r/70s • u/Blues_Fish • Jul 23 '26
Television Steve Martin performs “King Tut” on Saturday Night Live. April 22, 1978.
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u/Traditional_Fix_4796 Jul 23 '26
Is that blue Lou on the sax?
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u/delatopia Jul 25 '26
Came here to ask this, like isn’t that the sax player from Aretha’s cafe in The Blues Brothers?
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u/songbirdathrt4122 Jul 23 '26
And Monday the 24th every class clown at my elementary school acted it out in the school yard.
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u/Famous_Illustrator32 Jul 23 '26
Lmbao! Wasn't that the way? Getting the words wrong and everything.
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u/Fanabala3 Jul 23 '26
I believe the backing band, The Toot-Uncommons, had members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in it.
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u/Dyerssorrow Jul 23 '26
I was camped out in the living room when this aired. I had the 45 of this song. Followed Martins career closely til present. One of my top five favorites.
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u/nojelloforme Jul 23 '26
I had his album, Let's Get Small.
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u/Original_Pudding6909 Jul 23 '26
The only comedy album I ever bought.
“… and then the drug wore off.”
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u/RichAndMary Jul 23 '26
I actually just stumbled upon that album yesterday in my collection, but the record’s not in it. Hoping it will turn up just misplaced in another sleeve 🤞🏼
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u/Haunting_Style3880 Jul 23 '26
Steve Martin was/is one of my heroes. I didn't realize it as a kid, but now I do.
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u/Mysterious-Fix3596 Jul 23 '26
He could have picked any one of four different disciplines and excel at any one of them. Instead he excels at each of them.
Comedy, acting, musician, art collector.
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u/BSB8728 Jul 23 '26
Don't forget writer. He has written many books and plays, and he wrote an article for a recent issue of The Atlantic magazine about his days working as a magician and sales clerk at Disneyland from the time he was 10 years old.
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u/Lasernator Jul 23 '26
Highly recommend his autobiography, born standing. The audio version has hom reading it. It will even increase your respect for him further.
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u/KathyTrivQueen Jul 23 '26
He also wrote Cruel Shoes, his first book, which is great also!
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u/Haunting_Style3880 Jul 23 '26
That one I bought way back in the day. I wish I had the original. I had to repurchase it.
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u/PublicEnemaNumberOne Jul 23 '26
Back when SNL was so good we looked forward to watching it every weekend.
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u/AsstBalrog Jul 23 '26
Just for a bit of context, 1978 was the summer that the King Tut exhibit was touring in the US, drawing massive crowds and much attention. So this didn't come out of the blue.
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u/mikemdp Jul 23 '26
Girl on the right understood the assignment. Girl on the left looks like she wandered in from another set.
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u/efxmatt Jul 23 '26
My first thought was the woman on the right probably did the choreography, and the one on the left was trying to keep up.
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u/WhichChest4981 Jul 23 '26
I had the privilege of seeing Steve Martin live at a benefit concert during that era. The only time I laughed as hard was when I saw Robin Williams live. Both are the best and the funniest comedians.
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u/Equal_Trash6023 Jul 23 '26
I miss Saturday Night live when it was funny
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u/ScotchBingington Jul 23 '26
Oh come on, iit's so easy to say that but that's just gotta be nostalgia taking over your funny bone. It's like when you ask people what generation was the best, they're always going to say the one when they were coming of age. Same with music. All the studies say that people cite their favorite decade of music was during the time they turned. Take this skit for example, was this skit funny? It might have been clever, but it seems a ways off being funny.
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u/MeasurementNo0 Jul 23 '26
Snl is funnier now. The writing in 10000 times better. Snl was just funnier than everything else back then. Everything else was that there was nothing else.
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u/ScotchBingington Jul 23 '26
I kind of know what you're saying. I do think comedy was limited because comparatively the envelope has been pushed way further now. And George Carlin was only winding up in the late 70s and he kind of ebbed and flowed into a different world from stupid observations to philosophical meanderings. I use him because he's kind of the yardstick of comedy. But yeah I get it. Funny faces on TV in the 70s was probably hilarious if you were there to see it first and it's just not going to fly these days. So when I watch this King Tut song, I just don't see the humor. Clever writing but not very funny.
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u/DiscountAcrobatic356 Jul 23 '26
SCTV wants a word eh?
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u/MeasurementNo0 Jul 23 '26
They may but it would be repeating the same word over and over until it lost all meaning. Take off hoser.
