That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)

It's Valentine's Day over at the ol' SNL factory and that means we gotta break out the big guns. Not only do we get a host way out of his depth with Bronson Pinchot and the middling musical stylings of a one Paul Young but we've also got model Paulina Porizkova in tow and of course, because it's S12, a little smattering of Buster Poindexter as well. It don't add to much at all so thankfully, we've got a live copy from Hawaii to give us a little bit of something to dive into.

What's this? William Ham and Eddie Ham appearing on the show to discuss an episode hosted by Jon Hamm?! That certainly sounds whimsical indeed! Join us as we struggle to sort the present from the past with an episode that is good but is also kinda bad and misses a few key moments and we rant and rave. It's fun!

We're back for the first episode of 2024 and finally getting around to one that we've had on the back burner for awhile now. Yes, we did slightly cover this one all the way back at the birth of the show on an early Off Week but now we're digging full bore into one of our favorite modern SNL outings! Get ready for fun, adventure and bracing Tim Cicali monologues!

As the wise Beach Boys once said, "Christmas comes this time each year" and following those sage words, we've decided this would be the best time to drop our Christmas episode! Jon Schneider is back aboard the ship to discuss Martin Short's cameo packed S38 outing as we hack it up about canonical vs. non-canonical moments, tearing ass, fateful bus trips and much more!

It's the Smother Brothers! Hosting SNL during the Ebersol era! Now that's some cozy, down-home holiday fun if I do say so myself. William Ham joins us as we break down the history of the mighty Brothers and how it runs up against a cancelled SNL special, live commercials tell the tale of the pre-crash video game market, more Airplane 2 discussion than you'd expect and more!

We've got a true oddity on our hands this time around: one of the few episodes to hosted by someone completely in character. We're talking dominant hands, audience cameos, fluctuating ages, Swartzwelder, Father Guido Sarducci AGAIN, and more!

We don't visit season 28 of the show much, mostly for good reason, but this one has so much going on that we just had to do it. You've got Brittany arguably at the height of her popularity post-8 Mile, cameos from beloved alum like Adam Sandler and Garrett Morris (also, Rob Schneider shows up), and your usual smattering of SNL sketch offerings, mostly re-occuring. And along the way, Andy learns some things!

What a match made in heaven this should have been. You've got one of rock's greatest satirists hosting America's premiere late night sketch show (a show that he's already been on and crushed it, mind you) for the HALLOWEEN episode and yet, nearly the whole damn thing is just rotten. Frank tries to torpedo already questionable material, no one seems to want to be on stage with anyone else. It's just bad vibes all around. William Ham joins us to slog through one of the show's saddest misfires.

Ah, now here's a real oddity. You've got technical difficulties, feverish non-endings to sketches, a brutal runner about family strife, and a host giving scenes more honest realism than may have even been on the page. It's just our kind of show. Let's dig in (digging in may not be recommended if you're a My Chemical Romance fan)!

Hot damn, we're BACK, baby! It's the premiere of the seventh season of That Week and this time we're hitting up the first episode of the second season of SNL for what turns out to be an important episode in a number of fashions. You get the final Land of Gorch sketch, a greasy Dan Aykroyd, the origins of the Antler Dance, three, count 'em, THREE James Taylor performances and hell, even Taylor Mead too. The gangs all here, man. Let's go!

Today we're chatting with Jason Klamm, author of the new upcoming book (Sept. 12th to be exact) all about sketch comedy in the 90s, We're Not Worthy! We discuss the hardships of putting the book together, various bombshells dropped during the making of it and more!

We're wrapping up the main portion of season six of the show with an episode with some fond memories attached to it...and some new, not-so-fond memories as well. It's your classic end of season cameo clusterfuck with Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg all stopping by for some shenanigans but ya know what? It doesn't really matter because it's all pretty darn fun!

It's been awhile since we've hit up the second season of the show and so, we've got this odd little outing of the show to shift through. It's got some doozies in it, both good and bad, including two of the more confounding sketches we've ever tried (and failed) to parse out but there's a mysterious charm to this one. Plus, we get to hear about William's run-ins with the Moonies!

We're again joined by our friend Jon "Schmitty" Schneider to unravel the mysteries of a subtly game changing episode of SNL. Oh sure, we've got some Hunger Games references to comb through, some duds, some boom stamps and some truly insane bombshells from Schmitty...but the REAL focus of the evening is the arrival of Kate McKinnon and a new era of the show silently setting itself up.

You know you've got a special one on your hands when even Lorne Michaels himself considers it to be one of the absolute worst the show has ever done. Unseen for multiple decades after it's initial airing, ol' Uncle Milty comes in to crash the party in so many unique and harrowing ways that there certainly can't be any redeeming qualities to massive bomb, right? And yet...

