Cold opening:"Steve has changed." Backstage, Gilda Radner approaches this week's host, Steve Martin. She says she hasn't seen nearly as much of him as the last time he hosted. When he tries to kiss Gilda, she stops Steve and says something has changed in him since he recently guest-hosted The Tonight Show. Steve gives Gilda the kiss-off and says he'll be at her place at 3:30 AM.
In the locker room, John Belushi, Garrett Morris and Bill Murray confront Martin and accuse him of ruining Gilda's "reputation." Steve acts like he's too important to hang out with them and says he's "taking a hike."
Belushi tells Martin he's not going anywhere until he opens the show. John then grabs Steve by the fingers and takes him down on the floor. Belushi yells "Say it! Say it!" until Martin announces "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!"
Monologue:"Happy Feet"
Steve gets "Happy Feet," which causes him to dance around uncontrollably. He then sings a "traditional American Indian folk song" and discusses how much he enjoys getting "small."
"The Coneheads At Home"
IRS agent Eli Turnbull (Martin) pays a visit to the Conehead household when their returns show some strange deductions:$2,000 for stocking caps, $7,000 for beer and $2,000 for titanium!
Plus, Connie Conehead (Laraine Newman) angers her parents Beldar (Dan Aykroyd) and Prymaat (Jane Curtin) when she paints her cone tells them she's attending a Peter Frampton concert.
Garrett Morris:“Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt”
Garrett Morris performs “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt.” The lyrics of this song were taken from a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Morris sings an arrangement that was created by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Morris' song is accompanied by onscreen text, which says he's wearing clam diggers because after the recent Saturday Night Mardi Gras special, he went to Jamaica, came back right before this episode began and didn't have time to change.
Celebrity Weight Lifting:
In a weight lifting competition, 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist Vasily Alekseyev (Belushi)...
...pits his strength against socialite and former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis (Radner).
The Kinks:Medley:“You Really Got Me”/“All Day And All Of The Night”/“Well-Respected Man”/“Lola”
Musical guests the Kinks perform a medley of some of the biggest hit singles, all of which were written by their lead singer Ray Davieis. "You Really Got Me" was released as a single on August 4, 1964, it reached #1 on the UK chart and peaked at #7 in the US. The song also appeared on their self-titled debut album which came out in October '64.
"All Day And All Of The Night" was issued on October 24, 1964. It reached #2 in the UK, #7 in the US and was later included on the Kinksize Hits EP.
"Well-Respected Man" appeared on an EP called Kwyet Kinks. The song was released as a single in the United States on October 1965 and reached #13.
"Lola" was released as a single on June 12, 1970. It later appeared on the album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, which came out on November 27 of the same year. "Lola" was a worldwide hit, reaching #1 in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and South Africa. It peaked at #2 in the UK and # 9 in the US.
"Weekend Update" Anchor Jane Curtin's top story is that singer and anti-gay bigot Anita Bryant plans to undergo a sex-change. The exact date of her operation will not be set until Bryant decides which sex to change to.
Plus, correspondent Laraine Newman interviews Maj. General Robert Lazette about Pres. Carter's new flying command post.
Commercial:"Dr. Breadloaf's Quick-Loss Diet Book" Dr. Ruth Breadloaf (Radner) says that if viewers want to eat healthier and lose weight, they should buy her book...
...and eat its pages.
Lily Tomlin:"Broadway Baby" Martin sits down at a diner counter and introduces his special guest Lily Tomlin. Steve tells her she's going to be great on Broadway. Tomlin says her show will open in March. She then jumps on the counter and breaks into a performance of the song "Broadway Baby".
She's joined by Jane, Laraine and Gilda. "Broadway Baby" was written by Stephen Sondheim for the stage musical Follies, which opened on April 4, 1971
"Pull The Plug" When a boy named Buddy (Belushi) is comatose and appears to be braindead, his doctor tells Buddy's parents that it may be time to pull the plug on the machines that keep their boy alive. The parents agree, but since that's not legal, the doctor tries to "accidentally" pull the plug.
Film by Gary Weis:"Buster Holmes" SNL filmmaker Gary Weis turns his cameras on Buster Holmes' New Orleans soul food restaurant.
