Saturday Night Live (Season 4)
Encyclopedia
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

aired its fourth season during the 1978–1979 television season on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

. The fourth season started on October 7, 1978 and ended on May 26, 1979. The season four DVD was released on December 2, 2008.

This would be the final season for Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

 and John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

. Aykroyd and Belushi left to venture into Hollywood.

Cast

Repertory players
  • Dan Aykroyd
    Dan Aykroyd
    Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

  • John Belushi
    John Belushi
    John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

  • Jane Curtin
    Jane Curtin
    Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedienne. She is commonly referred to as Queen of the Deadpan.First coming to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s...

  • Garrett Morris
    Garrett Morris
    Garrett Gonzalez Morris is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980.-Early life and career:...

  • Bill Murray
    Bill Murray
    William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...

  • Laraine Newman
    Laraine Newman
    Laraine Newman is an American comedienne, actress, and writer, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast.-Personal life:...

  • Gilda Radner
    Gilda Radner
    Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...



Featured Players
  • Tom Davis
    Tom Davis (comedian)
    Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...

  • Al Franken
    Al Franken
    Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....


bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Walter Williams
Walter Williams (comedian filmmaker)
Walter Williams is a filmmaker and comedy writer, most famous for his "Mr. Bill" shorts that aired on the television series Saturday Night Live....

, creator of the Mr. Bill shorts, joins the writing staff.

Episodes

Episode
Number
Date Host(s) Musical Guest(s) Remarks
67 October 7, 1978 The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

  • The monologue was delivered by the then-Mayor of New York City
    Mayor of New York City
    The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...

     Ed Koch
    Ed Koch
    Edward Irving "Ed" Koch is an American lawyer, politician, and political commentator. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989...

    .
  • Bill Murray
    Bill Murray
    William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...

     replaced Dan Aykroyd
    Dan Aykroyd
    Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

     as co-anchor of Weekend Update
    Weekend Update
    Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...

    .
  • Features a "Schiller's Reel
    Tom Schiller
    Tom Schiller is an American Emmy Award winning writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live...

    " film called "Sushi by the Pool", featuring Desi Arnaz, Jr.
    Desi Arnaz, Jr.
    Desi Arnaz, Jr. , is an American actor and musician and the son of entertainers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.-Early life:...

    , Carrie Fisher
    Carrie Fisher
    Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...

    , and Steven Keats
    Steven Keats
    Steven Keats was an American actor who appeared in such films as Silent Rage, Death Wish, Black Sunday, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and the TV-movie version of the Norman Mailer book The Executioner's Song starring Tommy Lee Jones.-Biography:The son of Jewish emigrants from Denmark, Keats was a...

     with special guest Hal Holbrook
    Hal Holbrook
    Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...

  • The Rolling Stones performed "Beast of Burden
    Beast of Burden (song)
    "Beast of Burden" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones, featured on the 1978 album Some Girls. In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #435 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #433 on the 500 Greatest Rock and Roll Songs of all time.-Inspiration and...

    ", "Respectable" and "Shattered
    Shattered (song)
    "Shattered" is a song by The Rolling Stones from their 1978 album Some Girls. The song is seen as a reflection of American lifestyles and life in 1970s-era New York City, but also influences from the English punk rock movement can be heard. It also foreshadowed the upcoming rap movement as Mick...

    "— all from the June 1978 album Some Girls
    Some Girls
    Some Girls is the 14th British and 16th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1978 on Rolling Stones Records, catalogue COC 39108...

    .
  • Two sketches featured Rolling Stones members: the Tomorrow Show
    Tomorrow (TV series)
    Tomorrow was an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder...

     parody, in which Tom Snyder
    Tom Snyder
    Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...

     (Dan Aykroyd
    Dan Aykroyd
    Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

    ) interviews Mick Jagger
    Mick Jagger
    Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

    , and the Olympia Cafe
    Olympia Cafe
    The Olympia Cafe was a fictional diner or greasy spoon featured in a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch. The staff, led by the late John Belushi as Pete Dionasopolis, were Greeks. As various guest stars discovered, only three items on the long menu could actually be ordered successfully: the...

     sketch, which features Ron Wood
    Ron Wood
    Ronald David "Ronnie" Wood is an English rock guitarist and bassist best known as a former member of The Jeff Beck Group, Faces, and current member of The Rolling Stones. He also plays lap and pedal steel guitar....

     and Charlie Watts
    Charlie Watts
    Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...

