Saturday Night Live season 4

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Saturday Night Live
Season 4
Saturday Night Live season 4 DVD cover art.jpg
Starring
No. of episodes20
Release
Original network NBC
Original releaseOctober 7, 1978 (1978-10-07) –
May 26, 1979 (1979-05-26)
Season chronology
← Previous
season 3
Next →
season 5
List of episodes

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 season 4 DVD was released on December 2, 2008.

Cast

The entire cast from the previous season returned. The only change was Bill Murray's joining Jane Curtin as co-anchor for Weekend Update, replacing Dan Aykroyd. This would be the final season for Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as cast members (who both left to work on SNL's first film, The Blues Brothers ).

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Walter Williams, creator of the Mr. Bill shorts, joined the writing staff.

This season's writers were Dan Aykroyd, Anne Beatts, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Al Franken, Brian McConnachie, Lorne Michaels, Don Novello, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Rosie Shuster, Walter Williams and Alan Zweibel.

Members of the writing staff were credited as "special guests" in the opening montage in episodes where they performed a segment of their own material. Al Franken and Tom Davis, usually billed as "the comedy team of Franken and Davis", and Don Novello, credited as "and a special report from Father Guido Sarducci," appeared throughout the season, with former/original writer Michael O'Donoghue returning for the finale as a special guest, credited as "impressionist Michael O'Donoghue." Novello did seven appearances as Sarducci, while Franken and Davis did four appearances.

Episodes

No.
overall		No. in
season		HostMusical guest(s)Original release date
671 The Rolling Stones The Rolling StonesOctober 7, 1978 (1978-10-07)

682 Fred Willard Devo October 14, 1978 (1978-10-14)

693 Frank Zappa Frank ZappaOctober 21, 1978 (1978-10-21)

704 Steve Martin Van Morrison November 4, 1978 (1978-11-04)

  • Van Morrison performs two songs from his September 1978 release Wavelength : the title track and "Kingdom Hall". [1] [3]
  • Final appearance of the Festrunk Brothers.
  • The last sketch was cut short. When the show closes, Steve Martin announces there were technical problems and that the sketch would resume the next time he hosted.
  • This is Martin's sixth time as host.
715 Buck Henry Grateful Dead November 11, 1978 (1978-11-11)

  • The Grateful Dead performs "Casey Jones" and "I Need a Miracle/Good Lovin'" medley. [1]
  • John Belushi as Elizabeth Taylor chokes on chicken.
  • First appearance of "Uncle Roy" sketch.
  • "Samurai Optometrist" sketch.
  • First appearance of "Chico Escuela".
  • Buck Henry's seventh time as host.
  • Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann makes a non-verbal cameo appearance during the "Nick Sands, the Lounge Singer" skit.
726 Carrie Fisher The Blues Brothers November 18, 1978 (1978-11-18)

737 Walter Matthau Garrett Morris December 2, 1978 (1978-12-02)

  • There is no billed musical guest for this episode. At host Walter Matthau's request, Garrett Morris performs Mozart's "Dalla sua pace" ("On her peace"), an aria from Don Giovanni .
  • George Coe appears in the Epoxy-Dent commercial parody.
  • Pepsi is replaced with Coke in the Olympia Cafe sketch.
  • Mr. Bill Is Late.
  • This episode features the last appearance of the Bees in a sketch called the Bad News Bees. In the skit, Coach Buttermaker (Matthau reprising his role from the 1976 film The Bad News Bears , albeit in a bee costume) tries to get his team to stop "buzzing off"
748 Eric Idle Kate Bush December 9, 1978 (1978-12-09)

759 Elliott Gould Peter Tosh
Mick Jagger 		December 16, 1978 (1978-12-16)

  • Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger perform "(You Gotta Walk And) Don't Look Back", and Tosh performs "Bush Doctor". [1]
  • Special Guests: Bob and Ray
  • "Mommie Dearest" sketch.
  • "Point/Counterpoint" regarding relations with China.
  • Elliott Gould (his 4th time hosting) and Garrett Morris sing "It's Christmas Time in Harlem" during the opening monologue, accompanied by Paul Shaffer.
7610 Michael Palin The Doobie Brothers January 27, 1979 (1979-01-27)

  • The Doobie Brothers perform "What a Fool Believes" and "Takin' It to the Streets". [1]
  • Special Guests: Father Guido Sarducci, Franken and Davis
  • Michael Palin (2nd time hosting) reprises his sleazy music teacher character Mr. Brighton for another sketch with The Nerds.
  • Dickens' "Miles Cowperthwaite", Part 1.
  • Mr Bill Goes to Court.
7711 Cicely Tyson Talking Heads February 10, 1979 (1979-02-10)

