SCTV - The Merv Griffin Show - The Special Edition

SCTV (05/01/82)
11 minute 'Making Of' promo for the 7 minute addition.
We'llberightback!

[@crusty21]

Rick Moranis...Very smart and under-rated funny man. He and Short were perfect additions to SCTV.

[@encinobalboa]

SCTV produced many great film stars including Moranis, Short, O'Hara, Candy, and the late Harold Ramis.

[@HardRockMaster7577]

John Candy is Genius.

[@Phibbus]

I'm still amazed that there was ever an era when you could get this degree of bizarre on television, even at 1:00 AM.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Yes, today, bland conformity is what sells. The audience is the censor!

[@monsieurdel]

​@@RideAcrossTheRiver People cry way too much about censorship... it's just not true.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@monsieurdel I said _the audience_ is the censor today.

[@ihavefallenandicantreachmy2113]

If the Audience was looking for Work, you could make it into a TV Show: "Censor: For Hire", then, you could blow it up, good. REAL good.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@ihavefallenandicantreachmy2113 Tonight on _Who Makes More of A Mess?_ ... it's a blow-up blow-out between J. J. Abrams and Elon Musk! Plus, how sullen can Brie Larson get before she implodes?

[@thomashumphrey7395]

The way Moranis portrays Griffin's protruding derriere is hilarious. SCTV always had a way of making you feel like you were stoned while watching (even if you weren't). It was completely unpredictable, original, and brilliant.

[@stepchildofsoul]

This sketch went EVERYWHERE.

[@friscoj68]

I love how HAL rips Kubrick when explaining why he hasn't worked since 2001. Hilarity. RIP, Douglas Rain.

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

"Orson Welles" crafting Devil's Mountain out of Stove Top Stuffing parodying Richard Dreyfuss. PRICELESS!!

[@MattMcIrvin]

"I have magic!"

[@AlexColberg]

HAL 9000 as a guest on Merv cracks me up every time.

[@HardRockMaster7577]

I was hoping for a scenario where HAL would say "Merv... I'm afraid..."

[@janetremsing6988]

😂Awesomely nostalgic comedy!!!!‼️

[@philmfan]

Might be Douglas Rain, the original voice actor, doing the voice for HAL 9000. He is Canadian. That's the kind of cool touch SCTV was capable of.

[@b0tterman]

It is Rain.

[@giovanna722]

Wow. Ultimate creepy.

[@dmrr7739]

“So he tells me I got a Love Boat...”

[@destinycaptain247]

Yep

[@robertmondoux6466]

If not Rain himself (as has been confirmed) , I was going to guess (close your eyes and listen) Canadian actor Colm Feore

[@Blyndtyger76]

I just got a megaphone and first thing I said in it "we'll be right back"

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Television has a way of impacting our senses.

[@crs290]

I love the nod to the Plimpton Intellivision ads.

[@deanjollow2892]

I’m so lucky to have been able to watch this show weekly. Pure gold.

[@robertcombs55]

SCTV = Genius

[@benprewitt4600]

Holy CRAP it's creepy how much they got John Candy to look like Orson Welles.

[@mehermusic2154]

Holy DEFECATION

[@gorfulator]

I saw this bit when it first aired! Up to that time, It was the funniest thing I ever saw!

[@johnsjohnson448]

As Bob Hope would say: "I loooooooove it." Dave Moranis was spot on with his "Merv." Silly, but never mean-spirited.

[@RussellFlowers]

All the SCTV cast seemed to have genuine affection for those they parodied.

[@garywalker1657]

Rick Moranis... Dave Thomas is playing Spielberg

[@thomassalyers1391]

Absolutely brilliant comedy!!

[@christieperry4361]

I'm gonna make it a point of saying Ohhh that's nice We'll be right back

[@miked4377]

rick mouranus doing merv griffin is hilarious ...under rated .....

[@christopherdunne7848]

His Dick Cavett ain't half bad either. Those two are almost impossible to imitate, but he pulls it off. Andrea Martin as Phyllis Newman (!!!) too.

