WEBVTT - Live From New York, It's Your Grandmother 0:00:09.162 --> 0:00:10.202 Art originals. 0:00:10.362 --> 0:00:12.482 This is an iHeart original. 0:00:21.482 --> 0:00:25.962 On October eighth, nineteen seventy seven, Connie Crawford did what 0:00:26.162 --> 0:00:29.482 a lot of college students were doing every Saturday night. 0:00:30.282 --> 0:00:33.482 I was in my first year at college, and every 0:00:33.602 --> 0:00:37.962 Saturday night, every party shut down and we would all go. 0:00:38.562 --> 0:00:41.282 There was only one TV and every dorm, and it 0:00:41.322 --> 0:00:45.522 was usually one of those big console, old fashioned TVs, 0:00:45.922 --> 0:00:49.602 and everybody would gather around and watch Saturday Night Live. 0:00:50.522 --> 0:00:53.882 That's Connie that year. She was a freshman at Vassar, 0:00:54.082 --> 0:00:57.242 a liberal arts school in Poughkeepsie, New York. As you 0:00:57.322 --> 0:01:00.882 might imagine, parties were frequent. It took a lot for 0:01:01.042 --> 0:01:04.442 students to pass one up in favor of watching television, 0:01:05.042 --> 0:01:10.442 but SNL managed to lure them in. It was hip, irreverent, 0:01:11.002 --> 0:01:15.282 it spoke to them. The entire cast, from John Belushi 0:01:15.362 --> 0:01:19.162 to Gilda Radner to Bill Murray, were becoming some of 0:01:19.202 --> 0:01:23.802 the most famous comic actors in the country. Connie, however, 0:01:24.042 --> 0:01:27.002 was a fan of one cast member in particular. 0:01:27.522 --> 0:01:30.442 Well, they were all great, but I had a crush 0:01:30.482 --> 0:01:34.322 on dan Aykroyd, and when I was in high school, 0:01:34.602 --> 0:01:37.042 I think in the first year Saturday Night Live came out. 0:01:37.522 --> 0:01:40.602 I wrote him a fan letter, and he sent me 0:01:40.642 --> 0:01:43.362 back a picture of him on a motorcycle and in 0:01:43.522 --> 0:01:46.442 crayon underneath. Because I think he thought I was a child. 0:01:47.442 --> 0:01:51.442 He wrote Connie Let's Ride to Nicaragua Together Loved Dan. 0:01:52.482 --> 0:01:56.162 As Connie and her friends watched the episode, something a 0:01:56.202 --> 0:02:01.162 little strange happened. There on screen was Lourene Michaels, the 0:02:01.322 --> 0:02:05.882 creator and executive producer of the show. Michaels was making 0:02:05.962 --> 0:02:09.642 an offer of sorts to the audience, and it wasn't 0:02:09.682 --> 0:02:14.722 a bit. SNL was holding a contest that any viewer 0:02:14.762 --> 0:02:18.042 could enter. The winner would be flown to New York 0:02:18.082 --> 0:02:23.482 City and enter thirty Rockefeller Center on Saturday, December seventeenth, 0:02:23.682 --> 0:02:28.962 nineteen seventy seven for the Christmas episode. That person would 0:02:29.002 --> 0:02:33.162 be the first, and to date, the only civilian to 0:02:33.402 --> 0:02:37.482 ever get one of the most coveted assignments in show business, 0:02:38.082 --> 0:02:44.082 hosting Saturday Night Live. Entries came pouring in, well over 0:02:44.242 --> 0:02:48.602 one hundred thousand of them, with everyone from aspiring performers 0:02:48.682 --> 0:02:52.842 to housewives to at least one governor vying for the spot. 0:02:53.482 --> 0:02:57.402 Some people showed up in person and only partially clothed. 0:02:58.242 --> 0:03:02.442 But was it really possible for anyone to host SNL. 0:03:02.842 --> 0:03:06.882 Could an amateur hold their own against the likes of Belushi, 0:03:06.962 --> 0:03:11.602 Hurry and Radner? Or was SNL setting itself up for 0:03:11.922 --> 0:03:21.322 an epic disaster? Welcome back to Very Special Episodes and 0:03:21.482 --> 0:03:26.322 iHeart original podcast. I'm your host, Dana Schwartz, and this 0:03:26.602 --> 0:03:30.042 is live from New York. It's your grandmother. 