SNL’s Dismal 40th Anniversary Special AND Their First Episode Ever

Two SNL events happened this weekend, one you’re probably aware of and one that didn’t receive nearly as much attention. I’m writing about the SNL 40th anniversary special on Sunday night, but also NBC’s interesting decision to rebroadcast the very first SNL ever the Saturday night before.

SNL 40th Anniversary Special…This was 3 and a half hours of the kind-of SNL moments I hate: when a famous person or former cast member shows back up to get applause from the audience but not really do a whole lot. If you took out the time spent introducing and clapping for past SNL stars, the show would have been about thirty minutes. It was all set-up and very little payoff, and nowhere was that more apparent than when Chris Rock spent longer introducing Eddie Murphy (who hasn’t been on SNL since he left the show and was heavily hyped to return for this special) than Eddie actually spent onstage. He didn’t tell a single joke, and looked uncomfortable just being there.

And that’s a pretty good summation of the entire special, which was mostly divided up between unfunny recurring sketches from the Kristen Wiig/Hader/Armisten era (the Californias? 40 years of material and that’s one of the dozen skits you want to highlight?) and more…”vintage” SNL performers whose stuff hasn’t exactly gotten better with age like Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and poor old Dan Akroyd who looked like he could barely walk let alone get down as a Blues Brother or make a bass smoothie. It also seemed like a lot of the people were mumbling, missing their marks, misreading the cue cards, and might have lost a step or two since last performing or hosting the show.

Lone exceptions: a funny Sandberg/Sandler video taking jabs at when SNL cast members crack up during sketches (like Fallon/Horatio Sanz blowing damn near every sketch they’re in, or Bill Hader “accidentally” laughing during every…damn…Stefon), Martin Short in prime form, and Bill Murray’s hilariously impassioned singing of the theme from Jaws. But all those things were new bits so maybe that defeats the purpose of what was meant to be a celebration and/or highlight reel of the past. The best of the old bits that got dusted off: Celebrity Jeopardy.

First SNL Ever…I’m not sure why NBC decided to show the very first Saturday Night Live from allllll the way back in October 1975 since pretty much everyone who’s seen those episodes seems to think they’re superior to the newer SNLs. It’s risky business to show how much your product has deteriorated but I always thought the early SNLs were overhyped anyway, and had a lot of the same problems the current seasons do. Still, it seemed like the sketches were shorter, and the first episode had two musical acts so that kept the pace moving a lot more.