Podcasts about Buck Henry

Our exit today has us trying to reconnect with our manhood by following in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway. This week, we are talking about Town and Country, written by MIchael Laughlin and Buck Henry and directed by Peter Chelsom.Of course, we spend a lot of time talking about Warren Beatty, his bizarre career, and the flop nature of the film. But we also talk about the legal history of Dick Tracy, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, Beatty's love life, Arrested Development, Alan Alda, Rian Johnson murder mysteries, Gerard Depardieu, and Nixon vs. Clinton era filmmaking.Theme music by Jonworthymusic.Powered by RiversideFM.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CFF Films⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ with Ross and friends.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Movies We've Covered on the Show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Letterboxd.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Movies Recommended on the Show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Letterboxd.

Another season of The Early Years of SNL comes to a close, which can only mean one thing… Buck is Back! Buck Henry returns for his 8th time hosting and this time he gets a proper season finale musical guest with the one and only Bette Midler.Saturday Night Live brings its highest-rated season yet to a close and while things are mostly upbeat, there is still a sense that this is somewhat of a goodbye. In what will end up being the final episode for Dan Aykroyd (unknowingly) and John Belushi (pretty evident) as cast members we see the final appearance of The Samurai, The Olympia Café closes its doors, and Richard Nixon makes one last appearance in the original era. On a brighter note, we get one of the most well-known cold opens of the era courtesy of Mr. Bill and an appearance by master impressionist Michael O'Donoghue!We're once again joined by Jon Schneider of The Saturday Night Network to reminisce about the joys of Buck hosting, argue about Garrett giving his best performance of all time, lament the final episode of two of the show's original stars, and teach Brad a thing or two about... well, nothing to do with SNL whatsoever. It's a hell of a way to go out!---------------------------------Subscribe today!Follow us on social media: X (Twitter): NR4PTProjectBluesky: nr4ptproject.bsky.socialInstagram: nr4ptprojectFacebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time ProjectContact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.comEmail: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

In this podcast we are tying into our Elaine May May conversations with a chat about a movie she co-wrote and for which she got an Oscar nomination too, namely Heaven Can Wait. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us try to figure out how and why this movie ended up as successful as it did, if it was a bellwether of the changing times suggesting that the world had had enough of the New Hollywood grime and whether it was a flash in the pan that couldn't have worked at any other point in time. We also try to find traces of Elaine May's DNA in the script, identify the influence of one Buck Henry and wonder if there were simple ways to make this body swap underdog sports rom-com Hitchcock murder plot movie a bit simpler and funnier. Tune in and enjoy!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and support us by gaining access to this show in full in addition to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons!Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head over to our website to find out more! (uncutgemspodcast.com)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Twitter (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@UncutGemsPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and IG (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@UncutGemsPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy us a coffee over at Ko-Fi.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (ko-fi.com/uncutgemspod)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (patreon.com/uncutgemspod)

The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan return back to earth to rewatch one last movie, Warren Beatty and Buck Henry's 1978 film ‘Heaven Can Wait,' starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin, and Dyan Cannon. Podcast Manager: Craig Horlbeck Video Producer: Jon Jones Shopping. Streaming. Savings. It's on PrimeVisit Amazon.com/prime to get more out of whatever you're into. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of our Mike Nichols Marathon we are moving onto the 1973 The Day of the Dolphin. Over the course of our conversation we will attempt to understand how a movie about George C. Scott talking to dolphins fits in the catalogue of someone who brought Hollywood into the new age with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate, whether this movie had a chance of succeeding in the first place and if it should be taken seriously at all. We also talk about the magic of emoting in a scene where a dolphin's voice is produced by Buck Henry, the ultimate failure of political plotting in an otherwise family movie and much more!Tune in and enjoy!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and support us by gaining access to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons!Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head over to our website to find out more! (uncutgemspodcast.com)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Twitter (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@UncutGemsPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and IG (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@UncutGemsPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy us a coffee over at Ko-Fi.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (ko-fi.com/uncutgemspod)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (patreon.com/uncutgemspod)

Its only been a few weeks since the first ever nuclear meltdown in United States history but that doesn't stop SNL from using it as inspiration for one of the most epic & outstanding sketches of the original era. Richard Benjamin, giving off strong Buck Henry vibes, takes the reins for a Saturday Night Live outing that is – while short on quantity – quite high on quality.We may not get many bits this episode, but almost all the ones we do get deliver. John Belushi's absence! The Nerds! Chico Escuela's comeback! A Rodney Dangerfield cameo?!! Indeed, there is still A LOT to talk about.Our old friend, Ian Fermaglich from Ian Talks Comedy, makes his return to The Early Years to drop some knowledge on Roseanne Rosannadanna, the Mets, and goes REAL deep on the host. Perhaps…too deep?Also…Rickie Lee Jones is the musical guest.---------------------------------Subscribe today!Follow us on social media: X (Twitter): NR4PTProjectBluesky: nr4ptproject.bsky.socialInstagram: nr4ptprojectFacebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time ProjectContact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.comEmail: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

GGACP's celebration of National Couples Appreciation Month continues with a revisit of this conclusion of a 2-part interview with veteran screen performers Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss. In this episode, Richard and Paula talk about sharing the stage with their children, celebrating 60 years of marriage, casting the comedy classic “My Favorite Year” and filming “The Stepford Wives,” “Westworld,” Diary of a Mad Housewife” and “The Parallax View.” Also, Mel Brooks produces “The Elephant Man,” Orson Welles intimidates the cast of “Catch-22,” Paula's mom chats up William S. Burroughs and Richard lists his favorite Paula Prentiss performances. PLUS: “Captain Nice”! Elsa Lanchester! The genius of Michael Crichton! The irrepressible Bill Macy! And Richard and Paula remember Yul Brynner, Buck Henry, Jack Klugman and George Segal! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GGACP joins "Saturday Night Live"s 50th anniversary celebration with this ENCORE of a 2021 interview with comedian, Emmy-nominated writer, "Amazing Colossal Podcast" fan and original "SNL" cast member Laraine Newman. In this episode, Laraine talks about descending from Jewish cowboys, co-founding The Groundlings, auditioning for Bob Hope (and Robert De Niro) and penning her engrossing memoir, “May You Live in Interesting Times.” Also, Don Ameche mounts a comeback, Chevy Chase tells the “Aristocrats” joke, Laraine crushes on Illya Kuryakin and Walter Matthau turns down the Julia Child sketch. PLUS: Autumn Fizz! “American Hot Wax”! Buck Henry gets kinky! “That's Not Funny, That's Sick!” And Laraine recalls working with Bob & Ray, Dudley Moore and Rodney Dangerfield! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buck Henry has been elected to the Class of Season Six in the SNL Hall of Fame Host category! On this fourth ballot, Mr. Henry garnered 67.04% of the ballot. And now we'll rewind to his nomination episode from Season Three with Jon Schneider..Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/snlhof/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We are extremely excited to debut a new show on The Not Ready for Prime Time Project. “My SNL Story” is where we get the chance to talk with the people who played an integral part in the life of Saturday Night Live and hear THEIR story about the show and time on it.In our first installment we talk to Mitchell Laurance, who worked on SNL from 1975-1980. Mitchell talks about what it was like being in the studio every Saturday night and working his way up from production assistant to associate director over the span of those first five seasons. He shares tales of working alongside Dave Wilson, how special Buck Henry was to all involved, and how his connection to Penny Marshall via the show helped set him off on his post-SNL career.  Mitchell also shares stories of Gilda Radner, Steve Martin, Ray Charles, and so much more. Enjoy! ---------------------------------Subscribe today!Follow us on social media: X (Twitter): NR4PTProjectBluesky: nr4ptproject.bsky.socialInstagram: nr4ptprojectFacebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time ProjectContact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.comEmail: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

The GOAT Buck Henry returns for his 7th hosting gig & SNL pulls out all the stops! Beloved characters make triumphant returns while new ones debut in this memorable outing. Plus, The Grateful Dead are on hand to deliver one of the best musical performances of the original era. The SNL Hall of Fame's Bill Kenney joins us to talk about it all!---------------------------------Subscribe today!Follow us on social media: X (Twitter): NR4PTProjectBluesky: nr4ptproject.bsky.socialInstagram: nr4ptprojectFacebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time ProjectContact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.comEmail: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

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

It's the first of Buck's two hosting gigs in S5 (his 9th overall) and he's here to get this season back on track after a shaky start. We've got some real interesting ones in here, including Yvonne Hudson's first big sketch (Bad Clams), a rather notorious epic (The Mystery of Toad Island) and one of the naughtier outings of the Nerds we've seen yet. Oh, and Tom Petty is here to play some pretty undeniable classics. Dig it!

EPISODE 61 - “FAVORITE CLASSIC FILMS OF THE 1960s” - 11/11/2024 The decade of the 1960s was an exciting time in filmmaking. The stodgy studio contract system was starting to give way to a new crop of independent cinematic auteurs, often associated with the "New Hollywood" era, include: Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Sam Peckinpah, Arthur Penn, John Cassavetes, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Peter Bogdanovich. These films were edgier and pushed the creative boundaries and social themes to reflect the changing times. In this episode, Steve and Nan discuss some of their favorite films of the decade and why they had such an impact!  SHOW NOTES:  Sources: Some Like It Cool (2002), by Michael Freehand; Mike Nichols: A Life (2021), by Mark Harris; Jean Simmons: Her Life and Career (2022), by Michelangelo Capua; “Veronica Cartwright talks about ‘The Birds',” February 8, 2008, YouTube; “Here's to You, Mr. Nichols: The Making of ‘The Graduate',” February 25, 2008, by Sam Kashner, Vanity Fair; “Tippi Hedren On Alfred Hitchcock's ‘The Birds',” April 29, 2009, The American FIlm Institute; “The Revenge of Alfred Hitchcock's Muse,” October 5, 2012, New York Magazine; “Tippi Hedren: Hitchcock Ruined My Career,” December 7, 2012, Huffington Post; “Throwback Thursday: Shirley MacLaine Recalls Filming Lesbian Drama ‘Children's Hour' in 1961,” June 4, 2015, Hollywood Reporter;  “The Underappreciated Genius of ‘Planet of the Apes',” May 18, 2024, by Janelle Bouie, New York Times; “The Children's Hour,” October 16, 2024, Episode 257, Feminist Frequency Podcast; TCM.com; IMDBPro.com; IBDB.com; Wikipedia.com; Movies Mentioned:  The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Elizabeth Wilson, Murray Hamilton, Buck Henry, Marion Lorne, Alice Ghostly, Brian Avery, William Brooke, and Norman Fell; The Birds (1963), Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, and Veronica Cartwright, Ethel Griffies, Charles McGraw, Richard Deacon, and Elizabeth Wilson; Days of Wine and Roses (1962), starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman, Alan Hewitt, Maxine Stuart, Debbie Megowan, and Jack Albertson; Planet of the Apes (1968), starring Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowell, Maurice Evans, Linda Harrison, James Whitmore, and James Daly; The Happy Ending (1969), starring Jean Simmons, John Forsyth, Shirley Jones, Lloyd Bridges, Teresa Wright, Bobby Darin, Kathy Fields, Dick Shawn, Nanette Fabray, and Tina Louise; The Children's Hour (1961), starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Miriam Hopkins, Faye Bainter, Karen Balkin, Veronica Cartwright, and Hope Summers; In The Heat Of the Night (1967), starring Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier, Lee Grant, Warren Oats, Beah Richards, William Schallert, and Larry Gates; --------------------------------- http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nick looks back at the work of actor, writer, and director Buck Henry during the first five seasons of Saturday Night Live. Henry, who already had a rich history in TV and film during the 60s and 70s, became a mainstay in the early years of SNL, hosting the show a record 10 times in less than five years. Known for his sharp humor, Buck was always hilarious in sketches, delivered wonderfully meta monologues, and created recurring characters that stood toe-to-toe with anything the regular cast members could produce. In this episode, you'll hear some of Buck Henry's classic sketches, including "Lord and Lady Douchebag," "The Meeting in Sodom," and the incredibly controversial "Uncle Roy" bits, where he played a pedophilic babysitter—a character that remains infamous. You'll also hear from Buck Henry himself as he reflects on his time working on the show, dealing with censors, getting injured on live TV, and the fallout from the Uncle Roy sketches. Of course, Nick will also cover Henry's hilarious work with John Belushi, playing the straight man to Belushi's unforgettable Samurai Futaba character. It's time to celebrate Buck Henry—a brilliant writer, a hilarious performer, and an SNL legend. [Ep94]

Nick takes a look back at the legendary Olympia Diner sketches from the early days of *Saturday Night Live*. These classics are known for their memorable characters, the bustling diner atmosphere, the functioning flattop grill (LIVE on stage!), and of course, the catchphrases like “Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger…no Coke, Pepsi…no fries, chips!” This popular recurring sketch was performed a record six times in less than 15 months, between January 1978 and May 1979. Every member of The Not Ready For Prime-Time Players, along with hosts like Robert Klein, Buck Henry, Jill Clayburgh, and even The Rolling Stones, appeared in these iconic scenes. In this episode, you'll hear three of the Olympia Diner bits (including the very first one) and learn about the somewhat conflicted history behind them. Was the inspiration Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern, John Belushi's family diner, or a mix of both? Nick also explores how these sketches inspired future SNL classics like "You lika the juice??" Get ready to laugh a lot and, by the end, probably crave a cheeseburger! [Ep92]

Another season of Saturday Night Live comes to a close and that can only mean one thing....the return of Buck Henry! Buck is back for his 6th time hosting to close out Season Three with what most people agree is one of the most bizarre musical acts in the history of the show...Sun Ra.  And if SNL has Buck on the show we, of course, have Jon Schneider on the podcast. Taking a break from The Saturday Night Network's S50 coverage, Jon tries to help figure out what Sun Ra is doing on the show, share his views on sodomy, and debate where this episode falls in the history of finales and Buck appearances.Not surprisingly, there is A LOT to talk about.Subscribe today!Follow us on social media: X (Twitter): NotReady4PTPodInstagram: notready4ptpodFacebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time PodcastContact Us: Website: https://www.notready4ptpod.comEmail: notready4ptpod@gmail.com

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

And we're back with yet another installment of our award winning segment ...And We're Back! where we take a deep dive into an SNL recurring character and watch all their appearances.  This week we watched one of the earliest SNL recurring characters, that's right, Ben gets introduced to King Ploobis, Scred, Puuta, Vosh and the rest of The Land Of Gorch an early segment on the show featuring Jim Henson's Muppets.  Back in 1975, a counter culture variety show decided to include a live puppet segment and the result was something nobody wanted.  The writers hated it, the audience was befuddled, and you can quickly see the resentment held by all involved.  We watched almost every appearance, as we've previously established we can tap out whenever we want but this time we skipped some from the middle so we could watch their sad, dour, but in some ways beautiful ending.  Enjoy!Sketches IncludeThe Land Of Gorch - Season 1, Episode 1 hosted by George CarlinThe Land Of Gorch - Season 1, Episode 2 hosted by Paul SimonThe Land Of Gorch - Season 1, Episode 3 hosted by Rob ReinerThe Land Of Gorch - Season 1, Episode 4 hosted by Candice BergenThe Land Of Gorch - Season 1, Episode 5 hosted by Robert KleinThe Land Of Gorch - Season 1, Episode 6 hosted by Lily TomlinThe Land Of Gorch - Season 1, Episode 10 hosted by Buck HenryMuppets Spot - Season 1, Episode 16 hosted by Anthony PerkinsMuppet Trunk - Season 1, Episode 18 hosted by Raquel WelchMuppet Morgue - Season 2, Episode 1 hosted by Lily TomlinFull archive of all podcast episodes available at saturdaynightjive.blogspot.comEmail us anything at saturdaynightjivepodcast@gmail.comDownload Here

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

Miskel Spillman, the 80 yr. old winner of the "Anyone Can Host" contest, take the reins of Season 3's Christmas show.  Not to worry, friend of show Buck Henry is also on hand to keep things on track.All things must come to end as we get the last Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Story as well as the final appearance of a certain Weekend Update correspondent (sort of).But, this episode is most known for the musical guest. Elvis Costello (as a last minute replacement) delivers one of the most iconic performances in history of Saturday Night Live - one that gets him banned from the show for over a decade.Craig Wehler, winner of OUR "Anyone Can Host" contest, guides us through this episode as Brad & Gary sit back as guests (along with a special guest of our own).Subscribe today! And follow us on social media on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.

