December 17, 1977: Elvis Costello On "Saturday Night Live"

December 17, 1977: Saturday Night Live airs on NBC. The show was honoring the winner of an "Anyone Can Host" contest. The winner was Miskel Spillman, an 80-year-old German immigrant and grandmother from New Orleans. She remains the only non-celebrity to host, and was the oldest host in the show's history until 2010, when Betty White hosted at age 88.

Mrs. Spillman participated in a marijuana-themed sketch with John Belushi, and remained a fan of the show until her death in 1992. But she's not the main reason this episode of SNL is remembered.

The musical guest was supposed to be British punk rock band The Sex Pistols, then touring the U.S. But they canceled. So another British rock band was hired, although they were more in the realm of what would come to be called "New Wave": Elvis Costello & The Attractions.

The band's leader was Declan Patrick MacManus, then 23. He was the son of a jazz trumpeter of some renown in London, who had taken to calling himself Day Costello. He would later play on some of his son's albums. With his hair, horn-rimmed glasses, and sharp suits, Declan looked a lot like Buddy Holly, the American rock and roll pioneer who died in a plane crash in 1959, and was always more popular in Britain.

He eventually took up his father's stage surname, and used his own initials, becoming D.P. Costello. In March 1977, his manager suggested changing it to Elvis Costello, in honor of Elvis Presley, who died soon after. I'm presuming there was no connection.

The Attractions were: Lead guitarist Costello, bass guitarist Bruce Thomas, drummer Pete Thomas (no relation) and organist Steve Nieve. Nick Lowe, who later became a rock star in his own right, produced Costello's 1st album, My Aim Is True, which featured not the as-yet-unformed Attractions, but a Los Angeles-based band named Clover. It was released on July 22, 1977, and was a hit. The title came from a line in his 1st single from the album, "Alison."

The album also included "Less Than Zero," which became the title of a 1985 novel by Bret Easton Ellis, and the 1987 film based on it. Costello explained: "'Less Than Zero' was a song I had written after seeing the despicable Oswald Mosley being interviewed on BBC television. The former leader of the British Union of Fascists seemed unrepentant about his poisonous actions of the 1930s. The song was more of a slandering fantasy than a reasoned argument."

Indeed, Britain had seen a rise in right-wing sentiment in the 1970s, culminating in the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1979, and the recruitment of young British men into groups like the openly neo-Nazi National Front, particularly at soccer games. (Or, as they would say over there, football matches. Costello was a Liverpool FC fan.) Mosley, who falsely claimed in a memoir, "I am not, and never have been, a man of the right. My position was on the left and is now in the centre of politics," died in 1980, at age 84.

But by December 1977, "Less Than Zero" had yet to hit the American singles charts. U.S. audiences didn't get it, because they weren't familiar with British politics, current or otherwise. Many listeners heard the name "Mr. Oswald, with the swastika tattoo" in the opening line, and thought it referenced Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of John F. Kennedy, even though that Oswald had been a Communist rather than a Fascist.

On Saturday Night Live, Elvis and The Attractions played "Watching the Detectives," which was not included on the album. His label, Stiff Records (owned by Columbia Records), insisted that he also play "Less Than Zero." Instead, he wanted to play "Radio Radio," also not on My Aim Is True. It was a song which smacked the British media establishment. Columbia told him not to play it.

SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels also told him not to play it, not because of the song's anti-media bias, but because Michaels was a stickler for order, and did not put up with disobedience of any kind. Elvis Costello did not put up with being given orders.

So Elvis played "Less Than Zero" -- for 6 seconds. Then he turned to The Attractions, waved his arms, and said, "Stop! Stop!" They did. Then he turned to the audience, and said, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. There's no reason to do this song here." He turned back to the band, and told them to play "Radio Radio." They did, and the audience liked it.

Michaels didn't. Furious, he banned Costello from the show. The ban lasted a little over 11 years. On March 25, 1989, Costello appeared again, without incident. He and original castmember Chevy Chase are the only performers ever to have bans from SNL rescinded.

On September 27, 1999, SNL aired its 25th Anniversary special. The Beastie Boys played the 1st 10 seconds of their song "Sabotage," then stopped. Costello walked onto the stage, waited for a standing ovation to stop, and, once again, said, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. There's no reason to do this song here." Together, he and the Beasties played "Radio Radio." Michaels, who had left and returned as executive producer, planned it with them beforehand, so it was all on the up-and-up.

In 2003, Elvis Costello & The Attractions -- the entire band -- were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As of December 17, 2022, Elvis Costello, Bruce Thomas, Pete Thomas, Steve Nieve and Nick Lowe are all still alive.

*

December 17, 1977 was, obviously, a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. Three games were played in the NFL, with the rest of the weekend's games being played the next day or the following night:

* The Washington Redskins beat the Los Angeles Rams, 17-14 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills, 31-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* And the Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 30-21 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

There was 1 college football game played that day, the Independence Bowl, at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech beat the University of Louisville, 24-14.

There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 112-103 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 129-116 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Michael Campanella "Campy" Russell, later to play for the Knicks, scored 38 points.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Detroit Pistons, 126-122 in double overtime at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Randy Smith scored 31. Bob Lanier scored 36 in a losing effort.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the New Orleans Jazz, 115-93 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 34 in a losing effort.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets, 101-97 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Bullets, 117-104 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. In spite of this, the Bullets would replace the Blazers as NBA Champions.

