MovieChat Forums > Psycho (1960) Discussion > NOT OT: TONIGHT, February 16, 2025 -- T...

NOT OT: TONIGHT, February 16, 2025 -- The 50th Anniversary Special of Saturday Night Live

posted 5 days ago by roger1 (4046)
24 replies | jump to latest

First of all, WHY not OT?

Because Psycho crossed paths with Saturday Night Live at least twice:

ONE: On March 13, 1976, Anthony Perkins HOSTED Saturday Night Live. This was mid-way through the second season, when the show was really picking up steam. Chevy Chase would leave that year, and Bill Murray would come aboard and this was "appointment television."

During his hosting gig, Perkins hosted a sketch AS Norman Bates(in a nice mock-up of the motel office, complete with birds and owls) and pitched "the Norman Bates school of motel management" with questions from a sample quiz:

"Question One: A guest loses the key to her motel room Would you:

a. Give her a duplicate key
b. Let her in with your passkey
c. Hack her to death with a kitchen knife.

"Question Two: Which of the following is the most important in running a successful motel?

a. Cordial atmosphere.
b. Courteous service.
c. Hack her to death with a kitchen knife.

--

It was pretty funny and the thing to remember is that , in 1976, while Anthony Perkins STILL had the role of Norman Bates hanging over him, he had not yet TRULY cashed the role out and run it into the ground as he would in the 80's and early 90s with Psychos II,III and IV. There was only ONE Psycho and SNL cashed in on the film's growing popularity and availablity on TV, at college screenings, and at revival houses in the 70s.

TWO: To promote Gus Van Sant's shot by shot remake of Psycho, Big and Tall Vince Vaughn hosted. In his opening monologue, VV used that phrase ("Gus Van Sant's shot by shot remake of Psycho") and the "ghost of Alfred Hitchocck" (SNL's then-ace impressionist Darrell Hammond) sputtered "WHO's WHAT BY WHAT WHAT OF WHAT?!!"

Vaughn went on to do a sketch spoof of Psycho with the very funny Cheri Oteri(one of my favorite unsung SNLers) played some version of Mother.

---

SNL premiered in October of 1975, right after the Summer of Jaws, and incorporated Jaws into sketches in a funny way: with the famous music (duh-duh duh-duh, duh-duh) accompanying a paper mache "shark head" that would come through the front doors of apartment dwellers and eat them. The gag: Chevy Chase's very soft-voiced come ons through the door:

Doorbell rings:

Woman to closed door: Who is it?
Chase: Telegram...
Woman: What?
Chase: Candy gram.
And she would open the door and get ate.

And yes, around college the quietly voice phrase "telegram...candy gram" was hip for awhile. That's right. Hip. Well, we thought so.

The Exorcist also got a great sketch in season one. They converted the two exorcists at the end into African American men: host Richard Pryor as the young one and Thalmus Rasula played the old one and Laraine Newman played the possessed girl and we got this famous line

Newman(to Pryor, in devil voice): Your mother sews socks that smell! (A cleaned up line from the movie)
Pryor(suddenly enraged): What you say about my mamma?!! (Throttles girl, exorcises her.)

So yeah, Saturday Night Live in the 70's got 'em all spoofed: Jaws, The Exorcist, Psycho...in that order of priority and actually got Norman Bates to host one show.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 5 days ago

I look forward to seeing this tonight.

I've seen every such anniversary special -- I think the last one was the 40th, and that one was spectacular to watch.

Spectacular in that Eddie Murphy finally appeared after boycotting earlier anniversary specials over SNL's "disrespect"(he felt he single-handedly saved the show from cancellation and David Spade did a bit about "falling star" (Murphy.)

Spectacular in that Jerry Seinfeld from the stage questioned Larry David in the audience and the exchange went like this(paraphased)

Seinfeld: Larry David! Look at you.
Larry: Hey.
Seinfeld: Is it true that you were fired as a writer on Saturday Night Live in your first year?
Larry: Yeah.
Seinfeld: And yet, you go on -- with me -- to create the most successful and highly rated comedy series of all time -- with ratings that can never be repeated in this new era.
Larry: That's right.
Seinfeld: And you're a multi-milionaire!
Larry: Yes.
Seinfeld: But they fired you.
Larry: Uh....yeah!