"Summer Sweeps" rolls right along, as we turn our attention to the cinematic adaptation of Get Smart, the popular 60s television spy-spoof from comic legends Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. For the movie version, Hollywood recruited heavy-hitters such as Steve Carrell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, and even Dwayne "Franchise Viagra" Johnson, and were rewarded with a genuine hit. So why didn't the success of the film spawn the hoped-for franchise? What's the deal with straight-to-video spin-off films? How much Subway product placement is too much Subway product placement? And, most importantly, does the Get Smart movie live up to the comedic legacy of the original series? We discuss all this, and more! Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd

Buck Henry becomes the first member of the yet-to-be-coined Five Timers Club as he returns once again to host this week's Saturday Night Live.  Season 1 favorite Leon Redbone is also back as the musical guest. It is a bit of an odd episode as much of it is dedicated to introducing viewers to, and getting them familiar with, the five finalists for the "Anyone Can Host" contest.The Saturday Night Network's Jon Schneider is the first member of OUR Five Timers Club as he continues to accompany us on our journey of "all things Buck."Subscribe today! And follow us on social media on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.

SVU takes on the tony world of upper-crust prep schools, which would often be quite the turn-off for the Munchie Boys, but an episode that could otherwise have fallen into any number of traps is buoyed by fantastic performances from some heavy hitters. The gloves come off and whoever had it in for prep schools in the Season 14 writers room lucked out and got Charles Grodin, Elliott Gould, Anthony Rapp, and Buck Henry to come in and knock it out of the park in a story focused on an institution that didn't just fail its charges--it serially and systemically sexually abused them.Munchies got an extra 40+ minutes of episodes in the Uncut version last week, including quite a bit of discussion about the many high profile guest stars in this week's episode, so all you Gould and Grodin nuts that were on the fence might be advised to subscribe to our Patreon.Music:Divorcio Suave - "Munchy Business"Thanks to our gracious Munchies on Patreon: Jeremy S, Jaclyn O, Amy Z, Nikki B, Diana R, Tony B, Zak B, Barry W, Sara L, Drew D, Nicky R, Stuart, Jacqi B, Natalie T, Robyn S, Isabel P, Christine L, Amy A, Sean M, Jay S, Briley O, Asteria K, Suzanne B, Tim Y, Douglas P, John P, John W, Elia S, Rebecca B, Kevin, Lily, Lucy, and Sarah L - y'all are the best!Be a Munchie, too! Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/munchmybensonBe sure to check out our second podcast: Unkind Rewind on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcastsFollow us on: BlueSky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Reddit (Adam's Twitter/BlueSky and Josh's Twitter/BlueSky/Letterboxd/Substack)Join our Discord: Munch Casts ServerCheck out Munch Merch: Munch Merch at ZazzleCheck out our guest appearances:Both of us on: FMWL Pod (1st Time & 2nd Time), Storytellers from Ratchet Book Club, Chick-Lit at the Movies talking about The Thin Man, and last but not least on the seminal L&O podcast …These Are Their Stories (Adam and Josh).Josh debating the Greatest Detectives in TV History on The Great Pop Culture Debate Podcast and talking SVU/OC on Jacked Up Review Show.Visit Our Website: Munch My BensonEmail the podcast: munchmybenson@gmail.comNext Week's Episode: Season 11, Episode 15 "Confidential"Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/munch-my-benson-a-law-order-svu-podcast--5685940/support.

Happy Memorial Day weekend to all our listeners in the States. For your relaxing pleasure, kick back and listen to Ed & Jared talk about a truly ODD little bit of Prince history: the never-released Apollonia 6 promo short film, starring Buck Henry and Ricky Nelson.  Honestly. It's as weird as that sounds.Have some fun and give a listen!Support the Show.

We followed editor Graeme Clifford to 1976's The Man Who Fell to Earth. David Bowie is painfully thin, Rip Torn is incredibly naked, and Buck Henry does a weird spit bubble thing that none of us can explain. Can you?

His name may not be as recognizable as other modern comedy titans, but whether for screenwriting (The Graduate, Catch 22?) or tv series creation (Get Smart) or sketch comedy genius (SNL's first five time host), Buck Henry has his fingerprints all over American comedy. Buck's comedy was literate, topical, and often just a little naughty -- a perfect fit for comedy fan's tired of comedy's old-school "joke machines". And for those who like a bit of trivia, Buck got his NY theater start as the faux spokesperson for a (fictional) group advocating for clothing naked animals. Who can't get behind that? Buck remained active well into his 80s, and Tina Fey brought him to a new generation when she cast him as Liz Lemon's dad on 30 Rock. As always, find extra clips below and thanks for sharing our shows! Want more Buck? Buck's first notable gig was as Clifford Prout, the "spokesperson" of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals (a creation of prankster Alan Abel). Judging by this British newsreel, Buck succeeded in making the narrator have to guess just how much of a put on it all was. https://youtu.be/qMHPe576mCY?si=QYcdns9d4v38NsFm Early on Saturday Night Live almost always came up with a word or phrase that you couldn't believe they got away with. Here's a case in point from 1980.https://youtu.be/C6XF4RxU7xQ?si=b65ejxQFQokE4Y0O Buck got (and gave) a big boost for SNL when it debuted in 1975 and it was repaid when Tina Fey cast him as Liz Lemon's dad in 30 rock. Here's Buck and the fam meeting Liz's boss (Alec Baldwin). https://youtu.be/9_SBzb_mQOQ?si=urqBSBXJX1vP6Cai

