Spelling Bee - A Lifetime Original

I'm not going to pretend that I didn't get super excited midway through and think this show might become a real thing!

But alas, no one has yet committed.

I am a bit surprised it didn't get just a little bit more traction:

I guess to get any real notice on Twitter, you have to be a cartoony evil billionaire who's constantly putting our planet in peril.

Well, at least Anna Faris liked it.

Seriously, you think she'd play the voice of the agent?

(as seen on twitter.com/YourHeroKevin)

Elvis (Costello), And...

We kicked off our 3rd season of the "Elvis, And" podcast this weekend. By doing an episode that WASN'T about Elvis Presley at all!

When Brendan Carr and I started doing this podcast two years ago, we joked about how funny it would be to do an episode on Elvis Costello. I mean, there's nothing in the title that says "THIS IS ABOUT ELVIS PRESLEY!" I mean, how could there be and us not get sued?

So this past Saturday (4/1/2017 - April Fools Day), we aired an episode we recorded only a few weeks ago called "Elvis, And Saturday Night Live." Since Elvis Presley never appeared on SNL, it was clearly a story inspired by his namesake...the artist formerly known as Declan Patrick MacManus.

I knew about Elvis Costello and the Attraction's appearance when, much to the displeasure of Lorne Michaels, they decided to play a different song than they'd rehearsed. A different song than what was agreed upon by the show, network, and record label. A different song than what had been timed out to the second for the live broadcast. But I didn't know ANY of the details that surrounded that incident.

Such as, Costello was NEVER supposed to play!

Apparently The Sex Pistols were booked and ready to go, but someone forgot to acquire the proper paperwork to come to America. That someone was "band manager" Malcolm McLauren. Had he done the leg work needed to bring the Pistols oversees, we might never have had the rock star that is Elvis Costello. And we certainly wouldn't have had a podcast episode this weekend.

Also, to make matters worse for SNL producers, they had held a contest to find a "non famous" host for the show. This was the night it was scheduled to happen. 86 year old Miskel Spillman won the contest, and was ready to become a household name. Perhaps if, like Declan MacManus, she'd changed it to something more palatable, we'd all talk about her today. But as it stands, I had never heard of her OR the contest until Brendan read the monologue for this episode. I'm not an authority on Saturday Night Live, but I'd consider myself WAAAAY beyond a casual fan. So...

And finally...well, that's it. I only had two things, but I wanted to trick you into me following the rule of three.

This episode allowed us to do some CRAZY things we'd otherwise have never been able to do, such as go to CBGBs, hang out with Hilly Kristal, and give Debbie Harry head.

It was also a teen aged boy's dream, come true to be Malcolm McLauren for a scene. God, I love improv!

So, if you'd be oh so kind as to give this episode a listen, I think you'd learn something...about Elvis, Costello, about Saturday Night Live, and about how warped Brendan Carr, Matt Casarino, Lew Indellini, Jill Knapp, and I am.

Also, there might be a Don Pardo impression or two in here...

Saturday Night Live (40 Years And Counting...)

Saturday Night Live debuted about 3 weeks before I was born.

My first recollection of the show was on March 12, 1983 when Buckwheat was shot. I was a little more than 7 years old and didn’t yet grasp the concept of parody. The now famous sketch aired almost 2 years to the day after President Ronald Reagan was shot in similar fashion.

I wouldn’t start watching Saturday Night Live more religiously until around the time NBC aired the miniseries AD (March 31-April 4, 1985) and SNL did a running gag throughout the episode. “Caesar does not bring me this glove himself?” WHACK WHACK!

But it would be the cast of the 12^th season that would seal the deal for me. Dana Carvey, Nora Dunn, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, Lon Lovitz as well as holdover from season 11, Dennis Miller collectively worked together to bring me back week after week. A. Whitney Brown and Kevin Nealon were merely featured players at that time.

My parents bought a video camera in 1987 just in time for Christmas.

I would film my own sketches with my brothers Brian and Erick, which were mostly shittier versions of the sketches SNL did the week before. My buddy Jim would spend many Saturday nights, which might explain why to this day, our conversations still invoke Steve Amadbenbrassier (from the “Iran’s Most Wanted” sketch).

By the time 1994 rolled around, I was convinced I would someday be a writer on Saturday Night Live. I wasn't brazen enough to think I’d be a cast member. After all, I had terrible stage fright.

Fast forward to 2015. Though, I obviously have never written for Saturday Night Live, I have done an awful lot with live comedy.  I still think of that kid from 1994, and his stage fright, every time I step on stage and I wonder if he could fathom what he’s done.

So this past Sunday, NBC  aired a live broadcast celebrating 40 years of SNL. I admit, my love for the show has faded over the past decade and a half. Perhaps I’m too old to truly be a member of its fan base, don’t trustanyone over 30 and such. But all the same I was very excited to see all of my comic heroes on one stage.

Neither the kid with stage fright, nor the slightly graying/heavily balding performer, was disappointed with the outcome.

Sure there were some missed cues, but all in all I enjoyed the show. I watched for about an hour and a half before I picked up my phone to see what Facebook and Twitter had to say. I was kind of surprised by how much vitriol and anger I was seeing. Then I remembered, it’s the internet. Did these voices also dream long ago that they’d now be writing for SNL? I decided to close my phone and just enjoy the rest of the show.

I loved all of the inside jokes. Many of them I know from years of reading about what goes on behind the show.

I loved seeing all of the Not Ready For Primetime Playersfrom the original cast. At least all of them that are still alive.

I loved seeing so many SUPER stars who got their starts in studio 8H including Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey.

I loved seeing how humble Chevy Chase, a man who doesn’t usually know that word, was.

I loved seeing the return of Eddie Murphy, no matter how brief.

I even loved seeing Miley Cyrus sing a very restrained version of Paul Simon's  50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, realizing she’s NOT bigger than SNL (something that Kanye West didn’t seem to get).

It’s weird to see a show that is the exact same age as you, grow old. It makes me wonder how many jokes either of us has left. Will SNL go on until Lorne Michaels breathes his last breath? Will it continue even after he’s gone, as an institution to not just television, but comedy? Will I out live it? Is it still waiting around for that kid from 1994?

No matter what the future holds for you, me, Lorne Michaels, angry tweeters or SNL, there’s is one thing that will always remain true:

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.