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Since its debut in 1975, SNL has had its ups and downs, most of which were always attributed to the cast du jour (and sometimes the writers). However, even when the show was at its peak both cast- and writer-wise, some shows bombed like Boy George at a tractor pull. A few examples come to mind:
1. Milton Berle
Lorne Michaels was against having Uncle Miltie host the show from the get-go, but the network Powers That Be pressured him, saying “How can you not have the comedian known as Mr. Television host the hippest TV show of the 70s?” Berle’s 1979 appearance was a train wreck from Day One. No matter what instructions the director gave him, he’d mug for the camera, do broad spit-takes, and ad-lib jokes directly to the camera. He took it upon himself to give direction to the stagehands and lighting crew, since he’d been working in television since before they were born. Worse still, his lewd backstage behavior did little to endear him to the staff. He insisted on walking around in his boxer shorts and “proving” the oft-whispered Hollywood rumors about his physique to anyone who ambled by. (Gilda Radner happened to walk into a dressing room at the very moment Berle was proudly displaying himself to one of the show’s writers.) The proverbial straw that broke Lorne Michaels’ back, however, was when Uncle Miltie advised him just prior to the show’s finale that a standing ovation was “guaranteed.” Berle had used his allotted tickets to fill the audience with friends and relatives who obediently stood and applauded when he sang a dreary version of “September Song.”
2. Louise Lasser
The former Mrs. Woody Allen was riding a wave of success in 1976. She was starring in the late-night satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and her face was all over the covers of Rolling Stone, People and TV Guide. Lasser was tapped to host the last episode of the first season in July 1976, and producer Lorne Michaels almost immediately regretted the choice. Lasser had a substance abuse problem (she’d been arrested for possession of cocaine just weeks before) and displayed erratic behavior during rehearsal week, including crawling on her hands and knees into various Rockefeller Center offices looking for drugs. Then on the day of the show, she locked herself in her dressing room and refused to come out. Chevy Chase shouted through the door that he’d wear braids and perform her parts if necessary. Lasser finally complied, and even though her performance was uneven and confounded the live audience, it wasn’t quite as awful as some pundits have claimed. (She was, after all, doing her trademarked Mary Hartman stream-of-consciousness rambling). But based on her unprofessional pre-show behavior, she became the first host officially banned by Lorne Michaels.
3. Frank Zappa
Zappa was a musical innovator, filmmaker and overall renaissance man, but sometimes genius isn’t enough to sustain you through a Saturday Night Live opening monologue. Zappa had done well as a musical guest on a previous show, but he was painfully out of his element when he hosted in 1978. Dress rehearsal was disastrous, which had happened with other hosts. But, as writer Don Novello once noted, most hosts shaken by a poor “dress” take time afterward to recoup and re-focus and then try harder for the actual performance. Zappa, however, decided to play it differently. He very deliberately delivered his lines in a sarcastic monotone, making it obvious that he was reading cue cards. He was trying for a snide “I am sooo above sketch comedy” type of attitude, but all he succeeded in doing was alienating the cast (many of whom were Zappa fans) and infuriating Lorne Michaels.
4. Jodie Foster
In 1976 Jodie Foster was many years away from winning her first Academy Award, but she had racked up some impressive credits as a child actress in films like Taxi Driver, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, and Bugsy Malone. Her resumé caught the attention of the SNL producers and they enlisted the 14-year-old actress as a host. Sadly, the writers were caught unprepared and had written sketches based around the worldly characters Foster had played. They didn’t realize that Jodie was actually a typical tomboy-ish 14-year-old who’d only been performing under a director’s instructions in that very adult film. Foster was so nervous about her hosting gig that she’d spilled an Orange Julius on herself just prior to taking the stage. She took it personally as skit after skit fell flat, and with the natural self-consciousness of an early teen she grew more awkward as the show progressed. When the camera cut back to her for the finale after the last commercial, the audience was so silent you could almost hear crickets chirping. After an uncomfortable pause, Foster simply said “thank you” and the credits rolled.
5. Chevy Chase
Chase was an integral member of the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players and became the series’ first breakout star (mainly because as the Weekend Update anchor he got to announce his name mid-show every week). He left SNL after one season to pursue a movie career, and returned as a guest host in 1978. There was no love lost between Chase and his former castmates, and he didn’t help the situation by acting the diva upon his return. During rehearsals he’d scream and insult everyone from the writers to the stage hands. He insisted on anchoring the Weekend Update segment, even though Jane Curtin had been doing it for the past year. “My fans expect it,” he told Lorne Michaels. Bill Murray, the newest cast member, was the target of many of Chevy’s jibes, including juvenile schoolyard cracks about Murray’s acne-scarred complexion. Murray retorted with a remark about Chevy’s relationship with his wife (the couple’s turbulent marriage had been recent tabloid fodder), and the pair came to blows just minutes before show time. Even though Chase received an enthusiastic response from the audience, there was a palpable tension onstage between him and the rest of the cast that became more obvious as the show progressed.