    .
68 October 14, 1978 Fred Willard
Fred Willard
Fred Willard is an American actor, comedian, and voice over actor, best known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as...

Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...

  • Devo performed two songs from their July 1978 debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
    Question: Are We Not Men? Answer: We Are Devo!
    Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is the debut album by the American new wave music band Devo. Produced by Brian Eno, it was recorded primarily in Cologne, Germany and released in the U.S. by Warner Bros. Records company in 1978....

    : a cover of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
    (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
    " Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song...

    ", and "Jocko Homo
    Jocko Homo
    "Jocko Homo" is the B-side to Devo's first single, "Mongoloid," released as a single in 1977 on Devo's own label, Booji Boy Records and later released in the UK on Stiff Records. The song was re-recorded as the feature song for Devo's first album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! on Warner Bros....

    "; the performance of the latter was preceded by an excerpt from the band's short film, The Truth About De-Evolution
    The Truth About De-Evolution
    The Truth About De-Evolution was the first music video for the band Devo, directed by Chuck Statler. Filmed in May 1976, it contains two separate songs: Secret Agent Man and Jocko Homo. It won First Prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1977, and was routinely screened before Devo live concerts...

    .
  • 69 October 21, 1978 Frank Zappa
    Frank Zappa
    Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

  • Frank Zappa was unpopular with the cast and crew through both rehearsals and taping of the episode, possibly in part due to the fact that their lax views on drug and alcohol consumption did not mesh with his rigid anti-drug
    Teetotalism
    Teetotalism refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or is simply said to be teetotal...

     stance. This was highlighted in the sketch "Night on Freak Mountain", which also featured Paul Shaffer
    Paul Shaffer
    Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...

     as Don Kirshner
    Don Kirshner
    Don Kirshner , known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees, Kansas and The Archies.-Early life:Don Kirshner was born to Gilbert Kirshner, a tailor,...

    .
  • Throughout the episode, he regularly mugged for the camera and frequently noted to the audience that he was reading from cue card
    Cue card
    Cue cards, also known as note cards or idiot cards, are cards with words written on them that help actors and speakers remember what they have to say. They are typically used in television productions where they can be held off-camera and are unseen by the audience...

    s. During the "Goodnights" segment, most of the cast stood with their backs turned away from the musician. Following the episode, he was banned from Saturday Night Live and would not appear on the program again before his death in 1993.
  • Zappa and his band performed three songs that had not been released at that point: "Dancin' Fool" from the 1979's Sheik Yerbouti
    Sheik Yerbouti
    Sheik Yerbouti is a double vinyl album by Frank Zappa made up of material recorded in 1977 and 1978. It was first released on March 3 1979 as the first release on Zappa Records and re-issued on compact disc, first in unauthorized form by EMI in 1986 and then by Rykodisc in 1990 and then again in 1995...

    , "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing" from 1981's You Are What You Is
    You Are What You Is
    You Are What You Is is a double album by Frank Zappa. It was originally released as a two-record set in 1981 and later by Rykodisc as a 20-song CD. The album relies on a heavy use of overdubbing. This album was the first one to feature material recorded using Zappa's home studio Utility Muffin...

    , and the instrumental "Rollo", which had been cut from 1973's Apostrophe (')
    Apostrophe (')
    Apostrophe is an album by Frank Zappa, his eighteenth, released on March 22, 1974 in both stereo and quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", was Zappa's first chart single, reaching position 86. Apostrophe remains Zappa's biggest commercial...

     and would remain unreleased until 2006's Imaginary Diseases
    Imaginary Diseases
    Imaginary Diseases is an album of material by Frank Zappa from the Petite Wazoo tour of 1972. It is one of two finished CD projects from the tour containing material mastered by Zappa before his death.-Track listing:All tracks by Frank Zappa....

    .
  • During Zappa's performance of "Rollo", John Belushi, in character as Samurai Futaba, briefly appeared onstage with the group. Singing into a microphone
    Microphone
    A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...

     duct taped to the body of an electric guitar, Belushi carried out a call and response
    Call and response
    Call and response is a form of "spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in which all of the statements are punctuated by expressions from the listener."...

     bit with Zappa's band.
  • 70 November 4, 1978 Steve Martin
    Steve Martin
    Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

    Van Morrison
    Van Morrison
    Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...

  • Van Morrison performed two songs from his September 1978 release Wavelength
    Wavelength (album)
    Wavelength, the tenth album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison was released in the spring of 1978. The album has a different musical sound than his previous albums, leaning towards a pop sound with prominent electric guitars and synthesizers. Wavelength was Morrison's best selling...

