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The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between September 24, 1977, and May 20, 1978, the third season of SNL.
A Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin sketch. The Festrunks, Yortuk (Aykroyd) and Georg (Martin), were two brothers who had emigrated from Czechoslovakia to the United States. Culturally inept, they went to various social hangouts (bars, art exhibits, dance clubs) in an attempt to connect with attractive American women ("foxes"). However, their obnoxious behavior was almost always a turn off for the women they approached. They were often referred to by their catchphrase "We are, two wild and crazy guys!!" Debuted September 24, 1977. In the sketch, they meet two women, Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner, playing ping pong in the basement of their apartment building.
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
3 | September 24, 1977 | Steve Martin | |
3 | January 21, 1978 | Steve Martin | |
3 | April 22, 1978 | Steve Martin | |
4 | November 4, 1978 | Steve Martin | |
24 | September 26, 1998 | Cameron Diaz | Roxbury Guys sketch |
38 | March 9, 2013 | Justin Timberlake | Dating Game Show |
SNL writing partners Al Franken and Tom Davis hosted their own segment on which they would appear onstage as a comedy team similar to Rowan and Martin, with Davis generally as the straight man and Franken as his self-obsessed, sometimes dimwitted sidekick. They would also perform skits within the context of the segment. The Franken and Davis Show was often a late-addition to the broadcast as a time filler if the show was running short. Their best-known skit consisted of Davis appearing in normal dress, while Franken appeared in a flowing garment, with a shaved head and a pony tail and announced he was becoming a Hare Krishna. Davis responded by cutting off the ponytail, angering Franken who said, "Now people will think I'm a Buddhist!" Debuted September 24, 1977.
Aside from The Franken and Davis Show, the two have made several appearances—either separately or as a team in many SNL sketches throughout the years. They also appear together in the film Trading Places as a pair of bumbling baggage handlers. Al Franken later hosted his own talk show on which Tom Davis has made numerous appearances. Franken, who in 2009 became a U.S. Senator from Minnesota, is probably best known as a performer for his character Stuart Smalley, and for his on-air proposal at the end of the 1970s that the 1980s be known as "The Al Franken Decade."
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
3 | September 24, 1977 | Steve Martin | |
3 | November 19, 1977 | Buck Henry | |
3 | December 17, 1977 | Miskel Spillman | |
3 | February 25, 1978 | O. J. Simpson | |
3 | May 20, 1978 | Buck Henry | |
4 | October 21, 1978 | Frank Zappa | |
4 | January 21, 1979 | Michael Palin | |
4 | March 17, 1979 | Margot Kidder | |
4 | May 26, 1979 | Buck Henry | |
5 | April 5, 1980 | Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss |
Joe and his ex-partner Bob (Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray) are two cops that were kicked off the force (apparently for being intrusive bigots) that harass the people that live in their apartment building for not living up to their arch-conservative standards (a man and a woman living together without being married, an allegedly lesbian couple, etc.) with disastrous results. Debuted October 15, 1977.
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
3 | October 15, 1977 | Hugh Hefner | |
3 | January 28, 1978 | Robert Klein | |
4 | February 10, 1979 | Cicely Tyson |
A Gilda Radner character. Judy Miller is a highly-energetic school girl playing by herself, pretending she is hosting her own variety talk show. Debuted October 29, 1977.
A Jane Curtin character, a talk show host and moderator. She hosted four of the five "Consumer Probe" and "On The Spot" sketches, three of the four "What If?" sketches (once billed as "Joan Cage"), the two "More Things to Worry About" sketches with Buck Henry, "Not For Transsexuals Only", and "Heavy Sarcasm". Debuted October 29, 1977, in "Consumer Probe" opposite Irwin Mainway.
A Gilda Radner character offering brash, tactless opinions on Weekend Update. Debuted October 29, 1977 in a fake commercial called "Hire The Incompetent", where she protested being fired from a fast food restaurant because her hair kept falling into the hamburgers on a grill.
