The Not Ready for Prime Time Project: An SNL Retrospective

This episode of SNL Season 6—hosted by Karen Black with musical guests Cheap Trick and The Stanley Clarke Trio —is often regarded as a high point of the season. And to talk about such a revered episode, Deremy and Thomas are joined by The Saturday Night Network's Bill Kenney! They break down everything from this episode—from Karen Black's hosting job to the debut of Joe Piscopo's Fr...

For this week of Season 6, Saturday Night Live has the very energetic Ray Sharkey hosting the show. Will Ray's hosting be as infamous and memorable as the previous host? This episode of SNL has so much going for it, including a shockingly good punk rock performance from Ray Sharkey as well as former Cream lead singer Jack Bruce on hand as the musical guest. There is also a unique and meta ske...

Well, it's the Christmas episode for Season 6 and this week has David Carradine from the show Kung Fu hosting! And yet, this episode of SNL is better known for the infamous hosting job that David Carradine delivered. This episode is jam-packed with a Mr. Bill short, a classic sketch with Patrick Weathers giving a great Bob Dylan impression, a classic Gail Matthius sketch, and more. We also ha...

It's 133 minutes of screen time, we've got a full glass of Orange Whip, two podcasters, an author, and we're recording. Hit it! That's right, we're celebrating the anniversary of the release of the 1980s classic comedy The Blues Brothers . Starring Saturday Night Live alumni Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, the film has endured for over 45 years and become not only a comedy c...

The Scream Queen herself Jamie Lee Curtis hosts this week's episode of Saturday Night Live —and she brings it! This very entertaining episode of SNL features standout performances from the cast including Gail Matthius with a great Brooke Shields impression. And... Eddie Murphy has been promoted to featured player role on the show. Plus we get a memorable and legendary musical performance from...

Not Ready for Season 6 is back and we're looking at how the cast and writers of SNL bounce back after last week's infamous outing. This episode of Saturday Night Live was hosted by Ellen Burstyn from the legendary film The Exorcist with The Queen of Soul herself Aretha Franklin bringing the house down as musical guest. And... we get Eddie Murphy in his first speaking role on the show! Wh...

The second episode of SNL Season 6 is one of the most infamous in the show's history, considered by many as one of the worst Saturday Night Live episodes of all time! Deremy and Thomas go over all the sketches to find out if all the criticism is legit or not as bad as people say! Malcolm McDowell is the host for this episode with musical guest Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band—who give an...

A new era has arrived for Saturday Night Live ! A brand new cast, new writers, and Jean Doumanian is the new Executive Producer.  For the Season 6 premiere, they have an all-time host coming back—Mr. Elliott Gould ! Find out how this new era truly began and if they deserve the knocks they have been getting over the years!  Join Thomas Sena and Deremy Dove as they go over this season premiere and g...

To help kick off our look back at Season 6 of Saturday Night Live , we talk to one of the cast members from that season— Denny Dillon . In addition to being the very first "new" cast member to say "Live from New York," Denny is also one of the few performers to work with all three Executive Producers of the show—Lorne Michaels, Jean Doumanian, and Dick Ebersol. But Denny's...

Well, the time has arrived!! The Not Ready for Prime Time Project is tackling the infamous Season 6 of Saturday Night Live ! For such a big task, the guys have asked Thomas Sena and Deremy Dove from Pop Culture Five Podcast to host this season.  So many changes happen for Season 6, starting with Jean Doumanian replacing Lorne Michaels as the new executive producer. We also have a whole new cast an...

One last VINTAGE episode before we leave "The Early Years of SNL " and move into the Jean Doumanian season. Late in Season 1, Madeline Kahn hosted for the very first time. Delayed by a technician's strike, the show seemed to utilize the extra time as this is considered (by us at least) the best episode of Saturday Night Live 's first season—even if Carly Simon had to pre-tape h...

Today we remember original SNL writer, Anne Beatts . Coming to Saturday Night Live by way of The National Lampoon , she was both a vital voice and powerful force in the early formative years of the show. Not only did Anne create the iconic "Nerds," she also contributed to such memorable characters and sketches as Irwin Mainway, Uncle Roy, and "Hard Hats." Her voice was also sho...