    : the title track
    Wavelength (song)
    "Wavelength" is the title song from the 1978 album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. Released as a single in 1978, it climbed to number forty two in the US charts, and stayed in the top forty for eleven weeks. According to Howard A...

     and "Kingdom Hall".
  • The show was running long and it forced the last sketch to get cut off. Steve Martin apologized during the goodnights and promised to do the sketch the "next time [he] hosts in February." Unfortunately, Steve never ended up coming back until the following season at which point Dan Aykroyd had left the cast. The sketch was never redone.
  • 71 November 11, 1978 Buck Henry
    Buck Henry
    Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...

    Grateful Dead
    Grateful Dead
    The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

  • This is Buck's seventh time as host
  • "Samurai Optometrist"
  • First appearance of "Uncle Roy" sketch
  • The Dead play "Casey Jones
    Casey Jones (song)
    "Casey Jones" is a song by the American rock band the Grateful Dead. The music was written by Jerry Garcia, and the lyrics are by Robert Hunter. The song first appeared on the Dead's 1970 album Workingman's Dead. Subsequently it was included on a number of their live albums.The Grateful Dead...

    " and "I Need a Miracle/Good Lovin'" medley
  • John Belushi as Elizabeth Taylor
    Elizabeth Taylor
    Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

     chokes on chicken
  • First appearance of "Chico Escuela"
  • 72 November 18, 1978 Carrie Fisher
    Carrie Fisher
    Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...

    The Blues Brothers
    The Blues Brothers
    The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...

  • The Blues Brothers open the show with "Soul Man
    Soul Man (song)
    "Soul Man" is a 1967 song written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, first successful as a #2 hit single by Atlantic Records soul duo Sam & Dave.-Song history and background:...

    "
  • An appearance by Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character made famous by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci, a chain-smoking priest with tinted eyeglasses, works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano .-Background:Novello...

  • 73 December 2, 1978 Walter Matthau
    Walter Matthau
    Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...

  • There was no billed musical guest for this episode. At host Matthau's request, Garrett Morris performed Mozart's
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

     "Dalla sua pace" ("On her peace"), an aria from Don Giovanni
    Don Giovanni
    Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...

    .
  • 74 December 9, 1978 Eric Idle
    Eric Idle
    Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

    Kate Bush
    Kate Bush
    Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

  • Kate Bush performs "The Man with the Child in His Eyes
    The Man with the Child in His Eyes
    "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" is a song by Kate Bush. It is the fifth track on her debut album The Kick Inside and was released as her second single in 1978.-Overview:...

    " and "Them Heavy People
    Them Heavy People
    "Them Heavy People" is a song written and recorded by Kate Bush, from her debut album The Kick Inside. It was issued as a single in Japan with the title "Rolling the Ball" reaching number 3, its only release worldwide as an A-side....

    "
  • The sketch "What Do You?", written by Idle, originally appeared on Monty Python's Previous Record
    Monty Python's Previous Record
    Monty Python's Previous Record was the third album by Monty Python, released in 1972. When packaged in 1994's The Instant Monty Python CD Collection the order of some of the sketches was changed...

    .
  • Candy Slice performs
  • 75 December 16, 1978 Elliott Gould
    Elliott Gould
    Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...

    Peter Tosh
    Peter Tosh
    Peter Tosh, born Winston Hubert McIntosh , was a Jamaican reggae musician who was a core member of the band The Wailers , and who afterward had a successful solo career as well as being a promoter of Rastafari.Peter Tosh was born in Grange Hill, Jamaica, an illegitimate child to a mother too young...

     with Mick Jagger
    Mick Jagger
    Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

  • Elliot Gould and Garrett Morris sang "It's Christmas Time in Harlem" during the opening monologue, accompanied by Paul Shaffer
    Paul Shaffer
    Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...

  • "Mommie Dearest" sketch
  • "Point/Counterpoint" regarding relations with China
  • The comedy team of "Bob and Ray
    Bob and Ray
    Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were an American comedy team whose career spanned five decades. Their format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as...

    "
  • 76 January 27, 1979 Michael Palin
    Michael Palin
    Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....

    The Doobie Brothers
    The Doobie Brothers
    The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...


    Al Franken
    Al Franken
    Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

     and Tom Davis
    Tom Davis (comedian)
    Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...


    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character made famous by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci, a chain-smoking priest with tinted eyeglasses, works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano .-Background:Novello...

