Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1978–1979

The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between October 7, 1978, and May 26, 1979, the fourth season of SNL.

Honker the Homeless Man

A Bill Murray sketch. Debuted October 14, 1978.

The Mall

Debuted October 14, 1978.

This sketch satirised the trend of suburban shopping malls sucking the life out of American city centres.

Woman to Woman

A talk show sendup where feminist Connie Carson (Gilda Radner) speaks with professional women about their careers. Debuted October 21, 1978.

Uncle Roy

A Buck Henry sketch; made two appearances in season 4 and one in season 5. Debuted November 11, 1978.

St. Mickey's Knights of Columbus

A small series of sketches centered around the "spaghetti dinner" meetings of a Knights of Columbus lodge. Each sketch involves a prize being given to someone ironically in absentia and ends with a traditional song that only the least expected person remembers the words to. Debuted November 11, 1978.

Chico Escuela

Chico Escuela (literal translation: "Boy School", but more likely "Little School," as Chico means small or little when used as an adjective - essentially little education.), played by Garrett Morris, was the Weekend Update sports correspondent. A retired Hispanic ballplayer with limited command of the English language, he wrote the tell-all book Bad Stuff 'Bout the Mets (sample: "Ed Kranepool - he once borrow Chico's soap and no give it back"; "Yogi Berra - berry berry bad card player"). In spring training of 1979, Chico's unsuccessful comeback attempt was documented on several Update segments. The character was first introduced in a St. Mickey's Knights of Columbus sketch, but subsequently Escuela appeared solely on Update.

Typically he would be introduced by Jane Curtin, thus compelling him to say, "Thank you, Hane!" Soon would follow his standard catchphrase: "Beisbol been berry, berry good to me!" Sammy Sosa, at the peak of his stardom in the late 1990s, would sometimes repeat that line as a joke, to the media, albeit in his true-to-life strong Hispanic accent.^[1]

The episodes were actually filmed at the Miller-Huggins Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Telepsychic

Telepsychic was a recurring sketch featuring Dan Aykroyd as Ray, a pseudopsychic with his own TV show. For the character, Aykroyd wore a blonde wig and tinted sunglasses, and sat behind a desk with five telephones on it. By calling 555-1231, 555-1232, 555-1233, 555-1234, or 555-1235, callers (voices of other members of the cast) asked for advice about personal issues. His flippant delivery and outrageous suggestions while answering phones are indicative that he was nothing but a fraud. In response to a series of questions that involved time spans, his answer for each was, "Ohhhh...about a month."

There were two Telepsychic sketches, which opened the show both times.

Episodes featuring Telepsychic

• December 9, 1978 host: Eric Idle
• May 19, 1979 host: Maureen Stapleton

Candy Slice

Candy Slice was a character played by Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live. An intense but troubled rock and roll artist, Candy Slice recorded an album in a sketch on December 9, 1978, in an installment Eric Idle hosted.^[2]

She also performed in the Rock Against Yeast on February 17, 1979, while Ricky Nelson was hosting.^[3] Her song was dedicated to Mick Jagger and was solely about how Candy Slice was his "biggest funked-up fan". In that sketch, she also hobnobbed with the likes of Olivia Newton-John (Laraine Newman), Bob Marley (Garrett Morris) and Dolly Parton (Jane Curtin).

Slice's act consisted of two songs: the punkish "If You Look Close (You Can See My Tits)," and her musical homage to the Rolling Stones, "Gimme Mick," which concluded with "rock me 'n' roll me 'til I'm sick." At this point, Slice would belch into the microphone and pass out onstage, thus ending her set.

Candy Slice was based loosely on punk rock pioneer Patti Smith.^[4]

Episodes featuring Candy Slice

• December 9, 1978 host: Eric Idle
• February 17, 1979 host: Ricky Nelson

The Widettes

A Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner sketch. Debuted December 16, 1978.

Miles Cowperthwaite

A Michael Palin sketch. Debuted January 27, 1979.

Dick Lanky

A Bill Murray sketch. Debuted February 17, 1979.

Rosa Santangelo

A Gilda Radner character, who appeared in three sketches over seasons 4 and 5. Debuted May 19, 1979.

References