Well, this show is historic for a couple of reasons. This show began the trend that SNL still carries to this day of having a Christmas-themed show right around mid-late December. Also, this show marks the first time someone is hosting for their 2nd time, namely Candice Bergen.
Host: Candice Bergen
Musical Guests: Martha Reeves and The Stylistics
Cold Open: Christmas at the White House (Chase, Morris)
--President Ford (Chase) stumbles his way around before his butler (Morris) tells him that its time for the fireplace talk with the nation. Of course, the sketch ends with the fall and the usual opening, but it's still amusing to watch Chevy do slapstick.
Monologue (Bergen)
--Candice wishes everyone a safe and happy holidays. Yeah, so nothing really happened.
Martha Reeves and Howard Shore & his All-Angel Band sing "Higher and Higher"
--I like the song and she does a pretty decent job of it. I couldn't stop looking at her very droopy breasts though.
Commercial: Mel's Char Palace I (Aykroyd, Radner)
--Mel (Aykroyd) and his wife (Radner) advertise their restaurant chain where you kill your own food before you eat it. Part of an amusing trio of sketches.
Billy's Call Home (Aykroyd, Chase, Curtin, Morris)
--Billy (Chase) calls his parents (Aykroyd, Curtin) to tell them that he's in the police station and what he says gets gradually worse and worse. The saving grace of this sketch is the last line by Curtin.
Bee Capades (Bergen, Aykroyd, Belushi, Chase, Curtin, Morris, Newman, Radner)
--Candice and Chevy introduce a video of the cast skating outside Rockefeller Studio as bees just as an example of what they're looking for when people send in their home movies. Filler.
Commercial: Don Digital I: Ashtray
--Another trio of sketches is started here as Don Pardo shills his digital ashtray. Meh.
Polaroid Commercial: Santa & Reindeer (Bergen, Belushi)
--Bergen and Belushi shamelessly plug the Kodak camera for the audience.
The Stylistics sing "You Make Me Feel Brand New"
--The Stylistics do a good job here with this tune.
Commercial: K-Put
--A repeat from the Klein/ABBA, Wainwright episode. Still great.
Latent Elves (Bergen, Aykroyd, Chase, Curtin)
--Clever sketch in which Linda's (Bergen) brother Teddy (Chase) is revealed to be a "latent elf." This sketch is really well-done with all the references to homosexuality without being too obvious about it.
Weekend Update with Chevy Chase (also: Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner)
--"Generalissimo Francisco Franco is STILL dead." This week, we get an "artist's rendering" of Squeaky Fromme's trial, Laraine Newman reporting from Times Square for the New Year's celebration, swipes at Cher, Sonny Bono, George Wallace, a "live report" from Angola, Emily Litella (Radner) doing an editorial on "firing" the handicapped, and finally, Garrett Morris doing the hard of hearing finish. This was a really, really good edition with almost every joke hitting the mark.
Commercial: Tarn-Off (Bergen)
--Princess Grace (Bergen) advertises for Tarn-Off, which will leave your crown and scepter shining. Meh.
Laundromat Romance (Belushi, Radner)
--A man (Belushi) and woman (Radner) share a washing machine and the man slowly woos the woman into throwing her more personal clothing items in there. This was a nice sketch, but was more about enjoying than laughing all the way through.
Pong
--Really quick segment this week and really just filler.
Muppets Christmas (Bergen)
--The Muppets throw a Christmas party, but nobody shows up because they're all at the Bees' party. Candice does show up to the Muppets' party though and sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" with Ploobis and Scred. Cutesy.
Commercial: Mel's Char Palace II (Aykroyd, Radner)
--Another loud, booming announcement for the do-it-yourself restaurant.
Candice Bergen, the Not Ready For Primetime Players, and Howard Shore & his All-Angel Band sing "Walkin' In A Winter Wonderland"
--This is obviously just to fill time too, but I must say that I did like this rendition and thought it was well-done.
Commercial: Don Digital II: Mood Ring
--This time, it's a mood ring. W00T.
Minute Mystery (Bergen, Aykroyd, Belushi)
--I didn't really care for this the first time, although this second and final edition is a bit better as a seductress/murderer (Bergen) seduces Mendoza (Aykroyd) and Lopez (Belushi).
Commercial: Don Digital III: Suit
--Now, it's a suit with a digital clock for a vest.
Martha Reeves and Howard Shore & his All-Angel Band sing "Silver Bells"
--Another good performance from Martha and co. here.
What Gilda Ate (Bergen, Radner)
--Much like the segment of the same name on the Rob Reiner episode, this really shows Gilda's natural character and it's what makes this amusing.
The Fritzie Kringle Show (Newman)
--Fritzie (Newman) tries to prepare some Christmas goodies, but she ends up eating the ingredients before she can even cook them. Good performance by Newman in an average sketch.