Game show:"Hollywood Bingo" Gern Blanston (Martin) hosts a game show that features dozens of celebrity guests. Unfortunately, by the Gern has introduced all the celebrities, there's no time left for the game to be played.
Film by Lily Tomlin:"From The Big Orange To The Big Apple" Tomlin drives from Los Angeles to New York City "accompanied" by the many characters she created, including Earnestine the telephone operator...
and housewife Mrs. Judith Beasley.
"Roots II" Alex Haley (Morris) author of Roots, which was the basis of a hugely popular miniseries of the same name, says that NBC has asked him to write a sequel for another miniseries. Haley then Roots II.
The Kinks:"Sleepwalker" "Sleepwalker" was issued a single on March 18, 1977 and it was the title track of the Kinks album that was released in February of that year. This song peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Singles Bar" A woman (Radner) and a man (Martin) meet in a singles bar. They hit it off immediately when they realize they have a lot of odd things in common. For example, both have jobs where they calibrate the pressure ratios for hydraulic valve systems and they both play "Old McDonald Had A Farm" on touchtone phones.
Goodnights: Martin thanks Lily Tomlin and the Kinks. He's joined by the cast and the credits roll.
Notes about this episode: Special guest Lily Tomlin was promoting her Broadway show Appearing Nitely, which opened about a month after this episode. Tomlin's short film was shown at the beginning of performances of Appearing Nitely.
Speaking of Tomlin, this episode is her third appearance on the show in less 16 months. However, Tomlin wouldn't appear on SNL again until Season 8, three years after Lorne Michaels and the original cast had departed.
The "Weekend Update" joke about Anita Bryant getting a sex change operation is a reference to the anti-gay bigotry Bryant was promoting around the U.S. when this episode aired.
During his stand-up act in the 1970s, Steve Martin would tell audiences that his real name was "Gern Blanston." That's why he plays a gameshow host with that name in "Hollywood Bingo."
What stands out:
"The Coneheads At Home"-The Coneheads' second appearance is a good as their first and this sketch builds on the Coneheads mythology and backstory.
“Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt”-Garrett Morris gets a chance to show off his amazing singing voice and the scrolling text adds some comedy to his performance.
"Broadway Baby"-I'm not a huge fan of Broadway musicals, but Tomlin, Curtin, Newman and Radner seem to be having a great time during their performance of "Broadway Baby" and that makes it fun to watch. I don't talk about directing very often here, but director Dave Wilson also did a great job during "Broadway Baby," cutting to each performer exactly when their part of the song begins. That's not such an easy thing to do during the broadcast of a live TV show.
The Kinks-Their medley of greatest hits was one of the best performances of any musical guest of the first two seasons. Their performance of "Sleepwalker," the Kinks' then-current single, is also enjoyable.
"Singles Bar"-This sketch shows that Steve Martin and Gilda Radner had great chemistry, which they show off even more in future episodes Martin hosted.
J.A. Morris' rating: This is another good episode. The sketches aren't quite as great as what we saw the first time Martin hosted, but they're mostly good and the contributions of Lily Tomlin and the Kinks are enough for me to give it my highest rating.
Pres. Jimmy Carter (Dan Aykroyd) addresses his fellow Americans and declares that they still need to have fun in spite of the myriad problems that are plaguing the nation. The camera pans out and reveals Carter is sitting on the back of the statue of Andrew Jackson in New Orleans' Jackson Square. The President says that celebrating the Mardi Gras is one way southerners avoid seasonal depression. He's in Nola to enjoy some fun before he returns to Washington to resume his duties.
His wife Roslyn (Laraine Newman) calls to him and says that after two days on the statue, it's time to come down. Carter then draws a sword, waves it in the air, exclaims "yahhhoooo" and then announces "Live, from the Mardi Gras, it's Saturday Night!"
Randy Newman:"Louisiana 1927"
The show then switches to the Mahalia Jackson Center for the Performing Arts, where Randy Newman is stationed and where he will serve as the de facto host of this special. Newman performs his song "Louisiana 1927."
The song originally appeared on Newman's 1974 album Good Ole Boys, which was released on September 10, 1974. "Louisiana 1927" is about the aftermath of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, which destroyed 700,000 homes in Louisiana and Mississippi and displaced 200,000 people.