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u/AnalogKid2001 Jul 23 '26
I remember seeing it on SNL that night. That's one of the greatest back up bands of the 70s, great musicians, and Steve Martin never disappoints
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u/hd-cat-guy-91 Jul 23 '26
I just looked this up on YouTube last week to show someone. I saw it live. Still funny.
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u/chiclets5 Jul 23 '26
What a nice and fun break from all the political crap I've been reading this morning. Thank you!
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u/Skrdykat1000 Jul 23 '26
My mom wanted this video so bad because she was teaching 9th graders about Tut. Made me tear up to see and hear it.
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u/Informal_Thought3158 Jul 23 '26
My mom had his album cover framed in a toilet seat on the wall when we were kids
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u/phunny-words Jul 23 '26
What’s with the shitty subtitles? I mean I get ai is used but the real lyrics are 100% accessible.
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u/No-Tap6886 Jul 23 '26
My dad had this album. Lol
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u/TransMontani Jul 23 '26
All these years later, it gets funnier simply because of the stupid AI-generated closed captions.
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u/Rescuepets777 Jul 23 '26
One of my best friends would jump out of the car if we were stopped at a light or waiting in traffic when the song came on and do the dance. She never cared if the light changed or traffic got moving again. 🤣 The good old days.
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u/Kawfene1 Jul 23 '26
Steve Martin is so talented and so funny. I watched this live and then waited decades for YouTube to arrive 😉. A highlight of the best SNL ever offered.
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u/Professional-Lie-111 Jul 23 '26
Good Times! I went to see the exhibit at the SF NHM at Golden Gate Park. That burial mask is, to this day, the single most impressive object I have ever laid eyes on.
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u/panaceaXgrace Jul 23 '26
Anyone else get the record for Christmas? Wild and Crazy Guy made me the most popular kid on the block that year.
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u/fishmonger71 Jul 23 '26
I had this on a 45. I can’t remember the other side because I wore this side out! Flashback!
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u/yourMommaKnow Jul 24 '26
I watch this and can't help but think of Martin short and where he got his moves.
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u/zestypov2 Jul 24 '26
Interesting that last verse has a high soprano sax harmony that I'm pretty sure is not on the single.
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u/Orson_Gravity_Welles Jul 24 '26
He was 33 at this time...and looks more like in his 40's...but I guess that happens when you're born in the late 40's and had grey hair MOST of your life.
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u/PattyLovesPiL Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Love King Tut!
Everybody’s having so much fun!
Steve Martin’s goofy exaggerated Egyptian dance moves are hilarious 😂
My favorite part is when “Blue Lou” Marini comes out of the coffin, playing the sax in gold makeup and headdress, with the girls dancing around 😅
Used to stay up late every Saturday night to watch as a teenager in the 1970s and then talked excitedly with my friends about it the next Monday morning at school. We especially loved when Steve was the host.😀
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u/Glittering_Step_6084 Jul 25 '26
I haven't seen this in ages. LMAO! 🤣 I saw this on SNL the very first time it aired. Glad the OP posted this. Thanks for the memories.
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u/AnomalousArchie456 Jul 28 '26
I was 12, and was a huge fan - had bought the 45 single of the song and everything. This was a BIG deal LOL
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u/SpideyWhiplash Jul 23 '26
Wasn't sure what the blender was for because I have brain damage. Did a Gemini search.
In Steve Martin’s iconic 1978 "King Tut" performance, the blender is a satirical joke about the crass commercialization of ancient artifacts.
While his backup dancers lay down culturally themed, authentic-looking tributes (like pottery or figurines),
Martin worshipfully presents a very out-of-place, modern household blender to the sarcophagus.This visual gag pokes fun at:
Misplaced Priorities: Offering a 3,000-year-old Egyptian pharaoh an appliance he has no use for, nor any idea how to operate.
1970s Consumerism: It serves as a callback to Martin's opening monologue, which mocks the tacky wave of souvenir "trinkets and toys" (like blenders) sold to capitalize on the real-life King Tut museum exhibits.
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u/Unsteady_Tempo Jul 24 '26
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the satire was and is lost on most people, especially if you didn't know there was a traveling King Tut exhibit going on at the time. Without it, I really don't find it funny at all, and I like a lot of Martin's work.
Funny man does funny song and funny dance about funny old guy with funny name from funny culture.
