Aired September 24, 1977.
Cold opening:"An Oval Office"
Bert Lance, Pres. Jimmy Carter's Budget Director, is resigning due to a recent scandal. The President feels guilty for setting a standard of White House ethics that no one can live up to. Carter points out that Lance has done "nothing illegal. And probably nothing unethical. And only a few things that were really sleazy." Jimmy wishes hopes Lance can work out his financial difficulties when he returns home to Calhoun, GA.
Cold opening:"An Oval Office"
Bert Lance, Pres. Jimmy Carter's Budget Director, is resigning due to a recent scandal. The President feels guilty for setting a standard of White House ethics that no one can live up to. Carter points out that Lance has done "nothing illegal. And probably nothing unethical. And only a few things that were really sleazy." Jimmy wishes hopes Lance can work out his financial difficulties when he returns home to Calhoun, GA.
When the President walks away, Lance looks directly into the camera and says that since a lot of people don't recognize his face, he carries the National Express card.
Lance's card is then displayed onscreen. However, due to his recent ethics trouble, Lance's card has been cancelled!
Bert then returns to his conversation with Pres. Carter and says "Well, there’s, uh, nothing else left to say..." The President finishes Lance's sentence by saying "except.. “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night!“
Monologue:"Steve's Embezzling Cat"
Steve Martin begins his monologue by singing "Mack The Knife." However, he keeps singing the first four lines of the song, over and over again. Martin even makes "shark" hand gestures while singing.
"Mack The Knife" was written by Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 musical The Threepenny Opera.
Martin then proceeds with his monologue, which includes his plans to marry someone in every town where he performs and how his cat has been embezzling from him.
Commercial:"Royal Deluxe II"
A pitchman (Aykroyd) promotes the Royal Deluxe II, a car that rides so smoothly...
"Festrunk Brothers"
Written by Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin and Marilyn Suzanne Miller.
Yortuk Festrunk (Dan Aykroyd) and his brother Georg (Martin) are "two wild and crazy guys" from Czechoslavakia.
The Festrunks hit on two women named Lynn (Jane Curtin) and Barb (Gilda Radner) who are playing ping pong. The brothers claim they were brain surgeons in their native country, "but here in America we must be salesman for decorative bathroom fixtures."
Lynn and Barb aren't interested, but the Festrunks are very persistent. Eventually, the women agree to meet the brothers...at the Holland Tunnel.
Jackson Browne and The Section:"Running On Empty"
Jackson Browne, backed by the Section, sings "Running On Empty," which served as the title track for his December 1977 album. "Running On Empty" was released as a single in February 1978 and peaked at #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #4 in Canada.
Jackson Browne, backed by the Section, sings "Running On Empty," which served as the title track for his December 1977 album. "Running On Empty" was released as a single in February 1978 and peaked at #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #4 in Canada.
The performance features a lap steel guitar solo by David Lindley.
This season, Jane Curtin is joined by new Weekend Update co-anchor Dan Aykroyd.
They report the top stories of the day, such as:
Sammy Davis, Jr., in an effort to cut down on expenses, has gotten rid of his limousine. However, he has kept his chauffeur.
They're joined by several other contributors at the news desk.
Laraine Newman reports on her trip to China, where she attended a ceremony that marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Chinese leader Mao Tse-Tung. Laraine has brought back a souvenir from the event...
...a snow globe that looks like the glass case that contains Mao's body.
Film critic Bill Murray reviews The Deep. Murray is very critical of the cast's performances and says The Deep's leading man Nick Nolte's mustache "makes him look like a Denver cop!"
Garrett Morris reports on sports of the day, most notably Muhammad Ali's upcoming title defense against Earnie Shavers. Morris predicts Ali will win the fight, since Shavers' sparring partner hit the challenger so hard "that it knocked Ernie’s brain through his helmet."
John Belushi talks about his recent trip to Durango, Mexico. He says every year “Weekend Update” awards a $2,500 scholarship to a worthy student from another country who shows promise in the field of journalism. Belushi "connected with" a young man named Carlos who was awarded the scholarship, because Carlos had "connections of his own."
TV Show:"Mike McMack, Defense Attorney"
Written by Al Franken and Tom Davis.
Written by Al Franken and Tom Davis.
A defense lawyer named Mike McMack (Martin) defends a client who is on trial for rape. In order to defend his client, McMack puts the victim (Radner) on trial and tries to blame her for the crime.
"Trinity 3000"
A man (Morris) visits a confessional for the first time in six years.
A man (Morris) visits a confessional for the first time in six years.
He is surprised to learn that the priest (Aykroyd) consults a computer called the Trinity 3000 in order to assign the appropriate penance for his sins.
"Beatles Offer #2"
Repeat from Season 1, episode 21.
"Great Moments In Rock N Roll"
Written by Al Franken, Tom Davis and Jim Downey.
Host Alice Sloan (Newman) tells the story of what led to Roy Orbison (Belushi) writing the song "Oh Pretty Woman."
Written by Al Franken, Tom Davis and Jim Downey.
