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Saturday Night Live Season 1 Episode 21

Buck Henry/Gordon Lightfoot

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 5/22/76

Live from New York, It's... Chevy Chase! Sketches include "Chevy on Crutches," "Samurai Tailor," "Talk Back!", "Dell Stator's $.99 Toad Ranch," "Looks at Books," "The Crowd Audition," "Peter Lemon Moodring," "Not For Ladies Only," and "Lorne Michaels' Second Offer to the Beatles."

Gordon Lightfoot performed "Summertime Dream," "Spanish Moss," and the first ten seconds of "Sundown"; Garrett Morris performed "An Die Musik."moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (1)

Buck Henry makes his second appearance hosting and this time, he brings along Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot!

8.5

By BaronOne, Apr 24, 2008

Good ol' Buck Henry. He takes his second stab at hosting and the cast couldn't be happier. Buck was one of those hosts who would do sketches that other hosts refused to do and was one of the easiest hosts to work with as well. Gordon Lightfoot was a very talented singer/songwriter from Canada that was another great choice for the show. His music seems a bit different than the type of audience Michaels and the cast were going for, but he's still a really great addition to the line-up.

Host: Buck Henry

Musical Guest: Gordon Lightfoot

Cold Open: Chevy on Crutches (Chase, Newman)

--Chevy comes out on crutches and announces that he can't take the fall due to a leg injury he suffered accepting an Emmy. He gets Laraine to do it, but she pushes him over and makes him take the fall anyway. His faux-smugness at winning the Emmy was only too real, but this was a better opening than the week previous.

Monologue: Buck is Missing (Henry, Aykroyd, Belushi, Curtin, Newman, Radner)

--Buck is announced but is nowhere to be found, so John Belushi is sent out to host until he can be found. Lorne finally finds Buck, who's stuck at the front door because security won't let him get in in a parody of how inept some of the NBC security guards were at the time regarding SNL cast or hosts. Buck finally gets out to the stage but is cut off for time reasons. Great start to the show.

Commercial: Peter Lemon Moodring (Chase)

--Peter Lemon (Chase) sings tunes with colours in the lyrics and turns those colours when they're mentioned. I didn't really get this.

Samurai Tailor (Henry, Belushi)

--Mr. Dantley (Henry) picks up his tuxedo from the Samurai (Belushi) in preparation for his wedding. The chemistry between these two is quite stunning. Hilarity ensues.

Talk Back (Henry, Aykroyd, Radner)

--Frank Nolan (Henry) hosts a cable access show that allows viewers to call in and voice their opinion on "Federally-Supported Municipal Bonds." No one calls though, so he keeps moving onto new topics, eventually getting more and more controversial and then ridiculous as in "Killing Puppies." Great performance by Buck and a fun concept for a sketch.

Commercial: Dell Stator's 99 Cent Toad Ranch (Henry, Aykroyd, Curtin, Newman, Radner)

--Dell Stator (Aykroyd) advertises for toad steaks and roasts at his Toad Ranch while his customers (Henry, Curtin) approve with a little jingle by Newman and Radner at the end. Clever bit.

Gordon Lightfoot sings "Summertime Dream"

--Gordon delivers one of his goodies (but I mean, how many were bad?) and proves that Canada (wooo!) is a good breeding ground for talent.

Polaroid Commercial: Emmy Photos (Morris, Radner)

--Garrett shows off some Emmy photos while Gilda watches from the camera stand.

Weekend Update with Chevy Chase

--Chevy is on the ball this time with some good riffs on Edward Kennedy's constantly changing opinions, some Ford clumsy jokes, and one of his clever "incomplete jokes." Not to mention the video that accompanies his report on Patty Hearst finding out if she is sane or not. No guests this week, but Chevy holds his own and makes up for the week before's dull material. Great stuff.

Commercial: Germasol (Curtin, Newman, Radner)

--A repeat from Henry/Withers, Basil.

Crowd Audition (Henry, Aykroyd, Belushi, Chase, Curtin, Morris, Newman, Radner)

--A director (Henry) and his assistant (Chase) audition a crowd (the rest of the cast and writers) for a role in the director's next film in a very creative sketch with some fun choreography from the crowd and good interplay between Buck and Chevy.

The New Beatles Offer (Lorne Michaels)

--Lorne ups the offer for the Beatles from $3000 to $3200 and a stay in a quality hotel with pitchers of ice water delivered all the time and a "leisurely check-out time of 10am." Good companion piece to the first offer.

Not For Ladies Only (Newman, Radner)

--Baba Wawa (Radner) interviews director Lina Wertmuller (Newman) to talk about her latest film, which is violent, sadistic, and "hilarious." Gilda's impression is good on its own and Laraine's performance adds to it as well.