    • Michael Palin reprises his sleazy music teacher character Mr. Brighton for another sketch with the Nerds.
    • The Doobie Brothers performed "What a Fool Believes
      What a Fool Believes
      "What a Fool Believes" is a song written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. The best-known version was recorded by The Doobie Brothers for their 1978 album Minute by Minute. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1979, remaining in that position for one week...

      " and "Takin' It to the Streets
      Takin' It to the Streets (song)
      "Takin' It to the Streets" is a song by the American rock band The Doobie Brothers from the album of the same name. It was their first single with Michael McDonald on vocals and was written by McDonald.-Chart performance:...

      "
    • Dickens's "Miles Cowperthwaite", Part 1
    • Mr Bill Goes to Court
    77 February 10, 1979 Cicely Tyson
    Cicely Tyson
    Cicely Tyson is an American actress. A successful stage actress, Tyson is also known for her Oscar-nominated role in the film Sounder and the television movies The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots....

    Talking Heads
    Talking Heads
    Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...

  • Talking Heads perform "Take Me to the River
    Take Me to the River
    "Take Me to the River" is a 1974 song written by singer Al Green and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges. Hit versions were recorded by both Syl Johnson and Talking Heads...

    " and "Artists Only" from their album More Songs About Buildings and Food
    More Songs about Buildings and Food
    More Songs About Buildings and Food is Talking Heads' second album, the first of a string of three co-produced by Brian Eno. The album was significantly more popular than their first, Talking Heads: 77...

    .
  • 78 February 17, 1979 Rick Nelson Judy Collins
    Judy Collins
    Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...

  • Nelson performs a medley of his classic hits from the 1950s, Hello Mary Lou
    Hello Mary Lou
    "Hello Mary Lou" is a song written by U.S. singer Gene Pitney and Cayet Mangiaracina and performed by Ricky Nelson in English and German in 1961. It reached #9 on the Billboard music charts on May 28, 1961, although the other side of the single, "Travelin' Man", hit #1...

    , Travelin Man and Fools Rush In
    Fools Rush In
    Fools Rush In is a 1997 romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant. Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek star.-Plot :Two relative strangers try to turn a one night stand into a marriage in this romantic comedy. Alex Whitman is a designer from New York City who is sent to Las Vegas to supervise the...

     for the monologue. He later performs his version of Dream Lover
    Dream Lover
    "Dream Lover" is a song written and recorded by Bobby Darin on March 5, 1959. It was produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler and engineered by Tom Dowd. It is considered a soulful rock song. The song became a multi-million seller, reaching #2 in US charts and was #1 in UK for three weeks during...

  • Judy Collins only performs one song, Hard Times for Lovers
    Hard Times for Lovers
    Hard Times For Lovers is an album by Judy Collins, released on Elektra Records in 1979.Collins' first album of new material since Bread and Roses in 1976, some extra publicity was earned as a result of the back cover of the Francesco Scavullo-photographed sleeve art, depicting most of a nude...

  • Twilight Zone
    Twilight zone
    -Television series and spinoffs:*The Twilight Zone, the anthology television series and its franchise:**The Twilight Zone , the 1959–1964 original television series***Twilight Zone: The Movie, a 1983 film based on the original series...

     skit featuring classic tv shows Leave it to Beaver
    Leave It to Beaver
    Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...

    , Father Knows Best
    Father Knows Best
    Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...

    , Make Room for Daddy and I Love Lucy
    I Love Lucy
    I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

  • Candy Slice performs
  • 79 February 24, 1979 Kate Jackson
    Kate Jackson
    Kate Jackson is an American actress, director, and producer, perhaps best known for her role as Sabrina Duncan in the popular 1970s television series Charlie's Angels...

    Delbert McClinton
    Delbert McClinton
    Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist....


    Andy Kaufman
    Andy Kaufman
    Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...


    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character made famous by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci, a chain-smoking priest with tinted eyeglasses, works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano .-Background:Novello...

    • A running gag throughout the show is Fred Silverman
      Fred Silverman
      Fred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the...

       trying to sabotage the NBC's line-up
    • Brian Doyle-Murray
      Brian Doyle-Murray
      Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...

       is one of the people taking a tour during the opening monologue
    • Kate Jackson plays a nurse who Bill Murray falls for in a sketch involving the Nerds.
    • Andy Kaufman plays the bongos and yodels
    • "Bad Cabarat for Children" with Leonard Pinth-Garnell
    • Mr Bill Goes on a Diet
    • This episode marks the last appearance of the Coneheads
      Coneheads
      The Coneheads is a sketch on Saturday Night Live which originated on the January 15, 1977 episode, and starred Dan Aykroyd as father Beldar, Jane Curtin as mother Prymaat, and Laraine Newman as daughter Connie.-Summary:...

