This weekend marked the 40th year in the history of Saturday Night Live.
To celebrate this achievement, before the premiere of the new season NBC ran an old SNL episode.
The episode featured Richard Pryor as the guest host and it was really quite a shock from the past.
Before the episode started, NBC posted a warning saying something to the effect that the viewers should keep in mind that the episode originally ran in the 1970s and what may have aired them probably seems really shocking now.
And, boy-howdy, it was shocking.
The show began with a sketch which involved Chevy Chase teaching Garrett Morris how to fall down and then shout the famous “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”
After that Pryor came out and did his monologue and in true Richard Pryor fashion, it was brilliant.
However, after a while Pryor and Chase did a bit in which Pryor plays a man being interviewed for a job by an upper-management type played by Chase.
The bit began with Chase giving Pryor a sort of psychological evaluation of word associations.
Everything was rolling along with pretty average word-association stuff.
Then the words became a bit more racially charged.
Then they went into pure racist banter.
Chase would call Pryor something deplorable and Pryor would retort with something else.
The live-at-the-time studio audience ate the bit up, laughing hysterically.
My jaw dropped to the floor.
I could not fathom how that made it past the censors of today, let alone the censors of the 1970s.
I could feel my body gradually becoming more rigid as the sketch went on and on for what seemed like an awkward eternity.
I looked around the room and saw that my mom’s jaw had also dropped considerably.
What we both found puzzling was the fact that someone chose this particular episode to showcase the illustrious 40 years of Saturday Night Live.
Were they trying to prove some point? Was NBC just trying to demonstrate how different the content of the show used to be?
Were they trying to show what was funny back then?
Were they trying to demonstrate what could fly on television back then as opposed to now?
Were they trying to make some comment on what comedians could get away with back then?
Were they trying to defend the comedic uses of those words?
Were they trying to criticize comedic uses of those words?
It was really quite a strange moment. Neither my mom nor myself could figure out what the heck was going on or why they chose this particular episode.
Needless to say, I felt very uncomfortable during the sketch and became increasingly glad when it was over.
Following the controversial bit and a commericial, the show started up once again.
There was another hilarious monologue by Pryor – this time involving his fondness for winos, a short film by Albert Brooks and Chevy Chase’s wry take on news events with the now-standard Weekend Update segment.
But, even after the episode was over I still found myself bothered by the use of racially charged language.
Maybe that was the point. Maybe Chase and Pryor even then were challenging the audience on how they feel about racially charged language…maybe.
I am still not sure.
Even while watching it, I could not help but think about what kind of complaints the people at NBC would get for airing a special like that.
Thus far, I have not heard of any backlash for the re-run.
Chevy Chase is a smart comedian who knows how to craft a joke and make a point that can strike a chord, even if what he’s saying is a little politcally incorrect.
Richard Pryor – like many of his comedic constituents of the 1970s – knew how to shock an audience and in its 40 year history, Saturday Night Live has been known to do bits to strike a chord with audiences, but do you think there is room for this sort of language on television.
So, as I am prone to do from time-to-time, I turn the tables on you the reader.
If you saw this special or have thoughts on the matter of racially charged language on television, film, or music write a letter to the editor (see the editorial for the steps on how to do that) on the subject and some of them may be printed.
Please, if you do write, remember to keep things respectful in your letter otherwise it will not be printed.
Try to keep the following things in mind:
How far is too far when comedy is concerned?
When does freedom of speech come too far when issues of race come into play?
Can racially charged words be funny in a given context?
Is this article an over-reaction or is it right on the money?
We want to know what you think.
Brian Laughran
Editor-in-Chief
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