Saturday Night Live/Dick Cavett/Jimmy Cliff

Dick Cavett/Jimmy Cliff
Season 1, Episode 12
Airdate	January 31, 1976
Production Number	013
Written by	Anne Beatts Chevy Chase Al Franken & Tom Davis Lorne Michaels Marilyn Suzanne Miller Michael O'Donoghue Herb Sargent Tom Schiller Rosie Shuster Alan Zweibel
Directed by	Dave Wilson Gary Weis ("The Tailor and the Plastic Surgeon") Harry McDevitt (home movie)
← 1x11 Peter Cook, Dudley Moore/Neil Sedaka	1x13 → Peter Boyle/Al Jarreau
Saturday Night Live — Season One

Dick Cavett/Jimmy Cliff is the twelfth episode of the first season of Saturday Night Live, and the twelfth episode overall. It is the first appearance by both its host and musical guest.

Guest Stars: Dick Cavett (Host), Jimmy Cliff (Musical Guest)

Special Guests: Marshall Efron (Dwayne Christiansen), Al Alen Petersen (Drag Queen)

Episode Breakdown

• Garrett Morris Voodoo: Chase is in his dressing room with groupies when he is told it is time to open the show. On his way to the stage, Chase passes Morris in his dressing room. Chase says his back hurts from a fall last week and apologizes to Morris for his few appearances in this episode and Chase's rising fame. Morris is gracious, but after Chase leaves, Morris pulls out a voodoo doll of Chase, into whose back Morris has stuck a giant pin. Chase starts to give a monologue, but as he does, Morris moves the pin around in the doll's back, and Chase's back gets worse. Morris stabs the doll in the neck, and Chase feels pain there. At last, Morris throws the doll against the wall, and Chase stumbles forward off the stage.
• Dick Cavett's Monologue: Cavett talks about the dangers of live television, being turned down for a job as an NBC page, the upcoming presidential elections, sperm banks and being too intelligent for TV comedy.
• Guns and Alcohol: Widowed single mother Ann (Curtin) talks on the phone to her friend about her new boyfriend, who may be clumsy, but she is completely devoted to him as she has learned to be through the book The Total Woman. Her boyfriend Michael (Chase) enters from duck hunting, still holding his rifle. He says his gun went off accidentally, but he killed a rabbit. As Ann serves Michael a martini, she says the rabbit was her dog Skippy, but she forgives him. Michael still holds his rifle even after it misfires again and takes out Ann's window. Nonetheless, Ann is unrelenting in forgiving and fawning over Michael. Her son Duke (Belushi) returns from school and meets Michael, but Michael accidentally shoots and kills Duke. Ann overlooks both this and Michael's accidental killing of her daughter Patti (Newman), although Michael is embarrassed. He starts to propose marriage, but as he does, he shoots Ann herself, who serves him with her dying breath. Chase breaks character to say this is a message from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Chase tries to warn people not to drink while handling firearms, but he keeps getting the message mixed up. As he tries to remember, he sets the gun down and shoots himself in the leg, and a title card says the message is "Presented by the President's Council for Clear Thinking."
• Dick Cavett School of Auto Refinishing and Upholstery: Cavett says, although he is a TV host, he has learned the real money is in auto refinishing and upholstery, and he promotes his new school.
• The Harder They Come: Jimmy Cliff song.
• H&L Brock I - Reasons 1 & 2: Lowell Brock (Belushi) of the tax accounting firm H&L Brock presents two of 17 reasons why people should use his firm as opposed to other, more well-known firms such as H&R Block. His reasons are: "We are willing to cheat for you" and "our bogus receipt service."
• Weekend Update.
  • To cover the Patty Hearst trial, Chase throws to correspondent "Peter Era." As Era talks, the screen shows crude "artist's renderings" of the jury selection in the trial. The camera cuts back to Chase, who is holding his nose and providing the voice of Era himself.
  • Newman files a special report from the war-torn African nation of Angola. She interviews an injured British mercenary (Aykroyd), who has "suffered for eight long and lonely weeks." The mercenary talks about his hard life and makes a pass at Newman. She starts making out with him, and they cut back to Chase.
  • Emily Litella argues against an "Eagle Rights Amendment," as she thinks eagles don't deserve any extra special treatment. Chase tells her the editorial was on the Equal Rights Amendment, and Litella apologizes.
  • For viewers who were watching I Love Lucy, Chase repeats the top story with the Curator of the I Love Lucy Museum, Tom Schiller, who ignores the top story and does an impression of Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo.
• Felina Cat Food: The commercial during WU is for a brand of cat food, which the announcer claims tastes as good as regular tuna. He has a woman take a taste test, and she agrees the cat food-flavored casserole is delicious, but she is disgusted when she learns she just ate cat food.
• Dick Cavett School of Hydroplane Operation: Cavett does another commercial for his newest trade school for piloting hydroplanes to travel through swampland.
• Our Town: The Stage Manager (Cavett) talks in a folksy manner about "our town"—not Grovers Corners, but New York City. The Stage Manager describes the pollution, the crime, the worker's strikes and sex shops and methadone clinics. As the Stage Manager leaves, he admits he doesn't live in New York, but rather in Connecticut, as do all people who can afford to live somewhere else.
• Many Rivers to Cross: Jimmy Cliff song.
• Dick Cavett Look Alike Contest: Cavett says he is about to meet the winner of his look-alike contest, and although he does not usually think people look like him, he is excited to meet this winner. Dwayne Christiansen (Efron), an overweight man with black hair and a mustache who looks nothing like Cavett, enters and says he has been confused for Cavett several times. He talks about his job at a gas station and all the times people have told him of his uncanny resemblance to Cavett.
• Drug Kingpin: A sketch that was cut from all future rebroadcasts of SNL and the DVD release. I could not find any reference to it other than on NBC's official Website, and it is possible it is a sketch which never aired or was a commercial in the first place.
• The Tailor and the Plastic Surgeon: A tailor describes how he would improve the clothing of a plastic surgeon, and the plastic surgeon describes the changes he would make to the tailor's face.
• Dance to the Nation: First Lady Betty Ford (Curtin) performs an interpretive dance, but she stops dancing and talks whenever the announcer (Chase) asks her a question for advice. The first question is about a son who may be smoking marijuana, and Ford says it is normal for young people to smoke marijuana, but they grow out of it, as her son Jack has, although he still gets the munchies at two in the morning. The next question is about a daughter who is dating a married man, and Ford says she should accept the daughter's situation and be more understanding, as she did with her daughter Susan. The third question is about an inept, clumsy husband, but Ford leaves to help President Gerald Ford get his toe out of the sink.
• H&L Brock II - Reasons 3 & 4: Lowell Brock (Belushi) gives two more reasons to come to H&L Brock to do taxes: #3.) "We pay off IRS officials." #4.) "The H&L Brock Deduction." This is an automatic $1,000 for H&L Brock customers which H&L Brock has negotiated with Congress.
• Looks at Books - Nebraska Pimp: Talk show host Chase interviews Dick "The Stick" Cavett, author of the book Nebraska Pimp, about his experiences as one of two pimps in Nebraska. Cavett talks about his inspiration to be a pimp, but it becomes clear Cavett only has one whore, and she will not have sex with anyone, but will only "mess around."
• Wahjaka Man: Jimmy Cliff song.
• H&L Brock III - Reasons 5 & 6: Lowell Brock (Belushi) argues twice more for using H&L Brock. Reason #5.) "We have close ties to the underworld." Reason #6.) "Easy loans, cheap goods." This last reason means you can also get a loan from H&L Brock or cheap "stereo equipment" from the firm.
• Home Movies - The Apple Follies: In a movie made through stop motion animation, apples, including "underaged apples," or seeds, arrive at a burlesque club to see an apple strip. They see an apple peel itself until the "plum police" arrive and arrest them all. Newspaper ads then say the director of a major film has eaten all of his cast, and the director of the Home Movie is shown eating the apples and plums.
• I Gotta Be Me: Al Alan Petersen song. Petersen starts off singing the song dressed as a construction worker, but as he continues, he strips off his construction worker clothes to show off first a bra, then panties and pantyhose, then long blonde hair. At last, he puts on high heels and finishes as a female impersonator.

Notes

Live from New York, It's Saturday Night!

• Chevy Chase as himself after falling off the stage due to Garrett Morris' voodoo.

Music

• They Can't Take That Away from Me, performed by Chevy Chase: This American standard was written by George and Ira Gershwin in 1937 for use in the Fred Astaire film Shall We Dance. The most famous version was recorded in 1962 by Frank Sinatra. Chase sings the song during the cold opening, just before he stumbles off the stage due to Garrett Morris' voodoo.
  

  

  Jimmy Cliff performs "The Harder They Come."

• The Harder They Come, performed by Jimmy Cliff: The theme song to the cult hit 1972 Jamaican blaxploitation film of the same name, which starred Cliff as a reggae singer who had to turn to a life of crime to support his music habit. The film is considered one of the highlights of its genre, and the song is considered one of the most influential reggae songs of all time. The single became an international hit and introduced much of America to the sound of reggae music, although the album never sold in any great numbers.

• Many Rivers to Cross, performed by Jimmy Cliff: One of the two other songs besides "The Harder They Come" which Cliff first wrote and performed for the soundtrack to the film The Harder They Come. In 1974, the song was covered by artist Harry Nilsson on his album Pussy Cats, produced by John Lennon.

• Wahjahka Man, performed by Jimmy Cliff: A track off Cliff's 1975 album, Follow My Mind.

• I Gotta Be Me, performed by Al Alen Petersen: The most famous version of this self-empowerment anthem was recorded by Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr.

Trivia

The Show

• MIA: Cast members George Coe and Michael O'Donoghue are not credited and do not appear in this episode. In addition, this is the first episode in which not a single member of the Muppets appear, and they are not credited.

• First Appearance: The three "H&L Brock" sketches in this episode are the first of the recurring sketches featuring John Belushi's shady tax accountant Lowell Brock. Also, Jane Curtin's appearance as Betty Ford in the sketch "Dance to the Nation" is the first appearance of Curtin as Betty Ford—or indeed of anyone as a First Lady—on the show. The sketch "The Apple Follies" is the first of the Home Movies segments, which would continue for years afterwards.

• Repeat Sketch: The sketch "Felina Cat Food" was first used for episode 1x03 - Rob Reiner.

• Sketch Variation: This episode's Looks at Books sketch, "Nebraska Pimp," is the first sketch in that series not to be hosted by Jane Curtin. Chevy Chase hosts the sketch for the first and only time. Most recurrences of the sketch were hosted by Curtin, although the sketch would be repeated once after her departure with Mary Gross hosting.

• No Credits: In the original broadcasts, this episode ran over time, so it was aired without closing credits.

Quotes

• Chevy Chase: Well, the popular TV personality known as Professor Backwards was slain in Atlanta yesterday by three masked gunmen. According to reports, neighbors ignored the Professor's cries of, "Pleh! Pleh!"