Newman then mentions that the Not Ready For Prime Time Players are strategically placed around the French Quarter and Eric Idle will be covering the crowd's reaction to Mardi Gras. Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall will be reporting from the Krewe of Apollo Ball. Baba Wawa will be interviewing Henry Winlker, who is in Nola to serve as King of the Bacchus Parade.
Newman then throws to Jane Curtin and Buck Henry, who are covering the parade...
Bacchus Parade I
They are sitting atop an elevated reviewing stand and since the Parade is delayed, Curtin throws to the show's next segment:
"Hit Al Hirt In The Face With a Brick Contest" Written by Michael O'Donoghue. Famed trumpeter Al Hirt (John Belushi) attempts to play trumpet...
...while he is pelted with bricks, Wiffle bats, beer cans and other dangerous objects.
Sherri (Newman), Rhonda (Gilda Radner) and their friend (Marshall) have come to the Mardi Gras looking "to meet guys" and are disappointed with the men they've encountered so far.
Their evening livens up the Wild Bees Motorcycle Club (Aykroyd, Belushi, Bill Murray) pulls up on their bikes.
Commcrcial:"Garrett Morris Sings Fat's Domino" Garrett Morris plugs his new album, which features him singing the hits of Nola native Fats Domino.
Randy Newman:"Marie" Back in the performing arts center, Newman sings "Marie," which appeared on his aforementioned album Good Ole Boys.
Film by Gary Weis:"Cemetery"
Saturday Night's filmmaker Gary Weis turns his camera on a New Orleans cemetery worker talks into the camera about how much he loves Nola.
Talk show:"Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder":
Tom Snyder (Aykroyd) interviews an exotic dancer named Velocity (Williams) and the Honker (Murray), who entices tourists to enter the Pink Lady topless and bottomless bar. Snyder asks Honker why the women who are performing in the bar are wearing pasties and g-strings if it's supposed to be a topless and bottomless establishment.
Bacchus Parade II The Bacchus Parade is still delayed, but Jane and Buck report that King Of The Bacchus Parade Henry Winkler has gone to court to change his name to Helen Hayes. This leads to the next (pre-recorded) segment...
Talk Show:"Baba Wawa At Large" Baba asks her guest Henry Winkler if he has trouble separating himself from the his role as Fonzie on Happy Days. Winkler responds to the question in his regular voice and then in the voice he uses when he plays "The Fonz."
"Bacchus Parade III"
Buck Hen tells viewers that hundreds of traditional events take place during Mardi Gras. One such event is the recreation of Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's 1940 state visit to New Orleans. Buck then throws to the next segment, which is...
"Ricky Mussolini at the Cabildo"
Written by Tom Davis.
Mussolini's grandson Ricky (Belushi) appears on a balcony in New Orleans' historic Cabildo building, addresses the Mardi Gras revelers below and shouts "Boy you people sure know how to throw a party!"
The crowd below responds to Ricky by chanting "DUCE! DUCE! DUCE!
"Mardi Gras Crowd Reaction" Written by Eric Idle. Guest Eric Idle reports on crowd reactions to the Mardi Gras festivities. Unfortunately, by the time he goes on the air, most of the crowd has disappeared!
As Idle signs off, he sings a bit of the song "If I Ruled The World." This song was written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for Pickwick, their 1963 musical that was based on Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers.
Film by Gary Weis:"Gary Weis Down South" The Civil War ended 112 years before this special aired, but according to this film by Weis, "Dixie" appears to be alive and well...
...all over New Orleans.
The New Leviathan Fox-Trot Orchestra:"Rebecca Came Back From Mecca"
New Orleans' own New Leviathan Fox-Trot Orchestra performs "Rebecca Came Back From Mecca."
"Bacchus Parade IV" The parade is still delayed, so Buck and Jane throw to Penny Marshall...
"Krewe Of Apolllo Ball" Penny is anchoring SNL's coverage of the inaugural Krewe Of Apollo Ball. In this event, a series of queens and debutantes parade around the ball. All the "debutantes" and "queens" in the ball are men. Penny is joined by New Orleans writer and historian Roberts Batson, who provides more information about the ball.
"Stella" In a scene taken from A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley Kowalski (Belushi, channeling Marlon Brando) wanders through the streets of New Orleans looking for his wife Stella and screaming her name.