The entire NHL, all 18 teams, were in action:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Cleveland Barons, 4-2 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. In spite of this, the Barons were bankrupt. Before the 1978-79 season began, they would be merged with another bankrupt team, the Minnesota North Stars, keeping that team's name. The Barons remain the last major league sports team in North America to go out of business.

* The New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Atlanta Flames, 4-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 7-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena, or the Checkerdome as it was then known.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-1 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 2-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 5-5 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The Winnipeg Jets beat the New England Whalers, 6-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena). And the Soviet All-Stars, in an ill-fated experiment for the WHA, beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 5-4 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center).

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to the West Midlands, and beat Coventry City, 2-1 at Highfield Road.

December 7, 2017: The Railroading of Al Franken

December 7, 2017: Al Franken announces that he will resign from the U.S. Senate.

Alan Stuart Franken was born on May 21, 1951, in Manhattan, grew up in Albert Lea, Minnesota, and graduated from Harvard University. An original writer for Saturday Night Live, he wrote for and acted on the show from 1975 to 1980, and again from 1985 to 1995. He and his co-writer Tom Davis played Amtrak workers in the 1983 film Trading Places.

He entered politics for the first time, sort of, during the 1988 Presidential primaries: On SNL, in a Democratic debate, he played Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, complete with… (basso profundo) "the bow tie"; while in a Republican debate, he played a considerably more excitable, and higher-pitched, Reverend Pat Robertson.

In 1996, he wrote his first political book: Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations. In 2003, he took conservatives on again with Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. But after the disappointment of the incredibly dirty 2004 election, he published a (mostly) bitter book titled The Truth (With Jokes).

He finally put his money where his mouth was, and in 2008, won the closest U.S. Senate election in Minnesota history, defeating a Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman. He won with a little more room in 2014. Even his critics admitted that the comedian was serious about his job.

But in 2017, his own fellow Senate Democrats forced him to resign – for nothing. Well, not for nothing: On November 16, radio broadcaster and model Leeann Tweeden alleged in a blog post, and an interview with her radio station, KABC, that Franken (who has been married to Franni Bryson since 1975, and has never been seriously accused of cheating on her) kissed her on a 2006 USO tour, during a rehearsal for a skit. Longtime Republican campaign operative Roger Stone circulated news of the allegations to right-wing media.

At first, it was her word against his. But, soon, a photo from the tour was released, showing him holding his hands above Tweeden's breasts -- but not touching her -- while she was asleep.

In particular, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a fellow Democrat, demanded he resign -- at a time when the Democrats had only 46 Senators, plus 2 independents who usually caucused with them, and at a time when Franken was a proven winner of close elections, and had never previously been accused of any wrongdoing.

He should have stood up, and said, "I will resign my office the day after Donald Trump resigns his. Not before," and then walked away from the podium. Because Trump was already known to be guilty of actual sexual assault.

But his fellow Democrats ganged up on him, and he resigned, effective January 2, 2018. Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota appointed Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith to serve out his term.

On March 17, 2019, Kirsten Gillibrand announced that she was running for President. On August 28, she suspended her campaign, because the sight of blood from Franken's back on her knife still being fresh meant that nobody wanted her. She shifted to running for re-election to the Senate in 2020. She won, while Tina Smith was elected to a full term in the Senate.

Al Franken has not run for public office since. But he is more popular in the Democratic Party than Kirsten Gillibrand. He got railroaded.

*

December 7, 2017 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 100-95 at the Barclays Center.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 107-104 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz, 112-101 at the Vivint Smart Home Arena (now the Delta Center) in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Washington Wizards beat the Phoenix Suns, 109-99 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix. Bradley Beal of the Wizards led all scorers on the night with 34 points.

And there were 9 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Matt Hunwick scored the winning goal with 3:31 left in overtime.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 3-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes, 6-1 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2 at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-4 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars, 3-0 at the Scottrade Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Drew Doughty scored the winning goal, 32 seconds into overtime.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-4 at the SAP Center in San Jose. Brent Burns scored the winning goal, 22 seconds into overtime.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

November 25, 1986: The Iran-Contra Scandal

November 25, 1986: Of all the scandals in the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, what already should have been the biggest one gets a lot bigger.

On November 3, 1 day before the midterm Congressional elections, Ash-Shiraa (Arabic for "The Sail"), a magazine based in the Middle Eastern nation of Lebanon, reported that the American government had secretly been selling weapons to Iran, in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages held in Lebanon by pro-Iranian groups.

And if this had been the extent of Reagan's involvement, it would have been bad enough, an impeachable offense. This was not the extent of it.

On November 4, the Democratic Party gained 8 seats in the U.S. Senate, enough to take control for the 1st time in 6 years. That was actually more seats than they gained in the House of Representatives, 5, but they already had control there.

Representative Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill of Massachusetts, retiring after 34 years in Congress, the last 10 as Speaker of the House, told the media, "The Reagan Revolution is dead." It sure seemed likely: For the last 2 years of Reagan's 2nd term -- regardless of whether he finished it -- Congress would be fully under Democratic control, making it more willing to investigate any misdeeds for which he and his men were responsible. And the new Speaker would be Jim Wright of Texas: While O'Neill and Reagan put partisanship aside enough to become friendly when not talking politics, relying on their shared Irishness and love of baseball, Wright had no such connection with Reagan.

