If something were to go awry on the live East Coast version of the show, would they (or have they) edited it for the West Coast show (three hours later)? When Martin Lawrence was on a few years ago, he went into some bizarre rant which was subsequently edited out of the reruns seen on Comedy Central. In fact, they ran a disclaimer during his monologue where the raunchy bits were.
Did the West Coast get Sinead O’Connor ripping up the picture of the Pope?
The only instance of west-coast censoring that comes to mind was Charles Rocket’s “F*CK” that made it on the air in the east but was bleeped or cut in the west.
Norm MacDonald did that once on Weekend Update and was subsequently fired. (shame, too, since he was the best anchor they had until Fallon and Fey.) He snubbed a line and blurted out “Oh f*ck. (long pause) I mean, um, OH DRAT.” Did that make it onto the West Coast broadcast?
-Dirty
I thought Norm MacDonald was fired because some NBC exec thought he wasn’t funny, or something.
We got Sinead ripping up the Pope, and there ain’t much more West than us.
And I think Otto’s right, there was a bunch of stuff going on around MacDonald, part of which is he did a lot of OJ Simpson jokes and someone higher than him is friends with him, something like that… don’t quote me.
I think people who live in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawai’i would beg to differ about who is farthest west.
I gathered MacDonald left because his own new show, Norm, was about to go into production.
Norm was fired because NBC execs. thought he wasn’t funny. That is why it was funny when they asked him to host a year later. He commented on it in his monologue, saying that either he has gotten a lot more funny in 1 year or the show has lowered itself below his original unfunny level.
Well either way, he said “f**k” on TV about a week or so before he got fired.
And he’s still the best anchor they had 'til Fallon and Fey, IMHO.
Didn’t mean to hijack the thread. Sorry 'bout that, Mr. Blue Sky.
-Dirty
I always heard Norm was let go due to his numerous OJ jokes, and one of the executives was a close personal friend of the murderer. Oops, did I say murderer? I meant former football player. Lousy typos.
I do remember the next week Norm mentioned his slipup on the air. So he was at least on one more week.
If you love SNL this is a cool site.
http://www.saturday-night-live.com/
Relevant info to this thread from their (HUGE) FAQ
IT hasn’t always gone live on the EAST Coast
Q: How many times has the show been broadcast on a seven-second delay?
A: Two times: December 13, 1975 (Host: Richard Pryor) and May 12, 1990 (Host: Andrew Dice Clay).
Q: How many times has an “SNL” player said the word “fuck” on the air?
A: Three times. Paul Shaffer mistakingly said it instead of “fluck” on March 15, 1980 (100th Anniversary Show); Charles Rocket exclaimed, " … who the fuck did it?," on February 21, 1981 (Host: Charlene Tilton); Norm Macdonald let it slip during “Weekend Update” on April 12, 1997 (Host: Rob Lowe).
Q: How many complaints did NBC receive after Norm Macdonald said “fuck” on air?
A: Two complaints.
Q: How many people called in supporting Macdonald?
A: Three calls of support.
Q:How many complaints did NBC receive after Sinead O’ Connor tore up a picture of the pope?
A: 4,484 complaints.
Q: How many people called in supporting O’Connor?
A: 725 calls of support.
Q: How many complaints did NBC receive about Martin Lawrence’s monologue?
A: 627 complaints.
Q: How many people called in supporting Lawrence?
A: Three calls of support.
What was Martin Lawrence’s monologue?
I’m just shocked Charlene Tilton was ever a host!
I had the misfortune of actually seeing Martin Lawrence’s desperately unfunny monologue. As I recall, it had something to do with how women don’t keep their butts clean enough. Seriously.
Their vaginas, actually. He complained about an encounter with a woman suffering from a yeast infection, which left him with a croissant on his upper lip.
[sub]I thought it was funny[/sub]