You'll Never Be More Than Second Best
It all started innocently enough. My intentions were as pure as can be. I knew what I wanted and was willing to do what I had to do to get it. Having to settle for second best was an unfortunate reality, however. Yep, a week late and a dollar short. I had no idea that this second best moment would be one of the most iconic moments in the history of Saturday Night Live.
My sister was working for NBC at the time. WWF Superstar The Rock was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live that week as a build up to Wrestlemania 2000(ah the glory days of the year 2000 where everything was 2000 or 2K). Other superstars were going to be on the show as well. I had to be there. My sister would be able to get me tickets. Life was good.
My excitement was short lived though. The tickets fell through at the last minute. I sat home that Saturday night watching as The Rock, The Big Show, Mick Foley and my favorite at the time, Triple H walked the halls of Saturday Night Live and were legitimately comical and entertaining. It was a bummer. It was so entertaining but I knew most of those people in the audience didn't care about these wrestlers. I would have appreciated the show. But I was stuck.
It so happened my sis was able to score tickets to the next week's show. The musical guest was Christina Aguilera Be still my beating heart indeed. Well she wasn't so bad back then. And the host was an actor I enjoyed. I had seen a few of his films and always found him to be entertaining. And quite honestly his previous SNL hosting gigs were pretty funny as he is kind of an oddball. But, in my opinion a truly fine actor who can portray characters in so many genres. Yup, that Christopher Walken sure was a fine substitute for seeing a bunch of wrestlers.
I had 2 tickets so I invited my friend Shannon along. Shannon and I had a fling once upon a time but at this point we were just good buds. A month or so earlier she had invited me to a wrestling Pay Per View event so I figured I would return the favor. Even nicer was that due to my dad's connections we were able to get into a very nice hotel in the city for the night. Completely innocent I assure you. Two beds and two friends. Nothing more. Her parents did not believe that however. They said she could join me for the taping but made her take the last train home that evening. I would have the hotel to myself. Not so bad though not the original plan.
Shannon and I rode the train into Grand Central Station on April 8, 2000 and hit a few of our favorite hot spots in the city. I really don't remember where we went. I hope we hit the Jekyll and Hyde Club as it was one of my favorite places to go in NYC but I really can't remember. Then we arrived at 30 Rockefeller Center. We were quickly escorted to the seating floor.
We were told the basic rules of being in a studio audience. When it says "Applause" on the big light up sign, do so. Laugh when appropriate. Don't yell at anyone. Have fun. We understood and the show began. The first sketch into the monologue was funny but nothing special. Then the course of comedy and pop culture would change forever.
The scene opened with a shot outside of "Sunshine Studios" in August 1976, or at least this is what we saw on the monitors we watched to see the parts that were not live. Then on the left side of our viewing area, a light went on to start the scene for the live audience. A narrator let us know in a "Behind the Music" fashion that this was a session for the classic rock band Blue Oyster Cult with legendary producer Bruce Dickinson. Dickinson, as played by Walken, gives the band a peep talk and off they go to play their hit "Don't Fear The Reaper". Will Farrell's Character, "Gene Frenkle", begins to feverishly play the cowbell in time with the oh so noticeable cowbell track on the original song. The band questions his over the top cowbell approach until Dickinson comes in and asks for more cowbell. They go again and once again the band halts the recording. Dickinson re enters and asks again for more cowbell. One more time and the band explodes. Dickinson re-enters and Walken delivers a line that has ended up on T-Shirts and Social Networking pages around the world. "I got a fever…and the only prescription…is more cowbell." We laughed as we had the entire scene. They go one more time and the scene closed out as a tribute to "Gene Frenkle", a fictional cowbell player in the band. The rest of the show was uneventful. Other than a turn with Walken as "The Continental", the rest of the show was pretty unmemorable. The cowbell scene was all we talked about but even so could not have imagined what it would become.
After the show, we walked back to Grand Central so Shannon could catch her train back home. I then walked to the hotel for a night in the city by myself. Not so bad of a day.
It wasn't until weeks later that more and more people kept talking about the cowbell sketch. Not many people even watched Saturday Night Live and yet this little sketch caught on. I think it even made "Don't Fear The Reaper" popular again. That is some powerful stuff It soon became huge. And this is before the world of youtube so it really was word of mouth and reruns. Ah, the good old days. I was amazed to see that the phrase "More Cowbell" has its own Wikipedia page. It states ""More cowbell" is an American pop culture catchphrase originally derived from an April 8, 2000, Saturday Night Live comedy sketch fictionalizing the recording of the song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult." It makes me chuckle overtime i read the phrase or someone brings it up that I was there to see it happen live. I can't think of another lone sketch having such an impact on pop culture as the one that I saw because my previous tickets fell though. You just never know.
