As 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥 marks its 50th anniversary, 好色tvlooks back on some of the sketch comedy show鈥檚 most notable 好色tv musical performances.
Musical Guest: The Tragically Hip
Song: 鈥淕race, Too鈥 and 鈥淣autical Disaster鈥
Host: John Goodman
Date: March 25, 1995聽
THE SHOW: Due to scheduling conflicts with his TV sitcom 鈥淩oseanne,鈥 host John Goodman appeared in only a few sketches, so special guest Dan Aykroyd stepped in. The Kingston, Ont.-native, and former "SNL" cast member, leaned heavily into impressions, including U.S. politician Bob Dole and 鈥淯nsolved Mysteries鈥 host Robert Stack. He also joined Goodman in the opening monologue to reprise his Blues Brothers persona.
THE REHEARSAL: Fellow Kingstonians the Hip were in the midst of a club tour when they rolled into NBC Studios and got a rude awakening on the mechanics of live TV. 鈥淲e鈥檙e told just before dress rehearsal that we鈥檝e gotta be four minutes (a song), or something like that,鈥 recalled bassist Gord Sinclair. The problem was the Hip was in "full jam mode" at the time, playing seven-to-10-minute versions of many of their songs each night. They needed a quick solution, so rather than carve out portions of Gord Downie's lyrics, they decided to trim the intros and outros of each song and share visual cues to smooth out the process. 鈥淭hat really added to the nerve factor," Sinclair said.
BACKSTAGE: Feeling the pressure, the band decided to take the edge off with a few puffs of marijuana before showtime. 鈥淲e got this cool dressing room, and it's got a nice little vent,鈥 Sinclair remembered. 鈥淵ou were allowed to smoke inside still in those days鈥 (We thought,) 鈥楲et's just get high and try to relax.鈥欌 Did the weed calm the band down? 鈥淚 was relaxed, let's put it that way,鈥 Sinclair said. 鈥淕ord was pretty relaxed as well.鈥
LIVE ON AIR: They may have been too relaxed, Sinclair acknowledged in hindsight. Downie flubbed the opening line of 鈥淕race, Too,鈥 replacing, 鈥淗e said, 'I'm fabulously rich'鈥 with 鈥淚 said, 'I鈥檓 Tragically Hip,'鈥 which he delivered with a dazed smirk. 鈥淥n Gord鈥檚 part, it was probably a response to the nerves, to the weed, and to the very fact that he just repeated the last thing he heard Dan Aykroyd say before we started to play,鈥 Sinclair said. 鈥淎fterwards, he said, 鈥楧id I really mess up that first line?鈥欌
THE LEGACY: From then on, Downie replaced the opening lyrics of 鈥淕race, Too鈥 in practically every Hip performance. However, little else changed. After "SNL," the band headed to St. Louis to play a venue they didn't recognize the name of. They thought it might be an upgrade from the "dumpy club" their tour manager usually booked. "We drive all night only to realize it's the same club," Sinclair said. "They just changed the name."
This report by 好色tvwas first published Feb. 13, 2025.