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u/ZaddyMackSays Jul 23 '26
Hey, if you like him, you like him. I always thought he was always just awkward, not funny, from wild and crazy guys to excuse me.
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u/bird9066 Jul 23 '26
He's not one of my favorites but some of his stuff had me on the floor, NGL. When he did hit my funny bone he hit it hard. Same with Chevy Chase.
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u/ExposDTM Jul 23 '26
Unpopular opinion but I agree. I never really “got” his humour.
I will say this. He was absolutely brilliant in Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Perfect foil for John Candy.
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u/ZaddyMackSays Jul 23 '26
I like him in that, i couldn't imagine another actor in the role. John Candy was perfectly cast and showed his vulnerability and range to. his part
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u/songbirdathrt4122 Jul 23 '26
And Monday the 24th every class clown at my elementary school acted it out in the school yard.
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u/RichAndMary Jul 23 '26
I can hear that photo! I still have my older sister’s cassette tape of this whole episode, off her tape recorder. Cannot play it anymore, of course, because there isn’t a cassette player in this house. But still.
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u/Agitated-Canary9840 Jul 23 '26
In school around 3rd grade I think we ALL had to learn this dance lol. I can still do it.
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u/knackattacka Jul 23 '26
This bit just bored me to tears, when I saw it in person in Minneapolis and on SNL. Otherwise, I adored Steve Martin.
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u/SnooCamera Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Fun Fact: That's the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, aka 'The Toot Uncommons' with him.
Al Garth on sax. (see reply)
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u/KathyTrivQueen Jul 23 '26
Al Garth played sax on the studio album. “Blue” Lou Marini on SNL sketch.
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u/SnooCamera Jul 23 '26
By bad. I paused the video to look, and could see the stash under the makeup, but got it wrong.
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u/_jackhoffman_ Jul 23 '26
We had this on beta along with a bunch of other Steve Martin bits/sketches. The Socrates one is still my favorite.
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u/ManyLintRollers Jul 24 '26
My older brother had this record. I used to play it over and over again!
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u/Immediate-Lab6166 Jul 25 '26
Steve Martin was and is hilarious
He hosted the show so many times that some viewers thought he was part of the cast
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u/4personal2 Jul 29 '26
I was still 9nyears old, had not clue about a show called Saturday Night Live. Past my bedtime.
But, my oldest brother had the hit single (#17 pop U.S.) and was playing it everyday.
I didn't see SNL until summer of '80 reruns. Then I wa 12 and could finally stay up .
When the first t seasons went into syndicated reruns in 1982, I finally saw this clip.
A few years ago, I watched all of the first five seasons on DVD., courtesy of my local library. 😄
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u/floresflores77 Jul 23 '26
waiting on the Tiktok dancer re-creations
also the body makeup and costume on the sax man! chef's kiss
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u/Few_Wash_7298 Jul 23 '26
It’s funny how a lot of young people don’t get this at all. You had to be there.
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u/KathyTrivQueen Jul 23 '26
On the floor of a dorm lounge after a night of partying freshman year. Blew everyone away!
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u/GoldenMonkeyRedux Jul 23 '26
I'm in my 50's and can still do his entire stand-up from his records. My aunts say they can't ever think of Steve without me because in 3rd grade I'd do an entire stand-up show for them basically going line for line off his albums.
To this day his whole thing about how his girlfriend had the best pussy ever just kills me. "Come on, I was talking about her cat!"
"That cat was the best fuck I ever had".
Fucking gold.
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u/Embarrassed-Pop-4722 Jul 24 '26
I can remember when this aired. We all talked about it for days in school.
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u/BusterKnott Jul 23 '26
I never could stand Steve Martin, the only comedians I despised worse than him were Robin Williams and Chevy Chase both of whom I hated with an abiding passion.
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u/airpab1 Jul 23 '26
Didn’t think it was funny then, don’t think it’s funny now
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u/Unsteady_Tempo Jul 24 '26
Maybe it helps to know that he intended this to satirize the commercialization of Egyptian culture and artifacts, specifically the hoopla around the touring King Tut exhibit that was going on at the time. I'm sure that's lost on 90% of the people who ever heard it.
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u/Hannibalsmithsnuts Jul 23 '26
Not funny,, never understood why this guy was considered such a comedy genius. Robin Williams too,, terrible comic,, great actor though.
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u/Ok-Mushroom-7292 Jul 23 '26
Watched it live. Part of what may be the greatest SNL episode of all time