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.
A Bill Murray sketch. Debuted October 14, 1978.
Season | Episode | Host |
---|---|---|
4 | October 14, 1978 | Fred Willard |
4 | December 16, 1978 | Elliott Gould |
4 | March 10, 1979 | Gary Busey |
5 | November 10, 1979 | Buck Henry |
5 | March 15, 1980 | none |
7 | December 12, 1981 | Bill Murray |
12 | March 21, 1987 | Bill Murray |
18 | February 20, 1993 | Bill Murray |
Debuted October 14, 1978.
This sketch satirized the trend of suburban shopping malls sucking the life out of American cities.
Season | Episode | Host | Location |
---|---|---|---|
4 | October 14, 1978 | Fred Willard | Scotch Boutique |
4 | February 17, 1979 | Ricky Nelson | D&R Men's Hairstylists |
4 | May 19, 1979 | Maureen Stapleton | Candy Store |
5 | November 3, 1979 | Bill Russell | Barry White's Big and Tall That's All |
A talk show sendup where feminist Connie Carson (Gilda Radner) speaks with professional women about their careers. Debuted October 21, 1978.
Season | Episode | Host | Carson's guest |
---|---|---|---|
4 | October 21, 1978 | Frank Zappa | Mrs. Post (Jane Curtin) |
4 | December 2, 1978 | Walter Matthau | Vanessa Lake (Laraine Newman) |
5 | November 17, 1979 | Bea Arthur | Rosemary O'Connell (Bea Arthur) |
A Buck Henry sketch; made two appearances in season 4 and one in season 5. Debuted November 11, 1978.
Season | Episode |
---|---|
4 | November 11, 1978 |
4 | May 26, 1979 |
5 | May 24, 1980 |
A small series of sketches set in the "spaghetti dinner" meetings of a Knights of Columbus lodge. Each sketch involves a prize being given to someone ironically in absentia and ends with a traditional song that only the least expected person remembers the words to. Debuted November 11, 1978.
Season | Episode | Host |
---|---|---|
4 | November 11, 1978 | Buck Henry |
4 | December 16, 1978 | Elliott Gould |
4 | March 17, 1979 | Margot Kidder |
Chico Escuela (literal translation: "Boy School", but more likely "Little School," as Chico means small or little when used as an adjective - essentially little education), played by Garrett Morris, was the Weekend Update sports correspondent. A retired Hispanic ballplayer with limited command of the English language, he wrote the tell-all book Bad Stuff 'Bout the Mets ("Ed Kranepool - he once borrow Chico's soap and no give it back"). The character was first introduced in a St. Mickey's Knights of Columbus sketch, but subsequently Escuela appeared solely on Update.
Typically he would be introduced by Jane Curtin, thus compelling him to say, "Thank you, Hane!" Soon would follow his standard catchphrase: "Beisbol been berry, berry good to me!" In spring training of 1979, Chico's unsuccessful comeback attempt was documented on several Update segments.
The segments were actually filmed at the Miller Huggins Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sammy Sosa, at the peak of his stardom in the late 1990s, would sometimes repeat Chico's catchphrase as a joke to the media, albeit in his true-to-life strong Hispanic accent. [1]
Season | Episode | Host | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
4 | December 9, 1978 | Eric Idle | |
4 | January 27, 1979 | Michael Palin | |
4 | February 17, 1979 | Ricky Nelson | |
4 | April 7, 1979 | Richard Benjamin | Chico's Comeback (part 1 of 3) |
4 | April 14, 1979 | Milton Berle | Chico's Comeback (part 2 of 3) |
4 | May 12, 1979 | Michael Palin | Chico's Comeback (part 3 of 3) |
5 | December 8, 1979 | Howard Hesseman | |
5 | April 19, 1980 | Strother Martin | |
5 | May 24, 1980 | Buck Henry |
Telepsychic was a sketch that only appeared twice, and opened the show both times. featuring Dan Aykroyd as Ray, a pseudopsychic with his own TV show. For the character, Aykroyd wore a blonde wig and tinted sunglasses, and sat behind a desk with five telephones on it. Callers asked for advice about personal issues, and his flippant delivery and outrageous suggestions while answering phones are indicative that he was a fraud. In response to a series of questions that involved time spans, his answer for each was, "Ohhhh... about a month."
