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Saturday Night: Unmasking the Truth Behind Milton Berle's SNL Ban!
Saturday Night, that hilarious new comedy aboutSNL's chaotic first episode, featuresJ.K. Simmonsas the legendaryMilton Berle. The movie portrays Berle as arrogant; and that is only half the truth; because the realMilton Berlewas actuallybannedfromSNL! The movie focuses on those 90 minutes before the very first episode, showingLorne Michaelsand that original cast dealing with production madness. It's packed with familiar faces, even featuring several characters and moments only found in that famous inauguralSNLepisode, building intrigue and adding additional importance regarding its narrative.
Berlewas a huge star—"Mr. Television"—his career spanned decades, starting as a child performer and eventually reaching the apex of fame as the star ofTexaco Star Theater; which earned his famous moniker and established him as a TV icon; demonstrating how famous he already was to several members of that earlier television audience.His presence at that initialSNLepisode, therefore matters hugely even thoughSaturday Nightdoesn't show this and doesn't fully explain it in the best way! We’re unpacking the truth— separating fact from that cleverly exaggerated movie fiction.
Saturday Night'sBerle is pretty unlikeable. Why? BecauseBerlewas banned fromSNL! This incredible true story comes fromSaturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live(viaCracked). He was supposed to host in1979, and right from the start this guy acts as if he is a supreme genius. He threw out terrible jokes: “Now this might be over your heads”, this is extremely funny considering just how famous he is as an older performer already; he proceeded to make these outrageous faces directly at the cameras.
Then came that truly awful opening monologue—full of horribly racist, homophobic, and plain bad taste jokes. HisSeptember Songencore (which completely failed and the performance itself didn’t get anywhere close to the standing ovation he promised), finished off this disastrous appearance.
Saturday NightshowsBerle. But wasBerleactually present atSNL'sfirst show? There's no confirmation he was at 30 Rock inOctober 1975, though he hosted in1979, This isn’t totally surprising. During that decade, his career began to decline and this meant he had lost a great deal of influence and thus, he started bouncing from show to show, this fact remains somewhat possible.
His inclusion matters despite his probable absence! The inclusion is actually critical.It works on multiple levels, highlighting this contrast: It represents that fading Hollywood glory compared to those visionary talents behind that originalSNLteam, thus highlighting the impact of that show's early importance and how unique and great that production was!
This most memorable thing involvesBerle? Allegedly flashingChevy Chasein the film after some flirty argument? That's entirely fabricated. WhileBerle'ssize is well known (even part of the comedic persona that established him in that era). That was reallyAlan Zweibel(a writer). This comes fromLive From New York(viaEntertainment Weekly), which details the moment:Zweibelmentioning writing jokes aboutBerle’sanatomy caused him to make an indecent exposure in that moment to him; witnessed byGilda Radner.
Saturday Nighttakes creative license while remaining largely true to that incredible firstSNLnight! The creators clearly understood the value of exaggeration, they emphasized it in those humorous portions and using those very elements from its narrative! Berle's infamous appearance made for a totally fun narrative moment– even adding value to what might otherwise not have succeeded; this very detail created another dramatic moment and also added even more thematic weight.