0:03:33.122 --> 0:03:35.642 Welcome back to Very Special Episodes. I am one of 0:03:35.642 --> 0:03:40.042 your hosts, Jason English. There's a famous tweet that reservices 0:03:40.122 --> 0:03:44.802 during every Olympics. It goes something like, in each Olympic event, 0:03:45.122 --> 0:03:47.962 there should be a normal person competing for reference, just 0:03:48.002 --> 0:03:52.242 to show you how phenomenal the actual Olympians are. Today's 0:03:52.282 --> 0:03:55.602 Very Special episode is the television equivalent what would a 0:03:55.682 --> 0:03:59.362 chaotic sketch comedy variety show look like if you just 0:03:59.722 --> 0:04:03.722 picked somebody or somebody's grandma off the street. I will 0:04:03.802 --> 0:04:06.402 let Dana tell you in a minute. First, a quick 0:04:06.442 --> 0:04:09.962 housekeep announcement. We are all hard at work here behind 0:04:09.962 --> 0:04:13.402 the scenes on our next full batch of Very Special Episodes. 0:04:13.802 --> 0:04:18.002 We'll be back to our regular weekly cadence later next month. 0:04:18.442 --> 0:04:21.602 We're talking about adding in a second, still pretty special 0:04:21.762 --> 0:04:25.522 episode on Saturdays. This spring. We'll keep working on that 0:04:26.002 --> 0:04:29.522 and I'll give it back to Dana. 0:04:29.682 --> 0:04:32.762 When Lauren Michaels launched Saturday Night Live in the fall 0:04:32.802 --> 0:04:36.202 of nineteen seventy five, he knew he wanted a different 0:04:36.402 --> 0:04:40.562 guest host each week. Watching a famous actor or comedian 0:04:40.682 --> 0:04:44.002 or athlete get thrown into the choppy waters of live 0:04:44.082 --> 0:04:48.482 sketch comedy is what helped give SNL its reputation for 0:04:48.562 --> 0:04:52.122 being dangerous, and it was also good for ratings. 0:04:52.642 --> 0:04:54.002 Was just not to be missed. 0:04:54.202 --> 0:04:56.842 You know, whatever else you had pends on Saturday night, 0:04:57.042 --> 0:04:58.962 you wanted to get home by eleven thirty so you 0:04:58.962 --> 0:05:01.602 could watch this show. And I mean it just spoke 0:05:01.642 --> 0:05:04.722 to me. The idea was to blow up the convention 0:05:04.922 --> 0:05:06.802 of the variety show with the sketch show. 0:05:07.402 --> 0:05:12.002 That's Bill Carter. Bill is a longtime television critic who's 0:05:12.042 --> 0:05:15.402 covered Late Night for The New York Times since nineteen 0:05:15.522 --> 0:05:20.042 eighty nine. He's also written several books, including The Late Shift, 0:05:20.402 --> 0:05:23.962 a definitive account of the war for Johnny Carson's chair 0:05:24.042 --> 0:05:27.922 at The Tonight Show in the early nineties. His coverage 0:05:27.922 --> 0:05:32.162 of SNL actually dates to the very first episode, a 0:05:32.282 --> 0:05:36.842 time when SNL was less a pop culture phenomenon and 0:05:36.962 --> 0:05:39.522 more of a what the heck is this thing? 0:05:40.282 --> 0:05:42.682 So I was right on top of it when it started. 0:05:42.802 --> 0:05:47.122 And my own situation was pretty interesting because the NBC 0:05:47.282 --> 0:05:52.002 affiliate in Baltimore, WBAL, did not originally carry the show. 0:05:52.322 --> 0:05:54.842 They did not sign on to carry Saturday Night Live 0:05:54.842 --> 0:05:57.122 when it started, so I had to watch the first 0:05:57.202 --> 0:06:00.242 I don't know how many four six episodes something on 0:06:00.482 --> 0:06:04.362 your old antenna TV and trying to get a picture 0:06:04.442 --> 0:06:09.082 through snow from the Washington and affiliate Baltimore. 0:06:09.242 --> 0:06:12.682 Soon caught on, and so did the rest of the country. 0:06:13.362 --> 0:06:18.682 SNL was unlike anything television had produced up to that point. 0:06:18.762 --> 0:06:22.122 There had been variety shows like The Smothers Brothers and 0:06:22.362 --> 0:06:27.082 laugh In with sketches and special guests, and even politicians 0:06:27.122 --> 0:06:32.002 like Richard Nixon spoofing their own image. But SNL took 0:06:32.042 --> 0:06:34.442 it further, much further. 