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 5 days ago

Spectacular in that the audience for that 40th Anniversary was filled with many of the movie stars, TV stars and public figures who had hosted the show.

At the 40th, Taylor Swift was seated not too far from Donald Trump. As I post this -- February 16, 2025, last week Swift and Trump were seated together again -- hundreds of yards apart - at the Super Bowl.

In short, that audience of stars and the stars who appeared on stage reflected the fact that -- for a few decades at least, Saturday Night Live WAS an institution, highly watched, highly quoted.

I'd say "not so much," anymore. Yes, thank to the internet, the program is basically available for instant replay both "night of and day after" -- but that's "artificial." Back in the day, people made time for it, talked about it, made movie stars out of a significant percentage of the cast, etc.

Meanwhile, NBC aired the original first episode of Saturday Night (Live) from October of 1975 that is the subject of the 2024 movie on Saturday February 15, the night before the 50th Aniversary special.

That pilot and this nights special is perhaps a true time for celebration of "what once was" .

Noted:

Eddie Murphy will again return to participate after his rather "quick" participation in the 40th and total non-participation in the 10th, 20th, and 30th.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 5 days ago

Noted:

Of the original Not Ready for Prime Time players, two are dead and cannot attend -- John Belushi and Gilda Radner. Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garett Morris and Laraine Newman WILL return. That leaves Dan Ackroyd, who, surprisingly has announced he cannot make it. That's strange and sad to me -- if there was one guy who always seemed to support the show it was Ackroyd.

He wasn't so funny in movies, but he was funny on the show. In movies in the 80's, he ended up behind just Harrison Ford as the highest earning movie star -- BECAUSE Ackroyd graciously played second-fiddle to bigger comedy stars: John Belushi in The Blues Brothers and Neighbors(and then Belushi died); Eddie Murphy in Trading Places, Bill Murray in Ghostbusters. Chevy Chase in Spies Like Us. Plus Dan Ackroyd starred in a lousy comedy called Dr. Detroit but got his va-va-voom wife Donna Dixon out of that one. And Dan Ackroyd did Driving Miss Daisy for a percentage -- and got rich off of THAT one too. And Ackroyd was IN a movie with Harrison Ford -- a cameo in Temple of Doom -- which added to his 80's total.

But...he'll be a no-show tonight. That's too bad.

PS. Last year, after decades of marriage, Dan Ackroyd and Donna Dixon announced they are breaking up and will ive separately -- but will not divorce. A lucky coupling to the end.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 5 days ago

A bit of a statement on HOW Saturday Night Live was watched over the decades, at least in my experience:

When the show hit NBC in the 1975-1976 season, video tape recorders for "regular people" weren't in the marketplace yet. So you had to watch the show when it was broadcast on Saturday night at 11:30 pm.

The comedian Andrew Dice Clay hosted on May 12, 1990, cast member Nora Dunn refused to appear on the episode due to his "insulting sexual stand-up." Clay hosted anyway and in the SNL oral biography book, said something interesting(paraphrased):

"I did the show because my agent said it would be good for me. But I never watched the show. I was always out late on Saturday nights partying."

A cogent point. The Dice Man was sort of saying "I was cool and partying on Saturday night what would I know from a TV show for a bunch of people who DON'T go out on Saturday night?"

Fair enough. As I recall, in the first years that SNL was on, I was at college, so I watched it "at home" with other college students in the dorm cafeteria. Or in somebodys dorm oom. Or we went out to somebody's APARTMENT and watched it. Or in bars. Or in pizza parlors. And given our ages at the time, we could watch the show and then GO OUT AGAIN and keep partying into the wee hours.

Or, we'd just miss it. I"ve gone over the lists of SNL hosts over the decades and I can't say I saw every episode.

In fact, speaking of missing an SNL episode, a certain lucky number of nights in the 70's, I missed SNL because I was in bed. With someone. Lots of us were. Ah, youth.

It was around 1982 that VCRS finally appeared in homes. Now, you had a choice on SNL: Watch it live on Saturday night, OR watch it the next morning to catch all -- or some -- of the sketches. (You could fast forward through stuff that wasn't funny.)