Candy Slice was a character played by Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live . An intense but troubled rock and roll artist, Candy Slice recorded a track for an album in a sketch on December 9, 1978, in an installment Eric Idle hosted, the song being "If You Look Close (You Can See My Tits)." [2]
She also performed in the Rock Against Yeast sketch on February 17, 1979, while Ricky Nelson was hosting. [3] Her song was dedicated to Mick Jagger and was about how Candy Slice was his "biggest funked-up fan". Other musician impressions in the sketch included Olivia Newton-John (Laraine Newman), Bob Marley (Garrett Morris) and Dolly Parton (Jane Curtin).
Candy Slice was based loosely on punk rock pioneer Patti Smith. [4]
A Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, and Gilda Radner sketch. Debuted December 16, 1978.
Season | Episode | Host |
---|---|---|
4 | December 16, 1978 | Elliott Gould |
4 | February 10, 1979 | Cicely Tyson |
4 | April 14, 1979 | Milton Berle |
A Michael Palin sketch. Debuted January 27, 1979. The second appearance aired on May 12, 1979.
A Bill Murray sketch. Debuted February 17, 1979.
A Gilda Radner character, who appeared in three sketches over seasons 4 and 5. Debuted May 19, 1979.
Gilda Susan Radner was an American actress and comedian. She was one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until her departure in 1980. In her routines on SNL, she specialized in parodies of television stereotypes, such as advice specialists and news anchors. In 1978, Radner won an Emmy Award for her performances on the show. She also portrayed those characters in her highly successful one-woman show on Broadway in 1979. Radner's SNL work established her as an iconic figure in the history of American comedy.
Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedian.
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch and satirical 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. Historically, 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. In modern times, dedicated anchors are chosen among writing staff, often lead writers, in lieu of cast or featured players. 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.
All You Need Is Cash is a 1978 television film that traces the career of a fictitious English rock group called the Rutles. As TV Guide described it, the group's resemblance to the Beatles is "purely – and satirically – intentional".
Emily Litella is a fictional character created and performed by comedian Gilda Radner in a series of appearances on Saturday Night Live. Based on a person in her early life, Emily Litella was a popular character in Radner's comedy repertoire.
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 are a fictional family of extraterrestrials with bald conical heads, created for a series of recurring sketches on Saturday Night Live (SNL). They first appeared on the January 15, 1977 episode hosted by Ralph Nader. They are portrayed by Dan Aykroyd as father Beldar, Jane Curtin as mother Prymaat, and Laraine Newman as daughter Connie. In 1993, they appeared in a feature film with Michelle Burke substituted as Connie.
Roseanne Roseannadanna is a character 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.
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 Olympia Café was a fictional greasy spoon featured in a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch. The staff, led by John Belushi as Pete Dionisopoulos, were Greeks. Staff also included Bill Murray as Nico, a busboy who does not speak English, Dan Aykroyd as short-order cook George, and Sandy, a waitress played by Laraine Newman. Series regulars Garrett Morris, Gilda Radner, and Jane Curtin had recurring roles as regular customers.
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 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. The show served as a vehicle that launched to stardom the careers of a number of major comedians and actors, including Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd.
Rosie Shuster is a Canadian-born comedy writer and actress. She was a writer for Saturday Night Live during the 1970s and 1980s.
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 September 24, 1977, and May 20, 1978, the third 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.
"Saturday Night Live 15th Anniversary Special" is a 2 1/2 hour prime-time special that aired on September 24, 1989, on NBC, celebrating Saturday Night Live's 15th year on the air, having premiered on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. SNL has since had two more specials celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 1998 and 40th Anniversary in 2014.