Wednesday November 5, 2008
Fun with Saturday Night Live
By MELODY L. GOH
Weekends are no longer the same now that Saturday Night Live has finally arrived. Well, the ‘Best Of’ anyway.
These days, when one hears the name Saturday Night Live (SNL), the vision of actress and SNL alum Tina Fey mimicking US vice president candidate Sarah Palin comes to mind.
Of course, there is more to SNL than just that one sketch and, thanks to the screening of Saturday Night Live: The Best Of specials on Star World, Malaysians can finally see what the hype has been about all these years. Well, sort of.
Watch out for the SNL special on Christopher Walken (left). If you’re a fan of SNL then you’re probably aware that the sketch comedy/variety show has been around for more than three decades. SNL made its debut in October 1975, making it one of the longest-running programmes in American TV broadcasting history. It was created by Lorne Michaels, who has written hundreds of sketches for the show. Since 1975, Michaels has been on SNL’s producer/executive producer chair.
SNL is an American institution, really, and one that’s funny, popular and well-respected by audiences and industry players (actors, writers, directors, musicians, producers, what-have-you) alike. You can bet that many young Hollywood stars and even artistes dream of the day when they get to announce that famous line: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Over the years, the 90-minute show has been sort of a stepping stone for talented comedians and writers to come out and show the world what they can do. And while the younger generation can connect names like Fey (SNL’s first female head writer), Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon and Amy Poehler to the show, those who are a little older could probably still remember the show’s old hats.
John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Lily Tomlin, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Mike Myers, Alex Baldwin, Adam Sandler, Phil Hartman, Gilda Radner and Tim Meadows are just a handful of actors from the past 30 years who have become synonymous with SNL.
Apart from the actors themselves, some of the characters they play have also become SNL favourites, or even trademarks, if you will. For example, Belushi’s Samurai Futaba is a best-loved role that has been featured in numerous episodes. Each sketch features him in situations where a samurai would probably never be seen in (at least not in New York), though despite being out of place, he always does his job perfectly ... but not before scaring people first.
Then there’s Baldwin’s Pete Schweddy, a baker who makes delicious balls and wieners and would like to share them with the listeners of a really dull radio show called Delicious Dish.
There are also several characters and sketches that have been developed and extended into full-fledged series or movies. Remember the Coneheads, the alien family from a planet called Remulak, who got stranded on Earth? Well, the Coneheads – so called because of their cone-shaped heads – have been on SNL from as far back as 1977!
It starred Dan Aykroyd as the father, Jane Curtin as the mother and Laraine Newman as the daughter. Fifteen years after its inception, the Coneheads was made into a movie with Aykroyd and Curtin reprising their roles.
Other sketches that have been turned into “successful” (okay, mediocre) movies include Mike Myers (playing Wayne Campbell) and Dana Carvey’s (as Garth Algar) hilarious Wayne’s World and Wayne’s World 2; Aykroyd and Belushi’s Blues Brothers; and Ferrell and Chris Kattan’s A Night at the Roxbury, featuring the actors’ famously annoying SNL characters Doug and Steve Butabi.
And of course, there’s also the multiple award-winning sitcom 30 Rock, which is basically a show about Fey’s stint as head writer of SNL.
Through the Saturday Night Live: The Best Of, one can now enjoy watching these characters and other famous sketches without having to search high and low for a specific SNL episode. The highlights in these compilations have been chosen well, focusing on each star’s best and memorable SNL moments.
So far, Star World has shown a few “best of” specials like Chris Rock, Alec Baldwin (an excellent compilation) and Chris Farley (which featured an excellent skit in which he and Patrick Swayze auditioned to be Chippendales dancers!), but there are many more in the series to look forward to. This includes Belushi, Gilda Radner, Jimmy Fallon, Eddie Murphy, Christopher Walken, David Spade, Steve Martin (a very popular SNL guest, next to Baldwin), Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Phil Hartman and Molly Shannon.
Saturday Night Live: The Best Of plays every Saturday at 8pm on Star World (Astro 711).
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