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 5 days ago

Yeah, I'd say that for much of the 80s and 90s, SNL was "Sunday morning recorded" for my viewing pleasure. I had male roomates and female roomates and we'd all watch together.

What REALLY happened over the years -- leading up to today -- is that the option to ACTUALLY STAY UP laet and watch the show live -- kind of went away. Past my bedtime , (By the way, I missed the experience of young people AFTER me -- ones who had to go to bed early and BEGGED to watch SNL with their parents. A nice memory.)

Stand alone VCR units were replaced with cable TV that could record, and now we have streaming and ..SNL perhaps doesn't quite have that "Saturday night at the dorms" feeling about it anymore. Or maybe it does. There are young kids in college still today.

I have noticed that you can get SNL sketches right after they air on Saturday nights and then through the weekend. Its a different kind of institution in 2025.

One guy once said about SNL in the 80's "all it is now is a restaurant in a good location." Some EARLIER SNL guy said "but its a good location because we MADE it a good location back in the 70's. It could have gone off the air."

Which reminds me: anybody remember ABC's answer to Saturday Night Live? It was called Fridays and based in Los Angeles to counter SNL's New York vibe. Two of the funnier guys on the show were Larry David and Michael Richards, soon to be of Seinfeld fame. Boy did Larry wear his hair BIG back then, a gigantic White Man's Afro. He aged into a rather more seasoned and even a bit sexy kind of guy.

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

First of all, WHY not OT?

Because Psycho crossed paths with Saturday Night Live at least twice:

---

And, I now remember, a third -- and very poignant time:

In 1988, Anthony Perkins got the chance to direct another movie based on his having directed Psycho III in 1986. But it wasn't all that much of a movie. It was a low budget affair called "Lucky Stiff." I never saw it, but I readabout it: Perkins hired the gorgeous wife of SNLere Dan Ackroyd -- Donna Dixon -- to play a sexy young woman (naturally) who comes on to a shy, corpulent young man and takes him home to meet the parents. It turns out the lucky stiff isn't that lucky -- the entire family is cannibals and want to eat him for dinner.

I have no idea how the story turns out, I never saw it and I don't think Anthony Perkins never got to direct another movie.

However, evidently Dan Ackroyd and Donna Dixon became great friends with Perkins and his wife Berry Berenson and kept it going for some years.

Four years exactly -- for Anthony Perkins died of AIDS in 1992. But a biography of Perkins noted how those last days went:

In his last days, Perkins was bedridden in his Hollywood Hills home, surrounded by his wife and two young sons -- and by Dan Ackroyd and Donna Dixon. Ackroyd personally took over the business of comforting the Perkins family and overseeing "human traffic control" as to Perkins' visitors up until his death, at home.

So Dan Ackroyd was evidently very important to Anthony Perkins at a major moment in his life. SNL and Psycho intersected in a very dramatic way.

[–] swanstep (2769) 3 days ago

Have watched the 50th Anniversary show and enjoyed it. The number of guests, cameos etc. was astounding and really hit home the density and scope of the basic phenomenon of SNL. Steve Martin's monologue was wittily excellent and John Mulaney restated his claim to be this generation's Steve Martin by joining him and being equally attractively droll: "Over the course of 50 years, 894 people have hosted ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder.” (Mulaney also seemed to be the guiding light behind the big musicals sketch half way through the show - a man of man talents it seems, like Martin.)

Of course, there'll be lots of people disappointed by various cast absences - no Chase, Ackroyd, Hader (who was in some of the previews with Wiig and Armisen so what went on there?), Carvey, Frankeln and so on - but otherwise the huge number of participants was a flat-out winner.

Enjoyed seeing Nicholson, De Niro, Streep, Stone, Drew Barrymore, Miles Treller, Aubrey Plaza (in passing and looking understadably a bit sad) and in Audience Q&A segment Hamm, Cher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and many more who didn't speak up like Seinfeld. Quite the party to see, and even more so to participate in I'm sure.

Revelations: didn't know that Wiig had a Broadway-quality voice. A gal of many talents; loved all the clip bits about Physical Comedy and Commercail Parodies etc.. Paul Simon and Paul McCartney's voices both seemed shot (whereas they've been ptretty good until fairly recenty). Those guys may have to hang it up or maybe a week's partying in NYC killed them?