This week we're back with the popular Roundtable episode of the program. In this version we invited Ashley Bower and Deremy Dove to share their ballots with host Thomas Sena. Enjoy and don't forget to vote! https://forms.gle/ECAVQbPBE6r3krpS6Transcript:Track 2:[0:42] Yes, hello, welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame podcast.Track 2:[0:45] I'm your master of ceremonies, your co-host for today's proceedings, Thomas Senna. Everybody, welcome. I think I would be remiss, and I think I need to do, Jamie, do a solid here, because it's very important to Jamie for me to tell you to wipe your feet before you enter the SNL Hall of Fame. I think Jamie would fire me from this post if I didn't tell you guys that. So welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame. Today is our customary end of season extravaganza. It's the SNL Hall of Fame Roundtable. This is the show in which we invite SNL Hall of Fame voters to share their ballots and their thought processes behind their choices. So this is always an interesting exercise to get into the psyche of some of the voters.Track 2:[1:40] Previous roundtables, I think minds have been changed. I think people have stood on islands and been steadfast on who they're voting for. It was interesting to see. I think we all just gained a great insight as to what voters may be thinking. Friendships were formed. I think rivalries were formed. So we've had some interesting roundtables in the past. It's always nice to get a peek into the mindset of SNL Hall of Fame voters. So with me today is two of my guests for this past season on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast.Track 2:[2:16] One first-time roundtable panelist, which is going to be fun. I'm excited to hear her thoughts today.Track 2:[2:24] So we have two panelists, and for full disclosure, for transparency here on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast, I will be sharing my ballot as well. So it's going to be the three of us sharing ballots today. So I'm not just like the co-host here on the SNL Hall of Fame. I am a panelist today, and I will give some transparency and let you all know my ballot and how I'm feeling about the voting cycle, about the votes this year. So without further ado, let me introduce our panel for today. And I have an icebreaker question, too. So I'm going to introduce them. My icebreaker question, I asked this last panel, last roundtable, and got some interesting responses. I haven't asked these to this question. I don't think. So...Track 2:[3:15] I want to ask which current cast member, not including Kenan Thompson, because that's the obvious one. Kenan's an SNL Hall of Famer. So not including Kenan Thompson, who on the current cast could you see in the SNL Hall of Fame someday? So that's going to be the little icebreaker question. Get a little peek into the mindset of our panel today. So my first guest, Ashley Bauer, SNL super fan. My guest for Kate McKinnon this year. Ashley did such a great job. And Ashley, thank you so much for joining us today here on the roundtable. How are you? Good. Good to see and talk to you again. Excited to be back. Yeah, this is great. So which current cast member, not including Kenan, that's the obvious one, could you see in the SNL Hall of Fame someday?Track 2:[4:03] So I thought about this and I went back and forth between two, but I think my vote's going to ultimately go to Bowen Yang. I'm going to have to give it to Bowen. And I think he kind of came out of the gate, you know, really with a bang. And he's really been in some pretty epic and memorable sketches already. And I kind of think he's a jack of all trades. And it's rare that he's in something I'm not dying of laughter in. So, yeah, I'm going to go with Bowen. Bowen's like Mr. Charisma. He really is. I love the iceberg weekend update sketch that he did. That was a really great performance. It's like one of the most memorable things that I can think of that Bowen's done. He's just a very likable person, a lot of charisma. Bowen Yang, Ashley could see in the SNL Hall of Fame someday. That's awesome. All right, so also with us is my partner in crime on the Pop Culture 5 podcast. He also is co-host of the Bigger Than the Game podcast. He's just podcasting all over the place.Track 2:[5:07] He's everywhere. And he was my guest for Tracy Morgan. this season on the SNL Hall of Fame. So I'm welcoming Mr. Deremy Dove to the proceedings. Deremy, how are you? I'm good, man. Always a pleasure to talk SNL and SNL Hall of Fame with you guys. So I'm honored to be on. Yeah, you're one of our go-to guests for the SNL Hall of Fame. Your insights are always so great. So welcome. You've been on for Dick Ebersole. You were on for Adam McKay and this year for Tracy Morgan, which was an interesting one. I think we did Tracy Justice with kind of a more loose sort of format I think Tracy would have wanted it that way I agree I agree absolutely yeah that was fun so who on the current cast not including Keenan could you see in the SNL Hall of Fame uh like like Ashley said it was there's a few who I was going back and forth with but I I went with James Austin Johnson um as my pick I think he um.Track 2:[6:02] He really brings, I love the impressions he does, and he kind of fits that mold of like what I think of. I think of just like what you need to make a great SNL cast member. He has that design. I feel I get like some Daryl Hammond kind of feels from him. I just really love what James Austin Johnson can bring to the table. And I see him. I don't know if he's going to be like the big star, but he's that person when we have rankings in a few years. It's going to be like, we'll be surprised. We'll be like, oh, James Austin Johnson, he's a Hall of Famer. He's a top whatever cast member of all time. So he's who I pick as like that future Hall of Famer for the current cast. I could see that.Track 2:[6:44] He's not just, so he started obviously with his Trump and Biden impressions. And I think he got hired on the strength of that. But he's not just an impressionist. I think he's filling out a lot of important kind of glue guy types of roles. He's kind of branching out and not just being an impressionist. Right, right. Yeah, he plays the dad role really well, kind of the everyday. Because I could see maybe a little bit of Phil Hartman in him, too. Yeah, it's big. In that ways. I mean, Phil's personally one of my top three cast members of all time. So I don't think James is on that tier. But I think there's elements of Phil Hartman that I can see in James. Yeah, I think he's a glue, like you said, a glue guy. And I and I feel like especially those if you're listening to the show or you vote for the SNL Hall of Fame, you're probably a big fan. We all know how important the glue people are to an SNL cast. And I think he fits that role very well. Yeah. What do you think, Ashley? James Austin Johnson's trajectory?Track 2:[7:42] I had to laugh because that was actually who I went between. I was going between whether or not I wanted to vote for Bowen Yang or James Austin Johnson. So I am right there with you, Deremy. I agree. I think he's so versatile. You're right. He definitely evokes some of the greats in the past. He has that, Tom, you said charisma for Bowen. I think James Austin Johnson does too. He just has this swagger every time he's in a sketch. And yeah, he can play just a side character or the main character. Or he can do an impression yeah i was really close to voting for him but um ultimately went with bowen obviously but 1000 agree yeah good solid choices i think i could see in a few years we could be looking up and seeing heidi gardner having the hall of fame kind of resume she has talent she's a hall of fame talent i think she needs to get maybe a couple more seasons have some more good sketches she's very good on weekend update i think that's a lot of times where she's shines is coming on weekend update and doing kind of off the wall but sometimes relatable.Track 2:[8:46] Characters heidi so i can definitely see heidi forming a case uh dark horse it's for me and he's been awesome i think he's my mvp of season 49 is andrew just mugs honestly yeah he has and he has his own lane on the show too it's almost like a will forte ish kind of lane like andrew he has a more offbeat kind of sense of humor than a lot of the cast and i think he's all of my My favorite pieces from this current season 49 have been Andrew Dismuke's pieces, quite frankly. So I see maybe Andrew a little bit of a dark horse, but I wouldn't be surprised if he if he continues what he's doing this season. We could be possibly making a case for Andrew Dismuke. So those are a couple of people that I wanted to shout out.Track 2:[9:29] So how this SNL Hall of Fame voting is going to work every season. The voters have up to 15 votes that they can use. Voters can use one vote if they'd like. I don't know why they would, but maybe that's, you know, they're very hardcore and stringent and they only think one person deserves to be in the SNL Hall of Fame each season. Though from looking at the ballot, that would just mean like, I think you're an SNL Grinch or something and you might be shamed if you just come on here and say you're just using one vote. I don't know. So I'm curious, how many votes, Jeremy, are you leaning toward using today? I'm using all 15. All 15. All 15. I think there's some easy slam dunk people to put in, and there's a lot of people who I don't want to knock the SNL family, the SNL fan base, but I'm just like, why are these people still on the ballot? And this is a shame, and I'm going to stick up for it. I'm going to continue to do it. So I got all 15. Jeremy's going to be an advocate. Awesome. All 15, the opposite of a Grinch. Good job, my man. Yes, yes, yes. Ashley, how many votes are you using?Track 2:[10:39] I'm going to copy Deremy again. I'm using all 15. I found it difficult to keep it at 15, to be honest. And there was one that I realized wasn't on the list. And so I had to unfortunately kind of kick somebody off to make sure this person got on my ballot. But yeah, again, a lot of great, so much talent over the years. And I'm going to fight for them too. All right. So both Jeremy and Ashley are using 15. Coming in, I have 13 locks. So what I'm doing right now is I have 13 on my list that I feel are locks for me. But I have two that are open. So I think my goal here, one of my goals here on this roundtable is to be persuaded maybe as to how I'm going to use those final two votes. Votes so 13 i have locked in but you dare me you ashley you could persuade me you can make the case for maybe somebody that i don't have on my list and as to why they should be in the eston hall of fame so if there's anybody that's a grinch it seems like it's uh it might be me more so than ashley and dare me but it's strategic grinch it's it's i'm utilizing strategery on the round.Track 2:[11:52] Well done yes uh so then i'm gonna name the nominees and then we'll get to it just to refresh everybody's memory uh on who the nominees are uh this season on the snl hall of fame uh in the cast member category we have 13 cast members first time nominees rachel dratch will forte taryn killam kate mckinnon tracy morgan lorraine newman and adam sandler returning to the ballot We have Fred Armisen, Vanessa Baer, Ana Gasteyer, and Chris Parnell. And their final time on the ballot.Track 2:[12:32] Maya rudolph and molly shannon so that means if maya and molly don't get voted in in this cycle they're off the ballot so i know jeremy's shaking his head what a shame i can't believe it i know i know it's the will of the people i don't know what to say that's true that's true so for the host category there's 12 on the ballot first time nominees john ham and hathaway and martin short returning to the ballot but not for their final time candace bergen jim carrey buck henry scarlett johansson and paul rudd final time on the ballot for these folks melissa mccarthy john mulaney emma stone and justin timberlake we'll see if emma stone she's been on the ballot since snl hall of fame season one she just became a five-timer here in season 49 we'll see if that That helps bumper up as far as making the SNL Hall of Fame. So I'm curious about that. Musical guests. There's one first-time nominee. That's Pearl Jam. Great episode with Ryan McNeil. I love doing that Pearl Jam episode. Returning to the ballot, we have David Bowie, Dave Grohl, and Lady Gaga.Track 2:[13:43] On the ballot for the final time, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Prince. So those are the musical guests, which is always a fascinating category to me, musical guests. And we'll probably get into that and your philosophies behind musical guests and the SNL Hall of Fame as well. Writers, there's eight writers on the ballot. First-time writers, John Mulaney. So yes, you heard him as a host. John Mulaney is also on the ballot as a writer. So when we did the draft, I believe it was Matt Ardill who said, let's, you know, John Mulaney is a great host. But he's also known for a writer. Let's put him on the ballot as a writer, too, and just kind of see what happens. So Mulaney's on the ballot for the first time as a writer, as is Julio Torres.Track 2:[14:28] Returning is Jack Handy, Adam McKay, Paul Lappel, Herb Sargent, and Rosie Schuster. Final time on the ballot for Frankenden Davis and Michael O'Donohue. So the writer's always interesting, again, to me. And one producer on the ballot, Dick Ebersole, which Jeremy and I did an episode on. I believe back in season three. Yes. Yeah. So Dick Ebersole on the ballot still here on the SNL Hall of Fame. So with that said, let's reveal those ballots, those votes. So I'm going to start with Deremy to kick things off. Who's the first person, Deremy, you want to talk about who you're voting for? Well, I just think you guys did a great episode on this person. And if there's the biggest lock or just slam dunk for the Hall of Fame, SNL Hall of Fame, it's this person. And let's just get her out the way because it's just so obvious. But Kate McKinnon, I think it's just, we're looking at somebody who.Track 2:[15:32] Is a top 10, maybe top five cast member of all time. And we're almost at 50 year history of the show. And someone, I heard you guys talk about just, just a prodigy and just from day one, you're just like, you know, and for me, I get nervous with that because I'm always like, oh, this person shows so much promise and you start thinking, can they be a great, but there's so many great names in SNL history. You don't want to put that pressure, but Kate McKinnon lived up to deliver and exceeded all these expectations. And when I think of SNL in the decade of the 2010s, she's the first name that comes to my mind. So I figured let's just the number one slam dunk on this list to me, Kate McKinnon. Yeah, the most recent cast member on the ballot. Season 47 was her final season, and she went through the waiting period for the SNL Hall of Fame on the ballot this year. I wonder if there's going to be some sort of recency bias maybe against Kate, because she's so recent, and maybe some people feel like they need to put others ahead of Kate in the Hall of Fame. I mean, that's the only reason that I could think of as to why somebody would not vote for her. Because I agree with you, Jeremy. I think she's a slam dunk. Definitely on my ballot. I assume, Ashley, you were my guest for Kate McKinnon. I assume Kate's on your ballot.Track 2:[16:56] I feel like I could call myself a Kate fan. And my entire podcast should have been thrown away if I didn't put Kate on my ballot. So, yeah, she was actually my number one. I think, Jeremy, you and I are on the same wavelength. We're twins. We're SNL twins.Track 2:[17:09] Yes. So, I was going to come out of the gate strong with Kate, too. And, yeah, like, I was worried about that, too, was, yeah, is she too, quote, unquote, young? Is she still too junior? We were kind of talking about, you know, are we putting people up with, you know, people like Phil Hartman and all these kind of big greats. But I think she is up there already. I think she has proved herself to be a name that will forever echo the halls of Saturday Night Live with the impact that she's had. Yeah, and I can't imagine, you know, don't sleep on her just because we think she's going to sit on this ballot for a little bit. Like, I think she's she deserved it for sure. Yeah, I definitely agree. And I know some people have a philosophy of deciding whether somebody's a first ballot or not. I've always been of the mind, even in sports halls of fame, that if somebody's a Hall of Famer, they're a Hall of Famer. And I don't think there should be tiers as far as first ballot Hall of Fame. And to me, if they're a Hall of Famer, they're a Hall of Famer. And I don't look at them as like, I don't separate the Hall of Fame into tiers like that. Some people do. I think Kate's, even if somebody does separate into tiers, I think Kate's a quote-unquote first ballot Hall of Famer, even if somebody is strict like that. To me, she's almost comfortably in the top 10 all-time cast members.Track 2:[18:28] For me and i hope i hope as the years go along that people really have an appreciation for what she did on the show i know there were a lot of maybe hardcore snl fans toward the end of her tenure who were like oh we need some new blood i'm kind of sick of kate and that's unfortunate because we didn't know how good we had it with kate honestly apparently some people didn't know because she's an all-timers all-timer so that's just kind of where i stand so jeremy i'm curious i don't know if we've talked about this do you separate halls of fame in general into like Like, if somebody's a first ballot, if somebody's not? No, I don't have, like, the tier list. Like, I don't do, like, oh, you're on tier one. But there are in SNL Hall of Fame or in Sports Hall of Fame, there are names that are, like, you can just say their name and there's, like, enough said. And, like, you know, you stand up and you sit down. And there's some Hall of Famers where you have to have a discussion more and, you know, talk about it and you might have some debate. And I understand there's, like, both. But once they're in, there's no separation. You're a Hall of Famer. But there's some where it's like, you know, in the NFL, if I say Tom Brady, and if someone goes, really, I'm not sure about him, I'd be like, what's wrong with you? And, you know, Kate McKinnon's like on that level.Track 2:[19:40] It's like if someone's like, I don't know. I'd be like, really? You don't know about Kate McKinnon? Like, it's going to be a long day. So it's like Kate McKinnon's just, you just got to say her name, and then you sit back down. Exactly. No, I'm with you. I'm going to suck up to Ashley here and say Kate McKinnon's like Tim Duncan. In the nba like tim duncan ashley's his first fans oh okay nice tim tim duncan is like you say tim duncan it's like oh he's like a top 10 all-time great nba player like for sure hall of fame like he's on that first tier of hall of famer so to me kate mckinnon's like a tim duncan yeah like it's just a no-brainer like that absolutely and ashley like did a raise the roof there so i'm on her good side i i think my love for saturday night live may be tied with my love for the san antonio spurs it's really close i'm quite a fan girl when it comes to both so yeah tom could not have picked a better reference for me exactly and i'm jealous you get to follow victor wimpy llama same year how many years she's so lucky with the spurs, I was really happy that draft day, for sure. Oh, I bet. So, Deremy, Kate McKinnon, all three of us have Kate McKinnon on our ballots. Ashley, I want to go to you. Who do you want to start with?Track 2:[20:56] The next person I had right after Kate McKinnon on my list that I want to put on my ballot is Maya Rudolph.Track 2:[21:03] Again, I think she's another name. You say her name and it's no question. Profession the the breadth and the depth of talent that she had while on that show i i think was unmatched and i don't think there's been anyone like maya since on the show that's been able to kind of hold the candle to what she was able to do um i mean vocally she could do any of the you know finger impressions and and give us either you know song parodies um but she could also just really own and commit to being silly and ridiculous um but comes to mind is the sketch that she did with kristin wig where they're the prize girls on the on the game show and kate's you know driving around in the golf cart and they're just acting ridiculous and there's a lot of breaking and again i'm sure lauren wasn't too pleased with it but you could get these really serious impressions like beyonce out of maya but then also these just ridiculous ditzy dumb you you know, physical comedy, throw yourself type of sketches from her. And I think she's definitely, you know, she belongs in this hall of fame. Yeah. Well said. I think we've talked a little bit about Maya. Jeremy, is this the, one of the ones you've been upset about over the last few seasons? Yes, Ashley. I don't know what it is. We're on the same page. I'm going to say this. I think Maya Rudolph is the most.Track 2:[22:26] Under appreciated underrated cast member in the history of snl and i think it's crazy i to me i think she's top 10 but at most i'll give someone top 15 like cast member of all time um i think and maybe that's like a people have that sexist view could we say glue guy so we think of just like phil hartman dan akroyd no to me it's a glue person because my rudolph I think maybe the only glue person I think of more than her is a Phil Hartman, in my opinion. I just think, like what Ashley said, the versatility, what she was able to do, how unique she was, where before or since there's not a talent that Saturday Night Live has seen like her. And I think it's a travesty that she's been on this ballot for so long. So absolutely Maya Rudolph. off.Track 2:[23:17] Jeremy, you could partly blame me for some of that because I have been one of those people that's a little on the fence about Maya. And I know that's one of the things that you and I probably disagree about the most. Absolutely. As far as us in the Hall of Fame. And Ashley wants to throw a tomato at me right now, I think. And I love Maya. I love Maya.Track 2:[23:37] I'll watch anything that she pops up. If she's on a podcast, she was just on Dax Shepard's podcast. And I made sure that moved up in the queue. you like i wanted to listen to maya on dax's podcast like i absolutely love maya and i landed on why i was on the fence about it in the beginning and i talked this over we did actually a relitigation episode with rebecca north she came on and advocated for maya and i think for me i think maya was in the wrong era i think the the type of humor that was around when maya was on the cast probably in the early 2000s. I don't think it really fit the skill set that she had. I think she was honestly better than a lot of the material that was on the show around that time. I think if she was on the show early 90s, or even if she got to be more part of the cast in the other Golden Era from about 2007, I know she overlapped a little bit, but I would have liked to see her move on into like 2012 and you know i think she left the cast a little too soon before it really gelled and blossomed so i just think a lot of the material a lot of this the humor in the early 2000s.Track 2:[24:49] I always felt like it was a little edgelordy it was just weird all around like we were in a weird time in the country and just in comedy in general and i think the humor was just kind of off in the early 2000s and i didn't and i think that that didn't cater to to what made maya truly great I always love watching her on screen, but there was always something missing, but I think I landed on that it wasn't her fault. Really?Track 2:[25:15] You know, what gets me is like a lot and not this isn't at you, Thomas, but a lot of people look at the ladies of that era with Maya as like really breaking through the boys club of Saturday Night Live. And Maya was a big part of that.Track 2:[25:28] And the other women to me get talked about so much more than her when I think she was the best of those ladies who broke through, which is always kind of weird and conflicting for me where it's like there was great women on SNL before. But you know they had to fight that boys club and then it's like that's the era where it's like oh like the ladies broke through but then they leave maybe like one of the biggest pieces or the biggest piece off that list when we're talking about we give amy polar love and everybody like we don't give maya rudolph so it always kind of confuses me yeah i can agree with that what do you think about that ashley oh gosh yeah i can't imagine anybody being on the fence about maya rudolph um i think you saw my jaw hit the floor um because yeah it was oh yeah we talked you know jeremy.Track 2:[26:13] You talked about the glue person i think she could have been in every sketch and she held it together she always brought something to it even if she wasn't the star of that sketch or wasn't bringing her main like impressions um to it and again i know on my kate podcast i talked about you know to me when i think of somebody in the hall of fame for saturday night live is you know does their talent take them beyond the show and again look at her i mean she's still making amazing stuff and i i do i see where you're coming from tom a little bit when you're talking about um you know it not being her fault i can see that i think had she stayed and gotten to do a little bit more with like tina fey and annie puller she was like kind of in this weird she She wasn't on too long before they left.Track 2:[26:59] But then kind of also left herself not long after like Kristen wig and stuff was there, you know, only overlapped a little bit with those. I think she was kind of a little bit in between where it really would have catapulted her to a little bit more star power. Had she had a little bit, you know, better chemistry to meld with, but I loved her every second she was on the show. I loved every sketch that she was in. Um, huge fan of her impressions, of course, who I thought she was really good at it.Track 2:[27:32] Yeah, I'm trying to like, I'm a lawyer in my day job and I'm totally failing right now because I'm like, how do I advocate and convince Tom to put Maya on this ballot? Well, I will say that she's one of my locks. So Maya's on my ballot as a lock. So and I think I think she's going to get in this time around. But I had to have a sort of epiphany as to why I didn't 100 percent connect with Maya like everybody else. And it was like a goodwill hunting thing. I had to look at Maya and say, it's not your fault. And then she's in the SNL Hall of Fame as far as I'm concerned. So I'm writing my previous wrong and putting her as a lock on my ballot. And I think it's going to happen for her. I think she's going to get in this time around. That's just my gut feeling. I hope so. Yeah, I think you'll be fine. I will withdraw my objection. I apologize, Tyler. I've apologized. I've done all of, I think, the right thing here and admitted my error. And arrived at a proper conclusion, I think. So Maya Rudolph is on all three of our ballots here on the SNL Hall of Fame. I'm curious. I'll stick with you, Ashley. I'm curious as to who you want to talk about next. So this is a name that I am shocked is still on the ballot.Track 2:[28:51] That she hasn't been voted into the Hall of Fame yet. I got to go with Molly Shannon. Yeah, I think I talked a little bit on on my episode about, you know, what really made me fall in love with Saturday Night Live. And again, I think, you know, there's a few other names from her era that are on my ballot, too, that I won't bring up yet. But again.Track 2:[29:12] I mean, Mary Catherine Gallagher, just how can you not put Mary Catherine Gallagher in the Hall of Fame? She's a superstar. It's literally on her name. Well said. Yeah, she's on my ballot. So Molly Shannon is one of those. And similar to Maya Rudolph, this is her last year on the ballot. So if she doesn't get in, she's just off the ballot.Track 2:[29:33] So I have her as a lock. So that's one of my other locks. Um daramie uh molly shannon uh what are you what's your feeling on molly oh absolutely a lock um and and i agree with you guys i agree with ashley like she should have she should have been in i'm always going to give love for those cast members and writers who bridge a gap at a really tough time in snl history when i know like we all know the stuff like every year saturday night dead and blah blah blah and it's like okay but there's certain points in the show's history where it was really at a shaky point and on the rocks and she came midway through that awful 94 95 season and stayed on one of the few people who stayed on and really helped bring in a new transition with that fall of 95 96 cast and just the different characters the way she just jumped into the bazaar and didn't hold back and could you know have mary katherine gallagher but just really brought such a weird uncomfortable character to the mainstream and she was able to do that time and time again on this show uh definitely a hall of famer for.Track 2:[30:44] Yeah that's both of you said everything i think especially like she i think mary catherine gallagher on the snn they did a character count and i think mary catherine gallagher finished top five i want to say and that that's that's molly shannon's work her physicality is something.Track 2:[31:01] That i think everybody will always mention probably to her detriment like you watch some of those sketches back and she probably will admit like yeah she could have heard like she probably shouldn't have done that necessarily like i bet the producers on the show and writers and stuff like what are you doing like you don't have to like totally throw yourself through this table or wall or so i think she did a little damage to her body but she sacrificed herself for the good of the show and for our entertainment and she's just so wonderful and she has a really great memoir called hello molly uh i don't know if you have ever if you have a chance to read it i don't you need to pick that up Ashley if you haven't it's so good it's in my it's in my to read list right now for sure I admit I got a little bit sidetracked by some other kind of book talk recommendations that I very cliche got into but it is downloaded it is in my queue I've been dying to read it and yeah yeah you were talking about her physicality and I think what I loved about her too is we haven't seen a female comedian do physical comedy to the extreme like chris farley did you know when i think of extreme physical physical comedy to their actual physical real detriment you know obviously um you know chris farley would chug you know i don't even know how much like caffeine or espressos to get into that you know really hyper mindset in addition to you.Track 2:[32:31] Know, throwing himself through walls and tables.Track 2:[32:34] I loved that a female comedian would do that. And it was, I can be just as funny as the men who do this. And it's not improper. It's not inappropriate.Track 2:[32:43] She nailed it. I think it worked for her. And you're right. She did have so many quirky characters that I feel like other comedians who came after her tried to do, you know, they tried to bring that kind of weird and unique humor, but it didn't really land, or at least I didn't really get it. First person that comes to mind is Kyle Mooney. I apologize to Kyle Mooney fans, but he was just somebody that I couldn't really understand.Track 2:[33:11] I applauded his attempt and because, you know, comedy is so subjective and there's something out there for everybody. But I think Molly was that weird kind of quirky as a weird, quirky girl, awkward, you know, growing up, I was like, Oh, I feel seen like people can laugh with her and not at her. And that was really, really awesome to see. Do we have a Kristen Wiig or Kate McKinnon without Molly Shannon? Yeah, she's a trailblazer. Yeah, exactly.Track 2:[33:42] And I'm looking at Molly's trajectory as far as voting, and she started off at 34% after season one, and she's climbed to 47, 54, and then 57 last time around. So she just needs that last kind of push to get into the Hall of Fame. And with Maya, she started off at 47, and then she's been at 57, 58, and 58 the last few times. So I think both Molly and Maya both hovering around like the 57 to 58 percent of the vote mark. This is their last time. I think Molly's going to get into that's my gut feeling as well. I think the fact that I think voters will look at it and say that Molly and both Molly and Maya deserve it. And they've been on the cusp. They've been so close. And again, I blame myself for Maya. I've voted for Molly in the past. So I'm off the hook as far as Molly goes. But I would love to see both of them get into the SNL Hall of Fame. So we've had agreements on Kate McKinnon, Maya Rudolph, and Molly Shannon, three great cast members. Jeremy, I'm wondering who you have as far as non-cast members.Track 2:[34:53] Yeah, that's actually where I was going to go next because I'm like, you know what, let's just get weird on this roundtable. Let's get weird. Let's get weird. and I'm gonna go with this person and I'll be honest Thomas and, you know have listened to snl hall of fame since season one and usually when i'm listening the the conversation's great and you kind of lean me either way i'm thinking either where i'm like yeah they're hall of famer they're already just you're proving that or i don't think so and you're kind of going that way never have i been more conflicted listening than to the michael o'donohue episode where you had brad and gary on and i'm driving around and i'm going yeah and then right away. Then the next, someone makes a point and I go, no, he's not a hall of famer. Then I'm like, but yeah, he is. And I was just back and forth, like, and I'm like, I really don't know.Track 2:[35:40] And so I thought about it a lot, but I I'm going to vote them in. Okay. And I can understand if people don't, but I'm going to go there because of when the show started and, you know, because we've been making sports references, I'm going to keep that train going. You know, the dynasty docu-series just happened with the Patriots. And of course when you look at the Patriots dynasty there's a lot of players coaches, administrators who are a part of it but the big three like headed leadership Robert Kraft Bill Belichick, Tom Brady. When you look at the first year SNL the three headed leadership it was Lorne Chevy Chase and Michael O'Donohue and Michael really did if you listen to a lot of people that original those first five years You know, Saturday Night Live brought an edge. It was cool. It was hip. It was something that TV in the 70s hadn't seen yet. And who really helped to bring that sensibility was Michael O'Donoghue. And he's also done things, especially in the early 80s, that really could hurt the show. So I understand the negative, but I feel like his positives do outweigh the negatives, which is why I kind of went with he should be voted on. And he was a part of that original crew and I feel like everyone who was a part of the first season in my opinion should Be in the Hall of Fame just because you were a part of the foundation and you started this.Track 2:[37:05] Huge franchise that will stay in pop culture forever, no matter how long the show is on or when it goes off. So I vote for Michael O'Donohue. It's interesting that you bring up O'Donohue because I've, I put him on and then took him off. Like I alternated just so many over the last few days. I was like, nah, I don't know Don Hugh. And then I thought, and then I would think about what Brad and Gary said. I'm like, well, those are good points. I'll put them on. And then I took him off again. As of right now, Now he's not one of my 13 locks and he was one of the ones where I could be persuaded for him to end up on my final ballot. He went actually, I think Brad and Gary did a really great job of advocating for Michael O'Donohue because he went from 11% of the vote after season three to barely, like barely staying on the ballot. He got 35% last year. So that was quite the jump for Michael O'Donohue. I have, I don't know. It's just some, I don't know if it's just his, his persona or something like the, the, the edgy bordering on mean material that he possibly wrote that sometimes rubs me the wrong way. But, but I, I, I definitely grant like how important he was, uh, to the show. Uh, Ashley, it was Michael O'Donoghue, somebody that you've been maybe considering, uh.Track 2:[38:20] He is not on my ballot actually. And yeah, it was one of those things where I totally agree with you, Jeremy. He, I mean, he was part of that first season and I, I do agree with your statement that anyone from that first season because of what they created and what we have now is because of them. Um, but again, I wasn't a huge fan of, of his, some of his sketches were, I don't know, maybe it's just cause they didn't age well looking back at them. Um, but I do have a few writers on my ballot for sure. Um, and he just didn't land in one of my top favorites. Um, so. Yeah. He, uh, looking at his sketches, like, so this will be have like the, the good and the bad of it. Like he wrote Godfather therapy with, uh, Belushi Belushi, which was awesome. He wrote the last voyage of the starship enterprise, which I think is one of the better sketches of those early five seasons. Absolutely. Both of those. Yeah. Yeah, those are great. Norman Bates' School of Motel Management was awesome.Track 2:[39:18] I even liked the, he had a weird concept of the attack of the atomic lobsters that was like, I think O'Donohue's sense of humor kind of reigned in a little bit. Then like you have things like the Needle, the Needles Impressionist, where he just said like, here's my impression of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with needles stuck in their eyes. And he would just like yell he would like mind putting needles in his eyes and just yell so it's just kind of interesting uh but again Jeremy he's not like totally off my ballot it's just something that I have to like keep thinking about well don't get me wrong like I so personally I agree with you guys like there's a lot of things that I'm like uh it doesn't I mean there's some sketches he wrote that hits me it's a lot that don't but I have to take myself out of it and look back on what, for our parents' generation, what TV was like in 1975.Track 2:[40:14] And we look at it like, we look at the late 60s into the 70s, music and movies were ahead of the game, where they reflected what society was doing. TV was dead last. And I think about what really changed TV. I think of, number one, like Norman Lear and his sitcoms, and then, number two, like when Saturday Night Live premiered. So like him doing like the needles in the eye, like it's not, I don't laugh at it, but like at that point, TV was so far behind. That was just bizarre to see on television where you're used to seeing, you know.Track 2:[40:47] Green Acres and Mr. Ed, you know, not that long before. And that was like, that's what you got. And then even like in late night, it was Johnny Carson.Track 2:[40:55] So then it's like, you're getting this and just this sensibility. That's just, whoa, like the counterculture is taking over NBC for an hour and a half on Saturday nights. Like it was very different for that generation, which is why I had to take myself and my personal taste out of it and look like that was different for that time. Totally no i agree i mean that's that's why he's still kind of like i might be persuaded honestly he might end up on my list of 15 i'm trying i'm trying i know yeah you're very persuasive you do that on our other pod too on pop culture five you always kind of like get me on your side yeah so and michael donahue was the first person to appear on camera on snl like just a little like historical fun fact the first person that we see on snl it was michael o'donohue and that wolverine sketch so but Jeremy has Michael O'Donohue Ashley's probably a no I'm a maybe at this point Ashley you said that you had a writer or a couple writers I'm curious if you want to reveal one of those yeah so I have four writers actually um and I I gotta go with my girl Paula Pell brilliant just absolute brilliance like she is my comedy um I if I saw her on the street I might might die just like i would next to kate and tina fey but i think because we got paula pell like in the era of tina fey to such strong writers at the same time we got such great stuff out of them.Track 2:[42:25] Um and again i keep repeating myself but what they've been able to do beyond the show as well, you know like conan o'brien when he was on and what he's been able to do afterwards because he had such talent i think paul is the same way and she kind of stays in the you know she doesn't really take that limelight that I feel like she deserves she's kind of I think happy to be a writer and not necessarily take those starring roles but when she does you know come in and do even just like a supporting actress I sign me up I'm gonna see it every single day any chance I get to see Paula Pell and again I think what she was able to do with around that time with Tina was pushing again we talked about Jeremy you said um breaking the boys club not just for the the comedians we saw on TV, but I think that's what Paula and Tina were doing in the writers room was they were trying to break up that boys club, and again say women are funny too and we can be silly and ridiculous and I think even bringing in the.Track 2:[43:21] You know, the topical humor of calling stuff out and making it funny, though, like bringing up issues in a way that made everybody laugh instead of making them uncomfortable. So we could talk about it and kind of understand it and see it. And I think she was such a trailblazer for it. Yeah, she was one of the minds behind some of the great recurring sketches of that era. She was she was behind the cheerleaders and other just really big recurring sketches like that. She was like you could you definitely felt her voice in that era. And it meshed well with, like you said, Will Ferrell, Sherry O'Terry, and all of those. And she has Girls 5, Ebba. That's kind of like the thing that she's involved with right now. Paula Pell. Deremy, I'm curious before I kind of – because I have a little situation here with Paula Pell and another writer that I might want to hash out. But, Deremy, I want to get your thoughts on Paula Pell. Oh, she's on my list. That's a slam dunk.Track 2:[44:17] Should have been in for a writer. She's the first ballot. Hall of Famer in my opinion um I talked about you know with Molly Shannon those who helped really re like revigorate and save the show in like the fall of 95 we talk about the people on screen you always give credit to those behind the camera and like the writers Paula Pell's one of those people and you mentioned I mean from like the cheerleaders to Debbie Downer to Justin Timberlake in the omelette ville like so that's like over different years she's doing these memorable characters and like writing these great sketches um and just someone you know that lauren trusted you know like i think ashley great point like how huge was it for when tina fey became the first female head writer that having a paula pell there like i'm sure that was like a big help and i just think she's getting this just due now because like in the public eyes because of girls five ever but like.Track 2:[45:16] Maybe it's by design. I know she was behind the scenes, but to me, she's one of those writers who should have always been talked about up there with a Smigel, a Jack Handy, all those people. She's that great. She's a slam dunk for me. me yeah it seems like if you ask somebody who worked at snl around that time they would tell you that paula pell was probably the funniest person yeah in the building so that's kind of the that's the reputation that she had uh and by the way if you listen to wtf with mark maron paula pell was a recent guest yes on and she was great she's hilarious she's so likable love paula pell that was a really great interview she did with mark maron um paul is not a lock on my list and she's honestly one like that I'm not discounting and I wanted to hash it out because I don't know I have another writer that might be a little I'm gonna take controversial but a lot of people might tell me might urge me to put Paula Pell in ahead of him for many reasons I want to hash out as to whether I should swap out Paula Pell for this person or if I should add Paula Pell to my list and keep this person so i want to kind of dive into i have julio torres.Track 2:[46:25] On on my list and i and i didn't think that i didn't think that was i was gonna feel that way heading into the season but then i started looking at the sketches that he wrote and his unique voice and i know the one limiting factor is he was only on the show for he was only a writer on the show for like three seasons but some of the stuff that julio did i mean he he was behind uh papyrus which we saw a second installment papyrus 2 now the actress with emma stone he uh he also wrote wells for boys which was another wonderful emma stone pre-tape he wrote a lot of really great political things he had the melania moments his so you julio had just like such a clever unique voice at that time of the show i think he really stood out he had a really great one with With Lin-Manuel Miranda.Track 2:[47:18] Where Lin-Manuel Miranda played a character. That was like. He was in Montana or North Dakota or something. And he called his mom. Because he was an immigrant that called his mom. And was describing like how his life was. So like. Julio Torres' voice was just so unique. And to me he was almost like a comet. That came through SNL. And he made the show so great. But he just wasn't there. For a long time. Where somebody like Paula Pell was. Was and so i want i was wondering about like the merits of of julio torres in that should i i don't know ashley like should i move another rider a more of a legacy rider in front of him or like what do you what do you think about julio's contributions and then even like compared to somebody like paul appell.Track 2:[48:06] Yeah, I mean, and not to discount Julio Torres. Yeah, I loved his sketches. I thought they were hilarious. And I don't want to say that somebody doesn't deserve to be on a ballot just because they weren't on Saturday Night Live for I don't think there's a requisite amount of time. I think we could, you know, vote somebody in who was in for one season. Obviously, we've got some hosts on the ballot that aren't necessarily in the five timers club and things like that. But I think to me, the difference between if we're going to put Julio and Paula together is not just not that Paula was legacy because she was on for so long, but because of what her sketches did to, you know, move the show. Like Jeremy said, you know, taking it out of an era like she came in, I think, right at the right time to kind of rescue a drowning show and then continue to evolve it and stay relevant and kind of help us, you know, continue to keep SNL moving with the times.Track 2:[49:01] Whereas you know i mean i get papyrus and they just did you know part two a couple weeks ago is just genius um i think it should be nominated for like an emmy for a short or something but um yeah given the two i really think paula um i mean is julio again i hate i hate to do this but this isn't his last year on the ballot correct no and you're right no this is his first year actually so i mean that that plays a role yeah that plays a role too in the thought process i think yeah yeah so i i think you got to go with paula i really do i think and again julio he's also someone who continues to write um and doing great things for other shows you know that we still watch today and so definitely not to discount his humor what what he did um his sketches.Track 2:[49:50] But i'm biased i'm like i said i would fangirl over paula pell in the street so So yeah, you know where I stand. Yeah, I think Jeremy, the thing about Julio to me was like his batting average, putting in sports terms, like his batting average was just so high that it was hard for me to discount. He did so much in such a little time, like almost everything that he did was a hit for me. And to me, that plays a big role. Like, is it quantity or even if he was only on the show for three seasons, but his batting average is super high? Like, how do you weigh stuff like that? No, it's hard. I feel like you could have both on there, and I think that would solve it, but if you have to choose.Track 2:[50:31] Between one or the other, I would put Paula just because.Track 2:[50:35] A little bit of the longevity and what she did over different eras. So her batting average was, you know, it, you know, if you have someone who hit three 50 for three seasons and someone who hit three 25 for, you know, 15 seasons, like it's like, you know, I'm gonna go with that three 25 for 15 over three 50 for the three. So it's like, I have to weigh it like that. I'm probably gonna, you gotta, it's hard because like my, The guy who I look at is either, I go back and forth between first or second greatest cast members, Eddie Murphy. And he wasn't on very long, but what he did was amazing. So I hear you. It's tough. And I think with Julio bringing that different sensibility to a show and really bringing that diversity in a different mind, that's a great factor for him. But Paula did that too. Yeah. So it's like, it's, it's just hard. Like if you have to pick one or the other, I would go with Paula, but it's a tough choice. Yeah. So I think all of that weighs into my thought process. I think, I think.Track 2:[51:40] I think it either come down for me to Julio or Paula, or you're right. I could, I could just put both of them on. I might have room to do that. It's all, I mean, nothing's set in stone right now. I just wanted to hash that out. Cause I think it's interesting. And Julio actually has a better case than I thought even like on the surface, you're like, okay, Julio Torres, like, you know, memorable, talented rider. But then you start looking at his work and it was like, oh my gosh, he might actually have a real case here. Like more so than I thought. So, uh, so I just wanted to hash that out. And I thought that was the perfect time to do it. But Paula Pell is one of the other ones where I was like, man, I love Paula Pell. And I was just considering that. So, yeah, thanks for – see, here, we're all learning something. And we're all kind of like – or at least I'm like kind of getting my thought process in order and maybe swayed a certain way. So, yeah, Deremy, I wonder what is next on your list.Track 2:[52:29] Another crime I'm trying to justify or undo on the SNL Hall of Fame. You came with anger, everybody. Deremy's just like – I'm just like, jeez. here we go i brought this per i think i was on the season three round table before and i nominated this person then and they're still on here but we're talking about you know because ashley you just brought up like host and we're talking about the og five-timer guy he was on 10 times in the first five years he was the person who suggested doing recurring sketches like to that to the original like cast like hey you should do that samurai thing again john like come on i mean it's classic when they did the samurai and belushi like by accident cuts him on the forehead and they're all wearing like the bandage you got to have buck henry on here the og the five timers club is such a known thing in the snl like pantheon and how do we not have the og of the five timers club in the snl hall of fame he should be a first ballot guy because he's one of those people.Track 2:[53:37] I think of him and Steve Martin, where people to this day get confused and say they were part of the original cast. Because that's how much they are a staple of that show. And so I'm just like, outside of maybe Steve Martin, to me there's no more important host than Buck Henry. So it's like, how is he not in the Hall of Fame yet? I don't know. I don't get it. But I'm going to do it again.Track 2:[54:04] Nominate and bring up buck henry for the snl hall of fame let's hopefully we get it right this time people yeah he's on he's a lock on my list too and and i voted for him in the past i think he's just so important to the show he's a 10 timer yeah but it's not just the quantity of like he he was solid like you watch every single one of his hosting gigs there's a reason why they asked him twice a year to come back and he always hosted the finale and it was just like i think the cast and the crew and the producers it was just like they knew they were in good hands with buck henry and they could throw stuff at him and he would he would be great in it he could he could lead a sketch he can just find like a role to kind of hang back and just be a supporting player i think buck just in synonymous with the show i mean he wrote the graduate uh and he was a great writer but people know him for snl like i think that's just as far as on screen especially like he they know him as like the guy who used to host SNL a bunch. And I think, yeah, I think Buck Henry needs to get in. So he's for sure on my list. I don't know how you feel about Buck Henry, Ashley, if we have to like persuade you or where do you stand on this?Track 2:[55:15] I don't, it wasn't a matter of not being persuaded that he deserved to be on it. I think just because I, like I said, at the beginning of this, I had such a hard time whittling my list down to my 15 votes. And that I, you know, have a little bit, you know, my bias is going to show through with my votes of, you know, kind of the more...Track 2:[55:37] Relatively recent um you know people i only have three hosts on my list actually, because again i had such a really hard time with it so i i had to give that spot to somebody else and i think it was kind of me selfishly hoping that somebody else like like you guys would push him through because i agree he believes or excuse me i agree that he deserves to be in the hall of fame um i'm not against it i don't think you have to convince me that he deserves it but you may have to convince me to take somebody else off my list if i'm going to put him on mine so a lot of it's like an era maybe kind of thing like uh buck henry's a more old timer maybe and so so so we're looking at like an era that more so like resonated with you possibly i will say this buck henry was on the ballot for the first time after season three so this is not his final year he's been.Track 2:[56:32] On twice before he went from 23 after season three to 48 so he made quite the jump so i think uh this being his third time on the ballot i wouldn't be surprised uh i would be a little surprised if he got in but i but i think he's gonna be one of those where it's like he's inching toward there so you have another couple seasons after this ashley to to write this wrong that might be made so yeah so this isn't totally the last chance for buck henry and i think that was the thing is you know there's so many greats from that original era that are in the hall of fame already that it was kind of a shock that he isn't on that list um because i mean like how do we get anywhere with it we are today without jane curtain gilda radner you know these ogs um that again like derry said started the show um they made us know what it is and yeah you're right.Track 2:[57:26] Literally you know wrote one of the greatest films of all time you know and then we're like oh no but his his work on snl don't worry about um you know the graduate um thing about snl so you're right i think next year i'll have an updated ballot okay okay so so we'll check back in next year i think if buck henry was more famous just in general in pop culture he would probably get in but he's He's just like a writer, a movie writer. So he just kind of like is under the radar. But I think if he was a little more famous, like Steve Martin or something like that, then I think Buck Henry would be in. So we'll see. I'm curious to see where Buck Henry lands this year. What host do you have, Ashley? So I actually, yeah, kind of going like a little bit more to an older era, I put Martin Short instead of Buck Henry as my vote for one of my hosts. Because, again, he's somebody else that I find synonymous with SNL.Track 2:[58:26] And, again, just that silly, quirky... You know, doesn't apologize for how he is or who he is or his comedy or anything. And even to this day, I mean, we saw him, you know, a couple of weeks ago with, with Kristen Wiggs episode and just still making, he made Lauren break. I mean, come on, like how, how epic is that when you make Lauren Michaels laugh at a sketch? I think that shows how great and how funny he actually is. Every time he's on, I get so happy.Track 2:[58:56] I think because of what he's been able to do, the fact that, yeah, he keeps coming back. As well we keep inviting him back no matter what um i mean they brought him back for kristen wig they brought him back for uh steve martin he's just somebody again it wasn't just a glue person but could you know steal the scene and steal the sketch no matter what he was in yeah just always a wildly entertaining person to watch martin short and he he hosted two all-time classic christmas episodes he has two of the better monologues i've ever seen i'm still teetering though i'm kind of on the fence he's not a lock for me but he's one of those where i just like kind of wanted to wait and see what other people said and i'll do some more thinking on so i didn't totally discount martin short he's in that michael o'donoghue paul appell range where i'm just like i don't know not not a lock for me but i want to see somebody make the case uh jeremy where do you stand on martin short he's a new on my list i don't i don't have him on mine um i think there There is no, in my lifetime, there's no more guaranteed lock to make a person laugh. If I have to pick someone in the world to save my life, like, I dare me, you can only survive if you pick someone to make me laugh.Track 2:[1:00:10] I'm Martin Shorts, like, he's on my Mount Rushmore, probably like number one. Like, he's just that naturally funny. Like, he's like the ultimate talk show person. and it makes sense he's the ultimate person to kind of fill in on SNL and to be there and to come on but I just don't I know he was on for the cast for that season that transition that Steinbrenner year I just still don't.Track 2:[1:00:34] When I think of Martin Short, I don't think of SNL with him. I know that's a part of his history, but I'm going to go to movies. I'm going to go to his talk show appearances. I'm going to go to other things. I'm not his, you know, not his relationship with Steve Martin. I'm not going to go to SNL. And I think that's why. But I still do believe like he's hilarious and he's funny. And I'm always glad when I see him there. But I don't think of him like, oh, as a host or as even a cast member. Like yeah he's one of those you know for our podcast essential people so that's why i don't have him on my list but i could be persuaded to like for sure but he's off mine he had more of a case after i after i re-watched some of his at least a couple of his episodes he had he had the episode there was one in the late 90s that was classic though his episode in 2012 when paul mccartney was the musical guest that's like a stone cold classic episode to me as well and his His monologues there were great. So when I watched specifically even those two episodes, I'm like, all right, yeah.Track 2:[1:01:35] I mean, he put in two amazing performances here. One thing that's interesting about him, too, is he has another, you know, in the 80s, he hosted with Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. And then he also co-hosted with Steve Martin. So some of his hosting gigs have been with other people as well where Martin wasn't totally featured. So I could see both sides. That's why I am kind of like he's still up in the air for me. But anything to add on that, Ashley?Track 2:[1:02:05] I think I'm going to steal your Maya Rudolph explanation. And I think Martin Short was, I think, the victim of being a cast member on a time where maybe his type of comedy or whatever the reason didn't mesh with everything else going on. And you're right, he wasn't on very long and he ended up doing much bigger things, after Saturday Night Live. But I think...Track 2:[1:02:29] The reason Lorne kept bringing him back was because he understood that maybe, the time that he was a cast member, maybe not have been the best time to have him shine, but recognizing his talent, his comedy, what he's able to do.Track 2:[1:02:45] And I think that's why I would vote for him as a host, as opposed to a cast member is you're right. Every time he came back to host, whether it was by himself or, or with, you know, the three amigos, I just, Just, it makes me wish that he would have been on. And sometimes it makes me forget that he wasn't on longer than he was.Track 2:[1:03:05] Because my brain has clicked and associated him so much with Saturday Night Live. And I think, too, just his association with all the other greats on SNL, I think, helped bring him along a little bit to that star power. But I think even without them, he can stand on his own. So and i should say too like uh for snl hall of fame purposes and how how it was set up a few years ago um we there are the categories technically so martin short isn't eligible as a cast member because he was only on for the one season that's why he's on host but it's up to each individual uh voter and it's just to what their criteria is so if they want to count his cat time as a cast member that's up to the voter uh technically it's just kind of his host hosting gigs that we're looking at, but that's interesting as far as... This is why we do these things, is kind of peek into the criteria of a certain individual. Like Jeremy brought up, Martin Short made his mark elsewhere other than SNL. And so there's all sorts of different factors, but I can definitely see Martin Short. I'm curious. This is his first year on the ballot, so I'm curious to see how voters feel about him. So this will definitely be interesting. Jeremy, I want to go back to you for your next pick. I'm gonna go back to

