Tyrades! by Danny Tyree

Unless you’ve been living in a van down by the river, you’ve doubtless endured a “Saturday Night Live” PR blitz over the past year.

First came the October 2024 movie “Saturday Night,” dramatizing the minutes before the first broadcast. Then came a four-part Peacock docuseries, the three-hour primetime special (February 26) and innumerable breathless summertime announcements about cast departures.

But since the actual 50th anniversary of what was originally titled “NBC’s Saturday NIght” isn’t until October 11, I’ve held my peace.
My exposure to the venerable program over the past 20 years has been hit-and-miss-and-miss-and-miss, but I cherish many warm memories of the first three decades.

Like sitting at the high school cafeteria table during my sophomore year and listening to Tracy Holder regale us with highlights of this really cool latenight show he had discovered. We audience members got to discover SNL only once. For the drug-infused cast members, I suspect it was a fresh discovery every week. (“I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not. Or ARE you?”)

During my junior year, I was art co-editor for the student newspaper and redesigned photos of several well-known people (including principal Jerry Hatten) as Coneheads. Hmmm… this could explain why the document I received at graduation bears the disclaimer “I’m not a diploma, but I play one on TV.”

At Christmas 1977, I purchased Jennifer Jett a copy of the 1976 Arista vinyl album “NBC’s Saturday Night Live” from Kuhn’s Variety Store. Recently, I saw a copy of the album in a nearby antiques (!) mall. I marched up to the proprietor to inform him of his insulting faux pas, but I forgot what I was mad about. (It didn’t matter. It was nearly 3:30 p.m. – time for supper!)

In the mid-1980s I attended a church Halloween party dressed as Martin Short’s hyperkinetic man-child character Ed Grimley, complete with hair that was made to stand up in a point via copious amounts of lard. Good Christian fellowship was had, but that night’s bedtime prayer came up short. (“Now I lay me down to…now I lay me down to…hey, my head keeps sliding off the pillow!”)

My wife and I attended the 1992 Chicago Comicon. While we were backstage talking to my editors from “Comics Buyer’s Guide” magazine, the late Peter David (writer of comic books including Incredible Hulk and Star Trek) entered the room. Turns out I was not the first fan who had launched into the Wayne’s World “We’re not worthy!” schtick. Peter seemed to be thinking, “You wouldn’t like me when I’m deeply embarrassed for you.”

After our son Gideon was old enough, we exposed him to reruns of Toonces the Driving Cat, Medieval Barber Theodoric of York, the Blues Brothers and other highlights of SNL’s glory days. (I thought I heard a Land Shark at the door, but it was just Child Protective Services.)

I still find myself working phrases such as “Hear me now and believe me later” (Hans and Franz), “O-tay!” (Buckwheat) and “How conveeeeenient!” (The Church Lady) into conversations. “Needs more cowbell” is more problematic, as cowbells are among the items stocked at my day job, and a casual comment can generate serious overstock.

As SNL begins its 51st season, I hope it’s still thriving at the century mark. I hope people in 2075, watching through their brain implants, can declare, “You look mahvelous!”

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Copyright 2025 Danny Tyree, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at [email protected] and visits to his Facebook fan page “Tyree’s Tyrades.”