On November 25, U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, who had worked with Reagan since the beginning of his tenure as Governor of California in 1967, publicly admitted that profits from weapons sales to Iran were made available to assist the Contras, a right-wing paramilitary group looking to overthrow the Communist government of Nicaragua.

This was prohibited by the Boland Amendment to the War Powers Act of 1973. Like O'Neill, a close friend of his, Eddie Boland was a Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts, and he wanted to outlaw such assistance, because people from his District, aid workers in Nicaragua, had been killed by the Contras. It was unanimously passed by Congress in 1982, and Reagan himself had signed it into law.

Therefore, if it could be proven that Reagan had authorized the "Contra" part of what had now become known as "The Iran-Contra Affair," he needed to be impeached by the House, and convicted and removed from office by the Senate. This was just 12 years after Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency, rather than face that likelihood over the Watergate scandal, and many of the major players in Congress in 1974 were still there at this point, so it was fresh in people's memory. 

Also on November 25, former U.S. Navy Admiral John Poindexter, Reagan's National Security Adviser, up to his neck in the scandal, resigned. One of his aides, Oliver North, a Lieutenant Colonel still on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, was discovered to have shredded documents relating to the funding of the Contras, and Reagan flat-out fired him.

An actor before going into politics, Reagan made 69 films between 1937 and 1964, 4 with his 1st wife, Jane Wyman, and 1 with his 2nd wife and eventual First Lady, then billed as Nancy Davis. In 2 of his films, he, a former football player at NCAA Division III Eureka College in Illinois, played sports legends: Notre Dame back George Gipp in Knute Rockne, All-American in 1940; and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander (a man named for a President) in The Winning Team in 1952.

But there was no role he played better than "President Reagan." Parodying a commercial for pain reliever that debuted during his 1st term, "I'm not a doctor, but... " I said, "Ronald Reagan isn't a great President, but he plays one on TV." And no matter what bad things happened on his watch, nothing seemed to stick to him -- hence the nickname "The Teflon President" -- and nothing seemed to faze him.

But Iran-Contra fazed Ronald Reagan. He was now approaching his 76th birthday, and, for the first time, he looked tired. The familiar smile was seen less often. There were times, especially during press conferences, where not only was his famed ability to verbally fence with, and disarm, reporters gone, but he looked like, as had often been said of boxers who had taken a beating, he didn't know where he was.

After bad performances in his debates with Walter Mondale during the 1984 election, people began to joke that Reagan, by that point the oldest President in American history, had Alzheimer's disease. Now, it looked like it was no longer a joke. Indeed, in 1994, he revealed that he now had it, but wouldn't admit to having had it while still President.

One great performance came on the December 6, 1986 episode of Saturday Night Live. Phil Hartman played Reagan, showing that his friendly but out-of-it persona was a façade, and that the Iran-Contra scandal was actually masking a James Bond-style supervillain, trading money, armaments and illicit goods all over the world -- including to Iraq, with whom America would end up at war 4 years later.

Hartman as Reagan on SNL

Howard Baker, the former Senate Majority Leader from Tennessee, who had been one of Reagan's competitors for the 1980 Republican nomination for President, and had been a member of the Senate Select Committee investigating Watergate, was brought in as his new White House Chief of Staff, to get the White House running properly again, and also to calm his old friends in Congress down.

On February 26, 1987, the Tower Commission -- chaired by his old friend, former Senator John Tower of Texas -- issued its report. As historian Michael Farquhar put it in his 2015 book Bad Days In History:

Rather than being seen as a maniacal schemer bent on undermining the law, Reagan was portrayed by the commission as something almost as bad: in essence, a doddering old coot who remained clueless as members of his administration ran amok, dealing with terrorists and illegally funding a foreign war.

By early May 1987, when hearings were underway, it became clear that, unlike with Nixon, nobody was going to "flip" on Reagan. There would be no "John Dean," only a bunch of "G. Gordon Liddys." No Articles of Impeachment were ever drawn up against him. If he was still alive on January 20, 1989, the end of his 2nd term, he was going to serve it out.

He did, leaving office just short of turning 78. (The current President, Joe Biden, has broken his record. Despite attacks by Republicans, his mind is still sharp.) Reagan admitted to having Alzheimer's in 1994, stepped out of public life, and died in 2004, at age 93, at the time the oldest former President ever.

In 1998, with Reagan and most of the people associated with his Administration still alive, PBS aired a documentary as part of its series The American Experience: The Presidents. Nancy was not interviewed, but his children were: Sons Michael and Ronald, and daughters Maureen and Patti (who uses her mother's maiden name as her last name, Davis).

Meese was interviewed, but while he resigned as Attorney General due to his apparent role in the Wedtech scandal, he has never been indicted for any crimes, and he appears not to have committed any of the crimes connected to Iran-Contra. The major figures involved in Iran-Contra were not interviewed: Not Poindexter, not North, not Fawn Hall, the secretary he ordered to do the document shredding.

One exception was Robert C. "Bud" McFarlane, Poindexter's predecessor as National Security Adviser. In his interview, he said that, on July 18, 1985, while Reagan was hospitalized for cancer surgery, he presented the President with the plan of the arms sales to Iran and the redirection of the profits to the Contras, and that Reagan -- possibly compromised due to the drugs he was being prescribed -- approved it.

This contradicted what McFarlane had said in his testimony before Congress. He had already pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress, and was sentenced to 2 years' probation -- no jail time. Reagan's Vice President and successor as President, George H.W. Bush, made McFarlane the beneficiary of one of his "Christmas Pardons" on December 24, 1992.