Awhile back, during our Season Five look back, we wanted to do a "Deep Thoughts" episode on the Andy Kaufman special, Andy's Funhouse , which aired in the summer of 1979 (though it was filmed back in 1977). We were very excited to get into it with such an iconic performer and one of his biggest showcases. We even had a guest lined up—a proclaimed "expert" on Andy Kaufman....

This week, we wanted to showcase a different podcast. From our editor, Will, comes his own podcast - Reviewing Who . Brothers Will, Pat, and Tom journey across time and space as they deep-dive into each episode of Doctor Who , beginning in 1963. Reviewing Who is available wherever you get your podcasts. --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media: ...

In the spring of 1980, Saturday Night Live finally met its first competitor. Desperate to steal a piece of the late night comedy pie, ABC premiered its own late night sketch comedy show as SNL was nearing the end of its fifth season. That show was Fridays . Fridays would repackage almost all of SNL' s key components—it would air live, it would have sketch comedy from an unknown troupe, there...

Five years ago today, we lost one of the original writers of SNL —the amazing Anne Beatts . One of only two female writers on the staff when the show began, Anne's contributions were vital, formative, and iconic. She was nominated for an Emmy all five years she wrote for Saturday Night Live , winning for her work in Season One. She also won a Writer's Guild of America Award for her work...

Our look back at Saturday Night Live ’s original era has come to an end. We wrap up our final episode of The Early Years of SNL , looking back at all five seasons of the original era. We revisit the journey the show took from a trying-it-out-in-real-time “variety” show (S1) to being a truly experimental and edgy platform (S2), exploding into a cultural juggernaut (S3&4), and eventual fall from...

We made it! Our look back on the original era of Saturday Night Live comes to a close. We’ve revisited every episode, talked about every sketch, discussed every host and musical guest, and explored the behind-the-scenes stories that brought this iconic show to life. In this first part of our retrospective of “The Early Years of SNL,” we look back on why we set out on this journey in the first plac...

A companion to our discussion about the end of the original era of SNL , we talk with biographer Susan Morrison about Lorne Michaels’ side of things. Susan joins us to discuss Lorne’s mindset going into Season Five, how much he (like everyone else) was looking towards life beyond Saturday Night Live , and where NBC’s decision - made behind his back - to move on without him left him. Susan helps ex...

Why did Lorne Michaels leave SNL ? How hard did NBC try to keep him? Did a future US senator really sabotage everything? Saturday Night Live historians and authors Doug Hill & Jeff Weingrad join us once again to answer these questions (and more) as we look back on the end of SNL ’s original era. Beginning with Season Four (which they would argue was the beginning of the end), we connect the do...

As we bring our look back on the first five years of SNL to a close, we rounded up some of our favorite and most knowledgeable guests for a very special Tournament Talk. Together, they help us discuss and debate the “Best Bits” of Saturday Night Live ’s original era. Five years, over one hundred episodes, and a countless number of sketches, performances, and moments get sifted through as we look t...

Well, we made it! Season Five of Saturday Night Live has come to an end. Brad and Gary look back and discuss what they liked (and didn’t), what they learned, and what surprised them from the final season of SNL ’s original era. They pick their favorite hosts and musical guests, rank the best (and worst) episodes, and – of course – pick their Best Bits of the season.  In addition, they highlight fo...

It’s the end of an era. Saturday Night Live brings the original era to a close as Buck Henry (naturally) hosts the season finale of Season Five.  Andrew Gold (it’s okay, you can ask “Who?”) and Andrae Crouch with The Voice of Unity are the musical guests. The show leans into the “will they or won’t they be back” elephant in the room often throughout the episode – from the monologue right up to the...

Marc Shaiman has won a Tony award, two Grammy awards, two Emmy awards, and has been nominated for seven Oscars. Unsurprisingly, after a career spanning over 50 years rubbing shoulders with the "who's who" of entertainment he is not at a loss for stories to share. In honor of his hilarious new memoir, Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories From a Sore Winner , we talked with Marc abou...

Steve Martin returns to host SNL for his 8th time. He won’t return to the show (aside from a memorable cameo) for over 6 years. Perhaps it was because of the deer outfit they had him wear? Steve hosting Saturday Night Live gets overshadowed by one of the very few people who could pull off such a feat at the time – Paul McCartney . Hiding out in London after his public drug bust, the ex-Beatle was...