May 22, 1982

May 22, 1982  Season 7 episode
Episode	139
Season Episode	20
Host	Olivia Newton-John
Musical Guest(s)	Saturday Night Live Band
Song(s) performed by  Musical Guest(s)	"Physical" "Make a Move on Me" "Landslide"

Previous Episode May 15, 1982

Next Episode September 25, 1982 (Season 8)

The 139th episode of Saturday Night Live and the season finale of Season 7 premiered on May 22, 1982, hosted by British and Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, star of the hit 1978 musical film Grease, who also served as the musical guest. This is both her only hosting and musical guest stint on SNL; in lieu of an opening monologue, Newton-John instead performed her hit, "Physical". As a result, she performed three numbers as musical guest instead of the usual two (she also appears in only a couple of the sketches).

This is also Brian Doyle-Murray, Christine Ebersole and Tony Rosato’s final episode as cast members and Mel Brandt’s final episode as announcer (his only season as announcer). Graham Chapman makes cameo appearances in a sketch and Newsbreak, the former seeing Chapman reprising a character from Monty Python's Flying Circus, and the latter incorporating the trailer for the comedy-concert film The Secret Policeman's Other Ball.

Doyle-Murray (who previously was in the cast in 1980, during the show's fifth season, and who initially joined the writing staff in 1978 during season 3), leaves after two non-consecutive seasons in the cast, and 4½ seasons as a writer.

Rosato (a cast member hired the previous calendar year in 1981) and Ebersole (who joined at the start of the season), were let go from the show after only one season.

Cast

Repertory

• Robin Duke
• Christine Ebersole (final appearance)
• Mary Gross
• Tim Kazurinsky
• Eddie Murphy
• Joe Piscopo
• Tony Rosato (final appearance)

Featured

• Brian Doyle-Murray (final appearance)