Weis Film #14: Toilet Seats (Henry)

--Buck asks several people in a store about what goes through their minds when shopping for a toilet seat. It's pretty ridiculous to see these people shop for design toilet seats and Buck's deadpan style makes it all the more funnier.

Looks at Books (Henry, Curtin)

--Jane Curtin interviews a very shy Henry T. Ruden (Henry) about his sex book, but he only continuously refers to sex as "...you know." Jane tries to get him to get to the point, so he finally does in a subtle and funny way. Quick sketch, but it was amusing.

Gordon Lightfoot sings "Spanish Moss"

--Gordon delivers another terrific song from his repertoire and proves once again that he's awesome. Yes, I'm biased. Sue me, haha.

Only Two Songs (Henry, Lightfoot, Belushi)

--Gordon goes for a third song, but Buck interrupts and says that he can only play two. The Samurai (Belushi) then enters and plucks Gordon's guitar strings just to make sure. Gordon's a good sport.

Garrett Morris sings "An Die Musik"

--After some initial confusion as to why Garrett would be doing this, a scroller explains how Garrett was actually able to convince the big chiefs to be allowed to do this. The scroller is amusing.

Mr. Mike: Tony Orlando and Dawn

--Mr. Mike (head writer Michael O'Donoghue) and some ladies do an impression of Tony Orlando and Dawn if they had needles plunged into their eyes. Basically the same as the first one he did, but still very darkly amusing.

Buck leaps over Mr. Mike and the ladies to say goodnight before the cast quickly joins him onstage to wave to the people.

Best segment: Talk Back

Worst segment: Peter Lemon Moodring

Host: Buck Henry - 9/10

Musical Guest: Gordon Lightfoot - 8.5/10

Well, Buck does it again. Coming back for his second time, Henry delivers as a very capable host and did even better than his first wonderful appearance. Buck had a style of delivering his lines with gusto and making a lot of stuff work even though it was weak. Thankfully on this episode, there was a great shortage of weak material and Buck was able to elevate it even further. Gordon Lightfoot was terrific as expected and may be the one to challenge Jimmy Cliff in terms of the best musical guest in the first season. As far as the cast goes, everyone was pretty much strewn throughout the episode but if I had to give the honours to one person being the highlight, it probably would've been John Belushi.

Rating: 8.5/10moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Laraine Newman	Herself
Jane Curtin	Herself
George Coe	Himself
Dan Aykroyd	Himself
Chevy Chase	Himself
Gilda Radner	Herself

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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George Coe	Security Guard	Guest Star
Gordon Lightfoot	Himself	Guest Star
Buck Henry	Himself	Recurring Role
Tom Davis	Crowd Member	Recurring Role
Cheryl Hardwick	Herself	Recurring Role

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (2)
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- Lorne Michaels: Hi, I'm Lorne Michaels, producer of Saturday Night. A short while ago I went on the air and addressed myself to John, Paul, George, and Ringo- the Beatles. At that time, I invited them to appear on Saturday Night and told them I was authorized by NBC to pay them in the sum of three thousand dollars. That was three thousand dollars for just three songs. Well, a month has gone by. We've heard from the Monkees, Freddy and the-- Freddy and the Dreamers, Herman's Hermits, Peter and Gordon, the Cowsills, and Lulu. But still no word from the Beatles. I'm not discouraged and neither is NBC. Because of the recent acclaim that Saturday Night has received, I was able to convince NBC to ... sweeten the pot. John, Paul, George, and Ringo -- we are now prepared to up the original offer to three thousand, two hundred dollars.
  [holds a check up to the camera] Can we get a close-up of this check, please? Which camera is it on? [Of course, there is only one camera and Lorne doesn't even make a pretense of looking for another camera - we slowly zoom in on the check] Ah! As you can see, it's a check for three thousand, two hundred dollars made out to you, The Beatles. Off the record, this increase comes to an extra fifty dollars for each of you. That's if you split it equally -- I'm still not sure what your situation with Ringo is. [zoom out] Furthermore, NBC will also take care of your hotel accommodation.
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- Chevy Chase: Good evening, I'm Chevy Chase, and I love to squeeze things.
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NOTES (3)
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- NBC never reran this episode in its original timeslot. It did however appear on Classic SNL in 2005.
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- The previous week, SNL had won four of the five Emmy awards it was nominated for: Best Writing, Best Direction, Best Supporting Player (Chevy Chase) and Best Comedy-Variety Program. The show only lost in the Best Graphic Design category.
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- In this episode, Lorne Michaels follows up on his Beatles offer, increasing it from $3000 to $3200 and adding lodging at a nearby motel. Actually John Lennon and Paul McCartney did consider appearing, but decided against it.
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