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

Have watched the 50th Anniversary show and enjoyed it.

---

I did too.

---

The number of guests, cameos etc. was astounding and really hit home the density and scope of the basic phenomenon of SNL.

--

Absolutely. That's what I was personally looking for in this very MUCH an 'event," and that's what I got.

One issue re the "density" of SNL was the clever "mix and match" of players from over the decades in various sketches.

For instance, in the one where the convicts "scared some young guys straight" -- you had Tracy Morgan(star enough, and lead in the original sketch years ago) as one of the convicts, and then Eddie Murphy with him(more on HIM in a moment) and then, later in the sketch as "surprise" Will Ferrell performance(doing his old and embarrasing schtick of showing "near nudity" all wrong for a big man of his physique -- that was his speciality) When Murphy was side by side with Farrell - I thought -- "yeah they were two BIG stars of SNL and Tracy Morgan came close." And then I REMEMBERED: shoot , they gave Jason Sudekis the straight part of the guard -- you almost forgot he was there. He's a pretty big streaming star now --thanks to Ted Lasso -- and I might add parenthetically evidently quite the ladies man(he IS handsome for a comedian.)

I noticed near the end of the sketch, Sudekis sat down on his desktop with an exaggerated "slam" of his butt onto the desk, noisy and I thought -- "Shoot, he had to do SOMETHING to try to steal that sketch back from heavyweights Murphy, Farrell, and Morgan."

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

And then there was the "Lawrence Welk" sketch with the singing sisters(one of whom is deformed for comedy) that found room for "original players" Kristen Wiig and Fred Armison, but added in Ana Gasteyer(I dodn't think she ever played one of the sisters, I might be wrong) , and "guests" Scarlett Johannsen(family to SNL with her marriage to Colin Jost), Kim Kardashian and...Will Farrell, doing his bizarre Robert Goulet impression that NEVER sounded like Robert Goulet(I remember that guy, he was actually quite the hip funny guy on talk shows -- making fun of his own persona and looks.)

And so forth and so on.

That early "wedding sketch" struck me as exactly the kind of dull, overlong "ten minutes to one in the morning sketch" that SNL does too much of until I realized -- the sketch was showing off some new SNL players with whom I am not really acquainted -- it was THEIR showcase. With Martin Short and Molly Shannon(who has something fit and sexy goin' on in my book, her comedy smile has a come-on aspect to it) as "placeholders from the past." I know from Sabrina Carpenter(also in the sketch and elsewhere) and I know that SNL has been pushing Pedro Pascal as a "new kind of streaming/movie star" a generation or two newer than Nicholson and DeNiro. He was in the sketch too.

But I liked other parts of the show better.

---

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

Steve Martin's monologue was wittily excellent

---

Yes. He's alwayas seemed a little "wasted" in comedy effect on "Only Murders in the Building" and here he got to bring back some of the spark -- as an old man -- he had in his youth.

Including with the old man's line:

"SNL turned 50 this year and I turned 79. I only feel 65 -- but that's not very good either."

And

"If you were born when Saturday Night Live debuted, you could have died of natural causes by now."

THOSE lines played off the rather poignant openign exchange between young hottie Sabrina Carpenter and 83-year old Paul Simon(an old Lorne Michaels pal):

Paul Simon: I sang this as a duet with George Harrison in 1976.
Sabrina: That was before I was born. That was before my PARENTS were born.

Ouch and -- point taken. But Paul Simon (and Steve Martin) are still older than ME.

A reminder: around 1968 or so, Simon and Garfunkel recorded a very sad song called "Old Friends" with the tough line: "How terribly strange to be 70" -- as if it were death incarnate. Well, I'll bet Paul Simon at 83 is a bit embarrassed about that song. Just like Paul McCartney with "When i'm 64."

--

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

and John Mulaney restated his claim to be this generation's Steve Martin by joining him and being equally attractively droll:

---

John Mulaney has been given a big push. I don't watch SNL as much as I used to (I have FINALLY just about aged out of it) but I watch occasionally -- the whole show or "fresh" YouTube clips and clearly Mulaney has made his name in this era as the breakout "host star" of SNL(he used to be a writer there.) He plays sold out concerts near me about once a year. Interesting to me: his "white bread" guy next door appearance belies, evidently , a big drug problem that he got under control. Good for him. I wouldn't mention it but HE mentions it, like half of his Netflix special.

