S41.E91: Special: Good Night Sweet Prince

[Fisher King]

I really hope there's a separate thread for tonight's Prince SNL special.

[vb68]

I'll second that.  Jimmy Fallon did emcee it and they showed the footage from the after show at the 40th Anniversary, so there was some material that hadn't aired before, if that's a factor in starting a thread.  At any rate, I think the Special was  well done.  You got to see that the various casts (and the show itself) were in awe of him. 

Edited April 24, 2016 by vb68

[VCRTracking]

Sorry Amy Poehler, but Maya Rudolph onstage with Prince performing at the SNL 40 after party is now the new embodiment of joy.

Edited April 24, 2016 by VCRTracking

[Fisher King]

Just when I had reconciled myself to the disappointment that there would be no "The Prince Show" sketch w/ Fred and Maya....Bam! They saved them for the latter part of the episode.

 

A very simple but honorable tribute to Prince and the excitement he brought to SNL.

 

That after-party had to be a surreal blast.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Fisher King

[mtlchick]

Never heard of "Party Up" until I watched this.  I thought "More anti ware protests need this song playing in the background."

[cpcathy]

I was really looking forward to "The Prince Show" as well!

[peeayebee]

I think one mistake the show made was not saving a Prince performance for the end. I liked The Prince Show -- I'd never seen it before -- but I wish there had been one more performance by the real Prince.

 

What a performer. I really enjoyed the show. BTW, who was the tall woman standing next to Maya during the after-party?

[Mumbles]

I wish they had someone with a closer relationship to Prince hosted it. Jimmy Fallon seems to me the most un-Prince person ever. This is a guy who think Justin Timberlake is a musical visionary.

[VCRTracking]

Chris Rock would've been perfect but I think he was actually too close to him and is probably too upset to do it so soon.

[ebk57]

I think one mistake the show made was not saving a Prince performance for the end. I liked The Prince Show -- I'd never seen it before -- but I wish there had been one more performance by the real Prince.

 

What a performer. I really enjoyed the show. BTW, who was the tall woman standing next to Maya during the after-party?

 

I agree.  I really wanted a performance to end the show, but knowing he was on so few times, I figured they had run out of songs.  

 

The tall, blonde woman next to Maya was one of the Haim sisters.

 

And while I did enjoy the show, I found the one number (or skit)/one commercial format really annoying.  I said to Mr ebk that I wondered how they would fill 90 minutes with so few performances.  We found out pretty quickly.

[cpcathy]

I wish they had someone with a closer relationship to Prince hosted it. Jimmy Fallon seems to me the most un-Prince person ever. This is a guy who think Justin Timberlake is a musical visionary.

 

JImmy is a huge music fan, and I believe he has lots of different tastes. Besides, it was probably easier to get him since he already works at 30 Rock.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I enjoyed watching the Prince clips, but this show peaked with the 40th Anniversary After Party clip -- unfortunately that was about 2/3 of the way through the episode and they just filled the remainder with several clips of Fred Armisen's 'Prince Show' sketch.  They didn't have any other clips of Prince performing ?  Really ?

 

Jimmy Fallon was particularly bad fumbling, namedropping, and umming/awwing his way through the video intros.  Couldn't they have put together some cue cards for him at least ? It was kind of painful to watch.  Couldn't they have gotten ANYONE else to do this instead of Fallon ?  I know it was short notice, but still.

 

Hate to say it, but Jimmy's memory of the 40th Anniversary After Show party differed greatly from what was shown -- I'm pretty sure alcohol was involved -- and maybe everything he talked about did occur in his memory.  

 

For starters, that was Prince's backup band on stage -- people that we had just seen in Prince performances previously in the show -- so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a "spontaneous" moment of a bunch of random musicians jamming together and Prince just happened to come on stage.  Plus, you had Prince's massive bodyguard off to the right of the stage during the entire performance.   And Jimmy wasn't holding Prince's gloves at any point, they were somewhere on top of one of the amps behind Prince because he picked them up, and put one on before the clip ended (he didn't get them from Jimmy).  So yeah, Jimmy embellished a lot.

