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Showing posts with label Saturday Night Live. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saturday Night Live. Show all posts
Well folks, we made it. Christmas is here! For today, my final Advent gift is a selection of my 5 favorite Saturday Night Live holiday themed skits of all-time! I hope you will enjoy. Merry Christmas! #5 Michael Buble Christmas Duets
#4 John Malkovich's T'was the Night Before Christmas
#3 Christmas in Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood
#2 Scheddy Balls
and the #1 holiday SNL skit of all-time- Dick in a Box!
I feel like I neglected a national treasure. Yesterday I devoted A Madman Turns 40 to the debut of the Coneheads on Saturday Night Live. But there was another famous debut on SNL that night. I figured since episodes of the show start at 11:30 and end at 1am the following Sunday, I would be within the letter of the law celebrating this 40th anniversary milestone. So, here goes:
Happy 40th Anniversary Debut of Bill Murray!!!
We love Murray now. But things weren't so rosy for the comedian when he replaced Chevy Chase who departed for a solo movie career. But over time, not only did Bill Murray become a favorite member of the Not Ready for Prime-time Players cast, he went on to become an accomplished actor in his own right. Stripes, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, and What About Bob? None of these films would be quite as good without Bill Murray. (Caddyshack might, but I doubt it!)
I'd love to share with you Murray's first ever sketch on SNL. But the truth is, I can't find it anywhere. So, I'm going to share with you a clip of one of my all-time favorite sketches of Bill Murray as Nick the Lounge Singer. It's rather funny and quite fitting for 1977...
Enjoy-
50 bonus points if you can name the fella playing the piano.
Consume mass quantities, people as we celebrate another 40th anniversary today. It's on this date in history that the Coneheads debuted on Saturday Night Live!
(L-R) Curtin, Aykroyd, and Newman as the Coneheads, 1977.
Over a 3-year period, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, and Laraine Newman would portray the Coneheads; an alien trio with large conical bald heads, trying to integrate into society while posing as a French immigrant family. Aykroyd, who created the idea of the Coneheads, was Beldar, the patriarch, was an instructor as a driving academy. played the matriarch Prymatt and Newman was their daughter Connie.
Image from the very first Conehead sketch. January 15, 1977 Steve Martin (center) played a census taker.
During the run of the Coneheads, the aliens learned new earth cultures, such as trick-or-treating, going to the movies, and were even contestants on the Family Feud. They managed to turn the canival ring toss into a form of foreplay. But what the Coneheads were most known for was the consumption of mass quantities.
The Coneheads would drink an entire six-pack at one time. When learning to smoke, they lit the entire pack of menthols on fire. Liquid paper, wood shavings, and shaving cream were destined to become the Coneheads next snack.
Character study of Aykroyd's Beldar Character, from the 1983 animated special.
In 1979, Dan Aykroyd and buddy John Belushi left SNL. The Coneheads went with the comedian. But that wasn’t the end of the Coneheads. In 1983, Rankin Bass produced an animated special about the Coneheads in hopes of becoming a full series. Though it featured the voice talents of the original actors and now considered a cult classic, the cartoon Coneheads never made it past the pilot.
Official trailer to the 1994 live-action film.
The Coneheads returned again, this time is the 90s as a feature length film. Newcomer Michelle Burke replaced Laraine Newman in the of role of Connie. A Marvel comic about the family's exploits after the events of the film was also released. Both were bombs. But the 2015 commercial where Beldar and Prymatt converse with Jake from Planet State Farm was a critical success and a very memorable Super Bowl ad at that. (Laraine Newman would return to the role of Connie later that year as the Coneheads take Jake to France.)
Cover to the first issue of the short-lived 1994 Marvel comic.
Finally, I have to admit, my wife got it right! A few years ago, she made me the really awesome shirt which lists all kinds of great things that were introduced in 1977 (including a certain Madman.) She had Coneheads on the list. I never told her, but I thought she was wrong and that they came about way earlier, like in 1975 when the show debuted.
It's Halloween night, Spider-Man’s least favorite time of the year. Costumes make it hard to determine whose a villain and who just dressed up like the Red Skull for kicks. So when Spidey tangles with a C-list villain named Fumes, whose suit malfunctions, the wall crawler gets accidentally knocked unconscious.
It's Halloween night, Ronnie's favorite night of the year. Dressed as Spider-Man and drunk as a skunk, Ronnie has already been kicked out of 3 bars and if it wasn't for his best buds, some dudes dressed up as the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus would've killed him for barfing on them.
In the ultimate case of mistaken identity, Ronnie ends up getting kidnapped by Fumes’ gang while Spider-Man is taken to Ronnie's apartment to ‘sleep it off’ while the creeps dressed as his archenemies lurk outside.
This comedy of errors was perfectly crafted by Saturday Night Live cast mates Bill Hader and Seth Meyers. The story was laugh out loud funny and I thought it was one of the most original Spider-Man stories in a very long time.
The rest of this book was a collection of tales from the anthology series Spider-Man Family. In these yarns, Aunt May dons her nephew Peter's costume to become Spider-May and protect her neighborhood. Then the Spectacular Spider-Ham’s daughter May-Day Porker becomes a super hero in her own right. Lastly are a couple of adventures starring female characters that I have never heard of: the mysterious Jackpot and the parkour web series star Screwball.
I enjoyed all of these segments but they just don't hold a candle to the Short Halloween. Lately the best Marvel stories have been told by non-Marvel writers. Could it be that the House Of Ideas has run out of them and so they have to outsource? This collection of Spider-Man tales seems to say yes.
This is not a joke. This is not a dream. In 1978, Spider-man really did team with the original not-ready-for-prime-time-players of Saturday Night Live!!!
In perhaps the most bizarre comic of all-time, the mutant Silver Samurai and his goon’s take SNL hostage as he searches for an ancient Chinese ring that John Belushi happens to be wearing. Thankfully, Peter Parker had tickets to watch a live taping of the show with Stan Lee hosting. With the building locked, the only hero in the building is Spidey. So, with the help of the cast of Saturday Night Live, the wall-crawler manages to save the day.
There are hi-jinx galore- Garrett Morris as a Black Thor (Shouldn't he be Ant-Man???), Belushi goes Samurai Delicatessen vs. Silver Samurai, and Waldorf and Stadler from the Muppet Show even make an odd cameo.
I love this issue. It’s so bizarre and strange. I’ve been searching for it for just about forever. Great art, though Bill Murray looks nothing like himself. But a good job on renderings of everybody else.
A note for Essential Marvel Team-Up collectors: This issue is not reprinted in any of the 4 volumes currently on the market. That’s probably because Marvel doesn’t have the license for the SNL product anymore or there’s some royalty tie-ups with the Belushi and Gilda Radner estates.
Madcap fun- Worth Consuming. Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