0:06:35.602 --> 0:06:38.242 It was an incredible breath of fresh air to me, 0:06:38.482 --> 0:06:40.602 and it was aimed toward me. I mean, I was 0:06:40.722 --> 0:06:43.642 recent college graduates. You know what else did I want? 0:06:43.682 --> 0:06:45.522 I watched some of those shows, but it wasn't like 0:06:45.682 --> 0:06:48.562 they spoke to the generation I felt like I belonged to, 0:06:49.282 --> 0:06:50.922 and this show did. 0:06:51.562 --> 0:06:55.082 It had the vibe of the stage show. 0:06:54.842 --> 0:06:57.282 Had been done called Lemmings, which I had actually seen 0:06:57.362 --> 0:07:00.282 an off Broadway show, and interestingly, it had both Chevy 0:07:00.362 --> 0:07:03.562 Chase and John Belushi in it. So when Saturday Life 0:07:03.602 --> 0:07:05.402 came out, I had seen them. I'd seen them on 0:07:05.442 --> 0:07:08.962 stage doing this kind of antique kind of stuff, and 0:07:09.042 --> 0:07:13.042 I was very open to it. I really responded to it, 0:07:13.682 --> 0:07:16.282 and I think they just hit it. They hit the 0:07:16.322 --> 0:07:18.442 mark so well from the beginning. 0:07:19.122 --> 0:07:22.202 The humor was born out of the Lemmings, Second City, 0:07:22.442 --> 0:07:28.562 National Lampoon, all institutions where edgy comedy was thriving. Performers 0:07:28.722 --> 0:07:32.562 like Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Jane Curtin and others were 0:07:32.562 --> 0:07:36.922 coming out of those improvisational troops and becoming major stars. 0:07:37.562 --> 0:07:41.962 They got the cover of New York Magazine. There were 0:07:42.082 --> 0:07:46.322 drugs and rock and roll and movies beckoning. SNL became 0:07:46.562 --> 0:07:50.362 the cool hangout. Mick Jagger might have been too big 0:07:50.442 --> 0:07:52.882 to perform on the show, but he was more than 0:07:52.922 --> 0:07:57.802 willing to show up and watch. But one thing SNL did, 0:07:58.482 --> 0:08:02.642 rather something it almost had to do, was very uncool. 0:08:03.722 --> 0:08:08.642 It was the time tested publicity stunt, something out of 0:08:08.682 --> 0:08:11.962 the norm to stir up the media or to drum 0:08:12.122 --> 0:08:16.642 up ratings for sweeps weeks when networks try to grab 0:08:16.802 --> 0:08:20.162 big ratings so they can charge more for advertising. 0:08:20.802 --> 0:08:23.922 They were still becoming sort of part of the network 0:08:24.162 --> 0:08:26.642 while they were, you know, kind of the underground part 0:08:26.682 --> 0:08:30.522 of the network, and Lauren, who's very skillful at managing 0:08:30.602 --> 0:08:33.562 up and always was, I'm sure, was able to sort 0:08:33.602 --> 0:08:36.402 of wrangle this, you know, and say it'll be different, 0:08:36.482 --> 0:08:38.762 let's just try it. And as time went on, they 0:08:38.802 --> 0:08:41.442 didn't really need to do that anymore because they got 0:08:41.642 --> 0:08:45.282 tremendous leverage and they just got this following that wasn't 0:08:45.362 --> 0:08:47.962 gonna all of a sudden kick up wildly because they 0:08:48.002 --> 0:08:49.242 went to a different location. 0:08:50.122 --> 0:08:53.322 But in the early years they weren't above a ratings stunt. 0:08:53.722 --> 0:08:57.162 In the show's second season, NBC arranged for the show 0:08:57.242 --> 0:09:02.122 to air its first and only on location broadcast. Think 0:09:02.122 --> 0:09:06.322 of it as a very special episode of SNL. The 0:09:06.402 --> 0:09:10.962 cast and crew headed for Marty Grass. The idea came 0:09:11.002 --> 0:09:14.962 from Lorne Michaels, who thought sketches based in and around 0:09:15.082 --> 0:09:18.882 the celebration would add a different flavor to the show. 0:09:19.522 --> 0:09:23.562 Cast member Jane Curtin and comic actor Buck Henry would 0:09:23.562 --> 0:09:28.042 anchor the parade itself, commenting on the sites. It aired 0:09:28.162 --> 0:09:31.482 at the more reasonable time slot of nine thirty and 0:09:31.602 --> 0:09:40.122 on a Sunday, and almost immediately things went south. A 0:09:40.162 --> 0:09:43.402 pedestrian was struck by one of the cars in the 0:09:43.442 --> 0:09:46.682 Bacchus parade, which brought it to a halt and messed 0:09:46.722 --> 0:09:51.282 up the show's timing completely. Guest star Cindy Williams, who 0:09:51.402 --> 0:09:54.362 was supposed to appear with her Laverne and Shirley co 0:09:54.522 --> 0:09:57.962 star Penny Marshall, got lost on the way to the shoot. 