Hey listener, it's been a while. How have you been? Do you ever think about me? Just kidding it's a new episode on Joan Tewkesbury's sole feature film, OLD BOYFRIENDS, written by Paul and Leonard Schrader! Who better to join us on this exploration of women's experience in New Hollywood than writer, Online Film Culture Titan and the inventor of #AYearWithWomen, Marya E. Gates (@oldfilmsflicker)??? Join us for a wide-ranging conversation on everything from the film's rediscovery and restoration to Schrader's reaction to the 2022 Sight & Sound poll to Keith Carradine being really hot to the social function of movie gifs on Tumblr. It's a great ep and we hope you'll enjoy it! If you don't, please don't hire Buck Henry to find our home addresses!!! Follow Marya E. Gates: https://twitter.com/oldfilmsflicker https://linktr.ee/oldfilmsflicker Further Reading: Liberating Hollywood: Women Directors and the Feminist Reform of 1970s American Cinema by Maya Montañez Smukler "Canon Fodder" by Paul Schrader Further Viewing: GIRLFRIENDS (Weill, 1978) AN UNMARRIED WOMAN (Mazursky, 1978)   https://www.podcastyforme.com/ Follow Pod Casty For Me: https://twitter.com/podcastyforme https://www.instagram.com/podcastyforme/ https://www.youtube.com/@podcastyforme Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PodCastyForMe Artwork by Jeremy Allison: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyallisonart  