[@loyaldude10]

Andrea is hilarious, as usual

[@mrb4886]

Never underrated.

[@bclmax]

its moranis

[@tonycanabal1659]

Was the spelling error of Moranis intended for describing Merv's "Anus"?

[@itowedin]

It was the little things on SCTV. The boom mic dropping into frame at the end.

[@verisimilidude1]

I loved this back when it was a 90 minute late night show on NBC. But few people I knew did at the time - probably because it was on Friday nights. I wonder if any of the references play as well now (2018)? That said, this is truly brilliant stuff. Classic television at its finest...

[@dirtydave2691]

My best friend and I watched this when we could as teens. This was other worldly comedy that some kids just didn't get. I loved it. Rick's Merv Griffin is hilarious and John as Orson Wells......classic.

[@MattMcIrvin]

A lot of these early-1980s nerd jokes and Merv Griffin references might not land with the youth today, but Spielberg, Lucas, "Special Editions" and "Making Ofs" are still very much with us, and people haven't stopped talking about "2001". In some ways this still works because it was parodying the direction the entertainment industry was going, and it was a trajectory that lasted. For me the thing that really kicked it to God-tier was George Plimpton doing the Intellivision pitch, and that whole campaign just seems like a bizarre relic today... but video games have just gotten more and more central in modern entertainment, so even that is kind of prescient.

[@iscariot666]

John Candy as Orson Welles asserting he would fall back on magic was fire.

[@QuadMochaMatti]

@@MattMcIrvin We were always an Atari family back in the early '80s, but I definitely remember the Plimpton/Intellevision adverts. Now I just realized how old I really am... Being born in '72 may as well refer to the late 1800s, rather than the late 1900s as it does in my case, given the vast disconnect between myself and the yutes of today.

[@loginregional]

Waiting for the Merv Griffith show, *oooooh Opie* - we'll be right back

[@FredLord-sp4ym]

Rick Moranis always delivered as "Merv." LOL. Thanks for sharing.

[@russellschaeffler]

the piano bit is awesome

[@TheMelonvilleFlyingCircus]

Brilliant stuff.....my heroes, sctv

[@KarstensCreationsKC]

"Me? I've got magic...hahaha- he has NOTHING."

[@ARIZJOE]

Wildly creative humor reflecting a popular culture that was much richer than today's. Unbelievable.

[@mehermusic2154]

Why unbelievable to you?

[@ARIZJOE]

@@mehermusic2154 Because Merv the tycoon was such a quality, quotidian presence on television, and then Rick Moranis turned him justifiably into a caricature. Merv was so affronted when SCTV had him matching ooohs with Floyd the Barber that he made a call to his attorney. Merv had jazz great Jack Sheldon as his trumpet player, and Johnny Carson's brother as his director. You can't make up stuff like that.

[@ARIZJOE]

@Voracious Reader Thirty years ago, Hugh Hefner said, "The rich stew of popular culture has turned into a thin gruel." It's gone downhill from there. No Beatles, no Arthur Miller, no Stanley Kubrick, no Miles Davis, no Vladimir Nabokov, no Saul Bellow, no Vladimir Horowitz, no Andy Warhol, no Lucien Freud, no James Brown. And when Keith dies, so will rock & roll. I'm waiting on a postmodern Stravinsky and Picasso.

[@Neville60001]

@@ARIZJOE, if you feel that way about society, why are you still here? Also, why do contemporary eras have to be exactly like past ones?

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

The only thing Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" was missing was Merv Griffin saying "We'll be right back."

[@Neville60001]

Why would it, when Nolan never saw _SCTV_ in the UK?

[@christieperry4361]

We'll be right back! I love it

[@bellaeden6551]

Still holds up.

[@robertcombs55]

Genius

[@lynnfisher3037]

This is brilliant on so many levels. SNL? forget about it!

[@user-xm5le5ok2r]

SCTV was the best.....Love it. Far better than SNL

[@petesacco3255]

Rick Moranis is brilliant

[@Blyndtyger76]

You have boxing on that thing? Yes Merv

[@anthonyrisola6144]

Wow,I haven't heard the name Phyllis Newman in years. She was always a guest on talk shows when I was a kid and nobody seemed to know why. I asked my parents what she was famous for and they just stared at me blankly.