0:09:58.762 --> 0:10:02.242 Unlike the studio audience in New York, this one was 0:10:02.322 --> 0:10:06.522 made up of mostly drunk college kids who began throwing 0:10:06.642 --> 0:10:11.042 gold coins, beads, and beer cans at the cast. The 0:10:11.122 --> 0:10:17.762 episode never really recovered. Michaels found out SNL could never 0:10:17.882 --> 0:10:22.442 be a traveling road show, but he wasn't done experimenting. 0:10:23.042 --> 0:10:26.682 The next season, he made a rare on screen appearance, 0:10:27.242 --> 0:10:31.562 speaking directly into the camera and with a perfect straight 0:10:31.642 --> 0:10:36.802 man's delivery, he promised members of the fractured Beatles a 0:10:36.882 --> 0:10:40.482 certified check for a whopping three thousand dollars. If they 0:10:40.522 --> 0:10:44.322 agreed to reunite on the show, they could give ringo 0:10:44.402 --> 0:10:47.442 star less of a cut, it was up to them. 0:10:47.882 --> 0:10:50.762 The joke was picked up by the media and has 0:10:50.882 --> 0:10:54.682 endured over the decades, and it came with a punchline 0:10:54.762 --> 0:10:59.882 of sorts. Well two George Harrison actually showed up on 0:10:59.962 --> 0:11:02.682 a later episode to pick up a check for three 0:11:02.802 --> 0:11:06.562 hundred and fifty dollars. Paul McCartney would later say he 0:11:06.682 --> 0:11:10.642 and John Lennon were actually watching SNL the week after 0:11:10.842 --> 0:11:14.482 Michaels made his offer. They talked about taking a taxi 0:11:14.522 --> 0:11:17.682 to thirty Rock just for the hell of it. They 0:11:17.722 --> 0:11:21.042 never did, but the skit was notable for another reason. 0:11:21.682 --> 0:11:26.442 It presented Michaels as an on screen persona something he 0:11:26.482 --> 0:11:30.722 had once flirted with early on by considering casting himself 0:11:31.082 --> 0:11:33.922 in the role of co anchor of Weekend Update. 0:11:34.482 --> 0:11:36.642 Well, Loin was a performer, you know. 0:11:36.682 --> 0:11:40.122 He was in a comedy team that performed in Canada 0:11:40.202 --> 0:11:43.602 before he became a writer producer, and he was comfortable 0:11:43.642 --> 0:11:47.522 with performing for sure. He obviously has a very big 0:11:47.562 --> 0:11:49.202 ego to be running a show like this, but I 0:11:49.242 --> 0:11:51.242 don't think he felt like all the attention had to 0:11:51.282 --> 0:11:52.882 be on him so he had to also be on 0:11:52.962 --> 0:11:56.202 the show. But I think he realized he can't possibly 0:11:56.242 --> 0:11:59.922 do that and run this crazy machine that was going on. 0:12:00.522 --> 0:12:03.522 But you know, his occasional appearances would only happen if 0:12:03.562 --> 0:12:05.682 he wanted it that and so he definitely wanted it 0:12:05.722 --> 0:12:06.562 to happen for sure. 0:12:07.362 --> 0:12:11.602 Michaels wasn't done experimenting, because the show itself wasn't yet 0:12:11.682 --> 0:12:15.362 set in stone. In its third year, and practically every 0:12:15.442 --> 0:12:20.162 year since, critics and viewers wondered if SNL's best days 0:12:20.202 --> 0:12:23.842 were behind it. Chevy Chase had left shortly after the 0:12:23.882 --> 0:12:27.562 second season to begin to pursue a film career. John 0:12:27.602 --> 0:12:31.322 Belushi was filming movies and seemingly had one foot out 0:12:31.362 --> 0:12:36.242 the door. There were critics said, too many recurring characters. 0:12:36.882 --> 0:12:39.442 No one looked at it and said, well, this thing 0:12:39.482 --> 0:12:42.082 will still be on the air in five decades, not 0:12:42.202 --> 0:12:46.122 even Michaels himself, whose contract with NBC expired at the 0:12:46.242 --> 0:12:49.842 end of the season. Michaels was getting tired of the grind, 0:12:50.042 --> 0:12:53.362 saying quote, I can't work eighteen hours a day for 0:12:53.442 --> 0:12:57.722 the rest of my life, or I'll die. But before 0:12:57.762 --> 0:13:03.162 his possible departure, he had another idea, although arguably one 0:13:03.602 --> 0:13:08.562 just as potentially disastrous as the Marti Gras Debacle, the 