This week we take aim at a quietly controversial episode of the show, one that spells the end for Damon Wayans as a featured player and is seemingly a sacrifice to the sketch gods while they shore up defenses for what could be the last rodeo. Come for the discussion of Damon going off the grid, stay for the attempts to make anything else out of this episode.

Oh hey, look! It's that guy from Late Night who used to write for SNL and The Simpsons! This should be fun! That's right, we're finally digging into the Conan episode, complete with our remembrances of Conan's Late Night tenure, fuzzy memories of early file sharing days and more Don Henley talk than you can shake a stick at! Zibbity Bop!

We've got one of the weirdest and more experimental Ebersol era episodes at hand today (and honestly, that's really saying something) and so we brought in some new folks to break it all down: Eddie Ham and Mattalamode! We discuss one of Jim Belushi's most recognizable sketches, Turk-182, Christopher Guest VS Brian Doyle Murray and much more!

It's time. We're finally gonna tackle one of the most infamous episodes of the show's original run. Ol' Chevy Chase drops by for his second hosting gig and...somethings wrong. Even more wrong than season five usually is. William Ham joins us as we unravel one of the sweatiest, most coked out, face-down-in-the-toilet disasters the show has possibly ever seen. But is it ALL bad?

We're back with our first mainline episode of 2023 and it's the first of Sarah Michelle Gellar's three hosting gigs! We discuss an unruly Norm, the unbeatable physique Tim Meadows, that gerbil show (??), debate the sleepy charms of Portishead and more! This podcast drives a Dodge Stratus!

The threat of apocalypse hangs over every moment of this decidedly chilly Christmas episode of SNL so we've called upon the dual forces of Tim Barnes and Ian Abramson to lighten things up a bit. It's the last stand of Michael O'Donoghue's vision for the show and as usual he never fails to bring the goods, with forces both internal and external colliding for the darkest holiday outing ever.

Fever and sickness grips the studio as we boldly attempt to cover one of the most influential and well-known episodes of the show's history. Will Andy's cough medicine gag crash against the rocks of Timmy's all consuming chaotic energy? Will William ever get a word in edge-wise? Is this SNL episode actually any good? All these questions are asked (and more!) and maybe - just maybe - some might be answered.

Jon Schneider of Saturday Night Network drops by yet again to cover a momentous episode of SNL! At only 7 years of age, Drew Barrymore grabs claim to the youngest host ever and a live call-in vote was conducted to see if Andy Kaufman would ever appear on the show again. We try to place our own vote, share some scary stories of house break-ins, get a remembrance from Gary Kroeger and more!

We're going all the way back to the subject of our very first test episode we recorded for the show to give it another go, this time minus a Timmy but adding a William. And really, it's an episode with a lot of firsts: the first Stuart Smalley, the first credited episode for Tim Meadows & Adam Sandler and the whole thing just generally points to the future of the show. It's up to you to decide if that's a good or a bad thing.

Join us for a long, winding tale of the podcasting origins that brought us to That Week and 100 episodes thereof! Correspondence from the audience! Questions! Answers! It's all here as we kick back and celebrate the podcast for a bit.

By god, we made it. 100 episodes of this mess! And to celebrate, we're breaking our usual cover-an-episode-from-the-same-month-the-podcast-gets-released format to jump ahead to March 1980 to cover SNL's own 100th episode! Kinda host-less, kinda not, and nowhere near as celebratory as you'd think, this one nevertheless delivers some odd moments worth digging into, including the show's first ever f-bomb.

It's time we finally dive into SNL's second ever episode, one that has a vibe and format the show would never replicate. It's basically a Paul Simon concert show with a few sketches thrown in, including a rare reunion of Simon and Garfunkel. Thankfully, we've got a live copy to really get the full scope of the night...and somehow, it all adds up to one of the biggest episodes we've ever recorded. We need help.

We're kicking off our sixth season of the show with special guest Tim Barnes to explore the beginning of the show's Silver Age, Lorne's second attempt to reboot the show after returning. It's the first episode for Phil, Dana, Jan, Kevin and Victoria and somehow, with no REAL credited musical guest, also manages to pack in four musical segments. It's got some bangers. It's got some clangers. It's got a format the show wouldn't ever really try again. SNL. It's back, baby.

Before his return to SNL, Lorne Michaels made a small, rather inauspicious sketch comedy pit stop with 1984's The New Show. Lasting only a scant 9 weeks as one of the lowest rated shows of the season, the show nevertheless pointed towards the future of SNL itself, though no one knew it at the time. We dig into the first episode.

Jon Schneider is back again to help us knock out the *other* Summer '76 episode of SNL! This one is hosted by a clearly boozy Kris Kristofferson so we try our best to get on his level as we muse on if he tanks the episode or not and debate the satirical worth of one of the show's most damning take on the cops.