 

ETA: Looking up SNL Wiki, Prince was only on regular episodes of SNL as a musical guest 3 times + performed on the 15th Anniversary special.  And there was a 24+ year gap between his 1st and 2nd musical guest appearances on the regular SNL episodes.

Edited April 24, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[formerlyfreedom]

The show airs clips of Prince's performance through the years; sketches with Prince played by Fred Armisen; hosted by Jimmy Fallon

Please note the numbering is because this is a special, and not part of the regular season. The next regular episode will be the 19th of the season.

[gik910]

JImmy is a huge music fan, and I believe he has lots of different tastes. Besides, it was probably easier to get him since he already works at 30 Rock.

 

Agreed. I think proximity and Jimmy being one of Lorne's go-to guys was the reason he was the MC. No other reason- they wanted to get something on the air quick-he s there- the rest of the SNL staff was not. Whether you like him or not-Jimmy is the host of the Tonight Show.  He is a natural choice. Plus- the whole story about the 40th Anniversary party, that was his Prince story. As for having someone who was close to Prince on a personal level, this would probably have been too much to handle.  It's only been 3 days...

 

Regardless- I really enjoyed the show and was giddy to see the after-party footage.  

 

It sucks that he is gone.

Edited April 24, 2016 by gik910

[Katmai]

 

Jimmy Fallon was particularly bad fumbling, namedropping, and umming/awwing his way through the video intros.  Couldn't they have put together some cue cards for him at least ? It was kind of painful to watch.  Couldn't they have gotten ANYONE else to do this instead of Fallon ?  I know it was short notice, but still.

 

Jimmy was awful! And awfully boring, too.

[Bruinsfan]

I will give them this, SNL is the only thing that can make Shia Labeouf watchable for me, between his The Prince Show skit and "Dear Sister."

 

The tribute may not have been perfect, but given that they put it together in 3 days when Prince's nearest and dearest would still be reeling from the loss and unable to contribute, I think it was an honorable effort.

[mtlchick]

The only thing of note about Jimmy for me is "So is he ever going to wear his ring again or he's not risking it?"

 

It would have worked better if it was 60 minutes...I did like the Prince sketches at the time but we only needed one.  But all things considered, it was fine.  Also, Prince looked a lot better in thigh high boots than I ever could. 

[VCRTracking]

 

I will give them this, SNL is the only thing that can make Shia Labeouf watchable for me, between his The Prince Show skit and "Dear Sister."

The one where Maya Rudolph tries to seduce him in her dressing room is my favorite:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/shia-and-maya/n12137

 

Jimmy Fallon was particularly bad fumbling, namedropping, and umming/awwing his way through the video intros.  Couldn't they have put together some cue cards for him at least ? It was kind of painful to watch.  Couldn't they have gotten ANYONE else to do this instead of Fallon ?  I know it was short notice, but still.

 

 

I'm used to Jimmy's rambling storytelling so it didn't bother me that much. Conan O'Brien was way better though talking about going to the SNL 25th Anniversary after party, where being in a room full of celebrities talking to each other at tables was like a weird version of a high school cafeteria. He finally finds a place to sit and it's next to Gary Busey who freaks him out by saying "You want to take a chance on a mad man? Book me on your show! Do it!"

Edited April 24, 2016 by VCRTracking

[Fisher King]

Thanks for this thread, Saoirse!

 

Fallon's fumbling version of the after-party was almost as long as the clip.

[ebk57]

Thanks for this thread, Saoirse!

 

Fallon's fumbling version of the after-party was almost as long as the clip.

 

I got the feeling he was vamping to fill time.  There was an awful lot of time-filling going on.

[vb68]

 

I got the feeling he was vamping to fill time.  There was an awful lot of time-filling going on.

