Podcast appearances and mentions of Alan Zweibel

Writer, director, producer, comedian and actor Alan Zweibel joins Frank Mackay on this episode of The Frank Mackay Show!

Writer, director, producer, comedian and actor Alan Zweibel joins Frank Mackay on this episode of The Frank Mackay Show!

Mark and Alan talk about all the moments from the SNL 50th show this past weekend. SNL's demographic is the same as it's always been.

Dan Vitale joined me and discussed social media presence; attention he got from Marc Maron's podcast; Lorne Michaels seeing him; his audition for The New Show; his fluctuating weight from 1986 - 1991; Cobra Kai; streaming services give more content; Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Bill Burr & Louis CK; being Lorne Michaels protege; being funnier now than when he was "hot" in the '80's because he's off alcohol and drugs and older; being listed above Norm MacDonald as a SNL cast member in Rolling Stone; growing up in Island Park, Long Island; other famous Island Park residents including Al D'Amato and the basis for Tony Soprano; where he did stand up pre Covid; living through Covid and protests; going back to college and feeling like Johnny Lawrence from Cobra Kai; IPhones; Dave Attell, memories of Don Novello and Randy Quaid; wanting to know who from his cast was invited to the 40th anniversary; Joan Cusack; Anthony Michael Hall; Damon Wayans; Jon Lovitz; Nora Dunn; Dennis Miller; Danitra Vance; Terry Sweeney;  A Whitney Brown; Jim Downey; Franken & Davis; remembering the Madonna episode and the horrible week working with Chevy Chase; being with world's largest man Michael Hebrank (1100 lbs.) at the Brookhaven Rehabilitation Center; intermittent fasting; coming back for the Ron Reagan Jr. episode; residuals; current SNL; Baldwin's Trump vs. Carrey's Biden; Taran Killam; Darrell Hammond making SNL a civil service job; Alan Zweibel; and John Murray

There's a new book coming out about Saturday Night Live. Mark and Alan talk about the aspects of the Super bowl that make it great. Alan explains what he has been working on recently.

President Trump is working on 80 20 issues first which one of them includes reworking the federal aid. Each week the democrats lies on MSNBC get bigger. Mark interviews writer Alan Zweibel. There's a new book coming out about Saturday Night Live. Mark and Alan talk about the aspects of the Super bowl that make it great. Alan explains what he has been working on recently.

Once DOGE gets a good grip on the USAID, your taxes may go down. President Trump is working on 80 20 issues first which one of them includes reworking the federal aid. Each week the democrats lies on MSNBC get bigger. Mark interviews writer Alan Zweibel. There's a new book coming out about Saturday Night Live. Mark and Alan talk about the aspects of the Super bowl that make it great. Alan explains what he has been working on recently. It costs about 8 million dollars for a 30 second ad to air during the Super bowl. President Trump will be creating a brand-new commission on religious liberty. Trump believes he is more religious more than ever now because of his assassination attack on July 13th , 2025, in Butler Pa. Mark interviews Restaurant Critic Steve Cuozzo. Steve and Mark talk about what's happening with restaurants and office space in NYC. Steve lets us know which restaurants have the best food. Some restaurants in NYC are making their way to the west coast. 

Mark and Allan talk about how Saturday Night Live and TV shows are performing today. Alan tells Mark about his memories, highlighting his career thru his writing and more. 

GGACP celebrates 2025's Year of the Snake by revisiting a memorable Milton Berle anecdote, as told by Emmy-winning comedy writer and Thurber Prize-winning author Alan Zweibel. In this episode, Alan discusses (among other topics) the evolution of “Saturday Night Live,” the genius of Larry Gelbart and Neil Simon and the 2018 documentaries about longtime friends and collaborators Gilda Radner and Garry Shandling. Also, Desi Arnaz invents the sitcom, Jay Leno offers sage advice, Buck Henry makes a bad investment and Gilbert makes like Willy Loman. PLUS: Praising Kate McKinnon! Remembering Bruno Kirby (and Herb Sargent)! Mel Brooks comes to dinner! And Alan writes the Paul “Bridge Over Troubled Water” Simon Special! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Larry is joined by Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Alan Zweibel to discuss his time during the first few years of ‘Saturday Night Live'. Alan begins the conversation by sharing his feelings about the 50th anniversary of ‘SNL' and detailing the anatomy of a good joke. Larry and Alan then talk about Lorne Michaels' original concepts for the show and detail the inspiration for some of Zweibel's favorite sketches (15:34). Next, they examine some of the iconic performers and hosts who made those first shows so special, including Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Andy Kaufman (24:36). After the break they talk about the lasting influence of ‘SNL's early commercial parodies and pay tribute to the great Gilda Radner (38:11). Alan ends the show by remembering some of the lessons he learned as one of the original writers at ‘SNL' and some of the projects he has lined up for the future (49:17). Host: Larry Wilmore Guest: Alan Zweibel Producer: Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tom Homan is ready to clean up the migrant issue here in NYC. Mark interviewed Alan Zweibel, Writer and Producer interview: Mark and Alan discussed the changes happening at SNL. There aren't many recurring characters on SNL. Alan will be the subject of a documentary.

GGACP looks back on its 6th anniversary -- and the release of Episode #300 -- by revisiting PART TWO of a live evening of story and song from New York City's Cutting Room, featuring Mario Cantone, Marilu Henner, Richard Kind, Paul Shaffer and surprise guest performer David Yazbek (as well as special guests Susie Essman, Barbara Feldon, Tom Leopold, Jackie Martling, Jeff Ross and Alan Zweibel). Also in this episode: Gilbert and Jeff star in “CSI,” David and Paul pay tribute to Ed McMahon, Tony Curtis puts the moves on Bette Davis and Richard and Mario (finally!) debate the merits of “Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.” PLUS: Mason Reese! “Wait Until Dark”! The Island of Misfit Toys! The musical stylings of the Gilbert Gottfried Orchestra! And a Broadway icon drops by to join the fun! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alan Zweibel is an original Saturday Night Live writer, has won five Emmy Awards and two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work in television, which includes It's Garry Shandling's Show (co-creator and producer) and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Among his eclectic body of work, Zweibel collaborated with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning production of 700 Sundays, and most recently co-wrote and produced the feature film, Here Today with Crystal. He has written 11 books—his latest, a cultural memoir Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier was published by Abrams Books in 2020. Other books include The Other Shulman: A Novel, which won the 2006 Thurber Prize for American Humor and Lunatics with Dave Barry.

Book a Free Consultation with Peter About Risa: For the past 4 decades Risa has worked consistently as a director, producer, casting director, writer, and teacher. She's had the great fortune to have collaborated with some of the most talented, passionate, and groundbreaking artists in the world. She's continued to move successfully from one arena to another – from theatre to film to television and back. With two feature films in her directorial body of work – the cult classic, 200 CIGARETTES, and more recently, THE CON ARTIST, made in Canada, Risa's also directed in television, including multiple episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE for the WB, and several shows for HBO, Lifetime, and Comedy Central. Risa's directed dozens of plays in New York (The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club) and in Los Angeles. She calls The Ensemble Studio Theatre her original artistic home, where she's been a member in NY for over 40 years, producing and directing several years of the flagship festival MARATHON OF ONE-ACT PLAYS. And she founded EST-LA, a thriving Los Angeles theatre company. Some of her favorite director-playwright collaborations have been with Edward Allan Baker, John Shanley, Richard Greenberg, Bill Bozzone, Alan Zweibel, and Neil Cuthbert. In L.A. Risa founded and produced ACT ONE, a successful two-year festival of one-acts, in conjunction with Showtime Networks. As a founding Artistic Director of EST-LA, Risa worked with HBO, producing and directing a series of acclaimed one-acts for The Aspen Comedy Arts Festival. In her long association with HBO, starting in the early 80's as a talent scout for comedians, Risa co-produced two years of THE YOUNG COMEDIANS SHOW for the network. She was also a TV producer with The Carsey Werner Company.

SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler Podcast – Alan ZweibelIn this episode, hosts Joe, Shari, and jD take us on a nostalgic journey into Saturday Night Live (SNL) history, focusing on legendary comedy writer Alan Zweibel and his contributions to SNL's early seasons. From the behind-the-scenes dynamics of writers like Zweibel to iconic characters like Gilda Radner's creations, the hosts delve deep into the essential pop culture moments of SNL.Tune in as the hosts share their insights, sprinkle in celebrity encounters in podcasts, and rank some of the most memorable moments in SNL history.[00:00] - Intro to the ShowjD, Joe, and Shari kick things off by introducing the premise of the SNL Hall of Fame podcast. They discuss how their rankings and segments will break down this episode's focus.[02:15] - Alan Zweibel's Career & ContributionsA deep dive into Alan Zweibel's role as one of the original SNL writers. The hosts discuss his relationship with Gilda Radner, his work on classic sketches like the Weekend Update jokes, and his extensive influence on early SNL.[04:38] - Classic SNL Sketches Featuring Alan ZweibeljD highlights how Zweibel worked on some of the classic SNL sketches, including the Samurai and Emily Litella sketches. Shari reflects on Zweibel's ability to collaborate across the writer's room with people like Gilda Radner and Robert Smigel.[07:52] - Ranking SNL Hall of Famers: Beck Bennett vs. Sherry O'TerryThe hosts engage in a lively debate over the rankings of various SNL Hall of Fame contenders, including Beck Bennett, Sherry O'Terry, and Bob Odenkirk. They also discuss the trajectory of SNL cast members and who deserves Hall of Fame status.[15:02] - Celebrity Encounters in PodcastsA fun discussion about podcast co-host Jeremy Dove's story of meeting Pharrell, sparking a conversation about celebrity encounters in podcasts and how they add flavor to episodes.[18:40] - SNL Hall of Shame MomentsThe hosts critique some of the weaker sketches from a recent SNL episode featuring Ariana Grande and Stevie Nicks. They call out the misuse of cameos and how it limits airtime for regular cast members.[23:02] - SNL Cast Dynamics & CameosShari points out the challenges of balancing SNL cast dynamics with the regular appearance of cameos. They discuss how Heidi Gardner and Eggo Nwodim deserve more screen time.[30:48] - Closing Thoughts on the EpisodeThe hosts wrap up by previewing next week's episode, featuring a discussion with Robin Duke about Joe Piscopo and his impact on SNL.Listen and subscribe to the SNL Hall of Fame podcast for weekly discussions on the essential moments and key players in SNL history. Whether you're a die-hard fan or a casual listener, our breakdowns of essential pop culture moments will keep you entertained.Be sure to follow, rate, and review wherever you listen to podcasts!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/snlhof/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Alan ZweibelIn this episode, we dive into the illustrious career of Alan Zweibel, one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live (SNL). Join us as we explore his pivotal role in shaping some of the show's most iconic sketches, his close partnership with Gilda Radner, and his later collaborations with comedic legends like Larry David and Gary Shandling. Discover why Alan Zweibel deserves a spot in the SNL Hall of Fame. Listen now!Show Notes: • [0:41] Introduction to the episode by JD, kicking off at the SNL Hall of Fame podcast. Shoutout to Gary Seith from the Not Ready for Primetime Podcast, which covers early SNL seasons.Listen to Gary Seith's podcast here. • [2:17] Matt's Minutia Minute: Trivia on Alan Zweibel—one of the original SNL writers, his comedy roots in Brooklyn, and his friendship with Gilda Radner. • [3:51] Overview of Zweibel's impressive writing credits on Saturday Night Live—from Weekend Update sketches to iconic characters like Roseanne Rosannadanna and Emily Litella. • [6:53] Discussion on Zweibel's collaboration with Gilda Radner on Emily Litella and Roseanne Rosannadanna—key figures in early SNL seasons. • [10:32] Analyzing the impact of SNL's Samurai sketches and how Zweibel took the concept and turned it into a classic series for John Belushi. • [13:34] Zweibel's post-SNL career: It's Gary Shandling's Show and his work with Gary Shandling, including writing and producing for the show. • [19:02] Zweibel's close friendship with Larry David and his contributions to Curb Your Enthusiasm, including one of his memorable appearances on the show. • [21:25] The deep connection between Zweibel and Gilda Radner, which led to some of SNL's most beloved characters and a lifelong friendship. • [28:38] Discussing the SNL Weekend Update format and Zweibel's contributions alongside Herb Sargent—crafting some of the earliest jokes for the segment, including the iconic “prostitution stamp” joke. • [36:12] Special moments from the SNL Mardi Gras special where Zweibel's quick thinking saved the show, as he hand-wrote jokes under the Weekend Update desk. • [44:02] Zweibel's impact beyond SNL, including his role in co-creating It's Gary Shandling's Show and working on the adaptation of Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother.Key Takeaways: • Alan Zweibel was a crucial part of SNL's formative years, contributing to the success of the first five seasons. • His collaboration with Gilda Radner on Weekend Update characters like Emily Litella and Roseanne Rosannadanna helped cement SNL's reputation for groundbreaking comedy. • Zweibel's post-SNL career includes working on legendary shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and co-creating It's Gary Shandling's Show.Listen in as we celebrate Alan Zweibel's lasting influence on comedy, from SNL to Curb Your Enthusiasm.Connect with Us: • Twitter & Instagram: @SNLHOF • Facebook: SNL Hall of Fame Facebook Group • YouTube: Dewvre1974 YouTube Channel • Gary Seith's Podcast: Not Ready for Primetime PodcastSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/snlhof/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week on the pod we welcome back our friend Bill Kenney to discuss the CV of Mr. Danny DeVito. Transcript:Track 2:[0:41] Thank you, Doug DeNance. My name falls off a cliff. And now, J.D. Welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame podcast. My name is J.D., and it is great to be here with you all. I am just fumbling with my keys to get into the Hall of Fame. While I'm doing that, I will wipe my feet. Do the same would you come on in as we prepare to go to a conversation with our friend thomas senna and our equally good friend bill kenny is back to join us and they are here to discuss danny devito now before we go any further i want to just make sure everyone is aware of our new you email address. It is the SNL hall of fame at gmail.com. That's correct. I chose the maximum number of letters I could choose for the prefix, the SNL hall of fame at gmail.com.Track 2:[1:44] It might seem trivial to you, but, uh, we love to hear from you. So send us those emails, review the pod and for heaven's sake listen to the snl water cooler it's our brand new show on the snl hall of fame and uh we have sherry fesco and joe gannon joining me once a week to discuss the week that was in the snl hall of fame and we touch upon the current episode of snl as well where we identify the Hall of Shame and the Hall of Fame moments of that particular episode. I am out of breath because I have been racing down the hall to catch up with our friend Matt Ardill, and we should probably do that.Track 3:[2:33] So I'm going to make a confession here. Even though the show has been on for coming up to 20 seasons, and this gentleman has been on most of those seasons, I haven't seen a single flippin' episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And this week we're talking about one of its actors and somebody who's got a long resume dating back to Taxi, at least. I'm sure there's more before that. But let's go to our friend Matt Ardill and learn some more about this week's nominee, Denny DeVito. Hey, Denny. Thanks. I am shocked. i genuinely you can't jump in with the nightmare nightmare episode that would just be too much of a system shock but if you ever have the chance it's it's it is dark but it is funny so i highly recommend always sunny um but yeah so i'm looking forward danny is a great a great actor um, 4'10", born November 17th, 1944, who shares the birthday with Lorne Michaels. So same birthday.Track 3:[3:49] So he's born in Neptune, New Jersey, grew up in a family of five, and was raised in Ashbury Park, New Jersey. He would frequently eat at Jersey Mike's, which he grew up just down the street from the first location, which is why in 2022, he became the spokesperson for the subway chain, Jersey Mike's. He just loved it. And Danny is a person who follows his passions.Track 3:[4:17] He was sent to boarding school to keep him out of trouble. He graduated in 1962 and then took a job at his older sister's beautician salon. She paid for him to get his beautician certification, which led to him getting a certificate in makeup at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. But to get that, the teacher said he had to sign up because she couldn't just teach him on the side. He had to be a student of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, so he signed up and found his passion for acting after only a single semester at the school. Cool. Wildly enough, one of his sister's partners at the hair salon was a relative of a future colleague of his, Jack Nicholson, with whom he performed on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. That's right.Track 3:[5:23] This eventually became a prolific career, including 154 acting credits, 49 producer credits, 23 director credits, 16 soundtrack credits and four writing credits. I mean, how can we forget his performance of Troll Toll in the Dayman musical on Always Sunny? I mean, it's the weirdest one of his ever, his experience, his performances.Track 3:[5:52] But I do have to say, I was shocked to also see that he performed Put Down the Ducky on the Sesame Street Put Down the Ducky TV movie. His range is truly epic in scope um now after starting as an actor he actually shared a small apartment with michael douglas and they remain friends to this day um during his time uh in new york he actually met his now estranged wife rhea perlman well in the off-broadway play the shrinking bride uh they then went on to get a grant from the american film institute together and write the and produce minestrone a short film in 1975 which screened at con and has.Track 3:[6:42] Since been translated into five languages um he was the original casting choice for mario in the 1993 super mario's movie uh dropping out i'm guessing after seeing the script uh condemning bob hoskins to infamy um now he this is another one of those like i i'm kind of glad they didn't cast make this choice uh because i don't think it would have worked but he was almost george costanza what he almost he was in consideration for the role of george costanza it wouldn't have worked it would it's it's the wrong energy but it would have been wild to see Now he has been nominated for Best Picture for Aaron Brockovich.Track 3:[7:30] Along with NOMS for Batman Returns, American Comedy Writing Awards, Berlin International Film Festival Awards, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, BAFTAs, Cable A's, Emmys.Track 3:[7:43] And more. He is so award-nominated, it's hard to keep track. But one of his earliest big wins was a 1981 Emmy for Taxi, which revolved around buying a pair of pants. About how he was so short and so round, he had to go to the Husky Boys section to get pants as an adult. And that was the plot in a Taxi episode that won him his first Emmy. Um, he commits, uh, like during his time as the penguin in those scenes where you see him like noshing on raw fish, that is actual raw fish that he is just tearing into, uh, not fake fish. Um, he is very famous, uh, on social media for his troll foot pictures where he will travel around the world and just take pictures of his great old big troll feet. Um, and in fact own, he is such a fan of Lemoncello. He has actually opened his own Lemoncello, uh, manufacturing plant simply named Lemoncello by Danny DeVito. Well, short and sweet, I suppose you might say.Track 2:[9:03] Of course you might not say as well. There's both options on the table. So let's get right to thomas and our friend bill kenny as they continue to talk about danny devito take it away thomas.Track 4:[9:48] Alright, JD and Matt, thank you so much for that. Hello and welcome to the conversation portion of this episode of the SNL Hall of Fame. Season 6 and we are rolling in this season. It's been a really good one. Talking about lots of great hosts, cast members, musical guests, etc.Track 4:[10:07] Today we're dipping into the host category. A six-timer? If you, well, it depends. I'll ask Bill about this. But yeah, so there's maybe a little caveat to this, but he's at least a five-timer. We consider him a six-timer. It's Danny DeVito today on the SNL Hall of Fame. And with that, of course, Bill Kenney, just amazing SNL knowledge with the Saturday Night Network, a man who mingles with the stars, with Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi. So he, yeah, he's he. But he kind of stepped down in weight class a little bit, and he's appearing with me here on the SNL Hall of Fame. Bill, thanks for joining me. Thomas, thank you for having me back. This is always such a good time. Listen, I mean, you're a celebrity in your own right, so let's not bury the lead here.Track 4:[11:01] Dan Aykroyd is fine, but the conversation is going to be great with this. Always a good time to talk to you. I appreciate that, man. So you've done a host before, Martin Short. We had such a blast with that Marty Short episode. And I know you're a Danny DeVito fan, so I had to ask you. He's one of the names that I threw out, and you jumped on Danny right away. So before we get started in that, I'm curious, what's going on over at the Saturday Night Network? We just started celebrating Season 50 of Saturday Night Live, a couple episodes into it. What's going on there as far as continuing the celebration here? Yeah, if you haven't checked us out in a while, please do so.Track 4:[11:44] During show weeks, we have a lot of great content from our Hot Take show, which is right after SNL on Saturday night at 1.10 a.m. We also have our roundtables, which dive deeper into the sketches. And then By the Numbers is every Wednesday, and we talk about the statistics, which is where we made our bones at the beginning of our podcast so and then of course there's lots of other content we do in off weeks uh during the summer we just uh did the greatest host countdown of all time thomas you joined us for one of the last episodes of that we had a lot of fun uh breaking that down and uh i think that's where the danny devito uh stuff started right because he was on the very first episode of the host countdown that we did and uh we all agreed, that it was way too low, and I can't wait to talk about that as well.Track 4:[12:36] Yeah, 100%. And I heard how much love you had for Danny and his hosting gigs and stuff. So I had to kind of like throw his name out there for you in the off season. So I love the stuff that you do in the off weeks in the off season. That's where all of us like dorks can roll up our sleeves and get get into like brass tacks about SNL. So I love that you guys do different drafts. There's different like neat concept shows. That's when the dorks thrive, Bill.Track 4:[13:03] Oh, without a doubt. That's when we have, we've had a lot of great stuff like SNL stories, which we talked to alumni, you kind of referenced Dan Aykroyd. We did a Blues Brothers, we went to a Blues Brothers convention, James Stevens and I, another podcaster, and we got to talk to Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd there. So that was a lot of fun. But we've talked to Mary Gross and Gary Kroger, a whole host of people who have had some association with SNL through the years. So that's always a lot of fun, too. So check that out as well. And then, of course, everything you need to know about SNL. And this will be the final plug, Thomas. We don't want to bog it down too much. But John and James have been doing that every week. And it's kind of these 15-minute mini episodes of kind of a starter's guide to SNL. Starting with season one going through. So if you don't have the time, like Thomas and I do, to sit through 30 episodes of SNL in a week, you can go watch this for 15 minutes and kind of satiate your thirst for it.Track 4:[14:09] Now, recently, John was a guest of mine and Deremy's on our other podcast, Pop Culture 5. We did six essential SNL sketches. And I was telling John, like, the everything you need to know about SNL. Those videos are some of my favorite content on YouTube. Just in general. Like, the editing's immaculate. The content is great. It looks great. It sounds great. It's just, like, that's one of my favorite things on YouTube that I look forward to. Yeah, without a doubt. And even people like us who know so much about SNL, it's still good to go back and be able to watch these and remember, what season was that in? Oh, yeah, that's right. So it kind of gives you, you know, jumpstart your brain as far as SNL. If you're not doing it already, make sure to check out all the great content they have over at the Saturday Night Network. Today, we're going to get into Danny DeVito as a host. So a little brief background, Danny did a lot of acting throughout the 70s, mostly playing bit parts. He was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a decent amount of screen time. He basically said nothing in that movie, but he was just kind of there smiling and grinning while Jack Nicholson did his thing. He got his big break, though, starring in Taxi from 1978 to 1983. Bill, how did you become acquainted with the peculiar and unique person that is Danny DeVito?Track 4:[15:37] Definitely Taxi. And there was a different time back then where we would watch more mature shows like Taxi as kids because we only had three channels. But it was on this killer Tuesday night ABC lineup with Happy Days and Laverna Shirley and shows like that. And it was, you know, if you've liked Cheers, it's kind of the Cheers that people have forgotten about. It was set in this cab company in New York. And Danny played this very kind of volatile role, you know, scoundrel with a heart of gold as the years went on and you got to see. But that was where I met him. And it's still a great show. It's something I like to go back and watch every now and then. And it still holds up after all these years. It's a stellar ensemble. Yeah, it's one that I keep meaning to go back and try to rewatch. I used to catch episodes every now and then on Nick at Night.Track 4:[16:32] And then maybe MASH would come on or something. I'd hear the music and then that was time for me to go to sleep. But I would catch Taxi sometimes on Nick at Night. Probably for me, watching Twins, Throw Mama from the Train, kind of things of that nature. I really started appreciating Danny and his quirks. And he had this presence about him that far exceeded his stature, you know what I'm saying? So the way he was able to command the screen, it was almost like a Joe Pesci in a way, even though Danny maybe was less menacing, but he was still that kind of intense guy who would just take over the screen, I think, Bill. Yeah, I wonder how people view him, younger people view him today, because, I mean, he was a legitimate movie star. You mentioned some of them. I mean, from starting around 84, 85, he's in a hit almost every year for the next 10 years. You know, Romancing the Stone, War of the Roses, gets into the 90s and he's in Hoffa and Batman Returns, gets shorty. So there's always something going on with Danny. He compensates his short stature with just a commanding performance, no matter what he's in.Track 4:[17:45] Well, I'm really happy. I think a lot of the younger folks still watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Philadelphia so they really like enjoy Danny DeVito from that so it's funny to talk to like my niece is a big uh it's always sunny fan and so it's funny I tell her like have you seen Danny in this have you watched this have you seen his SNL hosting gigs like you need to go check out Danny like pre it's always sunny but I'm glad that the younger generation is getting a little taste uh of DeVito on it's always sunny is that something that you've checked out Bill oh my One of my favorite shows outside of SNL. Yeah, still. I mean, that's something that if I just need to have something on in the background, I'm going to Always Sunny and throwing on an episode. Because it's been on for 18 years at this point, almost 19 years. Yeah. And it still holds up. I mean, it really, it's the dirtier friends or Seinfeld or however you want to look at it. people with no soul who just kind of found each other in this crazy world and don't give a shit what they do to anybody else. And Danny is a huge part of that. He probably saved that show because he wasn't in the first season of that and was able to kind of boost it up.Track 4:[18:57] Make it what it is. Yeah, absolutely. It definitely wouldn't be around without Danny. I think the other core guys like Rob and Glenn and Charlie and them, Caitlin, would tell you that Danny probably saved the show. So I'm really just happy that the younger folks, some of whom probably shouldn't be watching It's Always Sunny, but be that as it may, that they get to appreciate Danny. We talked about, obviously, some of his trademarks, like his stature, his offbeat personality. One thing, especially watching these episodes, and it relates back to something that I've noticed or talked about with other hosts who I consider great, is that Danny's a really good actor.Track 4:[19:41] And that serves him well in committing to these sketches. We just talked about on the S&N host countdown and on the SNL Hall of Fame, Adam Driver, who's a good actor and that serves him well. Danny, you know, I think, like I said, his stature, his kind of weird personality sometimes, I think that kind of overshadows that he's a good actor, Bill, and it serves him well in these sketches.Track 4:[20:07] Matches. Yeah, and it's very interesting to see when he came into SNL. You know, you can say a lot about the Ebersole years that didn't work. I think one of the things that definitely did work is that he found hosts that were kind of outside the box. There was no reason in 1982 to bring a Danny DeVito into the show. Now, this predates most of his movies. He is on Taxi, of course, but he's the the third or fourth or fifth lead on that show but ebersole saw something in him and decided to bring him in uh i mean it's one of those seasons in season seven where we get so many unique we get the smothers brothers we get olivia newton john right after this which is kind of outside of uh normal thinking as well uh and so he just kind of fits into this one of the wackiest seasons of snl we've ever had. And he just, he meshes immediately with the people he's working with. They feel comfortable putting him in recurring sketches immediately and some original pieces as well. So right out of the gate, we get to see what Dan does.Track 4:[21:14] Yeah, so he first appeared season seven toward the end, episode 19. That was in May of 1982.Track 4:[21:21] Interesting timing. And I think it's kind of funny. I almost wonder if Ebersole and NBC brought him on as like maybe to brag on ABC. A little bit, a little bit of a friendly competition there because Taxi had just been canceled, Bill. And that was what his monologue was all about, Taxi having been canceled by ABC. This afternoon, my little immigrant Italian mother, she gave me this letter. She said to me, Danny, I want you to read this on the national TV.Track 4:[22:03] Son, you have been besmirched by men so shallow that they do not know the depths to which their deeds have taken them.Track 4:[22:16] And funny enough, about a month after this aired, NBC picked up Taxi for one final season. So that's the funny side of it. But I find this monologue fascinating because you know i can't think of another monologue in the history of the show that's like this it's very very unique so he as you say you know they're kind of giving a swan song to to taxi and he brings out the entire cast now we've we've seen cameos when when tv stars have hosted before uh the most recent i can think of is like steve carell bringing in and Jenna Fisher, and a couple other people from the office, but to have the entire cast of a show from another network.Track 4:[23:01] Come on to the stage to kind of take their final bow. And it's the only time in the history of the show that we see Judd Hirsch, Mary Lou Henner, Christopher Lloyd. These are big names. These are people who go on to do a lot of different things, and they never appear on SNL at any other point. So that is very, very intriguing to me, that they gave Danny the freedom to do this and find a way to make this one of the most unique monologues in the history of the show. Yeah, it totally is. And just seeing who they would become. People still know Judd Hirsch. He just recently appeared in The Fablemans not too long ago. Christopher Lloyd, obviously, who would go on to do Back to the Future. Who framed Roger Rabbit after that? Tony Danza. So Tony Danza did host SNL. Tony Danza does come back and host, yeah. A couple times.Track 4:[23:52] Yeah yeah but he's really the only one he's the only one andy kaufman comes out uh in his neck brace he's still in the middle of the whole wrestling jerry lawler thing so he has to come out sporting the neck brace kind of keep kayfabe alive uh there but this was neat i love danny's calling out like abc the american broadcasting corporation is the one who canceled us and i'm sure nbc had i if they didn't already had signed the contracts they had ideas probably of like, we're bringing in Taxi into the family, so let's do this. No, I agree. It was just so cool to see all those people on stage. Mary Lou Henner. Yeah. Yeah, it was just so cool to see all those people on stage. I enjoyed it. It was simple, but I enjoyed getting to know Danny and seeing the rest of the cast of Taxi. Yeah, exactly. And it was such a great segue into the next piece where you get to see this pre-tape.Track 4:[24:45] With the opening credits to Taxi, basically, until it cuts to danny getting out of the taxi looking at the building at the abc building and kind of mulling in his mind now this is not something after 9-11 we would ever see again i'm sure right but at the time it was very very humorous and still very funny if you if you can look at it in the frame of where it's at and uh he's mulling what he should do and then decides to blow up abc and drives away like are you serious we're we're on a network television show granted at 11 30 at night and we have the star of another network show blowing up that network like absolutely bananas yeah yeah yeah i doubt that would happen today for for a few reasons i mean of course you mentioned the obvious one but yeah network on network crime doesn't seem to be happening much more they seem to be more buddies you had the uh the late night hosts on cbs nbc and abc doing a whole podcast together during during exactly yeah that wouldn't happen yeah yeah that's when there was competition and rivalry no that was great and we gave he they gave the people what they wanted he's coming from taxi he's familiar with taxi so right away let's do a test so let's do something taxi related that's what we saw with adam driver and first thing, in his first episode, he was Kylo Ren, doing a sketch as Kylo Ren. So we're kind of giving the people what we want, Bill. You like that as a viewer?Track 4:[26:15] Sure, absolutely. And to put yourself in the mindset of a 1982 viewer, you know, the.Track 4:[26:22] Network shows where you were attached to them in a way, I think that is not quite the same today. There are shows like that, obviously, that people still attach themselves to and things like that. But when popular shows that weren't quite getting the ratings that the networks wanted were canceled, people would petition, would not riot in the streets, but they would get to a point where they would do whatever they could to try to bring the show back. And I think this is a perfect example of that. And to have this kind of moment in time encapsulated on SNL is really, really interesting. Yeah, 100%. Just like a bygone era of network TV. It's like a really neat time capsule to see. I think he was kind of light, though, on sketches. I think he did really well this episode. Just a little light on sketches. Were there any highlights that you wanted to talk about from his first hosting gig here? Yeah. One of the interesting things, and this has come up on the host countdown on the SNN.Track 4:[27:22] It's hard to explain to people who haven't gone back and watched pre-2000 that SNL didn't lean on its host as much as they do today. Today you'll get them in 10, 11 sketches sometimes or segments. They didn't always do that back then. And you're right. There isn't as much here. In fact, I think the last 20 minutes of the show we don't even see him. Right. He just kind of disappeared. Like, that's just crazy to think about. I don't know if his makeup from Pudge and Solomon was, like, hard to get off, so they just kind of, like, said, take the rest of the night off or something. Yeah, exactly. Like, how did that come to be? But, yeah, he just kind of completely disappears. But, yeah, Solomon and Pudge is a great one to talk about. That's one of my favorite recurring sketches from that era. I think it's just one of those quieter recurring things that we got. It really showcases Eddie and Joe. And when they bring somebody in like Danny to play off of them, I found that very interesting.Track 4:[28:20] I disappeared last December when we had that big snowstorm I'm home I'm home in my room my cold I try to keep warm I drinking some wine get down I looked out at the bottom and it says on the label visit our visions in Sonoma Valley valley. Next thing you know, I'm walking around some valley.Track 4:[28:50] I'm walking in the valley. It's all over.Track 4:[28:54] I look up, I look up. The executive stress test, I think, is probably the best original sketch that we see. He's working for this company, and he's been promoted, but they kind of want to make sure that he's got the bones for it. So he calls his wife, and his wife is clearly having some kind of intimate affair with a gardener. And you know he's he's perplexed on what's happening eddie comes in as a drug dealer who's saying that he owes all this money for the drugs that he's been taking christine ebersol comes in and talks about uh the herpes that that he gave her so and then it just kind of wraps up with ah well we just wanted to make sure you were okay with uh with this job so um it's all an act and as we find out towards the end so i think that's one of the better acting moments that we get to see from danny in this episode yeah he played really aggravated confused like really well in that sketch that's where his acting ability really shines i completely agree with that that executive stress test sketch again light episode he was in a whiner sketch he played kind of like a somebody who was kind of annoyed but showed extra try to exercise some patience with the whiners.Track 4:[30:21] Well, you have to plug them in here. Well, don't kick the china. All right, I won't kick the china. Just let me put... Here. Give me this. Plug it in. Oh, thank you. Let's be honest. That's good acting in and of itself because those whiners are a little hard to take. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I imagine... In the sketch and out of the sketch. On an airplane, I imagine, for sure. So, yeah, that was awesome acting by Danny. But I think even though he was only in a handful of sketches that night, his screen presence was really felt. And it's not a surprise that the show brought him back just barely under two years later, two seasons later. But you could really feel Danny's screen presence in this first episode, even given the light work. