Yesterday, I was listing guest hosts and musical acts banned from Saturday Night Live. Some of the performances are hard to forget and some people, you may not even remember ever being on Saturday Night Live. Here’s more of the list:
Fear
The band Fear was a favorite of show regular John Belushi, so he pushed for them to appear as a musical act. Unfortunately, they played offensive songs, used obscene language, and the slam dancers they bused in destroyed the set. Needless to say, they were never invited back.
Robert Blake
You may remember Robert Blake from the murder trial of his ex-wife, but even when he was just an actor, he often caused trouble on the set. In 1982, he disliked his script. To show his displeasure, he crumpled it and threw it in the face of cast member/writer Gary Kroeger. Think Bob has some anger issues?
Andy Kaufman
Comic Andy Kaufman seemed to make pushing buttons part of his career. Kaufman appeared on the first episode of SNL and many there after, but angered viewers with his female wrestling act. Kaufman thought the SNL viewers should decide if he was offensive enough to be banned. Unfortunately for Andy, many called the 900 number and said yes, so he was banned for life, which wasn’t that much longer as Kaufman died two years later of lung cancer.
The Replacements
The alternative band The Replacements showed up to their 1986 show intoxicated. As if that weren’t enough, lead singer Paul Westerberg cursed the crowd. While the band was banned, Paul returned later as a solo artist.
Steven Seagal
It seems that actor/martial artist Steven Seagal attended the Robert Blake “Just Plain Difficult to Work With” School. Disliked by cast and crew alike, when Nicolas Cage implied that he might be the biggest jerk ever to appear on SNL, Lorne Michael’s replied “No, no. That would be Steven Seagal.”
Still yearning for more? You have to wait until tomorrow for the rest of the list of those banned from SNL!