That Week In SNL (A Vintage Saturday Night Live Podcast)

It's another classic Ebersol era Weird One as we wind down one era of the show and build up the next (and beyond) with a record five people showing up in this one before they became cast members. You got Fernando on Update. You've got a mini-epic with the Turkey Lady. Spinal Tap! Soupy Sales! Lets go!

It's time for Fridays once again and this time, we've got William in tow! To get the full scope of this one, we needed two separate versions of the episode but it's all worth it just to see that magical moment when Rich Hall bombs harder than anyone has ever bombed in sketch comedy history. Elsewhere, we really run the gamut with this one: some classics and some outright duds (some possibly never seen since they originally aired). It's Fridays and we wouldn't have it any other way.

No, this isn't a rerun. This is just the tenth time John Goodman is hosting the show in as many years but thankfully, it just may be his finest outing ever. Join us as we explore this intensely dark outing from the last few months of Adam McKay's reign over the show and maybe, just maybe, learn a little something about family.

It's time for another infamous episode and thus we'll need the combined forces of both Arthur Meyer AND Jon Schneider to help us get through this one. Despite being a huge ratings boost for the show at the time, this one has long been since viewed as one of the worst episodes of SNL...but is it ALL bad? Join us as we see if there's anything to salvage from this notorious bomb.

For the first time in a long time, we're jumping to the next episode in chronological order from our last one and why not? It's Willie Nelson doing double-duty with some backup from special guest Danny DeVito! Join us as we untangle this mellow, laid back entry into the annals of sketch comedy history.

It's Valentine's Day over at the ol' SNL factory and that means we gotta break out the big guns. Not only do we get a host way out of his depth with Bronson Pinchot and the middling musical stylings of a one Paul Young but we've also got model Paulina Porizkova in tow and of course, because it's S12, a little smattering of Buster Poindexter as well. It don't add to much at all so thankfully, we've got a live copy from Hawaii to give us a little bit of something to dive into.

What's this? William Ham and Eddie Ham appearing on the show to discuss an episode hosted by Jon Hamm?! That certainly sounds whimsical indeed! Join us as we struggle to sort the present from the past with an episode that is good but is also kinda bad and misses a few key moments and we rant and rave. It's fun!

We're back for the first episode of 2024 and finally getting around to one that we've had on the back burner for awhile now. Yes, we did slightly cover this one all the way back at the birth of the show on an early Off Week but now we're digging full bore into one of our favorite modern SNL outings! Get ready for fun, adventure and bracing Tim Cicali monologues!

It's time to go deeper, weirder and more esoteric than we've ever gone before: we're going local. Charlotte, NC to be specific. Join us as we uncover the sweaty, disturbing mysteries of public access perennial, Z-Axis and Wild Wild South, the birthplace of Charlotte's own disgraced local legend, Unknown Hinson.

As the wise Beach Boys once said, "Christmas comes this time each year" and following those sage words, we've decided this would be the best time to drop our Christmas episode! Jon Schneider is back aboard the ship to discuss Martin Short's cameo packed S38 outing as we hack it up about canonical vs. non-canonical moments, tearing ass, fateful bus trips and much more!

It's the Smother Brothers! Hosting SNL during the Ebersol era! Now that's some cozy, down-home holiday fun if I do say so myself. William Ham joins us as we break down the history of the mighty Brothers and how it runs up against a cancelled SNL special, live commercials tell the tale of the pre-crash video game market, more Airplane 2 discussion than you'd expect and more!

We've got a true oddity on our hands this time around: one of the few episodes to hosted by someone completely in character. We're talking dominant hands, audience cameos, fluctuating ages, Swartzwelder, Father Guido Sarducci AGAIN, and more!

We don't visit season 28 of the show much, mostly for good reason, but this one has so much going on that we just had to do it. You've got Brittany arguably at the height of her popularity post-8 Mile, cameos from beloved alum like Adam Sandler and Garrett Morris (also, Rob Schneider shows up), and your usual smattering of SNL sketch offerings, mostly re-occuring. And along the way, Andy learns some things!

What a match made in heaven this should have been. You've got one of rock's greatest satirists hosting America's premiere late night sketch show (a show that he's already been on and crushed it, mind you) for the HALLOWEEN episode and yet, nearly the whole damn thing is just rotten. Frank tries to torpedo already questionable material, no one seems to want to be on stage with anyone else. It's just bad vibes all around. William Ham joins us to slog through one of the show's saddest misfires.

Ah, now here's a real oddity. You've got technical difficulties, feverish non-endings to sketches, a brutal runner about family strife, and a host giving scenes more honest realism than may have even been on the page. It's just our kind of show. Let's dig in (digging in may not be recommended if you're a My Chemical Romance fan)!

Hot damn, we're BACK, baby! It's the premiere of the seventh season of That Week and this time we're hitting up the first episode of the second season of SNL for what turns out to be an important episode in a number of fashions. You get the final Land of Gorch sketch, a greasy Dan Aykroyd, the origins of the Antler Dance, three, count 'em, THREE James Taylor performances and hell, even Taylor Mead too. The gangs all here, man. Let's go!

We rejoin our podcast already in progress as we break down the last half of The Groove Tube, discuss the final part of Ken's Hollywood career and how it intersects with SNL and William lays down an explanation for one of the strangest moments in the show's first season.

Join us for part one of two scholarly deep dives into the man that was Ken Shapiro and what he meant to the early 70s underground sketch comedy movement. Here we discuss Ken's earliest showbiz days, the Channel One Theater and the first half of the film it was all leading up to: 1974's The Groove Tube.

When you've got something as strange as two syndicated episodes of SCTV that aired in Pittsburgh, PA that pull together two-thirds of the S5 premiere from NBC, you know you gotta call in the big guns. That's why William Ham is back again to explore this wild night of sketch comedy, which includes some of SCTV's finest work and also some of the most harrowing local commercials we've ever seen.

Today we're chatting with Jason Klamm, author of the new upcoming book (Sept. 12th to be exact) all about sketch comedy in the 90s, We're Not Worthy! We discuss the hardships of putting the book together, various bombshells dropped during the making of it and more!