Hitchcock connection: I found, on Youtube, an SNL sketch from a few years ago where the hilarious Kate McKennon played Tippi Hedren in the phone booth being attacked by the birds in The Birds -- Mulaney played a local cop trying to handle the call. What was really cool about the sketch is that the attacking birds were pretty good puppets and heads on sticks. It was like "The Birds" of SNL sketches -- great effects.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

"Over the course of 50 years, 894 people have hosted ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder.”

--

I was worried that he meant OJ Simpson and Alec Baldwin -- but Mr. Baldwin was in the house, and no, I don't think it was murder.

He meant OJ Simpson and Robert Blake -- the latter of whom was a HORRIBLE host behind the scenes(he crumpled a writer's pitch on paper into a ball and suggested the writer insert it anally. I read this in a book)

--- (Mulaney also seemed to be the guiding light behind the big musicals sketch half way through the show - a man of man talents it seems, like Martin.)

---

That was quite a spectacle and a reminder that SNL was very much a NEW YORK show at a time when Johnny Carson had permanently moved his show from NYC to Los Angeles and the pre-SNL comedy hit was Laugh In "from Beautiful Downtown Burbank."

(I'll also note that my dual picks of Saturday Night(the movie) and A Complete Unknown(about Bob Dylan) are nostalgic showbiz stories of the 60s and 70's but they are also NEW YORK stories. And Saturday Night(the movie) feels placed more securely on my fave of 2024 list because of this "event" show in 2025.

Meanwhile back at that musical: Nathan Lane was in it. Did he host SNL? I'll guess so. And the guy from Hamilton was in it. I mean, talent popping out all over the place on this show.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

Of course, there'll be lots of people disappointed by various cast absences - no Chase,

---

Chase was there, but if I watched it correctly -- I think I only SAW him near the back of the stage for a super-version of the "everybody hugs everybody" fade out. A rather elderly looking Jane Curtin was next to him(she had not been shown before), and together, she and Laraine Newman(who had done a taped bit with current fave Pete Davidson) held up a photo of Gilda Radner. One wonders if Chase was cut out of his own desire or -- still getting paid back for the meanness to his cast members(with him and after him) over the years.

---

Ackroyd, Hader (who was in some of the previews with Wiig and Armisen so what went on there?),

---

Hmm...something. With Ackroyd, age or health might have been a reason -- plus, if I were Ackroyd, I'd have noticed that the original 1975-1976 players got short shrift(too elderly?) less Newman and Garrett Morris.

About Garrett Morris. He came on near the end -- already in a chair, a clue to age? -- to introduce the now poignant and astonishing 1978 "Schiller's Reel" short in which an aged John Belushi(in make up and acting REALLY WELL -- why didn't we see this in his movies) visits the graves of all six of his "passed away colleagues" and says "They all thought I'd go first, but I'm the only one still alive." This was funny in 1978 and just stunning in 1982 when...Belushi went first.

Sadly, THIS time around -- with an 88-year old Garrett Morris introducing the film -- a certain mortality was in the air except check this out -- of the original 7, only two have passed away -- Belushi and Gilda. Still..astonishing, that short film. Irony to the nth degree.

Quick research told me that Garrett Morris was the same age as Jack Nicholson, but Nicholson was held to one line -- "Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Sandler" whereas Morris handled a few cue card sentences. Goes to show you -- 88 is different for different people.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

About Nicholson.

As it turns out, my memory of the 40th anniversary was pretty good about some stars who did things on THAT one(I have a few examples) and I recalled Nicholson coming out at the 40th to introduce "pollitical clips." I said to someone, "that was great how Nicholson came out ten years ago -- he pretty much never did TV except for a LITTLE on SNL -- but he's just looking too old to make it this year. Sure he has shown up at a Lakers game in LA, but that's just down the hill from his house. I don't think we will see him tonight."

But we did. And it was a great feeling. He is one of the superstars of a certain age. And in the moment he offered up his famous grin (from under his famous indoor sunglasses) and SPOKE in his famous voice(like so many Golden Era stars, his voice was PART of his stardom) and I felt: Good for you , Jack, you handled a private jet all the way to New York.