 

I agree.  I can't be too critical because this was only announced on Friday afternoon, but I think we saw why SNL is usually so tightly scripted down to seconds.

[Mumbles]

Yeah it might well be that they were stretching for time. I do remember a Billy Crystal imitation of Prince around the "We Are the World" era, and I remember not being that amused by it at the time, so I guess they opted not to include it.

I know that Fallon apologized in advance for the after-party story being name-dropping.....but it didn't stop me from rolling my eyes ("And then Paul McCartney told me....")

[LizDC]

Here's the Billy Crystal one...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6t4t5_billy-crystal-hulk-hogan-mr-t_fun

I remember liking it back then but I can see why they wouldn't have included it in the special.

[GarageQueen]

Agreed. The Prince Show clips weren't that funny and Jimmy's storytelling was awful. 

It would have worked better if it was 60 minutes...

[Irlandesa]

I think one mistake the show made was not saving a Prince performance for the end. I liked The Prince Show -- I'd never seen it before -- but I wish there had been one more performance by the real Prince.

I think it might have worked better if they intermingled the "Prince Show" bits with musical performances and saved the SNL 40th Anniversary Show after party performance as the final song.  Even though Tim Kazurinski had uploaded the performance he had taken on his cell phone onto YouTube earlier that day, the feed aired during the special was clearer and from a different angle. It was about "exclusive" as it gets.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Irlandesa

[Prairie Fire]

I'm watching it on DVR right now and Jimmy's long story about the afterparty made me cringe. I like Jimmy, but for God's sake, let the footage speak for itself.

 

That said, apparently Prince has a history of doing impromptu concerts for small groups (of people he obviously cares about), so it was nice that the SNL retrospective included footage of him jamming at the "SNL 40" afterparty. I'm guessing it's very representative of what he's done for others over the years, including the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx after they won a championship.

[VCRTracking]

Yeah it might well be that they were stretching for time. I do remember a Billy Crystal imitation of Prince around the "We Are the World" era, and I remember not being that amused by it at the time, so I guess they opted not to include it.

 

Here it is:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6t4t5_billy-crystal-hulk-hogan-mr-t_fun

Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Mary Gross have nice singing voices.

 

I realize I am Martin Short at any party where people are dancing and having a good time. I'm just smiling and standing awkwardly with my arms folded!

Edited April 25, 2016 by VCRTracking

[angora]

There's something that makes me so happy about the idea of celebrities in formal wear filming Prince on their phones.  He was in a class all by himself.

[mtlchick]

 

Even though Tim Kazurinski had uploaded the performance he had taken on his cell phone onto YouTube earlier that day, the feed aired during the special was clearer and from a different angle

 

Considering how Prince was totally against having his music on Youtube, I am wondering how long Tim's video is going to last online. 

[Ottis]

This Prince tribute show was almost unwatchable. Fallon was rambling and uninteresting (and his story didn't match the video, in which he looked drunk or high). 

 

I didn't recognize any of the songs Prince did until that party video. I'm a long-time Prince fan and own most of his DVDs up until about 2002 or so. 

 

I generally like The Prince Show, but they should have alternated them with performances.

[peeayebee]

I realize I am Martin Short at any party where people are dancing and having a good time. I'm just smiling and standing awkwardly with my arms folded!

Hee. I thought it was interesting watching him watching Prince. It kind of reminded me of my dad, also a musician, who liked to watch and listen to people analytically. I think Short was just absorbing it all. Though I'm an awkward person at parties, in this instance I'd be bebopping along.

[fastiller]

I think one mistake the show made was not saving a Prince performance for the end. I liked The Prince Show -- I'd never seen it before -- but I wish there had been one more performance by the real Prince.

 

Yep.  Should've ended the program with the after-party video.

 

Also, I was wondering if the Bangles ever performed Manic Monday on SNL, or if Chaka Kahn ever performed Feel for You on the show.  They could've included these if either performance had been done.