Writer, comedian, and Lydia Tár's former publicist Daniella Mazzio joins to discuss Gus Van Sant's sharp, pitch-black satire of media, true crime, and a patently American brand of late 20th Century celebrity, 'To Die For'. The film is based on the Joyce Maynard novel of the same name, itself inspired by the true life trial of Pamela Smart, who seduced a teenage boy and coerced him and a friend to murder Smart's husband. The film features an excellent ensemble cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, Illeana Douglas, and a career-best Nicole Kidman. We discuss 'To Die For' as a nexus of many careers at compelling inflection points: Nicole Kidman breaking into leading woman roles while married to Tom Cruise, Gus Van Sant on the eve of his career skyrocketing to new heights with the success of the following year's 'Good Will Hunting', and the chance casting of Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix who would later become in-laws and artistic collaborators. Then, we examine the brilliant, kaleidoscopic script by 'The Graduate' screenwriter Buck Henry and how the film's patchwork construction foregrounds it thematically rich details. Finally, we discuss the real life inspiration for the film as well as the way the movie's indictment of the American media landscape anticipated elements of the OJ Simpson trial, which was playing out during the film's production and concluded just days before its release. (Editor's Note: This episode was recorded before OJ Simpson's death on April 10th, 2024 at the age of 76).Follow Daniella Mazzio on Twitter. Read Daniella's Substack, 'Room Tone'.Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

A black comedy about a sexually-repressed couple who fund their dream of opening a restaurant by posing as sex workers and robbing and murdering Los Angeles swingers. When a local thief worms his way into the scheme, everything goes haywire, jeopardizing their chance at the American Dream. Starring Paul Bartel, Mary Waronov, Robert Beltran, Susan Saiger, Buck Henry, Ed Begley Jr., John Paragon, and Edie McClurg. Written by Paul Bartel and Richard Blackburn. Directed by Paul Bartel.

