As a 14-year-old groupie of comedian George Carlin — thanks to my summer friend, Kathy Fay — I could not wait for 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, 1975. The Hippy Dippy Weatherman was the host of this new TV comedy show called, “NBC Saturday Night” and I was staying up to watch, dammit.
By 1 a.m. Sunday morning, my career path was set: I wanted to be a Not Ready For Prime Time Player and future host of “Weekend Update.” Gimme a break. I was 14.
Lorne Michaels‘ late-night show helped me hone my skills as a mimic and writer of comedy bits. My high school friends (Class of ’79) still remind me of my appearances on the St. Mary’s Academy Bay View stage as Roseanne Roseannadanna, a Conehead and one of the two Wild ‘n’ Crazy Guys. Ten years later at our reunion, Donna DePetro and I did a “Weekend Update” with funny news items about our classmates. I just couldn’t shake this “Saturday Night” thing.
During the early years, I even wrote to one of the show’s writers, Rob Schiller, who sent me back a cassette tape with he, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner and one other person (maybe Al Franken?) giving me career advice. As if my parents would ever let me run off to Second City or the Groundlings after graduation…
I have no idea what happened to that tape, lost in a move, I suppose. But it was GOLD. My aunt, Claire, still brings up the tape because it was mailed to her house during the summer I was, as they now say, “nannying” for my toddler cousin, Rusty.
As an aside, Claire went to school with original cast member Jane Curtin at the late, lamented Elmhurst Academy of the Sacred Heart in Portsmouth, R.I. Auntie was a freshman; Jane, who was a boarder from Wellesley Hills, a senior. Of course, I scoured her freshman yearbook for photos of Jane. I do remember in one snap poor Jane appeared to have thick ankles which endeared her to me. Hey, we all can’t have Gilda Radner gams! (BTW, ignore Jane’s Wiki page that lists her as graduating from Newton Country Day. Not true.)
Back to last night’s 50th Anniversary show … So there was pop princess Sabrina Carpenter kicking off the three-and-a-half-hour special by making us all feel like Methuselah. According to Mizz Thang, her parents weren’t even born in 1976 when her duet partner, Paul Simon, 83, and late George Harrison of the Beatles sang “Homeward Bound” on the SNL stage. Rude, no?
I watched this anniversary show like the Super Bowl — straight through, with commercials, no loo breaks — because I feared I would miss something. OK, I can’t lie. I may have scrolled the interwebs during Lil’ Wayne‘s performance.
Steve Martin, whom I’ve loved ever since high school, didn’t disappoint as Monologuer in Chief. “Black Jeopardy” was hilarious with Tracy Morgan, Eddie Murphy and Leslie Jones, although the spoof of “Jeopardy” with Darrell Hammond as salty Scot Sean Connery is still my fave.
I’m glad they rolled tape on Dan Aykroyd bleeding out as Julia Child in the kitchen. Sadly, the original NRFPT player was MIA. But we needed a little Land Shark with Chevy Chase and Candace Bergen though. And where were the damn Muppets? I loved Scred.
However, I did enjoy the show’s “Where’s Waldo” celebrity pop ups. Oh, there’s ScarJo and Kim Kardashian! Mike Meyers got verklempt! And Robert DeNiro killed it in the “Debbie Downer” sketch telling Rachel Dratch that “I came here tonight to get a little friggin’ break from our world right now. Which is like living in a full diaper.” (Speaking of which, the faux TV spot for ‘Oops, I Crapped My Pants’ remains a classic.)
Ooh, there’s Conan O’Brien. I forgot he was a writer on the show. I loved Meryl as Kate McKinnon’s potty mouth mama in the alien abduction sketch. I still can’t stomach Kristen Wiig’s characters. But Tina and Amy still rule. Sir Paul McCartney got the celebrity crowd on their feet. And I got a little verklempt when Jane and Laraine Newman held up a photo of Gilda, who died in 1989 of ovarian cancer at age 42, on stage at the end.
I could go on with more random, snarky bits but I’ll leave it here. Last night was a wild time machine trip for me, who, Mizz Sabrina, was lucky enough to be a teenager in 1975. During the 90’s I wasn’t a fan, but now I watch every week. However, we have to set the DVR. This high school comedian needs her sweet dreams and can’t stay up until 11:30 p.m. anymore — unlike Cher’s wig which looked like it was ready to go all night. OK, I’ll stop now.