      .
    80 March 10, 1979 Gary Busey
    Gary Busey
    William Gary Busey , best known as Gary Busey, is an American film and stage actor and artist. He has appeared in a large variety of films, as well as making regular appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage...

    Eubie Blake
    Eubie Blake
    James Hubert Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans...

     & Gregory Hines
    Gregory Hines
    Gregory Oliver Hines was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Born in New York City, Hines and his older brother Maurice started dancing at an early age, studying with choreographer Henry LeTang...


    Gary Busey
    Gary Busey
    William Gary Busey , best known as Gary Busey, is an American film and stage actor and artist. He has appeared in a large variety of films, as well as making regular appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage...

     with Rick Danko
    Rick Danko
    Richard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...

     & Paul Butterfield
    Paul Butterfield
    Paul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...

  • Brian Doyle-Murray
    Brian Doyle-Murray
    Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...

     is one of Belushi's sycophants during the cold open and also appears as an audience member with a question in "Women's Problems"
  • Paul Shaffer
    Paul Shaffer
    Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...

     plays the bass in Busey's rock-n-roll band in the 1950s sketch
  • Bill Murray stars in the Tom Schiller
    Tom Schiller
    Tom Schiller is an American Emmy Award winning writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live...

     short, "Perchance to Dream"
  • Busey's band performs "Stay a Little Longer"
  • 81 March 17, 1979 Margot Kidder
    Margot Kidder
    Margaret Ruth "Margot" Kidder is a Canadian-born American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Lois Lane in the four Superman movies opposite Christopher Reeve, a role that brought her to widespread recognition....

    The Chieftains
    The Chieftains
    The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...


    Al Franken
    Al Franken
    Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

     and Tom Davis
    Tom Davis (comedian)
    Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...


    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character made famous by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci, a chain-smoking priest with tinted eyeglasses, works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano .-Background:Novello...

    • Lorne Michaels
      Lorne Michaels
      Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...

       and the production staff appear with Margot and Gilda in the opening monologue
    • "Point/Counterpoint" regarding Lee Marvin
      Lee Marvin
      Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...

      's palimony case
    • Mr Bill hides from Mr Hands
    82 April 7, 1979 Richard Benjamin
    Richard Benjamin
    Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:...

    Rickie Lee Jones
    Rickie Lee Jones
    Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...

  • In the cold open, Belushi is sick and is replaced by an actor from NBC's replacement pool
  • Rodney Dangerfield
    Rodney Dangerfield
    Rodney Dangerfield , was an American comedian, and actor, known for the catchphrases "I don't get no respect!," "No respect, no respect at all... that's the story of my life" or "I get no respect, I tell ya" and his monologues on that theme...

    , Tom Davis
    Tom Davis (comedian)
    Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...

    , Al Franken
    Al Franken
    Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

    , and Brian Doyle-Murray
    Brian Doyle-Murray
    Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...

     make cameo appearances in The China Syndrome
    The China Syndrome
    The China Syndrome is a 1979 American thriller film that tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. It stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady, James Hampton, Peter Donat, Richard Herd, and Wilford Brimley.The film was...

     parody ("The Pepsi Syndrome").
  • One of the most popular sketches involving the Nerds where Todd and Lisa finally kiss.
  • Chico Escuela tries for a comeback with the Mets
    METS
    The Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard is a metadata standard for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata regarding objects within a digital library, expressed using the XML schema language of the World Wide Web Consortium...

     with cameos from several Mets players.
  • 83 April 14, 1979 Milton Berle
    Milton Berle
    Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...

    Ornette Coleman
    Ornette Coleman
    Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....

  • Berle reportedly did not get along with the cast, save for John Belushi. He originally only wanted to perform his stand-up routine in place of the show's sketches, and had to be convinced to perform in the comedy bits. He reportedly bossed around stagehand
    Stagehand
    A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their duties include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production.-Types of stagehand:...

    s and the lighting crew.
  • During rehearsals, Berle displayed his "legendary" large genitalia to writer Alan Zweibel
    Alan Zweibel
    Alan Zweibel is an American producer and writer who has worked on such productions as Saturday Night Live, PBS' Great Performances, and It's Garry Shandling's Show.-Early life:...

     in a dressing room. Gilda Radner walked in to the room while his penis was still out.
  • Berle's long opening monologue featured bits from his nightclub stand-up routine that did not mesh with the younger audience, including jokes about women, "Arab
    Arab
    Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

    s", homosexuals
    Homosexuality
    Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

    , George Burns
    George Burns
    George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...