[cpcathy]

I don't know how Jimmy was supposed to tell the story with name-dropping. If youre talking about a party you were at with a TON of celebrities how do you impart that there were celebrities there (as some were bothered by)?

[cpcathy]

All your ideas on re editing the special are great, sprinkling in "The Prince Show" clips and ending with the party performance would have been perfect, not sure who edited the show and why they didn't think of it!

[VioletNevermind]

Ugh, Jimmy Effing Fallon.  Being a nearly lifelong Prince fanatic, I spend the weekend alternating between listening to one album and concert after another and wallowing in sadness and utter disbelief.  I was looking forward to this special, certain that they wouldn't --couldn't!-- screw it up.  Unfortunately (and possibly inevitably), Fallon's craptastic hosting job encompassed everything the show shouldn't have been.  He was scattered and distracted, clearly in way over his head.  His extended ramble before the 40th anniversary party performance was absolutely awful.  It reminded me of my five-year-old niece telling a story about her kindergarten friends, the differences being that my niece is five and it's really cute when she does it.  I was under the impression that the entire program would be devoted to the majesty that is (not was) Prince.  I understand that there were only four appearances all these years, plus the aftershow one, but there's so much more they could have done.  As much as I enjoy Maya Rudolph, the Fred Armisen skits felt very tacked on at the last minute as filler and had no place taking up a full 45 minutes of what was supposed to be a tribute show.  Why did they not end the show with the aftershow performance?  It is SNL, after all, so I really don't know why I expected any better.  YMMV, of course, but I think this show should have been put out to pasture at least 15 years ago.

 

*five long, deep breaths*  

 

Okay, on to the main attraction: the man and his music.  The first song, "Party Up" was as awesome as it was the first time I saw it.  How can you hate on a guitar-playing 5'2" badass in a trench coat, thigh-high stockings, and heels?  The next one, "Electric Chair," was just pure perfection.  This 88-89 time period is my favorite Prince era appearance-wise: the lush, flowing hair, the tightly choreographed dance moves that hit every. single. goddamn. mark. just. right . . . Lord have mercy.  That entire performance was Prince at his live best, both in terms of energy and sheer mastery of his craft.  As for the other two performances from 2006 and 2014, I much prefer him as the sole singer.  I'm sure the ladies are lovely, but I'm a Prince purist, so it's just not the same for me.  One of the things I've always loved about Prince is his seemingly limitless energy.  He was 22 in the first performance and 56 in the last one and every bit as passionate and limber in the first performance as he was in the last.  

 

We'll never have another one like Prince in our lifetimes.  Rest in peace, funky little man.  I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this new reality.  (Okay, dammit, who started cutting onions again?!)

[cpcathy]

He was a funky little man, indeed! I tend to enjoy the early stuff and the Purple Rain era the most, and I'd never seen the Batman era performance, so it was a nice surprise. That performance on the Chris Rock episode leaned too heavily toward metal for me, but shows he changed up his sound all the time while still being the funky little man.

[Mumbles]

I don't know how Jimmy was supposed to tell the story with name-dropping. If youre talking about a party you were at with a TON of celebrities how do you impart that there were celebrities there (as some were bothered by)?

I think by explaining that there was an after party at the Plaza, and everyone was having a great time, and then all of the sudden he looked down from the stage and saw Prince making his way to the stage and then guess what happened?, would have sufficed as a proper set-up for the clip. None of this "I was chatting with Paul McCartney and Lorne Michaels...." nonsense.

The one thing that came through for me from the Prince musical numbers was how much he loved and appreciated his band and singers, and vice versa.

[Traveller519]

I had no clue who the first two people (to introduce his '81 and '89) performances were.

 

I also enjoyed watching Martin. He seemed genuinely awe-struck, which for a guy who is normally hamming it up in front of a camera was great.

[peeayebee]

The first one was Charlene Tilden (I think that's her name), who was on Dallas. The other woman was Jerry Hall, wife of Mick Jagger.