In this episode, Lex confronts Duncan with an animal movie...for adults. It's Mike Nichols' DAY OF THE DOLPHIN (1973), starring George C. Scott. And with Buck Henry as writer (and featured voice acting), that should be a perfect storm for Duncan's '70s sensibilities. But does this seriocomic potboiler have enough sexy beach romping, Scott-level rage, and tight khakis to push Duncan into mind-blowing approval? This episode is swimming with surprises, including Duncan's intimate history with frisky dolphins. Put on your wetsuit. It's gonna get splashy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the end of the season, but the beginning of the tradition of having Buck Henry host the season finale of SNL!  It is a monumental episode in the history of the show and we see many of our favorites return such as The Coneheads, Emily Litella, and (of course with Buck hosting) The Samurai!There's a lot to talk about, including a breakthrough sketch for Bill Murray! So, to make sure we cover it all, we are once again joined by the Buck Henry of The Not Ready for Prime Time Podcast - Jon Schneider from the Saturday Night Network. Subscribe today! And follow us on social media on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.

Tread Perilously enters Ampersand Month: five shows with a stylized "and" in the middle of the title. And it all begins with an episode of Franklin & Bash called "Control." When Franklin & Bash are brought in to find a legal remedy for a heckler at a minor league baseball field, they soon discover there is more to this than a bad comedian getting his kicks at a would-be star pitcher. Meanwhile, Damien signs up to be a retiring judge's partner at a golf tournament in hopes of replacing him on the bench and Rachel tries a bull semen case for her brother. Justin declares Franklin & Bash "shockingly not terrible" as Erik attempts to place it in a context of easy TV viewing. Both have a hard time recalling details of the A-plot. Justin evaluates stars Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. A surprise Reed Diamond appears. Heather Locklear proves to be a trooper. The presence of Malcolm McDowell and Buck Henry prove to be both welcome and, unlike the main plot, memorable. Erik recalls his best time at a baseball stadium. Geography Corner centers on the supposed office of Franklin & Bash. The word "loquat" becomes distracting and the resolution to the A-plot leads to another possible Tread Perilously room character.

TVC 635.3: Greg Ehrbar joins Ed for a look at Get Smart (NBC/CBS, 1965-1970), the long-running spy satire starring Don Adams and Barbara Feldon and co-created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, including the excellent complete series DVD box set, produced by Paul Brownstein and Susan Kesler for Time-Life, that was designed specifically with Get Smart fans in mind. Greg describes the box set as “Barbara Feldon Presents Get Smart,” not only because she introduces every episode of every season (and provides many audio commentaries throughout), but because it makes you feel as if Barbara is watching the entire series with you. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle advertising/sponsorship requests for the podcast edition of our program. They're great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We begin the New Year by taking a look at some shows that take Serious advantage of the word "New"...None more advantageous than an allegedly "New" sketch comedy show that looked a little TOO familiar to the few viewers who watched it... Our thanks to Andrew Dick (That Week in SNL), Darin Patterson (SNL Nerds) and Ian Fermaglitch (Ian Talks Comedy) for a quick yet complex cameo. SPONSORED BY: Dave's Archives Retrocirq And our Patrons

When Batman hit in early 1966, it set a trend of superheroes in pop culture that many rushed to emulate. By the time many of these bat-mimics were ready for public consumption, the trend was on its way out. One such wave-rider was Captain Nice, created by Buck Henry, and repeating some gags from Henry's hit Get Smart. While Captain Nice brought some really funny moments, it failed to catch on with audiences. Was this simply because the bat-bubble had burst? Or was it that Henry wasn't the right person to grab the lightning in a bottle that Lorenzo Semple, Jr., had captured? We look at the strengths and weaknesses of the show, the possible reasons for its failure, and whether Captain Nice was meant to be a bat-clone, or a conventional sitcom starring a superhero. Plus, the Solid Ghost Band theme version, MTV looks at a party commemorating 20 years since the last Batman primetime episode, and ChrisBCritter explains how Dr. Somnambula's stethescope worked! Watch Captain Nice on Archive.org Batman Reunion Party, 1988 Sold Ghost Band theme version  

0:00 - Intro & Summary2:00 - Movie Discussion53:41 - Cast & Crew/Awards1:00:43 - Pop Culture1:12:20 -  Rankings & Ratings To see a full list of movies we will be watching and shows notes, please follow our website: https://www.1991movierewind.com/Follow us!https://linktr.ee/1991movierewind

Steve and Alejandro put on their robes, jump on the tram and head to Judgement City to explore this 1991 romantic comedy written, directed and starring Albert Brooks. The cast also includes Rip Torn, Lee Grant, Buck Henry and the otherworldly Meryl Streep. Theme music by Daddy Lacus Channel art by Azeem Anjum --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rememberthatmovie/message

As you sort through your Thanksgiving leftovers and start your Christmas shopping, let Overlapping Dialogue serve the role of comforting holiday companion. We ring in the series of occasions with a pair of football movies that tug on the heartstrings- albeit in wildly different ways- with Heaven Can Wait and Friday Night Lights. But before they settle their respective differences on the gridiron, we as humble color commentators devour a full fledged meal with a Blue Plate Special lineup: listen as we discuss the latest edition of the Call of Duty franchise (Modern Warfare 3...again) and ponder what the yet-to-be-released Coyote vs. Acme and its stalled fate means for the future of the motion picture industry, as well as find theatrical solace with an unlikely trio of satisfying new releases in Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, and Thanksgiving. Upon finally arriving to our pigskin-themed main event, we delight in the multi-hyphenate nature of the 1978 romantic comedy fantasy sports yarn and try and catch our breathes from the insistent, stifling DRAMA in all caps (no cap, fr fr) of the 2004 high school sports saga. Appropriately, we even enshrine one of this episode's subjects into our very own Hall of Fame, the Immune. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2023/11/19/update-makarov-goes-nuclear-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-iii-why-are-you/

Well I guess we have a new episode for you morons. If we sound extra annoyed about it, or maybe even grumpy...it's becasue, this week, we're discussing 1993's Grumpy Old Men! Join us as we dive DEEP into the Midwest to talk this Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, and Ann-Margret starring film! Grab a taste of Magic Mind here: www.magicmind.com/sr Use discount code SR20 for up to 56% of your subscription order! GET VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19 https://www.vaccines.gov/ Black Lives Matter Stop AAPI Hate Donate Directly to Stop AAPI Hate https://donate.givedirect.org/?cid=14711 Center for Anti-Racist Research: https://www.bu.edu/antiracist-center/ Colorlines: https://www.colorlines.com/ Star ratings help us build our audience! Please rate/review/subscribe to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, and share us with your degenerate, moron neighbor! Email us at sequelrights@gmail.com with feedback or suggestions on future franchises!

Midway through Season Two, Julie Newmar appeared along with Michael Rennie as guest villains Catwoman and Sandman in The Sandman Cometh. But originally, this script by Ellis St. Joseph featured only the Sandman, with Robert Morely picked to play the role. This time, we get into how the teamup came about as we begin a look at St. Joseph's original draft script. Also, Below the Staff Music takes a stab at a jazz version of Hefti's Batman theme, Adam West and Burt Ward cameo on the SImpsons, and we read your mail on the Bat Bible and Buck Henry's rejection of camp! The Sandman Cometh, First Draft, Final Draft Joel Eisner talks with Ellis St. Joseph Message Board thread on this script | On episode #207 (Bat Bible and Buck Henry) "1966 Batman Theme - But It's Jazz," by Below the Staff Music Adam and Burt on The Simpsons

Buck's back! That's right, Buck Henry returns for his third time hosting on this momentous episode of NBC's Saturday Night! This episode has one of the most infamous events in SNL history. Just how historic is it? We've got Jon Schneider from the The Saturday Night Network to answer that for us!But wait! There's more...This is the FINAL episode for Chevy Chase as a cast member! Also, The Band are the musical guest and play not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4(!!!) songs! Don't worry, one of them IS a cover from the 1930s.And...its Halloween (almost)!!Subscribe today! And follow us on social media on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.

