loved seeing it again (The Great Favog and Scred have always been two of my favorite Muppets; you can see Favog in this sketch, but it took a few before Scred was fully developed as a character).
I noticed most the sloppiness of the execution. There were technical errors (a slide shown too early in Weekend Update) and a real feeling that the actors weren’t comfortable yet. It seemed like they just didn’t rehearse enough and vowed afterwards to work on it.
I thought he did that on purpose. He’s a Not For Ready Prime Time Announcer.
Nope, it was a choke.
A lot of that material was “out of the trunk,” material that various of the writers and cast had written and performed before, precisely so the cast would feel more comfortable on-air. All of the cast had live audience experience but I don’t think any of them had any television work. The notorious “Wolverines” sketch was right out of the trunk, as was the WU joke about the prostitution stamp (Alan Zweibel).
As seen in the link you post, the actual on-script spellings were Gortch and Fuvog, although the names are usually given (even in official Henson materials) as Gorch and Favog.
O’Donoghue also wrapped a Big Bird doll in Henson’s dressing room curtain to make it look like it was being hanged.
The actors didn’t like them either- John Belushi famously called them “the mucking Fuppets.”
As was the “Sleeping Juror” sketch (which sometimes has a different punchline).
Not all of them. Gilda Radner wasn’t bothered by the Muppets and even did a guest shot on “The Muppet Show” a few years later.
As for the other cast members and writers, I think the hatred for the Muppets had a lot to do with the “puppets=kid stuff” belief that many people had at the time and the fear that they would end up being overshadowed by the aforementioned “pieces of felt.” Everybody’s familiar with the old show biz adage about never working with dogs or children. You can also add puppets to the list. When SNL began in 1975, nobody knew who Chevy Chase, John Belushi, et al., were but everybody knew the Muppets. Thus, to many of the cast members and writers who were getting their first big break, there was the possibility that their stuff would be considered an afterthought among viewers who would be tuning in just to see the stand-up comic that would be hosting that week (SNL was originally conceived as a showcase for comedians like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Lily Tomlin to do their material without having to worry too much about prime time censorship and abbreviated time slots), the crazy stuff the Muppets would do, and whatever then-hot musical guest(s) they had on. In retrospect, it’s easy to say the Muppets didn’t belong on SNL but going in, many thought they had a good chance to upstage everything else on the show.
That sketch reminded me why I prefer the early years – the sketches didn’t drag on and on and on.
So when did the show change from Saturday Night to Saturday Night Live?
Reportedly, “Saturday Night Live” was always the intended name of the show, but ABC beat them to the punch with “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell.” When Howard went off the air, NBC purchased the rights and the show officially changed names in 1977. Confusingly, they continued opening with the phrase “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Chevy Chase (surprisingly, given his reputation) also liked them, as did Lily Tomlin.
The Muppets were certainly a draw, but Henson used them to deal with themes that were considerably more adult than anything else he was doing. Sex and adultery were not only implied, but portrayed. Like many of the comedians, he welcomed the chance to do something without prime time censorship.
Wow - Lily was quite the cutie back in the day.
While we’re on the topic of comedy being upstaged by real life, what about the mock Geritol ad with Chevy and O’ Donoghue as a married couple? Somehow that now doesn’t seem so shocking and silly like it did in 1975. (Incidentally, I was a little disappointed there wasn’t some sort of variation on the real Geritol ad’s notorious “My wife–I think I’ll keep her” tag-line that earned it the ire of feminists.)
Also, I wonder how many of the people seeing the Carlin SNL episode for the first time would know that the “Show us your guns” film was a direct parody of the Lark Cigarettes “Show us your Larks!” ad campaign that used to air in the days before cigarette commercials were banned from TV.
Finally, on a purely superficial note, did anybody think Valerie Bromfield (the female comic who did a very-rushed routine in the latter half of the show) looked kind of cute? Sort of a cross between Martha Plimpton and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Along with the short sketches (note to the current SNL staff: less is more), there weren’t really any sketches that relied on lampooning a celebrity. How long before they started doing impressions, and those type of acts? I know it’s asking a lot to want them to write something funny, rather than going the easy route and mocking some overexposed celebrity.
The razor commercial and the Geritol commercial were both a bit dated though.
Who played the judge? I definitely recognize him from something, but IMDb isn’t helping.
I had forgotten that. He also wrote one of the last sketches for them, in which Fuvog offers to help Lorne in his goal of reuniting The Beatles. (Sadly, that never happened.)
The actor’s name was George Coe. He was originally a regular because Lorne Michaels thought it would be a good idea to have an older actor to play judges, corporate executives, etc. He was dropped after a couple of episodes, but made a few appearances later. Since then he’s enjoyed a long career of playing – judges, etc.
As for lampooning celebrities, that started with the “Dangerous But Inept” interview with Squeaky Fromme in episode #3 and the brilliant Candace Bergen as Catherine Deneuve perfume ad parody in episode #4.
IIRC, Michaels offered the Beatles $3,000 to perform on the show. “That’s $1,000 a piece - you give Ringo whatever you think he’s worth.” (or words to that effect).
Which reflects very badly on the two. The muppets, when being mediocre, outshine all but the very best of SNL.
I watched it though, and I must admit, the SNL muppets were far from being at their best.
Do you mean “weren’t at their best”? Because that sketch was not the least bit funny.