Hey, it's another one of those episodes hosted by an extremely young child! This time around it's Macaulay Culkin, here promoting Home Alo...wait, hold on...I'm getting word that he is in fact here promoting My Girl. Huh. Well, they sure do spend a lot of time riffing on Home Alone in this one, but I do suppose that was the style at the time. We do get an all-timer Lorne Michaels performance out of it though so that's cool. Kieran Culkin is here too and he's in this about as much as Macaulay, wh...
Nov 27, 2025•1 hr 40 min•Season 9Ep. 5
Gather round, Mad-Mennies because this week, we've got a doozy for ya. For better or worse, the Wiig/Hader/Samberg era was generally consistent enough that it really doesn't have too many notable infamous episodes but this...this sucker right here is definitely one of them. It's a deadly combo at play: a host who simply isn't cut out for the live sketch comedy game, a musical guest at the peak of their obnoxiousness giving three performances and only one single cast member who seems hell bent on...
Nov 14, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Season 9Ep. 4
In celebration of the show now fully hitting it's 50th anniversary, we're going back to the earliest episode we've yet to cover: Rob Reiner, with no real musical guest. Except, we do get some music in the episode. We get A LOT of things, actually. Much like the show's first episode, there's a bunch of elements in the gumbo for tonight; John Belushi doing his Joe Cocker, Andy Kaufman and his record player return to the show, The Lockers do some street dancing, Albert Brooks turns in what has to b...
Oct 31, 2025•2 hr 2 min•Season 9Ep. 3
We return again to the birth of the show's second golden age! This time hosted by a then 16 year old Malcolm-Jamal Warner, with musical guests Run-DMC and a special cameo by Spike Lee in character as Mars Blackmon from She's Gotta Have It...well, it's all a little interesting when you consider the show doesn't really have a single black person in the cast or in the writing room at the moment. Sam Kinison is there too, screamin' and hollerin'. Buster Poindexter is there too and he's, you guessed ...
Oct 17, 2025•1 hr 49 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Ladies and gentlemen, we are BACK FOR OUR NINTH SEASON OF THE SHOW! And we're kicking off with a real doozy. Everyone and their mother knows the infamy of this one. That's right...we're doing Jeff Richard's first episode as a cast member. Lord help us. I guess this one is also kinda notable for being the first episode of SNL post 9/11. I suppose that's why they got Rudy Giuliani there in the cold open. And probably why Paul Simon sings The Boxer. But really, it was at this time that the nation t...
Oct 03, 2025•2 hr 16 min•Season 9Ep. 1
(Originally posted on Patreon on Oct. 16, 2023) What happens when you mix an iconic singing duo from Japan with minimal knowledge of the English language with a comedian of dubious quality and wrap it all up in a dying variety show format? You get Pink Lady! Or...is it Pink Lady and Jeff? Even the show itself doesn't know what to call this glorious mess. We dig into the history of this infamous disaster and cover it's fifth, and last, episode to air on NBC.
Sep 26, 2025•1 hr 39 min•Season 8Ep. 27
(Originally posted to Patreon on September 18, 2023) Barely making it through it's first televised airing in some parts of the country, completely unseen in others, and more or less cancelled before the whole thing was even over, Turn-On was exiled to the land of wind and ghosts, never to be seen again...until now. We discuss the history and fallout of this beguiling assault on the senses and bravely attempt to cover the two episodes they managed to produce before the entire house of cards came ...
Sep 19, 2025•2 hr 7 min•Season 8Ep. 26
(Originally posted on Patreon on September 8th, 2023) We're finally closing up shop on The Richard Pryor Show by looking at the three sketches that were produced but never aired and a smattering of stuff that was written but never produced!
Sep 05, 2025•56 min•Season 8Ep. 25
(Originally posted on Patreon on August 31, 2023) It's been one hell of a journey but we've finally come to the end of the road with The Richard Pryor Show. It's clear all involved in the show are pretty happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel and the material collected for this episode is of generally lesser fare than you might expect but there's still moments of fascination and at least one more whale of a sketch. Also, tune in on Friday for the final part of our discussion wherein we ...
Sep 01, 2025•1 hr 57 min•Season 8Ep. 24
(Originally posted on Patreon on August 11, 2023) On one hand, The Edge is just another semi-forgotten 90s sketch show of little renown. On the other, it's one of the most insane assemblage of talent in front of the camera and behind that the fact that it failed is kinda shocking. This week, we dig up as much history on this bizarre little show show as we can possibly could and dissect it's final episode: a best-of special that is both decidedly not the best of the show and also, at least in the...