[@TheAlicia1195]

I mean Phyllis Newman?!? C’mon! Lol

[@danielgaughan4243]

I recognize the name but now i have to google her

[@damwaterthomas1980]

This is still hilarious as a retro skit, and I also laugh about the people going towards the spaceship. 😆😆😆👏👏👏😆😆😆

[@user-ue4rd1mf1v]

Its crazy how smart and creative this is. Moranis is hysterical when he does Merv.

[@SatelliteLily]

I heart HAL! This is perhaps Rain's greatest uncredited performance.

[@robertcombs55]

still funnier than anything on TV now 5 stars!!!

[@joeyhuston2959]

I've always said that this was the best comedy show on TV. The only place I could hear all of my favorite songs, in bluegrass style.

[@djrychlak4443]

Jesus Christ this is beautiful. Oooooohhhhh.

[@michaelharris6918]

Cool early 1980's video game graphics.

[@mattstephenson8450]

Love SCTV Miss these good old days when everything was innocent ❤

[@floydfinder]

So many great touches, right down to the parody of the Carson Productions logo at the end.

[@philsackett7341]

BooHooHahahahahahahaha!! Ooooooooo, this is fabulous!!

[@janemarinelli2838]

This is great!!!

[@christopherthorkon3997]

So funny...so well done!

[@verisimilidude1]

You'd have to have seen Merv's show to get that "Orson Bean" joke. Orson Welles appeared as a guest and lamented how he was the only Orson he'd ever known until he heard of "that comedian," Orson Bean (who coincidentally was in Equalizer 2 recently). It really seemed to irk him...

[@christopherdunne7848]

Thanks for that! Both Orsons were "at home" with Merv.

[@Phibbus]

Welles was just pissed that Bean beat him out for the role of Bilbo Baggins.

[@russellschaeffler]

I love the embellishments on the piano!

[@hoibsh21]

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, pleeeaze........

[@edmonddantes3640]

Ooooo Orson, l bet it's a trick

[@billslocum9819]

He didn't rat out his guest, though. That's classic talk show etiquette.

[@harrysatin5110]

Bravo!!!

[@marklivingston7737]

who's here in 2020?

[@mehermusic2154]

No One

[@Neville60001]

I am.

[@Cheapnis]

Masterpiece

[@milascave2]

Hey young folks, those were real video games that were shown towards the end, and were cutting edge at the time. That's what folks in the eighties had to play with if they were lucky.

[@kevhead1525]

Running premises tended to run out of steam quickly and become a shell of what was once good. Moranis had a way of keeping the Merv stuff fresh.

[@monsieurdel]

His best was The Merv Griffith Show... OMFG they nailed Mayberry!

[@HailAnts]

Just as funny as when it first aired! And for those that don't remember the gist of this sketch was making fun of Spielberg's _Close Encounters_ 'Special Edition' which was lame & over-hyped.

[@Neville60001]

'And for those that don't remember the gist of this sketch was making fun of Spielberg's Close Encounters 'Special Edition' which was lame & over-hyped.' By how much? All that they did was show the inside of the ship that Roy and company were going to go into-there's nothing wrong with that.

[@b0tterman]

Douglas Rain actually did the voice. LOL.

[@fatima1009]

SCTV, their impressions were the best. The whole cast was talented.

[@seanjones4807]

Brilliant!

[@robertjsawyer]

Yes, this is completely insane. And yes, that's honest-to-goodness Douglas Rain, the original voice of HAL 9000, doing the part here, coming in at the 3 minute 17 second mark. SCTV was made in Toronto. Rain, an actor associated with the Stratford (Ontario) Festival, lived nearby.

[@MichaelJirochVisualArtist]

I love love love skit. And the fact that it mocked Phyllis Newman was the icing on the cake. I’d been waiting years to finally see the Phoney celebrity hack finally be made fun of.