0:13:08.682 --> 0:13:12.922 show would hold a contest, not a spoof contest or 0:13:13.002 --> 0:13:17.282 the appearance of a contest, but an actual contest. On 0:13:17.322 --> 0:13:21.122 October eighth, nineteen seventy seven, the second show of the season, 0:13:21.162 --> 0:13:25.482 hosted by actress Madeline Cohn, Michaels appeared behind a desk 0:13:26.042 --> 0:13:29.202 and he said, how many of you out there watching 0:13:29.202 --> 0:13:31.802 the show right now are saying to yourselves? You know, 0:13:31.922 --> 0:13:34.522 Madeline con is pretty good, but I think I can 0:13:34.562 --> 0:13:37.842 do a better job than that. Well, here's your chance, 0:13:38.002 --> 0:13:43.202 because now anyone can host Saturday Night Live. Michaels called 0:13:43.202 --> 0:13:47.682 it the Anyone Can Host Contest, and the premise was simple. 0:13:48.202 --> 0:13:51.762 Instead of being a famous star or comic or singer, 0:13:52.242 --> 0:13:55.282 any viewer could potentially be the host for the show's 0:13:55.362 --> 0:14:00.602 Christmas episode in December. No performing experience was needed to 0:14:00.642 --> 0:14:03.922 be considered for the contest. Viewers could mail in a 0:14:03.962 --> 0:14:07.562 postcard and explain in twenty five words or lie us 0:14:07.602 --> 0:14:10.922 why they should be chosen as the guest host. Send 0:14:10.962 --> 0:14:14.762 it to box seven to two radio City Station New York, 0:14:14.882 --> 0:14:19.042 New York one zero zero one nine by midnight November first, 0:14:19.562 --> 0:14:23.722 nineteen seventy seven. If they were one of five finalists. 0:14:24.042 --> 0:14:26.962 They'd be flown out to appear on a November show 0:14:27.362 --> 0:14:31.202 so viewers could vote for their favorite. The winner would 0:14:31.202 --> 0:14:35.162 host the Christmas episode and receive the then standard hosting 0:14:35.242 --> 0:14:39.322 fee of three thousand dollars. Put another way, they'd get 0:14:39.362 --> 0:14:43.762 paid as much as the Beatles. Michaels believed the contest 0:14:44.002 --> 0:14:47.482 was more than just a stunt in a meataway. He 0:14:47.602 --> 0:14:51.242 thought he could demystify the idea of being an entertainer, 0:14:51.602 --> 0:14:55.242 that it was reserved only for a chosen few. He 0:14:55.402 --> 0:14:58.842 joked that quote, comedy is much too important to be 0:14:58.962 --> 0:15:03.202 left to professionals. There was the pressure too of SNL 0:15:03.282 --> 0:15:07.562 getting predictable. If roping in an amateur host was dangerous, 0:15:07.962 --> 0:15:11.842 that was the point, and he offered very few guidelines, 0:15:12.162 --> 0:15:15.682 say for stressing that anyone caught approaching him or a 0:15:15.722 --> 0:15:19.562 cast member in person to make their case would be disqualified. 0:15:20.042 --> 0:15:22.002 I didn't know if it was for real at first. 0:15:22.042 --> 0:15:24.842 You always have to wonder when they do things like that, 0:15:25.242 --> 0:15:28.442 And then I thought, Okay, they're basically saying, this is 0:15:28.482 --> 0:15:30.562 how confident we are that we can do this show 0:15:30.602 --> 0:15:32.202 with anybody, You know. 0:15:32.202 --> 0:15:32.602 What I mean. 0:15:33.482 --> 0:15:38.722 Amateurs had appeared on SNL's stage before. Fran Tarkenton, a 0:15:38.802 --> 0:15:43.282 quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, hosted, so did Ron Nelson, 0:15:43.442 --> 0:15:47.682 the White House Press secretary under Gerald Ford. These non 0:15:47.762 --> 0:15:51.282 performers gave the show a different feel and energy. 0:15:51.682 --> 0:15:54.882 So they had to really write around that. So they 0:15:54.882 --> 0:15:58.322 didn't do it just because they thought, oh, this will. 0:15:58.202 --> 0:15:59.282 Be a blast. 