4 Classic Gilda Radner ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sketches Every Fan Should Watch
Comedian Gilda Radner was one of the original “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” on NBC’s Saturday Night Live when it launched in 1975, along with Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Garrett Morris. Her parodies of advice specialists (“Rosanne Rosannadanna”) and news anchors (“Baba Wawa”) made her one of the show’s most popular cast members of all time and an inspiration to many female comedians for years to come.
Gilda left the show in 1980 when her contract expired and tried her hand at movies, where she eventually met her second husband, Gene Wilder, on the set of 1982’s Hanky Panky. The pair married in 1984, though their marriage was short-lived as Radner was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986 and passed away in 1989 after a prolonged battle with the disease.
In honor of what would be her 80th birthday on June 28, take a look back at some of the most beloved skits from the early seasons of SNL, many of which she appeared in.
Weekend Update
Tasked with covering the news of the week in topical irreverent style, “Weekend Update” has been a segment of the show since its beginning on Oct. 11, 1975. Often opening with “I’m Chevy Chase … and you’re not,” Chase served as the first host of SNL‘s satirical news skit — the longest-running segment in the show’s history — signing off with “Good night … and have a pleasant tomorrow.” Curtin took over for Chase in 1976, giving rise to her popular “Point/Counterpoint” segment with Dan Aykroyd, during which the audience relished the pair dismissing each other’s opinions with “Jane, you ignorant slut” and “Dan, you pompous ass!”
Everett Collection
Radner’s befuddled editorialist Emily Litella and unfiltered consumer reporter Roseanne Roseannadanna were staples to the early days of the newsdesk. A still wildly popular segment that has seen the likes of Murray, Charles Rocket, Dennis Miller, Kevin Nealon, Norm Macdonald, Colin Quinn, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Cecily Strong, Colin Jost and Michael Che at the helm through the years.
The Coneheads
As advertised, the Coneheads — “parental units” Beldar (Aykroyd) and Prymaat (Curtin) and teen daughter Connie (Newman) — boast big, bald cone-shaped noggins. Citizens of the planet Remulak — though Beldar claims they’re from France — the Coneheads just want to blend in with the Earthlings while Beldar serves as an interplanetary spy. They even made an appearance on Family Feud, with Murray sitting in as game show host Richard Dawson and playing against The Mels (Steve Martin, Radner, Belushi), who are representing the Romaine Lettuce Growers Association.
Aykroyd created the hilarious monotone-speaking consumers of “mass quantities” — who first appeared on the Jan. 15, 1977 episode — while stoned, basing them on Easter Island’s moai statues and folk artist Harry Nilsson’s story album, The Point, about a boy ostracized from The Pointed Village because his head is round. Mebs!
Wild and Crazy Guys
Whether you remember the Festrunk brothers best for their finger-pointing, hip-swiveling walk or the Baker Boy caps, wildly patterned shirts and tight plaid Sansabelt slacks that they just knew would score them some swinging American foxes (Radner, Newman and Curtain) with, uh, big brassieres, Czech-born Yortuk (Aykroyd) and Georg (Martin) were unquestionably two wild and crazy guys.
Appearing on SNL‘s Season 3 premiere, the brothers were living their best American life in Big Apple pick-up spots. The malaprop-spouting duo only appeared in six episodes but became pop culture icons all the same.
Roseanne Roseannadanna
The bane of Curtin’s “Weekend Update” existence, Radner’s plain-spoken, pyramid-haired correspondent took viewer questions, cheerfully spiraling into off-topic anecdotes about her own or others’ bodily functions. To drive her point home, Roseanne would exclaim, “I thought I was gonna die!” or “What are ya tryin’a do, make me sick?!” causing Curtin to interrupt.
Undeterred, Roseanne — who appeared in 17 episodes from 1977 to 1980 — would counsel, “It just goes to show you, it’s always something. If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” then offer witty advice from a relative such as Nana Roseannadanna or her “musically happening cousin” Carlos Santana Roseannadanna.
These are excerpts from the Saturday Night Live Issue of TV Guide Puzzler Magazine. You can purchase the full issue at the link below.
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Puzzler: Saturday Night Live
Vol. 4, Issue 6
Celebrate over 50-years of Saturday Night Live! Enjoy all the crosswords, word searches, criss crosses and many other puzzles all themed to the hit late night parody show.
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