If McFarlane had told Congress the truth in the Spring of 1987, Reagan could well have been impeached and removed by the end of the calendar year. Bush would have had a full year as an incumbent under his belt as he ran for President in 1988, but would have had to do a lot more defending of himself, his people, and the Republican Party in general than he actually ended up having to do. And, instead of winning in a landslide, he might have lost.

McFarlane died on May 12, 2022, at the age of 84. Lots of people were convicted in connection with Iran-Contra. Thanks to Bush, few of them really paid for it. Reagan got away with it completely.

*

November 25, 1986 was a Tuesday, 2 days before Thanksgiving. That made it the off-season for baseball, and an off-day for the NFL. There were 8 games played in the NBA that night:

* The New York Knicks beat the Houston Rockets, 102-93 at Madison Square Garden. Gerald Henderson came off the bench to lead Knick scorers with 21 points. Patrick Ewing did not play, for reasons I've forgotten and for which I can't find a reason online. Hakeem Olajuwon matched his uniform number by scoring 34 in defeat.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 117-99 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. Orlando Woolridge led the Meadowlands team with 21 points.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics, 102-100 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Maurice Cheeks led the Sixers with 23 points. A young Charles Barkley scored 17. Julius "Dr. J" Erving, in his final season, scored 16. The Celtics' Big Three? Kevin McHale 29, Larry Bird 22, Robert Parish 10.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-99 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-107 at the Great Western Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. Dominique Wilkins scored 26, while Magic Johnson had 22 and Byron Scott 20 for the Lakers. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was held to 16.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz, 111-106 at what's now named the Oracle Arena in Oakland.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Phoenix Suns, 123-102 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento. This was the 10,333-seat original version, not its 17,317-seat successor built in 1988, later known as the Power Balance Pavilion and the Sleep Train Arena. The old arena, in California's capital city, has been converted into office space, and now houses the State's Department of Consumer Affairs. The new arena has been converted into a hospital for COVID-19 victims, and its long-term fate is uncertain.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-103 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 3 NHL games played on the day, only 1 involving a New York Tri-State Area team:

* The New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat their arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at Le Colisée de Québec. 

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 11-5 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

October 11, 1975: "Saturday Night Live" Premieres

Back row, left to right: Laraine Newman, John Belushi,

Jane Curtin, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd.

Bottom row, left to right: Garrett Morris and Gilda Radner.

October 11, 1975: Saturday Night premieres on NBC, taping from the network's studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan. After this 1st season, it was renamed Saturday Night Live. The original cast, known as "the Not Ready for Prime Time Players," includes John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris -- but not, as is commonly believed, Bill Murray, who replaced Chase after the 1st season.

The 1st guest host is George Carlin, who begins his monologue with a whacked-out version of the Lord's Prayer, and goes on to do "Baseball and Football," a routine he will expand on a few times. (This version is from 1990, from the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey.)

Not long before Carlin died, someone took a poll to determine the greatest standup comedians of all time. Carlin came in 2nd. Coming in 1st was Richard Pryor, who, like Carlin, was at the peak of his powers in the mid-Seventies.

A month into SNL's run, Pryor was asked to host the show. But, nervous that he would issue some four-letter words -- they didn't seem as nervous about such language coming from Carlin, creator of the 1972 bit "Seven Words You Can Never Use On Television," none of which he used when he hosted -- they used a 7-second delay, in case they had to bleep anything out. They did have to. Ever since, even SNL hasn't been totally live.

In addition to the preceding, SNL would make stars of Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Dennis Miller, Kevin Nealon, Norm McDonald, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Rob Schneider, Sarah Silverman, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Keenan Thompson, and Kate McKinnon.

Billy Crystal was already a star when he signed on for the 1984-85 season. The next season would be the one and only on the show for Robert Downey Jr., whose true fame was yet to come.

*

October 11, 1975 was, clearly, a Saturday. Earlier that day, Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton were married in their living room in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Despite all odds -- including "self-inflicted wounds," and rooting for rival teams, as Hillary grew up in the Chicago suburbs as a Cubs fan, Bill in Arkansas as a St. Louis Cardinals fan -- they are still together, dividing their time between Washington, D.C. and Westchester County, New York, and now have 3 grandchildren.

Game 1 of the World Series was played at Fenway Park in Boston, with the Boston Red Sox hosting the Cincinnati Reds. Luis Tiant shut down the Big Red Machine, and drove in the 1st run, despite the designated hitter rule preventing him from coming to bat all season long, as the Red Sox won, 6-0. The Sox scored all their runs in the 7th inning. One of the most talked-about World Series was underway with a surprising flourish.

There was college football on this day, including the following games:

* Number 1 Ohio State beat Iowa, 49-0 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. The Buckeyes won the Big Ten title, but lost the National Championship when they lost the Rose Bowl to UCLA.

* Number 2 Oklahoma beat Number 5 Texas, 24-17 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Sooners won the Big Eight title, then beat Michigan in the Orange Bowl, and won the National Championship.

* Number 3 Southern California beat Washington State, 28-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Trojans were still Number 3 on November 1, but began a 4-game losing streak that day, losing away to California, home to Stanford on the 8th, away to Washington on the 15th. On the 28th, Thanksgiving Day, USC lost to UCLA at the Coliseum. They did rebound to beat Texas A&M in the Liberty Bowl.