Aug 18, 2025•1 hr 39 min•Season 8Ep. 23
(Originally posted on July 28, 2023) By popular demand, this week we're covering one of sketch comedy's most fondly remembered entries: Upright Citizens Brigade! Lasting for only three beautiful seasons on Comedy Central, UCB (both the show and the theaters) nevertheless created a wave of cherished performers and influence that can still be felt to this day. In this episode, we briefly dig into the history of the group before diving headlong into two S1 classics!
Aug 04, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Season 8Ep. 22
(Originally posted on June 30, 2023) It's the Chevy Chase/Dog film you never knew existed! Eddie Ham and Mattalamode drop the show once again as we dive into the feverish world of Bob Clark's The Karate Dog, a family film about Dirt Nasty and a CGI dog getting revenge for the death of Pat Morita. Oh, and Jon Voight is there and he's, uh uh, cranked up to 11, baby!
Jul 21, 2025•2 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 21
(Originally posted on June 16, 2023) In the midst of a week of intense personal chaos for Richard comes this episode, a dreamlike outing of the show that balances melancholy with silent-era pantomime. Oh, and there's a good chance a bunch of stuff ended up getting cut by the network so we gotta fill that time somehow! How about some...uh, standup and improv?? Strap yourselves in for a wild one, folks!
Jul 07, 2025•2 hr 8 min•Season 8Ep. 20
(Originally posted on June 2, 2023) This week, we've got the first of our community/catching up on things podcast! Let us know what you think of this! What you'd like to see more of from it or, maybe, you'd like to see that we never do it again! Anyway, in this one, we discuss the long history of SNL episodes lost to various writers strikes, answer a few questions from the audience, and discuss Evil Dead Rise & Let Me Die A Woman. Music: Austin TV - Hasta Las Hifas, Un Micelio Tennis - Let's...
Jun 23, 2025•1 hr 50 min•Season 8Ep. 19
(Originally posted on May 15, 2023) We're doing something we haven't done in a looooong time: doing an Off Week episode about the current season of SNL. Timmy has more or less missed the bulk of the season and so, as selected by you, our lovely Patrons, we're digging into the Quinta Brunson episode to see if we can win him over. Will we find some boom stamp classics? Will we find some bombs? I mean...yeah. It's SNL. We probably will. The real question is; how the hell do you rate Lil Yachty?...
Jun 09, 2025•1 hr 48 min•Season 8Ep. 18
It's the end of our eighth season of the podcast and so we're celebrating by going all the back to the season finale of the very first season (well, if you don't count those summer episodes as being part of the season). Anyway, our ol' pal Jon Schneider is back with us again to discuss Elliott Gould's second hosting gig and what be the first of many for musical guest Leon Redbone. This episode is mostly known for Micheal O'Donoghue's lengthy Star Trek sketch and generally not much else and truth...
May 23, 2025•2 hr 28 min•Season 8Ep. 17
Sometimes you get towards the end of a season, you're getting tired and you just say "screw it" and hit the big red button labeled John Goodman. It's the eighth time hosting for the beloved character actor and this go-around gives us a chance to finally cover a perennial SNL favorite that has somehow alluded this podcast: Celebrity Jeopardy. Elsewhere, it's a pretty typical slice of this era: some real diffie takes on current events, recurring sketches aplenty (featuring the debut of Collette Re...
May 09, 2025•1 hr 44 min•Season 8Ep. 16
Pass the podcast 'pon the left hand side, ammirite? Ha ha ha. We have fun. And speaking of fun, here's a wild one from the Ebersol years. Joan Rivers! Y'all know her. Comedienne extraordinaire, red carpet correspondent and world class Liz Taylor hater. She's here to host one of the loudest episodes of the show's history, complete with one of the show's most strangely under-seen moments of joyfully coming off the rails. And then there's poor Musical Youth, exhaustedly performing their early 80s h...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 47 min•Season 8Ep. 15
It's another historical outing for the show, with the first political figure to ever host the show: Ron Nessen, Press Secretary for Gerald Ford! What better way for Ford to gain some momentum in the upcoming election against Jimmy Carter then make it seem like he's in on all the fun going on down at SNL? Just have Ron host the show, Ford can make a few pre-taped appearances, everything will be fine! Except it wasn't. Arriving late in the week, Ron didn't quite realize that the show had quietly w...
Apr 11, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Season 8Ep. 14
I've been meaning to get around to this one forever and so, by god by Gumby, we finally did it. William Ham returns to fold to discuss an episode that I firmly believe might be the most underrated of the entire OG era. Few outings of the show crackle with as much southern chaos as this one and that's not entirely surprising considering, ya know, Gary, a host the show gives way to so completely that he's actually doing a double duty stint here (with Rick Danko & Paul Butterfield in tow). And ...
