SeasonOne: Second Episode
2nd Episode
Host: Paul Simon
Musical Guests: Randy Newman and Phoebe Snow
Special Guest: Art Garfunkel
A film by Albert Brooks
An appearance by Jim Henson's Muppets
The second episode has been written about a lot in that it was planned as an all music episode by Lorne Michaels, knowing that getting the show off the ground would be hard enough that they wanted something easy for the second week. And, for the cast, it was. They only made one appearance, with Chevy getting the only real screen time of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players. I also was a bit surprised that Simon name checked him a few times and no one else...if it were fiction, that would be foreshadowing.
The Cold Open was Paul Simon singing “Still Crazy After All These Years.” A personal aside here: as a kid, my mother was a huge Paul Simon fan. She would play his albums around the house and sang along with them so much that when I hear his songs from the “Still Crazy” album (and ALL Simon and Garfunkel albums), I hear her voice singing along with the songs in my head. It actually sounds strange to me when I hear them without her voice.
As his finishes up, he motions for another guitar, Chevy comes out, trips and gives “Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!”
The credits (read correctly this time) roll, and Michael O'Donoghue is no longer listed as one of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.
We return to Paul Simon who introduces the Jesse Dixon Singers, who perform “Loves Me Like A Rock” in the best performance of the show. A GREAT version of that song, which is, oddly, a commentary on Nixon's last days in the White House according to Simon.
After the song, we get a parody ad with Jerry Rubin shilling “Protest Wallpaper” with 60's spray painted protests already printed on the paper. As it fades out we get the first funny caption as the camera picks out an audience member, which was a bit they did on these early shows that I had completely forgotten about.
Paul Simon sings part of the Randy Newman song “Marie”, mentions that he rarely performs on TV (remember the days when some performers were too cool to show up on TV? Yeah, those days are long gone) and then introduces him. Newman sings “Sail Away,” which is written as slave trader's sales pitch to attract slaves. After he finishes, the cast comes out in the bee costumes and is told by Simon that the bee sketch had been cut because it didn't go over well the week before. AND THAT IS THEIR ONLY APPEARANCE! Thanks for showing up, folks.
Chevy then does a VERY short Weekend Update and does the “on the phone not knowing the camera is on” bit for the first time. He does a few joke about President Ford (two of which have the exact same punchline) and introduces a film where Paul Simon takes on basketball player Connie Hawkins in a game on One on One, with Marv Albert interviewing and narrating. Great bit, but it does on too long before Simon beats him. At the end of the film, we don't go back to Chevy, but instead fade to commercial.
We return to Paul Simon introducing Art Garfunkel. They chat a bit, with Simon saying, “You won't run off to do any more movies, will you?” which seems a bit nastier NOW, given their history since this appearance.
They perform “The Boxer”, Scarborough Fair” and “My Little Town”, and are a bit rough around the edges (messing up the lyrics of My Little Town a few times), but it's still an amazing performance and it gets a huge audience reaction.
Art then performs his song “I Only Have Eyes For You,” and having little experience listening to Garfunkle on his own, I was less than impressed with the song. Sorry.
This is followed by the Muppets. The premice is that the head of the land doesn't have enough money to pay his bills. Is every bit about these Muppets going to end with someone or something being thrown down a well? Very little reaction from the audience, and all of the "Your flatulence" bits are met with stony silence. No wonder the writers hated working on this part of the show.
Albert Brooks's film is next, where he shows some of his childhood home movies and bits for upcoming films that didn't work. Really funny stuff and it reminded me of how much I always liked him.
Phoebe Snow then sings the old Billie Holiday song “No Regrets”. Simon and the Jesse Dixon Singers join her for a rendition of “Gone At Last” that my son was in the room for and said, “That's amazing! Who are these people!”
We get the final parody ad for the night for a long lasting heart battery, making fun of the old “DieHard” bit by having geriatric people outside overnight and seeing which one of them started up. It fell completely flat, with the audience no selling, and only a literal “smattering” of laughter. It probably didn't help that the show has become a concert and it seemed like an interruption rather than part of the show.
We close with Simon singing “American Tune” (another song Simon says was a reaction to Nixon). Bill Bradley comes out and present Simon with the “Best 1 to 1 basketball player” trophy, and he then thanks the audience, Chevy (?!?) and the rest of the people who work on the show and...we're out.
Don Pardo does a bit as the credit roll where he is announcing that he is announcing that he is announcing (and so on).
Overall Impression:
This was a great Paul Simon music special, highlighting him at a creative peak, and the other musical guests were excellent as well. It reminded me a lot more of the “Specials” the networks used to do instead of a NBC's Saturday Night episode, and got me wondering if the show would have done more of these episodes if the cast had not become “The Beatles of Comedy”.
Rating: Come on, Randy Newman, a Simon and Garfunkle reunion and an hour of great music? A solid 5.
Best bit of the show: The film with Paul Simon beating Connie Hawkins at Basketball.