* Number 4 Nebraska beat Kansas, 16-0 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. The Cornhuskers lost to Oklahoma on Thanksgiving Weekend, costing them the Big Eight title, a trip to the Orange Bowl, and a shot at the National Championship. Instead, they went to the Fiesta Bowl, where they had to play Arizona State on their home field, and lost.

* Number 6 Texas A&M beat Texas Tech, 38-9 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock. They beat Texas on Thanksgiving, rose to Number 2 in the rankings, looked headed for the Cotton Bowl and a shot at the National Championship, but a loss to Arkansas cost them, and they ended up playing USC in the Liberty Bowl, and losing. In contrast, Arkansas were unranked on October 11, beating Baylor, 41-3 at Baylor Stadium (later Floyd Casey Stadium) in Waco, Texas. They won the Southwest Conference title, earning them the Cotton Bowl berth, and they beat Georgia.

* Number 7 Alabama beat the University of Washington, 52-0 at Denny Stadium (later Bryant-Denny Stadium) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Crimson Tide would win the Southeastern Conference title.

* Number 8 Michigan beat in-State rivals, Number 15 Michigan State, 16-6 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.

* Number 9 Penn State beat Number 10 West Virginia, 39-0 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State went on to be invited to the Sugar Bowl, but lost to Alabama.

* Number 12 Missouri beat Number 14 Oklahoma State, 41-14 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.

* Number 15 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 21-14 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

* Navy beat Syracuse, 10-6 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. But Army lost to Duke, 21-10 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Rutgers lost to Lehigh, 34-20 at Taylor Stadium in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Scarlet Knights did not lose again for nearly 2 years, until September 2, 1977, when Penn State beat them at the Meadowlands. Also among New Jersey teams, Princeton beat Cornell, 16-8 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York.

The NBA season started 12 days later; the ABA season, the day after that. There were 7 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-0 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 7-5 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The California Golden Seals beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. Making his NHL debut, with the Wings, was Mike Wong, a 20-year-old center from Minneapolis. This was only the 2nd NHL game played by a player of Asian descent, after Chinese-Canadian Larry Kwong played 1 game for the 1948 New York Rangers. Wong would last 4 seasons in the NHL.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 9-5 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Kansas City Scouts beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* And the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the Buffalo Sabres and the Atlanta Flames were not scheduled.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Toronto Toros, 7-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Houston Aeros beat the New England Whalers, 5-0 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Cincinnati Stingers beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Crusaders, 1-0 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* And the Phoenix Roadrunners beat the San Diego Mariners, 4-2 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena.)

In New Jersey high school football, East Brunswick, which would later be my Alma Mater, lost 13-14 to Colonia of Woodbridge, at home at Jay Doyle Field.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Midlands team Coventry City, 5-0 at Highbury in North London.

May 28, 1998: The Death of Phil Hartman

Hartman as Bill McNeal on NewsRadio

May 28, 1998: Phil Hartman is shot and killed by his wife, who then killed herself, at their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino, California.

Philip Edward Hartmann (he later dropped the 2nd N) was born on September 24, 1948 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, also the birthplace of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and the adopted hometown of Alexander Graham Bell, the Scotsman credited with inventing the telephone. He grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, and became a graphic artist. As with actors John Ritter and Tom Selleck, his 1st appearance on television was as one of the "bachelor" contestants on The Dating Game.

He joined the L.A.-based comedy troupe The Groundlings, where he became a close friend of Paul Reubens, who later developed the character of Pee-wee Herman. He got work as a voiceover artist for cartoons. In 1986, he was hired as a castmember of Saturday Night Live, where his best-known performance came that December 6: As President Ronald Reagan, showing that his friendly but out-of-it persona was a façade, and that the Iran-Contra scandal was actually masking a James Bond-style supervillain, trading money, armaments and illicit goods all over the world.

Hartman as Reagan on SNL

Also among Hartman's fictional characters were the Frankenstein monster, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer; and Gene, who would host various shows as "Fishing with the Anal-Retentive Sportsman," "Cooking with the Anal-Retentive Chef," "Home Improvement with the Anal-Retentive Carpenter," and so on. His impressions included later First Lady Barbara Bush, later President Bill Clinton, singer Frank Sinatra, talk-show host Phil Donahue, film director Oliver Stone; and actors Charlton Heston, Kirk Douglas and Michael Caine. He said his favorite character to do was Ed McMahon, alongside Dana Carvey's Johnny Carson.

Hartman as Clinton on SNL: "Ah feel yer pain."

Jan Hooks, who played First Lady Hillary Clinton, nicknamed Phil "Glue," because he held the cast together. She particularly credited him with helping her overcome stage fright: Acting for movies and taped TV shows is one thing, but doing it in front of a live studio audience is another, especially when it's being broadcast live. Show creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels backed her opinion up: "He kind of held the show together. He gave to everybody and demanded very little. He was very low-maintenance."

By the 1993-94 season, he was the senior castmember. He said he felt "like an athlete who's watched all his World Series teammates get traded off into other directions... It was hard to watch them leave, because I sort of felt we were all part of the team that saved the show."

By this point, he was back doing cartoon voiceovers, playing actor Troy McClure and various other characters for The Simpsons. In 1995, he joined the cast of the NBC sitcom NewsRadio, playing anchor Bill McNeal, occupying much the same role and character as Ted Knight did on The Mary Tyler Moore Show a generation earlier. He was beloved by a new group of castmates.

