Biggest snafu in SNL history

[derby378]

There's plenty, but here's a few to vote on:

[neweurope]

1. The German humbly asks: What does "snafu" mean?

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Remember Fallujah!

[yvr girl]

4. Military term

Situation Normal All Fucked Up

[Skittles]

5. mistake

usually of the strange variety

[SidDithers]

6. Old military term, i believe...

Situation Normal, All Fucked Up...

At least that's how i've seen it.

Sid

[derby378]

7. It's a WW2-era acronym

Situation
Normal;
All
Fouled
Up

[Longgrain]

9. snafu:

Mess-up, mistake, bomb, fuck-up

Hope you get the picture. :hi:

[neweurope]

29. Thank you everybody! Wow, so many answers!

:hi:



--------------



Remember Fallujah!

[Skittles]

2. I'd vote for Ashlee

not so much because she was caught and walked off stage, but at the end of the show SHE BLAMED HER BAND. Truly a puke-inducing moment.

[Chovexani]

8. That was the most assy thing about it

I mean, Jude Law basically gave her an out at the end of the show ("blah blah blah, live TV"), and then she had to go be an ass and blame her band. It's bad enough these poor guys have to make a living playing for some no talent teenage assclown riding her no talent assclown sister's coattails. Then to get blamed for her lipsynching? Poor guys.

[Skittles]

14. I laughed when that actual event occurred

I think she could have survived that; she's not the first person to lip-sync and she won't be the last. And it's not like she KILLED anyone. But my jaw just dropped at the end of the show - you are correct - Jude gave her a very gracious chance and she blew it big time - said more about her character than the lip-synching did about her "talent".

And may I add - her band was GOOD - much better than that 'ho deserves.

[Left Is Write]

19. I saw her "perform" on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

It was obvious she was really singing, and it was also obvious why she chose to lip-synch on SNL.

Her live singing voice leaves much to be desired. And blaming her band for her own shortcomings was pretty crappy.

[Mad_Dem_X]

71. UGH! That was not "singing"

She's worse than her sister. :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

44. She has a good band too.

They are musically talented. She shouldn't have trashed on them like that. I think Ashlee should go back to being an actress.

[chenGOD]

60. Ummm don't you mean..

"I think Ashlee should go back to being an actress."

don't you mean

I think Ashlee should go back to being a nobody.

???

[mattclearing]

61. While you are right, she is probably a bit young to be expected to

handle a professional situation like that appropriately. While it is really easy and fun to gang up on Ashlee Simpson, I have to say that the culture that turns children into larger than life role models is more the target of my ire than any talentless lip-syncing trollop.

[blondeatlast]

64. My sentiments exactly.

She was surrounded by class, but took the Bush exit anyway.

[Merlot]

21. I'd vot for SNL even booking Ashlee

followed by the time they booked the Olsen twins to host.

[MSgt213]

47. She's coming back too!!! You make wanna LA LA

[blondeatlast]

63. Indeed. Very low class.

I never believed all the music was live, I've seen slips prior.

But obviously someone messed up big time, and her band were more victims than she was.

I'd like to think she'd disappear in a sea of public apathy, but the damn thing keeps getting replayed and has almost added to her popularity.

Wretched, low class, loser.

[Chovexani]

3. Nothing beats the hoedown

That will never not be funny, double negatives be damned.

[Kahuna]

59. I loved that hoedown too!

:D

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

10. The "Elvis Costello Incident"

It was one of those great "Live TV" moments, Costello bringing the song "Less Than Zero" to an abrupt halt and saying "Stop! I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen, there's no reason to do this song here," then lurching into a powerhouse "Radio Radio"...

It was also pretty funny (and memorable) when he interrupted the Beastie Boys with the same schtick on the 25th anniversary show, once again re-directing the band into "Radio Radio."

I'd call it more of a "planned snafu" on Costello's part, but for anyone watching this at home, it's got to be in the top ten all-time moments.



:toast:

[tuvor]

12. Why did he suddenly decide to change songs?

I don't think I've ever seen that explained. Was there some political content or something in Less Than Zero that wasn't appropriate, or what?

[meganmonkey]

13. He wanted to play Radio Radio but SNL didn't want him to

I don't know all the details. But I remember that it was kind of a Fuck You from Elvis to SNL.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

15. That's right, the "urban legend"...and a false one...

...was that it was politically motivated. The short version of the true story is that he wanted to play "Radio Radio"...so he DID.

:toast:

[NashVegas]

52. Yes and No

Not political in the sense of governing, but political in the sense of media politics.

In the late 1970s the myth that radio played all the good music, all the time, was still around. You never heard anyone in medium A criticizing medium B. NBC happened to own radio stations as well as TV. Costello was getting so little airplay at the time, the song wasn't about to endear him to programmers everywhere.

