ORIGINAL AIR DATE:
This episode of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE was first broadcast live on NBC in the United States on October 31, 1981.
CAST AND CREW:
DONALD PLEASENCE (Guest Host)
FEAR (Musical Guest)
JOHN BELUSHI (Special Guest Star)
ANDY WARHOL (Special Guest Star)
MICHAEL DAVIS (Special Guest Comedian/Juggler)
ROBIN DUKE (Cast Members)
CHRISTINE EBERSOLE
MARY GROSS
TIM KAZURINSKY
EDDIE MURPHY
BRIAN DOYLE-MURRAY
JOE PISCOPO
TONY ROSATO
Directed by DAVE WILSON
Written by MICHAEL O'DONOGHUE and others
Produced by DICK EBERSOL
SYNOPSIS:
At the suggestion of Eddie Murphy, Pleasence vomits for good luck. John Belushi makes a cameo.
In the television spoof PROFILES IN BRITISH COURAGE, Pleasence stars as a British colonel who amputates the leg of one of his soldiers (Tim Kazurinsky).
A young man joggs to his doom in the commercial spoof JOGGER MOTEL.
Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy portray the two sides of Jerry Lewis' personality in a theatrical trailer spoof for the film THE TWO FACES OF JERRY.
Christine Ebersole sings the macabre country-western song "Last Night I Killed My Husband," while cleaning up her husband's blood.
In a short film by Elbert Budin, the gory details of pumpkin carving are shown.
During a public service announcement for the Guardian Angels, Eddie Murphy shows how you can avoid being mugged by using your gold chains to simulate snot.
Michael Davis juggles and eats apples with razor blades embedded in them.
During the SNL NEWS BREAK, Mary Gross asks Frank Sinatra (Joe Piscopo) how the President arranged the sale of AWACS to the Saudi Arabians; weatherperson Christine Ebersole, after having her clothes stolen, is forced to go on the news looking like a prostitute; and film critic Raheem Abdul Muhammed (Eddie Murphy) discusses why black people love horror films.
Musical guest FEAR performs "Beef Bologna," "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones," and "Let's Have a War."
In the sketch TALES FROM THE HIP, the cast performs a
"boogie-woogie" musical version of William Shakespeare's play MACBETH.
A theatrical trailer spoof for Brian DePalma's THE CLAMS, which is a rip-off of Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS
During an intermission for the musical ANNIE, theatregoers attempt to talk (Tim Kazurinsky) out of a bathroom stall.
A family (Joe Piscopo, Mary Gross, Robin Duke, and Tony Rosato) addicted to sugar enjoys breakfast with their neighbor (Eddie Murphy).
Andy Warhol (himself) makes a few phone calls for Halloween costume suggestions.
Mary Gross makes fun of a viewer-submitted home movie and asks for more entries.
During the television call-in program THE VIC SALUKIN SHOW, Salukin (Tony Rosato) asks callers to phone-in and scare him.
During the documentary PROSE AND CONS, prison inmates share their poetry and other writings. Swifty Lazar makes a cameo.
Musical guest FEAR performs "I Don't Care About You."
Special thanks to Sean Bradley for this information!
PLEASENCE'S CHARACTER:
Pleasence served as host and performed in a handful of comedic sketches.
SCREEN CAPTURES:
DONALD PLEASENCE #1
PLEASENCE #2
PLEASENCE AND THE SNL CAST
PLEASENCE AND TIM KAZURINSKY
EDDIE MURPHY AND PLEASENCE
Images captured by Christopher Weedman
MISCELLANEOUS:
Three planned Pleasence sketches (written by Michael O'Donoghue and the rest of the staff) were axed by producer Dick Ebersol, because of their extremely macabre tone:
Pleasence would have played an aging sophisticate dining with an attractive young woman, who, unbeknownst to her, is draining blood out of her arm and filling it into their wine bottle.
Pleasence would have played a Nazi death camp commander who has a perfectly good excuse for slaughtering thousands of Jews, which he whispers inaudibly to several people.
In a sketch called GRAND GUIGNOL WHITE HOUSE, Pleasence would have played President Ronald Reagan, who, along with his family and top aides, slaughter Jane Fonda and eat her for dinner.
This information is from the book SATURDAY NIGHT: A BACKSTAGE HISTORY OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad. It was published by VINTAGE BOOKS in 1987 and is currently out-of-print. Check for it in your local library or used books store!
VIDEO/LASER DISC/DVD AVAILABILITY:
This episode of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE has never been released on video.
SERIES LINKS:
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE
NBC: SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
SATURDAY-NIGHT-LIVE.COM
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE TRANSCRIPTS