Note also that Robert DeNiro was seated directly behind Nicholson. I"ve always seen Nicholson, DeNiro and Pacino as kind of a trio of seventies prestige stars -- with Dustin Hoffman nearby from an earlier launch -- and to see Jack and Bob in close proximity was impressive. (They shared a few scenes in the 1976 movie The Last Tycoon.)

Jack's 88, but DeNiro is a sprightly 81 and he turned up later in the Debbie Downer sketch to great effect.

This: over the years of SNL, Nicholson did one cameo(to promote A Few Good Men) and that 40th Anniversary. Al Pacino has never appeared to my memory(other than in impressions.) Dustin Hoffman never appeared(though I did see him walk on to a local Los Angeles comedy clips show about talk shows called "The Soup" because his kids liked it.)

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

But DeNiro hosted -- at least twice? Threw himself into sketch after sketch. And it amused me then -- as it amused me last night -- that this possible "Greatest Living Actor of All Time" was a TERRIBLE cue card actor. I guess DeNiro just doesn't take it seriously. But unlike Jack, Al, Dustin..and you can add Cruise and Beatty(Jack's pal)...DeNiro was/is always willing to show up at SNL. Its like a pet project of his. (DeNiro and Joe Pesci "crashed" an SNL episode of the violent-funny Joe Pesci Show one season.)

Still, for all those big stars who did NOT appear on SNL we are reminded that others DID..Tom Hanks(present.) Bruce Willis(not present for sad reasons.) Mel Gibson (not present because...?)

And of course some very big movie stars were launched FROM SNL , and many were there last night: Adam Sandler(maybe the biggest.) Eddie Murphy(very big) Tpm Hanks(back-to-back Oscars.) Bill Murray(possibley the Clown King Movie Star of the whole series -- Oscar-baity himself.) And though I don't much like him I know some pre-teen boys who think that Will Ferrell is the funniest thing around and HE maintained stardom(he was just in Baribie.)

Meryl Streep walked on to play the sleazy mother of Kate McKinnon's classically sleazy "abducted by aliens" character and though a Streep appearance was classy -- Miz Streep just couldn't get the same comic mojo going as McKinnon. Goes to show you -- every star has their special niche.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

but otherwise the huge number of participants was a flat-out winner.

---

Flat out winner is right. I believe the Oscars are coming soon, and that show will be hard pressed to match the stars shown last night. Of course...50 years is a big deal.

In fact, here's a sad but true thought: the Grand Maestro, Lorne Michaels, is 80, so when the 60th Anniversary comes, if he is still around, he will be one of those admirably cogent 90 year olds -- but it won't be the same. And he may retire soon. And some of those original Not Ready For Prime Time players are looking at the same age numbers.

Which makes this 50th Anniversary sort of "the end of an era." Except they have so many decades of still-pretty-young stars to keep these reunions going...forever?

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

Enjoyed seeing Nicholson, De Niro, Streep, Stone, Drew Barrymore, Miles Treller, Aubrey Plaza (in passing and looking understandably a bit sad) and in Audience Q&A segment Hamm, Cher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and many more who didn't speak up like Seinfeld.

---

Interesting about Seinfeld. "Up-thread," I repeated the routine that Seinfeld and Larry David did 10 years ago on the 40th about how Larry David got fired from SNL in one year and he and Seinfeld instead became multi-millionaires off Seinfeld. I expect most of us remember that bit(10 years isn't that long), so they just seated the two near each other and -- probably knew we would REMEMBER the bit from 10 years ago.

Also 10 years ago, Eddie Murphy finally showed up to the 40th after passing on 10, 20, and 30. He'd been enraged by a joke David Spade told on air(after Murphy left the show) about being a "falling star' at box office. What enraged Murphy is that he felt he single-handedly saved SNL from cancellation and gave the show a genuine new movie star.

Well, 10 years ago, Murphy finally showed up to make a brief, nice speech from the stage --- and was cut off, pretty much.

THIS year, Murphy threw himself into two sketches and it felt like all was forgiven -- even David Spade was there at the show(probably hiding from Eddie a lot.)

