That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)

(Originally published on Patreon on April 8, 2024) Who would have ever guessed that we'd have unfinished business with Turn-On and yet, here we are because in the year of our lord 2024, producer George Schlatter has collected unseen material into a "new" episode of the show. Mattalamode and Eddie Ham join us this time to discuss this latest entry into the pantheon of insane sketch comedy as we onc...

(Originally published on Patreon on March 25th, 2024) Well, here we are. Against our better judgement, we've decided to circle back around on Bizarre years after covering it's pilot episode. This time, we're taking a random episode from the DVDs (episode 5 from volume two, which may or may not still be from the first season) and delving into the horrors that await in it's usual Showtime/CTV incarn...

(Originally published on Patreon on February 26, 2024) Oh boy. It's been awhile since we've gone to the New Show well. And hey look! It's just as dry as it usually is! That's why we've brought in Eddie Ham and Mattalamode to help us wrangle something, anything, out of this one. And wrangle we did. Join us as we slowly get more and more unmoored from reality, defending pieces that don't deserve def...

(Originally published on Patreon on January 29th, 2024) Get your new mustaches on because this week we're digging into one of the most infamous outings of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the season three premiere! The brothers have got Cass Elliot and Harry Belafonte on board and after a full summer off, they've got a lot to say about the chaos boiling over in the US. As per usual, this led to...

We're wrapping up the ninth season of That Week with what is seen by some as a legendary episode: the S34 finale with Will Ferrell. Not only does this one close the curtains on one of the more popular and critically acclaimed seasons of the show but includes one of the more divisive sketches in the show's history, Goodnight Saigon. Our ol' pal Jon Schneider is back on board for this one as we hash...

Now here's a guy you might've heard of before. Stevie Wonder. What can you say? It's Stevie. He's a legend and now he's here doing double duty on SNL. What transpires is a charmingly loose and chaotic show as Stevie not only hits us with two yet-to-be-released tunes from 1985's In Square Circle but also reconfigures a bunch of his classics to fit into the sketches. Also, we've got a Hitler sketch...

We return to the end of the original era for the first show hosted by a married couple! Having already crushed his first episode, Richard takes a bit of a backseat on this one to hand it over to the ladies, who respond with a number of uniquely fascinating sketches. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though. There's still some crud to wade through and that sadly includes The Grateful Dead, who ar...

One of the true legends of sketch comedy. Almost nearly a cast member of SNL herself. Another person from this season of the podcast hosting off the back of the immense success of Home Alone. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Catherine O'Hara, who is here alongside R.E.M, who are themselves reeling from the incredible mainstream success of their newest album. Also, Randy Quaid is here and so is Carole Ki...

Sweet sassy molassy!  That's it. That's the post.  Nah, I guess I gotta write some more here. Well, it's the first episode of SNL hosted by Ray Romano. You might remember him. Had a pretty popular sitcom for a number of years. Got a real memorable voice too. It's time to do some fun SNL gag 'em ups with him and gag them up we do! Got a few beloved sketches in this one, a few that don't really land...

It's time to Art Funk with the Garf! This week, we've got a pleasantly mellow little outing from the original cast, one with a heavier bent on music than usual. And since the music is being provided by Art Garfunkel and Stephen Bishop, it's also maybe a little sleepier than usual but that doesn't mean we don't have some bangers in here too. In fact, we have one of the most recognizable SNL sketche...

Here we are at an important crossroads for the show: the final live episode for Eddie Murphy as a cast member. Yes, the show would still have two pre-taped sketches left to air in later episodes but this is basically it for Eddie. And who does the show bring into host for this momentous occasion? Recently retired NBC newsman Edwin Newman. Huh. That doesn't seem terribly exciting. I mean, yeah, Koo...

The show's first black female host. One of the coolest bands in NYC providing the tunes. Quite possibly the most amount of people watching the show in it's entire history. What could go wrong? Turns out, everything! In a move that can only be described as "yeah, that sounds like something SNL would do", the show manages to torpedo this moment in time with some of the most grim, grimy, sexist and j...