In 1987, Phil married Brynn Omdahl. It was his 3rd marriage, and they had 2 children. He tried to get her TV and movie parts, but she proved unreliable due to drug use. And she was incredibly jealous, having sent threatening letters to both Hooks, whom she considered married to Phil "on some other level," and his 2nd ex-wife, Lisa Strain.

By 1998, she had been taking the antidepressant Zoloft, and things seemed to be improving. But on May 27, she had dinner with a friend at an Italian restaurant, and they had drinks. Her postmortem toxicology report would also find cocaine in her system. This combined with her medication to produce a bad reaction, and when she got home, she and Phil had a big argument. He went to bed. At around 3:00 AM on May 28, she shot him 3 times.

She then drove to a the house of a friend, Ron Douglas (no relation to Kirk), leaving the children at home. She confessed to Douglas, who didn't believe her. She drove him back to the house, and showed him Phil's body. Douglas called 9-1-1, and Brynn locked herself in the bathroom. The police arrived, and got the children out of the house. Then she shot herself, having just turned 40.

The Simpsons retired all of his characters. So did NewsRadio, whose 1998-99 season premiere showed the characters reflecting on McNeal's recent death. He was succeeded on the show by his close friend and former SNL castmate, Jon Lovitz. But his absence hurt the show, and it only lasted 1 more season. Brynn's sister and her husband raised the Hartman children.

In a tragic irony: Reagan, Mrs. Bush, Clinton, Donahue, Stone, Heston, Caine, McMahon and Kirk Douglas were all older than Hartman; and all outlived him, some by many years. Sinatra, 32 years older, died only 2 weeks before him. To make matters worse, Reagan had survived being shot, and Hartman played Heston mainly as the older version, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association.

*

May 28, 1998 was a Thursday. Football was out of season. The NBA Playoffs were in progress, but no games were played on this day. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals was held at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo, and the Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3. Peter Bondra scored the winning goal, 9:37 into overtime.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-3 at Yankee Stadium. David Wells was the winning pitcher, while Tim Wakefield and his knuckleball didn't get out of the 4th inning. Darryl Strawberry and Jorge Posada hit home runs. Derek Jeter went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 9-5 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. The Braves blew a 4-1 lead as the Expos scored 2 runs in the 7th inning, 2 more in the 8th, and 4 in the 9th. The winning pitcher was Maddux -- not Greg of the Braves, but his brother Mike Maddux of the Expos. Greg would win 355 games in the major leagues, the most of any pitcher whose career began after 1942; Mike, just 39.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 5-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez and Glenallen Hill hit home runs. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-2 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-7 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers scored 5 runs in the 9th inning to send the game to extra innings, but their closer, Todd Jones, melted down in the top of the 10th, walking 5 batters, including back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Chad Kreuter and Ray Durham.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Bobby Abreu hit 2 home runs. Sammy Sosa, on his way to 66 on the season, did not hit a home run. Mark Grace did, part of a 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs day. But it was his error in the top of the 9th that gave the Phils the winning run.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Mark McGwire went 1-for-2 with 2 walks, but did not hit a home run.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-7 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds appeared as a pinch-hitter before going into left field, and did not have an official at-bat. However, he had already drawn a walk in the 8th, helping the Giants to close the gap to 7-5.

The expansion D-backs made it 8-5 in the top of the 9th. The Giants made it 8-6 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, but the D-backs' Gregg Olson walked J.T. Snow to load the bases with Bonds coming up. Arizona manager Buck Showalter made a very gutsy move: He ordered Bonds walked intentionally. With the bases loaded, forcing in a run, and making it 8-7. He decided he'd rather face Brent Mayne with the bases loaded and a 1-run lead than Bonds with the bases loaded and a 2-run lead.

And remember: This was early in the season when people went nuts over McGwire's 70 homers and Sosa's 66. It is generally believed that Bonds, jealous for attention, didn't start using steroids until after this season, and hadn't yet become the man capable of hitting 73 home runs in 2001.

The strategy worked: Mayne gave the ball a ride to deep right field, but Brent Brede caught it, and the Diamondbacks won.

* And the New York Mets, the Anaheim Angels, the Florida Marlins, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres, were not scheduled.

May 16, 1984: Andy Kaufman Dies

May 16, 1984: Comedian Andy Kaufman dies of lung cancer -- even though he didn't smoke cigarettes, which was the leading cause of that ailment.

Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman was born on January 17, 1949 in Manhattan, and grew up in nearby Great Neck, Long Island. He developed a routine where he would play a record of the theme to the cartoon Mighty Mouse, stand still while it played, and then lip-synch only the line, "Here I come to save the day!" For some reason, this proved popular.

He became known for his "Foreign Man" routine, with an unplaceable accent. In that voice, he would say, "And now, I would like to imitate... " and do an impression of someone famous, but it would be that person's tagline in the "Foreign Man" voice.

The exception was, "And now, I would like to imitate the Elvis Presley." (Always "The Elvis Presley.") Then he would turn his back to the audience, and start combing his hair as Also Sprach Zarathustra played, as it would to start Elvis' concerts. And when the overture and the combing were done, Andy would turn around, and his impression, quivering lip and all, would be perfect. And he would sing a song associated with Elvis, and it would be perfect. And he would close with Elvis' tagline, "Thank you very much" -- but back in the Foreign Man voice. Not only did he do this while Elvis was still alive, but Elvis himself admitted that Kaufman did the best impression of him.