In the Black Jeopardy sketch, Murphy did a spot on Tracy Morgan impression with Morgan standing right next to him and then Tom Hanks came on to stand near Murphy and I thought: "There they are, arguably the biggest star of the 80s next to the biggest star of the 90s -- that's pretty historic." (Yeah, Tom Cruise is in the mix but he hasn't won Oscars yet.)

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

Aubrey Plaza (in passing and looking understandably a bit sad)

---

That was a brief and very moving moment. I've watched the clip several times.

She wasn't wearing much in the way of make-up - particularly around her famous eyes -- and in the second it took to realize who she was, her one-sentence moment was pretty much over: "Ladies and Gentlemen: Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard."

She was subdued, and her voice wobbled a bit, a bit frightened. You could do some quick thinking: Michaels and the producers gave her the least obtrusive, most serious thing to say on that show -- it is rarely said for laughs --and the shortest. But to me you could still tell that she understood the gravity of the moment, and it "got to her" a little. Also, I've read that she was wearing a tie-dye shirt to honor her late husband, who made it.

Beyond a personal tragedy of which we know nothing other than the pain, there is the "career" aspect. Aubrey Plaza had a hip, cool, deadpan, sometimes macabre comic persona going and now she has to pause it for awhile.

The most cogent comment I read on that was "Joan Rivers eventually started telling jokes again" after her husband took his life. I'm sure things will work out. Still a powerful little moment.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

...and that brings me to what I took awhile to notice, but collectively it became really apparant , maybe in retrospect:

Some very big names who have recently been embroiled in tragedies or controversies seemed to decide to use the SNL 50th(a bigger pulpit than the Oscars OR the Globes OR the Emmies if only for its historic value) to "come back out into the public eye":

Consider;

Aubrey Plaza: Having cancelled the Golden Globes as a presenter, came out more quietly here.

Ryan Reynolds(really big star) and Blake Lively(pretty big star) having cancelled at the Golden Globes as presenters, came out here to kinda/sorta say they're OK in the middle of their big lawsuit(such a Hollywood-silly crisis in a time with a lot more serious things going on.) Note that Ryan handled the comedy and Blake said nothing.

Alec Baldwin: He's hosted the show like 17 times and Lorne Michaels was never going to throw him overboard, Baldwin still has his problems but SNL seems determined to give him some work and keep him in the spotlight. (Baldwin was ALWAYS a funny guy with his whispery voice and arrogant line delivery.)

Kevin Costner: I looked it up: Costner never hosted SNL. So why was HE there? They sure showed him a lot(sitting next to Cher yet, a former musical guest.) My guess: Costner still needs some "career rehab" after quitting Yellowstone and watching his vanity project "Horizons" crumble. (And there was that divorce last year to release him out there as a 70-year old sexiest man alive.) So this SNL appearance was probably deemed in his interest.

Jack Nicholson: Rumors of his cognitive and physical decline proved premature and just hearing that voice was a nostalgia high.

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

Revelations: didn't know that Wiig had a Broadway-quality voice.

---

There you go -- indeed SNL has always had some of its "comic actresses" do singing acts -- usually in "girl groups."

--

loved all the clip bits about Physical Comedy and Commercail Parodies etc..

--

I texted some friends during this and word came back that they thought the show was woefully short on clips. but those two packages were funny enough and the physical comedy did what physical comedy does -- makes you laugh hard - Molly Shannon put her ALL into her reversed pratfalls.

I think I read somewhere that Michaels didn't want clips, he wanted live sketches -- mostly re-dos of "the best ones."

Anyway, the clips are on a four-part documentary special I haven't gotten around to yet, on Peacock. Peacock also has the big "SNL musical act concert" from the night before. I'll be watching it all. Epic events -- and even that little movie from back in October as part of the package, IMHO.

Speaking of musical acts -- Keith Richards was there. Talk about a guy who lived long past his supposed shelf life!

---
Paul Simon and Paul McCartney's voices both seemed shot (whereas they've been ptretty good until fairly recenty).

---

I didn't know that last part. Simon paired with the younger stronger-voiced Sabrina Carpenter was a little painful a mix - but no way Lorne Michaels wasn't going to let his Best Bud(and early SNL host) NOT get that moment in the sun again. The song was relevant too ("Homeward Bound") as was McCartney taking the Abbey Road section to "and in the End..." Moving.