Mar 28, 2025•2 hr 1 min•Season 8Ep. 13
The night before the very first Wrestlemania, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan drop by to host the show together...except they mostly don't. It was supposed to be Steve Landesberg but he had to drop out for reasons. I guess? He's still a special guest though, as well as Liberace, Bob Orton Jr. and Rowdy Roddy Piper. I know I say this a lot, but this is an ODD one. It's basically a host-less episode, one of the rare episodes with no Update and the best moments of the show coming from places you would least e...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 54 min•Season 8Ep. 12
Here's a bit of an oddity selected for us by one of our Patrons. Mostly known these days for having a surprise appearance of Barbra Streisand in Coffee Talk (which already has a sketch-long cameo performance from Madonna), there's also the fascinating and far less talked about case of the Red Hot Chili Peppers basically imploding live on stage, with John Frusciante going completely rogue from the band. And you've also got Roseanne, who's, uh...a lot less fun personality these days than here in 1...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 47 min•Season 8Ep. 11
By special request, we're heading back to S38 to cover Christoph's only hosting gig to date. Why this one in particular? I dunno. Mattalamode really wanted us to do it so...here we are! And it's certainly an episode, that much is true. Join us as we discuss a surprisingly stellar cold open, a memorable pre-tape, whether or not Christoph is a decent host and oh! The Alabama Shakes! They're a really good band. And speaking of music, we also get to hear some of the modern SNL band playing during co...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 49 min•Season 8Ep. 10
This week, we've got what is quietly one of the most important episodes of SNL ever. Not only do we get Ralph Nader, who would go on to cameo on the show up until 2000, but it's also the debut of one Mr. Bill Murray on the cast side of things, Jim Downey on the writing side of things and the very first appearance of both the Coneheads AND Rhoda Weiss. Even Andy Kaufman gets in one of his most celebrated bits. It's a big one. Join us as we dig in.
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Season 8Ep. 9
It's the first episode of 2025 and we're kicking it off in style with two of America's most beloved performers still to this day: DAG and Snoop Dogg. It's the first time going back to S22 in quite some time for us and we've landed on a pretty fascinating one. Can the show correctly navigate yet another Jesse Jackson sketch? What does Snoop Dogg have in store for his first album in three years, sans Dr. Dre? Where the hell did that ten-to-one come from? These are only some of the questions we att...
Jan 17, 2025•1 hr 58 min•Season 8Ep. 8
Our old pal Jon Schneider is back once again to discuss one of the most integral episodes of the first season: it's Christmas episode. Not only is it the first time a host would return to the show but it manages to include a number of iconic moments while somehow also managing to seem incredibly loose and nearly incomplete at times. But that's just the magic of S1 SNL. Lots of weirdness abounds: live Polaroid commercials, Mel's Char Palace...done three times with almost no change, the fastest th...
Dec 20, 2024•2 hr 12 min•Season 8Ep. 7
Hey, look. It's that guy. The guy from Party of Five and Lost. Good ol' what's his face. He's hosting SNL! Join us as we explore a surprisingly grim outing of the show (Car Bombs! The Michael Richards Incident!) and take in some super fun Tenacious D performances just as it's become infinitely less fun to think about Tenacious D!
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 51 min•Season 8Ep. 6
It's the first of Buck's two hosting gigs in S5 (his 9th overall) and he's here to get this season back on track after a shaky start. We've got some real interesting ones in here, including Yvonne Hudson's first big sketch (Bad Clams), a rather notorious epic (The Mystery of Toad Island) and one of the naughtier outings of the Nerds we've seen yet. Oh, and Tom Petty is here to play some pretty undeniable classics. Dig it!
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 46 min•Season 8Ep. 5
From the iconic to the absolute depths of comedic hell, the Betty Thomas episode has it all. We've got an episode long runner, one of Eddie Murphy's most famous and iconic sketches, a whole lot of Jim Belushi trying to establish himself on the show and one of the most problematic sketches we've seen in quite some time. Oh, and one of us watched the live version and the other watched the rerun and thus, chaos ensues.
Nov 08, 2024•1 hr 59 min•Season 8Ep. 4
Ah, yes. Another infamous outing from a rather infamous season. We return to S30 to explore what is probably it's most notable episode and sadly, it's notoriety has nothing to do with the comedy or the host or anything like that. It's all about Ashlee Simpson and her second (botched) musical performance. But there's still an episode that happens on either side of that. Kinda. Mostly, it's Oops! All Cold Opens! Uh oh!
Oct 25, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Season 8Ep. 3
