Season 2, Episode 12; Host:Ruth Gordon, with Chuck Berry and Ricky Jay

Aired January 22, 1977.

Cold opening:"John Belushi is still injured"

After missing the previous episode, John Belushi is still nursing injuries and is using a wheelchair.  Producer Lorne Michaels says Belushi is not ready to return to the air.  Belushi's doctor pleads with Michaels, saying John will be crushed if he isn't allowed to perform. 
Gilda Radner wheels Belushi into Lorne's office and he is barely able to speak.  

When Michaels asks why the doctor is so convinced John should appear on Saturday Night, 

the doc says that if Belushi doesn't go on, he won't get paid, and if he doesn't get paid, he'll cut off Belushi's drugs.  

Upon hearing this, John looks into the camera and announces "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!"  

Monologue:

Host Ruth Gordon says that after 61 years of acting, she's ready for the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

Commercial:"The Marines"

Repeat from Season 2, episode 7.

Barbra Streisand:"Me"

Written by Marilyn Suzanne Miller and Cheryl Hardwick.
Barbra Streisand (Laraine Newman) sings a song love song about the person she loves the most:

Herself!

"Litella Sisters"

During lunch, Emily Litella (Radner) tells her sister Essie (Gordon) that she's having trouble coming up with a topic for her latest "Weekend Update" commentary.  Essie suggests she discuss the "burning tissues" of the day, like "transcendental medication" and "flea elections" that people are demanding in China.

"The Tommorrow Show with Tom Snyder"

Written by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.
Tom Snyder (Dan Aykroyd) interviews movie producer Dino De Laurentis (Belushi) about his new King Kong movie.  De Laurentis believes his new film will be a huge hit because everyone will cry when Kong dies.

Chuck Berry:"Johnny B. Goode"
Chuck Berry performs "Johnny B. Goode," which was written by Berry and released in 1958.  "Johnny B. Goode" reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

During the song, Berry shows off his patented duckwalk!

"Weekend Update":
Anchor Jane Curtin reports on the day's top stories, which include:
At his inauguration, President Jimmy Carter performed with a ventriloquist dummy that looks ust like his daughter Amy.

Correspondent Laraine Newman interviews the new President's mother Miss Lillian Carter (Gordon).

And correspondent Emily Litella delivers an editorial reply about...nothing!  Curtin is disgusted by this and lectures Litella about the responsibilities of broadcast journalists.

Commercial:"Crazy Frank"
Crazy Frank (Aykroyd) hard-sells his store's stereo equipment, which is available for "crazy" low prices.

Film by Gary Weis:"Night Moves"

Garrett Morris introduces this week's film by Gary Weis and says it's about a woman he used to know 

The film features a woman watching Garrett on TV and posing in for the camera.  

Weis' film features the song "Night Moves" by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band as its soundtrack.  "Night Moves" was written by Seger and was the title track of Seger's album of the same name and released on October 22, 1976.  "Night Moves" was released as a single in December 1976 and reached #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

"Little Old Ladies Of The Night"
Police Captain Joe Palentine (Aykroyd) narrates a story about a geriatric woman (Gordon) who unwittingly falls into prostitution.  

Chuck Berry:"Memphis, Tennessee" and "Carol"

Berry performs "Memphis, Tennessee," which he wrote and originally released in 1959.  "Memphis" later became a hit single in 1963, peaking at #3 on the Irish chart and #6 in the UK.

Berry follows-up with "Carol," another of his compositions.  "Carol" was released in August of 1958 and it peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the R&B chart.

"Babysitter"
When a girl named Penny (Radner) wants to watch an adult-oriented program on TV, her babysitter Mrs. Gillies (Gordon) turns off the television and gives Penny a lesson on sex and relationships, using childish terms.

Home Movie:"The Mr. Bill Show"
Mr. Bill (Walter Williams) is visited by Sluggo the magician, who ends up dismembering Mr. Bill.  

"Ricky Jay"

Magician Ricky Jay invites members of the audience onstage to help him perform card tricks.

"Last Days Of Howard Hughes":

Eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes (Newman) spends his final days on Earth watching movies, eating ice cream and urinating in jars.

"World Of Adventure":

Host E. Buzz Miller (Aykroyd) and his guest anthropologist Dr. Clara Mitdorf (Gordon) watch films Mitdorf made of nude natives of Africa's Kalahari region.

"Mr. Mike's Least Loved Bedtime Tales"
Mr. Mike (Michael O'Donoghue) tells his maid Fifi (Radner) the story of Willie The Worm.

"Goodnights"

Gordon says she loved what she's done on the show and is joined onstage by the cast for goodnights. 

Belushi, who is walking with a cane, is helped onstage by Bill Murray and Radner.  

Notes about this episode:

Ruth Gordon is someone younger readers of this site might not be familiar with.  Her acting credits stretched back to 1915 in silent films and Broadway plays.  She and her husband Garson Kanin were a screenwriting duo and they were nominated for two Best Original Screenplay Oscars.  Gordon gained more fame late in life when she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Rosemary's Baby and appeared in other popular movies like Inside Daisy Clover, Harold And Maude and Every Which Way Loose.  

Gordon was 80 when this episode aired, that made her the oldest person to ever host Saturday Night.  She held that title for 33 years, until Betty White hosted SNL at age 88 on May 8, 2010.

The "Crazy Frank" sketch was a parody of Crazy Eddie commercials from the 1970s.  Crazy Eddie was a Brooklyn-based consumer electronic chain that promised "crazy" low prices on televisions, stereos and other items.  Here's an example of a Crazy Eddie commercial:

Classic moment:

"World Of Adventure" features the first appearance of Dan Aykroyd's sleazeball public access TV host E. Buzz Miller.  The character would go on to appear three times during SNL's third season.  

What stands out:

Laraine Newman as Barbra Streisand and Howard Hughes- Newman does a great Barbra Streisand impression, nailing her voice and her facial expressions.  It's a tribute to her talents that she convincingly plays Howard Hughes and Barbra Streisand in the same episode!  Dan Aykroyd and Garrett Morris also have some great lines in the Hughes sketch.

Dan Aykroyd in "Little Old Ladies Of The Night" and "Crazy Frank"-Aykroyd is hilarious as the narrator of "Little Old Ladies."  He repeats the same line multiple times, but gets angrier every time, which makes this "one-joke sketch" work. 

 Aykroyd is also great as Crazy Frank, his latest rapid-fire commercial pitch-man.  

Chuck Berry-The Rock N Roll legend gives great performances of three of his biggest hits and the Saturday Night Band provides brilliant accompaniment.  

"Litella sisters"-It was nice to see Emily Litella away from the "Weekend Update" desk and Gordon is funny as Emily's sister Essie.   

What doesn't work:
Emily Litella on "Weekend Update"-As much as I enjoy the character, featuring Litella on "Update" after she'd already appeared earlier the same night feels like a case of overexposure.  

J.A. Morris' rating:

This is a solid episode with great music and it features strong performances by the cast, especially the aforementioned Newman and Aykroyd, and Gordon has good chemistry with the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

.5

3 and a half stars.