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's rare to see somebody come back that quickly at this point in the show. After we get out of the original era, Ebersole doesn't seem to like to have a lot of recurring hosts.Track 4:[31:24] So, yeah, to have him come back, as you said, quickly in season nine, pretty much, I think, is it the second episode of that season? It's episode two, yeah. Yeah, and talk of another strange thing, you know, talked about Danny not really fitting the mold of what you would think an SNL host would be at that point because he didn't have any movies coming out and things like that. Well, now he's hosting with his wife, Rhea Permit. And you say, oh, well, she's on Cheers.Track 4:[31:53] Cheers was 77th in the rankings, Nielsen rankings, the year before. It was not a hit. It was almost canceled. So here it is. They're just starting their second season. Danny's not on any show, but they're hosting the show together. So that's really funny to me to see how that matched up. And the episodes where we get married couples, I mean, take it with a grain of salt. Your mileage may vary with Kim Basinger's and Alec Baldwin's of the world but I think this one works pretty good we get them together a lot which is something that is great to see they're not kind of separated, so I enjoyed this episode a lot yeah I thought it was good the monologue was a little flat it seemed like neither of them they were kind of like we're not sure what to do we have some sort of kernel of a thing.Track 4:[32:49] Yeah but it was It sort of fell flat a little bit. I'll give them a pass, though, because Vicky said this is a fun episode. It really shined a light on a reason why I love Danny DeVito. He plays weird. He has such weird energy that he can convey. The two sketches from this episode that I was drawn most toward had that weird quality about Danny. That's what stood out to me for this episode. Which sketches stood out for you? So the Autograph Hounds one, I kind of got a kick out of. And they reminded me of, you've seen The King of Comedy?Track 4:[33:30] So they totally reminded me of, like, Sandra Bernhardt and Robert De Niro's characters from The King of Comedy. Hey, Denise! You screwball! I said you were going to miss it, and you missed it! Yes, you did! You missed it! I struck gold! No, you didn't! You couldn't! I did, I could, and I would even if I couldn't! You know, as Cole Porter said, it's delightful, it's delicious, it's DeWitt! No! Yeah, yeah, yeah, Joyce DeWitt. I saw her coming out of the Burger King, and I nailed her. Look at this. It says, to Herbie, with love, Joyce DeWitt. I don't believe it. Yeah, yeah, what a woman. They're out there waiting. Dick Cavett comes out, and it was really funny. I think there was an ad lib that Dick Cavett made that kind of caught Danny off guard a little bit. He referenced his hat or something.Track 4:[34:21] Yes, yeah. And Danny was like, ah, so he kind of tried to play it off. Danny's obsessed with Ed McMahon. man that's like his white whale of autographs so but the way they they talk about it there's just like he and uh and uh rio perlman's in that sketch as well and tim kazarensky and the way they're playing that is something of the king of comedy it just like he plays weird so well yeah and i wonder if i i think this is about the time that movie was coming out so it might be a kind of an homage to that yeah that's great i had not thought of that yeah i think because i've recently seen the king of comedy so i'm like oh yeah they exactly remind me of he reminds me of rupert pubkin for me uh one of my favorite and i think we get to see uh as you said the wacky side of danny is uh the small world sketch which just really cracks me up and i know you'll get this reference uh you know it's about 12 years later that we get to wake up and smile with david allen Alan Greer and Will Ferrell and, you know, one of the all-time greats. This gets forgotten. I think this is along that lines and is almost like the ancestor to what that would be, where they get stuck on the small world ride in Disney and they're playing that infectious and annoying song over and over and over again. And, you know, cut to three hours later and now Kazerinsky's dead.Track 4:[35:45] And they're trying to figure out how they're going to get him off this, you know, this ride that anybody could easily just jump off of and, you know, jump on the stairs and get out of there. But I love the wackiness of this and the darkness that's kind of under the cover of, of it's a small world after all. So we get to see Danny really shine here with real.Track 4:[36:19] Try and get us out of here you're gonna have to swim for hell don't be crazy Doris the boat's gonna start up any second come on there's no need to panic it is that darkness and I love when uh and wake up and smile is like a great example and I think uh Andrew Dismukes is somebody current who kind of like does things that are similar is when something just like some little thing that happens in life or some little inconvenience that just seems so innocuous and so small at the time just like freaks people out and and it gets built up and like you like you said like tim kazarensky like dies in the sketch and will and wake up and smile will ferrell kills david allen career and the because the teleprompter's been off the weatherman is dead the teleprompter's been off for like 30 seconds and they start freaking out so i love when something's so simple that hat that just like a minor inconvenience or gets escalated to 11 so quickly. Those are some of my favorite sketches, Bill. A hundred percent. Yeah. This is one of those great moments that, again, I think is just forgotten because it's so long ago and it's in this kind of wishy-washy season of SNL.Track 4:[37:31] Yeah, that was a good one. Small World from, yeah, season nine, episode two. Danny also played a weirdo, a stalker in a book beat. He wrote books about stalking a woman named Deborah Rapoport. And he's just like so right at home with these types of weird characters as we've seen for a long time and it's always sunny but kids danny was doing this in the 80s 70s and 80s yes exactly and i love the way that one ends where he ends up getting shot by the woman he was talking to begin with uh yeah he you know it would be very easy to kind of put him in this uh box of of the character that he played on taxi but he finds a different angle to the smarmyness and the and the real like weirdness of all the different ways he can play that he doesn't just do a caricature of another character that he's.Track 4:[38:28] So I think, again, this is just a perfect example of what we get to see from Danny. Yeah, 100%. It's also cool that he was able to do a sketch with Eddie, with the Dion Dion. It's neat, as comedy nerds, to be able to look it back. That's what's so darn cool about SNL, is we have these pieces where you could go back and say, oh, Danny DeVito did something with Eddie Murphy. They're just doing a scene together. and we're out what other show does that happen where we have this treasure trove of material with these two famous actors and this this might be i don't i can't remember honestly unless i'm blanking of the danny devito and eddie murphy doing any movies together but i think i can think of no but but we have this on snl like that's a part of why i love this show see if you can answer this one look at the screen all right frank is talking on the phone to his good friend Then Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States. Suddenly, the president puts him on hold. What would Frank do?Track 4:[39:28] Well, let me see. Back in the 60s, the candidates lightened him and he switched to Republican party. Now, he's a different Frank now, so I think he let it slide, but he let them know not to let it happen again. Maybe so, Dion. All right, for 50 points and a lot of prizes, let's see what Frank would do. Even though it's a less than great game show concept uh danny really ratchets it up again as the game show host you know they don't just go with the obvious person uh in the host role and uh the the whole point is that they're cutting to scenes of piscopo as sinatra and apparently i i don't know if you knew this um i had not heard this before.Track 4:[40:12] But the entire concept of this sketch was that Piscopo would shoot down ideas about Sinatra for sketches because he'd say Frank wouldn't do that. So he was so embodied in what Frank Sinatra would be okay with that they decided to make an entire sketch about what would Frank do. So that's how the entire point of this sketch is to kind of stick it to Piscopo. Yeah kind of like that yeah that's it that's a that's a fun little nugget for snl fans just kind of them ribbing piscopo for his like adoration of frank and not wanting to like go certain places with uh right right i love it so i think yeah especially as far when you said like as far as uh two people hosting together married couple hosting together uh i think this came off really well. Danny came off great. He's looking like a mainstay on SNL. And the next one, we get to see him play with an entirely different cast. So this is awesome. We see what he can do with another era of the show. So it was season 13, episode 6, December of 87. He's promoting Throw Mama from the Train. Bill, SNL nerd here.Track 4:[41:30] I love it when the host is in a cold open. I'm a sucker for that. Oh, yes, absolutely. I do have a trivia question for you. I'm going to put you on the spot. Oh, boy. I know you like trivia as much as I do. So I went back and kind of culled through the archives of it all. Do you know there's only 10 hosts from the Ebersole era that came into the next Lorne era? Now, we're not counting people like Lily or who were on the original era and then went into Ebersole. I'm talking Ebersole to Lorne, only 10 times in the history of the show in the 35 years since that's happened. And Danny is one of those people. How many do you think you could name? Oh, three? I completely... Did Robin Williams? Robin Williams, yep. He was one of them. A couple of obvious ones with former cast. Oh, like Bill Murray. Yeah. Bill and Chetty. Yep.Track 4:[42:26] I think, I swear like Michael Keaton, but I don't know if he hosted under Lorne. Very good. Okay. That's one of the ones I had forgotten. Really? Yeah, I remember Michael hosting during the Ebersole era. Okay, so he did come back for Lorne. I guess I named four. Yeah, that's... So there's also Drew Barrymore, Eddie, Rick Moranis, another one I had forgotten about because he had hosted with Dave Thomas in the Ebersole era, Jeff Bridges, and Kathleen Lane Turner. Okay. Jeff Bridges is one that, that would have somewhat. Yeah. It took, it took a long time for him to come back. I think it was 2010, but yeah, I mean, it's just kind of because Lauren kind of, it felt like he had decided that that era didn't exist in a lot of ways. He obviously couldn't ignore the Eddie of it all. He must have thought an awful lot of Danny DeVito and what he had done the two times he had hosted previous to Lorne coming back to have him come into this new golden era in season 13. So I found it very, very interesting to see this is one of the few people that Lorne was like, okay, we'll give him a pass. He's too good not to bring back. No kidding. Yeah, that's a really cool stat. I love it. Thanks. Thanks for putting me on the spot. Love to do that. You've done that to me. So, you know, I'm just paying it forward.Track 4:[43:47] Yeah, like to my earlier point in excitement, like they must have really, like Lorne must have really seen something and trusted him and the writers must have trusted him. Again, he's in this cold open and you don't often see that with hosts. And I love, like, that's one of those little SNL things that like I love seeing. Well and again to not to keep going back to the host countdown but that's something that we've seen with the people who are really really good being hosts that they trust him so much that they could put them in a cold open and uh you know often i think the reason that we don't see it a lot is because cold open is one of the last things they do most weeks because it's often topical so there's usually a political slant especially these days um so it's not like the game show that they can write on a tuesday night so the host if they're not comfortable or they're having a hard time adjusting to all the stress of doing the show they don't want to add to that stress by putting the code open and as you said like having somebody like danny who you know you can trust and putting him in there with somebody like phil hartman uh in a topical sketch at the time you know, Reagan versus Gorbachev, was really a tip of the cap to what they were able to.Track 4:[45:01] I think it's also too, I mean, obviously the quick turnaround between the live from New York and the monologue and the host has to be ready for the monologue. And usually, I mean, the host is required to be in the monologue. Cast members may or may not be in the monologue. So they have time to dress and stuff, but the host has to change and then go do the monologue. So unless it's a pre-tape, unless it's something like that, I can see logistically why that might not happen. But Danny was so good here. like it's Gorbachev, like getting annoyed at Reagan's little Hollywood anecdotes and babbling, all of that. So just a really fun characterization by Danny. Really inspired casting. But he could have gotten Lovitz or something to play Gorbachev here. It is important that we do not expect too much from this summit, but it is first step. And from first step, many.Track 4:[45:57] Please, Ron, stop staring at my forehead. Oh, I'm sorry I did it again, didn't I? I'm trying so hard not to, but I've got kind of a mental thing about it. Please continue. Never mind. It wasn't important. Anyway, here we are in Washington, D.C. Please give me the grand tour. And Phil's Reagan is so fantastic, probably the best that we've gotten on the show. And to see the two of them play off of each other, and reagan just keeps getting distracted as he's showing them the washington dc monuments and instead of talking about you know the historical value it's you know where jimmy stewart made a movie or where so-and-so stood on the steps and gave this monologue in a movie back in 1940 and gorbachev wants nothing to do with it and i think danny really plays off of phil so well, So cool to see Danny in the cold open. A light little monologue. He's saying that he went to school with Bruce Springsteen from Asbury Park. So he's showing probably doctored yearbook photos of them. But just a fun, just a quirky little Danny thing.Track 4:[47:10] It highlights Bill from this, his third hosting gig. Gig yeah well i mean we have to talk about church chat right because this is uh you know one of those few instances in the church chat history where the host has done it twice now technically he was not the host the first time he did church chat he was a special guest with uh willie nelson's episode in the season before uh kind of like a crutch because they weren't sure how much willie could do uh so they you know they they picked up the bat phone literally and said you know danny can you do and he came in and did two or three sketches is willie's not an actor and how high is he gonna be well yeah exactly yeah i mean it is the 80s and it is willie so so uh so they do the first church chat in this one but this is the one that's more remembered because this was in christmas specials probably until the early 2010s when you'd see these best of christmas snls um where he's you know ends up singing i think santa claus is coming to town correct yeah here here comes santa claus i think yeah so yeah but yeah this was something that everybody even if they hadn't watched this era of the show was really familiar with because you get to see daddy singing with the church lady, church ladies playing the drums. I'm sure that if you have a kid who was watching this in the early 2000s, you'd have to explain who Jessica Hahn was.Track 4:[48:39] But other than that, you've got this great chemistry, again, with another cast member and Danny, with Dana and Danny. I think they were really good together. So church chat has always been one of those things. It's one of the first recurring sketches that really spoke to me.Track 4:[48:55] So I love going back and watching any church chat I can. and this is one of the best ones that they do. All righty. Now, Daniel, you've been very, very busy. I understand you have a new motion picture out, Throw Mama from the Train. That's right. Wow, that's a charming little title, Daniel. And what is our little film about? Well, in the movie, I want Billy Crystal to do away with my mother, knock her off, because she's a pain in the... Oh so it's a family picture we've done a little film about murdering our mother just in time for christmas how convenient.Track 4:[49:34] Come on loosen up church lady i mean it's a comedy yeah i always remember loving this one even when i was a kid like if you're a child of the 80s you were bombarded with jim baker Baker and Tammy Faye Baker, Jessica Hahn, like, uh, all, all those, like all those people, all this, like, so, so if you're an SNL fan as a kid watching the news as a kid, you knew who these people were. I have vivid memories of like Jan hooks is Jessica Hahn. Uh, so, so this was like, yeah, this is like a, something that's etched in my SNL brain and Danny just like playing himself um it's a good vehicle of course for for uh the church lady to shame him and then show obviously she has like sexual repression deep down in there scolding danny about the title of his movie he's promoting throw mama from the train uh so this yeah this is one of the uh very like memorable i think this one and like the sean penn one the rob lowe one those are like the handful of church lady ones that I'll always remember.Track 4:[50:36] Absolutely. Yes. Yeah, that stands out. Another one that I really like from this episode is Mona Lisa. And it's Danny and our girl Jan are this redneck couple living in this trailer. And they've somehow decided to call in this appraiser who's played by Phil Hartman because they're not sure that their Mona Lisa is the real thing. And of course, it's not. But, you know, it's an easy mistake to make for something like that. It's a reprint, you know, it's a blah, blah, blah. And it just escalates. And it gets into, there's Stradivarius, but it actually turns out to be a little kid's plastic ukulele. Right. And Phil just keeps, you know, dashing their dreams, the amount of money. They spent 50 bucks on this. Gold doubloon, which turns out to be, of course, a chocolate candy. Yeah. The gold wrapper on it, until they get to the Orlov diamond, and it is the actual diamond. And Phil sees an opportunity to fool these supposedly dumb people. No, this is just glass. You are a liar. You get out of here. You're a liar, man. That is the Orlov diamond, mister. We had it appraised at the American Gemological Society. It's a certified stone. Serious. Perhaps I can take another look. No, no, no. Get out of here. Get out of here, mister. We don't need those city folks around here. Go on, get out. Get out. Bam. Woo, woo. Out.Track 4:[52:00] You scared me for a minute there. That phony had me thinking we'd been ripped off right and left. I know it. You know what? We shouldn't have let him eat that gold doubloon, though. That's all right. We've got plenty more where that came from. It's just such a great, great work with Jan again. It's never not good to see somebody with Jan, but I think Danny plays really well with that. That Phil playing the smarmy role is kind of a strange kind of turn of the head because he's always not really in that role a lot, but I think he plays it really well. And getting to see the way that they all play off each other is really, really great. Yeah. And seeing Danny play like a Southern, like a Redneck character, like that's like kind of against type of what Danny will usually play. So that was so fun. Yeah, you're right. Like anybody paired with Jan, it's going gonna make for good watching but it just really struck me is how Danny was playing this like southern character he wasn't playing an angry boss or he wasn't you know he just fell right into this like good acting chops man that's like really those acting chops really definitely helped the sketch.Track 4:[53:08] Yeah, and I mean, listen, we're talking about season 13, and you can argue that this is maybe the greatest season of SNL, one of the greatest, for sure, 13, 14.Track 4:[53:21] And when people ask me about this, like, well, how, why, what makes it so special? I think what you see is, and we'll talk about this sketch now a little bit, the doorman, which kind of wraps up the night. Um you know every it's a buzzword especially within the snl community slice of life slice of life but this is actual slice of life and and there's not it's not played for laughs uh danny's a doorman at an expensive uh hotel and uh you know he's talking to nora who comes in and you know none of the people in the building really seem to know each other because you know coming and going and they're all rich and this and that. But obviously Danny is the doorman does. And Phil is moving out of the building that day. And they start to realize that they had never really gotten to talk to each other in a meaningful way. And this kind of really touches Phil. You know, it's funny. It just hit me. I have seen you every day for years. And I don't know anything about you. I mean, I don't know anything about your life or where you're from or your family. It's no big deal. You know, the building is a big chunk of my life, so I'm here. But still, it hits me like that. Well, you know, I live in Long Island City. I commute. I got three kids. Little one, Amy, is still in high school.Track 4:[54:45] The big one, my son's in engineering school. Oh, he's so smart. My Susan, she's at Queens College. And I love this. Like this, you would not see this in modern SNL, for better or worse, and I think for worse, because there's not a lot of laughs here. It's just three people and then two people having a conversation, figuring out, you know, human way to be. And it's just, I don't know, this is something that always gets to me. I love this. And again, getting to see Danny and Phil work together so much this week is fantastic. And this was kind of the cherry on top.Track 4:[55:25] You said it perfectly. Like this is one of those things that I love that touches on shared human experiences is we've all been in that situation where we kind of get one on one with somebody, the co worker, maybe a family member, like some cousin that maybe we should know better, but we haven't. So we get up one on one and it's like, what are we talking about? And then so they're reminiscing about like, because they only know each other's doorman and tenant. It so they're like remember when that package was delivered and it fell back here like so that's the their only common ground that they're establishing right away is that like a one of tenant and doorman so i think that's like funny and it's like it's inherently funny but it's not like played for like comedic heights necessarily it's very relatable but i just i just love that but there's humanity there because you're right like feel like they want to get to know each other but they're just struggling to figure out the common ground that they have outside of the obvious tenant-doorman thing. Yeah, I mean, they're from two walks of life. You imagine this to be probably a fairly low-paying job, and Phil is the rich person who's leaving this building probably for an even nicer place.Track 4:[56:37] So yeah, as you said, the common ground is really, really interesting. Great season. I'm so glad that Danny came back to play with this cast. He's back the next season 14 episode 7 December of 88 he and Arnold did Twins they're out there promoting that movie Arnold makes an appearance here in this episode they had to do Hans and Franz cold open again Danny's in the cold open Bill two episodes in a row Danny's in the cold open with Hans and Franz which by this point was getting a little stale but he injects life into it as an even more more extreme workout partner with Hans and Franz, Victor, I believe his name was. He's taking it past the pump you up into, you should be dead if you're not working out.Track 4:[57:27] Yeah, and then, as you said, Arnold, I think only the one of two times we ever see him on SNL as well. I think he does a filmed cameo at some other point. But yeah, he's sitting in the audience with Maria Shriver. And this, to me, talk about this monologue. We've talked about a couple of monologues that are kind of, eh, okay. We get to see literally behind the door Thomas. And other than Melissa McCarthy on that Mother's Day episode, do we ever really see this? Like, I can't think of another time. Not on the show. Like, the SNL's released videos and we get to see, like, the host waiting. Yes. Or the James Franco documentary, we got to see John Malkovich waiting. But you're right. Like, in an actual episode, we don't see that. Yeah. And it's all because he had such a rush coming out for the first time.Track 4:[58:24] So he wants to do it again, and that's how they get Arnold involved. He gets to see it live from New York, and they're playing the montage, and Danny's just back there, and you can see him getting riled up. I mean, it's such a tiny space, and it's so funny to think about it, because I think in your mind, especially then, when you didn't have as many behind-the-scenes things to see, you're like, this has to be a huge space. They're walking out onto 8-8. No, it's smaller than a closet in your house, like and you know could barely fit two people as they're standing back there but it's just fascinating and i know i know when i was watching this in 1988 that i just i it blew my mind like it's just one of those moments that you're like oh my god did we really see behind the door so.Track 4:[59:11] It's just fantastic it's just such a great way to open probably his best episode arguably not yeah i think it might be and and that's perfectly for for snl geeks like us yeah seeing that backstage i love danny mouthing when like don pardo's like uh because they do the whole intro and i have forgotten that they did that when i watch this again i'm like oh they might just say danny's name and he's gonna know they did like the whole intro i guess back then there were many cast members so so but you could see a mouth like yeah nora dunn and then he i love how the look on his face when he was able to mouth Danny DeVito, he looked all excited. And then the, you can see the, the, the stage director is like, okay, go, go, go, go, go. And then he, and then, then I love it. He's tired. So he does the rest of the monologue laying down.Track 4:[59:59] Exactly. So, so unique. Even at this point, they had done probably 300, 400 episodes of SNL. So to find a new twist on it was really, really great. And again, to this day, we don't really see something like this. So a lot of fun. This episode has in the running for maybe the best sketch that Danny was in throughout his six episodes. I don't know if we're doing parallel thinking as far as what stood out, but I want to hear from you. There's so much from this one. I assume you're talking about You Shot Me? Yes, absolutely. Yes, I mean, oh my goodness. How great is this? How about you, senor? Do you know how to dance?Track 4:[1:00:48] Ow, ow, ow, ow! Why did you shot me? Oh no, I shot you! Did I hit you? Where did I hit you? Where did I hit you? I shot you in the foot. Oh, no, let me see. Oh, no. Oh, no. Are you all right? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you. Get away from me. Are you okay? You shot me. It doesn't hurt. I'm so sorry. I don't mean let me help you. Get away. A nothing concept. A nothing concept. And talk about where host matters. He finds a way to make, and Lovitz too, but basically to set it up, he's a Mexican bandolier in this old west town, and he walks in and they do the whole stereotypical thing with shoot at his feet to make the guy dance, and they don't usually hit them, even in the movies, but somehow Danny hits Lovitz, and.Track 4:[1:01:48] It's into, you shot me. You shot me. Over and over. Over and over and over again. And there's so many other people in this sketch, but who the hell knows that? Because it's just Lovitz and Danny going back and forth. Lovitz is clearly trying to make Danny break, especially towards the end when he's in the bed. You shot me again. Yeah, this is one of those, I mean, all-time moment with Lovitz. But again, if you had an off week and this was, I don't know, Chris Everett, this doesn't work. You need an all-time classic host coming in here to carry a one-note sketch like this and make it into an all-time classic. It is one note, but it's also clever. To me, I don't know what the writing credit on it is, but it has Conan O'Brien's fingerprints on this or Smigel or somebody like that. I don't know if your close personal friend, Robert Smigel, mentioned this sketch to you. I don't know.Track 4:[1:02:50] He has not, but I can ask him next time we have coffee. Yeah, ask him. It feels like Conan or Jack Handy or just that whole writing stable.Track 4:[1:03:00] The cliche of, now dance for me.Track 4:[1:03:03] You see the cowboy shooting. But what if the cowboy actually shot him in the foot? And also what if the cat the guy still maybe felt a little bad about shooting him so that goes to his house the next day yeah exactly that's like one of the things he's like it's almost like i didn't mean to shoot him i was just trying to literally get him to dance so that's like another just like layer to this and then i love how danny tries to convince him that maybe we're both at fault if you really think about it that's right and that's when you see love it's turn and really start to hammer Danny with the shot. And you almost see Danny break. I think, I think he does a pretty good job of, of turning his head. So you can't really see it, but you know, what's happening. We know what's happening there. Yeah.Track 4:[1:03:51] Danny seems like somebody who's just always wanting to stay in the scene as goofy as he can be. He seems like somebody who's like, here's the scene I'm staying in this because it's going to make it better. So yeah, to me, that's like a forgotten classic kind of hard to watch nowadays. Days you kind of have to know where to be a sleuth and know where to look but this was one when i was a kid and the you shot me is like hearing lubbitt say that's just all burned into my snl brain again yeah and it's only done this one time but it is one of those things that you would say with your friends and uh yeah it it held up the test of time for a long time to me that's the highlight of the episode but again you're right like what else like good episode what what else.Track 4:[1:04:35] Yeah, you know, it's funny because you wonder why some of the Christmas sketches haven't carried through. And I think, talk about underrated and forgotten, I think the Scrooge sketch in this is really phenomenal.Track 4:[1:04:50] I mean, last Christmas I gave away so much money and forgave so many loons. I mean, I just barely got my head above water this year. Boy, you gave everyone some great Christmas presents. Ah, tell me about it. Yeah, and then you got New Year's Eve presents for everybody. Yeah, I know. I didn't even realize that you're not supposed to give New Year's Eve presents. They were nice, though. Tell me about it. They were good. Well, sir, maybe you shouldn't have given me that raise. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The raise was good. But I think I should have just concentrated on you and a little less on the rest of the world. You know, it's been done to death. We've seen it as recently as Steve and Marty. You know scrooge is just kind of hammered into the zeitgeist as far as christmas stuff but yeah they basically it's it's danny as scrooge and uh dana as marley and it's the next year so we've moved a year past you know his realization about the world and and how he's been a.Track 4:[1:05:52] So mean to everyone and he's still nice but he's trying to cut back and that's that's really the genius of this concept to me he's paying for tiny tim's medical bills but he's moving him to a you know a smaller a cheaper hospital still gonna get great care and you know dana's kind of a dick in this like he's just like well okay you know and and like he he offers to get him a turkey and he's He's like, well, last year, you know, he got me the biggest goose in town. So he's being kind of, he's being overextended by this. And he spent so much the year before that he's, again, still being nice, but he needs to. And then it escalates where we get Victoria in one of her better roles, I think, who's trying to collect for drunken sailors who want to stay drunk.Track 4:[1:06:44] You know you donated all this money to them last year mr scrooge like why why can't and he eventually is talked into it but it's it's so smartly written and it's one of those things again that just kind of could have been overplayed it's not it's perfectly done a quieter piece as far as christmas pieces go but yeah this this is something that sticks out to me and something that I've almost forgotten over the years because we don't see it in the specials. So yeah, a couple of like really cool, smart pieces with the Scrooge and the, you shot me. Uh, uh, and, uh, another thing, anything else that kind of sticks out for you? Um, I mean, I think, uh, you know, it's another Christmas piece and it's not as good as the Scrooge one we just talked about, but they, they doubled down on wonderful life here too, where Kevin's, uh, in the Jimmy Stewart role and, and looks like he's going to kill himself and, and Danny shows up as his angel. But he wasn't going to kill himself. He was actually admiring life and kind of just contemplating all the good in the world.Track 4:[1:07:48] Dandy's just never going to get his wings because he can't find anybody who's ready to jump off a bridge and uh you know then we get phil and dana in there as well so that's another one that's that's kind of something that sticks out to me that i think i will put into my christmas rotation along with the scrooge one because i i think uh they just really hold up yeah i like that one little parade of ghosts there right yeah and that all the angels waiting for their wings yeah absolutely so a really great appearance that was his fourth gig season 14 episode 7 january of 93 his uh fifth time though according to danny and the show this might be his fourth time bill i don't know we'll get to that uh here in probably in a few minutes but but this is his fifth time damn it and uh what i'm gonna call unofficially the amy fisher episode of snl.Track 4:[1:08:43] Gather the kids around and explain why the hell an entire episode of snl is dedicated to this one story like almost an entire episode of us oh my goodness like but you know i mean you're younger than me thomas this was everywhere and this was yeah i mean completely this is accurate to the time that it's in and you would never see this we talked about alec baldwin on the episode that you were on with us on the John Goodman episode for the host and how they leaned into the Monica Lewinsky thing. And it was an entire episode dedicated to that controversy. And you wouldn't see this in SNL today because it's more of the YouTube bits. What can we put up online and as a five minute thing to have a runner like this.Track 4:[1:09:37] Uh danny playing multiple roles he's playing butafuco a couple of times uh if if you don't know what we're talking about kids go look it up we're not going to explain it to you uh amy fisher joey butafuco it's a real thing but um yeah and and they do this like what four or five times we get this runner throughout the episode and then they do other sketches dedicated to it as well So the runner is like, they start off with Aaron Spelling's Amy Fisher. It's like a takeoff on Beverly Hills 90210. So they play it like that. Danny's playing Joey Buttafuoco. Amy, you really did it this time. You really banged up your car. Yeah. I'll bet that's not all you could bang. Yeah. The only Amy Fisher story told from Tori Spelling's point of view. You know, I've been with the same woman for 17 years. That's crazy.Track 4:[1:10:42] You don't want to get involved with an old guy like me. And then they do a Masterpiece Theater version of it that Danny was in again. Again, my favorite one, Danny wasn't in it, but it was the BET version with Ellen, Clay Horn and Tim Meadows. So good. Yeah.