In 1978, Kaufman was hired for the ABC sitcom Taxi, where the Foreign Man character became immigrant mechanic Latka Gravas. This made him a bigger star than ever, and paved the way for Bronson Pinchot to play Balki Bartokomous on a later ABC sitcom, Perfect Strangers.

Another Kaufman character was Tony Clifton, an absurd, audience-abusing lounge singer, who began opening for Kaufman at comedy clubs, and eventually even performed concerts on his own around the country. Sometimes it was Kaufman performing as Clifton, sometimes it was his brother Michael Kaufman, and sometimes it was Bob Zmuda, another comedian who was a friend of the brothers.

For a brief time, it was unclear to some that Clifton was not a real person. News programs interviewed Clifton as Kaufman's opening act, with the mood turning ugly whenever Kaufman's name came up. Kaufman, Clifton insisted, was attempting to ruin Clifton's "good name" in order to make money and become famous.

Kaufman kept his personal life quiet. He never married, although a high school relationship resulted in the birth of a daughter who was given up for adoption. Her adult name is Maria Bellu-Colonna, and she eventually found the Kaufman family, who welcomed her with open arms.

Andy dated female comedians, including Elayne Boosler, who still speaks well of him. For the last 2 years of his life, he dated a woman named Lynne Margulies, who later published a book titled Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts! The title was nothing more than an attention-grab, as she still loved him. (She should not be confused with Lynn Margulis, a prominent biologist who was once married to astronomer Carl Sagan.)

Kaufman made 16 appearances on Saturday Night Live. On November 20, 1982, Drew Barrymore, then just 7 years old, became the youngest host in SNL history. That night, as a joke, NBC held a telephone poll to decide whether Kaufman – 4 months after an incident with pro wrestling figure Jerry Lawler on another NBC show, Late Night with David Letterman, but who apparently had done nothing to offend the SNL brass – should ever be allowed to host the show again. The vote was close, but it was "No."

Whether executive producer Lorne Michaels would have ever lifted the ban is unknown: On May 16, 1984, having not hosted the show again, Kaufman died, only 35 years old. He had been fighting lung cancer for 6 months.

He had often spoken of faking his death, as a hoax, so many people presumed that he had done so. This was taken to a new level when Zmuda resumed appearing in public as Tony Clifton. But an official website sanctioned by the Kaufman family includes a picture of Andy's death certificate.

In 1992, the rock band R.E.M. recorded "Man On the Moon," a tribute to Kaufman. That also became the title of the 1999 film about him, starring Jim Carrey, with Courtney Love playing Lynne Margulies. Brittany Bellu-Colonna, Andy's granddaughter, played the child version of Andy's sister Carol.

*

May 16, 1984 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-6 at Yankee Stadium. The A's scored a run on an error in the top of the 10th inning. But Don Mattingly led off the bottom of the 10th with a single, and Dave Winfield hit a home run to win it. Mattingly and Butch Wynegar had homered earlier in the game. Rickey Henderson entered the game as a pinch-runner, and stayed in as the left fielder, but did not come to bat.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the California Angels, 5-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Mike Boddicker pitched a 6-hit shutout. Eddie Murray went 0-for-2, but with 3 walks and an RBI on a groundout. Cal Ripken went 3-for-4. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4. Rod Carew went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Nolan Ryan pitched a 5-hit shutout, striking out 11.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. George Brett did not play.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Texas Rangers, 5-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-7 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Montreal Expos beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Pete Rose, briefly an Expo, went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Tony Gwynn, forever a Padre, went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Steve Carlton not only won the game, he hit a grand slam off Fernando Valenzuela. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-5.

The NBA was in the middle of its Conference Finals. The Los Angeles Lakers would beat the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference, the Boston Celtics would beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference, and the Celtics beat the Lakers in the Finals.

The Stanley Cup Finals were underway, and the Edmonton Oilers were in the process of avenging their Finals defeat of the previous season, leading the New York Islanders, 2 games to 1. The Oilers would win the series, 4-1, ending the Isles' 4 straight Cups, and beginning their own run of 5 Cups in 7 seasons.

April 22, 1978: King Tut and the Blues Brothers On "Saturday Night Live"

April 22, 1978: The NBC variety show Saturday Night Live has one of its most memorable episodes. Steve Martin was the guest host, and he and Dan Aykroyd played the Festrunk Brothers for the 3rd time. These were "two wild and crazy guys" who had emigrated from then-Communist Czechoslovakia in search of easy women. Along the same lines, Gilda Radner did a parody commercial, for "Hey You," the perfume for women who wanted to have one-night stands.

Martin also debuted the character of "Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber." In the Middle Ages, barbers were also surgeons, because, you know, knives. The sketch was as disgusting as it sounds, and was only used once more, as "Theodoric of York, Medieval Judge."

Aykroyd and John Belushi had previously appeared as the Killer Bees, singing blues songs. Belushi, from Wheaton, Illinois, outside Chicago, and Aykroyd, from Ottawa, both loved the blues, but Belushi told show creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, "I hate the fucking Bees!" So the sketch was reworked into The Blues Brothers, who debuted on this night.

Dan Aykroyd (left) as Elwood, and John Belushi as Jake

Belushi was Joliet Jake, so named because he'd done time at Illinois' Joliet Correctional Center outside Chicago. (One of the most famous prisons in America, it closed in 2002 and is now open to tours.) Aykroyd was his brother Elwood. While Jake sang lead, Elwood could also play a mean harmonica.