Former band member Paul Shaffer plays with the SNL Band this episode

Sketches

 Cold Open   Sketch   Pre-recorded   Weekend Update   Music Performance   Other 

Title	Image	Summary
The Pig Meets Olivia Newton-John		Skanky Paulette Clooney (Robin Duke) runs into her idol Olivia Newton-John in the ladies' room.
Opening montage		The SNL Band is credited as the musical guest, despite Newton-John herself performs songs. Mel Brandt's final time as announcer, as well.
Talent Entrance		Mel Brandt announces Olivia and the cast of Saturday Night Live, but the cast doesn't post on-stage with her.
Olivia Newton-John performs "Physical"
Trans-Eastern Airlines		Repeat from November 7, 1981.
Ebony & Ivory		Frank Sinatra (Joe Piscopo) and Stevie Wonder (Eddie Murphy) prepare to record a new "Ebony and Ivory" duet that's more fitting with Old Blue Eyes' style.
I Married a Monkey IV		Tim discovers his chimpanzee bride Madge is now a nun of the order of the Seventh Day Horizontalists.
Pearly Gates		Adolf Hitler (Tim Kazurinsky) tries to get past St. Peter (Tony Rosato) by dressing as Mother Teresa, but The Colonel (Graham Chapman) thinks the whole thing's too silly.
Not a Record Ad		Whatever this product is, it's amazing, but it's not a record.
Olivia Newton-John performs "Make a Move on Me". Eddie Murphy introduces Newton-John's second performance.
SNL Newsbreak with Mary Gross, Christine Ebersole and Brian Doyle-Murray		Mary Gross and Akira Yoshimura are back for a segment in which Mary found "Arnold Schwarzenegger" outside a bar in the East Village called the Anvil. I think this might be my favorite of the Mary/Akira pairings :not only does he not look or sound anything like Arnold (or make any attempt to for that matter), he's also wearing the Conan the Barbarian outfit, which for some reason makes him look so much funnier. After airing a banned ad for The Secret Policeman's Other Ball which ends with Graham Chapman revealing he's wearing a tutu and garter belt, Chapman appears at the Newsbreak desk to apologize for any desecration of the US Flag or mockery of the Moral Majority. Chapman only got mild applause when he is introduced and the end where he stands up and reveals a garter and an American flag Speedo (shades of Show Your Patriotism?) felt a little predictable. Brian Doyle-Murray gets one up on him for wearing a garter and tutu himself as he gets up to shake his hand. Tim Kazurinsky comments on the glut of self-help books flooding the market. This felt like a warm-up for some of Kazurinsky's other commentaries, namely his Salute To Journalism feature and a few other book reviews where he uses that same sarcastic tone. There are some good lines, particularly Kazurinsky's assertion that Dr. Wayne W. Dyer looks like he "pulls his own string". He also ends with one of the more directly angry lines on the show, commenting that these books sell so many copies while small-minded towns burn The Catcher In The Rye. Next is the return of SNL Newsbreak's favorite crutch in the last third of the season, the photo montage, this one being two minutes devoted to Sophia Loren's prison term for tax evasion, using stills from her previous film roles. Whatever chuckles were coming from the audience seemed to die off pretty fast. Brian Doyle-Murray gets a good line at the end about how European values have stars thrown in jail while Americans put stars in the White House. Olivia Newton-John gives a commentary about Secretary of the Interior James Watt, listing his ethical issues as well as his callous disregard for the environment. This segment was too straight and too earnest to really be funny. It would fit in as a cold opening for the show in 2010-11. Joe Piscopo raises the energy level with his final Saturday Night Sports for the year, turning into a prop comic while displaying potential new athlete-endorsed products. Best one: Secretariat for ballpark franks. Piscopo also ends the segment with a pull-string doll saying his catchphrase, and gets a few laughs by pushing the doll into Brian Doyle-Murray's face. Eddie Murphy gets the highlight of the week's Newsbreak with his commentary about prom night and that fathers shouldn't fool themselves into thinking their daughters won't be having sex because "everybody gets it on prom night". This marked the final SNL appearance for Brian Doyle-Murray, Mary Gross and Christine Ebersole as SNL NewsBreak anchors.
Guest Performance: Michael Davis
Buzz Words		Businessmen (Tim Kazurinsky, Joe Piscopo, and Eddie Murphy) communicate in corporate-speak, but when one is fired, he can't comprehend the others' euphemisms.
Sandy's Curse		Geeky Rydell High students Norma (Mary Gross) and Kathy (Robin Duke) don't exist in the same social strata as Sandy (Olivia Newton-John), Rizzo (Christine Ebersole), Danny (Tony Rosato) and Kenickie (Brian Doyle-Murray).
Sports Organ Classics		Bring the excitement of the ballpark back to your living room with a songbook of Sports Organ Classics. This marked the final SNL appearances of Tony Rosato and Brian Doyle-Murray as cast members.
Olivia Newton-John performs "Landslide". Christine Ebersole, Mary Gross and Robin Duke introduce Olivia by each saying a part of her name. This marked the final SNL appearance of Christine Ebersole as a cast member.
The Clams		Repeat from the previous season-opener premiere.
Goodnights and Closing Credits		Joe Piscopo mentions that Eddie Murphy's going to be filming a movie with Nick Nolte that summer; of course, we all know what movie Eddie Murphy was filming. By the time the show returned in the fall, he would cement his position as the dominant cast member, leaving Piscopo in his shadow. Tony Rosato can be heard yelling "How 'bout that band, huh?" During the credits, still images show highlights from the season which just concluded. Going by the which stills were included, the producers must have been especially proud of the Daniel J. Travanti, Blythe Danner, Bill Murray and Tim Curry shows, but there were also a few shots from John Madden and one of Robert Conrad.

Trivia

• This was also the final episode for a number of writers, including Rosie Shuster (who left, but would return for one last time in the mid-1980s before leaving the show for good) and Terry Southern (a well known author, who was hired that season, but did not return for the next one).

Notes

Preceded by: May 15, 1982

Saturday Night Live episode

Followed by: September 25, 1982 (Season 8)