April 10, 1982 Season 7 episode
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| Episode | 135 |
| Season Episode | 16 |
| Host | Daniel J. Travanti |
| Musical Guest(s) | John Mellencamp |
| Song(s) performed by Musical Guest(s) |
"Hurts So Good" "Ain't Even Done with the Night" |
| Previous Episode March 27, 1982 |
Next Episode April 17, 1982 |
The 16th episode of Season 7 and the 135th episode of Saturday Night Live premiered on April 10, 1982, hosted by actor Daniel J. Travanti, star of the NBC's serial police procedural series Hill Street Blues, with musical guest John Mellencamp, a singer-songwriter.
This was Daniel J. Travanti’s only time hosting, as well as the musical guest debut on SNL for John Mellencamp.
Cast[]
Repertory[]
Featured[]
Sketches[]
Cold Open Sketch Pre-recorded Weekend Update Music Performance Other
| Title | Image | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Larry the Lobster Phone-In Vote Cold Opening | As a chef (Tony Rosato) is about to boil a lobster, Eddie Murphy interrupts the sketch to protest the killing of a living creature. Murphy names the lobster "Larry" and invites the home audience to determine his fate via a 1-900 number phone in vote. | |
| Opening Montage | ||
| Monologue by Daniel J. Travanti | Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti reminds the viewers about the poll and sets up the short film, as he is hosting for the only time. | |
| Ride Along | He accompanies a real NYC policeman as he responds to a domestic disturbance call. | |
| The Whiners | Grating couple Doug and Wendy Whiner (Joe Piscopo and Robin Duke) annoy the maitre d' (Tony Rosato) and patrons of the restaurant where they had their first date. | |
| Everybody Does Merman | An Ethel Merman impersonator (Christine Ebersole) auditions for the head of a celebrity doubles agency (Tony Rosato), who desperately to convince her that every single human being can do an imitation of Merman. Everyone in the sketch demonstrates, leading him to what Rod Serling (Brian Doyle-Murray) calls "The Merman Zone". | |
| Larry the Lobster Phone-In Vote So Far | In his intro to John Cougar's performance, Travanti announces that "Kill Larry" is leading 65,743 to 56,893; after commenting "Eddie's right, you're sick!", he reads the voting numbers again, speeding through the "Kill Larry" number and slowly reading the "Save Larry" number. | |
| Joe Cougar performs "Hurts So Good" | ||
| Miscellaneous: Next Week | Tim Kazurinsky is reminding people about the contest and giving an update beforehand and announcing next week's guests will be Johnny Cash and special musical guest Elton John. | |
| SNL Newsbreak with Brian Doyle-Murray, Mary Gross and Christine Ebersole | This is also the only Ebersole-period Newsbreak that made it into the 60-minute edits of that season's shows. The first segment is Mary Gross' report from the HMS Invisible; her "ditzy correspondent" act was a little too cutesy (especially the HMS stands for "HuMongous Ship" line), but I always enjoy the complete deadpan of SNL's production designer Akira Yoshimura (who appeared in all of the SNL Star Trek sketches as Sulu) as the fake Prince Andrew (his "Sunday morning. Sneak attack" line was funny). The ending with Doyle-Murray suggesting Gross invite the "prince" to a sushi dinner was dumb. Tony Rosato gives a test of the Emergency Broadcast Network [sic], which consists of panicked screaming. An obvious joke, but Rosato's segues between his calm introduction, the test, and his outro were flawless. Joe Piscopo's Saturday Night Sports segment changes the formula a little bit by not having Piscopo utter a word: instead, Piscopo was made up to look as if he were covered in ice and snow as on-screen captions spelled out his normally bellowed lines. It was a welcome change of pace, and the audience loved it. Up next is an interminable two-and-a-half minute photo montage bit about the many pictures that exist of the Reagans waving. By this point in the season, every Newsbreak seems to be padded with one of these bits (there's some more pointless ones to come); while Brian Doyle-Murray had some humorous asides, and the gag in the last picture with the Reagans' arms starting to move propellor-like was somewhat funny, the bit definitely did not warrant its length. Tim Kazurinsky comments on that year's overlong Oscars by offering suggestions on how to improve next year's ceremony. This was alright, particularly when Kazurinsky suggested to take the award away from the winner if their speeches ran too long and mentioning Bette Midler as a "hilarious woman with large breasts". The funniest moment, though, was when Kaz handed off back to Christine Ebersole who asked "What the heck was Morgan Fairchild doing there?" The audience evidently agreed. The little bit where Doyle-Murray spells the new formula for relativity on a blackboard as ROLAIDS is a spoof of the current ad campaign for the antacid (the tag: "Rolaids Spells Relief"). At the end of the segment, Doyle-Murray gives the numbers to vote on Larry's fate. | |
| Hill Street Blues | Captain Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) has trouble keeping his work and personal lives separate. | |
| Larry the Lobster Phone-In Vote: Larry's Story | Eddie Murphy announces that "Save Larry" has pulled ahead 184,316 to 171, 717, and gives the audience a view of the kind of lobster Larry really is. | |
| Career Corner | Burt Wedermeyer (Tim Kazurinsky) interviews Mr. Tooth Fairy (Eddie Murphy) about his unrewarding and dangerous job. | |
| Larry the Lobster Phone-In Vote: Night on the Town | Eddie Murphy announces that in a few minutes they will have the final tally of the vote; Mel Brandt announces what Larry can look forward to if he lives. | |
| Reagan-Brand Economics | Ronald Reagan (Joe Piscopo) suggests a new type of economics to an impoverished family (Tony Rosato, Christine Ebersole). | |
| Joe Cougar performs "Ain't Even Done with the Night" | ||
| Larry the Lobster Phone-In Vote: Results | Eddie Murphy reads the final vote: Larry the Lobster lives, 239,096 to 227,452. The SNL band plays "Happy Days Are Here Again" as the cast and extras celebrate. | |
| Goodnights and End Credits | Eddie Murphy conducts a mock interview with Larry as Daniel J. Travanti exclaims "Larry Lives!". Mel Brandt announces next week's show with Johnny Cash and special guest Elton John and says "Good night from New York! ...which I don't think is the most dangerous city in America". Brandt didn't really do many comments like this on his show closing announcements, so this struck me as an odd attempt at something Don Pardo normally did. |
| Preceded by: March 27, 1982 |
Saturday Night Live episode | Followed by: April 17, 1982 |