The TV Zone

Here's a unique tribute from "SNL," just announced: The classic, which BEGAN 33 years ago with a classic edition featuring George Carlin, will re-air that episode in its entirety this weekend. Carlin "SNL" clips have been all over the web this morning - thanks to that special site that NBC set up yesterday - but Lord knows it'd be nice to see the whole thing in its glorious entirety, which featured a long Carlin monologue and opener featuring the famous "I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines" bit with Belushi (for some reason, my fading memory misinfomed me yesterday morning that Carlin was in the opening sketch but a vigilant reader reminded me that it was Michael O'Donoghue...)

Here's the press release from "SNL:"

"Typifying the show's 'of-the-moment' sensibility that would continue throughout its over thirty-year history, Carlin was brought in as the first host of the groundbreaking comedy show. Carlin performed three individual monologues on the program that also introduced audiences to the now legendary 'Not Ready For Prime-Time Players' – Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Larraine Newman and Gilda Radner.The 1975 episode also features musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston as well as a landmark performance from comedian Andy Kaufman."

And here's Lorne's quote, distributed to the press yesterday:

"You never forget the people who were there at the beginning. George Carlin helped give 'Saturday Night Live' its start as our first host. He was gracious, fearless, and most important of all, funny."

(Above picture: Stolen, errr, borrowed from USA Today.)

There's so much more to say about George Carlin that it seems like a few little blog posts here and there, a Newsday appreciation by yours truly here, and a bounty of other tributes everywhere else seems almost insignificant.

So this morning, I have some more. First, my last word about "Seven Words." It was a routine that (for many) came to symbolize TV's rapid descent into vulgarity and coarseness. However, it's also well worth nothing that what Carlin did was to make a comment on the fact that the descent was already well under way; the point of the routine was that TV was already soaked in most of the words (notably the f-bomb) that he mentioned, but that the ever-hypocritical boob tube trafficked in euphemisms for those various words and acts. You couldn't say these words on TV -- merely demonstrate them. The point was about hypocrisy and remains valid today.

Now ... NBC set up a special site yesterday so that you can check out his entire monologue from the October '75 premiere of "SNL"; snippets of it are available in lotsa places, notably Hulu, but you get the full monologue here. What's notable about it, besides it being the first monologue on the most influential show in television history? In part, you can see exactly how deeply Seinfeld was affected by this guy. (Jerry, BTW, headlined a terrific and generous "Larry King Live" last night, which also had Roseanne Barr, Bill Maher and Lewis Black.)

Another benefit: You can see Carlin as adroit performer. We usually just seem to mention those words but forget this other aspect. Here's a quick clip, but if you want to see the whole thing, please go to the special NBC site ...