[@88dog]

Brilliant

[@josephebacon]

This is over 35 year old and it's still funnier than anything on Saturday Night Dead.

[@JanetCaterina]

Never saw that one before!!

[@robkunkel8833]

Last time I saw this I blamed the weed. I was wrong. The bit was totally weird. Love the imagination of the SCTV writers.

[@sclogse1]

If this ain't gonzo, I don't know what is. I think Dave Thomas is doing Dave.

[@sirtalkalotdoolittle]

Brilliant.

[@tommyboy6267]

Orson Wells totally miffed at Merv when he blows his name kills me every time.

[@gallery7596]

When this originally aired it was the first time I'd seen Hollywood's two hottest directors (Spielberg and Lucas) impersonated in a comedy show. Feels maybe a bit too long now, but it still has some hilarious touches- particularly Moranis' Merv impression.

[@johnp4008]

Wonder of wonders Merv

[@hmich176]

"We'll be right back."

[@Blyndtyger76]

And you too, Mrs. Miller!

[@dplatt7290]

SCTV was always great but Rick Moranis had an incredible knack for getting the TV elements right. He took the show to another level.

[@offworldatom8850]

Hillarious

[@modjohnsenglishdisco]

HAL wasn't right for Barry Lyndon! That one got me... Merv, Moranis, SCTV, Close Encounters, Orson Welles, and Kubrick... these are some of my favorite things... and when Merv plays the piano at the space ship... then he became Dark Helmet

[@faffaflunkie]

_Ooooooooooooooooooooooo._

[@Blyndtyger76]

I like the look on Merv's face...😯 That's nice

[@sixtieskid062]

We’ll be right back.😊

[@alexnejako777]

the Intellivision joke was great

[@spartanx5806]

mouranis is brilliant as merv griffin.....

[@Margatroid]

Take the wings off, you've got a _biiiig_ car.

[@donboy65]

6:30 a small tidbit of Henry Mancini's rendition of the Star Trek theme

[@MovieJon]

Jesus....! Phyllis Newman! That's really obscure to many people. Ha!

[@tinytanks]

i think i just had an acid flashback

[@artierace8664]

Hal sounds a bit like Marvin the Paranoid Android!

[@hklinker]

Ha ha - this is mental!

[@kevinericsnell4092]

7:43 Well, let's be honest, Merv Griffin would've made just as good a Holiday Special as Vilanch

[@christieperry4361]

Fly shuttle, it's fast Tang....

[@miked4377]

oooo orson you think hal can hear us huh......

[@miked4377]

joe f as plimpton and intellivision ...the best ...kills anything on now!!!!

[@Neville60001]

@@miked4377, no, it doesn't.

[@romanticwarrior97]

HAL sounds like Phil Hartman.

[@jarryjayo]

SCTV was so ahead of it's time, they foreseen "The Special Edition Movie". years before Steven Spielberg & George Lucas abused it.

[@hmich176]

Check out the special edition of Close Encounters

[@MattMcIrvin]

Spielberg had just done it with Close Encounters--that was what they were specifically referring to.

[@scottweisel3640]

I had the Intellivision skiing game.

[@christieperry4361]

The drink that Freddie drinks?!

[@Neville60001]

Freddie Laker, founder of Laker Airlines.

[@beandipcartography]

The teacup's on it's way.

[@trublu71]

Eugene Levy as George Lucas. Epic!

[@senorsardonico6153]

Merv had to book Phyllis Newman because Sandler and Young cancelled at the last minute.

[@mehermusic2154]

Close Encounters of The Third Kind, 2001, etc.

[@billwhelpley6825]

This entire concept is more far out than Merv's ass! Oooh!

[@twoarrows2543]

Oh, my gosh!!!!!.........!!!!?!!!.....!!!!!!?.!!!!!!!?....

[@Johnjohn-gq3du]

How many movies were satirized and/or mentioned? I’m lazy. Someone do it for me.

[@Neville60001]

Well, right off of the bat: _Close Encounters Of The Third Kind: The Special Edition_ _2001: A Space Odyssey_ _Star Wars: A New Hope_ _The Merv Griffin Show_