Mark and Alan talked about the 50th anniversary of SNL. There's a new SNL movie coming out. When SNL started, it was must-see TV. People our age are not in the SNL demo. Steve Martin turned down SNL's request to play VP Candidate Tim Walz.

It's a huge fall for SNL! Saturday Night Live will be back for its 50th season on September 23rd and Jason Reitman's movie 'Saturday Night', (about the first ever SNL episode in 1975) premieres in October. Christina is honored to have Alan Zweibel on the show. Alan is an original SNL writer and a 5 time Emmy awards winner. (Josh Brener plays Zweibel in 'Saturday Night) Alan talks about seeing a movie about his first episode of SNL and takes us behind the scenes of the American institution that is Saturday Night Live. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark and Alan talk about how network TV has been slowly fading away, due to lower viewership numbers. Mark and Alan also go down memory lane discussing the classic oldies but goodies shows, that are still on the air to this day.

Meet Joe and Shari as they assemble around the SNL Hall of Fame watercooler to discuss a variety of things relating the SNL and its Hall of Fame. Transcript:Track 2[0:22]All right. Welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame Water Cooler Podcast. I'm Joe Gannon and I'm sitting at the water cooler with...Track 3[0:30]Me, Shari Fasco. I'm very excited to be here. I've got my cup and I'm filling it up.Track 2[0:38]All right. And then there I go. All right. Let's get into it. All right. So on On this podcast, we're going to be talking about the SNL Hall of Fame and who we believe should and shouldn't be in it. But first, let's kind of just introduce ourselves. I'm Joe Gannon. I've been an SNL fan since, I guess, 1991. 91 and what I enjoyed about it was as I was watching it like as it was going on since 91 I got to watch the reruns like on Comedy Central E and whatnot so it's kind of cool seeing a show develop and then learn its history at the same time and I just found it absolutely fascinating about how important it is to our society about because the show makes fun of our society and politics, and everything. And the last thing is, I grew up in the central time zone, so the TV show was on at 10.30 to midnight. So to me, it was like a show that waited until the last hour and a half of the week to make fun of the previous week. And you, Sherry, introduce yourself.Track 3[2:00]Hi, I'm Shari, rhymes with Starry, as I tell everybody, and I am a Michigan native, and I have been into Saturday Night Live probably since I was about nine, since it started in 75. I was really, really young in 75, so I don't remember it that young, but I definitely, definitely remember watching it at like eight, nine, ten. I was really into Mr. Bill. I vaguely remember having a Mr. Bill t-shirt. I just always loved the show and it's always been like a rock for me. It's been something that I've always come back to when things are good and when things are not so good. My husband is also into it. He's been watching a lot of sketches with me lately, getting ready for this podcast. And it's just, it's really just, it's comfort food. Just like what Joe's saying, it's comfort food. It's something that's always been there. and now it's going into its 50th year. I'm 54. It's kind of incredible. It's kind of crazy to think that it's been around. So I'm really excited to be here with Joe. I think both of us are super excited to be talking about these incredible people. I think we're ready to get into it. Are we ready, Joe?Track 2[3:15]I believe so.Track 3[3:16]We're going to talk about the season six draft. We're each going to do the two people we would like to see get in. And then the two that we don't think really have much of a chance of getting in possibly. I will let you go ahead and go first, Joe, and then I'll go after you.Track 2[3:33]Okay. So the first person I think should get in is Lorraine Newman. I believe that the only reason why she hasn't gotten in sooner is there's just a series of people that are a little bit more obvious. Uh you know that just i feel like should be uh you know people that just feel like they should be in uh like will ferrell but um as far as the original cast like obviously everyone from the original five years should be in um as far as where lorraine is in that uh group she's not She's not really a household name. She wasn't a Ghostbuster. She wasn't a Blues Brother. She didn't have a sitcom afterward. Everyone knows Aykroyd, Murray, Jane Curtin, Chevy Chase, John Belushi. And I feel like Lorraine Newman, who is extremely talented, just doesn't have that star power name. So when people are voting and they see her name... It just doesn't connect, or they don't immediately remember all of the great sketches that she was a part of. Or, if they do, they remember someone else that was in that sketch.Track 2[5:01]So that's why I chose Lorraine Newman. All right, and who's your pick?Track 3[5:06]My pick, I just stuck to strictly the season six draft. So I went with one, two of the draftees for this coming season that I would like to seek it in that I'm not really hopeful about. But my first is Sherry O'Terry. For all of the reasons you just said about Lorraine, I think Sherry is very, very, very, very, very underappreciated. She is absolutely hilarious. hilarious she stands up against the likes of will freaking farrell and holds her own yes even though she's this diminutive little she can't be more than five two but against will farrell who's like i don't know six four she still holds her own her comedic chops are that strong that she can hold her own and i feel that way in the zimmermans with chris katan i i watched her playing against Sylvester Stallone in one of her Rita sketches. And she really is amazing and so funny and so able to bring real relatability to these outrageous characters that she plays.Track 3[6:19]And I'm feeling like I don't think she's going to get in on the first ballot, but I do hope that The people remember her. I know she was a long time ago. I remember her vividly because I was in college. And that's the time when you remember the gas.Track 3[6:38]So I hope there's a lot of Gen Xers and a lot of Zs and millennials that are going back and watching and listening to our great guest. And Thomas, of course, make an excellent argument for her this season, I'm sure. So that's my first choice. Now back to you.Track 2[7:01]You made a great point, and the only word I want to add to it, just literally one word, is energy. She was full of energy in pretty much everything she did. I mean, with the exception of maybe Barbara Walters, but that's because it wouldn't fit. But if you look at all of her characters, that's the common theme, is that she was almost like twitchy.Track 3[7:23]I totally agree.Track 2[7:24]But, yeah. That's an excellent, excellent pick. Okay, so I'm going to go with my one, and we're going to continue the female trend. Someone a little bit more current. I'm going to go with Kate McKinnon.Track 3[7:41]Absolutely.Track 2[7:42]She, yes, yes, yes. She is one of those people, she reminds me of Amy Poehler in the sense that her talent seems to have been made for Saturday Night Live. Um now just i want to say this on our first episode uh to me the three things that make up a great snl cast member are characters impressions and hosting we can update not doing characters but hosting now you don't need to do all three to be great sometimes you can like jimmy fallon will ferrell dan ackroyd uh sometimes you can do just one dennis miller however when you do two or three, that shows that you're able to play any position.Track 2[8:31]So with that being said, with Kate McKinnon, she did characters and impressions extremely well.Track 2[8:39]The various characters, like the alien abductions sketch, that to me is timeless. That is one of the latest great reoccurring sketches. Sketches um and then as far as her impressions uh you look at amy puller who did like you know hillary clinton um and ever uh ever levine um kate mckinnon said hold my beer and then did uh not only female impressions but male she did rudy giuliani uh and such and a bunch of other politicians um and just i mean i'm having a hard time thinking of all you know it's trying to like name all the santa's reindeer or the seven dwarves you know you like you get down a few or you're like wait uh there's also uh you know so i'm i don't want to um take up too much time saying a lot of urs and ums as i try and think of them all but she is just where she just blended into those impressions and then characters and she was like Phil Hartman where she could be in she could do the whole show, you know she could do and it was almost unfair to the other cast members I don't want to overhype her too much you can't overhype her but.Track 2[10:02]I will. I do, but I want to be fair to everyone else. I want to be fair. I don't want to make it seem like the rest of the cast that they were less. I don't want to make them seem like they were less than they were.Track 3[10:16]But she's amazing.Track 2[10:18]But she was just, Kate McKinnon was just, her talent was made for Saturday Night Live. And I'm not going to lie, I miss her.Track 3[10:28]She definitely left a hole and she was part of a she was part of a trinity when you talk about her and cecily 80 unbelievable with things like twin bad i mean back home ballers just amazing the three of them together will just fire so excellent choice joe i'm gonna shake things i'm gonna shake things up a little i'm gonna i'm gonna break i'm finally gonna break up our like female male domination that's going on, which I love, but I'm going to break it up a bit. Like I said, I chose two from season six because that's where my head was at, and I chose a musical act, and I know J.D. Mentions this. Thomas mentions this.Track 3[11:12]Musical guests don't seem to get into the Hall of Fame. I think Paul Simon might be the only one still. Dave Grohl is knocking on the door, and he's he's on my list but the act i want to talk about they're coming up this season like i said is one of my favorite bands and remember i'm a gen xer so i know you know joe who i'm talking about uh you too you do i mean i watched a couple of performances it's hard to find musical performances especially when you don't have peacock which i know right i know snl fan without peacock But anyways, I love you two. I could not believe how amazing they were on that 8-H stage. Thomas made a really good point in the draft episode.Track 3[12:03]They were selling out stadiums at this time. I mean, they were huge at this time. But then they could bring it down and be right on that 8-H stage and be intimate and personal. And Bono, let's face it, it's the Bono show, right? The man can sing. He has charisma oozing out of his pores. And he just captivates. And that's exactly what he did. it. These days on current SNL, the musical acts are really getting out of control. And I know they talk about this in several of the podcasts I listen to. They're throwing all these dancers and visual effects and explosions. You don't need it. If you can sing and you're talented, you don't need it. U2 does not need it. I'd love to see them get in at some point. I hope they get at the 10% to at least stay on the ballot. But after Dave Grohl, I think they should be in next because they're just amazing. So those are my two.Track 2[13:07]All right. So let's get into the two that we think definitely won't. I just want to go first because I want to continue the trend of what we're talking about with the musical guests. Now, you said that it's going to be really hard for musical guests to get into the Hall of Fame, because they're not really a major part of the show. They're rememberable, but not as much as the cast, the writing, the host. So they're kind of like the fourth tier. But they're very important, don't get me wrong. It's just not one of the initial people that you think of when you think of the show. So as far as my first pick, I'm going to say Randy Newman. I agree with everything that was said when they were doing the ballot show. I agree with Randy Newman's great toy story. I love L.A. He's funny. When he accepted an Oscar, I don't remember specifically what he said, but he had a great Oscar speech.Track 2[14:10]Let's just put it this way. When you're voting for an SNL Hall of Fame, you know, person, I doubt that you're going to vote for Randy Newman. I mean, there's just a lot of people ahead of him in line, you know, like, you know, like the people that we're saying, you know, and then there's you got, you know, you got hosts that are well known. You got cast members that are well known. Writers are kind of a gray area, you know. And then musical guests are just hard to get into, period. And then Randy Newman is, you know, like people might know him from Toy Story and such, but they might not know him that well, or at least current people or whatnot. And I'm not saying anything, I don't want to say anything too much, too negative about him, but he's just not really a household name anymore. So with that being said, like it would be hard to vote him in the snl hall of fame so yeah i don't i don't know what more i could say after that it's just kind of kind of cut and dry i guess like you know like it's hard for a musical guest to get in and he's not really that well known as a musical guest so agreed.Track 3[15:30]In fact i agree so much my first totally won't get in was also randy newman and i'm not gonna to rehash it because you said it well. And even when J.D. nominated him in the draft, he said that he wondered if people would remember because he hasn't been... I mean, I'm sure he's still doing music for movies and doing movie songs and things, but you don't hear about him much. Like, I don't know if he had a new song in the new Pixar movie, the one that just came out or not. But yeah, I'm not going to go into it too much since you did a great job. I will go on to my second person and then I'll throw it back to you. My second person is a writer and I have to disagree with you a little bit. I actually, well, I don't know quite how you feel about writers, but you kind of sounded like you thought they were gray area. I don't think they're gray area. I think writing comes first. Great writing.Track 2[16:34]I don't think it's important. It's just not, the writers might not be well known.Track 3[16:38]Oh, I agree with that. But I feel that writers are the most important. They're that base ingredient. read yet. I don't care if you have the best cast in the world, if the sketch sucks and is poorly written and the characters aren't well-developed, nobody's going to be able to bring that to life. Whereas if you have a great sketch or a great script, a so-so actor, like say even myself, could do a good job with it. I think writing is essential. I don't think writers get enough love in the Hall of Fame. I don't think they get enough love in general. So that all being said, I'm going to talk about Alan Zweibel. Unfortunately, unlike Jim Downey, who I'm so happy got in, he doesn't have name recognition. He's done a lot. I've been reading a lot about him, and I was sent a list of the sketches he's worked on. I mean, Roseanne, Rosanna, Dana, Anna, Letella, Emily Letella. He worked very closely with Gilda, very close with Gilda. He was very, very, very, very essential to those early years.Track 3[17:56]Unfortunately, and I worry about this with Garrett Morris, too. I don't want to get off track, and Lorraine. People don't have long memories always. And especially these days, Joe, you know the kids are jumping on, they're watching sketches, they're watching the Beavis and Butthead sketch, they're not watching the whole show. So it's very different now. And I feel like writers like Alan Zubow have been lost to the anals of time, unfortunately. And maybe I'll be wrong. I hope I am wrong, but I feel like there's other writers ahead of him a bit. However i'd be thrilled if he got in i'd like to see writers get more love but i don't think it's happening so now i'm gonna throw it back over to you.Track 2[18:41]I just want to add on a little bit to that because i think he might have been a cast member in season five because okay yeah everyone started leaving so they just started pulling people from like the writers and like because like i think paul schaefer was a cast member in season five so season five was It was just kind of that running on fumes before everyone left. And then also, I just want to mention, as far as the Gildan Radner connection, I just love this memory, which is her last television appearance, which was on It's a Gary Shandling Show. And I know this isn't Saturday Night Live, but um uh he gary shanley uh developed that show with alan's i or uh zybel and uh after, gildan ran there was um she had a pause where she started to look good uh health-wise and so she showed up on that show and i just wanted to recommend people to look that moment up because it's such a gift from alan and gilda um so i know it's outside saturday night live but uh, But anyway, to segue to my pick, I also picked a writer for the same reason. Again, writers, it would be cool if writers, if you could see their name on the sketch.Track 3[20:04]Right.Track 2[20:04]That would be great. You know, that way, you know, like the only one that I think of is Jack Handy, The Deep Thoughts. You saw his name on that sketch. Right. So that kind of made you familiar. Now, anyway, my pick is Julio Torres, who is more recent. I just don't, he's not like John Mulaney, where he's a recent writer who has standout specials or hosted the show and all this stuff. I'm sure he's a great writer. He's just not well known. I think he's the least known person on the list.Track 3[20:41]I think you're right. He does have that I'm a Stone Actress sketch, which was great. But, yeah, he's not really talked about as much.Track 2[20:49]I mean, I don't want to, I literally don't have anything negative to say about him other than the fact that he's not known enough. And I'm sure people found out, you know, what sketches he wrote. They'd be like, oh, yeah, absolutely. I love that. But at this point, you know, I mean, you know, I just can't see people looking at this list and voting for him. I mean, and I'm not saying anything negative about him. I just don't see him being well known enough.Track 3[21:23]Now, let's reveal our ballots. Do you mind if I go first, Joe?Track 2[21:27]Yes, please.Track 3[21:28]I'm just going to zoom through it. But my 15, and I did use all 15. I know some people don't, but I had a hard time keeping it to 15. I could have gone to 16 or 17. My ballot is... And a guest hire, Sherry O'Terry, Dave Grohl, Vanessa Bayer, Rosie Schuster, and Paula Pell, both writers. Candice Bergen, Rachel Dratch, Dick Ebersole, Herb Sargent, Lorraine Newman, Buck Henry, Jack Handy, Tracy Morgan, and you too. Those are my 15. And let me tell you, I didn't really know who Buck Henry was. I didn't know much about Dick Ebersole, rather. Then I listened to this podcast, and it changed my voting. And I put these two on. This is the first time I've put them on because I think they're essential to the show's history. So thank you, SNL Hall of Fame. Thank you, Thomas. Thank you, JD. Thank you, Matt, for making me a more educated viewer. Now your turn, Joe.Track 2[22:39]All right. So with me, I just went with 10. My brain just works in the DECA system. So shout out to the Romans. um so the list goes paul rudd dick ever saw dave grohl paul lapel lorraine newman kate mckinnon adam samler martin short chris parnell and john malane um i just and to me that would almost be a great show all of himself they were together so that's my time agreed well Well.Track 3[23:10]I'm surprised at like how similar our lists are because I think we have slightly different tastes, but I think we're ready to move on. Beck Bennett is our first season six nominee. And the way this is going to go every episode is one of us is going to be pro and one of us is going to be con. It does not reflect our true feelings, but we're arguing the side we're arguing, and that's how it's going to go. And are we ready to get started? Do you want to start, Joe? You're the con and I'm the pro. What do you think?Track 2[23:50]Well, how about this? we'll go pro just to kind of introduce him and then uh i'll do con.Track 3[23:55]Okay we'll just throw it back and forth how's that sound yes sounds good all right so i am arguing the pro for mr beck bennett eight seasons that alone meets one of my criteria i feel like a great cast member has to have at at least five. Beck has eight. Eight seasons, and he came out of the gate on fire. He brought ideas to the show. He, of course, had a relationship with Kyle Mooney, and they came with sketches. So that's my first pro. Want to give a con, Joe?Track 2[24:37]Yes. Yes. So now, first off, let me just say I agree with every positive thing. However, my assignment is to come up with cons. So I agree with everything that you're saying and everything on the podcast. However, for the con, I feel like he was a part of a big cast.Track 3[25:01]True.Track 2[25:02]And he didn't really pop. He didn't really stand out. So to give an example or demonstration of this, imagine if he came back to host, you know, people wouldn't be saying, oh, I hope he does this sketch, you know, like, or I hope he does this character. There wasn't anything. He did Baby Boss, but that wasn't rememberable. I don't think people are going to be quoting or re-watching that on YouTube. A lot of the Kyle Mooney pre-taped stuff is funny, don't get me wrong, but not rememberable. He didn't you know he just didn't pop and then um he also did a lot of the straight man stuff which is a thankless task like he did a lot of uh game show hosts and you know so i just that's my con he just didn't pop he didn't stand out i i just i can't make a list of uh stuff i would want him to do again if he came back to host so that's my con all.Track 3[26:09]Right so i i just want to add I've got a few more things for the, for the pro. Let's talk about his pre-tapes. I mean, he and Kyle came with the SoCal boys, kind of the clueless boys who were all over the internet at that time. They're probably still all over the internet. And they just nailed it. And it was so funny. I just rewatched a couple of those SoCal boys pre-tapes and they were hilarious. But I just want, I have to mention my, one of my absolute favorite pre-tapes, which is the Leslie Kyle back.Track 3[26:48]Triangle specifically the one with the masquerade with the eyes wide shut for those of you young listeners it's a movie that came out a long time ago watch the sketch watch the pre-tape i i can't even do it justice so funny even colin jost gets into the act it is hilarious i just think beck was one of those in the clutch performers who could come and be the straight man and all the the craziness could bounce off of him against Santa Baby with Gosling and Vanessa Bayer. They're going nuts about Santa, and Beck has to play the straight dad role. Like you said, Joe, always having, often having to be the one that everybody else sort of plays. He's sort of the canvas, and they play off. He's just so perfect at that. And they mentioned so many good examples in the Hall of Fame episode that I don't think I need to do anymore. So that's my wrap up. I think he deserves a shot. And I was very happy I got to be pro because I know, Joe, that you struggled with the cons. But I think you did an excellent job and made some excellent points about why maybe he is not quite Hall of Fame material.Track 3[28:13]All right, Joe, I think it's time for our final, final segment, our hopes for the 50th season. And the theme for this, this week's our first is which two cast members do we want to see more of? All right, I'll start. Let me tell you, I had two, I had two people. One, I didn't change. One, I did. Guess why? Why? Because my buddy Joe and I had a conversation and he made me rethink and I'm like, he's right. I need to go with my gut and I need to say a regular cast member. I was going to do a newer cast member, but instead I'm going with a I believe she's going into her sixth year.Track 3[28:59]She's getting the screen time. But thank you, Mike Murray, on Saturday night or Saturday as an on the Saturday Night Network. Network yeah because mike murray if you haven't listened and i'm assuming if you're listening to this podcast you listen to the hasn't on uh mike murray does a great stats breakdown and he gave me some stats and he's he talks a lot about uh minutes per episode and i don't think i don't think she's getting enough time on screen and he has solidified that for me i'm talking about the the one, the only, the incredible Ego Nwudum. She is my favorite cast member, bar none, hands down.Track 3[29:45]I think she's absolutely hilarious in every sketch she's featured in. She just holds her own so beautifully against the likes of Kenan and Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner. Ego stands tall and proud. She's amazing. I'm really happy she got one of the first reoccurring characters in a long time, Lisa from Temecula, and she delivers. And I'm thrilled that she's got a TV show now, I believe on Peacock. I think it's called The Throwback, but I might be messing up the name. But I'm really, I'm thrilled that she has a show and I want to see her. I hope that doesn't mean she's going to get less screen time i want to see her get more screen time okay joe.Track 2[30:33]Who do you want to see more of again i guess this is a very female themed episode because my first one is my comedy crush uh and by that i mean i love her comedy is sarah sherman uh.Track 2[30:53]So I just love she is so unique, but I'm also glad she could blend in to the cast. Like, I'm glad that she could do both her unique style