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Comments (46)
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I’m surprised Tom Green didn’t make the list. He was atrocious!!!
posted by JD on 7-9-2008 at 2:53 pm
Oh, there are tons more (Steven Seagal, Martin Lawrence, etc), but I think Kara was really focusing on the early screw ups.
posted by Mangesh on 7-9-2008 at 3:10 pm
Oooh. I know a lot of women my around my age (30) that loved Popeye!
posted by Lelah on 7-9-2008 at 3:18 pm
Please give us more SNL-lore. The behind-the-scenes stories of this show are incredibly interesting, especially when it’s real juicy stuff like Bill Murray and Chevy Chase getting into fistfights.
posted by bas on 7-9-2008 at 3:40 pm
So I had to actually pause and come back to the story because I was laughing so hard at the Boy George at a tractor pull crack. But you know, he could be buff under all that face paint. :O)
posted by Tricia on 7-9-2008 at 5:34 pm
Jodie Foster… “tomboy”… right haha
posted by Michelle on 7-9-2008 at 7:28 pm
You used the atrocious, outrageously offensive word “skit” two times in this post. I’m going to have to give you a citation.
Please use the correct nomenclature, “sketch”, in the future.
posted by Society of Gentlemen Dedicated to the Eradication of the Word "Skit" on 7-9-2008 at 8:22 pm
Forget about the bad ones. My most favorite all-time absolutely best episode was when Eddie Murphy came back to guest-host (about a year or so after he left the show).
posted by Chad Cloman on 7-10-2008 at 1:58 am
I wonder what happened between Chase and Murray two years later on the set of Caddy Shack.
posted by howard on 7-10-2008 at 3:13 am
Well..here’s some other lore, .there was the time when punk band FEAR performed in 1981. FEAR invited several punk rockers, dancers and such to dance in the studio when they performed. Also, John Belushi who had gotten them the gig was with the dancers and the dancers began to essentially riot in the studio, jumping into crew members and audience members.
In the control room, they cut away and went to commercial during one of the songs, then played a short film and ended the show.
Or the infamous Mardi Gras episode…
posted by eBlues on 7-10-2008 at 3:43 am
It doesn’t really matter. SNL has NEVER been funny ever. The only thing less funny is Letterman.
posted by Jim on 7-10-2008 at 4:14 am
Yeah, more SNL-stuff please!
posted by Gunnar Andreassen on 7-10-2008 at 4:44 am
I think Patrick Stewart is a great actor, however, on his appearance on SNL he seemed really stiff and stumbled over his words several times. I’m not sure if it was the writing, or Mr. Stewart just didn’t work well under live television.
posted by John Christensen on 7-10-2008 at 5:09 am
McHammer.
posted by Lam on 7-10-2008 at 6:14 am
It’s hard to imagine that Nancy Kerrigan was not on this list…she was horrible…so nervous she could almost not read the cue cards.
posted by Tom on 7-10-2008 at 7:19 am
I think Joe Montana and Nancy Kerrigan were definitely up there.
posted by evilJaze on 7-10-2008 at 7:52 am
Why were all the worst hosting gigs in the 70s? These were good examples, for sure, but nothing awkward or uncomfortable happened in the 80s, 90s, or in this century? I guess that makes sense, though. SNL seems so much less safe in the 70s than it has in the last 25 years – much more opportunity for disaster.
posted by Alex Steed on 7-10-2008 at 8:00 am
Don Rickles. Very much like Uncle Miltie–playing off the script, sabotaging sketches, etc.
posted by Rosebud on 7-10-2008 at 8:38 am
The worst one I could remember and the one that will stick in my mind was Steven Seagal. Talk about no personality and being just one big douchebag.
posted by Simon1081 on 7-10-2008 at 8:45 am
re: Patrick Stewart… Three words come to mind
british_accent
Salt N Peppa
/british
posted by jeff on 7-10-2008 at 10:01 am
Macaulay Culkin
posted by bobby d on 7-10-2008 at 11:48 am
The best host is Jim Carey. No doubt.
posted by DC website designer on 7-10-2008 at 12:02 pm
Not a bad host, or a host for that matter, but I always love the story of when Elvis Costello played the wrong song and got banned.
posted by Zach on 7-10-2008 at 12:07 pm
Collin Farrell.