Back in the early days of S4, during an off week for the show, a very peculiar special aired in the SNL time slot. It was Things We Did Last Summer, a nearly feature-length mockumentary following the exploits of the SNL cast over the summer and while it was eventually released on video/DVD, large chunks were cut due to music rights and other issues. We break down the whole shebang from it's original airing.

It's time to finally return to ABC's rival sketch show, Fridays! This one is a strange beast; coming shortly after the show began to have hosts and shortly before Ronald Reagan took office, providing one last blast of old-school feminism and hippy ideals before things got truly grim.

Last year, just as the newest season of ITYSL was about to come out, we selected a handful of episodes from the first season to cover. That's right, we're talking everything from Bart Harley Jarvis and TC Tuggers to Bone Mommas and being so horny your stomach hurts! Eat this podcast's goo to gain it's sense of humor.

As a companion piece to last year's crossover episode with Telehell about the very same subject, here's our own take on the bizarre TV movie based on Gilda's autobiography. It's got laughs, love and more dwelling on cancer than anyone could ever want!

It's the end of our fifth season and so we're closing it out with an inscrutable mess of an episode that also acts as a bit of an end of an era! But we're not gonna lie to ya here...this one was a difficult journey. A mighty difficult journey.

What better way to celebrate both Mothers Day and the LA Riots than with our old friend Tom Hanks? Yes, dark days are here again and America's Dad is here to guide us gently through these troublesome times. So strap on your Batman cowl, turn up the radio in your slightly looted Hyundai and get your Brocktoon on because this one has got Toshiba guts!

The time has come. It's finally time to talk about Canada's Finest: SCTV. We're exploring the Pledge Week episode from the show's fourth season; originally run on NBC in '81 but here in a reconfigured version for the CBC. We talk about the origins of the show, revel in some Canadian commercials, discover a rare Great White North segment and more!

We're near the end for both the original era of the show and, unbeknownst at the time, the life of our host but that's not going to stop anyone from delivering one of the most striking and original episodes the show has done. Only one viewing and you too will be a Strother Brother.

It's time to get real Diffie with the last of our "episodes we enjoyed when we got back into the show" quadrilogy! This time around it's Anna Kendrick and the man in the hat, Pharrell Williams bringing those happy, musical vibes to the show and we are here for it, i guess. Expect a few Boom Stamp Classics, maybe a Grandma, maybe even...a Diffie?!

Bill Murray returns to the show for the third time (and the first time back with Lorne) and it may just be one most out of control, sexually repressed and angry episodes we've covered yet. Plus, we regale you with tales of Tammy Faye Bakker and fighting with pops!

We're finally getting around to reviewing one of the episodes hosted by everyone's favorite big ol' lummox, Dwayne Johnson and it turns out that this episode means a little something to us and the history of the show! Sound interesting, right? Well, it probably isn't but hey, at least we had fun talking about it.

What happens when you take a chaotic live sketch show and decide to plop it in the middle of Mardi Gras just for the hell of it? You guessed it. More chaos than you can handle. And potentially more Randy Newman than you can handle.

You know, it's like they always say: just shut up and enjoy the Fraser. Brendan Fraser, that is. We explore the second (and to this day, last) hosting gig of this incredibly charming fellow and all the intensely 1999 baggage it carries!

Join us for the most chaotic, slap-happy, improv-filled episode the show has ever had! It's the kind of pure, unfiltered and unscripted joy you so rarely see on television anymore and we bask in every insane moment.

Everyone's favorite coach/commentator/screamy-man John Madden takes to the SNL stages for another typically atypical Ebersol era episode! Moments of intrigue include what is quite possibly the weirdest Andy Kaufman appearance on the show, a chill train trip with John and one of the best musical performances on the show ever.

Two years after it all went down, Al Gore arrives on the SNL stage to exorcise the demons of the 2000 election. The mighty Ian Abramson returns to help us uncover the many mysteries of this strange Holiday episode!

We're finally tackling the last of the Five Infamous Episodes of S20: the Christmas show with ol' George Foreman! Get ready for a very normal conversation about a very normal episode of SNL!

This week, Arthur Meyer drops by the show once again to help us untangle the glorious derangement that is THIS episode. It's simultaneously the most Mr. Mike of the Ebersol era, the most musical of any era and the most unsettling sketch comedy has possibly ever been. God, it's beautiful.

Our ol' pal Jon Schneider of the SNL Network returns to break down an entry from his favorite era of the show. It's the last episode before the 2007 writer's strike went down, the last episode for Maya Rudolph in the cast and it's even got a famous cameo from Barack Obama...and Horatio Sanz. And that's not even getting into Brian.

It's spooky Halloween times again with another one of those rare episodes that actually ran ON Halloween night! We've got a few stamp classics, a somewhat troubling theme of "those darn women" and a cameo by Cassandra Peterson as Elvira!