and, you know, that doesn't alienate her from everyone else. She's able to be in sketches that don't work, you know, that aren't about her unique sense of humor. She is so she has such a unique identity. She just does goes with her gut and just and then on top of that. And then the second point is I want to see her on Weekend Update. She did Sarah's News, I believe was the segment. But most importantly, and I do mean this, which is important to me. I want to see her roasting Colin Jost because she is aside from those swap joke swaps that he does with Michael J. I love seeing Colin Joe's get roasted by Sarah she just does it in this goes for the jugular just really you know she did one where she went backstage in his dressing room and there was like yeah this is where he keeps the interns in the cage and stuff like that and she, chef's kiss I mean I just love her unique sense into humor and I love seeing her roast Colin Jost. So yes, that's my first pick. And now yours.Track 3[32:19]My second is a little newer and he just nailed it this past season. I think he's getting more time, but again, thank you Mike Murray. His screen time is not where it needs to be. His Tim Scott is one of my favorite political impressions currently. Of course, I'm talking about the fabulous Devin Walker. I think Devin is fantastic. I love Marcelo Hernandez, don't get me wrong, but he seems to be the newbie getting the most love, and I'd like to see the love spread a little evener for Longfellow as well, but really for Devin. I think this is Devin's season to shine. I hope so. I hope they give him more impressions. I hope they put him on update. Let him have Devin's take, kind of like they did with Longfellow and let him give his takes on certain cultural happenings in the zeitgeist. Yeah, I want more Devin Walker this season. A lot more than last season.Track 2[33:16]So my second pick is Michael Longfellow. It's just real... Yes. It's just real simple. I just look at that guy and I know this is kind of a part of the con that I said about Beck Bennett, but he has great deadpan.Track 3[33:34]Yes.Track 2[33:34]So and that is really one of the thankless tasks of a cast member is looking at the other ones, looking at the character and just, you know, acting, you know, and just having a facial expression that says you're weird and stuff like that.Track 3[33:51]Yes.Track 2[33:52]You know and then um how about this is what came to me i can't believe it was an snl cast member or or anything but it keaton has this thing where he just goes no no and michael longfellow just has that in his face where he's able to do that without saying anything like you're weird you're just he's got it in his eyes it reminds me of like dave foley from news radio um he just he's He's able to look at the joke and not say anything. And to me, it's more important to act instead of saying, you know, like, you know, brevity is the soul of wit. So just to be and I just like seeing that from him. So that's what I'm hoping to see more of from him.Track 3[34:33]OK, so I think the moral of our episode today is we want more women getting involved and we want the newbies getting some love because both Devin and Michael came in. And Marcelo seems to be getting all of the love, which he's super talented. But like I said, I'd like to see them spreading it out a little more. Okay. I cannot believe that this is the end already, Joe. This is so much fun. You are so much fun to talk to because you're as geeky, passionate about SNL as I am. And so thank you.Track 2[35:10]Yes. And I believe you have excellent taste. No, no, you're great. You know, you have mountains and mountains of information and passion. So, yeah, this is great. You know, I hope to be doing this every week. We will be doing this every week right here at the Butter Cooler.Track 3[35:26]We're throwing our cups away until next week when they'll be, when Thomas will be joined by another great guest on the SNL Hall of Fame. Well, they'll be talking about the one and only, and we talked about her today, right, Joe?Track 2[35:41]Yes, we did.Track 3[35:41]The fabulous sherry o terry very.Track 2[35:47]Energetic a mountain yeah we got a lot to get into on.Track 3[35:50]Yeah looking forward to it but for now leaving the water cooler till next time throwing out the cup.0:00 / 36:410.5x0.75x1.0x1.25x1.5x1.75x2xSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/snlhof/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We're back and it's season 6! As is typical we've assembled a group to draft the nominees we will discuss this coming season. Join jD, Matt, and Thomas as they get together to build season 6!Transcript:[0:00] Thank you, Doug Donance. It's JD here, and I am thrilled to be back in the SNL Hall of Fame. Let me see if my key works, but before I do that, I'll wipe my feet. The SNL Hall of Fame is a weekly affair where each episode we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer, and add them to the ballot for your consideration. Consideration once the nominees have been announced we turn to you the listener to vote for the most deserving and help determined who will be enshrined for perpetuity in the hall and that's how we play the game it's just that simple but you know what behind the scenes folks it's not that simple because we have to curate a list of who we are going to discuss every season and we found the most fun way to achieve that is with a draft and we're going to do that again this year before we explain the rules i want to introduce the other two drafteteers they are your friends and mine matt ardill and thomas santa how are you doing fellas hello jd good Good to see you. Hey, J.D., great thanks.[1:28] That's a little inside baseball there, Thomas.[1:33] So, Thomas, do you want to go through the intricate rules of the draft? You are the master of the draft, after all. All right, sure thing. So, this is the third season, I think, that we've done a draft and had a draft episode. So, there's parameters. So the three of us, we each get five picks. So 15 total, we each get five picks. We each have to pick two cast members. We each have to pick one host.[2:05] We each have to pick a musical guest or a writer, and then we have the wild card. We can do whatever the heck we want with this, as long as it's a cast member, host, musical guest, or writer. But we have the wild card there. So that adds up to five picks each, 15 total, and I have in my hand a coaster that I'm going to flip. I'm going to give either JD or Matt the first pick. Uh so i want matt to call heads or tails matt uh tails tails it is so matt ardeal gets the first pick uh jd you get the second pick and i'll i'll round things out and get the last pick that's how the draft is working today folks um okay well i think for my first draft pick i am going to go with Garrett Morris aside from being an original cast member he's a Juilliard trained performer he can sing, dance, act the entire Nine Yards he just has incredible chops.[3:16] Amazing sketches or bits like the White Guild Relief Fund impressions of Chubby Checker that he did with Carrie Fisher first appearance of a Marvel character as ant-man um that's right and uh you know i i watched this one interview where he was talking about death row follies and it's like it was really interesting he was talking about how he was with harry belafonte's band and they were just chatting and he's like so the entire process was lauren just had an idea for a sketch and sent them off to write he didn't give him any direction It's like you're on death row, you're performing. And he's he went back to this memory. He's talking about how the core of improv is drawing from your experiences. He went back to this memory of talking to Harry Belafonte, band member who had watched an old like 1950s TV show. And if you remember the sketch, his bit is I'm going to get me a shotgun and kill all the whitest I see. And he's like well that actually originated from this old 1950s this is your life type of show where this woman had written over 300 songs and they brought her up from the audience and sat her down to interview her and.[4:32] Kind of of how the song went but she was a white woman from the south and uh so you can imagine how that was so he took it and flipped it and used that for comedy and it's just like you know it just brings so brought so much to the table and i feel like out of the original cast he's one of those people who just is is not given as much respect or acknowledgement as he's due and And I think it's his time to shine. JD, so this is Garrett's one of the last remaining original cast members that we have yet to discuss. This is exciting. What do you think, Jamie?[5:13] Yeah, I'm excited that we're kicking it off with an old school, an original seven. Is it seven? Right, it was seven. Do we count George Coe and Michael O'Donohue? Oh, no, I'm not. The core. I'm talking about the core. It's almost the same as the NHL where they have the original six, but there was errors before that had eight teams, you know, but whatever I digress, I think it's a great pick. I think it's an exciting pick for a show like ours. I know that he will be a tent pool, a tent pole rather in terms of episodes, you've probably noticed in the past that we, we stack, front stack and back stack with more high-profile performers or nominees, and Garrett Morris will certainly be one of those. That being said... I don't see him as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Lorraine Newman didn't make it in on the first ballot. And I can't imagine him doing better than Lorraine Newman.[6:18] Because I think, based on a time and place, he was critically misused. Yes. You know? He was the epitome of, you know, the South Park gag, the token, right? It almost smacks you in the face because you don't see him ever. And then when you do see him, it's like there's flashes of brilliance, like you were mentioning that. So I anticipate him going in, but not as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Yeah, there's not as much meat on the bone as far as his resume as a lot of cast members, but not necessarily his fault. Which i'll be interested to see if what if the voters may take that into account or anything but definitely you know a beloved original cast member i think this is uh this is an interesting um choice that makes sense for for an episode for us yeah i i think so i'm going to start with somebody who just really epitomizes my experience with snl in the last 12 years i would say I started watching this performer and I didn't like him that much unless he was with this other guy.[7:40] And then I started to like them as a duo.[7:44] And then I really saw that this next nominee was outshining not only his comedic partner, but several other male cast members. And I'm talking about Beck Bennett, who just recently became eligible for the Hall of Fame. So that may hurt his chances of getting in right away. But i think he's versatile i think he's the kind of guy and i know we overuse this statement but you ask him to do anything and he'll do it you know like he doesn't know an impression you know what he'll put it together in a week it's like that old school mentality yeah i don't know how to do a putin impression oh i know what i'll do i'll take off my shirt you know and and sound vaguely russian you know but it was one of my favorite reoccurring characters and i think one of the last sketches he did i might be wrong but it's a solo sketch with him as vin diesel yep that was his and that was the last sketch of of the of the night right yep yeah the onya taylor joy episode yeah that's right i just got such a kick out i got such a kick out of it so it was like Like, I sound so old when I say that, but I am. So there you go. By the time you're hearing this, I'm 50. I'm 50.[9:11] So that's my pick. Matt, what do you think? I agree. I think that's an awesome pick. I've always felt he's one of those performers that really grew on me. The longer he was on screen, the more I saw him. And yeah, I think I think that's a terrific choice. Also, he's he's in DuckTales. So, you know, I can't fault him there, you know, like.[9:37] Talented man of many many talents so if you ever want to hear a fantastic episode of it's a great podcast it's a stand-up comedian that hosts it there i'm narrowing it down substantially aren't i uh and it's got um he used to be in the hbo show called crashing oh pete homes pete homes yes Yes, he has a podcast, and he interviews Beck Bennett on an episode. Sorry, folks, for that previous ramble. That was very riveting podcasting, I know. But at any rate, he is featured on this episode of the podcast, and it's a long-form interview. It's like a three-hour interview, but they get into it. And he was a multimillionaire when he signed to go work at Saturday Night Live on the basis of those insurance company commercials he was doing with the kids. Oh, wow. I don't know if you ever saw that campaign, but it was a national campaign in the US and he booked it. And it became a reoccurring thing. And by the time it reoccurred for the fifth time, they signed him for six figures to do it. Oh, jeez.[10:49] And pete holmes pulls that out of him like afterwards he's so mortified because pete holmes like is like he's like would you get like 50k he's like no he's like 200k he's like oh i don't really want to talk about it like 750k it's like okay it was a million dollars.[11:10] I digress on the insurance commercials yeah yeah it was it was uh their telephone phone commercials telephone commercials yeah he had a group of kids and he was almost like the moderator and ask kids questions or whatever and so when he got hired to snl i was like oh that's the guy from the commercials so i had already known his face and i'm like i didn't know he did comedy and he's on snl now that's gonna be interesting he turned into like a steady hand he turned into like like basically almost the rock of the show like he and keenan we're almost like the steady hand rocks of of the of that era of snl i'm excited about talking about back, Yeah, it's going to be a great episode, I suspect. Who do you have for us? Yeah. Try. So I am going to go, I want to go a different route. I'm going to use my musical guest early. And probably in a lot of ways because I think I already have a guest booked for this. One of my favorite guests to bring on the SNL Hall of Fame to talk music. So I'm going to pick you two as a nominee. And with the understanding that musical guests haven't had such great luck here on the SNL Hall of Fame, I think Paul Simon is in, and that's about it. I think I'm going to keep banging this drum all season. Dave Grohl should be in, and I will be talking about that as much as I can.[12:40] This is Dave Grohl's final season on the ballot. But I digress. You two, amazing band. Some memorable appearances at SNL four times on the show. And I think I have an awesome guest lined up to talk about U2. So I'm going to take U2 off the board early as my musical guest. They would have been one of my picks tonight, I suspect. They were on my musical shortlist if I didn't pick a writer. So they could have ended up a wild card for me. That being said, when did their appearances start? Were they always like a superstar band on the show? Well, that's the thing. Yeah, no, I don't think they appeared until the 90s.[13:23] Until like Octane Baby. Yeah, that's one of the things about them. From my recollection, I think they did pop. But they didn't appear when the Joshua Tree came out. They kind of missed like that. So I think their first appearances were in the 90s. So that'll be discussed, I'm sure. On our show as far as like timing of their appearances to me it reminds me maybe a little bit of prince in some ways uh as far as timing of their appearances for me they appeared after i'd already burnt out on them like i was that joshua tree era fan and really wasn't that zuropa.[14:03] You know kind of era didn't really click for me but i do know a lot of people of my age who were completely over the moon when they were on snl uh so yeah i mean they're a great band no arguments there but uh i don't know it's just for me they don't they aren't as as it isn't as memorable but i i can understand why because they are still such an amazing band and they did really put it all on the table whenever they did perform i just think for me the fact that the first time they showed up on SNL, if they were touring Octoon Baby, then it was either the Zoo TV tour, which was a stadium tour, or it was the one that had the cars hanging from the arena. I forget what that part of the tour was called before they went into Zoo TV and stadiums. So you have this band that's playing stadiums around the world coming into 8H.[15:00] This little wee stage. Right. That's what I mean. That's frickin' Hall of Fame. Yeah, I agree. That's one of the fascinating things about SNL and musical guests is sometimes we take for granted, like Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift or somebody like that. We're seeing these acts in a more intimate setting instead of these stadiums. U2 definitely qualifies. I think that's a really good point. Yeah, so that's my pick. We have Garrett Morris, Beck Bennett and you, too. It's back to Matt.[15:32] I'm going to go with my host card next. I am going to nominate Adam Driver. Again, one of those really strong players. He really brings his heart to every performance and he'll do things that like I'm pretty sure other people of his caliber of stardom would really push back on. I mean, you look at that cold open sketch that where he was Epstein and John Lovitz was Alan Dershowitz during the impeachment trial, the dark gallows humor that he was willing to go to in that for that sketch.[16:11] But then you also see like really over the top, silly things like when he was playing Dr. Rock hard, the porn doctor. And it's just, he's willing to like, you know, he's another one of those performers like Jon Hamm, like the star, his stardom doesn't get in the way of him doing silly stuff that takes down his own myth, like even like the undercover boss is Kylo Ren is so I'm going with Adam driver. Great pick. I think Adam driver, he wasn't on my short list, but I think it's a fantastic pick because he's. He doesn't have a dud. He doesn't have a dud episode. And that's key to being a Hall of Fame host, in my opinion. I tend to lean toward the five-timer being, you know, sort of a cutoff for me, and he just misses that.[17:06] But man, I can't wait to see those other performances working with this group that is starting to really find itself yeah this adam driver is one to me he's one of the better hosts of this whole era of snl and matt you did me a favor because adam driver was on like a short list and i was going to be debating between the shipping driver these other people so you just made that decision easier for me uh by taking adam driver because he was definitely on my like short very short list of hosts uh that i was considering he's just a guy He did some comedic stuff in Girls. He had some comedic moments, but I wouldn't describe him as a comedian or a comedic actor, but he showed those chops on SNL. I think a lot of times that's what happens. A lot of those good actors tend to do really well as SNL hosts because they can just slide in and do really quality sketch work. He was definitely up for anything. I love this. I'm super pumped to talk about Adam Driver. Yeah, it's going to be a great conversation. Anyone in mind off the top of your head? Not at all.[18:15] I'll put the fillers out there. I'll get somebody good, I'm sure of it. Yeah, that's great. All right. I'm up next. And I'm going to go with an old favorite.[18:27] To me, the first season of SNL that my little peepers got to see was Lauren's first year back. I saw the back half of that season. and was blown away. I had seen some Eddie Murphy episodes prior to that, but not much, and I don't have memories of them. But that season, I have memories. I have memories of one particular actor, and it's not Dennis Miller, who I thought was the coolest dude of all time, but the guy that made me laugh the most consistently because he was hammy, but not in a hammy way. And it's John Lovitz who I'm talking about. I think he's got a terrific resume. He was one of the very few. Nora Dunn, Dennis Miller, and he were the only survivors of the massacre that ensued following that season that Lauren came back. And they carried over into what became the second golden era of Saturday Night Live. In many ways, they formed, you know, the foundation of the next.[19:47] 20 years of that show you had the you know with the weekend update you had the solo performer doing weekend update you had this character actor that would do fantastic characters all the time and again i'm talking love it's just really terrific stuff uh i'm i'm really excited to see who you line up to talk about john lovitz i'm sure there'll be quite a a few people who want to do that but i'm curious what you guys think yeah people are going to be chomping at the bit to talk to talk about this and i i know off the top of my head at least uh, a couple snl podcasters out there uh would love maybe have already talked to me about hey if you guys do john lovitz let me know that would be one that i'd be interested so i know i have no shortage of options for john lovitz this is such a good one too it's funny jamie i'm keeping track of this i'm typing as as we go along and as soon as you started saying this person stood out to me at the end of lauren's first season i wrote john lovitz i'm like and i'm really excited because and you did me a favor too just like matt did me a favor with adam driver john lovitz was on like my very short list like i i was saying to myself am i really gonna go another draft without picking john lovitz we have to have john lovitz on on the season so i'm so excited about this jamie.[21:09] Great minds. He was on my list as well, honestly. I mean, like Tommy Flanagan, the devil in the people's court, you know, like just these consistently hilarious.[21:19] I mean, at the time when I was a kid, I didn't get him as much. But going back and rewatching him, I was like, I get it now. I get why everybody loves him. And I just think my tastes were not refined enough to appreciate him at the time. But yeah, having gone back and rewatched his era, I watched it on TV at the time, too. He's just a freaking genius. He knows when to go big. He knows when to be small.[21:54] And he'll do completely bonkers characters. And right now, he's adopted this, you know, well, I say right now, but over the last 25 years, he's adopted this butt of all jokes, you know, SNL based.[22:11] And I think that's hilarious. Like when they did the Immemorium, and he was on there. There's been other instances as well. So a lot of fun. Yeah absolutely yeah john love it's awesome so we're back to me uh i'm gonna um pick a cast member i'm gonna utilize one of my cast member choices and we've talked about molly shannon congratulations molly on being an so hall of famer we've talked on a gas dyer so i'm gonna go with a very talented woman who who was.[22:42] Their cohort who often upstaged them and who maybe popped dropped even more so than the other two which is saying a lot uh we haven't heard a ton from her since snl but i still think sherry o terry should get some love and get an episode of her own wow so i want to choose sherry o terry uh as my choice we're gonna have a sherry o terry episode and i think it's well deserved i think she was a big uh really big part of the resurgence of snl back in the late 90s oh totally agree like she was just like an amazing workout horse great great impersonations and impressions and just terrific a terrific energy like like i mean it was she was in a cast with some really amazing people but she always you know she could hold her own you know with with the rest of rest of the cast and her barbara walters is like when i imagined barbara I actually imagine her impression more than I imagine actually Barbara Walters. And it's like that just speaks to how much of a stamp she put on her performances. Yeah, I think in particular, her work with Will Ferrell was spectacular.[23:54] They found each other in scenes together quite often. And she could keep up with him physically and emotionally. You know, turn a phrase in a character type way. Really terrific stuff. Yeah, I can't wait. We've talked about a lot of the people from that era, and they're always really fun conversations because a lot of listeners, some of my guests, that's like their prime SNL years. It was like the Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon on a gas tire. We've taught Chris Parnell, we've taught Daryl Hammond. So I think it's about time Sherry O'Terry gets her episode. So i'm glad you guys are excited about this one well i guess it's my turn again uh i am going to go to the writer's pool uh for this one i'm going to plumb my gen x credentials and choose one of my favorite sketch you know sketch performers writers um later dramatic actors is Bob Odenkirk. He's, you know, probably in a lot of ways coming out of the writer's room. He don't like a lot of the writers do very successfully afterwards, but they're not necessarily as high profile. Whereas in a lot of ways, he's probably one of the most high profile former writer of the show as an actor, like with Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul.[25:22] But, you know, You know, he, you know, his writing with Robert Smigel and Conan O'Brien, but, you know, came out of the Chicago Second City community and created us, created characters like, you know, the the. Chris Farley's inspirational speaker, Matt Foley. And he went on to become like a very big voice in Gen X comedy with Mr. Show and working with Ben Stiller and Chris Elliott and writing for Dennis Miller when he had his own show. So, yeah, I'm just a big fan of Bob Odenkirk and I'd love to see him inducted. Yeah I wonder uh our buddies at the um Saturday Night Network um are definitely great as far as helping us out with credits and stuff so I'm curious there's probably gonna be some Odenkirk stuff that I didn't know that he was behind that I'll find out through this that tends to happen when I start researching the writers and doing all of that so I'm excited to find out a lot of what I don't know about Bob's SNL tenure obviously I think he might get a little bit of a bump too because of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad and he's still relevant now. So I think we might see what I'll call the Conan O'Brien bump. Maybe not to that level, but I think there's going to be a little bit of a surge for him. But I'm excited to see just what I don't know about Odenkirk.[26:46] Yeah, and it's very little. that uh like i didn't uh i forgot completely about the motivational speaker matt foley being a brainchild of his but i've watched the second city version of it and it's it's you know it's really great i think you are going to find somebody that's going to make a fantastic case for bob odenkirk i would have difficulty being the person to do that because i am not good at research and it's a it's a blind spot for me so i think that that is something that i'm trying to wrap my head around a little bit when i think about him as a as a hall of famer i look at the other writers who are in the hall you get seth myers you get conan o'brien yeah conan o'brien is this outlier. I can't wait to listen to the episode. So, you know, I want to be swayed. Yeah, hopefully it's a good one for you all. I'm sure it will be. I'm looking forward to see who takes on the assignment of being my guest for the Odin Kirk episode. I'm going to go with hosts next.[28:02] And it's someone who breaks my rule that I already outlined, you know, 300 strikeouts or 500 home runs to get into the Hall of Fame. And that's five stints as a host. This gentleman only has four. That's good, Jamie. I was going to talk you out of that anyway. So you shouldn't be so beholden to that. Okay, that's fine. That's fine.[28:28] So i think um i remember a party years ago i was still at an age it was season 19.[28:36] And i was of an age where i had to watch saturday night live live like every like every week like did not miss it and there was this big house party and i put it on and sat down on the couch to watch And I remember it vividly because it was Nirvana hosting. Nirvana was the musical guest, and it was my next nominee's first time hosting the show. And that was all the way back in 1993, I believe. And this is Charles Barkley. yeah and he he's very relevant nowadays because he's he says he claims he's retiring from tv.[29:18] We're recording this uh a little ahead of time uh until it comes out he says he's retiring from tv because tnt uh isn't gonna have basketball right i don't know what's gonna go on with inside the nba i don't know if i quite believe him honestly one of the most entertaining people uh in sports television always entertaining when he hosts snl she's a really charismatic dude just really funny guy uh so i i like this i i have to say i i think that's a great choice because i mean he's one of those few i'm not a big fan of sports personalities right on the show and he's one of the few i felt because i mean i still remember like i were we're months apart in age so uh i was watching that same night and uh that that you know that was a.[30:06] I had my shaggy shoulder length, greasy hair and grubby beard and my flannels. So I was right into Nirvana at that time. And yeah, it was like it was a surprising performance for me to do as well and be as strong as he was. But it was a great, great showing. I think one of the other, you know, sort of not rules, but little guidelines I like to look at for a host is how many eras did they work in? And he also qualifies there for me. His first appearance was again in season 19, and it was 1993. Then we didn't get him again until 2010 in season 35. Then he showed up relatively quickly with Kelly Clarkson in 2012 on season 37.[31:02] But then he wasn't back till season 43 in 2018. So that would have been almost an entire turnover at that point. I think to me that somebody that can host that many good episodes, I think season over season, era over era is somebody that should be at least considered for the Hall of Fame. Do I think he's a first ballot? No, but I think to use the parlance of his former sport, he's a slam dunk at some point. Oh, very nice, J.D. It's like a mic drop on your Charles Barkley. I like it.[31:41] So Charles Barkley is a host. I'm going to pick a host as well. You guys, I have a musical guest. I picked a cast member.[31:50] I'm going to go with the host. Somebody who's been very important to SNL. A former cast member but i don't think she quite has the resume to talk about as a cast member but i think she has some underrated episodes definitely when i went back and looked at her work as a host it surprised me as far as uh how strong she was as a host and maybe it shouldn't because she was a cast member she's hilarious i'm talking about julia louis drive is ah which does break your your rule jamie about she's only a three-timer uh but she she's she's worked with uh at least two different eras she hosted in 2006 2007 and she hosted in 2016 so she's worked with at least two different eras um but she always just really she was a steady hand as a host she did a great job to me the two this is a chance to celebrate julia um just all around as well and i think that's what this show SNL Hall of Fame is about is the chance to celebrate these folks and so I'm excited to celebrate just a super talented woman who has had an impact on SNL maybe I think more so maybe as a host than as a cast member but it'll be fun just to talk about her maybe touch on her entire body of work just a great comedic actor I love Julia Louis-Dreyfus So I want to talk about her for me. It feels when she came back to host, it was very much like a returning champion.[33:15] You know, like she came back and she'd conquered and she was able to, to relish in that glory.[33:21] And, and you know, I was like, I remember watching her in her era on the show and coming back and seeing her. And she's just so much more confident in every scene and so much more like she was great originally, but you see this growth in her. And it was great to see her at the peak of her ability coming back to the show. What I think is fascinating is I don't know off the top of my head if there is another host Hall of Famer that was a former cast member. And I don't think there is. I don't think so. I think this might be the first. Yeah. I think that that's a fascinating aspect of this candidacy. You know, that here she is, somebody that has three years on the show under her belt, and she gets called in. She knows what she's doing, not only comedically and as a comedic actress, but as a former cast member.[34:22] She sort of knows the ropes, and that is terrific fodder for conversation, I think. Yeah, absolutely. I think there's two people, there's two cast members in the SNL Hall of Fame that I think have cases to be in the SNL Hall of Fame as hosts. And I think Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig probably have cases for both things, which is pretty impressive. Um if we're talking former cast members as hosts you know the two of two of the preeminent ones are already in the hall i think julia is a good uh next level uh as far as that goes yeah well how do you follow julia louis-dreyfus um so i think i'm gonna go with another cast member uh and i was speaking about dr rockhard earlier and i'm gonna go back to his his waiting room.[35:16] And showing Aidy Bryant who is just another one of those incredible talents um solid delivery 10-year veteran on the show just you know her her musical bits you know and on top of that possibly the best Ted Cruz impersonation that I have ever seen um yeah and I mean she got her start like as a producer for comedy bang bang and she just brought that willingness and energy that you get in that LA alt comedy scene to SNL and I thought it was a great addition I did not know that's where she came from that's, amazing the former TV show or the, podcast the TV show oh so cool wow yeah I think this is a another great pick.[36:10] Matt um ad bryant is a spectacular cast member and again she was alongside kate mckinnon you know and kate mckinnon was was gilda radner was jan hooks was kristin wigg you know begat kate mckinnon and yet ad stood beside her and could shine brighter and that to me not all the the time but you know from time to time for sure and that to me is um a great place to start your argument for why she belongs in the hall yeah so beloved i'm curious to see what the voting percentage will be like from her if we're reading the tea leaves with kate mckinnon um it probably won't go in 80s favor the first time um but she's definitely to me she's hall worthy i'll say that and and she's definitely episode worthy this is something when when 80 stepped away from the show this was something that i was excited like i know in a couple years in a few seasons or whatever we're gonna be able to do an 80 brian episode so this is something i've been looking forward to ever since she left the show matt so this this is this is awesome the research is gonna be fun i'm gonna know i'm gonna have a great guest there's people gonna be lining up to talk about 80 bryant she's just such a beloved figure on snl and and i think we're seeing kind of hard to replace.[37:37] Honestly yeah all right so i'm up to bat i'm gonna close my eyes and point no.[37:46] I'm not gonna do that i'm gonna go in order i'm gonna stay in order i did two cast members i did a um host now Now I'm going to do a musical guest slash writer.[37:57] But I'm going to choose a musical guest who was a fantastic songwriter, quite frankly. One of the best songwriters and most well-known songwriters in his generation, which was predominantly the 70s, although adult contemporary played him throughout the 80s. And he made his presence known on SNL, I believe, in 80, 83, and then 86. He was on the Ebersole era he was on the original Lorne era and then Lorne brought him back for that first season I'm talking about if you don't know Randy Newman, who is not my bag necessarily, but I recognize the brilliance in his songwriting and his ability to inflect his sense of humor. He's got a wicked sense of humor, and he uses that in his music in a really fun kind of way. The only contemporary artist I can think of that reminds me of something similar is like Ben Folds. But Ben Folds certainly wasn't ever as big as Randy Newman was or is, although I do love Ben Folds.[39:16] Anyway, I think that's my – well, I don't think. That's my pick, Randy Newman, and I'm sticking to it. Yeah, six-timer Randy Newman. Six-timer, yeah, absolutely. So he had quite an impact on the show. I already have maybe somebody in mind as a guest for Randy Newman.[39:34] So I think not totally like 100% my cup of tea. There's a lot of stuff that he did that I did like, but maybe an era before me. But you can't argue his impact as a songwriter. Just what a reliable guest that he was on SNL.[39:52] So I think this is a really great choice. We're celebrating an older era of SNL that deserves to be celebrated with one of the predominant musical guests from that era. I like it, Jamie. Same here. I mean, like he's one of those performers that, you know, especially in that early era, SNL tapped into the zeitgeist musically in a way that was seldom seen on television. Like, you know, you wouldn't see him on a lot of TV shows other than these shows like SNL pushing the edges of musical talent and bringing in voices that were not necessarily always paid attention to. But I mean, he's gone on to. Yeah, I mean, he's been gone on to become like this cultural touchstone, like the Toy Story theme songs, like all the he's like all sorts of movies and television shows that he's touched. And I think that a lot of that comes back to these six episodes that he did that that helped elevate him so this will be a great conversation good job Jamie I love it so and another musical guest and uh we can see how musical guests of different eras kind of do I'm always fascinated yeah I don't have high hopes yeah but I do I do think uh sorry I said it's the journey that that that's that's what I think that's what's important here it's the journey not like if he makes it or what's that.[41:17] You got it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's important, but, you know, I've learned my lesson with Dave Grohl and I just had to appreciate doing the Dave Grohl episode and whether he gets into the hall, you know, that's, that's, um, I almost have to take that as like a bonus. So I'm up next and I'm, I have another cast member, uh, that I need to, I, so I picked Sherry O'Terry as my first cast member and I'm going to go a little more current than Sherry O'Terry and And talk about Bobby Moynihan. I think Bobby's had such a huge impact on SNL. And he was often, he never was somebody who was looked at as the leader of any of his casts. But he was so, so important. And I think he was always such an underrated cast member. Until he left the show and then people started reevaluating his time at SNL. Completely. Yeah, right? Yeah. Yeah, people were like, wasn't Bobby Moynihan so good? And then we start thinking of all these characters, all his sketch work. He still loves SNL. He still appears on it. He's an SNL podcast listener.[42:24] I'm about 5% convinced that he might listen to the SNL Hall of Fame. That's how much he loves SNL. So Bobby Moynihan, if you're out there, we love you, and we're going to do an episode on you. For me, he was like, when he popped for me, he just like there's the one sketch and i liked him but you know it's sort of on the fence but my wife's like ah i just i don't he's not but then he did the peppa up in here character and we're just like we're in love we're in love with bobby he's just so brilliant and.[43:03] Yeah, I can't wait to hear this episode. I think you really hit it on the head when you were talking about his departure and reflecting back and, you know, seeing that Bobby Moynihan-shaped hole.[43:19] I think that his versatility is something that isn't discussed enough. He was great in sketches.[43:28] He was great at being a character. and he did weekend update bits of the yin yang that were almost all home runs if that's not hall of fame worthy i don't know what is what i am going to be interested to see is the two current big boys so far are beck bennett and bobby moynihan those are you know sort of current era level hall of fame nominees i'm curious which one will get more ballots this year i don't think either goes in this year but do.[44:05] A little side bet but i'm curious who gets the most ballots yeah yeah maybe we can get a sponsorship from exactly yeah um yeah so i'm glad you guys like this pick bobby monahan super excited to start delving into his all his work uh i mean i know a lot of it a lot of it's imprinted in my mind but it's just so fun to go back and watch him cook like the weekend update desk is something that he he was just he just lived in and made his own riblet and drunk uncle like there's just like things that are so classic oh yeah we still go back to a drunk uncle like just everyone's always like yeah this is a drunk uncle moment yeah definitely yeah so bobby moynihan uh matt circling back around so we're down to the home stretch it's our the final pick for for all three of us so yeah.[45:02] I am going to go back to the beginning. Alan Zweibel, you know, one of the original band of writers, penned for that first season of SNL. He went on to get a really close relationship with Gilda Radner, writing a memoir about the relationship, Bunny Bunny, Gilda Radner, a sort of love story, which was adopted into a play for Gary Shandling, her enthusiasm. Enthusiasm but also he created i i say two of the most iconic sketches of that original era which are belushi samurai sketch and and rosanne rosanna dana i feel like those are two wow yeah those early characters that really you you think back to them it's like they just pop and they're both they're both from his pen so uh yeah that is my final pick yeah i think that's a great pick uh Alan's White Bell, they talk about him being under the Weekend Update desk, handing off jokes. He was a joke writer. That's what he was. He was a joke writer, and he was among the last people to be hired, I think.[46:11] But they knew what they needed, and they knew that he could deliver, and deliver he did. Bonding early on with Gilda Radner, using that bond to create. An iconic character, co-create an iconic character, like you say, that may have overstayed her welcome. But she was on quite a bit those first couple seasons. But nevertheless, she was great. And he's great. And I think that the people that listen to this show are.[46:47] Need to start understanding that this is a show that has performers that do great work and are coming from a school of improvisation. But virtually everything you see every week on Saturday Night Live is written, and it's written by really talented people, and they need to be reflected in the hall as well. Well said here here and uh yeah as why bell when i go back and watch old uh snl episodes he makes me do the leonardo dicaprio pointing at the tv because he will he will appear like you'll see a sketch and then you'll be like oh it's why there's alan's why bell in the background or they used a picture of alan's why bell on weekend update for something or he'll just kind of pop up he's like uh where's waldo uh in that era's why bell will pop up when you least expect him and he had a really funny cameo and a curbing enthusiasm as well he had a funny interaction with larry david uh when he ran into him in new york city at a bar that one of my favorite scenes in the show's history is why belt was a part of so we love oh oh this is gonna be a fun one to listen to yeah i've got a lot to learn and that is where i start with my wild card pick i've got Got a lot to learn. I don't know a lot about this next fella.[48:07] I know not a lot about him because of the era he came into, but I know that he was part of the bread and butter. There was Eddie Murphy carrying the load, but the glue guy was Joe Piscopo. I felt you were going there. And Joe Piscopo is somebody that I think, while he's got some interesting things to say these days, I think that reflecting back on his actual career, which is what we want to do and we want to look at, I think that he was pivotal. He was pivotal. There are a handful of people that are responsible for SNL staying afloat. I'm not going to say keeping it alive in this case, because I don't think he was that valuable a cog.[49:02] Uh over overall but he kept it afloat for sure like he was somebody who kept it afloat he was he was a steady rower and it was a time that things were not steady other than steady eddie of course so joe pescabo he's got my back he's probably the most buff uh former cast member in the show's history if i i would i mean i haven't done the proper research for this uh but But my guess is he's the most ripped cast member in history. What do you guys think? I have to agree. Beck Bennett is surprisingly close, but I think Joe in his heyday has that title. I think he's the only one who's appeared on a men's health magazine, that's for sure. Probably. Never saw Kyle Mooney in men's health.[49:53] Now I've got that sketch in my head where he got like wearing the bodysuit like. Like, that's what Joe Piscopo actually looked like at one point. Let's write a sketch about Joe Piscopo. Jamie, this is great. I think people always talk about Eddie Murphy, rightfully so. Like, Eddie Murphy was amazing in that era. But Joe, Joe Piscopo was right there with him in a lot of these classic sketches. Sketches and i think i know a lot of snl super fans who really go to bat for for talking about how how important joe piscopo was and what an actual like good cast member he was uh so this will be uh really neat to go back and watch frankly a lot of sketches that sort of get lost in time from that era if eddie murphy wasn't a part of them um it's almost like they just kind of get lost in snl history so this will be a fun one for me and when you find them out there they're They're usually hacked to bits, right? Like there's like three sketches and then meet one musical performance or something like that. You know, exactly. What have you got for us, Thomas? Oh, sorry, man. Sorry. I was just going to say, I can't wait as well. Like I, I mean, he's such a, he, I love his mobster characters when he, when he goes into that sort of like rat rat pack, channeling like uh frank sinatra that he would often do yeah and they use that like that like later on in his career he appeared on star trek the next generation as like a rat pack era.[51:21] Comedian and yeah like he mentored data on how to be a stand-up comedian and it's just like he just He exudes the feel of that era, but that's because he just is so good at committing to a bit. So, yeah, I can't wait. Thomas, you're bringing this home. Yes, sir. I'm rounding this out. I have a wild card pick as well, and I'm going to add another host into the mix and end it with a host. It's a five timer. So I'm adhering to that to that loose rule, I guess, of having a five timer. It's somebody who actually hosted six times between 1982 and 1999. Bobby Moynihan apparently actually impersonated this person on the show one time. So I'm talking about Danny DeVito. Danny DeVito. I was going to guess that. Yeah. So it's Danny DeVito. He was always like a very reliable host. He hosted one time with his wife, Rhea Perlman. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I remember him having memorable sketches of really funny. Everybody talks about the delicious dish with Alec Baldwin, but Danny DeVito was in a really clever delicious dish sketch in his own right that I'll definitely talk about. I always loved Danny. He's such an interesting, quirky personality.[52:41] And it's just going to be so fun to chat about his hosting gigs at SNL. Like I said, 82 to 99. So not quite like he never hosted with a lot of the new cast. But he's got to see a lot of SNL so Danny DeVito is my choice, I like it. It's a bold choice. It's sort of sitting in the bushes, you know, but it's very obvious once you play those cards. And the fact that the run is from 82 to 99, and you got a lot of quality appearances you know again another stat quality appearances.[53:31] They together with ria perlman i thought um was a fun episode and for a time it almost seemed like he was going to challenge alec baldwin he even had the episode with his spouse You know, they were rolling out around the same episodes, and then Baldwin just took off in a bolt. I think that Danny DeVito is somebody that will, you know, probably hit around the 35% mark in his first year, which to me is somebody that's likely to get in. But it'll take a couple years of us pestering people and telling people, no, no, watch the episodes. This guy was really good. And Danny DeVito is one of those interesting. I remember watching Taxi as a kid and he was just like so abrasive. But it was again, it comes back to his.[54:32] His capability of understanding the moment and what he needed to bring to any scene. And then, you know, you go on to watch twins and all of this stuff growing up. I actually don't remember his SNL days. So I'm going to have to go back and rewatch those episodes. Not quirky sketches. sketches it's very some a lot of them are very danny devito which is a good thing good thing yeah yeah yeah yeah it's gonna be fun yeah definitely i think it's always sunny in philadelphia is gonna help him too because a lot of younger he's very relevant yeah a lot of younger people like it's always sunny i like it my my uh 16 year old niece loves it so that's you know he he a lot of people from different generations know danny devito and i think it's always sunny he's going to help him a lot here. I wonder if he'll come back. I wonder if he'll do a stint again. Yeah, I was looking at hosts. If that show ends or something. I think he'd be game. He's really game for anything.[55:31] He's not a person to turn down an opportunity to perform. So I would say he'd go for it. Maybe we can hire him for the SNL Hall of Fame Christmas party this year. Oh, I'll put some fillers out. I'm efforting as we say in the business. Well, Thomas, do you want to run down our picks one more time? Absolutely. So in order of whether they're drafted, we have... Garrett Morris, Beck Bennett, U2, Adam Driver, John Lovitz, Sherry Oteri, Bob Odenkirk, Charles Barkley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, A.D. Bryant, Randy Newman, Bobby Moynihan, Alan Zweibel, Joe Piscopo, and Danny DeVito. I spared you guys my Don Pardo impression. I drew that, by the way, so you're welcome.[56:27] Listen i think that that's a formidable class of nominees rather not inductees but nominees i think that uh we've got an interesting season at our at our hands on top of those 15 episodes of course we're going to do another don pardo award there will be of course our famous round roundtable episode and then we'll wrap it all up with the class of season six. I wonder who on the ballot will make it. It'll be interesting to see. Thomas, Matt, thanks so much. This was a blast. That was great. Well, that's what we've got for you. So if you do me a favor and on the way out, as you pass the weekend update exhibit, turn out the lights because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/snlhof/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

