SNL's Secret Shelved Movie
Drew McWeeney at HitFix has laid his hands on a secret, unproduced script for a Saturday Night Live movie so unknown that even a long-time head writer had never heard about it. But was it more Wayne's World or closer to It's Pat?
Inventively titled The Saturday Night Live Movie, the script is not based on an already-familiar reoccurring SNL character, but rather is a series of small sketches, a bit like the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker Airplane! precursor, Kentucky Fried Movie.
And it would have featured some of the strongest and best writers to ever grace the halls of 30 Rock -- check out the list of sketches and their writers:
"Welcome To The Movies" by Conan O'Brien, Robert Smigel, and Greg Daniels
"Young Bush At Yale" by Jim Downey, Al Franken, and Robert Smigel
"Cineplex" by Robert Smigel, Conan O'Brien, and Greg Daniels
"Appeal #1" by Jim Downey and Al Franken
"Romance" by Al Franken and Tom Davis
"Crack Rap" by Al Franken and Tom Davis
"Appeal #2" by Jim Downey and Al Franken
"Dad's Car" by Robert Smigel, Conan O'Brien and Greg Daniels
"Bum Piss Canyon/Apology" by Tom Davis, Jim Downey, and Al Franken
"Appeal #3" by Jim Downey and Al Franken
"E.T.'s" by Greg Daniels, Robert Smigel, Jim Downey, and Conan O'Brien
"On The Farm" by Robert Smigel, Conan O'Brien, Greg Daniels, and Al Franken
"Wonderful Life" by Jim Downey and Al Franken
"Tip Stealer" by George Meyer
"Movie's Over" by Conan O'Brien, Robert Smigel, and Greg Daniels
"Blooper Credits" by Conan O'Brien and Jim Downey
The script ranges from the gleefully bizarre and hilarous, like "Cineplex" and "Young Bush at Yale," to the stilted and by-now-dated "Crack Rap" and "Wonderful Life" which pokes fun at Ted Turner's penchant for colorizing movies (Remember that? No? Ask your parents.).
Honestly, it's a pity that, for whatever reason, this fell into the yawning chasm of development hell. Saturday Night Live's strength has always been punchy, short bursts of comedy. Asking a thinly drawn character born out of a 3 am bong rip to shoulder an entire hundred minute film is usually an impossible task, but a rapid-fire sketch movie featuring some of the most talented comedy writers in the business could have been an instant classic. At the very least, it might've spared us the comedy apocalypse that was A Night at the Roxbury, The Ladies' Man and MacGruber.
· Saturday Night At The Movies: What the heck was 'The Saturday Night Live Movie'? HitFix]
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Comments
So...who was the head writer who hadn't heard about it?
So they've been saving their best sketches for the movie? That explains a lot.
Hey! Lay off MacGruber already! It was hilarious, a poor box office showing doesn't diminish that. It will live on cable forever and in 10 years, kids will be quoting the shit out of it.
Ha ha. No kidding.
They should make it and show it already!
Hey Dixon, you do not know good comedy. "The Ladies’ Man" is one of the funniest films I've ever seen in a theater.
I recall seeing something called Cineplex starring Conan O Brien at a comedy festival, and I do recall it was quite funny.
And boy did I lose some bets when MacGruber didn't become the "Sleeper hit of the summer" as I boldly predicted. I blame Lorne Michaels, naturally.
Look if they wanted to be REALLY irreverent or REALLY relevant they would have to do a sketch a gay prophet mohammed down in a bathhouse in San Francisco.
Bush at Yale? The younger one? When was this written? I assume Conan would be too busy... well, not now. How long can it take to put together a show on TBS behind a guy who sounds like his throat was polished with sandpaper?
Funny guy that Conan was.
Speaking of yesteryear, I was watching some copies of the 18th season of SNL and have to say it holds up pretty well. THere's always some bad stuff or even a bad episode,but it was amusing and you now notice Robert Smigel as part of the cast with his Greek restraunteur and Bears guy. Good stuff
"You lika the juice?'
Maybe I'm a cynic, but after learning the script's 20 years old and learning it, "landed on my desk" and reading a quote like this:
Which is not to say I disliked the script, or that I think it was a bad idea in general. I'm actually intrigued by this one's potential. Now that I've read this, I'm sort of amazed they never made some version of the film.
Am I the ONLY one thinking this has the potential of being more a PR Stunt for promotion than an actual, solid review?
Maybe I'm wrong...I hope so. I imagine there have been MANY SNL skits over the years that didn't pass NBC's Standards & Practices approval.
But this feels more like planting a seed hoping for forced growth.
Am I wrong?
Or, if they wanted to be REALLY, REALLY irreverent, they could do a sketch about how Inception sucks.
MacGruber was rad. Agreed on the other two, though.
How am I supposed to go on living without knowing what a sketch called "Bum Piss Canyon" would look like?
You're wrong, Like you said, the script is twenty years old. That ship sailed long ago.