Saturday+Night+Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a popular late night television show shown on the [|NBC] television network that is hosted by a new celebrity persona every Saturday night. Based on topical events, SNL is composed of multiple skits that are performed live by various comedians and celebrities. The first showing aired in 1975. Hosted by George Carlin, Saturday Night Live (at the time known as the NBC’s Saturday Night) quickly became one of the most known shows of all time. Contents 1-The Beginning of a Legacy 2-Building Careers 3-Bumps in the Road 4-SNL Today

1. The Beginning of a Legacy Saturday Night Live, like all television shows, had a rough start. Inspiration came when Johnny Carson decided that his show’s reruns of “Best of Carson” should no longer be shown on the weekends (so he could use them while on vacation). NBC suddenly needed to fill 90 minutes of showtime on Saturday nights. Dick Ebersol was called upon in the time of need. It was up to this producer to find something new and exciting to air on the network. The possibilities were endless. Ebersol’s first achievement was hiring Lorne Michaels to run the show. It was collectively decided that “The Show” would need to be something different than what was currently on TV. It needed to display the “hip” generation and reflect everyday American life. It was decided that it would be a variety show built to push boundaries. Michaels hired Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, George Coe, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael O'Donoghue, and Gilda Radner as cast members for the show. They would be know as “The Not Ready For Prime-Time Players” and would appear in various skits throughout the show. Now that the outline of the program was lain out, all of the specific details began to fall into place. The show would be filmed in studio 8h of 30 Rockefeller Plaza (GE building known fondly as “30 Rock”). The series would contain skits based loosely on events and political events of the time. These skits would be coupled by musical performances. Hosted by a new person each time (a suggestion made by Albert Brooks), the show would be aired “live from New York” on Saturday nights.

2. Building Careers Throughout the years, SNL has taken in vast amounts of fresh talent in the comedy world. Many actors included those who couldn’t or wouldn’t have done television in the first place. Many of these comedians became some of the biggest stars on television. People would tune in to SNL just to see their favorite person. Eventually the show began having celebrity appearances, and each new host brought something different. Chevy Chase is a great example of this. Chase was part of the original cast list and did the intro for almost every show in the first season. After SNL he went on to make several movies including “Foul Play”, “Fletch”, “National Lampoon’s Vacation” and of course “[|Caddyshack]”. Other actors had similar results. They would appear on SNL and their views and ratings would go up.

3. Bumps in the Road SNL has had many ups and downs during the past 36 years. Some of the worst things were the drug problems, cast rivalries and production issues. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The drug problem was always present. It was the mid 70’s when the show began and drug use was a common vice. The vast majority of the cast and crew either smoked or did other, harder, drugs. Michaels himself would start the day by rolling a joint and passing it around as if to say, “it’s ok to do this”. The stress of the show grew worse and the pot turned into harder drugs like cocaine and heroine. They even had a bodyguard posted outside to warn them if the police where coming. Post show parties were the worst. The cast members and writers would go out to a bar and get drunk while taking excessive amounts of drugs. One of the most tragic wake up calls came when comedian John Belushi died of a drug overdose. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another huge problem was the rivalries amongst the cast. Bill Murray and John Belushi even got into a fistfight that ended with the Murray being fired. Eddie Murphy (who shoestringed his way into the cast in the 80’s) was selected to host over his white coworker Joe Piscopo. This greatly upset Picsopo who took the gesture as an insult.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 18px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. SNL Today

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Today Saturday Night Live is still shown every weekend. Many past seasons have been made into films and new skit ideas are formed all the time. SNL has given a new look on comedy and television itself. It set the standard for late night shows and has proven it’s worth time and again throughout its 36 seasons.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ANALYSIS

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Impact of Saturday Night Live