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
3 | January 21, 1978 | Steve Martin | |
3 | January 28, 1978 | Robert Klein | |
3 | February 25, 1978 | O. J. Simpson | |
3 | March 18, 1978 | Jill Clayburgh | |
3 | April 15, 1978 | Michael Sarrazin | |
3 | May 13, 1978 | Richard Dreyfuss | |
4 | October 7, 1978 | The Rolling Stones | |
4 | November 18, 1978 | Carrie Fisher | |
4 | December 16, 1978 | Elliott Gould | |
4 | February 24, 1979 | Kate Jackson | |
4 | April 7, 1979 | Richard Benjamin | |
4 | May 26, 1979 | Buck Henry | |
5 | October 20, 1979 | Eric Idle | |
5 | December 22, 1979 | Ted Knight | |
5 | March 15, 1980 | none | |
5 | May 24, 1980 | Buck Henry |
A talk show sendup that dramatized counterfactual historical situations. Debuted January 21, 1978.
John Belushi is the Greek chef of a greasy spoon diner. Debuted January 28, 1978.
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
3 | January 28, 1978 | Robert Klein | |
3 | March 18, 1978 | Jill Clayburgh | |
3 | May 20, 1978 | Buck Henry | |
4 | October 7, 1978 | The Rolling Stones | |
4 | December 2, 1978 | Walter Matthau | |
4 | May 26, 1979 | Buck Henry |
Gilda Radner is Lisa Loopner; Bill Murray is Todd DiLaMuca; Jane Curtin is Lisa's mother. Debuted January 28, 1978.
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
3 | January 28, 1978 | Robert Klein | Nerd Rock |
3 | March 11, 1978 | Art Garfunkel | Looks at Books |
3 | April 8, 1978 | Michael Palin | Music Lesson |
3 | April 22, 1978 | Steve Martin | Science Fair |
3 | May 20, 1978 | Buck Henry | Prom Night |
4 | October 7, 1978 | The Rolling Stones | The Norge (Repairman) |
4 | November 4, 1978 | Steve Martin | Lisa at the Hospital |
4 | January 27, 1979 | Michael Palin | Another Music Lesson |
4 | February 24, 1979 | Kate Jackson | Nerds and the Nurse |
4 | April 7, 1979 | Richard Benjamin | Nerds and Milt |
5 | November 10, 1979 | Buck Henry | Matchmaker Nerds |
5 | December 22, 1979 | Ted Knight | Nativity Scene |
5 | March 15, 1980 | none | Todd's Campaign |
Al Franken is a coal miner. Debuted February 18, 1978.
A Weekend Update segment in which Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin debate a current events topic. Aykroyd's argument typically begins with "Jane, you ignorant slut." Debuted March 25, 1978.
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
3 | March 25, 1978 | Christopher Lee | |
3 | April 15, 1978 | Michael Sarrazin | |
3 | April 22, 1978 | Steve Martin | |
3 | May 20, 1978 | Buck Henry | |
4 | October 7, 1978 | The Rolling Stones | with Bill Murray |
4 | October 21, 1978 | Frank Zappa | |
4 | November 11, 1978 | Buck Henry | |
4 | December 16, 1978 | Elliott Gould | |
4 | February 17, 1979 | Ricky Nelson | |
4 | March 17, 1979 | Margot Kidder | |
4 | May 19, 1979 | Maureen Stapleton |
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi are an American blues and soul revivalist band. Debuted April 22, 1978.
A Steve Martin sketch. Debuted April 22, 1978.
Don Novello plays a chain-smoking, gossiping priest. Debuted May 13, 1978.