Host: Paul Simon
Musical Guests: Randy Newman and Phoebe Snow
Special Guest: Art Garfunkel
A film by Albert Brooks
An appearance by Jim Henson's Muppets
The second episode has been written about a lot in that it was planned as an all music episode by Lorne Michaels, knowing that getting the show off the ground would be hard enough that they wanted something easy for the second week. And, for the cast, it was. They only made one appearance, with Chevy getting the only real screen time of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players. I also was a bit surprised that Simon name checked him a few times and no one else...if it were fiction, that would be foreshadowing.
The Cold Open was Paul Simon singing “Still Crazy After All These Years.” A personal aside here: as a kid, my mother was a huge Paul Simon fan. She would play his albums around the house and sang along with them so much that when I hear his songs from the “Still Crazy” album (and ALL Simon and Garfunkel albums), I hear her voice singing along with the songs in my head. It actually sounds strange to me when I hear them without her voice.
As his finishes up, he motions for another guitar, Chevy comes out, trips and gives “Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!”
The credits (read correctly this time) roll, and Michael O'Donoghue is no longer listed as one of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.
We return to Paul Simon who introduces the Jesse Dixon Singers, who perform “Loves Me Like A Rock” in the best performance of the show. A GREAT version of that song, which is, oddly, a commentary on Nixon's last days in the White House according to Simon.
After the song, we get a parody ad with Jerry Rubin shilling “Protest Wallpaper” with 60's spray painted protests already printed on the paper. As it fades out we get the first funny caption as the camera picks out an audience member, which was a bit they did on these early shows that I had completely forgotten about.
Paul Simon sings part of the Randy Newman song “Marie”, mentions that he rarely performs on TV (remember the days when some performers were too cool to show up on TV? Yeah, those days are long gone) and then introduces him. Newman sings “Sail Away,” which is written as slave trader's sales pitch to attract slaves. After he finishes, the cast comes out in the bee costumes and is told by Simon that the bee sketch had been cut because it didn't go over well the week before. AND THAT IS THEIR ONLY APPEARANCE! Thanks for showing up, folks.
Chevy then does a VERY short Weekend Update and does the “on the phone not knowing the camera is on” bit for the first time. He does a few joke about President Ford (two of which have the exact same punchline) and introduces a film where Paul Simon takes on basketball player Connie Hawkins in a game on One on One, with Marv Albert interviewing and narrating. Great bit, but it does on too long before Simon beats him. At the end of the film, we don't go back to Chevy, but instead fade to commercial.
We return to Paul Simon introducing Art Garfunkel. They chat a bit, with Simon saying, “You won't run off to do any more movies, will you?” which seems a bit nastier NOW, given their history since this appearance.
They perform “The Boxer”, Scarborough Fair” and “My Little Town”, and are a bit rough around the edges (messing up the lyrics of My Little Town a few times), but it's still an amazing performance and it gets a huge audience reaction.
Art then performs his song “I Only Have Eyes For You,” and having little experience listening to Garfunkle on his own, I was less than impressed with the song. Sorry.
This is followed by the Muppets. The premice is that the head of the land doesn't have enough money to pay his bills. Is every bit about these Muppets going to end with someone or something being thrown down a well? Very little reaction from the audience, and all of the "Your flatulence" bits are met with stony silence. No wonder the writers hated working on this part of the show.
Albert Brooks's film is next, where he shows some of his childhood home movies and bits for upcoming films that didn't work. Really funny stuff and it reminded me of how much I always liked him.
Phoebe Snow then sings the old Billie Holiday song “No Regrets”. Simon and the Jesse Dixon Singers join her for a rendition of “Gone At Last” that my son was in the room for and said, “That's amazing! Who are these people!”
We get the final parody ad for the night for a long lasting heart battery, making fun of the old “DieHard” bit by having geriatric people outside overnight and seeing which one of them started up. It fell completely flat, with the audience no selling, and only a literal “smattering” of laughter. It probably didn't help that the show has become a concert and it seemed like an interruption rather than part of the show.
We close with Simon singing “American Tune” (another song Simon says was a reaction to Nixon). Bill Bradley comes out and present Simon with the “Best 1 to 1 basketball player” trophy, and he then thanks the audience, Chevy (?!?) and the rest of the people who work on the show and...we're out.
Don Pardo does a bit as the credit roll where he is announcing that he is announcing that he is announcing (and so on).
Overall Impression:
This was a great Paul Simon music special, highlighting him at a creative peak, and the other musical guests were excellent as well. It reminded me a lot more of the “Specials” the networks used to do instead of a NBC's Saturday Night episode, and got me wondering if the show would have done more of these episodes if the cast had not become “The Beatles of Comedy”.
Rating: Come on, Randy Newman, a Simon and Garfunkle reunion and an hour of great music? A solid 5.
Best bit of the show: The film with Paul Simon beating Connie Hawkins at Basketball.
posted by Cory!! @ 4:04 PM
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