GGACP ushers in Halloween season by revisiting this frequently hilarious conversation from 2019 as Universal Studios Tour Guide Chris DeRose joins GIlbert, Frank (and Raybone) to compare and contrast two ghoulish 1960s TV series, CBS' "The Munsters" and ABC's "The Addams Family." Also in this episode: Buck Henry cries foul, Mel Blanc voices a raven, Don Rickles guest stars on BOTH series and Gilbert remembers "The Incredible Melting Man"! PLUS: Bobby "Boris" Pickett!"! "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken”! The genius of Nat Perrin! (and Vic Mizzy)! Butch Patrick peddles Woof Woof dolls! And John Astin chooses the name “Gomez”! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We continue our miniseries on the 1980s movies distributed by Miramax Films, with a look at the films released in 1988. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   On this episode, we finally continue with the next part of our look back at the 1980s movies distributed by Miramax Films, specifically looking at 1988.   But before we get there, I must issue another mea culpa. In our episode on the 1987 movies from Miramax, I mentioned that a Kiefer Sutherland movie called Crazy Moon never played in another theatre after its disastrous one week Oscar qualifying run in Los Angeles in December 1987.   I was wrong.   While doing research on this episode, I found one New York City playdate for the film, in early February 1988. It grossed a very dismal $3200 at the 545 seat Festival Theatre during its first weekend, and would be gone after seven days.   Sorry for the misinformation.   1988 would be a watershed year for the company, as one of the movies they acquired for distribution would change the course of documentary filmmaking as we knew it, and another would give a much beloved actor his first Academy Award nomination while giving the company its first Oscar win.   But before we get to those two movies, there's a whole bunch of others to talk about first.   Of the twelve movies Miramax would release in 1988, only four were from America. The rest would be a from a mixture of mostly Anglo-Saxon countries like the UK, Canada, France and Sweden, although there would be one Spanish film in there.   Their first release of the new year, Le Grand Chemin, told the story of a timid nine-year-old boy from Paris who spends one summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother has lodged the boy with her friend and her friend's husband while Mom has another baby. The boy makes friends with a slightly older girl next door, and learns about life from her.   Richard Bohringer, who plays the friend's husband, and Anémone, who plays the pregnant mother, both won Cesars, the French equivalent to the Oscars, in their respective lead categories, and the film would be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of 1987 by the National Board of Review. Miramax, who had picked up the film at Cannes several months earlier, waited until January 22nd, 1988, to release it in America, first at the Paris Theatre in midtown Manhattan, where it would gross a very impressive $41k in its first three days. In its second week, it would drop less than 25% of its opening weekend audience, bringing in another $31k. But shortly after that, the expected Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film did not come, and business on the film slowed to a trickle. But it kept chugging on, and by the time the film finished its run in early June, it had grossed $541k.   A week later, on January 29th, Miramax would open another French film, Light Years. An animated science fiction film written and directed by René Laloux, best known for directing the 1973 animated head trip film Fantastic Planet, Light Years was the story of an evil force from a thousand years in the future who begins to destroy an idyllic paradise where the citizens are in perfect harmony with nature.   In its first three days at two screens in Los Angeles and five screens in the San Francisco Bay Area, Light Years would gross a decent $48,665. Miramax would print a self-congratulating ad in that week's Variety touting the film's success, and thanking Isaac Asimov, who helped to write the English translation, and many of the actors who lent their vocal talents to the new dub, including Glenn Close, Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Grey, Christopher Plummer, and Penn and Teller. Yes, Teller speaks. The ad was a message to both the theatre operators and the major players in the industry. Miramax was here. Get used to it.   But that ad may have been a bit premature.   While the film would do well in major markets during its initial week in theatres, audience interest would drop outside of its opening week in big cities, and be practically non-existent in college towns and other smaller cities. Its final box office total would be just over $370k.   March 18th saw the release of a truly unique film.    Imagine a film directed by Robert Altman and Bruce Beresford and Jean-Luc Godard and Derek Jarman and Franc Roddam and Nicolas Roeg and Ken Russell and Charles Sturridge and Julien Temple. Imagine a film that starred Beverly D'Angelo, Bridget Fonda in her first movie, Julie Hagerty, Buck Henry, Elizabeth Hurley and John Hurt and Theresa Russell and Tilda Swinton. Imagine a film that brought together ten of the most eclectic filmmakers in the world doing four to fourteen minute short films featuring the arias of some of the most famous and beloved operas ever written, often taken out of their original context and placed into strange new places. Like, for example, the aria for Verdi's Rigoletto set at the kitschy Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, where a movie producer is cheating on his wife while she is in a nearby room with a hunky man who is not her husband. Imagine that there's almost no dialogue in the film. Just the arias to set the moments.   That is Aria.   If you are unfamiliar with opera in general, and these arias specifically, that's not a problem. When I saw the film at the Nickelodeon Theatre in Santa Cruz in June 1988, I knew some Wagner, some Puccini, and some Verdi, through other movies that used the music as punctuation for a scene. I think the first time I had heard Nessun Dorma was in The Killing Fields. Vesti La Giubba in The Untouchables. But this would be the first time I would hear these arias as they were meant to be performed, even if they were out of context within their original stories. Certainly, Wagner didn't intend the aria from Tristan und Isolde to be used to highlight a suicide pact between a young couple killing themselves in a Las Vegas hotel bathroom.   Aria definitely split critics when it premiered at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, when it competed for the festival's main prize, the Palme D'Or. Roger Ebert would call it the first MTV opera and felt the filmmakers were poking fun at their own styles, while Leonard Maltin felt most of the endeavor was a waste of time. In the review for the New York Times, Janet Maslin would also make a reference to MTV but not in a positive way, and would note the two best parts of the film were the photo montage that is seen over the end credits, and the clever licensing of Chuck Jones's classic Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Opera, Doc, to play with the film, at least during its New York run. In the Los Angeles Times, the newspaper chose one of its music critics to review the film. They too would compare the film to MTV, but also to Fantasia, neither reference meant to be positive.   It's easy to see what might have attracted Harvey Weinstein to acquire the film.   Nudity.   And lots of it.   Including from a 21 year old Hurley, and a 22 year old Fonda.   Open at the 420 seat Ridgemont Theatre in Seattle on March 18th, 1988, Aria would gross a respectable $10,600. It would be the second highest grossing theatre in the city, only behind The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which grossed $16,600 in its fifth week at the 850 seat Cinerama Theatre, which was and still is the single best theatre in Seattle. It would continue to do well in Seattle, but it would not open until April 15th in Los Angeles and May 20th in New York City.   But despite some decent notices and the presence of some big name directors, Aria would stiff at the box office, grossing just $1.03m after seven months in theatres.   As we discussed on our previous episode, there was a Dennis Hopper movie called Riders on the Storm that supposedly opened in November 1987, but didn't. It did open in theatres in May of 1988, and now we're here to talk about it.   Riders on the Storm would open in eleven theatres in the New York City area on May 7th, including three theatres in Manhattan. Since Miramax did not screen the film for critics before release, never a good sign, the first reviews wouldn't show up until the following day, since the critics would actually have to go see the film with a regular audience. Vincent Canby's review for the New York Times would arrive first, and surprisingly, he didn't completely hate the film. But audiences didn't care. In its first weekend in New York City, Riders on the Storm would gross an anemic $25k. The following Friday, Miramax would open the film at two theatres in Baltimore, four theatres in Fort Worth TX (but surprisingly none in Dallas), one theatre in Los Angeles and one theatre in Springfield OH, while continuing on only one screen in New York. No reported grosses from Fort Worth, LA or Springfield, but the New York theatre reported ticket sales of $3k for the weekend, a 57% drop from its previous week, while the two in Baltimore combined for $5k.   There would be more single playdates for a few months. Tampa the same week as New York. Atlanta, Charlotte, Des Moines and Memphis in late May. Cincinnati in late June. Boston, Calgary, Ottawa and Philadelphia in early July. Greenville SC in late August. Evansville IL, Ithaca NY and San Francisco in early September. Chicago in late September. It just kept popping up in random places for months, always a one week playdate before heading off to the next location. And in all that time, Miramax never reported grosses. What little numbers we do have is from the theatres that Variety was tracking, and those numbers totaled up to less than $30k.   Another mostly lost and forgotten Miramax release from 1988 is Caribe, a Canadian production that shot in Belize about an amateur illegal arms trader to Central American terrorists who must go on the run after a deal goes down bad, because who wants to see a Canadian movie about an amateur illegal arms trader to Canadian terrorists who must go on the run in the Canadian tundra after a deal goes down bad?   Kara Glover would play Helen, the arms dealer, and John Savage as Jeff, a British intelligence agent who helps Helen.   Caribe would first open in Detroit on May 20th, 1988. Can you guess what I'm going to say next?   Yep.   No reported grosses, no theatres playing the film tracked by Variety.   The following week, Caribe opens in the San Francisco Bay Area, at the 300 seat United Artists Theatre in San Francisco, and three theatres in the South Bay. While Miramax once again did not report grosses, the combined gross for the four theatres, according to Variety, was a weak $3,700. Compare that to Aria, which was playing at the Opera Plaza Cinemas in its third week in San Francisco, in an auditorium 40% smaller than the United Artist, grossing $5,300 on its own.   On June 3rd, Caribe would open at the AMC Fountain Square 14 in Nashville. One show only on Friday and Saturday at 11:45pm. Miramax did not report grosses. Probably because people we going to see Willie Tyler and Lester at Zanie's down the street.   And again, it kept cycling around the country, one or two new playdates in each city it played in. Philadelphia in mid-June. Indianapolis in mid-July. Jersey City in late August. Always for one week, grosses never reported.   Miramax's first Swedish release of the year was called Mio, but this was truly an international production. The $4m film was co-produced by Swedish, Norwegian and Russian production companies, directed by a Russian, adapted from a Swedish book by an American screenwriter, scored by one of the members of ABBA, and starring actors from England, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.   Mio tells the story of a boy from Stockholm who travels to an otherworldly fantasy realm and frees the land from an evil knight's oppression. What makes this movie memorable today is that Mio's best friend is played by none other than Christian Bale, in his very first film.   The movie was shot in Moscow, Stockholm, the Crimea, Scotland, and outside Pripyat in the Northern part of what is now Ukraine, between March and July 1986. In fact, the cast and crew were shooting outside Pripyat on April 26th, when they got the call they needed to evacuate the area. It would be hours later when they would discover there had been a reactor core meltdown at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They would have to scramble to shoot in other locations away from Ukraine for a month, and when they were finally allowed to return, the area they were shooting in deemed to have not been adversely affected by the worst nuclear power plant accident in human history,, Geiger counters would be placed all over the sets, and every meal served by craft services would need to be read to make sure it wasn't contaminated.   After premiering at the Moscow Film Festival in July 1987 and the Norwegian Film Festival in August, Mio would open in Sweden on October 16th, 1987. The local critics would tear the film apart. They hated that the filmmakers had Anglicized the movie with British actors like Christopher Lee, Susannah York, Christian Bale and Nicholas Pickard, an eleven year old boy also making his film debut. They also hated how the filmmakers adapted the novel by the legendary Astrid Lindgren, whose Pippi Longstocking novels made her and her works world famous. Overall, they hated pretty much everything about it outside of Christopher Lee's performance and the production's design in the fantasy world.   Miramax most likely picked it up trying to emulate the success of The Neverending Story, which had opened to great success in most of the world in 1984. So it might seem kinda odd that when they would open the now titled The Land of Faraway in theatres, they wouldn't go wide but instead open it on one screen in Atlanta GA on June 10th, 1988. And, once again, Miramax did not report grosses, and Variety did not track Atlanta theatres that week. Two weeks later, they would open the film in Miami. How many theatres? Can't tell you. Miramax did not report grosses, and Variety was not tracking any of the theatres in Miami playing the film. But hey, Bull Durham did pretty good in Miami that week.   The film would next open in theatres in Los Angeles. This time, Miramax bought a quarter page ad in the Los Angeles Times on opening day to let people know the film existed. So we know it was playing on 18 screens that weekend. And, once again, Miramax did not report grosses for the film. But on the two screens it played on that Variety was tracking, the combined gross was just $2,500.   There'd be other playdates. Kansas City and Minneapolis in mid-September. Vancouver, BC in early October. Palm Beach FL in mid October. Calgary AB and Fort Lauderdale in late October. Phoenix in mid November. And never once did Miramax report any grosses for it.   One week after Mio, Miramax would release a comedy called Going Undercover.   Now, if you listened to our March 2021 episode on Some Kind of Wonderful, you may remember be mentioning Lea Thompson taking the role of Amanda Jones in that film, a role she had turned down twice before, the week after Howard the Duck opened, because she was afraid she'd never get cast in a movie again. And while Some Kind of Wonderful wasn't as big a film as you'd expect from a John Hughes production, Thompson did indeed continue to work, and is still working to this day.   So if you were looking at a newspaper ad in several cities in June 1988 and saw her latest movie and wonder why she went back to making weird little movies.   She hadn't.   This was a movie she had made just before Back to the Future, in August and September 1984.   Originally titled Yellow Pages, the film starred film legend Jean Simmons as Maxine, a rich woman who has hired Chris Lemmon's private investigator Henry Brilliant to protect her stepdaughter Marigold during her trip to Copenhagen.   The director, James Clarke, had written the script specifically for Lemmon, tailoring his role to mimic various roles played by his famous father, Jack Lemmon, over the decades, and for Simmons. But Thompson was just one of a number of young actresses they looked at before making their casting choice.   Half of the $6m budget would come from a first-time British film producer, while the other half from a group of Danish investors wanting to lure more Hollywood productions to their area.   The shoot would be plagued by a number of problems. The shoot in Los Angeles coincided with the final days of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which would cut out using some of the best and most regularly used locations in the city, and a long-lasting heat wave that would make outdoor shoots unbearable for cast and crew. When they arrived in Copenhagen at the end of August, Denmark was going through an unusually heavy storm front that hung around for weeks.   Clarke would spend several months editing the film, longer than usual for a smaller production like this, but he in part was waiting to see how Back to the Future would do at the box office. If the film was a hit, and his leading actress was a major part of that, it could make it easier to sell his film to a distributor.   Or that was line of thinking.   Of course, Back to the Future was a hit, and Thompson received much praise for her comedic work on the film.   But that didn't make it any easier to sell his film.   The producer would set the first screenings for the film at the February 1986 American Film Market in Santa Monica, which caters not only to foreign distributors looking to acquire American movies for their markets, but helps independent filmmakers get their movies seen by American distributors.   As these screenings were for buyers by invitation only, there would be no reviews from the screenings, but one could guess that no one would hear about the film again until Miramax bought the American distribution rights to it in March 1988 tells us that maybe those screenings didn't go so well.   The film would get retitled Going Undercover, and would open in single screen playdates in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, St. Louis and Tampa on June 17th. And as I've said too many times already, no reported grosses from Miramax, and only one theatre playing the film was being tracked by Variety, with Going Undercover earning $3,000 during its one week at the Century City 14 in Los Angeles.   In the June 22nd, 1988 issue of Variety, there was an article about Miramax securing a $25m line of credit in order to start producing their own films. Going Undercover is mentioned in the article about being one of Miramax's releases, without noting it had just been released that week or how well it did or did not do.   The Thin Blue Line would be Miramax's first non-music based documentary, and one that would truly change how documentaries were made.   Errol Morris had already made two bizarre but entertaining documentaries in the late 70s and early 80s. Gates of Heaven was shot in 1977, about a man who operated a failing pet cemetery in Northern California's Napa Valley. When Morris told his famous German filmmaking supporter Werner Herzog about the film, Herzog vowed to eat one of the shoes he was wearing that day if Morris could actually complete the film and have it shown in a public theatre. In April 1979, just before the documentary had its world premiere at UC Theatre in Berkeley, where Morris had studied philosophy, Herzog would spend the morning at Chez Pannise, the creators of the California Cuisine cooking style, boiling his shoes for five hours in garlic, herbs and stock. This event itself would be commemorated in a documentary short called, naturally, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, by Les Blank, which is a must watch on its own.   Because of the success of Gates of Heaven, Morris was able to quickly find financing for his next film, Nub City, which was originally supposed to be about the number of Vernon, Florida's citizens who have “accidentally” cut off their limbs, in order to collect the insurance money. But after several of those citizens threatened to kill Morris, and one of them tried to run down his cinematographer with their truck, Morris would rework the documentary, dropping the limb angle, no pun intended, and focus on the numerous eccentric people in the town. It would premiere at the 1981 New York Film Festival, and become a hit, for a documentary, when it was released in theatres in 1982.   But it would take Morris another six years after completing Vernon, Florida, to make another film. Part of it was having trouble lining up full funding to work on his next proposed movie, about James Grigson, a Texas forensic psychiatrist whose was nicknamed Doctor Death for being an expert witness for the prosecution in death penalty cases in Texas. Morris had gotten seed money for the documentary from PBS and the Endowment for Public Arts, but there was little else coming in while he worked on the film. In fact, Morris would get a PI license in New York and work cases for two years, using every penny he earned that wasn't going towards living expenses to keep the film afloat.   One of Morris's major problems for the film was that Grigson would not sit on camera for an interview, but would meet with Morris face to face to talk about the cases. During that meeting, the good doctor suggested to the filmmaker that he should research the killers he helped put away. And during that research, Morris would come across the case of one Randall Dale Adams, who was convicted of killing Dallas police officer Robert Wood in 1976, even though another man, David Harris, was the police's initial suspect. For two years, Morris would fly back and forth between New York City and Texas, talking to and filming interviews with Adams and more than two hundred other people connected to the shooting and the trial. Morris had become convinced Adams was indeed innocent, and dropped the idea about Dr. Grigson to solely focus on the Robert Wood murder.   After showing the producers of PBS's American Playhouse some of the footage he had put together of the new direction of the film, they kicked in more funds so that Morris could shoot some re-enactment sequences outside New York City, as well as commission composer Phillip Glass to create a score for the film once it was completed. Documentaries at that time did not regularly use re-enactments, but Morris felt it was important to show how different personal accounts of the same moment can be misinterpreted or misremembered or outright manipulated to suppress the truth.   After the film completed its post-production in March 1988, The Thin Blue Line would have its world premiere at the San Francisco Film Festival on March 18th, and word quickly spread Morris had something truly unique and special on his hands. The critic for Variety would note in the very first paragraph of his write up that the film employed “strikingly original formal devices to pull together diverse interviews, film clips, photo collages, and” and this is where it broke ground, “recreations of the crime from many points of view.”   Miramax would put together a full court press in order to get the rights to the film, which was announced during the opening days of the 1988 Cannes Film Festival in early May. An early hint on how the company was going to sell the film was by calling it a “non-fiction feature” instead of a documentary.   Miramax would send Morris out on a cross-country press tour in the weeks leading up to the film's August 26th opening date, but Morris, like many documentary filmmakers, was not used to being in the spotlight themselves, and was not as articulate about talking up his movies as the more seasoned directors and actors who've been on the promotion circuit for a while. After one interview, Harvey Weinstein would send Errol Morris a note.   “Heard your NPR interview and you were boring.”   Harvey would offer up several suggestions to help the filmmaker, including hyping the movie up as a real life mystery thriller rather than a documentary, and using shorter and clearer sentences when answering a question.   It was a clear gamble to release The Thin Blue Line in the final week of summer, and the film would need a lot of good will to stand out.   And it would get it.   The New York Times was so enthralled with the film, it would not only run a review from Janet Maslin, who would heap great praise on the film, but would also run a lengthy interview with Errol Morris right next to the review. The quarter page ad in the New York Times, several pages back, would tout positive quotes from Roger Ebert, J. Hoberman, who had left The Village Voice for the then-new Premiere Magazine, Peter Travers, writing for People Magazine instead of Rolling Stone, and critics from the San Francisco Chronicle and, interestingly enough, the Dallas Morning News. The top of the ad was tagged with an intriguing tease: solving this mystery is going to be murder, with a second tag line underneath the key art and title, which called the film “a new kind of movie mystery.” Of the 15 New York area-based film critics for local newspapers, television and national magazines, 14 of them gave favorable reviews, while 1, Stephen Schiff of Vanity Fair, was ambivalent about it. Not one critic gave it a bad review.   New York audiences were hooked.   Opening in the 240 seat main house at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, the movie grossed $30,945 its first three days. In its second weekend, the gross at the Lincoln Plaza would jump to $31k, and adding another $27,500 from its two theatre opening in Los Angeles and $15,800 from a single DC theatre that week. Third week in New York was a still good $21k, but the second week in Los Angeles fell to $10,500 and DC to $10k. And that's how it rolled out for several months, mostly single screen bookings in major cities not called Los Angeles or New York City, racking up some of the best reviews Miramax would receive to date, but never breaking out much outside the major cities. When it looked like Santa Cruz wasn't going to play the film, I drove to San Francisco to see it, just as my friends and I had for the opening day of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ in mid-August. That's 75 miles each way, plus parking in San Francisco, just to see a movie. That's when you know you no longer just like movies but have developed a serious case of cinephilea. So when The Nickelodeon did open the film in late November, I did something I had never done with any documentary before.   I went and saw it again.   Second time around, I was still pissed off at the outrageous injustice heaped upon Randall Dale Adams for nothing more than being with and trusting the wrong person at the wrong time. But, thankfully, things would turn around for Adams in the coming weeks. On December 1st, it was reported that David Harris had recanted his testimony at Adams' trial, admitting he was alone when Officer Wood stopped his car. And on March 1st, 1989, after more than 15,000 people had signed the film's petition to revisit the decision, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Adams's conviction “based largely” on facts presented in the film.   The film would also find itself in several more controversies.   Despite being named The Best Documentary of the Year by a number of critics groups, the Documentary Branch of the  Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would not nominate the film, due in large part to the numerous reenactments presented throughout the film. Filmmaker Michael Apted, a member of the Directors Branch of the Academy, noted that the failure to acknowledge The Thin Blue Line was “one of the most outrageous things in the modern history of the Academy,” while Roger Ebert added the slight was “the worst non-nomination of the year.” Despite the lack of a nomination, Errol Morris would attend the Oscars ceremony in March 1989, as a protest for his film being snubbed.   Morris would also, several months after Adams' release, find himself being sued by Adams, but not because of how he was portrayed in the film. During the making of the film, Morris had Adams sign a contract giving Morris the exclusive right to tell Adams's story, and Adams wanted, essentially, the right to tell his own story now that he was a free man. Morris and Adams would settle out of court, and Adams would regain his life rights.   Once the movie was played out in theatres, it had grossed $1.2m, which on the surface sounds like not a whole lot of money. Adjusted for inflation, that would only be $3.08m. But even unadjusted for inflation, it's still one of the 100 highest grossing documentaries of the past forty years. And it is one of just a handful of documentaries to become a part of the National Film Registry, for being a culturally, historically or aesthetically significant film.”   Adams would live a quiet life after his release, working as an anti-death penalty advocate and marrying the sister of one of the death row inmates he was helping to exonerate. He would pass away from a brain tumor in October 2010 at a courthouse in Ohio not half an hour from where he was born and still lived, but he would so disappear from the spotlight after the movie was released that his passing wasn't even reported until June 2011.   Errol Morris would become one of the most celebrated documentarians of his generation, finally getting nominated for, and winning, an Oscar in 2003, for The Fog of War, about the life and times of Robert McNamara, Richard Nixon's Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War era. The Fog of War would also be added to the National Film Registry in 2019. Morris would become only the third documentarian, after D.A. Pennebaker and Les Blank, to have two films on the Registry.   In 1973, the senseless killings of five members of the Alday family in Donalsonville GA made international headlines. Four years later, Canadian documentarian Tex Fuller made an award-winning documentary about the case, called Murder One. For years, Fuller shopped around a screenplay telling the same story, but it would take nearly a decade for it to finally be sold, in part because Fuller was insistent that he also be the director. A small Canadian production company would fund the $1m CAD production, which would star Henry Thomas of E.T. fame as the fifteen year old narrator of the story, Billy Isaacs.   The shoot began in early October 1987 outside Toronto, but after a week of shooting, Fuller was fired, and was replaced by Graeme Campbell, a young and energetic filmmaker for whom Murder One would be his fourth movie directing gig of the year. Details are sketchy as to why Fuller was fired, but Thomas and his mother Carolyn would voice concerns with the producers about the new direction the film was taking under its new director.   The film would premiere in Canada in May 1988. When the film did well up North, Miramax took notice and purchased the American distribution rights.   Murder One would first open in America on two screens in Los Angeles on September 9th, 1988. Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times noted that while the film itself wasn't very good, that it still sprung from the disturbing insight about the crazy reasons people cross of what should be impassable moral lines.   “No movie studio could have invented it!,” screamed the tagline on the poster and newspaper key art. “No writer could have imagined it! Because what happened that night became the most controversial in American history.”   That would draw limited interest from filmgoers in Tinseltown. The two theatres would gross a combined $7k in its first three days. Not great but far better than several other recent Miramax releases in the area.   Two weeks later, on September 23rd, Miramax would book Murder One into 20 theatres in the New York City metro region, as well as in Akron, Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianpolis, Nashville, and Tampa-St. Petersburg. In New York, the film would actually get some good reviews from the Times and the Post as well as Peter Travers of People Magazine, but once again, Miramax would not report grosses for the film. Variety would note the combined gross for the film in New York City was only $25k.   In early October, the film would fall out of Variety's internal list of the 50 Top Grossing Films within the twenty markets they regularly tracked, with a final gross of just $87k. One market that Miramax deliberately did not book the film was anywhere near southwest Georgia, where the murders took place. The closest theatre that did play the film was more than 200 miles away.   Miramax would finish 1988 with two releases.   The first was Dakota, which would mark star Lou Diamond Phillips first time as a producer. He would star as a troubled teenager who takes a job on a Texas horse ranch to help pay of his debts, who becomes a sorta big brother to the ranch owner's young son, who has recently lost a leg to cancer, as he also falls for the rancher's daughter.   When the $1.1m budgeted film began production in Texas in June 1987, Phillips had already made La Bamba and Stand and Deliver, but neither had yet to be released into theatres. By the time filming ended five weeks later, La Bamba had just opened, and Phillips was on his way to becoming a star.   The main producers wanted director Fred Holmes to get the film through post-production as quickly as possible, to get it into theatres in the early part of 1988 to capitalize on the newfound success of their young star.    But that wouldn't happen.   Holmes wouldn't have the film ready until the end of February 1988, which was deemed acceptable because of the impending release of Stand and Deliver. In fact, the producers would schedule their first distributor screening of the film on March 14th, the Monday after Stand and Delivered opened, in the hopes that good box office for the film and good notices for Phillips would translate to higher distributor interest in their film, which sorta worked. None of the major studios would show for the screening, but a number of Indies would, including Miramax. Phillips would not attend the screening, as he was on location in New Mexico shooting Young Guns.   I can't find any reason why Miramax waited nearly nine months after they acquired Dakota to get it into theatres. It certainly wasn't Oscar bait, and screen availability would be scarce during the busy holiday movie season, which would see a number of popular, high profile releases like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Ernest Saves Christmas, The Naked Gun, Rain Man, Scrooged, Tequila Sunrise, Twins and Working Girl. Which might explain why, when Miramax released the film into 18 theatres in the New York City area on December 2nd, they could only get three screens in all of Manhattan, the best being the nice but hardly first-rate Embassy 4 at Broadway and 47th. Or of the 22 screens in Los Angeles opening the film the same day, the best would be the tiny Westwood 4 next to UCLA or the Paramount in Hollywood, whose best days were back in the Eisenhower administration.   And, yet again, Miramax did not report grosses, and none of the theatres playing the film was tracked by Variety that week. The film would be gone after just one week. The Paramount, which would open Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on the 14th, opted to instead play a double feature of Clara's Heart, with Whoopi Goldberg and Neil Patrick Harris, and the River Phoenix drama Running on Empty, even though neither film had been much of a hit.   Miramax's last film of the year would be the one that changed everything for them.   Pelle the Conquerer.   Adapted from a 1910 Danish book and directed by Billie August, whose previous film Twist and Shout had been released by Miramax in 1986, Pelle the Conquerer would be the first Danish or Swedish movie to star Max von Sydow in almost 15 years, having spent most of the 70s and 80s in Hollywood and London starring in a number of major movies including The Exorcist, Three Days of the Condor, Flash Gordon,Conan the Barbarian, Never Say Never Again, and David Lynch's Dune. But because von Sydow would be making his return to his native cinema, August was able to secure $4.5m to make the film, one of the highest budgeted Scandinavian films to be made to date.   In the late 1850s, an elderly emigrant Lasse and his son Pelle leave their home in Sweden after the death of the boy's mother, wanting to build a new life on the Danish island of Bornholm. Lasse finds it difficult to find work, given his age and his son's youth. The pair are forced to work at a large farm, where they are generally mistreated by the managers for being foreigners. The father falls into depression and alcoholism, the young boy befriends one of the bastard children of the farm owner as well as another Swedish farm worker, who dreams of conquering the world.   For the title character of Pelle, Billie August saw more than 3,000 Swedish boys before deciding to cast 11 year old Pelle Hvenegaard, who, like many boys in Sweden, had been named for the character he was now going to play on screen.   After six months of filming in the summer and fall of 1986, Billie August would finish editing Pelle the Conquerer in time for it to make its intended Christmas Day 1987 release date in Denmark and Sweden, where the film would be one of the biggest releases in either country for the entire decade. It would make its debut outside Scandinavia at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1988, where it had been invited to compete for the Palme D'Or. It would compete against a number of talented filmmakers who had come with some of the best films they would ever make, including Clint Eastwood with Bird, Claire Denis' Chocolat, István Szabó's Hanussen, Vincent Ward's The Navigator, and A Short Film About Killing, an expanded movie version of the fifth episode in Krzysztof Kieślowski's masterful miniseries Dekalog. Pelle would conquer them all, taking home the top prize from one of cinema's most revered film festivals.   Reviews for the film out of Cannes were almost universally excellent. Vincent Canby, the lead film critic for the New York Times for nearly twenty years by this point, wouldn't file his review until the end of the festival, in which he pointed out that a number of people at the festival were scandalized von Sydow had not also won the award for Best Actor.   Having previously worked with the company on his previous film's American release, August felt that Miramax would have what it took to make the film a success in the States.   Their first moves would be to schedule the film for a late December release, while securing a slot at that September's New York Film Festival. And once again, the critical consensus was highly positive, with only a small sampling of distractors.   The film would open first on two screens at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, December 21st, following by exclusive engagements in nine other cities including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC, on the 23rd. But the opening week numbers weren't very good, just $46k from ten screens. And you can't really blame the film's two hour and forty-five minute running time. Little Dorrit, the two-part, four hour adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, had been out nine weeks at this point and was still making nearly 50% more per screen.   But after the new year, when more and more awards were hurled the film's way, including the National Board of Review naming it one of the best foreign films of the year and the Golden Globes awarding it their Best Foreign Language trophy, ticket sales would pick up.   Well, for a foreign film.   The week after the Motion Picture Academy awarded Pelle their award for Best Foreign Language Film, business for the film would pick up 35%, and a third of its $2m American gross would come after that win.   One of the things that surprised me while doing the research for this episode was learning that Max von Sydow had never been nominated for an Oscar until he was nominated for Best Actor for Pelle the Conquerer. You look at his credits over the years, and it's just mind blowing. The Seventh Seal. Wild Strawberries. The Virgin Spring. The Greatest Story Ever Told. The Emigrants. The Exorcist. The Three Days of the Condor. Surely there was one performance amongst those that deserved recognition.   I hate to keep going back to A24, but there's something about a company's first Oscar win that sends that company into the next level. A24 didn't really become A24 until 2016, when three of their movies won Oscars, including Brie Larson for Best Actress in Room. And Miramax didn't really become the Miramax we knew and once loved until its win for Pelle.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 117, the fifth and final part of our miniseries on Miramax Films, is released.     Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