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
3 | May 13, 1978 | Richard Dreyfuss | "Special Guest" Appearance |
4 | October 21, 1978 | Frank Zappa | |
4 | November 18, 1978 | Carrie Fisher | |
4 | December 9, 1978 | Eric Idle | |
4 | January 27, 1979 | Michael Palin | |
4 | February 24, 1979 | Kate Jackson | |
4 | March 17, 1979 | Margot Kidder | |
4 | May 12, 1979 | Michael Palin | |
5 | October 13, 1979 | Steve Martin | |
5 | November 10, 1979 | Buck Henry | |
5 | December 15, 1979 | Martin Sheen | |
5 | January 26, 1980 | Teri Garr | |
5 | February 16, 1980 | Elliott Gould | Outside Richard Nixon's New York Apartment |
5 | March 8, 1980 | Rodney Dangerfield | |
5 | April 12, 1980 | Burt Reynolds | |
5 | May 17, 1980 | Steve Martin | Live from London with Paul McCartney |
7 | December 12, 1981 | Bill Murray | |
9 | January 14, 1984 | Father Guido Sarducci | |
9 | May 12, 1984 | Ed Koch, Betty Thomas, Father Guido Sarducci, Edwin Newman, Billy Crystal | |
11 | November 9, 1985 | Madonna | |
11 | November 23, 1985 | Pee-wee Herman | |
11 | December 21, 1985 | Teri Garr | |
11 | May 24, 1986 | Anjelica Huston, Billy Martin | |
18 | February 20, 1993 | Bill Murray | |
21 | October 7, 1995 | Chevy Chase |
Daniel Edward Aykroyd, is a Canadian actor, producer, comedian, musician, and filmmaker who was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on Saturday Night Live (1975–1979). A musical sketch he performed with John Belushi on SNL, the Blues Brothers, turned into an actual performing band and then the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.
Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedian. She is sometimes referred to as "Queen of the Deadpan"; The Philadelphia Inquirer once called her a "refreshing drop of acid." She was included on a 1986 list of the "Top Prime Time Actors and Actresses of All Time."
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch and fictional news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance. One or two of the players are cast in the role of news anchor, presenting gag news items based on current events and acting as hosts for occasional editorials, commentaries, or other performances by other cast members or guests. Chevy Chase has said that Weekend Update – which he started as anchor in 1975 – paved the way for comedic news shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Saturday Night Live is an American sketch comedy series created and produced by Lorne Michaels for most of the show's run. The show has aired on NBC since 1975.
The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live sketches, organized alphabetically by title. The referenced date is the date when the sketch first appeared.
The Coneheads was a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live (SNL) about a family of aliens with bald conical heads. It originated in the 1977 premiere on January 15th and starred Dan Aykroyd as father Beldar, Jane Curtin as mother Prymaat, and Laraine Newman as daughter Connie. It was later made into a movie.
Roseanne Roseannadanna is one of several recurring characters created and portrayed by Gilda Radner on Weekend Update in the early seasons of Saturday Night Live (SNL). She was the segment's consumer affairs reporter who, like an earlier Radner character Emily Litella, editorialized on current issues, only to go off-topic before being interrupted by the anchor. Unlike Litella's meek and apologetic character, Roseannadanna was brash and tactless. The character was based on Rose Ann Scamardella, a former anchorwoman on WABC-TV's Eyewitness News in New York City. The character also appeared later in Radner's live one-woman shows.
Thomas James "Tom" Davis was an American writer, comedian, and author. He is best known for his comedy partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on the Saturday Night Live television show on NBC.
Weekend Update has been a platform for Saturday Night Live characters to grow and gain popularity ever since Gilda Radner used it to create Emily Litella and Roseanne Roseannadanna. Many cast members have used Update as the primary vehicle for a certain character. Don Novello was featured almost exclusively on the news segment as his breakout character, Father Guido Sarducci, and Tim Kazurinsky, in the face of Eddie Murphy's overshadowing popularity, created characters almost exclusively for Update. Before becoming an anchor on Update, Colin Quinn used the segment as his main sounding board as well.
The Land Shark was a recurring character from the sketch comedy television series Saturday Night Live.
The fourth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 7, 1978, and May 26, 1979.
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 second season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC from September 18, 1976 to May 21, 1977.
The first season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC from October 11, 1975 to July 31, 1976.
This is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between October 11, 1975 and July 31, 1976, the first season of SNL:
The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between September 18, 1976, and May 21, 1977, the second season of SNL.
The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between October 7, 1978, and May 26, 1979, the fourth season of SNL.
The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between October 13, 1979, and May 24, 1980, the fifth season of SNL.
The Young Caucasians were a pop band from the Washington DC area.