0:15:59.602 --> 0:16:01.402 I think they did it as part of what they 0:16:01.402 --> 0:16:04.162 were doing overall there, which is just we're just shaking 0:16:04.242 --> 0:16:06.762 up all the conventions. This is another convention we're going 0:16:06.802 --> 0:16:08.442 to shake up. We're going to have a host that 0:16:08.482 --> 0:16:09.322 nobody'd ever heard of. 0:16:10.042 --> 0:16:14.282 But even those hosts were recognizable. The winner of the 0:16:14.442 --> 0:16:19.522 Anyone Can Host contest could be well anyone. The question 0:16:19.802 --> 0:16:23.842 was just how many people wanted to host SNL and 0:16:24.002 --> 0:16:27.122 what lengths would they go to in order to do it. 0:16:35.162 --> 0:16:39.682 Millions of people watched Michaels make his contest announcement, but 0:16:39.802 --> 0:16:42.762 you didn't have to be watching the show to hear 0:16:42.842 --> 0:16:47.402 about it. Many major newspapers covered the contest. It was, 0:16:47.602 --> 0:16:51.402 after all, a chance for literally anyone to headline the 0:16:51.442 --> 0:16:55.842 hottest comedy show in the country. Within weeks, NBC had 0:16:55.842 --> 0:17:00.322 gotten one hundred and twenty thousand responses, with people using 0:17:00.442 --> 0:17:04.402 their allotted twenty five words to make their case. According 0:17:04.442 --> 0:17:07.642 to Barbara Burns, a talent coordinator for the show who 0:17:07.722 --> 0:17:11.922 was overseeing the contest, a surprising number of entries were 0:17:12.002 --> 0:17:16.762 actually threatening in nature put me on the air or else. Those, 0:17:16.962 --> 0:17:20.362 she said, went directly in the garbage. There were a 0:17:20.402 --> 0:17:23.722 lot of nude photos with some people apparently hoping to 0:17:23.842 --> 0:17:27.882 seduce their way onto the show. Those two were discarded, 0:17:28.362 --> 0:17:31.522 and so were entries begging for the three thousand dollars 0:17:31.602 --> 0:17:37.362 host fee. And despite Lorne Michael's cautioning against personal appearances, 0:17:37.802 --> 0:17:41.322 some did show up At thirty Rock. One man came 0:17:41.442 --> 0:17:45.082 as a people card instead of a postcard, dressed in 0:17:45.162 --> 0:17:49.402 a postal sack and boxer shorts. He didn't win anyone over. 0:17:50.282 --> 0:17:55.002 There were even celebrity entrants of sorts. Bella Abzig, a 0:17:55.042 --> 0:17:59.522 former congresswoman, sent in a submission, so did Al Goldstein, 0:17:59.722 --> 0:18:05.482 the widely loathed publisher of an adult publication titled Screw Magazine. 0:18:06.242 --> 0:18:11.242 And then there was Connie Crawford's submission. Connie, you'll remember, 0:18:11.442 --> 0:18:14.442 was a freshman at Vassar who had a standing offer 0:18:14.522 --> 0:18:18.122 to run off to Nicaragua with Dan Akrid. What could 0:18:18.162 --> 0:18:20.802 she say in twenty five words or less that would 0:18:20.802 --> 0:18:24.922 make her postcard stand out from the thousands of other entries. 0:18:25.522 --> 0:18:29.042 It was something she carried with her everywhere, her Vassar 0:18:29.282 --> 0:18:31.122 student identification card. 0:18:31.642 --> 0:18:34.482 And so my friend and I were like, this sucks, 0:18:34.562 --> 0:18:38.042 and what is this ID? And you know without this ID, 0:18:38.202 --> 0:18:41.482 we can't eat. Without this ID, we can't go into 0:18:41.522 --> 0:18:46.962 certain places. This ID rules our life. And so I 0:18:47.042 --> 0:18:51.042 was like, Okay, that's it. The id's stage a revolution. 0:18:51.962 --> 0:18:55.042 My ID and my friend's ID go to the local 0:18:55.202 --> 0:19:00.162 holiday inn and my friend staples my ID on a 0:19:00.202 --> 0:19:04.922 holiday in postcard and I wrote, free me, and that's 0:19:04.962 --> 0:19:08.082 what I sent in. And of course I don't know 0:19:08.122 --> 0:19:14.082 if anybody got the backstory, it doesn't matter. I think 0:19:14.122 --> 0:19:16.402 it was more that it was my actual college ID 0:19:17.162 --> 0:19:20.042 stapled to a holiday and postcard in the words free me. 0:19:21.162 --> 0:19:25.362 Connie sent it off and waited. Meanwhile, SNL still had 0:19:25.402 --> 0:19:28.882 shows to do. Al Goldstein never hosted, but one of 0:19:28.922 --> 0:19:33.482 his peers did. Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine, hosted 0:19:33.522 --> 0:19:37.522 the third episode of the season. Charles Grodin was next, 0:19:37.922 --> 0:19:42.402 and then musician Ray Charles. By this point SNL's staff 0:19:42.442 --> 0:19:45.402 had come to a decision. Out of the now one 0:19:45.482 --> 0:19:50.762 hundred and fifty thousand entries received, the finalists had been selected, 0:19:51.202 --> 0:19:56.122 and shortly Connie Crawford's phone rang, or more accurately, the 0:19:56.322 --> 0:19:58.402 phone at the dorm rang. 0:19:58.962 --> 0:20:02.522 And this was Vasser and these are old dorms, so 0:20:02.682 --> 0:20:06.482 each of these phone booths had those folding wooden doors, 0:20:06.962 --> 0:20:08.642 and you'd go in and you'd sit on these little 0:20:08.722 --> 0:20:12.562 wooden things, and it was old school, even first seventy seven. 0:20:13.082 --> 0:20:15.442 And the way you would get messages is they would 0:20:15.442 --> 0:20:18.162 call the dorm and the person at the front desk 0:20:18.562 --> 0:20:21.282 would write down a little message on a piece of paper, 0:20:21.322 --> 0:20:23.482 fold it up and put it in your little slot. 0:20:24.202 --> 0:20:27.242 So that's how I found out. I got a message saying, 0:20:27.602 --> 0:20:31.642 Barbara Burns, the casting coordinator, wants to talk to you 0:20:31.722 --> 0:20:35.242 about the contest. So of course I was really excited. 0:20:35.362 --> 0:20:38.242 And there was an initial interview which I did in 0:20:38.282 --> 0:20:40.922 one of those little wooden booths, and I think it 0:20:40.962 --> 0:20:45.562 was mostly to just see am I crazy? Or you know, really, 0:20:45.602 --> 0:20:47.562 who the fuck am I? 0:20:47.602 --> 0:20:50.482 At first? Connie remembers being told she was one of 0:20:50.562 --> 0:20:54.362 twenty five finalists and being asked to send in a photo, 0:20:54.922 --> 0:20:58.322 but quickly she was one of the final five. Connie 0:20:58.402 --> 0:21:01.602 and four finalists had just a few days to make 0:21:01.642 --> 0:21:07.802 their way into Manhattan. This was surreal. Just days Connie 0:21:07.922 --> 0:21:11.522 was in class. Now she was at SNL, getting a 0:21:11.602 --> 0:21:14.882 chance to see the stage, the audience seats, the cameras, 0:21:15.162 --> 0:21:18.722 and the sheer energy of preparing for a live sketch 0:21:18.842 --> 0:21:23.602 comedy show. Cast members ran around half dressed, moving from 0:21:23.682 --> 0:21:26.162 one sketch to the next in a dry run before 0:21:26.202 --> 0:21:27.362 the live broadcast. 0:21:27.962 --> 0:21:30.642 I mean, you got to understand, they brought in these 0:21:30.922 --> 0:21:34.482 five people and they're in the middle of doing their 0:21:34.602 --> 0:21:39.882 live show and they're running around. They were busy. Bilda 0:21:39.962 --> 0:21:42.962 Radner was very sweet, and the others were all polite 0:21:43.122 --> 0:21:43.762 and everything. 0:21:44.482 --> 0:21:47.602 Connie also got exposed to Bill Murray, who was not 0:21:47.802 --> 0:21:51.362 yet the full force of nature he would become. This 0:21:51.602 --> 0:21:54.842 was Murray's first full season as a cast member. 0:21:55.242 --> 0:21:58.482 He was always on in terms of what I saw, 0:21:58.762 --> 0:22:01.962 which was just moments here and there. So I kind 0:22:02.002 --> 0:22:05.682 of felt like he's the new guy. He's got this 0:22:05.962 --> 0:22:11.202 amazing of Billy to just riff and he's both experimenting 0:22:11.282 --> 0:22:14.962 with riffing. You know, he's practicing and he's doing it 0:22:15.002 --> 0:22:20.122 all the time, which maybe that's him working on his craft. 0:22:20.242 --> 0:22:24.562 Maybe that's him trying to get material, or maybe that's 0:22:24.682 --> 0:22:28.522 just him how he works. I don't know, but brilliant, 0:22:28.722 --> 0:22:33.442 clearly brilliant, because even his little riffs with the costume 0:22:33.522 --> 0:22:35.722 person were just extraordinary. 