GGACP marks the 30th anniversary of the 1994 feature film "North" (released July 22, 1994) with this ENCORE of an interview with the much-maligned movie's writer, Emmy-winner and Thurber Prize winner Alan Zweibel. In this episode, Alan discusses (among other topics) the evolution of “Saturday Night Live,” the genius of Larry Gelbart and Neil Simon and the 2018 documentaries about his longtime friends and collaborators, Gilda Radner and Garry Shandling. Also, Jay Leno offers advice, Buck Henry makes a bad investment, Gilbert makes like Willy Loman and Lorne Michaels locks horns with Uncle Miltie. PLUS: Praising Kate McKinnon! Remembering Bruno Kirby (and Herb Sargent)! Mel Brooks comes to dinner! Desi Arnaz invents the sitcom! And Alan writes the Paul “Bridge Over Troubled Water” Simon Special! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark and Alan discussed developing and writing a hit show. The best results come when the star has a great relationship with their writers. SNL worked because the show's cast members were also great writers.

Jeff and Susie chat with Alan Zweibel about Curb Your Enthusiasm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode originally aired July 08, 2020.Alan Zweibel is one of the original writers of Saturday Night Live, the co-creator and producer of It's Garry Shandling's Show, and a consulting producer on Curb Your Enthusiasm among many other credits. Alan is also a playwright whose theatrical works include his collaboration with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning 700 Sundays and Bunny, Bunny: Gilda Radner, A Sort of Love Story. He is the author of numerous books including Lunatics (co-authored with Dave Barry), and The Other Shulman (for which he won the Thurber Prize for American Humor). His new book Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier is available as an audio book later this month. Alan's next film project is a screenplay he co-authored with Billy Crystal, Here Today, which Crystal is directing and will star Tiffany Haddish. During this podcast, Alan discusses his career as a writer and reveals what it was like to work on SNL in the show's first years including with Gilda Radner with whom he was in love. He talks about why he and Garry Shandling stopped speaking for years after the end of their collaboration, and he also takes us inside his longtime friendship and collaboration with Billy Crystal.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