[tuvor]

17. Funny, the lyrics don't seem inflammatory.

Maybe a bit if you're a head honcho at a radio station, but...

ON EDIT: I looked up the lyrics to Radio Radio, not the other song. I'm on day 3 of a cold--the worst so far--so I'm not exactly sharp right now.

[NashVegas]

53. They Don't Seem Inflammatory Now, But

As I stated above, in 1977 no one (in the media industry) dared say radio was playing crap, or that it was leaving out some great music. And a song like that wasn't going to help EC get airplay, which was, back then, the be-all and end-all. It was in-your-face defiance.

[underpants]

24. This was right after the "Stone Pony" incident

I don't know what that means I jsut heard Lorne Michael talking about it once. When Elvis stopped the band on the first song Michaels was sure Elvis was going to yell "F*ck the N____ers! F*ck the Cops!"

Again I have no idea what that means.

[peekaloo]

62. that was a stupid thing for LM to say

It seems he made that statement after Costello's infamous Columbus, Ohio "incident" (a few years after the SNL appearance). Attributing those barroom statements as Costello's own beliefs.

Costello didn't want to play 'Less Than Zero' because the subject matter was about a British Nazi pedophile whom most Americans had never heard about but the song was getting minimal airplay in the U.S. due to the "Oswald" reference. Brilliant move on E.C.'s part.

[blondeatlast]

65. "Radio Radio" is pretty evocative of all media.

Political in the sense it is uncomfortably close to what SNL has devolved into.

[Left Is Write]

20. I remember that.

And "Radio Radio" is one of my favorite Elvis songs, too.

[warrens]

38. Lorne Michaels was about one inch out of camera range screaming at him

I think they later made up, but Michaels was pissed because they had it timed down to the second and he fucked up the timing. Too bad. It was a great moment. And Elvis was filling in for the Sex Pistols, who had been refused visas at the last minute because of some pot charge against, I think, Steve Jones.

[cestpaspossible]

39. Yeah, it was great TV

but not really a snafu, just an excellent performance.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

48. Well, it was a snafu as far as Lorne Michaels was concerned...

but as I mentioned, I think Elvis knew all along that he was gonna do it.

:toast:

[EOTE]

69. Definitely....

One of my favorite SNL moments evers. The moment which cemented Costello in my mind as a badass ahead of his time. Awesome song btw.

[CanuckAmok]

11. Two "others": booking flash-in-the-pan quasi-celebs as hosts:

Nancy Kerrigan leaps to mind.

And

Just for hilarity, it's the sketches with the vomit tubes in the actors' sleeves. They never work properly, and that never ceases to crack me up.

[Dukkha]

16. Not a big one but

Nirvana was told not to play "Rape Me" and they did it as their second song.

Nancy Kerrigan had to be the worst host of all. They might as well had put a cardboard stand up in her place.

I remember seeing the "Dead Parrot" sketch. The audience was dead silent the whole time. So embarrassing for them.

I also call Snafu in SNL for Banning the Sinead incident, instead showing her dress rehearsal version in syndication. I saw that live and it was a great moment.

Wasn't there an issue with Steven Segal? I recall Lorne Michaels saying he was the worst host ever.

[Left Is Write]

23. It would be interesting to do a poll on the worst host ever.

[mockmonkey]

30. Steven Segal

He was the worst host I have ever seen. I didn't get to see Nancy Kerrigan.

[Kahuna]

46. Har! That's what I voted. He was the worst host ever.

The cast was fuming the entire night and turned their backs to him at the end.

[lazarus]

70. about the Dead Parrot sketch

The audience was, indeed, silent. But they were mouthing the words along with John and Michael. And cheered quite loudly at the end.

Sadly, the sketch was stuck in the last 30 minutes of the show, and was on a side stage, not the main one, so it was all done sort of badly. But the sketch itself went off fine, and the audience didn't laugh because they didn't want to interrupt the timing.

(I got this from a website I read a while back, someone actually in the audience posted it.)

[underpants]

18. Martin Lawrence's "You better put a TicTac up that a**" monologue

They warned him about language and he went off men performing oral sex on a woman. The line above was in reference to cleanliness requirements and a recommendation. You can figure out what it means yourself.

A good list though.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. Hands down - Kaufman

He was a brilliant comic. They really screwed up when they let him go.

[Borgnine]

25. The Dead Parrot sketch.

All the other ones were at least funny for being a total trainwreck/great live television. But it was painful seeing them trying to translate dry British humor in front of an American audeince that wouldn't largely get it.

[underpants]

26. *chirp**chirp**chirp*

I remember sitting and watching it and cringing at the complete lack of audience reply.