He stops at a house where he suspects Stella is hiding. When a man (Morris) steps out on to his balcony, Stanley realizes he may be looking in the wrong place.
Paul Shaffer and Michael O'Donoghue:"The Antler Dance" Written by Michael O'Donoghue, Marilyn Suzanne Miller and Paul Shaffer. The show shifts back to the performing arts center, where Saturday Night piano player Paul Shaffer sings "The Antler Dance." This song and its accompanying dance were introduced and performed by Lily Tomlin during the season premier of SNL's second season.
During the song, SNL's cameras cut to the French Quarter where Michael O'Donoghue performs the dance on a balcony. He puts his hands together and puts them on his head to form "antlers."
Some of the people in the crowd below join in and do the dance, while Shaffer is superimposed onscreen.
"Weekend Update" Jane and Buck report on the top news stories of the day, which include: New Orleans mayor Moon Landrieu gives Nola native Garrett Morris the "Combination To The City."
Correspondent Laraine Newman interviews a tourist (Belushi) who is celebrating "Mouse Sunday" by taping live mice over his eyes.
Update's roving reporter Emily Litella is excited to be at the Mardi Gras for the first time. She interviews a "liverboat" captain (Murray) and asks what it's like to transport "loads of liver." As usual, Litella appears to be a bit confused.
Randy Newman:"Kingfish" Newman performs another song from Good Ole Boys. "Kingfish" tells the story Huey P. "Kingfish" Long, who served as Louisiana's governor and later U.S. Senator during the Great Depression.
"New Orleans 1813:A Visit With Jean Lafitte"
Notorious privateer and "independent marine contractor" Jean Lafitte (Murray) goes out of his way to tell people he NEVER wants to be called a pirate.
Lafitte kills several people who make the mistake of calling him a pirate.
"Apollo Ball II" Back at the Apollo Ball, Penny has now been joined by her Laverne & Shirley co-star Cindy Williams, who helps Penny cover the ball.
Williams arrives just in time for the crowning of the queen of the ball.
Randy Newman:"Sail Away" Newman sings the title track from his 1972 album.
Randy Newman throws to the Bacchus Parade one more time and they explain why the parade still hasn't started. Curtin throws back to the theater, where Newman then says goodnight and ends the special.
Notes about this episode:
I respect Lorne Michaels for attempting to take Saturday Night out of it's home studio and staging the show in an unusual setting. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a very difficult time and place to put on a live TV show and lots of things went wrong. With this in mind, I'm sort of grading this special on a curve, since there was so much chaos swirling around the cast and crew.
There were lots of behind the scenes issue that plagued this special episode that have been documented in books and articles. Rather than give a blow-by-blow summary of those sources, I'm going to link to articles that are available online at the bottom of this review. The book Saturday Night, written by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad,has an entire chapter dedicated to the Mardi Gras special, I recommend that chapter for more details. Live From New York, by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller also contains a few quotes from the cast and guests about what happened during the production of this special.
TV Guide ad for Saturday Night Mardi Gras Special.
The Bacchus Parade was delayed until after the special was over. It was postponed due to a car accident on the parade route, some accounts of the accident say it was a fatal collision. Jane Curtin was interviewed on Late Night With Seth Meyers last year and talked about what she experienced during the Mardi Gras show. Here's video of Curtin's Late Night appearance:
Penny Marshall seems a bit out of it during the Krewe ball, but it's not her fault. Marshall was very sleep deprived and jetlagged and was overwhelmed by the Mardi Gras atmosphere. As soon as the Bees sketch ended, Marshall endured a dangerous ride on the back of a motorcycle to the ball, which rattled her even more. Marshall was described as "catatonic" by the time she arrived at the drag ball.
During the "Combination to the city sketch," a man in a mask can be seen approaching Garrett Morris and Moon Landrieu, as seen in this screen capture:
The masked-man was not affiliated with the show, he was just a random Mardi Gras attendee who saw a camera and got within a few feet of Moon Landrieu and Garrett Morris before he was pulled away by the crew.