Commercial: Mel's Char Palace III
--The final in the trio of sketches ("no excess fat!").
Candy & Kuhn
--Candice talks to Margaret Kuhn about growing old, as she tells everyone not to fret and just to go along with getting older. Waste of time.
Weis Film: Homeward Bound
--This is the first film by Gary Weis to be shown and is really well-done with footage of people coming home for Christmas to their families while "Homeward Bound" plays.
Candice and the gang then say goodnight to close the show.
Best segment: TIE - Latent Elves & Weekend Update
Worst segment: Candy & Kuhn
Host: Candice Bergen - 6.5/10
Musical Guests: Martha Reeves - 7.5/10
The Stylistics - 7.5/10
This show was pretty disappointing when I first watched it as I saw that Candice Bergen was the host and based on the first episode that she hosted, I expected a lot better. The sketch about the latent elves was the best thing to come out of this show, while Update was the best it had been up to that point. Candy also wasn't as good as when she first hosted, but to be fair, the material wasn't quite as good either. The cast is getting better and better though.
Rating: 5.75/10moreless
EDIT
Episode Summary
Live from New York, It's... Chevy Chase!''''Sketches include "Christmas Eve with President Ford," "Mel's Char Palace" (three parts), "Billy Calls Home," "Send Us Your Home Movies," "The Bee Capades" (film), "Don Pardo Digital Gift Catalogue" (two parts), "Polaroid," "K-Put Price-Is-Rite Stamp Gun," "Closeted Elves," "Tarn-Off," "Laundromat Romance," "Pong," "Ploobis' Christmas Party" (Muppets), "Winter Wonderland," "Minute Mystery," "What Gilda Ate," a guest performance by Margaret Kuhn, "The Fritzie Kringle Show," and "Homeward Bound" (film).''''Martha Reeves performed "Higher & Higher" and "Silver Bells"; The Stylistics performed "You Make Me Feel Brand New."moreless
Watch Online
-
Laraine Newman
Herself
-
Jane Curtin
Herself
-
Michael O'Donoghue
Himself
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
See All-
Trivia
-
Help by adding trivia to this episode. Add trivia
-
-
Notes
ADD NOTES- With this broadcast, Candice Bergen became the first person to host the show twice and the first to host more than once in the same season. She also holds the record for shortest period of time between hosting stints (five weeks). Edit
- This episode features the most segments in a regular 90-minute broadcast in SNL history (27). Edit
- This is one of two known episodes where the audio quality on the master tape sounds as if it was transmitted via a phone line, with frequency response no higher than 5 kHz. The second season finale also had this audio problem. Edit
-
Quotes
ADD QUOTES- Frank: Uh, Mr. President, it is time for the Christmas Eve White House Fireside Chat with the nation. Gerald Ford: Oh yes. Fine, thank you. [ Ford puts down the scissors as Frank exits. The director enters as Ford takes a set in his chair ] Director: Ten seconds, Mr. President. Gerald Ford: All right. Director: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [ Ford has already started talking since the beginning of the countdown ] Gerald Ford: ...Merry Christmas to all of you and good evening. Announcer (V/O): Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. Gerald Ford: ...join me for this Christmas Eve. Perhaps sit with me by the fireside and spend this time together as I put up and Jack and Susan's stockings, and put the final ornament on the tree. [ Ford gets up to the fireplace, where there are two Christmas stockings ]This will be a Merry Christmas for the entire nation, I hope. [ Ford hangs up the stockings upside-down, spilling the gifts inside ] Peace and goodwill... [ Ford picks up a handful of presents and tries to put them back in the stockings, but they fall to the floor again ] ...toward all men. [ Ford walks over to a ladder perched next to the Christmas tree ] Put the final Christmas tree ornament on the tree. [ Ford climbs the ladder and stuggles to put the final ornament on top of the tree and starts tipping ] No problem... [ Ford falls completely off the ladder on top of the Christmas tree, landing head first on the floor. ] Edit
-
Allusions
ADD ALLUSIONS- In another portion of the "Weekend Update" sketch, Laraine Newman, on a "live remote" at Times Square, was reporting on how the area was desolate and nothing was going on in the lead-up to the annual New Year's celebration, and Chevy Chase was repeatedly asking her why this was so. In all likelihood, Chevy on this occasion was spoofing the late, legendary New York news anchor Jim Jensen (1926-1999), who was a fixture on WCBS-TV (Channel 2) from 1964 to 1995. Jensen was known for asking probing questions to reporters on the field or at the news desk about the stories they were covering, and more than once they risked embarrassing themselves on the air when they didn't have the answers to his questions at the very moment he was asking them. Edit
