The Early Years of "SNL" #2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: King Tut

The "King Tut" sketch was inspired by a hugely popular touring exhibit of Tut artifacts that was being shown in the United States at the time. It ran on the April 22, 1978 show (also featuring the first appearance of the Blues Brothers). Martin sang a goofy song about Tut, with lyrics like "Buried with a donkey (funky Tut), he's my favorite honkey!" With the added bonus of silly Egyptian dancing, and a sax solo by a sarcophagus, it proved popular enough to be made into a recording. Sure enough, "King Tut," by Steve Martin & The Toot Uncommons, reached number 17 on the Billboard charts in 1978, a higher position than the Village People's "Macho Man" song reached that same year.

Answer: Press secretary for President Gerald Ford

In a move that would likely never happen again, President Ford, dealing with the most serious primary challenge that any 20th century Republican president faced, allowed his press secretary to host the show.

The episode, broadcast the night before Easter Sunday in 1976, proved to be one of the funniest in series history - and also one of the most tasteless. Sketches in the show included the "Super Bass-o-matic '76" (the blender that prepares "terrific bass" drinks) and Nessen and Chevy Chase playing Gerald Ford (jokes included talking about a cow defecating on Ford's suit, and Ford mistakenly signing his hand, saying he could always veto it later). This episode also had the sketch about bad names for jams ("Painful Rectal Itch"), a film showing men singing which using the facilities in a restroom, a sketch involving the Supreme Court standing around a bed watching an unmarried couple in action, and two songs from punk rocker Patti Smith.

"You just cost me Texas," joked Ford to Nessen after seeing the outrageous show. The remark proved prophetic. Ford lost the Texas primary the following month in a landslide to Ronald Reagan. He also lost Texas in the November election by a narrow margin to Jimmy Carter. The state's electoral votes, had he gotten them, would have left Ford just two electors short of winning reelection. No sitting member of a presidential staff has since appeared on the show.

Answer: Fran Tarkenton

Tarkenton, future Hall of Fame quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants, hosted the January 29, 1977 show, with musical guest Leo Sayer. There was little memorable from the show, although a commercial parody for "Sugar Coated Anabolic Steroids" cereal was decades ahead of its time. OJ Simpson hosted on February 25, 1978. Neither Billie Jean King nor Reggie Jackson ever hosted the show.

Answer: James Taylor

Ray Charles, in hosting the November 12, 1977 episode, became the first musician to host the show with no musical guest. He performed several times in the show, and it was his first appearance in more than ten years with the Raylettes backup singers.

In October 1978, both the Rolling Stones and Frank Zappa hosted with no guests. The Stones hosted the premiere episode of the '78/79 season, their first performance on live television since 1971. Zappa hosted the Halloween show later that month and proved to be so difficult (he made obvious references to his cue cards, would break character to talk to the audience, and was insufferable to many in the cast) that most of the cast (with the exception of John Belushi) were visibly cold to him at the show's close, and he never again appeared on the show. James Taylor was a frequent musical guest on the show, but never hosted.

Answer: Candice Bergen

Largely because John Belushi forcefully argued that women weren't funny, the show in early years tended to be quite male dominated. However, Candice Bergen was an early host, hosting the fourth episode of the first season, then becoming the show's first-ever two-time host when she returned four episodes later.

Her friendship, and a possible romance, with Belushi certainly helped overcome his objections. In all, eight of the 24 episodes in the first season were hosted by women, the most of any of the first five seasons. Oddly, the fifth season, the first without Belushi in the cast, had the fewest women-hosted episodes: a mere two.

Answer: Chico Escuela's agent

The versatile Gould sang, danced, and acted on several of the early episodes of "SNL." To "Conehead" lovers, Gould will always get special points for appearing in "The Coneheads at Home," the first of the segments to feature the lovable alien family "from France." Two of his other memorable roles were shutting down "Star Trek" set (he ignores Belushi/Captain Kirk's attempts to shoot him with a phaser, and Chevy Chase/Spock's "Vulcan Nerve Pinch") and leading a group therapy session with Godfather Don Vito Corleone (encouraged by Gould to "act out your feelings toward the Tattaglia family," Belushi's Godfather has a heart attack and dies).

Answer: Milton Berle

Producer Lorne Michaels has been quoted as saying the April 14, 1979 episode hosted by Berle was the worst one in "SNL" history. Much of the trouble stemmed from an issue that happened frequently on the show: a new host, unfamiliar with "SNL"'s workings, would refuse to trust the judgment of the writers and others with more experience doing the show, resulting in chaos and/or mediocre television. Berle kept wanting to inject vaudeville and 1950s television bits into the episode, even within scenes that were meant to be poignant.

In the episode's final number, Berle sang "September Song," hoping to earn a standing ovation (started by the ten guests he'd brought with his host tickets). The move failed when Michaels instructed the director to not show Berle's guests standing. NBC has declined to release the tapes of that episode, one of the few such shows not available for rebroadcast. Of the other choices, Jerry Lewis hosted a moderately successful 1983 episode; neither George Burns nor Bob Hope ever hosted the show.

Answer: Ralph Nader

The show's famous opening words were the nearly exclusive province of Chevy Chase during his time in the cast. Chase spoke the words in 22 of the 24 first-season episodes (the exceptions being Garrett Morris for one show, and President Ford for the episode hosted by his press secretary Ron Nessen), and the first six shows of the second season (including literally phoning it in from his hospital bed for two episodes in which he had a broken leg).

After Chase left the show in November 1976, Gilda Radner did the honors for three of the next four shows, with musical guest George Harrison handling the other one. Finally, for the January 15, 1977 show, host Ralph Nader (yes, consumer advocate and future presidential candidate Ralph Nader actually hosted the show!) became the first host to speak the opening words.

Answer: Buck Henry

Buck Henry was a screenwriter, but was the show's most frequent host in its early years. Among the ten shows he hosted in its first five seasons were the final episodes of all but the first season. Oddly, his appearance on the May 24, 1980 show, the final episode with the original cast, was his final appearance on "Saturday Night Live."

Answer: He was wearing a turkey costume

Another hysterical bit from the "SNL" archives. The diminutive Simon, wearing a mammoth turkey costume, including large feet and full plumage, cut the song after a few bars and walked offstage and argued with Lorne Michaels about how ridiculous he felt and looked. "Did the band come in late?" asked Michaels, seemingly oblivious to Simon's costume.

As the singer exits for the dressing room, his wide outfit gets tangled in some backstage doors. "I can't even fit through the door!" he's heard to moan as the segment fades.