7812 Ricky Nelson Judy Collins February 17, 1979 (1979-02-17)

7913 Kate Jackson Delbert McClinton February 24, 1979 (1979-02-24)

  • McClinton performs "B Movie Boxcar Blues" and "I'm Talking About You". [1]
  • Special Guests: Andy Kaufman, Father Guido Sarducci
  • A running gag throughout the show is Fred Silverman trying to sabotage NBC's line-up.
  • Brian Doyle-Murray is one of the people taking a tour during the opening monologue.
  • Kate Jackson plays a nurse who Bill Murray falls for in a sketch involving the Nerds.
  • Final appearance of The Coneheads sketch.
  • "Bad Cabarat for Children" with Leonard Pinth-Garnell.
  • Mr. Bill Goes on a Diet.
8014 Gary Busey Eubie Blake & Gregory Hines
Gary Busey with Rick Danko & Paul Butterfield 		March 10, 1979 (1979-03-10)

  • Eubie Blake and Gregory Hines performs a medley of "Low-down Blues", "I'm Just Simply Full of Jazz" and "I'm Just Wild about Harry". [1]
  • Gary Busey's band performs "Stay All Night". [1]
  • Brian Doyle-Murray is one of John Belushi's sycophants during the cold open and also appears as an audience member with a question in "Women's Problems".
  • Paul Shaffer plays the bass in Busey's rock-n-roll band in the 1950s sketch.
  • Bill Murray stars in the Tom Schiller short, "Perchance to Dream".
8115 Margot Kidder The Chieftains March 17, 1979 (1979-03-17)

  • The Chieftains performs "If I Had Maggie in the Woods" and "Morning Dew" [1]
    • Special Guests: Franken and Davis, Father Guido Sarducci
  • Lorne Michaels and the production staff appear with Margot Kidder and Gilda Radner in the opening monologue.
  • "Point/Counterpoint" regarding Lee Marvin's palimony case.
  • Mr Bill hides from Mr Hand.
8216 Richard Benjamin Rickie Lee Jones April 7, 1979 (1979-04-07)

8317 Milton Berle Ornette Coleman April 14, 1979 (1979-04-14)

  • Ornette Coleman performed "Times Square". [1]
  • Milton Berle's opening monologue featured bits from his nightclub stand-up routine, some of which were met with scant laughter. [7] [8] After about five minutes, Bill Murray dropped a large pipe offstage, making a loud noise and disrupting Berle's routine. When Berle was told by a producer at the foot of the stage that his monologue segment was complete, Berle responded incredulously. [7] During the audience's applause while transitioning to a commercial, he can be seen angrily yelling, although it is unclear whether he is serious. [8]
  • While on-air, Berle frequently mugged for the audience, did spit-takes, and ad-libbed straight to the camera. [7]
  • At the end of the show, Berle broke into a "dreary version" of the 1950s standard "September Song" and, according to Lorne Michaels, loaded the audience with friends and family members who gave it a standing ovation. [7] Michaels told director Dave Wilson immediately afterwards that this show was the worst ever; he kept it from appearing in syndicated reruns later. [9]
8418 Michael Palin James Taylor May 12, 1979 (1979-05-12)

  • The opening monologue featured James Taylor performing "Johnnie Comes Back", his first of three songs in the show. Taylor later performs, "Up on the Roof" and "Millworker", all from his then recently released album, Flag . [1]
  • Special Guest: Father Guido Sarducci
  • Dickens's "Miles Cowperthwaite", Part 2.
  • Final appearance of Dan Aykroyd's Jimmy Carter impersonation.
  • Mr Bill Runs Away From Home.
8519 Maureen Stapleton Linda Ronstadt & Phoebe Snow May 19, 1979 (1979-05-19)

8620 Buck Henry Bette Midler May 26, 1979 (1979-05-26)

Special

Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp.  124–127. ISBN   0-395-70895-8.
  • 1 2 3 4 "Saturday Night Live > Season 4 > Episode 3 : Frank Zappa". TV.com. October 21, 1978.
  • ↑ "Saturday Night Live > Season 4 > Episode 4 : Steve Martin/Van Morrison". TV.com. November 4, 1978.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  • ↑ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp.  91. ISBN   0-395-70895-8.
  • ↑ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp.  119. ISBN   0-395-70895-8.
  • ↑ "Season 4: Episode 11". Saturday Night Live Transcripts. February 10, 1979.
  • 1 2 3 4 Kovalchik, Kara (July 9, 2008). "5 Awful Saturday Night Live Hosts of the '70s". Mental Floss. Archived from the original on September 17, 2009.
  • 1 2 "Season 4: Episode 17, 78q: Milton Berle / Ornette Coleman". Saturday Night Live Transcripts. October 8, 2018.
  • ↑ Hill, Doug; Weingrad, Jeff (2011). "33: Off the Air". Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. Untreed Reads. ISBN   9781611872187 . Retrieved May 1, 2015.
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