Updated SNL Want list

If anyone has the following, please e-mail me DIRECTLY at bjdwsmATgmailDOTcom.  [Updated May 12, 2013]

First tier want list: copies of episodes where I only have a repeat version of the episode with a significant segment removed or altered.

• Bill Murray / Spinners (12/12/81): The live broadcast was interrupted by a news bulletin about martial law being declared in Poland, and the goodnights have a somber Bill Murray erroneously mentioninf that “the Soviets invaded Poland”. Robin Duke and Christine Ebersole are visibly crying. The rerun cuts most of the goodnights except for Bill saying that “our hearts are with the good people of Poland”.
• Robert Blake / Kenny Loggins (11/13/82): this is my most wanted episode because the rerun version is brutally edited. The entire “Best Little Whorehouse on The Prairie” sketch was removed from the rerun, as was Dick Ebersol saying Andy Kaufman was no longer funny enough to be on SNL. There’s also a visible edit after the “Jawgasms” line in the Dr. Jack Badofsky bit on Saturday Night News.  There is also a “next week” promotional segment featuring Brad Hall and Robin Duke in a Blue Lagoon takeoff.
• Eddie Murphy / Lionel Richie (12/11/82): A special Christmas Message with April May June cut, Hitchcock Hygiene and Reach Out added.  April May June segment is in the syndicated 60-minute edit and the old Starmaker Best of 1982 tape, but I want to see if I can find a complete recording of the original air (not Comedy Central).
• The Smothers Brothers / Big Country (12/03/83): the rerun cuts out the “Know Your Neighbor” sketch where Jim Belushi laughs when Julia Louis-Dreyfus explains Hanukkah traditions, as well as a musical interlude by the Smothers Brothers called “Fantasy For Auto Horn & Electronic Pulse in D Minor”.
• Flip Wilson / Stevie Nicks (12/10/83): the rerun edits out half of Flip’s monologue where he tells a Polish joke, and also removes a commercial parody with Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Gross) for “Older Sisters Of The Young”
• Don Rickles / Billy Idol (01/28/84): the rerun removes a 10-to-1 segment with David Letterman (Joe Piscopo) and Pee-Wee Herman (Mary Gross) advertising the David Letterman 2nd Anniversary Show in the SNL timeslot the next week.
• Billy Crystal, Betty Thomas, Mayor Ed Koch, Edwin Newman, Father Guido Sarducci / The Cars (05/12/84): I have an original air version of this one but there are segments paused out, including a sketch about Godzilla attacking a sushi restaurant that got cut from the rerun (only the last minute remains in my recording).
• Tom Hanks / Sade (12/14/85): The rerun version is missing a sketch with Nora Dunn and Joan Cusack as mothers taking a break from Christmas shopping. RECEIVED
• Tony Danza / Laurie Anderson (04/19/86): rerun is missing an AT&T commercial parody where Cliff Robertson (Randy Quaid) destroys his phone.

Second tier want list: copies of episodes that may have all segments intact but for which I don’t have a confirmed original air running order.  Also included are episodes where my more complete copy is a Comedy Central 90 minute show (minor edits and reshuffling to accomodate longer commercial breaks) and 1985-86 shows (due to the level of post-production editing in the repeats).

• Chevy Chase / Queen (09/25/1982)
• Howard Hesseman / Men At Work (10/23/82)
• Bruce Dern / Leon Redbone (03/12/83)
• Susan Saint James / Michael McDonald (04/16/83)
• Brandon Tartikoff / John Cougar (10/08/83)
• Father Guido Sarducci / Huey Lewis & The News (01/14/84)
• Michael Palin & his mother / The Motels (01/21/84)
• Edwin Newman / Kool & The Gang (02/25/84)
• Chevy Chase / Sheila E. (11/16/85)
• John Lithgow / Mr. Mister (12/07/85) RECEIVED
• Ron Reagan / The Nelsons (02/08/86)
• Jerry Hall / Stevie Ray Vaughn (02/15/86) RECEIVED
• George Wendt & Francis Ford Coppola / Philip Glass (03/22/86)
• Paul Simon & Catherine Oxenberg / Ladysmith Black Mambazo (05/10/86) RECEIVED
• Jimmy Breslin / Level 42, E.G. Daily (05/17/86)
• Anjelica Huston & Billy Martin / George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic (05/24/86) RECEIVED

Third tier want list: Original live broadcasts (with or without commercials, with commercials preferred) not listed above for any of these seasons, in good quality.

• 1980-81 except Elliott Gould, Karen Black, Charlene Tilton or Chevy Chase
• 1981-82 not listed above except Rod Stewart, John Madden, James Coburn, Bruce Dern, Robert Urich, Daniel J. Travanti or Danny DeVito.
• 1982-83 not listed above except for Louis Gossett Jr., Drew Barrymore, Sid Caesar, Howard Hesseman / Tom Petty or Joan Rivers.
• 1983-84 not listed above except for Jerry Lewis or George McGovern.
• 1984-85: Kathleen Turner, Pamela Sue Martin, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan, Howard Cosell
• 1985-86 not listed above except for Madonna and Dudley Moore.
• 1986-87: Sam Kinison and Steve Guttenberg shows from 1986-87.
• 1987-88 except for the Steve Martin, Sean Penn, Dabney Coleman, Robert Mitchum, Candice Bergen and Tom Hanks shows.
• 1988-89: Wayne Gretzky and Steve Martin shows.
• 1989-90: Kathleen Turner and Candice Bergen.

