He was astonishingly good on camera. He tells his life story, which I'm sure he'd done many times but never on live TV in a conehead with the band comically interrupting him.
A lot of early SNL sketches aren't really comedy sketches. They're sort of amusing scenes that would fit better in a Woody Allen comedy. Rather than a clown & a straight man, they're often 2 people working thru feelings or an awkward situation. And they're pretty much all forgotten.
Coneheads, Bill & Gilda as Nerds, Landshark, Wild & Crazy Guys, Chee'burger Chee'burger--all the classics--are real comedy sketches. I think the touchy-feely stuff was written by female writers & appealed more to women, but they're low energy & low on jokes.
The Wild & Crazy Guys was really flat on its first outing. But outing 3 got a HUGE response. I guess audiences just had to get used to the characters. King Tut & the Blues Brothers were the same ep. Really feels like the show coming into its own. S3E18. All-timer.
Season 4 of SNL is barely more consistent than previous seasons, but it has higher highs (no pun intended, bc there are TONS of drugs on-screen & off). The audience is really starting to dig recurring sketches.
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