0:22:36.482 --> 0:22:39.442 But one person seemed to stand out even among this 0:22:39.522 --> 0:22:43.922 group of performers, John Belushi. As a fan of the show, 0:22:44.122 --> 0:22:47.562 Connie got to see some of the sketch rehearsals. In one, 0:22:47.762 --> 0:22:52.162 Belushi reprised his highly popular Samurai, a man in a 0:22:52.202 --> 0:22:55.962 top fun who delivers rapid fire gibberish while struggling to 0:22:56.042 --> 0:22:59.602 adapt to modern customs. He often did the sketch with 0:22:59.682 --> 0:23:02.962 Buck Henry, a frequent host who made for a good 0:23:03.082 --> 0:23:06.682 straight man for Belushi's wild energy. 0:23:07.002 --> 0:23:09.762 In those studios, you know it's a great big room, 0:23:09.842 --> 0:23:12.362 it's actually quite small, and then they have all these 0:23:12.442 --> 0:23:16.482 little modular sets. So they were in one set, and 0:23:16.842 --> 0:23:20.402 as you know, people who do tech are working and 0:23:20.562 --> 0:23:24.802 they don't get sucked into the vacuum of acting because 0:23:24.842 --> 0:23:28.442 they see a lot and they have work to do. Well, Belushi, 0:23:28.602 --> 0:23:32.882 in one of the rehearsals, he just started riffing and improvising, 0:23:33.242 --> 0:23:36.842 and Buck, of course went along with him. And he 0:23:36.962 --> 0:23:40.482 must have gone, I don't know it. It felt really long. 0:23:40.842 --> 0:23:42.762 I mean, I would say it was at least twenty 0:23:42.842 --> 0:23:45.282 minutes for an original. I think the skets like two 0:23:45.402 --> 0:23:49.202 or three minutes. And it was so funny and so 0:23:49.402 --> 0:23:54.202 brilliant that every person in that whole studio stopped what 0:23:54.282 --> 0:23:58.842 they were doing and gathered around this little modular set. 0:23:59.482 --> 0:24:03.002 The more people who watched, the funnier he got. I mean, 0:24:03.042 --> 0:24:06.562 it's one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. On 0:24:06.642 --> 0:24:07.762 both their parts. 0:24:08.362 --> 0:24:12.082 Belushi was also generous with Connie. She recalls he was 0:24:12.122 --> 0:24:15.042 the only one to try and settle her nerves. 0:24:15.282 --> 0:24:18.722 I was sitting around and he came over and just 0:24:18.762 --> 0:24:23.602 started chatting. And he was drinking a beer during the day, 0:24:24.322 --> 0:24:27.042 so we just started chatting. And he also did something 0:24:27.082 --> 0:24:32.162 that was really kind, which was so they did on Saturday. 0:24:32.522 --> 0:24:35.362 They run through the show once for a studio audience, 0:24:35.642 --> 0:24:37.642 and then there's a little break and then you do 0:24:37.722 --> 0:24:41.962 it live. And after the first run through of the show, 0:24:42.482 --> 0:24:45.562 he came up to me and he said, just let 0:24:45.642 --> 0:24:49.162 it go. He said, just pretend you're talking to some 0:24:49.282 --> 0:24:52.522 of your friends at school, and you know, nobody else 0:24:52.682 --> 0:24:56.362 said anything to me. The director nobody else you know, 0:24:56.442 --> 0:25:00.042 basically told me to relax, calm down, and I just 0:25:00.082 --> 0:25:01.322 really appreciated that. 0:25:02.082 --> 0:25:05.682 Connie also met the other finalists, and they were a 0:25:05.842 --> 0:25:11.402 highly eclectic bunch. There was deb Blair, an employment counselor 0:25:11.522 --> 0:25:15.402 and mother of three from Peoria, Illinois, who wrote that quote, 0:25:15.682 --> 0:25:19.202 my three sons only listen to people on TV. Please 0:25:19.322 --> 0:25:22.362 let me host Saturday Night. There are a few things 0:25:22.442 --> 0:25:26.082 I need to tell them. And there was David Lewis, 0:25:26.202 --> 0:25:30.362 a bearded twenty year old college dropout from McMinnville, Oregon, 0:25:30.682 --> 0:25:35.122 who sent in seventy five different entries. In the one selected, 0:25:35.322 --> 0:25:38.322 he wrote that quote, I'm so bored in the town 0:25:38.402 --> 0:25:43.162 where I live. I know all the vending machines by name. David, 0:25:43.242 --> 0:25:46.202 more than anyone, seemed to have a big appetite for 0:25:46.282 --> 0:25:49.802 show business. He told reporters he aspired to get into 0:25:49.882 --> 0:25:53.442 comedy writing, but he didn't seem to make a big impression, 0:25:53.922 --> 0:25:55.482