I think the guy has about the same sense of humor as an obsessive compulsive Accountant with a fragile ego.
posted by Cody on 7-10-2008 at 2:08 pm
The worst recent one was Christopher Walken. I know he has had some good appearances on SNL in the past (of course the famous “more cowbell” episode), but his recent one was horrific. He never took his eyes off the cue cards even once. It was sad and I was embarrassed for him. I don’t know if it’s because he’s just getting a bit older, but he really mailed it in.
posted by JNat on 7-10-2008 at 2:35 pm
Don’t you usually phone in performances and not mail them in?
posted by warplayer on 7-10-2008 at 3:15 pm
Andrew Dice Clay
posted by Wolfbomb on 7-10-2008 at 4:38 pm
Wayne. Gretsky.
posted by Jibblerboo on 7-10-2008 at 9:36 pm
Future SNL Lists:
5(or 15) horrific sports star hosts
5 great fake ads
5 fake ads that became real products
5 incidents which made the most of being live
posted by EMStoveken on 7-11-2008 at 4:30 pm
I remember the Patrick Stewart episode fondly. Salt-n-Pepa were the musical guests. When Stewart announced them, he grinned broadly and spoke with perfectly crisp enunciation, “And now, SALT AND PEPPER!”
posted by Peter Lynn on 7-12-2008 at 12:36 am
Tom Waits should host.. with Primus or maybe Steve Earle as the musical guest…. ya baby!
posted by Shanghai on 7-12-2008 at 4:02 pm
How could anyone forget Steve Forbes? It was painful to watch. Forbes seems like a nice enough guy, but he certainly couldn’t act.
posted by T Man on 7-14-2008 at 10:31 pm
I remember that Louise Lassiter episode. The only funny thing was the Chess With Death bit.
And I don’t think Elvis Costello was banned. I think he’s been on again since the notorious “Radio, Radio”. (For those who don’t know…he stopped a song and played his hit “Radio, Radio.” Censors didn’t know the song and were afraid of what it might say.)
posted by beth on 7-15-2008 at 11:19 am
I don’t know the name of the girl from Juno but she was on this year and was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Unfunny in everything and just kept overacting and doing a really weird southern accent in every sketch. I was embarrassed for her.
posted by Anthony on 7-16-2008 at 11:16 pm
My favorite host that is not an actor was LeBron James….although I think he does have some natural acting ability! The Solid Gold sketch he was in dancing around in gold lame was hysterical….
posted by Jamie on 7-17-2008 at 12:27 pm
What about Andy Kaufman? Poor Andy was so far out there we didn’t know if he was trying to be funny or just weird.
posted by David on 7-17-2008 at 9:25 pm
Robert DeNiro. Obviously reading off cue cards the whole time. Very unprofessional.
posted by Jenn on 7-29-2008 at 11:50 am
Michael Phelps. I realize he’s an athlete, not necessarily a performer… but even athlete’s should be able to read cue cards correctly.
posted by taylor on 12-7-2008 at 8:10 pm
*athletes, not athlete’s
posted by taylor on 12-7-2008 at 8:11 pm
May I make the maybe obvious suggestion of a list of the worst Musical Guests of all time (as opposed to the just notorious ones, such as Elvis Costello and Rage Against The Machine).
The one that really stands out in my mind would be Vanilla Ice. He perhaps proved his own mediocrity when he crawled on his hands and knees across the stage as part of his “choreography”. But the piece de resistance had to be opening Weekend Update to “Under Pressure”, with Dennis Miller following up with “Ah, there’s just nothing like the original…”
posted by Adam on 12-31-2008 at 10:28 pm
agree with DeNiro. snl is a fascinating place to see great actors fail. john mccain was far better. even guiliani.
joe montana? i can’t remember the whole show, but he was in the skit with phil hartman and jan hooks playing sincere guy stu, where his internal dialogue matches everything he says. “I’ll be in my room masturbating.” that alone deserves props
posted by Brian on 1-6-2009 at 2:47 pm
Gwyneth Paltrow was awful! She had great material, but every character she plays comes off as smug.
posted by ifearspam on 1-11-2009 at 1:27 am
Michael Phelps. Just bad.
posted by jane schmo on 2-5-2009 at 5:49 am
The worst guest hosts were the Marx Brothers, with Groucho just taking over and Chico in a coma, Harpo was so old, he collapsed on the nearest blonde.
posted by John schmo on 3-4-2009 at 4:40 pm
I liked some of the Steve Forbes sketches. He is fairly wooden in personality and I think he played that up to perfection.
posted by Brian on 7-29-2009 at 2:05 pm
paris hilton was the woooooorst.
posted by elena on 8-23-2009 at 12:30 am