In television, a show's “bible” is a collection of the rules for the world of a particular show, to keep writers on track with their scripts. The makeshift bible that Lorenzo Semple, Jr., wrote for Batman is lost to history, but what might have been in it? What are the rules that we can see the show following? Tim has compiled some and presents them here — and asks for your suggestions. In a recent Bat Inbox, we discussed some comments writer Buck Henry made about Batman and camp shortly after the show premiered. The comments struck Paul as being off-target and showing a poor understanding of what camp is. Is camp not comedy? Was Henry's co-creation Get Smart not a campy show? Paul's given it some more thought and research, and furthers that discussion in this episode. Plus, the Kydoniai Orchestra version of the theme, the conclusion of Adam West's Cinefix interview from 2014, and your response to our second Batman/Star Trek act-off. "Gilligan and Captain Kirk have more in common than you think: 1960s Camp TV as an alternative geneology for cult TV" by W.D. Phillips and Isabel Pinedo

Buck Henry is back! One of the most reliable hosts returns to Saturday Night to deliver another strong performance.  AND - Jon Schneider, from The Saturday Night Network, is back as the podcast's first returning guest to discuss the episode!Fresh off their Emmy wins, the cast and crew put together a pretty decent show on a short week but do rely on Buck to pull them out of a few jams. Of course, with Buck comes a Samurai sketch (another classic) plus we also get Baba Wawa, Garrett singing opera, and are treated to one of the best monologues...possibly ever?Canadian darling Gordon Lightfoot is the musical guest, if you're into that sort of thing...Subscribe today! And follow us on social media on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.

The bros explore their disillusionment and the anxieties of their futures in this episode on the 1967 film, The Graduate. Written by Calder Willingham & Buck Henry and Directed by Mike Nichols. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefilmbrospodcast Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4g9YbMBwRIKzDTV4uXt5Eg The bros Letterboxd's: @_isaiahlucas @lilabey @NickGowinPlaces

Nick's guest is legendary character actor Stephen Tobolowsky, star of hundreds of TV shows and movies including: "Groundhog Day," "Thelma and Louise," "Memento," "The Goldbergs," One Day at a Time," and "GLEE." Tobo talks about how SNL revolutionized his world back in 1975, and continued to inspire him as the years passed. He talks about the pods of genius that began with the very first episode, and discusses his favorite sketches (John Belushi's Samurai sketches, Chevy Chase's physical Gerald Ford bits) and cast members (Dana Carvey, Chris Farley, to name a few) thru the years, and he shares some AMAZING stories about working with such SNL legends as: Bill Murray, Ana Gasteyer, Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Buck Henry, Jim Belushi, Chevy Chase, Will Farrell....and many more. This is a great conversation with a great actor, telling great stories, about great performers, and the importance of "Saturday Night Live." [EP25]

Welcome back to SNL Stories, our interview podcast series where the Saturday Night Network catches up with SNL alumni from all eras of the show! Our next guest is Connie Crawford, who was a finalist for the Anyone Can Host contest. In the Fall of 1977, Lorne Michaels and the producers of Saturday Night Live held a contest to allow regular viewers of SNL to apply and host the show. Out of 150,000 applicants, Connie was 1 of 5 finalists who made it to Studio 8H to appear on the Buck Henry episode and compete for votes. In this podcast, Connie discusses her experience meeting the original SNL cast, becoming a local celebrity, and appearing on the show! Hope you enjoy this interview hosted by Jon Schneider, James Stephens, and Bill Kenney! The video version of our interview is available here: https://youtu.be/tl22Hzlx_SE ----- Welcome to the official Saturday Night Network podcast feed, where you will hear audio from our weekly roundtables discussing all things SNL. Podcast hosts, journalists that cover the show, and superfans will look back at the entire history of Saturday Night Live and talk about how the legacy of Season 48 compares to all eras of the show. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram (⁠⁠⁠@thesnlnetwork⁠⁠⁠) and subscribe on YouTube ⁠⁠⁠thesnlnetwork⁠⁠⁠ to never miss an episode! Catch up on other interviews: Heidi Gardner SNL Season 48 Interview (June 12, 2023) ⁠SNL Stories: Aristotle Athari (May 22, 2023)⁠ ⁠⁠Mikey Day SNL Season 48 Interview (Apr 13, 2023)⁠⁠ ⁠⁠SNL Stories: Darrell Hammond (Mar 20, 2023)⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Denny Dillon (Feb 15, 2023)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Neil Levy (Jan 19, 2023)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Bobby Moynihan (Dec 16, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Michael Streeter (Dec 9, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Paul Shaffer (Nov 23, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Jeffrey Gurian (Sept 1, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Tom "Bones" Malone (Aug 17, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠JFL Red Carpet Interviews (Jay Pharoah, Taylor Tomlinson, & more!) (Aug 4, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Redd on Season 47 (June 24, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Mitchell Kriegman (June 15, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Keith Raywood (April 1, 2022)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Dean Edwards (Dec 1, 2021)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stories: Judy Belushi Pisano (Nov 5, 2021)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Siobhan Fallon Hogan (Aug 10, 2021)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Director Don Roy King (May 4, 2021)⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠SNL Stats Roundtable with Gary Kroeger (Apr 6, 2021)