The third season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 24, 1977, and May 20, 1978.
The DVD set of the entire season was released on May 13, 2008.
Cast
Prior to the start of the season, writers Tom Davis and Al Franken were added as featured cast members. Meanwhile Dan Aykroyd joined Jane Curtin as an anchor for Weekend Update becoming the first Weekend Update anchor team. This would be the final season that the cast was called "The Not Ready for Primetime Players".
In the "Anyone Can Host" episode—for which a contest found a non-celebrity to host the show—the musical guest, Elvis Costello, halted his band, the Attractions, seven seconds into the song "Less Than Zero", launching into "Radio Radio", an as-yet unreleased song critical of mainstream broadcasting. (The Sex Pistols were originally booked to appear on the show, but were denied visas to enter America.) The change angered Lorne Michaels, and Costello would not be invited back to the show until 1989.[1]
Chevy Chase hosted during the season, making him the first cast member to host after leaving the show.
Right before the curtain call, a heated argument broke out backstage between Chase and relatively new cast member Bill Murray. After several insults were exchanged (including Chase mocking Murray's acne-scarred skin and Murray calling Chase a "medium talent"), the two men struck each other. Although by most accounts the altercation had been at least partially instigated by John Belushi, he was the one (along with Dan Aykroyd) who separated Murray and Chase moments before the entire cast regrouped in front of the live cameras. Before being banned from hosting altogether in 1997, Chase hosted the show several times throughout its history, though he was extremely unpopular with the cast and crew and regularly disagreed with them.[2]
Talent coordinator/extra Neil Levy (who is the cousin of producer Lorne Michaels) was officially added to the writing staff.[3] This was his only season as a writer, but stayed with the staff for the next several seasons.
This season's writers were Dan Aykroyd, Anne Beatts, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Al Franken, Neil Levy, Lorne Michaels, Don Novello, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Rosie Shuster, and Alan Zweibel. The head writer was Michael O'Donoghue (who would leave after this season, after three years as head writer, but would return two times to the writing staff in the 1980s).
Schiller's Reel, a series of short films made by writer Tom Schiller makes its first appearance. The first Schiller's Reel film was "The Acid Generation: Where Are They Now?"
A running gag throughout the episode involves Grodin breaking character and ruining sketches, as if he missed the dress rehearsal. While many speculated this was genuine and Grodin was banned from hosting, Grodin later confirmed that it was all part of the act. Regardless, Grodin would never host again.
One sketch features Simon and Grodin attempting to sing "The Sound of Silence", with Grodin wearing an Art Garfunkel wig. After several aborted starts (with Grodin singing off-key and forgetting the lyrics), Simon walks off the stage. Grodin then proceeds to sing a verse of "Bridge Over Troubled Water", after which the real Art Garfunkel walks on stage and asks Grodin to take off the wig.
Ray Charles performs "I Can See Clearly Now," "What'd I Say," "Oh! What a Beautiful Mornin'" and a medley of "I Got a Woman," "I Believe to My Soul," "Them That Got" and "Hit the Road Jack".
Leon Redbone performs "Champagne Charlie" and "Please Don't Talk about Me When I'm Gone".[5]
Henry uses his monologue to introduce the five finalists in the "Anyone Can Host" contest. The five finalists are then featured sporadically throughout the episode, including an appearance in a film by Gary Weis.
In a sketch, John Belushi plays himself as a retired athlete, endorsing "Little Chocolate Donuts," a parody of Caitlyn Jenner's Wheaties ad. The voice over for the commercial while Belushi is running is done by sportscaster Marv Albert.
Elvis Costello performs "Watching the Detectives"[5] and was scheduled to perform "Less Than Zero" but halted his band the Attractions seven seconds into the song, launching into "Radio Radio",[5] an as-yet unreleased song critical of mainstream broadcasting.
Miskel Spillman was the winner of SNL's "Anyone Can Host" contest.
Al Franken's parents, Joseph and Phoebe, appear in the "Franken & Davis Show" sketch.
Emily Litella makes her final regular appearance as Weekend Update's consumer affairs correspondent.
The Sex Pistols were originally scheduled to perform as announced by Don Pardo on the previous show during the closing credits.
Randy Newman performs "Short People" and "Rider in the Rain".[5] Members of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band perform backing vocals during Newman's set. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, in turn, performs "On the Loose" and "White Russia".[5] (Martin accompanied them on banjo for the latter song.)
Steve Martin announces that a snowstorm the day before caused limited rehearsals.
Because of the then-recent crash of the highly radioactive Russian satellite Kosmos 954 (which took place just 4 days earlier), this episode features a running gag about the radioactive debris having created giant mutant lobsters heading for the U.S. east coast which saw them attack 30 Rockefeller Plaza at the show's end.
Chevy Chase does the lobster roars as stated in the closing credits.
Stephen Bishop performs "On and On" and Art Garfunkel performs "Wonderful World" with Stephen Bishop on backup, "Crying in My Sleep" and a medley of "All I Know"/"Scarborough Fair".[5]
This episode features the short film, Don't Look Back in Anger, in which an aged John Belushi visits the graves of the "Not Ready for Primetime Players" cast and claims he's the last living member. (The sketch is now seen as ironic due to Belushi's being the first of the original cast to die.)
John Belushi was billed as Kevin Scott for this episode.
On "Weekend Update", the Writers Guild strikes against Sesame Street ("picket" "scab" "don't, it might get infected") and the"Point/Counterpoint" segment is introduced.
A Gary Weis short film titled "Cold as Ice" features an uncredited Stacy Keach being repeatedly stabbed with scissors and a gun and eventually shot with a shotgun, all in slow-motion by an unnamed blonde to the tune of the Foreigner song of the same name.
In the opening monologue, Michael Palin plays his manager who ends up stuffing live cats down his trousers; one of the cats defecates freely all over his arm. Palin, with only a one-minute costume change afterward, performed the RC Priest and Very Famous Man (Trunk Escape) sketches with feces still on his clothes.[10]
Sketches include the Czech brothers, "Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber,"[11] a Martin and Radner dance sketch, a performance of "King Tut,"[12] a Gary Weis film with ballet dancers and breakdancers and "Nerds at the Science Fair".
This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award and was later selected as TV Guide's #12 Top TV Episode of all time.[13]
Paul Shaffer appears as lounge singer Nick Winter's piano player and as Dreyfuss' piano player, as Dreyfuss sings "Seduced" by Gary Tigerman.
John Belushi joins Dreyfuss on stage and, as part of the monologue, attempts to help Dreyfuss with the lines of his Shakespeare soliloquy (suggesting that he use the cue cards since he's not used to being on television) and then angrily mocks and argues with him saying he didn't deserve the Oscar he had received that year (over Richard Burton).
Twice in the episode, Dreyfuss hears the Jaws theme.
During the "Cone Encounters of the Third Kind" sketch, Dreyfuss (reprising his role as Roy Neary from his 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind) accidentally and briefly speaks in the Coneheads tone.
During the closing credits, Dreyfuss is attacked by the Land Shark.