- Chevy Chase: (on phone) Hello, Angola? Very hard to hear you... (pause) Angelo?! During the segment in this edition of "Weekend Update" where Chevy is attempting to reach a correspondent in Angola to describe the brutal conflict there, he ends up on the phone with Angelo's Pizzeria (with stock footage of a pizza parlor shown on the big screen at frame right) instead. Like with Chevy's fake "file reports," this was probably also a dig at some of the shoddy news reporting practices alleged to have been engaged in the late 1960's by New York television station WPIX (Channel 11) and the resulting reputation that haunted the station for many years afterward, as described elsewhere in the Episode Allusions section. Edit
- This edition of "Weekend Update" also marked the beginning of a frequent running gag which will be used for much of the rest of Chevy Chase's run as an "SNL" regular, in which he would introduce a file report, whereby an offscreen voice is heard describing the story in detail to different "artist's renditions" which largely looked like child's drawings, and in the last second of the report the "reporter" was revealed to be Chevy himself, using an assumed name and holding his nose to get the effect of reports transmitted through phone lines. Later editions would show clips of old black-and-white cartoons, stop-motion puppet animation or one-reelers, that would all be passed off at different times as file footage. This is likely a parody of the reputation accrued by the news division of New York television station WPIX (Channel 11) in the late 1960's in the wake of accusations that the station had falsified its news reports, the specifics of which included old stock footage being shown with the words "Via Satellite" emblazoned on the screen, or a "live report" by phone supposedly from a foreign location such as Prague when, in fact, the report was actually filed from a pay-telephone booth in Manhattan. Such slipshod practices actually led to a decade-long challenge to the license of the station's owner/operator, WPIX Inc. (a division of the New York Daily News), beginning in 1969, that was filed with the FCC by a group called Forum Communications, Inc., which was led by future NBC News president Lawrence Grossman. It took many years - and changes in news director and news staff - for Channel 11 to turn its news reputation around, and by the time WPIX Inc. and the Daily News finally won their license fight in 1979, the station became the first independent New York television station to win an Emmy Award for outstanding news coverage. Edit
Show Forums
Add a Topic
See All
Last Activity
Replies
-
Episode Discussion Thread: Maya Rudolph/Sleigh Bells (2/18/12)
8 hours ago18
-
Episode Discussion Thread: Jonah Hill/TBA (3/10/12)
9 hours ago21
-
Episode Discussion Thread: Zooey Deschanel/Karmin (2/11/12)
Yesterday17
-
Favorite Cast Member (Of All Time and Present)
Yesterday180
-
Episode Discussion Thread: Channing Tatum/Bon Iver (2/4/12)
3 days ago54
-
Channing Tatum/Bon Iver
S 37 : Ep 13
Aired 2/4/12
-
Daniel Radcliffe/Lana Del Rey
S 37 : Ep 12
Aired 1/14/12
-
Charles Barkley/Kelly Clarkson
S 37 : Ep 11
Aired 1/7/12
-
Jimmy Fallon/Michael Bublé
S 37 : Ep 10
Aired 12/17/11
Related Shows
-
-
-
Saturday Night Live (SNL) - The Best of Amy PoehlerAvailable Episodes: 1
Source: Amazon Instant Video
-
-
Season 1 Episodes
See AllEp 24
Kris Kristofferson/Rita Co...
Ep 23
Louise Lasser/Preservation...
Ep 22
Elliott Gould/Leon Redbone...
Ep 21
Buck Henry/Gordon Lightfoot
Ep 20
Dyan Cannon/Leon and Mary ...
Ep 19
Madeline Kahn/Carly Simon
Ep 18
Raquel Welch/Phoebe Snow, ...
Ep 17
Ron Nessen/Toni Basil, Pat...
Ep 16
Anthony Perkins/Betty Carter
Ep 15
Jill Clayburgh/Leon Redbon...
Ep 14
Desi Arnaz/Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Ep 13
Peter Boyle/Al Jarreau, Th...
Ep 12
Dick Cavett/Jimmy Cliff
Ep 11
Peter Cook, Dudley Moore/N...
Ep 10
Buck Henry/Bill Withers, T...
Ep 9
Elliott Gould/Anne Murray
Ep 8
Candice Bergen/The Stylist...
Ep 7
Richard Pryor/Gil-Scott Heron
Ep 6
Lily Tomlin/Howard Shore a...
Ep 5
Robert Klein/ABBA, Loudon ...
Ep 4
Candice Bergen/Esther Phil...
Ep 3
Rob Reiner/"Joe Cocker"
Ep 2
Paul Simon/Art Garfunkel, ...
Ep 1
George Carlin/Janis Ian & ...
-
HelloStuart EDITOR
User Score: 12314
-
algetrig91 TRUSTED
User Score: 7299
-
tvfa TRUSTED
User Score: 1254
-
bry456
User Score: 1094
-
dude6363
User Score: 784
-
fuddle2
User Score: 774
-
SNLfan4life
User Score: 679
-
whoaitsconner
User Score: 423
-
TVTomeEB
User Score: 406
-
FakeSnlNorm
User Score: 278
More
Less