---

Those guys may have to hang it up or maybe a week's partying in NYC killed them?

--

Ha. You aren't supposed to stay up that late at that age! I continue to "eat up with a spoon" all these 80 and 90 year old celebs(and 100 year Eva Marie Saint.) And sexiest 70-year old man alive Kevin Costner. Role models, I tell ya!

---

CONT

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

Quite the party to see, and even more so to participate in I'm sure.

---

Yes, for once I felt like a PART of that crowd. Grew up with most of them -- though not the new young ones on the current season.

They were TV stars AND movie stars and somewhere in between.

And take note: 10 years ago , Jack Nicholson introduced political clips -- mainly about lots and lots of Presidents. We were spared that this time.

Instead Nicholson introduced his "old pal and fellow superstar" Adam Sandler. They made a terrible movie together called Anger Management and Jack looked like he was wearing the beret and goatee he wore in that movie.

Last night was a great sequel to a bad movie.

[–] swanstep (2769) 3 days ago

They sure showed him a lot(sitting next to Cher yet, a former musical guest.)

Cher performed her "Turn Back Time' mid-'80s hit *in costume* at Peacock's SNL-Homecoming concert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTz4w0VYh0o
Amazing - utterly amazing. Costner is shown agog a few times in that clip too.

[–] roger1 (4046) 3 days ago

They sure showed him a lot(sitting next to Cher yet, a former musical guest.)
Cher performed her "Turn Back Time' mid-'80s hit *in costume* at Peacock's SNL-Homecoming concert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTz4w0VYh0o
Amazing - utterly amazing. Costner is shown agog a few times in that clip too.

---

Fun clip. I'll be watching that concert show on Peacock.

Given her physical energy and lung power I guess we can add the 78-year old Cher to my list of 70, 80 and 90 year old MALE stars, on the FEMALE side. We can only hope to have that energy at those ages. (Shirley MacLaine, trained as a dancer, held that energy too, and is still with us at age 90.)

The downside to trying to live as long as them: movie stars and music stars are rich, have great health care, exercise, sometimes do the RIGHT drugs and are often possessing of a sort of superstrength that the rest of us don't have.

But we can keep up at our own pace. To the gym and the walking track!

---

Costner does look pretty amazed in that clip and perhaps finagled his way into a seat on the reunion show next to Cher.

Costner's going through a funny time. He was one of the biggest stars of the 90s(complete with Best Picture/Best Actor win for Dances With Wolves), then crashed and burned, then worked in smaller movies for a coupla decades, then bounched back with Yellowstone, then left Yellowstone for his failed(maybe) passion project "Horizons," caught a fairly embarrassing divorce(his wife pretty much left him for a non-movie star and married the guy, stat) and yet...

....at age 70, he's a real good looking guy and he's one of those guys that "aged more handsome" (more handsome than the callow skinny fellow with the surfer dude voice in Silverado and The Untouchables) and even though I think he's kind of nuts...I kind of like him.

His masculine somewhat macho presence in the SNL 50 audience was reassuring in a weird way.

Who knows why stars are stars?

[–] Doghouse (457) 2 days ago

"Who knows why stars are stars?"
- - -
Ah, the lost chord, the holy grail of agents, producers and directors. An enduring mystery - right alongside "What makes a movie a hit?" - to which only the public can provide answers, and even WE don't know why.

In his book, Hollywood, Garson Kanin told of sitting with Harry Cohn in his office one evening while the producer was moaning about his inability to put over an actress he thought had the makings of a star.

"I gave her every advantage: the best costumes; hairdressers; makeup; scripts; publicity. And: nuthin! I'm tellin' ya, only the public can make a star."

Kanin mused, "Only God can make a tree."

Cohn barked, "What!?"

Kanin explained, "The poem by Joyce Kilmer. 'Poems are made by fools like me but only God can make a tree.'"

Snatching the cigar from his mouth, Cohn leaned forward and bellowed, "Bullshit! My studio can make the best goddam tree anybody ever saw." Cigar back in, Cohn leaned back in his chair.

After a second or two, Kanin added sympathetically, "But not a star."

The mercurial Cohn was calm again and, shaking his head sadly, confirmed, "But not a star."