My sister was working for NBC at the time. WWF Superstar The Rock was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live that week as a build up to Wrestlemania 2000(ah the glory days of the year 2000 where everything was 2000 or 2K). Other superstars were going to be on the show as well. I had to be there. My sister would be able to get me tickets. Life was good.
My excitement was short lived though. The tickets fell through at the last minute. I sat home that Saturday night watching as The Rock, The Big Show, Mick Foley and my favorite at the time, Triple H walked the halls of Saturday Night Live and were legitimately comical and entertaining. It was a bummer. It was so entertaining but I knew most of those people in the audience didn't care about these wrestlers. I would have appreciated the show. But I was stuck.
It so happened my sis was able to score tickets to the next week's show. The musical guest was Christina Aguilera Be still my beating heart indeed. Well she wasn't so bad back then. And the host was an actor I enjoyed. I had seen a few of his films and always found him to be entertaining. And quite honestly his previous SNL hosting gigs were pretty funny as he is kind of an oddball. But, in my opinion a truly fine actor who can portray characters in so many genres. Yup, that Christopher Walken sure was a fine substitute for seeing a bunch of wrestlers.
I had 2 tickets so I invited my friend Shannon along. Shannon and I had a fling once upon a time but at this point we were just good buds. A month or so earlier she had invited me to a wrestling Pay Per View event so I figured I would return the favor. Even nicer was that due to my dad's connections we were able to get into a very nice hotel in the city for the night. Completely innocent I assure you. Two beds and two friends. Nothing more. Her parents did not believe that however. They said she could join me for the taping but made her take the last train home that evening. I would have the hotel to myself. Not so bad though not the original plan.
Shannon and I rode the train into Grand Central Station on April 8, 2000 and hit a few of our favorite hot spots in the city. I really don't remember where we went. I hope we hit the Jekyll and Hyde Club as it was one of my favorite places to go in NYC but I really can't remember. Then we arrived at 30 Rockefeller Center. We were quickly escorted to the seating floor.
We were told the basic rules of being in a studio audience. When it says "Applause" on the big light up sign, do so. Laugh when appropriate. Don't yell at anyone. Have fun. We understood and the show began. The first sketch into the monologue was funny but nothing special. Then the course of comedy and pop culture would change forever.
The scene opened with a shot outside of "Sunshine Studios" in August 1976, or at least this is what we saw on the monitors we watched to see the parts that were not live. Then on the left side of our viewing area, a light went on to start the scene for the live audience. A narrator let us know in a "Behind the Music" fashion that this was a session for the classic rock band Blue Oyster Cult with legendary producer Bruce Dickinson. Dickinson, as played by Walken, gives the band a peep talk and off they go to play their hit "Don't Fear The Reaper". Will Farrell's Character, "Gene Frenkle", begins to feverishly play the cowbell in time with the oh so noticeable cowbell track on the original song. The band questions his over the top cowbell approach until Dickinson comes in and asks for more cowbell. They go again and once again the band halts the recording. Dickinson re enters and asks again for more cowbell. One more time and the band explodes. Dickinson re-enters and Walken delivers a line that has ended up on T-Shirts and Social Networking pages around the world. "I got a fever…and the only prescription…is more cowbell." We laughed as we had the entire scene. They go one more time and the scene closed out as a tribute to "Gene Frenkle", a fictional cowbell player in the band. The rest of the show was uneventful. Other than a turn with Walken as "The Continental", the rest of the show was pretty unmemorable. The cowbell scene was all we talked about but even so could not have imagined what it would become.
After the show, we walked back to Grand Central so Shannon could catch her train back home. I then walked to the hotel for a night in the city by myself. Not so bad of a day.
It wasn't until weeks later that more and more people kept talking about the cowbell sketch. Not many people even watched Saturday Night Live and yet this little sketch caught on. I think it even made "Don't Fear The Reaper" popular again. That is some powerful stuff It soon became huge. And this is before the world of youtube so it really was word of mouth and reruns. Ah, the good old days. I was amazed to see that the phrase "More Cowbell" has its own Wikipedia page. It states ""More cowbell" is an American pop culture catchphrase originally derived from an April 8, 2000, Saturday Night Live comedy sketch fictionalizing the recording of the song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult." It makes me chuckle overtime i read the phrase or someone brings it up that I was there to see it happen live. I can't think of another lone sketch having such an impact on pop culture as the one that I saw because my previous tickets fell though. You just never know.
posted by Jon M Hyde at
2:45 PM
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