Against the backdrop of a snowed in New York, the cast and crew of the thirtieth season of SNL huddle into 30 Rock with beloved character actor Paul Giamatti to do what is quite possibly the finest outing of a fairly infamous season. We get two decent political efforts, a rare Finesse Mitchell showcase, some quality oddities and the ridiculous, joyous nonsense that is Ludacris and Sum 41 as our mu...

We're kicking off 2026 with another one of those quietly important episodes of the show, featuring the debut of a number of sketches that would go on to define the early 90s era of SNL. We get the first Richmeister sketch, the debut of Deep Thoughts (kicking off with FOUR of those tonight) and the first Coffee Talk, here in it's original form with host Paul Baldwin. And hey, we even get the widely...

This week, we're covering the one and only episode of an offshoot series of SNL called The Eddie Murphy Show. It's got the same cast, same writers, same format, except that it's the only time a cast member hosted the show while still in the cast and that person is Eddie Murphy and so now it's The Eddie Murphy Show. So, yeah. You might've heard about this one. Original host Nick Nolte has to drop o...

(Originally posted on Patreon on December 11, 2023) We continue our yearly journey through the history of MADtv with it's fifth Christmas episode, an episode that spells the end of a period of semi-stability for the show. As per usual, we get some Mrs. Swan and we get some Stuart because of course we do but as an extra holiday treat, we also get Deborah Harry and Blondie as special guests! 

After crashing out a little bit with the January Jones episode, we thought we'd return to this era for a slightly better outing, this time hosted by Steve Buscemi! Who doesn't love Steve? No one, that's who. And if you don't like Steve Buscemi, keep that to yourself, ya weirdo. So what do we got on deck for this one? Well, we've got a fairly well remembered sketch with Coach Bert, a cameo from May...

Hey, it's another one of those episodes hosted by an extremely young child! This time around it's Macaulay Culkin, here promoting Home Alo...wait, hold on...I'm getting word that he is in fact here promoting My Girl. Huh. Well, they sure do spend a lot of time riffing on Home Alone in this one, but I do suppose that was the style at the time. We do get an all-timer Lorne Michaels performance out o...

Gather round, Mad-Mennies because this week, we've got a doozy for ya. For better or worse, the Wiig/Hader/Samberg era was generally consistent enough that it really doesn't have too many notable infamous episodes but this...this sucker right here is definitely one of them. It's a deadly combo at play: a host who simply isn't cut out for the live sketch comedy game, a musical guest at the peak of...

In celebration of the show now fully hitting it's 50th anniversary, we're going back to the earliest episode we've yet to cover: Rob Reiner, with no real musical guest. Except, we do get some music in the episode. We get A LOT of things, actually. Much like the show's first episode, there's a bunch of elements in the gumbo for tonight; John Belushi doing his Joe Cocker, Andy Kaufman and his record...

We return again to the birth of the show's second golden age! This time hosted by a then 16 year old Malcolm-Jamal Warner, with musical guests Run-DMC and a special cameo by Spike Lee in character as Mars Blackmon from She's Gotta Have It...well, it's all a little interesting when you consider the show doesn't really have a single black person in the cast or in the writing room at the moment. Sam...

Ladies and gentlemen, we are BACK FOR OUR NINTH SEASON OF THE SHOW! And we're kicking off with a real doozy. Everyone and their mother knows the infamy of this one. That's right...we're doing Jeff Richard's first episode as a cast member. Lord help us. I guess this one is also kinda notable for being the first episode of SNL post 9/11. I suppose that's why they got Rudy Giuliani there in the cold...

(Originally posted on Patreon on Oct. 16, 2023) What happens when you mix an iconic singing duo from Japan with minimal knowledge of the English language with a comedian of dubious quality and wrap it all up in a dying variety show format? You get Pink Lady! Or...is it Pink Lady and Jeff? Even the show itself doesn't know what to call this glorious mess. We dig into the history of this infamous di...

(Originally posted to Patreon on September 18, 2023) Barely making it through it's first televised airing in some parts of the country, completely unseen in others, and more or less cancelled before the whole thing was even over, Turn-On was exiled to the land of wind and ghosts, never to be seen again...until now. We discuss the history and fallout of this beguiling assault on the senses and brav...

(Originally posted on Patreon on September 8th, 2023) We're finally closing up shop on The Richard Pryor Show by looking at the three sketches that were produced but never aired and a smattering of stuff that was written but never produced!