Read this: What to do with the best “lost” SNL sketches? Air them!
There's a whole host of SNL sketches that haven't been available in years. Let's see 'em, Lorne!
Photo by NBC UniversalAcross its 50 years, Saturday Night Live has brought some of the finest American sketch comedy to television screens. But in the internet age, as many of the sketches, from “The Killer Bees” to “David S. Pumpkins,” made their way to YouTube, Hulu, and Peacock, many others have been abandoned to the digital wasteland of some hard drive in the bowels of 30 Rock. Thankfully, the fine folks at Late Nighter have a solution: A television special celebrating the best “unstreamable” SNL sketches of all time.
On the cusp of Saturday Night Live’s half-century existence, Late Nighter’s Jed Rosenzweig put together a “modest proposal” called “The Unstreamables.” Instead of another round of “Will Eddie Murphy do Gumby?” for the SNL50 anniversary special, Rosenzweig suggests airing “the show’s ‘lost’ sketches.” Some of them are pretty popular too, including Will Ferrell’s incredible “Neil Diamond’s Storyteller” sketch, in which he admits that a hit-and-run inspired “Sweet Caroline.” You also won’t find Eddie Murphy’s “Fifth Beatle” sketch or season 20’s “Donald Trump’s House Of Wings.” It’s enough to make you sick!
Most of “The Unstreamables”are pop music parodies, explaining why they may be unstreamable. As Rosenzweig explains, NBC has secured the streaming rights to the show’s first five years and the most recent seasons, but much of the middle 35 is missing. The show doesn’t own the streaming rights for any non-original music included in the show, so NBC is probably less inclined to go through the “Herculean task” of securing the music rights to Hadaway’s “What Is Love?” so fans can finally enjoy the Butabi brothers legally.
Check out Late Nighter for their selection of the best “lost” sketches, and consider writing your congressman about an “Unstreamables” special. Create a future we can all believe in, where we can watch Wayne Campbell play Truth Or Dare with Madonna again.