Sunday, February 11, 2007
GNL
"Yo! Whas happening 'Merica?"
Those were the first words I uttered when I guest hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. I had had some success with a review I had put on in New York entitled 'Writers block'. It featured me on stage for an hour and a half (with an interval) staring at the back of a cereal box. Occasionally I would stand and walk to the sink in the apartment set, then return to the breakfast table and look at the cereal box again.
Lorne Michaels, the head honcho of SNL (as we call it) came to the show one evening and asked me to be on his programme (program in the States). I immediately said no because it was sub-standard slop. He told me what they paid and I changed my mind.
The filming of the show went smoothly enough considering I had not had the time, nor the inclination, to rehearse. Dana Carvey put me at my ease almost instantaneously. Such a nice... er... person (I never did work out whether Dana was a boy's or a girl's name). The evening of our show was also the debut of a certain Ben Stiller who wowed the audience with a grumpy, egocentric, over-acted character which he went on to use in almost every film he's been in.
After the recording I got a great many offers from Hollywood for various cameos and bit-parts, but I turned them all down. That one taste of the big time was enough for me; I returned to England the next day to face the charges.
Now, where's that cereal box?
Those were the first words I uttered when I guest hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. I had had some success with a review I had put on in New York entitled 'Writers block'. It featured me on stage for an hour and a half (with an interval) staring at the back of a cereal box. Occasionally I would stand and walk to the sink in the apartment set, then return to the breakfast table and look at the cereal box again.
Lorne Michaels, the head honcho of SNL (as we call it) came to the show one evening and asked me to be on his programme (program in the States). I immediately said no because it was sub-standard slop. He told me what they paid and I changed my mind.
The filming of the show went smoothly enough considering I had not had the time, nor the inclination, to rehearse. Dana Carvey put me at my ease almost instantaneously. Such a nice... er... person (I never did work out whether Dana was a boy's or a girl's name). The evening of our show was also the debut of a certain Ben Stiller who wowed the audience with a grumpy, egocentric, over-acted character which he went on to use in almost every film he's been in.
After the recording I got a great many offers from Hollywood for various cameos and bit-parts, but I turned them all down. That one taste of the big time was enough for me; I returned to England the next day to face the charges.
Now, where's that cereal box?
