45/32
At 11:30 p.m. on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes before Saturday Night Live (1975) first aired.At 11:30 p.m. on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes before Saturday Night Live (1975) first aired.At 11:30 p.m. on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes before Saturday Night Live (1975) first aired. Matt Wood plays John Belushi on Saturday Night, check out the rest of the cast and their real-life counterparts. Dan Aykroyd was the only original SNL cast member to read the script. When the show airs, John Belushi enters the frame 39 seconds late through a door. He actually came in right away. Jim Henson: The writers on the 17th floor put a belt around Big Bird’s neck and hung him on my dressing room door. Michael O’Donoghue: Hey, Jim! I’ve heard about Big Bird. I’m so sorry. Autoerotic asphyxiation, who knew?. The film opens with a quote from Lorne Michaels: “The show doesn’t air because it’s ready, it airs because it’s 11:30 p.m..” Featured in Eddie Murphy: The Black King of Hollywood (2023). Ixoo ‘Chickenweed’ Chawz Written by Don Cento and Martin Garner Starring Don Cento and Martin Garner. Saturday Night has some funny scenes and moments, and the first half is pretty engaging as this biopic about the night of the first SNL is (90 minutes to be exact since the movie shows us the clock, a mistake I’ll get back to), and Lorne Michaels getting swept up in every ounce of chaos he had in front of him with a show he wasn’t even entirely sure what was going to be. Smith as Chevy Chase (perhaps the most interesting character because of how he was set up and treated by other characters like Milton Berle) and the guy who plays Dan Aykroyd are probably the best and most engaging. Unfortunately, Reitman has that problem that sometimes happens to biopic directors – and in his case he probably knew one or two of these kids when he was in diapers – where this sense that this subject matter is SO important and that what happened here would have repercussions throughout the history of modern comedy, pop culture, and television as a medium… well, one, we *get* it, especially after the first time you explain it all (and by the third, fourth, or fifth time I’ve lost count in the last third of this, especially everything involving Willem Dafoe’s character (he does his best but this guy is like so many others here a one-note joke), and two, if you happen to approach this film with only a very superficial admiration for Saturday Night Live, it can feel even more jarring. I have this feeling seeing this with my significant other, who has never watched a full episode of the ’70s show (probably many of you haven’t either, let’s be honest, I know I haven’t seen any until now). (when it came out on DVD a few years ago), and not only was he indifferent to it, but he found portrayals like John Belushi’s to be completely irritating and Jim Henson’s downright offensive. I get it, because unlike Chase we don’t get a full idea (aside from a Weekend Update moment) of what Belushi was like as a mad comic genius, so he seems like a rancid lump of a human being (no shade to actor Matt Wood), and once you get to that bit about ice skating at Rockefeller Center (in October, mind you) Reitman has settled into a sentimentality that’s just garbage and not touching.