Celebrating 50 Years of My Own Prime Times with SNL
The anniversary special tribute to "Saturday Night" provided a nostalgic reflection on my relationship with the show since 1975.
I go back to the beginning with this show that’s now officially become old.
Because turning 50 is what most of the world thinks is the official start of “old age,” right?
The show has been a constant in my life since that day in the fall of 1975 when another 8th-grader who sat behind me in class told me, “If you don’t watch ‘Saturday Night Live,’ you’re out of it!”
And what 13-year-old can risk that reputation? So, the weekend after getting that tip, I tuned in.
And I’ve never really tuned out.
Watching the NBC special anniversary show this past weekend that celebrated SNL was more heart-warming, nostalgic, and fun for me than going to my high school class reunions (although I have kept in touch with that prophet of pop culture who turned me on to SNL in the 8th grade).
I mean, who doesn’t feel a little verklempt when looking back through the decades of your life via videos of the faces and the music that were with you every week?
You Had to Be There
The anniversary show featured all of the clips of the performers, the iconic sketches, the musical guests, and references to the big issues or pop-culture phenoms of those many past seasons of SNL.
I felt like I was tuned into a replay of my many past prime time phases that coincided with the show’s beloved stars and catchphrases
Long before some NBC marketing executive coined the term, “Must-See TV,” SNL defined it for a generation of us who have watched the show since it started.
Before the internet, before viral moments became a thing and we could all watch the best clips from the show whenever we were in binge-scroll mode, SNL was a “you had to be there” experience.
For probably three-quarters of this show’s run, we had no YouTube, no TikTok, and no Facebook to watch the best of what happened on Saturday Night. Nor did we have any other convenient, reliable source for edgy, sort of naughty sketch comedy.
SNL was comedy that not just amused us but often surprised and stunned us. And what happened on SNL was always among the top three topics of conversation the next Monday at school or work.
You either caught the show and its’ funniest bits live, or you were, as my classmate once warned me would happen, out of it.
When I watched the show as a teenager living at home with my parents (who always went to bed early since they were “old”), being a viewer felt like being at the center of what was cool and having a seat at the table with the kids who didn’t give a damn what people thought of them.
As I re-watched those early seasons with the inaugural cast in sketches skewering Nixon and Ford, or those that made mention of drugs and sex, I remembered just how hip they made me feel part of the edgiest entertainment non-cable tv had to offer. I became a huge fan of every sketch, every cast member.
My odd but very unique ability to memorize the “Weekend Update” news bits from Roseanne Roseannadanna, as portrayed by the wonderful Gilda Radner, and recite them back for my friends the next week at school brought me enough acclaim to feel that I was, for a moment, kind of cool.
My Reliable Friends
Throughout the 80s and 90s, I was still young enough to stay up for the 11:30pm cold open and monologue. What an amazing time to be witness to the first airing of the most hilarious sketches and performances that are now so ingrained in pop culture that they need no introduction when used as the premise for tv commercials.
I never imagined at the time I was watching SNL that I was seeing sketches that would be considered iconic comedy three and four decades later. But I did know even then that they were special.
And seeing them again this past weekend conjured up the “I remember what was going on in my life when I first saw this” special feelings all over again.
Watching SNL was a constant through my 20s, 30s and into my 40s, even when a lot about my life was anything but that. Career pivots, moves, marriage, divorce, and motherhood all brought a lot of huge changes to my life.
But when Saturday night rolled around, I knew I could count on being treated to 90 minutes of silliness and satire, plus a live mini-show from some of my most-adored musical artists.
Live music every Saturday night without hiring a babysitter and paying a cover charge!
I think if you asked my son what’s one of his favorite things about me that I passed on to him, he would tell you his love of comedy. He started watching SNL skits with me in the 2000s, definitely a bit before he understood some of the double entendre of some jokes.
But at least he wasn’t going to have some kid at school tell him he was out of it.
I’d say some of our most treasured shared memories are me introducing him to Robert Smigel’s “TV Funhouse,” and then him showing me how to view the whole catalog of videos from Lonely Planet (turning 50 in 2012, I was less apt to stay up for the whole show and missed a lot of these when they were live).
Like Life, Sketches Hit and Miss
Today I read a review of the anniversary show by an entertainment writer who gave it a lukewarm C+ grade. He said the show had too many video-montage lookbacks (what?) and that while some of the live sketches and bits were great, he wrote that the show also featured several “shaggy sketches.”
Like SNL, my life performance over the past 50 years has had its’ share of bombs along with the flashes of brilliance. But I never aimed for perfection over authenticity, and I’ll always want to be creative over cookie-cutter. Just like “Saturday Night.”
Now that I’m well past 60 and 11:30 pm doesn’t work well for me to start watching anything, I still keep up with SNL via the clips online featuring the best political parodies and commercial spoofs. As it enters its’ “golden years,” I hope the show continues to stay up well past its’ bedtime to keep on creating, surprising, sometimes offending but overall connecting with viewers.
The related documentary about the live music performances and occasional hosting by musicians is a must-see for anyone like me who loves SNL. Produced by Questlove, it’s called “Ladies and Gentleman….50 Years of SNL Music” and is streaming on Peacock.
I have been a fan of SNL from the very first episode. The good, the bad, AND the ugly.
Fun piece, Sally! As a SNL fan you’ll love Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel Romantic Comedy, based on SNL from the viewpoint of a female writer for the show.