By 1975, Alan Zweibel had decided on a career in comedy writing. He'd written jokes for older borscht belt comics and become friendly with young comics like Billy Crystal. But then he faced a difficult career decision between a relatively sure thing and a leap into the unknown. The decision changed the rest of his life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Shakespeare forgot about this one: “some are nudged by the rejection of numerous law schools.” Alan Zweibel has written so many words that have made us laugh, through the voices of Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal, Garry Shandling and his own. He was one of the original writers and creators of Saturday Night Live. The legal world's loss was clearly comedy's gain. Our's too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GGACP celebrates the birthday of Emmy award-winning writer and friend of the podcast Alan Zweibel (b. May 20) by presenting this ENCORE of an interview from 2015. In this episode, Alan talks about penning jokes for Catskills comics, contributing to the glory days of “Saturday Night Live," co-creating the groundbreaking “It's Garry Shandling's Show” and collaborating with everyone from Gilda Radner to Rob Reiner to Billy Crystal. Also: Alan heckles Larry David, “borrows from” Paul Simon, turns down “Hollywood Squares” and inspires a classic “Seinfeld” episode. PLUS: Totie Fields! Christopher Lee! The subversiveness of “Duck Soup”! Uncle Miltie gets banned! And Gilbert tries (unsuccessfully) to follow The Beatles! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Ackroyd's misguided take on the copaganda classic Dragnet was a huge disappointment when Dennis saw it in theaters back in 1987. Does his opinion hold up? Or is the film even worse than he remembers? Should he have talked Mary out of covering this at all? But at least we finally get to cover a Tom Hanks movie for the show, right? Starring Dan Ackroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Dabney Coleman, Alexandra Paul, and Harry Morgan. Written by Dan Ackroyd, Alan Zweibel, and Tom Mankiewicz. Directed by Tom Mankiewicz.

Mark and Alan talked about steaming sites giving performers more money and freedom. Alan believes this is the last year CURB.

Alan Zweibel was an original Saturday Night Live writer who's won numerous Emmy and Writers Guild of America awards for his work in television which includes It's Garry Shandling's Show (which he co-created and produced), The Late Show with David Letterman, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. In the theater, he collaborated with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award winning play "700 Sundays”, Martin Short's "Fame Becomes Me”, and the off-Broadway hit "Bunny Bunny: Gilda Radner - Sort of a Romantic Comedy" which he adapted from his bestselling book. In total, Alan has written 11 books including his Thurber Prize-winning novel "The Other Shulman" and, most recently, a cultural memoir titled "Laugh Lines - My Life helping Funny People Be Funnier." Because of his diverse body of work, the Writers Guild of America, East has honored Alan with a Lifetime Achievement Award". What a truly fun chat listening to Alan's riveting memories of childhood; the early days of SNL; his cherished relationship with Gilda Radner; his various television and theater collaborations with the most legendary comedians; his books; comedy's new boundaries; and more. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Mark and Alan talked about how Streaming Services have helped writers, producers, and actors stay employed.

This week, Charles Leerhsen takes us back to the early 1990s and tells us what he learned while being a ghostwriter for a young (and friendless) Donald Trump. Then Alexander Lobrano joins us from Paris with a report on the reopening and rejuvenation of one of the city's most treasured restaurants. And comedy writer Alan Zweibel has some thoughts on Jewish humor now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The liberal Justice System will try to keep Trump off the campaign trail by keeping him in court. Mark Interviews former SNL writer/producer Alan Zweibel. Mark and Alan talked about how comedy has been ruined by the woke crowd. They also talked about what happened to non-political humor on SNL.

Mark and Alan talked about how comedy has been ruined by the woke crowd. They also talked about what happened to non-political humor on SNL.

A love of writing, the original cast, and a crippling movie review with Alan Zweibel. *Note: this interview was recorded before the SAG-AFTRA strike took effect. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark and Alan talked about the WGA- SAG-AFTRA strike. Alan has been in the WGA since the mid-70s, this is the longest strike he remembers.

It feels like everyone's mind was elsewhere (the upcoming Emmys, perhaps?) for episode 20 of Saturday Night's first season.  Misses abound as much of this week's show feels like it was either rejected from earlier episodes or just simply written in time to catch the plane to L.A. Despite the lack of quality material, Dyan Cannon has a blast fulfilling her host duties; literally laughing through the whole episode.Leon and Mary Russell also are on the show to belt out some great tunes (despite being interrupted by...Joe Cocker?) and we also get Alan Zweibel carrying John Belushi around on his back and a topless Chevy Chase on horseback.So, the episode is not a total wash.Subscribe today! And follow us on social media on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.

Emmy and Tony Award-winning comedy writer, playwright, and Friar Alan Zweibel joins Joe Sibilia to discuss becoming a member of the Friars Club in 1983, writing for many Friars roasts before breaking into television, being approached about joining the Friars' "Under 40" committee, and utilizing the Friars Club as an office following his tenure at "Saturday Night Live." Plus, Alan shares his memories of Gilda Radner, his collaborations with Garry Shandling and Billy Crystal, the infamous Milton Berle-hosted installment of "Saturday Night Live," and his encounter with former Friars Abbott Frank Sinatra at Matteo's restaurant in California.

Mark and Alan talked about how the bits he wrote for SNL back in the day would never be allowed on TV in this WOKE period. They also hit on how people are always coming up to Alan to tell them the funniest joke ever.

Comedy writer and Friar Mike Reiss, perhaps best known for his work on "The Simpsons," joins Joe Sibilia to discuss his history with the Friars Club, applying to write for Alan Zweibel's Friars-centric sitcom "The Boys," and attending the Tracy Morgan Entertainment Icon Award dinner in May 2022. Plus, Mike shares his memories of working on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and how Friar Carson was convinced to lend his voice to "The Simpsons," attending an Oscar party at the Friars Club of Beverly Hills and meeting longtime Friars Abbot Milton Berle, noshing with former Friars Dean Larry King at the craft services table, and attempting to direct Friar Steve Allen.  For more information on the Friars Club, please visit our website at https://www.friarsclub.com/ Follow the Friars Club on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082240803132 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pcfriarsclub/?hl=en

Adams wants a $103 billion budget for NYC. Alan Zweibel interview: Alan and Mark talked about the Golden Globes Award. Zweibel is being honored with a lifetime achievement award by Stand Up New York.

Mark and Alan talked about the dismal ratings of the Golden Globe awards. Alan is being honored with a lifetime achievement award from Stand Up NY.

Alan Zweibel is one of the original writers of Saturday Night Live, the co-creator and producer of It's Garry Shandling's Show, and a consulting producer on Curb Your Enthusiasm among many other credits. Alan is also a playwright whose theatrical works include his collaboration with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning 700 Sundays and Bunny, Bunny: Gilda Radner, A Sort of Love Story. He is the author of numerous books including Lunatics (co-authored with Dave Barry), and The Other Shulman (for which he won the Thurber Prize for American Humor).His new book Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier is available as an audio book later this month. Alan's next film project is a screenplay he co-authored with Billy Crystal, Here Today, which Crystal is directing and will star Tiffany Haddish. During this podcast, Alan discusses his career as a writer and reveals what it was like to work on SNL in the show's first years including with Gilda Radner with whom he was in love. He talks about why he and Garry Shandling stopped speaking for years after the end of their collaboration, and he also takes us inside his longtime friendship and collaboration with Billy Crystal.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark and Alan talked about the passing of comic Freddie Roman. Alan wrote jokes for Roman back in the day. Freddie paid Alan $7 per joke. They also talked about the WOKE movement demanding no words that make them feel bad.

Mark and Alan talk about how tough it is for touring comics because of the WOKE crowd. Alan tells Mark most of the skits he wrote when he was on SNL wouldn't be allowed today.

August 17, 1987. On the red carpet in New York City, it's the premier of a new movie: Dirty Dancing. The story is set in the sunburnt Shangri-La of New York's Catskills resort region. The movie will introduce millions to the place that some call the Jewish Alps. "Disneyland with knishes." The Sour Cream Sierras. The Borscht Belt. Ironically, Dirty Dancing arrives as the heyday of the Catskills resort is ending. But how does its culture live on? And how did its signature style of Jewish humor make the leap to Hollywood, where it would fundamentally change American comedy?Special thanks to our guests: Julie Budd, John Conway, Jeremy Dauber, Elaine Grossinger Etess, Bill Persky, Larry Strickler, and Alan Zweibel. You can learn more about Jewish humor in Dauber's book, Jewish Comedy: A Serious History. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

GGACP celebrates the 25th anniversary of the original "Men in Black" (released July 2, 1997) with this ENCORE of a hilarious, uncensored 2020 conversation with award-winning director and producer BARRY SONNENFELD. In this episode, Barry talks about directing temperamental actors, distrusting optimism, respecting movie audiences, helming "The Addams Family" and "Get Shorty" and writing his bestselling memoir, "Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother." Also, George C. Scott pushes the envelope, Gene Hackman grows a goatee, Barry and Larry David compare neuroses and Michael Jackson cameos in "Men in Black II." PLUS: "Throw Momma from the Train"! In praise of Dennis Farina! The obsessiveness of Stanley Kubrick! The many conquests of James Caan! And Barry shares his rules for staging comedy scenes! (Special thanks to Alan Zweibel and John Murray!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices