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S01.E01: George Carlin / Janis Ian

SoMuchTV

By SoMuchTV
in Saturday Night Live

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SoMuchTV

SoMuchTV

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3 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I’m watching and keep waiting for it to be funny.  

But I’m mostly here for Janis Ian.

When I let (made) one of my millennial daughters watch this one for the first time, she was horrified at “17”. Oh my gosh mom! That’s so depressing!  Yep honey. 

I know a lot doesn’t age well, but I do still appreciate George Carlin’s bit about baseball vs football. And I definitely have good scissors and I’ll fight you!

  • Like 6
ebk57

ebk57

I think NBC aired this episode in the 10pm slot a few years ago, which means they cut it down to an hour.  I know I've seen much of it recently, but some of it is totally new to me (like that Albert Brooks film just now).  And, of course, I don't remember any of it from when it first aired, even though I did watch it way back in the stone age.

The 70s were a weird time...  and the show is so very different than it is now, including the technical stuff.

I'm laughing at some of it.  And not at other parts.  Just like now.  The music is great.

  • Like 5
iarwain

iarwain

5 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I’m watching and keep waiting for it to be funny.  So much talent but so far, I have laughed zero times.

I haven't laughed either, although I've seen this episode several times.  I remember seeing this when it first aired, in fact.  I still love Andy Kaufman's Mighty Mouse routine.  Carlin's baseball/football bit is a classic, but I've heard it too many times for it to be funny.

Billy Preston and Janis Ian were fantastic.  I admit I'm biased toward artists of that era, though.  I even enjoyed seeing Paul Simon saying he'd be on the next week.

Overall, it shows that people who thought the first cast was infallible weren't exactly right.  All the casts have their high and low moments, IMO.  But this was just the first episode, it got better later as it found its footing.  But there were always highs and lows.

  • Like 4
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DXD526

DXD526

Not nearly as dated as I thought it would be. Carlin's routines are still funny, even though I've heard that stuff many times. And still mostly relevant. It was interesting that all he did was host, he wasn't in any sketches. He didn't mingle with the cast at all, so in that way, the 'host' role has really evolved.

Anyone notice Carlin stumble on the way down the stairs? He seemed a bit altered 😊 Once he started with his routines, though, he was fine. He was a pro.

Janis Ian was amazing. She was just mesmerizing. And At Seventeen is still scarily relevant. I also love that they just threw the craziness of Andy Kaufman out there with no explanations. 

  • Like 6
possibilities

possibilities

Huh. I thought it was almost all funny. The one thing that wasn't funny to me was the tar pit sketch, and that one had amazing art-- too bad the writing was a dud. I am guessing they aired it anyway because after all the work that went into the visuals, they didn't want to just toss it?

I also noticed that they had about twice the usual number of sketches we get nowadays, which meant they knew how to end something andnot beat it to death til it's no longer funny. make the joke! Then move on!

Also interesting is that they interspersed Carlin's stand up throughout the episode, instead of front loading all of it into the opening monologue.

I loved the music, but I am pretty much on a 70s music kick these days. I especially loved Billy Preston's first song; the 2nd was okay. 

I had that Janis Ian LP with those songs (or maybe it was 2 LPs-- I was a huge fan of her back in the day. And I almost even remembered all the lyrics. But it's true: those are some depressing songs. The first one I can say I think it accurate enough to be relevant. The 2nd one might be accurate but it's less of the truth-telling genre and more of the "mentally unhealthy emo shit" and it blows my mind that back in the day I would belt it out as though it was somehow an empowering, healing, cathartic kind of thing instead of an example of how to be super-depressed and not do anything about it. I guess I'm finally over my ex.

I don't think I saw this episode when it first aired. i really didn't watch SNL back then, but I remember the Andy Kaufman bit because everyone I knew was acting it out for laughs.

Maybe iut's a generational thing, but this episode was my kind of humor. Absurd, punchy, and social commentary included! I mean-- that 7 year old date was creepy, and Carlin of course always had a point of view and wasn't afraid to kick the establishment in the teeth, and I didn't catch any false equivalences or making light of genuine atrocities like all the world's a joke. I like that! Laugh, find the joy, but don't pretend what you are laughing at isn't also really serious. Be thoughtful without being a downer. That's powerful, and it's all the moreso because it doesn't send you to bed wanting to give up on life.... Ian's 2nd song notwithstanding. 