    , and retirees in Miami Beach. After about five minutes, an off-stage Bill Murray
    Bill Murray
    William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...

     dropped a large pipe, making a loud noise and disrupting the comedian's routine. Shortly after, Berle was told by a producer at the foot of the stage that the monologue was over, which he responded incredulously to and briefly contested. During the audience's applause while transitioning to commercial, he can be seen angrily yelling while the house band looks on nervously.
  • While on-air, Berle frequently mugged for the audience, did spit-take
    Spit-take
    A spit-take is a comedic technique in which someone spits a beverage out of his or her mouth when he or she reacts to a statement. In this context, the word "take" is used in the sense of taking in information. It is similar in construction to the phrase "double-take."Example: Two characters sit...

    s, and ad-libbed straight to the camera. At the end of the show, Berle broke into a "dreary version" the 1950s standard "September Song
    September Song
    "September Song" is an American pop standard composed by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, introduced by Walter Huston in the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. It has since been recorded by numerous singers and instrumentalists...

    " and according to Lorne Michaels, loaded the audience with friends and family members who awarded his performance of the tune with a standing ovation
    Standing ovation
    A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim...

    .
  • Michaels has not authorized this episode for syndication due to Berle's performance. However, it was included on the Season Four DVD set.
  • 84 May 12, 1979 Michael Palin
    Michael Palin
    Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....

    James Taylor
    James Taylor
    James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....


    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci
    Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character made famous by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci, a chain-smoking priest with tinted eyeglasses, works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano .-Background:Novello...

    • Differently from most shows, the opening monologue went right to the first song by Taylor, who sings three songs in the show.
    • Dickens's "Miles Cowperthwaite", Part 2
    • Mr Bill Runs Away From Home
    85 May 19, 1979 Maureen Stapleton
    Maureen Stapleton
    Maureen Stapleton was an American actress in film, theater and television.-Early life:Stapleton was born Lois Maureen Stapleton in Troy, New York, the daughter of Irene and John P. Stapleton, and grew up in a strict Irish American Catholic family...

    Linda Ronstadt
    Linda Ronstadt
    Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...


    Phoebe Snow
  • "Point/Counterpoint" regarding nuclear energy
  • Mr Bill Goes to the Movies
  • Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow do a duet of "The Married Men"
  • 86 May 26, 1979 Buck Henry
    Buck Henry
    Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...

    Bette Midler
    Bette Midler
    Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...


    Michael O'Donoghue
    Michael O'Donoghue
    Michael O'Donoghue was a writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of Saturday Night Live.-Childhood:O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New York...


    Al Franken
    Al Franken
    Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

     and Tom Davis
    Tom Davis (comedian)
    Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...

    • Mr Bill opens the show with "Live from New York...", but Jane Curtin interrupts the opening credits. John Belushi then opens the show prior, much to Jane's displeasure
    • Jane Curtin mentions that she never got to say "Live from New York...", but she had actually said it several times with other castmembers like in the Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek episodes from Season 2
    • The final appearance of Samurai Futaba and Olympia Cafe sketches.
    • Second appearance of "Uncle Roy" sketch
    • Bette Midler performed "Married Men" and "Martha" from her Thighs and Whispers
      Thighs and Whispers
      Thighs and Whispers is the fifth studio album by American singer Bette Midler. Released in 1979, the album reached #65 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.-Album information:...

       album with The Harlettes (Katey Sagal
      Katey Sagal
      Catherine Louise "Katey" Sagal is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She first achieved widespread fame as Peggy Bundy on the long-running Fox comedy series Married.....

       and Jocelyn Brown
      Jocelyn Brown
      Jocelyn Lorette Brown is an American R&B and dance music singer...

      ) and Luther Vandross
      Luther Vandross
      Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...

       as backup singers
    • "Schiller's Reel
      Tom Schiller
      Tom Schiller is an American Emmy Award winning writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live...

      " film called "Clones Exist Now"
    • Dan Aykroyd
      Dan Aykroyd
      Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

       and John Belushi
      John Belushi
      John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

      's final episode as cast members.

    See also

    • Recurring SNL characters and sketches introduced in season 4
    • History of Saturday Night Live (1975–1980)
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