Now we reach an episode I've been looking forward to writing up, my favorite episode of the first season, possibly my favorite of the entire first five seasons - the Richard Pryor episode.
I'm a little surprised to see that Pryor only hosted the one time. I'd always assumed he was a regular host, like Steve Martin. Perhaps he simply made too many demands - they had to agree to let Gil Scott-Heron, Pryor's ex-wife Shelley, and a blaxploitation actor by the name of Thalmus Rasalula perform before he would agree to do it. He even brought along a writer, Paul Mooney, now probably best known to viewers of The Chapelle Show for his guest spots.
It all leads to a little bit of a sense that the show has been hijacked, that things aren't operating like they normally would, but it all works. I can easily imagine someone like Lorne Michaels being uncomfortable relinquishing that much control, though, so it ends up being a one-time thing.
THE HOST
Pryor is great throughout the show. He's the first host to require a delay, for fear of what he might say, but I don't recall it ever being used. He puts his stamp all over the show, from the opening number on, and at times this almost feels like a test run for a special or series of his own.
Pryor's monologue is typical of his stand-up, which was at its peak around this time, so it's strong, funny, and memorable. It's laced with drug and alcohol references, but not so much that it wouldn't make it on air, and it all still feels pretty relevant today. Maybe not the dropping acid part so much, but it's still an easily accessible joke for audiences today.
THE GOOD
The opener establishes Pryor as the one in control, as Garrett Morris gets to do the pratfall, per Pryor's request, instead of Chevy.
The big debut for this episode if the first appearance of Belushi's samurai character (whose apparently named Futaba, something I didn't know before today). I always associate him with the Buck Henry episodes, so I was surprised to see this is the first samurai skit. The format's not set yet, so instead of getting Buck Henry or someone else dealing with Belushi, the focus is on Belushi and Pryor as a bickering samurai hotel clerk and bellhop, respectively. The skits get funnier in the future, but this is yet another great moment that makes me wonder why Belushi didn't garner more of the spotlight early on, instead of Chase.
The real highlight for me, though, is a skit involving word association between Chase and Pryor that becomes increasingly racist. It's probably one of the edgiest things they show did in the early years, and with Chase's no holds barred delivery of the "N" word, I doubt it would play today without being bleeped. It's funny, it says something, and it actually has a great punchline. It's one of the best skits they ever did, and it's actually written by Paul Mooney, not the regular staff. That's probably why we don't see anything else like this in future episodes.
The other great one is an Exorcist parody that I remember from having seen rerun countless times. It doesn't stand out for being ground-breaking, it's just a solid, funny movie parody, one of the best of their early years. It's one of Laraine Newman's best skits, and it's filled with quotable lines. I knew kids who said "Your momma eats kitty litter!" in the '80s, five years after this skit aired.
Less notable, but still strong, are a skit in which a white family gradually turns black around an oblivious father, and a series of brief bits involving police line-ups heavily aligned against Pryor as the sole black suspect.
THE BAD
Pong and the Muppets, as usual. It would be so great if these had been absent, or at the very least transformed by Pryor's presence, but they're the same thing we've been treated to every week.
Shelley Pryor's monologue. I'm not sure what the nature was of their relationship that Pryor insisted on his ex-wife (they'd been divorced since 1969) delivering a monologue, It's a poem about carousel horses, serving as a metaphor for race relations, and it's about as entertaining as that description just made it sound. She delivers it like a hippy chick who thinks she's on to something deep, or at least it seemed that way while she was stoned.
THE MEH
Pryor as an author who's written a book about pretending to be white touched on pretty predictable stereotypes about whites, and doesn't deliver anything more. The skit in which he plays a soldier who accidentally swallows a suicide pill is also not very memorable. He also has a second monologue which is good, but not as strong as his opener.
Weekend Update is brief this week, devoting much of its time to Emily Litella. It's funny, I remember liking the character when she turned up in reruns in the '80s, but I find her a little grating after seeing each appearance. This is her first appearance on Update so the joke is still fresh. It's certainly better than her previous appearance as a guest on Looks At Books.
Albert Brooks delivers an average film for him, centered around him being too sick to make an actual film.
We also get reruns of the New Dad and Spud Beer commercials.
THE MUSIC
This is the earliest episode that features a performance that made me look up the album to buy it. Heron is great, a real change of pace from previous musical guests, and his performances still feel vital. A lot of SNL musical performances haven't aged well, but this one still feels like a real treat.
GRADE: A
It's not perfect, but the highs are very high here.
RANDOM THOUGHTS:
I feel like when people have memories of early SNL being perfect, and so much better than whatever they're currently doing, it's because of their memories of condensed reruns of episodes like this. If you take the three strongest skits, and assume each week was like that, it's easy to see why someone might think that the show was flawless in those days, which it certainly wasn't.
Anyone out there know why Pryor never came back? He seems like he'd be a natural to host every season.
NEXT: Candice Bergen is back (already?) for the first SNL Christmas episode.
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