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Saturday Night Live Samurai
In the early years of the 1970s comedy TV show ''Saturday Night Live'', John Belushi portrayed an archetypal samurai — he had a dedicated concept of honor, spoke only (mock) Japanese, and wielded a katana. Sketches featuring the character showed him in different occupations that would not be expected for a samurai. He always performed his tasks perfectly, despite scaring his clients quite a few times. The character was modeled after Toshiro Mifune's character in Akira Kurosawa's ''Yojimbo''. Samurai Futaba would probably not have become a recurring character if not for Buck Henry's insistence that there be a second sketch featuring him when he first hosted on January 17, 1976. It is perhaps due to these origins that it became standard practice on SNL to feature a Samurai sketch every time Henry hosted, until the time Belushi left the cast. Except for "Samurai BMOC", each time Henry would play the same character, Mr. Dantley. In issue #74 of ''Marvel Team-Up'' (cover dated October ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves as the program's showrunner. The show premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, " Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show. In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential stand-up comedians of all time. Pryor won a Primetime Emmy Award and five Grammy Awards. He received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1998. He won the Writers Guild of America Award in 1974. He was listed at number one on Comedy Central's list of all-time greatest stand-up comedians. In 2017, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him first on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.The 50 Best Stand-up Comics of All Time . Rollingstone.com, retrieved February 15, 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Live Characters
__NOTOC__ The following is a list of recurring ''Saturday Night Live'' sketches, organized by the season and date in which the sketch first appeared. For an alphabetical list, see Recurring ''Saturday Night Live'' characters and sketches (listed alphabetically). 1975–1976 1976–1977 * Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Tales (Michael O'Donoghue) – October 30, 1976 * Consumer Probe (Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Candice Bergen) – December 11, 1976 * Coneheads (Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman) – January 15, 1977 * E. Buzz Miller and Christie Christina (Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman) – January 22, 1977 * Rhonda Weiss (Gilda Radner) – January 29, 1977 * Leonard Pinth-Garnell (Dan Aykroyd) – March 12, 1977 * Colleen Fernman (Gilda Radner) – April 9, 1977 * Nick The Lounge Singer (Bill Murray) – April 16, 1977 * Debbie Doody (Gilda Radner) – April 16, 1977 * Shower Mike with Richard Herkiman (Bill Murray) May 21, 1977 1977–1978 * The Festrunk Brothers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seppuku
, sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people during the Shōwa period (particularly officers near the end of World War II) to restore honour for themselves or for their families. As a samurai practice, ''seppuku'' was used voluntarily by samurai to die with honour rather than fall into the hands of their enemies (and likely be tortured), as a form of capital punishment for samurai who had committed serious offences, or performed because they had brought shame to themselves. The ceremonial disembowelment, which is usually part of a more elaborate ritual and performed in front of spectators, consists of plunging a short blade, traditionally a '' tantō'', into the belly and drawing the blade from left to right, slicing the belly open. If the cut is deep enough, it can sever the abd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Fever
''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American Dance in film, dance Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York. Manero spends his weekends dancing and drinking at a local Nightclub, discothèque while dealing with social tensions and disillusionment, feeling directionless and trapped in his working-class ethnic neighborhood. The story is based on "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night", a mostly fictional article by music writer Nik Cohn, first published in a June 1976 issue of ''New York (magazine), New York'' magazine. The film features music by the Bee Gees and many other prominent disco, artists of the disco era. A major critical and commercial success, ''Saturday Night Fever'' had a tremendous impact on popular culture of the late 1970s. The film helped to popularize disco music around the world and initi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also be about a real-life person (e.g. a politician), event, or movement (e.g. the French Revolution or 1960s counterculture). Literary scholar Professor Simon Dentith defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice". The literary theorist Linda Hutcheon said "parody ... is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music, theater, television and film, animation, and gaming. Some parody is practiced in theater. The writer and critic John Gross observes in his ''Oxf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Grodin
Charles Sidney Grodin (April 21, 1935 – May 18, 2021) was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including '' The Virginian''. After a small part in '' Rosemary's Baby'' in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's '' The Heartbreak Kid'' (1972) and supporting roles in Mike Nichols's ''Catch-22'' (1970), the 1976 remake of ''King Kong'', and Warren Beatty's ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1978). Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies of the era, including ''Real Life'' (1979), '' Seems Like Old Times'' (1980), '' The Great Muppet Caper'' (1981), ''Ishtar'' (1987), ''Dave'' (1993), and ''Clifford'' (1994). Grodin co-starred in the action comedy ''Midnight Run'' (1988) and in the family film ''Beethoven'' (1992). He made frequent appearances on '' The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson'' and ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Kirshner
Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by ''Time'' magazine, he was best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as the Monkees, Kansas, and the Archies. Early life Don Kirshner was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, United States, the son of Gilbert Kirshner, a tailor, and Belle Jaffe. He graduated from George Washington High School in Manhattan, and went on to study at Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey. After graduation he went to work for Vanderbilt Music, a small music publishing company owned by former Tin Pan Alley lyricist Al Lewis. Kirshner brought Lewis together with Sylvester Bradford, an African-American songwriter. Lewis and Bradford wrote "Tears on My Pillow", which was a big hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1958. Aldon Music Kirshne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Cornelius
Donald Cortez Cornelius (September 27, 1936 – February 1, 2012) was an American television show host and producer widely known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance and music show ''Soul Train'', which he hosted from 1971 until 1993. Cornelius sold the show to MadVision Entertainment in 2008. Early life and career Cornelius was born on Chicago's South Side on September 27, 1936,McKinley Jr., James C. (February 1, 2012)"Don Cornelius, ‘Soul Train’ Creator, Is Dead" ''The New York Times''. Retrieved January 8, 2018. and raised in the Bronzeville neighborhood. After graduating from DuSable High School in 1954, he joined the United States Marine Corps and served for 18 months during the Korean War. He worked at various jobs following his stint in the military, including selling tires, automobiles, and insurance, and as an officer with the Chicago Police Department. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'', Aykroyd appeared in a recurring series of sketches about the Coneheads, and the Blues Brothers. For his work on the show he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations winning for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1977. After his departure, he has since returned in guest roles. Aykroyd gained prominence for writing, and starring as Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), which spawned an entire media franchise, reprising the role in ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), ''Casper'' (1995), '' Ghostbusters: Afterlife'' (2021), and an upcoming sequel (2023), cameoing as a different character in '' Ghostbusters: Answer the Call'' (2016). He also is known for his comedic roles in ''Trading Places'' (1983), ''Spies Like Us' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and ''musique concrète'' works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation. As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism, African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
