The Not Ready for Prime Time Project: An SNL Retrospective

The Early Years of SNL: S05E13 Rodney Dangerfield/The J. Geils Band (3/8/80)

Throughout the storied history of SNL, one constant move has been booking hot stand-up comedians to host the show. And in early 1980, there were very few hotter than Rodney Dangerfield, who having already cameoed once in Season 4, comes ready to play. Unfortunately, he isn’t given much to play with. The highlight of this episode just might be the monologue, where Rodney shows why he is one of the best. After that, there are a series of sketches that run the gamut from questionable to tired to downright offensive. Though it must be said that the Murray Brothers do come through near the end with a really great sketch. The J. Geils Band do their best as musical guest to inject a little life into this one. But is it enough? We are joined by Jason Morris, of the amazing Classic SNL Reviews [https://classicsnl.blogspot.com/2018/03/introductionwho-i-am-and-why-im.html] blog, to talk about this episode of Saturday Night Live - one that is near and dear to his heart. --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media: Twitter: @NR4PTProject [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

The Early Years of SNL: S05E12 Kirk Douglas/Sam & Dave (2/23/80)

Kirk Douglas hosted Saturday Night Live? Yes, yes he did. Along with R&B legends Sam & Dave as the musical guest. This did happen. How did it turn out? Well…the show opens with Douglas doing what looks to be a Dorf impression. And it only gets better from there.  As “The Early Years” of SNL get closer to its end, we start to say goodbye to many fan favorites. We get the final Schiller’s Reel of the original era, the last appearance of Jane’s “Joan Face,” and the final installment of “What if?” We do learn the last name of Nick the Lounge Singer, so perhaps it is not a total loss.  --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media: Twitter: @NR4PTProject [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

VINTAGE NR4PTP: Tournament Talk: Favorite SNL Holiday Moments

Ho, ho, Hoooo!  Our season of celebrating the holidays comes to a close with this VINTAGE re-release of our very first edition of Tournament Talk. Fittingly, for this inaugural outing, we brought a few of our friends in to discuss and debate our Favorite SNL Holiday Moments. We had a lot of fun looking back at 50 years of memorable holiday sketches, pre-tapes, and performances as we battled it out over our top 16 favorite Saturday Night Live holiday moments. Thomas Sena joins us to intro the episode and (spoiler alert) talk about some of our favorite moments that didn’t make it to the competition. Happy Holidays! --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media: Twitter: @NR4PTProject [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

Deep Thoughts: Scrooged

We continue to celebrate the holiday season by looking back at a movie that is a must watch this time of year – Scrooged! Bill Murray returns to acting after a four-year hiatus to star in this modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ immortal classic, "A Christmas Carol," that’s infused with the chaotic energy of the live television and Saturday Night Live. Though originally panned by critics – as well as Murray and others involved in making the film – it has endured as one of the modern Christmas classics. The script, written by SNL’s Michael O’Donoghue and Mitch Glazer, famously got reworked during the filming but the final product has stood the test of time.  Murray delivers a layered performance, the supporting cast is stellar, and the blend of dark humor and heart hits just right. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and (re)watch this movie today! --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media: Twitter: @NR4PTProject [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

VINTAGE NR4PTP: The Early Years of SNL: S2E10 Candice Bergen/Frank Zappa (12/11/76)

Christmas is coming early this year to The Not Ready for Prime Time Project. This week we’re re-releasing a VINTAGE episode of The Early Years of SNL as we look back at not only the best holiday episode of the original (or any) era, but also one of the best episodes of the entire first five years. Candice Bergen returns to Saturday Night Live for the 3rd time to host the Christmas episode for the second year in a row. This one is loaded with killer sketches from “Adopt Belushi for Christmas” to “Santi-Wrap” to the iconic “Consumer Probe.” It's got a great monologue and two sketches, “Gary Gilmore” and “The Killer Trees,” which are sleeper gems you may have forgotten about. And, speaking of forgetting, we also get one of the most memorable “breaks” in show history as Candice forgets who is playing who in a sketch and calls Gilda by Candice’s own character’s name, causing both women to just lose it. To top it all off, Frank Zappa performs three numbers – all of which are top notch. He even manages to sneak into a sketch. We love this episode. We hope you do too.  Happy holidays!  --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media: Twitter: @NR4PTProject [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com