SNL controversial hosts

[zbuzz]

@That_Don_Guy

Reportedly, she and Milton Berle are the only two hosts that not only would Lorne Michaels say he would never invite back, but made it a point to not air their episodes in reruns; I’m not sure they were even made available on video.

@nearwildheaven

I have heard that the show that Frank Zappa hosted is also unavailable on video.

The Milton Berle, Louise Lasser and Frank Zappa episodes are all available on DVD.

edit to add
I don’t have a Peacock subscription to verify, but those episodes are also all apparently available to stream as well, or at least they are listed under their respective seasons.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@zbuzz

I think there’s probably a meaningful distinction between bad hosts (Milton Berle, Louise Lasser, Steven Seagal) and controversial hosts.

I do too. If everyone agrees they were bad, where’s the controversy?

[Knowed_Out]

I vaguely remember Zappa hosting, and all I can recall is the recurring joke that he didn’t do drugs.

Pete Davidson said during the week Trump hosted, they were all at a table read and Trump left to answer a phone call. He came back and told them “My book just hit number one!” Davidson said his phone didn’t even ring.

[solost]

@Knowed_Out

Pete Davidson said during the week Trump hosted, they were all at a table read and Trump left to answer a phone call. He came back and told them “My book just hit number one!” Davidson said his phone didn’t even ring.

Speaking of Pete Davidson and controversial SNL hosts, Pete has a story about how when Louis C.K. hosted the show he tried to get Davidson fired. Not that Louis C.K. was controversial…at the time.

How Louis C.K. Tried to Fire Pete Davidson off of SNL

[Little_Nemo]

@Knowed_Out

Pete Davidson said during the week Trump hosted, they were all at a table read and Trump left to answer a phone call. He came back and told them “My book just hit number one!” Davidson said his phone didn’t even ring.

I love a good Trump bashing story as much as the next guy. But phones can be set to silent vibrate mode.

[Little_Nemo]

@zbuzz

I think there’s probably a meaningful distinction between bad hosts (Milton Berle, Louise Lasser, Steven Seagal) and controversial hosts.

And I feel there’s a meaningful distinction between hosts who were controversial for things that were public knowledge at the time they were host and hosts who have retrospectively become controversial for things which became public knowledge after they hosted.

[Elmer_J.Fudd]

Moving on from controversial to just plain abusive and obnoxious, the (usually non confrontational) Will Ferrell has stated that the absolute worst host he ever had to work with was Chevy Chase.

[zimaane]

Chevy Chase got into a physical altercation with Bill Murray right before Chase went on to do his monologue as SNL host. The backstory, iirc, is that Chase had been a cast member, then left for Hollywood, and the remaining cast members resented him for his success. To add to the conflict, Chase was a boorish jerk who bossed people around. The rampant drug use among everyone involved didn’t help, obviously.

[Knowed_Out]

I think it was apparent to Davidson and the others that Trump deliberately put on a show, figuring it would have more of an impact if he announced it like it was breaking news.

[Little_Nemo]

Sure, I agree that’s probably what happened. Trump was lying to make himself look better is a pretty safe bet.

[Intergalactic_Gladiator]

When Robin Williams hosted in the 80s, the show wasn’t actually live, they had a 7 second delay in case he said something too out there in his monologue.

[JeffB]

I knew about Richard Pryor and Andrew Dice Clay being on a delay, but I had never heard that Robin Williams was, so I searched. According a couple of sites, the only other one was Sam Kinison. From Live but Delayed | Tropedia | Fandom

The three SNL episodes that were on seven-second delay were: the Richard Pryor episode from season 1 (1975), the Sam Kinison episode from season 12 (1986), and the Andrew “Dice” Clay episode from 1990 (season 15).

[Smapti]

@Little_Nemo

But phones can be set to silent vibrate mode.

As if someone whose entire personality is “LOOK AT HOW IMPORTANT I AM” wouldn’t want the entire room to know every time he gets a phone call.

[zbuzz]

@Little_Nemo

@zbuzz

I think there’s probably a meaningful distinction between bad hosts (Milton Berle, Louise Lasser, Steven Seagal) and controversial hosts.

And I feel there’s a meaningful distinction between hosts who were controversial for things that were public knowledge at the time they were host and hosts who have retrospectively become controversial for things which became public knowledge after they hosted.

That’s funny because I originally included that in my post, but decided to delete it so as to not get too far into the weeds.

[Tamerlane]

@solost

Kanye West: By all accounts in full ‘lapsed meds’ mode at the time, having had a meltdown before the show and had to be coaxed into performing, then showed up at the end wearing a MAGA hat.

@solost

Speaking of Pete Davidson and controversial SNL hosts,

I found Pete Davidson’s recap of that on SNL pretty amusing, mostly for the video replay showing him quietly slinking off stage as Kanye started his rant.

Weekend Update: Pete Davidson on Kanye West - SNL

[CairoCarol]

@nearwildheaven

There was also the 1988 program where musician Paul Simon was the host, and presidential candidate Paul Simon walked out with him at the beginning of the show.

“I thought they wanted me!”

“Really? I thought they wanted me instead!”

I vaguely remember that episode. Despite having an apparently well deserved reputation as kind of an ass, Simon was pretty cool, IIRC - he sang one of his popular songs (maybe it was “Still Crazy After All These Years,” I can’t recall) while wearing a chicken suit.

But I don’t know how having the two Paul Simons would count as controversial.

[GrunthosTheFlatulent]

Zappa was uncooperative during the writing stage, went off script during his intro, and tried to sabotage the sketches he was in.

His reputation was surely well known by then so I don’t know what Lorne Michaels thought would happen.

[nearwildheaven]

I heard the same thing about Eddie Murphy.

[SunUp]

@CairoCarol

I vaguely remember that episode. Despite having an apparently well deserved reputation as kind of an ass, Simon was pretty cool, IIRC - he sang one of his popular songs (maybe it was “Still Crazy After All These Years,” I can’t recall) while wearing a chicken suit.

IIRC, they had a skit that episode where the joke was that Paul Simon was being introduced to different people, and he remembered everybody - the person at the concert in Central Park who was sitting on a particular blanket under a particular tree, the person who had to return one of his albums to the record store because the first one they bought was scratched, etc. - until he shook hands with one person he didn’t recognize…

Art Garfunkel.

So maybe a little controversial for that?

[solost]

@CairoCarol

I vaguely remember that episode. Despite having an apparently well deserved reputation as kind of an ass, Simon was pretty cool,

I believe Paul Simon and Lorne Michaels are friends. Dana Carvey on his ‘Fly on the Wall’ podcast had an anecdote about Lorne’s casual name-dropping: “I’m having lunch with Paul today. Would you like to join us?” Leaving Carvey to wonder “Paul Simon? Paul McCartney?”