The Saturday Night Live Mardi Gras Special - A Festive Trainwreck

I decided to try something new on this blog, so in honor of its 45th anniversary, here's my writeup of the SNL Mardi Gras Special after viewing it for the first time.

It's all downhill from here, folks.

If any lasting impression can be taken from the special as a whole, it's that it was definitely an experience, for better or for worse. What's really interesting is that there is a sense of a coherent show taking place when it starts, but it all falls apart by the end. They do a decent job covering up the patches, but it's clear things went awry by the time you get to the 4th Randy Newman song (and that's not including the solo number from the backing orchestra).

At least 1/3 of the entire special right here.

There are pieces you can enjoy, but most of the night is filled with stuff that never really hit the mark. For example, the first real sketch felt like they were throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick. 

“Bring out Rhonda Weiss, Sherry’s there too, add Penny Marshall,
throw in the bees, give them motorcycles, now make something out of all that.” 

You get the usual crowd pleasers with Gilda like Emily Litella and Baba Wawa doing the same old routine. Henry Winkler’s involvement in the latter raises the piece, but the material is nothing to rave about apart from his presence.

If you've seen one Baba Wawa bit, you know the drill.

Belushi gets three solo pieces (Al Hirt on the trumpet, Mussolini, and Brando doing “Stella”) with varying degrees of success.  Meanwhile, Jane is limited to doing commentary on the parade with Buck Henry for the whole night, apart from a repeat of the Quarry ad.

What should've been a quick gag gets dragged out for several minutes.

Outside the cast, you get whatever the Apollo Ball piece with Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams was meant to be as Cindy doesn’t arrive in time for the first part leaving Penny to awkwardly banter while the second part later in the show feels disjointed and aimless before ending suddenly. If you enjoy Eric Idle, though, his solo piece where he reports from a festival that just ended is a highlight.

Essentially a preview for the final season of Laverne and Shirley.

The biggest disappointment of the night would have to be the Antler Dance number, especially given how energetic and exciting it was closing out the season 2 premiere with Lily Tomlin. Now I was aware this edition would be unable to top that one, you can tell they were making an effort to do so (complete with an extra verse and a larger crowd). But the expanded number resulted in enough time for you to realize how corny the song really is and the distant visual of Mr. Mike dancing on the balcony didn’t help at all. Looking back, it feels like the reason the first one worked so well was the showstopper quality to the presentation coupled with the contained environment of the studio. After watching this performance, it’s easy to see why the Antler Dance isn’t remembered today.

Mr. Mike was upset with the initial performance because "the chaos overpowered the lyrics."
What he failed to realize is that this should not be considered a lyric-heavy song.

Bill Murray being a brand new castmember who’s only been on for three episodes at this point is evident by the complete lack of applause he receives during the intro. When watching these seasons a couple years ago, I felt that apart from a couple of select highlights (his first episode, “that’s true you’re absolutely right”, new guy speech) he felt out of place early on and didn’t break out as a NRFPTP until the Elliott Gould later that year. But I was surprised by how much I enjoyed him throughout the special. Between the debut of Honker (the only time, I believe, he's actually called that name) and the Jean Lafitte sketch (which had a thin premise that Bill carried immensely), I found him to be a consistent highlight throughout the night to the point where it makes you almost reconsider the trajectory of his first season.

This could easily pass for something out of season 3.

Overall, the idea of a live show, in New Orleans, during Mardi Gras, on Sunday was a big gamble that didn’t really pay off. Given the reaction to everyone who worked on it and the conditions they had to go through, it’s no surprise that SNL never attempted something like this again. If your familiar with this era, though, it feels like an extension to a typical episode of the time, specifically the first two seasons (Gary Weis films, heavy focus on music, etc.). If you’re watching through the series, you won’t miss anything by skipping it. But if you’re interested in additional SNL content from the early years and looking for some variety, it works as an expendable curio piece.

"The parade has not been delayed, it doesn't exist! It never did.
Mardi Gras is just a French word meaning "no parade." Good night!"