The "Al Hirt" sketch was based on a 1970 Mardi Gras incident when Hirt was hit with a brick. This account of the assault on Hirt appeared in the February 11, 1970 edition of the New York Times:
"Al Hirt, the city's famous trumpet player, was hit in the mouth with a brick thrown from a crowd night before last. The unknown brick‐thrower could not have known his victim. Mr. Hirt was masked, riding a float in a carnival parade. The brick cut his lip so severely that 12 stitches were required. He does not know whether he will be able to play the trumpet again."
The Meters are billed as appearing on the show during the opening credits, but they don't perform. They were scheduled to close out the special with two songs, but they were cut when the show ran long.
It's also worth noting that the Saturday Night Mardi Gras Special was only rerun once (during SNL's regular Saturday timeslot) and then disappeared from circulation for nearly 30 years, until it was released on the Season Two DVD set.
Classic moment:
Debut of the Honker-This special features the first appearance of a recurring character. Bill Murray would play the Honker five more times during his tenure as a Not Ready For Prime Time Player. He also portrayed Honker three more times when he returned to host SNL.
What stands out:
Jane Curtin and Buck Henry at the Bacchus Parade-These two display poise and bravery while an increasingly hostile and drunken crowd is hurling projectiles and attempting to climb up the reviewing stand. Henry and Curtin show that they were true showbiz professionals in the midst of a very difficult scenario.
The punchline Curtin delivers at the end of the special is one of the best jokes I've ever heard, so good that I won't spoil it for you in this review. Writers Alan Zweibel and Herb Sargent also deserve kudos, since they had to write jokes on the spot and hand them up to Henry and Curtin.
"Stella!"-John Belushi had already impersonated Marlon Brando on SNL, so this sketch was a no-brainer, since A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in New Orleans.
John Belushi, playing Stanley Kowalski, steps off the Desire Stretcar.
Eric Idle-His appearance is brief, but Idle's "report" about the Mardi Gras crowds is hilarious.
Baba Wawa's interview with Henry Winkler-When I was a kid I was a big fan of Happy Days and Fonzie was my favorite character on that show. It's fun to watch Winkler go back and forth between his own "regular" voice and the voice he used when he played Fonzie. It's also fun to watch Winkler interact with Gilda Radner, since both were 1970s TV icons.
What doesn't work: Not enough Garrett Morris-New Orleans native Garrett Morris was excited about returning to his hometown. He even wrote a new song called "Walking Down Bourbon Street." Morris wanted Gary Weis to film him singing the song on Bourbon St. for the special, but that film was never produced. Sadly, he doesn't get to do much here. It's a shame that someone of Morris' talents was treated so shabbily during his homecoming. It's all the more insulting that the show could find time for four Randy Newman songs and a performance by the New Leviathan Orchestra, but no room to showcase Morris. Many years later, Morris recorded "Walking Down Bourbon Street" for his 2014 album Black Creole Chronicles, you can hear the song in the video below:
Too much Randy Newman-In Hill and Weingrad's aforementioned Saturday Night book, we're told Newman performed four times because he was stationed in a theater, which made it easier to cut to him than to other performers who were in the streets of Nola. I generally like Newman's work and I respect his place in the history of American music, but four Newman songs in one special is at least one song too many.
Ricky Mussolini-This sketch consists of lots of buildup with little payoff. Buck Henry does a long intro for the Mussolini reenactment. John Belushi, playing Ricky says "Boy you people sure know how to throw a party!" Then it's over. I will admit that it's legit disturbing (and darkly humorous) to hear the Mardi Gras crowd chanting "Duce!," but this sketch didn't add much to the special. Maybe technical issues forced them to cut away early from the Cabildo?
J.A. Morris' rating: For the first time (and probably the last, since this is a unique episode/special), I'm going giving two different ratings.
For the special's content: I wish I could tell you the Saturday Night Mardi Gras Special is a "lost classic" episode of SNL, but it's a mess, in spite of the admirable effort of the cast and crew. However, it's a historically significant moment in the series' history and it has enough stand-out moments that make it worth watching at least once, especially if you're a hardcore fan of Saturday Night Live.
2 and a half stars.
For the effort of the cast, crew and guests:
Everyone gave it there all and did the best they could under extremely difficult, and in some cases life-threatening circumstances. Their efforts receive my highest rating.
4 stars!
Sources:
Saturday Night, Chapter 8:"Nola," by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad.
