The Incredible Saturday Night Live Sketch That Saved the Show from Canceling

Nightmare Season 1985 Saturday Night Live

Some argue that the 1985 season Saturday Night Live This is not the worst season of the series. They say it’s a collection of episodes so chaotic and inherently weird that it’s at least better than many seasons of the show that felt like a lot of fluff. These are not serious people.

Around 1980 to 1984 Saturday Night Live was in an almost constant state of unrest. The sheer talent of some of the actors was able to prop up a ship that was quickly taking on water, thanks to behind-the-scenes squabbles, poor casting decisions and the tragic realization that Eddie Murphy really couldn’t be every character in every sketch.

NBC considered canceling Saturday Night Live at that time, unless series creator Lorne Michaels returns as producer. So Michaels is back in SNL with the energy of Donald Glover walking into a burning apartment with boxes of pizza in his hands.

Michaels decided to replace most of the old cast to give the show a fresh start. It was a good idea that seemed to be made even better by the casting choices. Randy Quaid, Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Danitra Vance, Jon Lovitz, Damon Waynes, Dennis Miller and Anthony Michael Hall formed what would seem to be the show’s most impressive cast since its inception. Even now it looks like a special collection of stars.

However, the reputation of this cast soon proved to be one of the biggest problems. Performers like RDJ, Randy Quaid, and Joan Cusack simply weren’t ready or willing to be sketch comedians at that point in their careers. There was little chemistry between much of the cast, and the writers constantly struggled with egos, insecurities and the near-impossible task of creating sketches for such an odd group of performers whose skills required such vastly different material.

1985 season Saturday Night Live shows that comedians not only bomb in front of a live audience, but are fully aware of how hard they bomb. At one point, Damon Wayans actually left the show in real time during an extremely bad Mr. Monopoly sketch. I doubt you’ll do any better than Waynes if you try to watch this season, filled with shockingly offensive material and actors who fail so badly they look like they’re about to cry.