Richard Harris on Mel's Rock Pile
This is my absolute favourite sketch, there doesn't happen to be any clips of it online is there?
shareI don't think it's on youtube, but you can find it on the Vol 1 DVD set.
shareIf anyone ever sees it on Google Video or Youtube or could upload it for me, I'd be in your debt forever because that's probably the most defining moment in comedy for me
shareThat is truly one of the great skits. There are at least 5 bits in there (McArthur Park, Mel's younger brother, Disco Hayride, etc). This is what made SCTV so much better, at least, than the SNL of today.
Not to go off on a huge tangent (but I will!), one of the biggest mistakes SNL now makes is writing repetitive, one-joke skits. I can't stand them. It's the overwhelming bulk of what they do. I recently saw one that featured a restaurant whose door let in massive gusts of wind every time a patron left (and this was their first main skit of the night!). It was painful. Absolutely no payoff, just people getting blown around. Compare that to Bill Murray's Nick the lounge singer which was really a full ensemble effort, from Dan Aykroyd's Jimmy Joe Red Cloud, to Paul Shaffer.
Another one of their eventual downfalls was that they were so current, edgy and hip. What helped them in the early days hindered them later on. I watch old SNL now, and a lot of that stuff hasn't aged well, compared to SCTV. Obviously there are some references that date it, but you can still look at it and find it hilarious in the context of the times. The SNL material is just ... old. And unfunny. And maybe it's just a Canadian thing, but I found I could never relate to anyone from Saturday Night. They seemed like they were from another planet. With people like Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin, though, I looked at them and thought "Hey, I could do that too!"
shareThe dated-ness of SNL is certainly a factor when watching the old shows, but some of the bits still really hold up (and yes, I agree, that SCTV holds up better!). SNL had many skits that were timeless (such as Nick the Lounge Singer, The Nerds, Olympia Restaurant, etc.). Amazingly, some of their skits were not even designed to elicit gigantic laughs; they experimented with pathos & romance quite a bit to off-balance the comedy. Other times, they simply produced think pieces that weren't meant to evoke anything in particular. And still others, such as the Knights of Columbus skit, were funny yet related to avenues of culture that were familiar. None of these appraoches are even hinted at on the show today.
Both SNL and SCTV, however, drew from much of the same talent pool (they all knew each other). I never knew that some Canadians are surprised that Americans were fans of SCTV (although it seemed like a well-kept secret!). I grew up in Chicago, so I always felt strongly connected to both shows (many cast memebers spent their formative years here).
Anyway, Richard Harris....A MAN CALLED HORSE!!!