Sometimes the best plans you make are the ones you change.
And I am not, in this moment, referring to halftime adjustments or an epiphany during a late-game timeout.
Didn’t plan to spend nearly four hours watching the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary coverage Sunday evening, but I couldn’t resist. I was proudly using my first Louisiana driver’s license when Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner made it cool to be home at 10:30 Saturday night beginning Oct. 11, 1975.
Forgotten: one of the shining moments of the first SNL was young George Carlin’s explanation of the differences between football and baseball. In a shade more than three minutes, he killed it.
“Football’s kind of nice. They changed it a little bit, moved the hash marks in. Guys found ‘em and smoked them anyway ….
“Football is played in a stadium. Baseball is played in a park. In football you wear a helmet. In baseball, you wear a cap.
“The object in football is to march downfield and penetrate enemy territory, and get into the end zone. In baseball, the object is to go home.”
“Weekend Update” began with Chase, Akroyd and Jane Curtin, and it still thrives today with Michael Che and Colin Jost. Belushi gave us the Killer Bees and Samari, and Chase delivered Land Shark. Radner soon debuted Emily Litella.
The Coneheads – Akroyd, Curtin and Newman — came along on my 17th birthday. Two weeks later, the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton became the first sports figure to host SNL.
I watched Steve Martin debut “King Tut” the spring that I graduated from high school. That fall, Morris gave us Chico Escuela, a retired Hispanic New York Mets infielder.
He was much funnier than the second athlete to host – O.J. Simpson. Dozens more have followed among the nearly 1,000 people (including, in 2004 and 2015, an as-yet unelected Donald Trump) to give the opening monologue as the weekly host.
Monroe-born Bill Russell was second on the sports host list, followed with some obvious candidates known for their humor: John Madden, Bob Uecker, and Charles Barkley (four times, and it’s not enough. The Round Mound of Rebound needs to join SNL’s Five Timers Club).
The Manning brothers have hosted. Peyton’s spectacular 2007 appearance featured one of the show’s best pre-taped packages, a spoof of the NFL’s United Way commercials. It is worth your time to find it on YouTube.
Also on the list: Hulk Hogan, Chris Evert, Michael Jordan (not bad, but not invited back), George Foreman, Deion Sanders, and The Rock (making his debut from his pro wrestling fame), who became one of 27 hosts in the Five Timers Club.
And of course, just recently, Travis Kelce, whose turn as self-defense instructor Curt Lightning should be enough to earn him another invitation even if he and T-Swift don’t make it to the finish line.
We got inundated with SNL memories this weekend, and it was just what we needed – a dose of comedy from the professionals, not elected officials.
If the NBC celebration wasn’t enough to make the weekend special, Friday night was Valentine’s Day. No big deal, you say? C’mon. It’s the day before the biggest chocolate sale of the year.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com