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Galileo908

Galileo908

I remember when NBC aired this before the 40th anniversary. There was just some stuff I plain forgot about, like Albert Brooks's film having a bit about the age of consent lowered to 7 in Oregon.

16 hours ago, opus said:

Yikes on the newspaper bit with the guy and the 7 year old. Albert ever talk about that one?

Of course it involves a casting director, he knew what he was doing.

The "Show us your guns" short was parodying this Lark cigarette commercial from the 60s, and now it makes so much more sense.

17 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I’m watching and keep waiting for it to be funny.  So much talent but so far, I have laughed zero times.

It was ROUGH, but you gotta remember what the TV landscape was like back in those days. All the dreck that passed for variety shows back then, SNL was daring as hell. George Carlin's whole bit about God not being perfect was not something you were really seeing on tv in 1975.

It was also more of a traditional variety show than what it would eventually evolve into. You got George Carlin doing a few bits, Valerie Bromfield doing standup, Andy Kaufman doing his thing, Billy Preston AND Janis Ian performing, and even the Muppets! And like modern SNL, half of the sketches were pretapes.

Weekend Update was the only thing that really made me laugh.

  • Like 4
giovannif7

giovannif7

I'm old, so I remember seeing this episode the night it aired live. I enjoyed it as much this time as the first. The final ad parody about the triple trac razors was the one that has stuck with me all these years - due to my brain reminding me of it each time Big Razor added another pointless blade to the product they pushed onto the public over the decades. (what are they up to now, 5 or 6 blades per cartridge?) "Because you'll believe anything!" indeed...

  • Like 7
Peace 47

Peace 47

23 hours ago, opus said:

I wonder if anyone watched the Saturday Night movie tonight, timed it to end at 11:30pm ET, and then put on NBC.

I did rewatch the Saturday Night movie yesterday, then watched the episode when they put it up on YouTube early Sunday morning.  Watching the actual episode made me appreciate the movie more, in terms of all the infinite little details of the sketches that they got absolutely perfect in the movie.

 

4 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

due to my brain reminding me of it each time Big Razor added another pointless blade to the product

“Big Razor,” lol.  It’s funny because it’s true.

The very first sketch about English lessons is so dark and mercifully to the point (tells its joke and gets the hell out):  it must have felt daring for network TV.  As an aside, I just recently watched Mike O’Donahue (the other person in this sketch with Belushi) portrayed in both the Saturday Night movie and in the Will Forte movie about the National Lampoon co-founder, Douglas Kenney (even though the movie is pretty old at this point, I only just watched it), and then I read O’Donahue’s Wikipedia entry, and I’m still rather curious about O’Donahue in general.  He seems to have been a rather mean person, but who knows how much the searing pain he lived with from his migraines, and the brain aneurysm that eventually got him, affected his brain chemistry and personality.  But he wrote that first sketch and did a good job setting a tone for the show.

  • Like 2
iarwain

iarwain

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

Huh. I thought it was almost all funny. The one thing that wasn't funny to me was the tar pit sketch, and that one had amazing art-- too bad the writing was a dud. I am guessing they aired it anyway because after all the work that went into the visuals, they didn't want to just toss it?

That was Jim Henson's Muppets.  They were a regular part of some of the early shows.

  • Like 1
MediaZone4K

MediaZone4K

(edited)

I like that they re-aired the first episode.  I hate when classic episodes of  long running shows like soaps and talk shows just sit in a basement so this was great. I wish NBC still showed really old SNL episodes at 10 PM ET.

Overall, it was very hard to sit through. I really wanted to enjoy it, but It really just was not funny for the most part. I don't think its a generational thing because I've laughed more at Carol Burnett or Flip Wilson episodes.

The 90 mins felt long, and many of the sketches were really short.

The show feels more structured now. In the pilot it felt like pre recorded sketches and the musical performances were popping up randomly. But the performances were fantastic.

On 2/16/2025 at 12:26 AM, ebk57 said:

I think NBC aired this episode in the 10pm slot a few years ago, which means they cut it down to an hour.  I know I've seen much of it recently, but some of it is totally new to me (like that Albert Brooks film just now).  And, of course, I don't remember any of it from when it first aired, even though I did watch it way back in the stone age.

The 70s were a weird time...  and the show is so very different than it is now, including the technical stuff.