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Saturday Night Live //(SNL) is an incredible development of modern culture. The sketches done throughout the show are based on everyday topics in American history. These skits range from the depiction of Gerald Fords “clumsy” presidency to a funny spin on everyday events. Along with bringing a smile to its viewer’s faces, these comedic representations of our nation’s leaders affect various political aspects. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SNL is one of the best collections of pop culture. All of the celebrities that host the show and add their own twist to the program. Actors such as <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Alec Baldwin, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks and musical guest such as Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift, Christina Aguilera, Janet Jackson, Madonna and Britney Spears have all hosted the show at least once. Various performances have also been done by an astronomical amount of musical artists such as Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, etc. These people forever leave their mark in American’s minds. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The most topical skits were those about political events. Many featured the presidents. Played by famous comedians: Gerald R. Ford (Chevy Chase), James E. Carter (Dan Aykroyd), Ronald W. Reagan (Phil Hartman), George H. W. Bush (Dana Carvey), William J. Clinton (Phil Hartman), George W. Bush (Will Ferrel) and Barack Obama (Fred Armisen), these “presidents” created a sound image of the weaknesses that people saw in the real presidents. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chase displayed Ford as a bumbling, incompetent, imbecile who stumbled through speeches. Based mostly on the fact that Ford had slipped while exiting air force one, this was a very elaborate stretch. It also reflected how Ford had gotten into office without being voted in as President or even Vice President. Considering it was a crude outline for the new show, it was received rather well by audiences. The skit was solely of Chase falling down and speaking rather awkwardly, not exactly top-notch humor. The audience received this basic slapstick so well because it was something new, making fun of a president, on television! Ford was not liked because he had pardoned Nixon, and people still had that fresh scandal ([|Watergate]) on their minds. Ford lost the following presidential election to Carter.

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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carter did his best to relate to the people. He brought back the “fireside chats” of Roosevelt’s presidency and hosted a call-in radio broadcast program known as “Ask President Carter”. SNL spoofed this talk show by depicting the president (Aykroyd) as “too close” to the people. During this sketch he actually talks down a drug abuser on a bad trip. Carter lost to Reagan in the 1980 election. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Other than the Presidents, many other political topics have been addressed through SNL. Some of the most recent ones are congressman Eric Massa’s “[|tickle fight]” with his staff (where sexual misconduct was apparent), Obama’s state of the union address, the White House party crashers (two reality show actors who got past security and into the state dinner party at the white house) and of course Sarah Palin’s continual political struggle. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SNL reinvented the live stage and redrawn the boundary line that politicians had hidden behind for years. No longer did the media display only the image politicians wanted seen. It also displayed what everyone wanted to see, the funny side of politics. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the best examples of SNL’s unique brand of comedy is Tina Fey’s impersonation of politician Sarah Palin. A series of sketches were created with Fey as Palin. The similarities were astounding. Fey almost perfectly imitated Palin. During Palin’s campaign for Vice President, Fey repeatedly parodied her. The best part about Palin was that SNL didn’t even need to make things up. Much of the dialogue came straight from the interviews and debates that Palin was a part of. Fey portrayed her as a confused immigrant (from Canada eh!) who would epically fail at being president should the job fall upon her shoulders. media type="youtube" key="tjZW4z9zqqY" width="425" height="350" <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The impact of Fey’s impersonation has been a largely debated topic. Many say that it affected Palin’s campaign in a negative way due to her appearing incompetent. Others claim that her leniency showed good character and allowed her to relate to the public in a more informal manner while other candidates couldn’t. A third party even claims that the skits downplayed her abilities and made her seem even more impressive in a real setting, unexpectedly putting together coherent sentences. Either way, the polls showed that she had ratings as high as 88%. Those numbers dropped though and her party lost the election. Her rating has now dropped to the 50% range in the 2012 election. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another influence that SNL has had on America is the presence of ethnic actors onstage. In the 80’s they hired Eddie Murphy, a young African American comedian who was just getting started in his career. SNL was the jump-start for Murphy. He began to make movies even while he still needed his coworkers hail cabs for him (racism was still prevalent in the 80’s). The presence of an African American and sketches such as “White Like Me” allowed SNL to address racism in a funny yet subtle way. media type="custom" key="9664208" <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As you can see, SNL broke away from the standard of comedy. It smashed many barriers and formed an entirely new form of expression. It was the first real show to really push the line of appropriateness. The definition of “political correctness” is as follows: “The avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against”. SNL did the complete opposite of that. Its flamboyant method of comedy obviously influenced America throughout its 36 seasons. Today it continues to vie for the attention of the people, constantly trying to bend the political correctitude of today’s news. The opinions, viewpoints and “accusations” made in the show will continue to effect every single person who comes in contact with it. People have been, and always will be, brought together by comedy.

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"NBC.com Saturday Night Live." //TV Network for Primetime, Daytime and Late Night Television Shows - NBC Official Site//. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/about/history.shtml>.

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Shales, Tom. //Live From New York: An Uncensored History Of Saturday Night Live//. New York: Little, Brown and, 2002. Web. 18 May 2011.

Stars, Its. "Saturday Night Live." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 17 May 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live>.