Random 'SNL' Deviated From Its Usual Format (10 items)

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  (#3) The 100th Episode

  Airdate: March 15, 1980

  Season: 5

  For the auspicious occasion of SNL's 100th episode, no host was announced. Ray Charles, The Rolling Stones, and Desi Arnaz had already been combo hosts/musical guests at that point in the show's history. Also, episode 3 of season 1 featured no musical guest at all (but did have the famous John Belushi performance of Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My Friends"). But it wouldn't be until this Season 5 episode that there would be no announced host. For the special milestone, Lorne Michaels booked three musical guests: Paul Simon, James Taylor, and David Sanborn, plus cameos from former cast members John Belushi and Michael O'Donoghue. The cold open features the remaining original cast members around a crystal ball, attempting to summon the "memories" of cast members who have departed the show. Says former head writer O'Donoghue: "Since I left, the show really sucks rubber donkey lungs."
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  (#10) Saturday Night Live From Home

  Due to the necessity for social distancing caused by the COVID-19 crisis of 2020, production of Saturday Night Live's 45th season was halted and cast and crew dispersed. But, a plan was devised to film sketches and other material remotely, allowing the SNL cast and writers to produce periodic special episodes, titled Saturday Night Live From Home, that poked fun at the new normal of quarantine. The first episode of this revised format featured Tom Hanks, who had just recovered from COVID-19 himself, as the special guest host. The second edition was notable for Brad Pitt's impression of Dr. Anthony Fauci of the White House Coronavirus Taskforce.
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  (#7) The Show Without A Dress Rehearsal

  Airdate: October 17, 1987

  Season: 13

  Thanks to a fire that broke out near Studio 8H, the traditional home for SNL at NBC's 30 Rockefeller Plaza headquarters, the Season 13 premiere is the first and only episode to ever air without the benefit of a dress rehearsal. According to the oral history book Live from New York by Tom Schales and James Andrew Miller, the cast initially wanted to cancel the show, but was rallied to go on live after a rousing speech from host Steve Martin. The episode also marks the first appearance of popular recurring characters, the musclebound Hans and Franz.
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  (#4) Who Shot C.R.?

  Airdate: February 21, 1981

  Season: 6

  Despite its early reputation for being dangerous and culturally subversive, SNL is primarily a traditional sketch/variety show, with a melange of comedy and music not unlike predecessor series like The Ed Sullivan Show or Laugh-In. The variety aspect meant that segments weren't often related to each other with musical performance, sketches, and filmed pieces all mingling with each other without any connective tissue. That all changed for a historically significant episode of SNL in its tumultuous sixth season. Lorne Michaels had left, citing burnout, and the entire cast and writing team left with him. NBC, not wanting to let its late-night cash cow go, swore to carry on without SNL's creator. They hired Jean Doumanian, the show's former talent coordinator, to produce the show in his place. With Doumanian in charge and a new crop of actors replacing the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players, SNL sought to reinvent itself. 

  That meant changing up a format that was starting to show signs of age. One of the most brash attempts to reboot SNL that season was the "Who Shot C.R.?" parody, a running plot line through an entire episode which gently mocked the famous "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger on the prime time TV soap opera Dallas. The episode was hosted by Dallas star Charlene Tilton with musical guests Todd Rundgren and Prince. In the show-long running storyline, new cast member Charles Rocket is seen flirting with Tilton, which causes other members of the ensemble to become jealous of all the attention he's getting. Rocket is shot late in the episode, but returns for the customary goodnights at the end of the show. When Tilton asks Rocket how it feels to have been shot, he says "Oh man, it's the first time I've ever been shot in my life. I'd like to know who the f*ck did it." 

  Rocket's utterance of an expletive on live broadcast TV caused not only a national controversy, but it also led to the dismissal of Doumanian, Rocket, and fellow cast members Gilbert Gottfried and Ann Risley. Former NBC Sports producer Dick Ebersol would take over SNL not long after, changing the course of the show once again.
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  (#6) Francis Ford Coppola Directs 'SNL'

  Airdate: March 22, 1986

  Season: 11

  Once again, Saturday Night Live was in a period of renewal. Dick Ebersol had left and was replaced by returning SNL creator Lorne Michaels. Michaels would forgo his tradition of filling out his roster with unknown comedians and hire a cast of young Hollywood stars who'd already broken out in feature films. That hodge-podge cast would include Anthony Michael Hall, Randy Quaid, and a young Robert Downey Jr. 

  And like when Doumanian produced "Who Shot C.R.?" SNL would again try to shake up its format in a drastic way. This time, Saturday Night Live would create an ongoing story for an episode hosted by Cheers star George Wendt. The episode was said to be "directed" by famous film director Francis Ford Coppola, complete with interstitial segments with Coppola directing scenes in the style of his classic films. The show also featured Coppola-themed sketches and cinematic visual flourishes that are absent on standard episodes of the show. It wasn't the disaster that the Charles Rocket bit was, but since then, SNL hasn't attempted something nearly as ambitious or surreal since.
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  (#2) The 'Anyone Can Host' Contest

  Airdate: December 17, 1977

  Season: 3

  One of the most fundamental elements of the Saturday Night Live format is the guest host. In the early days of the show, the star power of the host was as much, if not more of a draw than the cast. By Season 3, though, the show itself was such a cultural phenomenon that it didn't matter nearly as much who that week's guest was. People would tune in regardless. Lorne Michaels tested this idea in season three, with the "Anyone Can Host" contest. 

  The only requirement for entry was a postcard with your reason for being the perfect host written on it in 25 words or less. More than 150,000 people entered the contest, which was eventually won by elderly Miskel Spillman of New Orleans, LA (surely a coincidence after the disastrous Mardi Gras special a year earlier). Spillman did a monologue, appeared in sketches, and generally did a pretty solid job of hosting considering her amateur status. 

  This episode is better remembered for totally different reasons, though, as it's also the show in which Elvis Costello enraged Lorne Michaels when he chose to play a different song than he was scheduled to perform on the show. Instead of performing "Less Than Zero," Costello launched into the as-yet-unreleased track "Radio, Radio," the lyrics of which were highly critical of the broadcasting industry. For his transgression, Costello was banned from SNL for almost 12 years. Costello was not even supposed to be the musical guest that night. The Sex Pistols were originally scheduled to perform, but were unable to secure travel to the United States.

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