Also interested in:

• Late Night with David Letterman
• Late Night with Conan O’Brien
• Fridays (w/o/c)
• Almost Live! (1984-89 KING airings).

Almost Live!

I’m a fan of sketch comedy, and I figured I’d like to get a word in about a show that I discovered by accident thanks to the idiosyncracies of Canadian cable TV packages, where you can get channels from the other side of the country as part of a “time shifting” package.  Almost Live! was a half-hour sketch comedy show produced by Seattle NBC affiliate KING-TV between 1984 and 1999.  The reruns still play in the post-SNL spot on KING.  What makes this show particularly notable is that it was actually a non-news, non-talk show produced by a local TV station, which was practically unheard of then and even less likely now.  It had quite a bit of success, even launching a repackaged version that ran on Comedy Central in 1992.

John Keister

Pat Cashman

Bob Nelson

Bill Stainton

Being a local show, a lot of the show depends on references to Washington cities, suburbs and towns, but there is enough material for someone who has never been to Seattle to get in on the ground floor.  In fact, the local focus is done in a way that people get the jokes once they watch a few episodes, and some of the best material is the most explicitly local.  Despite being out of production for over a decade, it still holds a special place in many Seattleites’ hearts and remains a link to something that had disappeared as the city changed in recent years.

Joe Guppy

Tracey Conway

Bill Nye

Nancy Guppy

Steve Wilson

I have a slightly different perspective on the show, having never been to Seattle.  I was getting recordings of SNL from someone who got KING on their cable package (I’ll save my ranting about simultaneous subsititution for another post), and because the timer left a few minutes after the show ended, I would usually get the cold openings and the opening montages.  Eventually when I finally decided to spring for cable I ordered the Seattle stations.  I did a little research and found out that this was the show that launched the careers of Joel McHale (The Soup, Community) and Bill Nye (The Science Guy); in fact, Nye’s PBS show used a couple Almost Live! regulars and characters like short-tempered kung-fu etiquette master Billy Quan and bitter kids show host Uncle Fran.   I was pretty impressed with the bits I could find on Youtube, and eventually started recording the reruns myself.  Sometimes you could see the formulas were in place for some of the recurring sketches but because it was a shorter show, it usually kept a good hit-to-miss ratio and had a solid cast.

Ed Wyatt

Joel McHale

Brooks McBeth and Matt Smith

David Scully and Lauren Weedman

Today is the launch of a brand new fansite for this show, George Buford’s Almost Live! Fansite.  There are a few bugs to work out here and there but the site hopes to celebrate a piece of Seattle broadcast history, and I assisted the webmaster with a few things here and there.  In honor of the site launch, I thought I’d list a few of my favorite sketches:

Whiney Ass Kid World Book Encyclopedia: Steve Wilson (also the show’s director) spoofs the Encyclopedia Brittanica commercials from the early 90s that starred Donovan Freberg and irritated many.

Antiques Road Show: Various cast members bring their valuables to be appraised by John Keister.  Adding googly eyes to a Klimt doesn’t increase the value, despite what Lauren Weedman’s character believes.

The Family Dinner: A first-person perspective Christmas bit featuring Tracey Conway as a type-A mother and Nancy Guppy as her rebellious daughter.

Local Music Store: Matt Smith is a record store clerk with a certain way of criticizing his customers’ music selections.

The Sales Meeting: Perhaps the only business that would have the people they have on its board.  Features a very young Joel McHale.

Who Killed JFK Today: The game show where Bill Stainton, Tracey Conway and Bill Nye compete to come up with the best conspiracy theory regarding the Kennedy assassination.

First Impressions: Pat Cashman’s habits effectively doom his date with Nancy Guppy.  Unfortunately, his attempt to remedy them causes a whole new set of problems.

The Workout: Brooks McBeth leads an exercize bike workout with a novel way to keep peoples’ minds off the pain.

Red Meat Council: Pat Cashman’s sleazy corporate spokesman character Neil White speaks in defense of red meat.

Message from DOT: Roadworkers have words about ignoring the big “SLOW” sign, drinking and driving, and sandwiches.

Aggressive News: The show that gets the story before those other wimps do.

The Drain Game: A game show where you don’t lose money when you get a question wrong…

Stop Sleeping Seminar: Get 8-hours more productivity every day.  Other side effects be damned.

Ballard Driving Academy: Perhaps the greatest of the local references on the show, making fun of the neighborhood once populated by elderly people of Scandinavian descent.   I have it on good authority that the Ballard Driver Diaspora extends into New Brunswick, Canada.

Nut In The House: A commercial for a sitcom featuring a very unpredictable (more like unstable) little girl (Nancy Guppy).

The cast, 1998