I'm laughing at some of it.  And not at other parts.  Just like now.  The music is great.

I recall NBC rearing the first episode at 11:30 back in 2015 for the 40th anniversary.

That 7 year old date sketch--yikes! It was about as yikes when they mentioned the shirtless Macaulay Culkin sketch in the 50th anniversary special.

Edited by MediaZone4K
  • Like 2
chessiegal

chessiegal

I recorded this because it was past my bedtime. 😅 FF through the commercials, it took a little less than 1 hour to watch.

21 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Did anyone notice the announcer called them the “Not For Ready Prime Time Players”?  I think he was so nervous that he messed up the name on the very first show!

I probably wouldn't have caught that if I hadn't read it here.

  • Like 1
Galileo908

Galileo908

17 hours ago, iarwain said:

That was Jim Henson's Muppets.  They were a regular part of some of the early shows.

The weakness of the Land of Gorch sketches were that they were written by the SNL writers and not the Muppet crew. They were busy making The Muppet Show across the pond. And the writers hated those sketches, calling them "The Mucking Fuppets."

On 2/16/2025 at 4:46 PM, possibilities said:

Huh. I thought it was almost all funny. The one thing that wasn't funny to me was the tar pit sketch, and that one had amazing art-- too bad the writing was a dud. I am guessing they aired it anyway because after all the work that went into the visuals, they didn't want to just toss it?

That set had to be a giant pain in the ass to build and walk around, especially in a cramped space like 8H that had to move it out of the way quickly before the next act.

  • Useful 2
iarwain

iarwain

21 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

I like that they re-aired the first episode.  I hate when classic episodes of  long running shows like soaps and talk shows just sit in a basement so this was great. I wish NBC still showed really old SNL episodes at 10 PM ET.

Yeah, I would love to see some of the early seasons again, even though I thought this show seemed very dated.  I'd rather watch those than reruns of the more recent shows (which I always skip, by the way).

  • Like 1
proserpina65

proserpina65

It's pretty obvious that at the beginning the producers did not know what they wanted from the show.  It was so scattershot and unorganized.  And honestly, only occasionally funny.  Of course, George Carlin couldn't do his most cutting stuff but still.  But at least the music was on point.

Lorne Michaels really owes Gerald Ford an apology.  Almost everything ridiculous about his term as president actually came from SNL.

  • Like 2
proserpina65

proserpina65

On 2/16/2025 at 12:03 AM, SoMuchTV said:

When I let (made) one of my millennial daughters watch this one for the first time, she was horrified at “17”. Oh my gosh mom! That’s so depressing!  Yep honey. 

I know a lot doesn’t age well, but I do still appreciate George Carlin’s bit about baseball vs football. And I definitely have good scissors and I’ll fight you!

At 17 was so true for my life at that age.  And quite a few periods after that as well.

Yep, the good scissors were for sewing only.  You did NOT use them to cut paper, ever.

On 2/16/2025 at 5:21 AM, iarwain said:

Overall, it shows that people who thought the first cast was infallible weren't exactly right.  All the casts have their high and low moments, IMO.  But this was just the first episode, it got better later as it found its footing.  But there were always highs and lows.

It definitely improved.  The original cast still is the gold standard, imo, but it took a little while for them to get to that level.  Of course, I mostly only remember the really good stuff.

On 2/16/2025 at 5:21 AM, iarwain said:

I still love Andy Kaufman's Mighty Mouse routine. 

I've never found Andy Kaufman to be funny, and this was no exception.  I just didn't get him.  Nothing against those who did, just not my thing.

On 2/16/2025 at 3:30 PM, DXD526 said:

Not nearly as dated as I thought it would be. Carlin's routines are still funny, even though I've heard that stuff many times. And still mostly relevant.

I've heard the football versus baseball routine too many times to be more than mildly amused, but some of things from later in the episode were so on point for now that it's a little scary.

On 2/16/2025 at 7:16 PM, giovannif7 said:

I'm old, so I remember seeing this episode the night it aired live. I enjoyed it as much this time as the first. The final ad parody about the triple trac razors was the one that has stuck with me all these years - due to my brain reminding me of it each time Big Razor added another pointless blade to the product they pushed onto the public over the decades. (what are they up to now, 5 or 6 blades per cartridge?) "Because you'll believe anything!" indeed...

"Big Razor" - I love that!

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