Host Alice Sloan (Newman) tells the story of what led to Roy Orbison (Belushi) writing the song "Oh Pretty Woman."
Roy then performs the song. "Oh Pretty Woman" was released on August 15, 1964. It was Orbison's biggest hit on the music charts, reaching #1 in the United States and ten other countries.
"Franken and Davis Show"
The comedy team of Al Franken and Tom Davis opens their segment by mentioning that most comedy duos have a funny one and a straight man. However, Franken and Davis say that neither of them are funny. Al and Tom then perform a brief duet of "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off," which was written by George and Ira Gershwin for the film Shall We Dance, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire.
Franken and Davis wonder what a male version of the Miss America pageant would be like, so they perform a sketch built around that idea. Their pageant is hosted by Anita Bryant (Curtin).
The pageant opens with the contestants singing "Getting To Know You." This song was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein for their 1951 musical The King And I, where it was first performed by Gertrude Lawrence.
Al and Tom play pageant contestants named Lyle Cadonia and Brad Gutner. They compete in the swimsuit competition.
During the pageant, Lyle performs a football-themed dance routine built around the song "High Hopes."
The song was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn for the movie A Hole In The Head. In the film, "High Hopes" was introduced by Frank Sinatra and Eddie Hodges. Sinatra's recording of the song reached #30 on the Hot 100 and "High Hopes" won the Best Original Song Oscar at the 32nd Academy Awards.
Jackson Browne and The Section:"The Pretender"
"The Pretender" was the title track for Browne's 1976 album of the same name. The song was released as a single in May of 1977 and reached #58 on the Hot 100.
Commercial:"Kromega III"
The Kromega III watch is so complex it takes two people to make it work.
The music featured in the Kromega commercial is "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana, which was composed by Carl Orff and first performed in 1937.
Goodnights:
Martin, surrounded by the cast and musical guests, says "Goodnight everybody!"
Steve dances a bit with Laraine Newman, then the credits roll.
Notes about this episode:
For the first time since it's premiere, Saturday Night changed it's opening montage with this episode. After Aykroyd says "Live, from New York," it cuts to nighttime footage of Times Square.
The camera zooms in on Time Square's digital billboard, which displays "Saturday Night Live."
It then switches to display the name of this week's host...
...and musical guest.
The introduction of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players has also changed.
Instead of still photos of the cast that we saw the previous two seasons, the billboard displays digital portraits of each member of the cast. Their real faces are then superimposed on to the digital images:
After that, the camera zooms in on the billboard, which is displaying a star.
The star dissolves into a closeup of the host:
The cold opening features John Belushi playing Bert Lance, who served as Pres. Jimmy Carter's Office of Management and Budget Director. Lance was forced to resign in 1977 when he was accused of using his relationship with Carter for his own financial gains. Lance was later tried and acquitted of any crimes, but the scandal severely damaged the Carter administration. Here's a photo of the real Bert Lance and Jimmy Carter:
Lance's "National Express" commercial is a parody of a series of American Express Card commercials that ran in the 1970s and 80s. These ads usually featured a famous person who viewers didn't immediately recognize. Here's a 1978 American Express commercial that featured Francine Neff, who served as U.S. Treasurer in Pres. Gerald Ford's administration:
SNL also parodied these commercials in the 14th episode of Season 1.
Ephemera:
I found an ad for this episode in the September 24-30 1977 issue of TV Guide:
Classic moment:
"Festrunk Brothers"-these "wild and crazy guys" would become some of SNL's most popular recurring characters. This sketch features a more subdued Festrunks than the ones we might remember, but it's still a high point of the episode.
What stands out?
Steve Martin's monologue-It's sort of difficult to summarize the monologue, since Martin jumps from one unrelated topic to the next. He was best stand-up comedian in 1977 and this is a great example of Martin's work at the time.
"Trinity 3000"-it's always interesting to see how computers were treated in popular culture of the past. Dan Aykroyd and Garrett Morris give good performances as the priest and parishioner.
Jackson Browne-I was happy see a musical guest perform two songs that are relatively up-tempo. On a personal note, when I was a kid, my parents owned Browne's Running On Empty album, so watching him perform its title track was a nice reminder of my childhood.
What doesn't work?:
"Weekend Update" wasn't bad per se, but it was a bit overstuffed. I don't remember another "Update" sketch that featured six contributors at the desk. There are two pre-recorded bits (a film clip from The Deep and a sports video) that slowed down Update's momentum. At 10 minutes, it also felt a bit long.
Where's Gilda Radner?-one of Saturday Night's best and brightest is barely visible in this episode. Radner appears in two sketches and one pre-filmed commercial parody, she plays "straight women" in all three roles.
Season 3 of Saturday Night Live gets off to a strong start. It's always enjoyable to watch Martin work with this great cast and the introduction of the Festrunks makes it essential viewing. However, the less-than-great "Weekend Update" and not enough Gilda Radner keep me from giving this episode my highest rating.
.5
3 and a half stars.
