Lorne's Exile

  It is Saturday, November 15, 1980 and Elliot Gould is guest host of the opening episode of Saturday Night Live 's sixth season, and you can view it here . This is Elliot's sixth (and to this day, most recent) episode as guest host. Kid Creole and the Coconuts are the musical guests on this night. As each episode progresses, we'll touch on individual sketches, starting with the cold opening recalling SNL 's "Glory Days". The opening shot of the opening episode of the Jean Doumanian Era  is of a sleepy Gail Matthius, who realizes the show is about to open, then wakes up next to guest host Elliot Gould, who are introduced to the new cast members and with each describing himself as a cross between two of the cast members from the original era.   Gail described herself as a cross between Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin. Next, up popped Charles Rocket, a cross between Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. Next up, it's Ann Risley, describing herself as a cross between Gil...

In mia-October of 1980, roughly before the Season Six premiere, Tony Schwartz of The New York Times  wrote this piece in which he revealed the names of the new Saturday Night Live cast members. Variety later wrote that producer Jean Doumanian leaked their names to Mr. Schwartz after a disgruntled ex-staffer had leaked the names to The New York Daily News. Nevertheless the Times revealed the names first. As a major consequence of this action, NBC had cancelled a press conference that was supposed to introduce the new cast members; NBC president and CEO Fred Silverman and the head of the Entertainment Division, Brandon Tartikoff were none too pleased with the revoltin' developments about Jean's leak to Tony Schwartz without Fred's or Brandon's knowledge.  

Here's another preseason photo of the Saturday Night Live '80 full-blown cast  . Left to right, Denny Dillon, Charles Rocket, Ann Risley (sigh!), Joe Piscopo, Gail Matthius, Gilbert Gottfried.  

Here is an actual promo for the November 15, 1980 sixth season premiere of NBC's Saturday Night Live  with guest host Elliot Gould; shown here are Ann Risley, Gilbert Gottfried, Charles Rocket, Elliot Gould, Joe Piscopo, Denny Dillon, and Gail Matthius.

Wow! An actual promo for the Season Six premiere of NBC's Saturday Night Live  with voiceover by the legendary Don Pardo! Shown in order of appearance: Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Gail Matthius, Joe Piscopo, Ann Risley (sigh!), and Charles Rocket.

  With the new cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live cast, atop the RCA Building at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City! Left to right, Gail Matthius, Charles Rocket, Denny Dillon, Ann Risley, Joe Piscopo, Gilbert Gottfried. Gail, Charles, Denny, and Ann seemed really excited while Joe seemed a little less excited and Gilbert, maybe even less.

  After auditions during the summer of 1980, here are the members of the new cast of Saturday Night Live , as chosen by producer Jean Doumanian: Cleveland-born Denny Dillon, an actress and comedienne, whose previous experience on TV including appearing as a guest in the show's third-ever episode in 1975 (hosted by Rob Reiner) doing a stand-up routine dressed as a nun with comedy partner Mark Hampton, also dressed as a nun.  You can find the episode here . She appeared on Broadway in Gypsy  and Harold and Maude .  She even had a small role in the motion picture Saturday Night Fever . More recently, Denny was a regular on a short-lived (1979-80) NBC Saturday morning kids' show Hot Hero Sandwich . In another post, you'll get to see a segment from that show's premiere (November 10, 1979). Brooklyn-born Gilbert Gottfried honed his act on the Comedy Shop circuit by acting like a manic madman.  There are doubts the Gilbert's manic style would go over on television, but...