Episode 140: Mr. T & Hulk Hogan/The Commodores (March 30, 1985)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
Release Date: 03/14/2025
Episode 149: January Jones/Black Eyed Peas (November 14, 2009)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
Gather round, Mad-Mennies because this week, we've got a doozy for ya. For better or worse, the Wiig/Hader/Samberg era was generally consistent enough that it really doesn't have too many notable infamous episodes but this...this sucker right here is definitely one of them. It's a deadly combo at play: a host who simply isn't cut out for the live sketch comedy game, a musical guest at the peak of their obnoxiousness giving three performances and only one single cast member who seems hell bent on carrying the night to the finish line. There's brief moments of glory contained within, sure, but...
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Episode 148: Rob Reiner/No Musical Guest (Oct. 25, 1975)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
In celebration of the show now fully hitting it's 50th anniversary, we're going back to the earliest episode we've yet to cover: Rob Reiner, with no real musical guest. Except, we do get some music in the episode. We get A LOT of things, actually. Much like the show's first episode, there's a bunch of elements in the gumbo for tonight; John Belushi doing his Joe Cocker, Andy Kaufman and his record player return to the show, The Lockers do some street dancing, Albert Brooks turns in what has to be the longest pre-taped segment the show has ever aired. Hell, even Denny Dillon is there! It's a...
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Episode 147: Malcolm-Jamal Warner/Run-DMC (Oct. 18, 1986)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
We return again to the birth of the show's second golden age! This time hosted by a then 16 year old Malcolm-Jamal Warner, with musical guests Run-DMC and a special cameo by Spike Lee in character as Mars Blackmon from She's Gotta Have It...well, it's all a little interesting when you consider the show doesn't really have a single black person in the cast or in the writing room at the moment. Sam Kinison is there too, screamin' and hollerin'. Buster Poindexter is there too and he's, you guessed it, screamin' and hollerin'. We've also got censored jokes, important debuts, one of Dennis Miller's...
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Episode 146: Reese Witherspoon/Alicia Keys (Sept. 29, 2001)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
Ladies and gentlemen, we are BACK FOR OUR NINTH SEASON OF THE SHOW! And we're kicking off with a real doozy. Everyone and their mother knows the infamy of this one. That's right...we're doing Jeff Richard's first episode as a cast member. Lord help us. I guess this one is also kinda notable for being the first episode of SNL post 9/11. I suppose that's why they got Rudy Giuliani there in the cold open. And probably why Paul Simon sings The Boxer. But really, it was at this time that the nation turned it's lonely eyes to Jeff Richards. How will Jeff Richards meet the moment? What will he say?...
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Off Week 71: Pink Lady (and Jeff)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
(Originally posted on Patreon on Oct. 16, 2023) What happens when you mix an iconic singing duo from Japan with minimal knowledge of the English language with a comedian of dubious quality and wrap it all up in a dying variety show format? You get Pink Lady! Or...is it Pink Lady and Jeff? Even the show itself doesn't know what to call this glorious mess. We dig into the history of this infamous disaster and cover it's fifth, and last, episode to air on NBC.
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Off Week 70: Turn-On (1969)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
(Originally posted to Patreon on September 18, 2023) Barely making it through it's first televised airing in some parts of the country, completely unseen in others, and more or less cancelled before the whole thing was even over, Turn-On was exiled to the land of wind and ghosts, never to be seen again...until now. We discuss the history and fallout of this beguiling assault on the senses and bravely attempt to cover the two episodes they managed to produce before the entire house of cards came tumbling down.
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Off Week 69: The Richard Pryor Show (The Lost Sketches)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
(Originally posted on Patreon on September 8th, 2023) We're finally closing up shop on The Richard Pryor Show by looking at the three sketches that were produced but never aired and a smattering of stuff that was written but never produced!
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Off Week 68: The Richard Pryor Show Ep. 4 (Oct. 20, 1977)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
(Originally posted on Patreon on August 31, 2023) It's been one hell of a journey but we've finally come to the end of the road with The Richard Pryor Show. It's clear all involved in the show are pretty happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel and the material collected for this episode is of generally lesser fare than you might expect but there's still moments of fascination and at least one more whale of a sketch. Also, tune in on Friday for the final part of our discussion wherein we dissect the deleted and unproduced sketches from the show!
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Off Week 67: The Edge (92-93)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
(Originally posted on Patreon on August 11, 2023) On one hand, The Edge is just another semi-forgotten 90s sketch show of little renown. On the other, it's one of the most insane assemblage of talent in front of the camera and behind that the fact that it failed is kinda shocking. This week, we dig up as much history on this bizarre little show show as we can possibly could and dissect it's final episode: a best-of special that is both decidedly not the best of the show and also, at least in the copy that we have, unfinished.
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Off Week 66: Upright Citizens Brigade (Bucket of Truth & The Little Donny Foundation)
That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)
(Originally posted on July 28, 2023) By popular demand, this week we're covering one of sketch comedy's most fondly remembered entries: Upright Citizens Brigade! Lasting for only three beautiful seasons on Comedy Central, UCB (both the show and the theaters) nevertheless created a wave of cherished performers and influence that can still be felt to this day. In this episode, we briefly dig into the history of the group before diving headlong into two S1 classics!
info_outlineThe night before the very first Wrestlemania, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan drop by to host the show together...except they mostly don't. It was supposed to be Steve Landesberg but he had to drop out for reasons. I guess? He's still a special guest though, as well as Liberace, Bob Orton Jr. and Rowdy Roddy Piper. I know I say this a lot, but this is an ODD one. It's basically a host-less episode, one of the rare episodes with no Update and the best moments of the show coming from places you would least expect them. And you get The Commodores post Lionel Richie, which is sadly, not great.