Best/Worst SNL "unplanned event" ever?

[derby378]

Don't be shy - Diebold can't rig this Saturday Night Live poll!!

[redqueen]

1. WHERE is Elvis Costello?

Huh?

[Richardo]

6. That's right redqueen...

Costello's mid-song change to "Radio Radio" rocked! Legend!

[louis-t]

10. Oh yeah, an oldie but goodie!

Deciding not to cave to network censors, what was the song they tried to stop him from playing and he played it anyway?

[Richardo]

13. Radio, Radio.

Like I said... :)

[ClassWarrior]

2. Andy Kaufman on "Fridays," imho...

...the SNL clone on ABC.

24.

[ClassWarrior]

4. But if I have to keep it to SNL...

...the roar of the audience when the B52's finished "Rock Lobster."

24.

[CanuckAmok]

3. I've been dying to see the clip of "Fear". I read about it in...

Woodward's book on Belushi. Sounds great, unlike when I saw Fear and they blew.

[Beware the Beast Man]

5. Sinead's performance is definitely the most talked about.

[ronnykmarshall]

18. I liked Madonna's spoof the next week.

After she sand "Bad Girl" she pulled up a picture of Joey Buttafuco and did the same thing.

[disgruntled_goat]

7. paul schaffer: fbomb

way back in the day. some dark-ages-esque skit with john belushi in drag as a queen, and the rest as aspiring musicians. the gag was that their drummer (bill murray IIRC) couldnt keep time.

so paul schaffer is there as one of the minstrels, and says "it's just 4 f***ing beats" you can hear him catch himself halfway thru and trail off.

joy.

[russian33]

8. My favorite still is Penny Marshall/Rosie O'Donnell/Whitney Houston

The Christmas concert at the Catholic school, when Whitney and Rosie kept laughing, and Penny Marhsall screamed 'Girls, get a hold of yourself!'

And last year's Janet Jackson's 'Cork Socker', that was great too.

[CanuckAmok]

9. How about the Paul Simon ep where Garfunkel walked up on stage...

...and told them to stop impersonating him. I don't know if that was staged or not.

[Radical Activist]

12. I liked Paul Simon with Senator Paul Simon

where they argued at the beginning about who was supposed to be hosting the show. That wasn't a surprise moment, but its still one of my favorites.

[FunBobbyMucha]

11. Can someone describe the Fear thing? Never heard of it.

Also, Sinead gets my vote just because, as much as I love EC, changing songs was nowhere near as punk as decrying the Pope in the U.S. of A. (EC's career was also not ruined by his stunt, unlike Sinead's)

[derby378]

20. The Fear performance turned into a slam-dance

They performed three songs, including LET'S HAVE A WAR, and encouraged their fans to bypass the security guards and slam on live television. Great live TV, but I think Michael O'Donoghue (who booked them) got canned by the NBC brass as a result.

I understand that John Belushi personally recommended Fear for the show, BTW.

[CanuckAmok]

27. There's a great chapter in "Wired" about Belushi meeting with NBC...

...brass at an upscale restaurant in Beverley Hills. Apparently he brought a cassette of Fear, and tol the execs that "you gotta hear this...I want these guys on the show...", and insisted the restaurant play the cassette through their music system.

So a room full of LA high-rollers were treated to:

"My house smells just like the zoo,
It's chock-full of shit and puke,
cockroaches on the walls,
crabs are crawling on my balls..."

With Belushi jumping arounf the restaurant like it was CBGB's

[Shakespeare]

14. Elvis Costello's Radio Radio, and Tina Turner's surprise appearance...

...joined Rod Stewart onstage to sing "Hot Legs" waaaayyy back in the 70s. Absolutely rocked.

Of course, Belushi walking up behind Joe Cocker singing so that he could do his Joe Cocker singing impersonation (and Cocker subsequently getting deeply pissed off) was classic, too.

[louis-t]

17. I thought it was Radio, Radio, wasn't sure

Didn't want to sound like a nerd.

[louis-t]

15. RE: 'other'

We wouldn't be talking about any other events if McCartney and Lennon had gone throught with their idea to hurry over to the set from the Dakota after a cast member jokingly offered them like 50 bucks to appear.

[ronnykmarshall]

16. Coffee Talk with Babs!

I was sitting in the kitchen with my then boyfried having a late night snack and I almost did the milk out the nose thang.

Madonna and Mike Myers just lost it. Rosanne was almost fell out of her chair.

It's a classic moment. Real cool of Streisand to do that.

[Beaverhausen]

23. "Did you see her legs? They are like BUTTAH"

"Like a big stick o'buttah!"

[FunBobbyMucha]

19. I also remember when Mick licked Keith's face

during "Miss You." That scandalized my little redneck town, and made Stones-fandom "gay!" for quite a while afterward.

[derby378]

21. Don't forget...

When Molly Shannon (as Mary Katherine Gallagher) almost licked Jeff Goldblum's - er, uh - manhood during their skit.

He slowly closed his sport coat up just in case...

[Beware the Beast Man]

26. As well as Kurt Cobain making out with Krist Novoselic

As the credits rolled. I guess there's something about SNL that brings out the homoeroticism in rock stars.

[Kid_A]

22. Jack Black mispronouncing John Mayer's name.

"Ladies and gentlemen, John Meyer! OOP!"

It wouldn't have been as funny if I didn't hate John Mayer so much...

[terrya]

24. I agree with Barbra Streisand on "Coffee Talk"...

GREAT moment! :-)

[johnnie]

25. Mine was the Elvis Costello one

I was watching that show live that night.
One that stands out is when those guys used to do the Joe Pesci show and the real Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro walked on stage. Pesci was suppossed to be there, but he got De Niro to go with him. The cast didn't know and it was great TV.

[OneBlueSky]

28. not exactly unplanned, but I loved it when they were doing . . .

the Joe Pesci Show, with guest Robert DeNiro . . . and the real Pesci and DeNiro walked on . . . by the reactions of the guys doing the skit, I don't think they knew about it in advance . . .

[2bfree]

29. Mine would have to be Dan Akroid loosing his pants............

In a Lisa and Todd skit where he was working on the fridge. I was a teen then and we laughed so hard we cried! Those were the days!