Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Back When SNL Was Funny

We had a lovely, lovely Kwanza-Christmas-Hanukkah holiday. People got gifts, there was holiday cheer. All was well.

For one of my gift-ies, I received:

I was totally excited when I opened it. I’ve been an SNL fan for years. I’m even old enough to remember those first years. (Though not Season One, as I was only seven in 1975). And of course, since history being what it is, clouded with rose-colored glasses and all, I remember SNL from the 70s as wildly funny and way, way better “back in the day” then the drivel the push now.

And I have to say. Just not true. SNL has never been consistently funny, in any year. Some of it is total crap strewn in with the gems. Sketch comedy is incredibly tough to write and perform. You have to get the premise of the scene in the first few moments and it’s hard to make funny characters pop out instantaneously. Which is why the Weekend Update news stuff is always the best segment of the show. People have context and the context makes it funny. Usually.

Anyway, I’ve watched a few episodes and I feel I must say this:

Chevy Chase. Funny, but not that funny. Terrible in sketches. But pretty good doing the news and the stuff where he was alone. Though he ran the “Ford is clumsy” bit into the ground.

Dan Akroyd. Holy crap, but he was good. Just genius.

The Muppets. Wha? Don’t get me wrong, the Muppets (and The Muppet Show) were awesome, but they blew chunks when they were on the first season of SNL.

Paul Simon (Episode Two). Worth the price of admission right there. He “reunited” with Art Garfunkel for that show and they did three really nice numbers.

And hey, NBC and Broadway Video? I think you should have stored those original master tapes with a little more care. The digital transfer (especially the early shows) is just awful. I think they accidentally de-gaussed the tapes or something. Icky. See? Look in the upper left hand corner. What’s that red string-y stuff up there? Oy.

But the cool thing is that you can see those shades of genius, which finally blossomed once Chevy left and Bill Murray was on board. You can also tell that they weren’t at sure of exactly what they were doing. And there are some great musical guests from that first year, as long as you discount the ABBA. :-]

And I don’t care what anyone says, Andy Kaufman and his Mighty Mouse thing was funny. Not a “ha-ha, bust a gut” funny, but “man, that dude be crazy!” funny.

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