While "Blues" was technically their surname, they sang mainly rhythm & blues (R&B) and soul music. They were backed by Booker T. & the M.G.'s: Guitarist Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, bass guitarist Donald "Duck" Dunn," keyboard player Booker T. Jones, and Willie Hall, who became the group's drummer after the original, Al Jackson Jr., was murdered in 1975. They were also backed by The Memphis Horns, who had worked with the M.G.'s on several hits by performers' on Stax Records in Memphis.

These included the original 1967 version of "Soul Man," by Sam & Dave. The Blues Brothers made it a hit all over again, wearing black suits, sunglasses and fedoras. Both Jake and Elwood, despite their respective sizes, were fantastic dancers. Having Cropper allowed Jake to yell out what Sam Moore yelled out midway through the original version: "Play it, Steve!"

The act would be extended to a 1980 film, which is still regarded as the best film ever to be made from an SNL sketch. Belushi's death in 1982 seemed to kill the act, but Aykroyd later revived it with John's brother Jim Belushi, who became an SNL castmember, and actor John Goodman, a frequent SNL host. Together, the 3 of them played as The Blues Brothers in the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXI in 1997.

In 1998, Blues Brothers 2000, a very weak sequel, was released. Aykroyd again played Elwood, and Goodman again played Mighty Mack McTeer (not related to the brothers), but Jim Belushi was tied to a TV contract, and could not appear again as Zee Blues, leaving it unclear as to why Elwood never previously mentioned this brother.

This episode of SNL also tapped into a big pop-culture phenomenon of the moment: The traveling exhibition of The Treasures of Tutankhaumen, the "Boy Pharoah" who reigned over Egypt from 1341 to 1323 BC, dying at the age of 19.

The tour came to America, and its artifacts were showcased at the Smithsonian Institution's National Gallery of Art in Washington from November 17, 1976 to March 15, 1977; the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago from April 14 to August 15, 1977; the New Orleans Museum of Art from September 15, 1977 to January 15, 1978; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from February 15 to June 15, 1978, including during the episode in question; the Seattle Art Museum from July 15 to November 15, 1978; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from December 15, 1978 to April 15, 1979; and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco from June 11 to September 30, 1979. And people couldn't get enough of it.

Steve Martin, like most people trying to make a living in show business in the late 1970s, was living in Los Angeles, and saw the fanatical tourists lining up to see "King Tut." So he decided to have some fun with it. With a band he named the Toot Uncommons, he wrote and recorded a comedy song, which, like most songs about historical figures, got the facts wrong. But, since it was a comedy, he didn't care. He just wanted to make people laugh, with lines like "Buried with a donkey/He's my favorite honky!" and "He coulda won a Grammy/Buried in his jammies!" and "He gave his life for tourism."

It was a moment in time, one that won't be repeated. The artifacts had previously toured America in the early 1960s, including as part of the World's Fairs in Seattle in 1962 and New York in 1964-65; and did so again from 2005 to 2009, and 2018 to 2021. But on none of those occasions was there as much fuss as in 1977, '78 and '79.

As of April 22, 2022, Alec Baldwin has hosted SNL the most times, 17, followed by Martin with 15 and Goodman with 13. (UPDATE: On December 10, 2022, Martin hosted for a 16th time, bringing him to within 1 of Baldwin's lead.)

*

April 22, 1978 was a Saturday. Actor Manu Intiraymi, who played the ex-Borg teenager Icheb on Star Trek: Voyager, was born.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. It was an NBC Game of the Week. Singles by Fred Stanley, Mickey Rivers and Roy White won the game in the bottom of the 12th inning. Sparky Lyle was the winning pitcher, in relief of Dick Tidrow. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-6. Rookie Paul Molitor hit a home run for the Brewers, playing shortstop while Robin Yount got a day off.

* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Montreal Expos swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 and 5-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Wayne Twitchell outpitched Steve Carlton in the opener. Over the 2 games, Mike Schmidt went 3-for-7 with a home run, 2 walks and an RBI.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 13-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Andre Thoronton went 4-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4. The winning pitcher was Rick Wise, whom the Sox had traded to the Tribe as part of the package to get Dennis Eckersley, who was, at the time, a slight upgrade.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. George Brett went 1-for-5. Eddie Murray went 1-for-4.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-7 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Cards led 7-6 in the bottom of the 9th, but Duffy Dyer doubled home the winning runs. Willie Stargell hit a home run. Lou Brock went 2-for-3 with a stolen base.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers, 7-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Tim Corcoran singled home Steve Dillard with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Dillard had pinch-run for Rusty Staub. Jack Morris and Doyle Alexander started, while the winning pitcher was John Hiller and the losing pitcher was Fergie Jenkins.

* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew went 1-for-4.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves 2-0 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Bob Owchinko (the 1st 6 1/3rd innings) and Rollie Fingers combined on a 6-hit shutout. Dave Winfield went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 5-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Singles by Ken Griffey Sr. and George Foster, and a groundout by Johnny Bench, scored the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. Pete Rose went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. It took the A's 3 pitchers to finish the shutout: Alan Wirth, 3 hits over 7 2/3rds innings; Bob Lacey, 2 hits over 1; and Elias Sosa to get the last out.

It was an off-day in the NBA Playoffs, and in the Playoffs of the World Hockey Association. One game was played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. That would be the only game the Sabres would win in the series.