[WendyCR72]

The first one was Charlene Tilden (I think that's her name), who was on Dallas. The other woman was Jerry Hall, wife of Mick Jagger.

 

With Hall now the ex-wife of Jagger and currently, as of recently, Mrs. Rupert Murdoch. (I always thought Charlene Tilton was a kid on Dallas. Guess not. Just knew she was Gary and Val's daughter.)

[cpcathy]

I believe the Charlene Tilton episode in 1981 is the same one where Charles Rocket utters the F word at the end of the show. Escandalo!

[JakeyJokes]

Jerry Hall was there because she was in "Batman", which Prince did the soundtrack for.

 

(Her best part of the movie is when she tells Jack Nicholson, "You look fine" and he looks at her and says "I didn't ask").

 

I'm a Minneapolis native and Chyna was my favorite wrestler growing up, so this has been a really shitty week. And of all the Prince shows, why didn't they show the one with Janet Jackson as Paula Abdul?

 

I didn't realize that Maya Rudolph could really SANG. Apparently she is in a Prince cover duo called Princess. They performed this weekend in Austin amidst a flow of tears.

[AriAu]

Jimmy Fallon was particularly bad fumbling, namedropping, and umming/awwing his way through the video intros.  Couldn't they have put together some cue cards for him at least ? It was kind of painful to watch.  Couldn't they have gotten ANYONE else to do this instead of Fallon ?  I know it was short notice, but still.

 

Have you ever watched The Tonight Show? That was about as good as Jimmy gets-he is always rambling and sorta making stuff up as he goes and there are lots of ummms and you knows and most of all, there is always this sense of "I can't believe I get to do this" that was sooooo apparent in this.

That being said, that shtick did not really serve its purpose in this tribute show.

 

I didn't realize that Maya Rudolph could really SANG. Apparently she is in a Prince cover duo called Princess. They performed this weekend in Austin amidst a flow of tears.

 

Her mother was Minnie Ripperton, the soul singer, and yes she can really, really sing in addition to being really funny. 

[peeayebee]

Jerry Hall was there because she was in "Batman", which Prince did the soundtrack for.

I forgot she was in Batman. The Joker was experimenting on her face, and she ended up committing suicide. SPOILER ALERT!

[TaxNerd]

I didn't realize that Maya Rudolph could really SANG. Apparently she is in a Prince cover duo called Princess. They performed this weekend in Austin amidst a flow of tears.

This would have been interesting information to use as filler! Instead Jimmy said something about Fred Armistan being the biggest Prince fan, which I thought was just hyperbole to soften the Prince show to be more tribute than making fun of Prince. Maya being in a Prince tribute band seems more relevant and sincere.

[VCRTracking]

I believe the Charlene Tilton episode in 1981 is the same one where Charles Rocket utters the F word at the end of the show. Escandalo!

 

I remember seeing the rerun where the cold open was she and the cast behaved backstage as if were on a soap opera like Dallas. SNL did a better version of it years later in 1994 when Heather Locklear hosted around the time of Melrose Place's popularity.

 

I didn't realize that Maya Rudolph could really SANG. Apparently she is in a Prince cover duo called Princess. They performed this weekend in Austin amidst a flow of tears.

 

When she, Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig sang "Santa's My Boyfriend" 10 years ago I was blown away by how good their harmonies were. I'm still surprised so many of the current female cast members can sing like Kate and Cecily.

 

With Hall now the ex-wife of Jagger and currently, as of recently, Mrs. Rupert Murdoch.

 

 

 

I didn't know until recently that Jerry Hall, Grace Jones and Jessica Lange were roommates in Paris for a time in the 70s when they were all models:

Edited April 26, 2016 by VCRTracking

[VCRTracking]

Jimmy did a much better job on his show telling the story of how Prince kicked his ass playing ping pong:

A moving rendition of "Sometimes it Snows in April" by D'Angelo ft Princess(Maya Rudolph's Prince cover group with Gretchen Lieberum):

Edited April 29, 2016 by VCRTracking