[terrya]

27. I agree with what some others have said...Nancy Kerrigan as host.

I had the unfortunate experience of having seen that train wreck of a show. It was sheer embarrassement (for Nancy Kerrigan) from start to finish. It was clear that as far as comedy is concerned, Ms. Kerrigan is a great...ice skater. Zero talent. Zero charisma. Like some people have said, they might as well have trotted out a cardboard cutout and it would have had the same effect.

It was, for me, the worst mistake in the history of SNL. It's also a warning to Lorne Michaels...beware of getting that "celebrity of the moment" to host the show...unless they have SOME talent.

T

[NoPasaran]

28. Continuing the show after the original cast left n/t

[Bertha Venation]

31. Nora Dunn's refusal to appear when Clay was on? How about booking

the misogynistic asshole in the first place? That's what I came to this poll to vote for. And that's when I stopped watching SNL. I haven't watched it since.

[blondeatlast]

66. Indeed, and honestly, is the "man" even funny?

No one I'm aware of thinks so.

[progmom]

32. Sports stars often make bad SNL hosts.

Nancy Kerrigan, Wayne Gretzky, and host/musical guest Deion Sanders. That may well have been the worst one I ever saw live. It was AMAZINGLY bad.

[trogdor]

36. At least Gretzky admitted he sucked.

He really didn't suck that bad. Really.

[rppper]

55. the rock from the wwe was ok.....

had a really cool skit with him, fellow wrestlers triple h and the big show...the big show was very funny as i remember....

[Beware the Beast Man]

68. The Rock was hilarious

In his first appearance, they used him in every sketch, a rarity for guest hosts. His sketch with Leon Phelps was a riot. Tim Meadows could barely stay in character.

[tuvor]

58. You didn't see Gretzky on the Young and the Restless, then, did you?

Ohhh, did he suck on THAT.

"Just call me Wayne. Everybody does."

[ghostsofgiants]

33. Cutting Rage Against The Machine's appearance short and kicking them off

That gets my vote.

[mitchum]

34. Letting the great Michael O'Donoghue get away...

it was all downhill from then on.
RIP, M O'D

[Tweed]

35. Guliani cross-dressing?

Do I have any takers?

[Miami Liberal]

37. Gotta be Sinead O'Connor

After it happened, it was talked about endlessly for months all over the world. We had cross burning Madonna saying it was too controversial, even Frank Sinatra offered to kick her ass fer gawd's sake. Oh, and her career was never the same here in the states.

[Guy Fawkes]

40. Sinead O'Conner ripping of the Pope's picture,

saying "fight the real enemy"

(on edit: thanks)

[Left Is Write]

41. That was Sinead O'Connor.

[Guy Fawkes]

42. this isn't how I wanted to start 2005...

then again, seeing Bush* elected wasn't how I wanted to start it either.

[Left Is Write]

43. Well, none of us wanted that either, so you're not alone.

:hug:


(Of course, your edit makes me look pretty silly now. ;) )

[Kahuna]

45. Other. When they invited Steven Segal to guest host. It was the...

worst performance by a host in SNL history. He obviously didn't rehearse. He couldn't read the cue cards. He was so bad that the cast turned their backs on him at the end of the show. They were fuming.

[WoodrowFan]

49. picking the second cast

Gad, it would have been tough replacing the first group but the original second cast just STUNK, they could out smell a hig-rendering plant.

[bigwillq]

50. Wow-I just saw that parrot skit today on E!

I thought it was funny in a weird way.

[48pan]

51. I Picked Andy K Because...

SNL hasn't mattered since about that time. The show is so lame that I stopped watching it 15 years ago.

[Zorro]

54. Charles Rocket

He really fucked up his future and his career with his loose-lipped ad lib. And you could see that he and Charlene Tilton knew what a boo-boo he committed after he said it.

He got the hook and was off the program immediately therafter, and hasn't been sighted very regularly since. Since he was being groomed to be the next SNL major personality, it was striking just how quickly he disappeared from the public eye.

[underpants]

56. If I remember correctly he was fired on the spot right then

Gone! Security take him out of the building.

[Zorro]

57. "Dumb and Dumber" was his only major movie role, I think

How appropriate. I wonder if the Farrelly Brothers used him in that movie because of his notorious faux pas.

[Flammable Materials]

67. You forgot the BIGGEST snafu in SNL history:

Allowing the sad, pathetic beast to live on past it's usefulness.

When the show stopped being the edgy iconoclast and became a "national historical landmark", it was over.

[Patiod]

72. Norm McDonald letting go an F-bomb during Weekend Update

Not the worst moment, but pretty funny in a "did-I-just-hear-what-I-thought-I-heard?" way.