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While going over a list of guests I’d love to see at JAWS 50 during a recent episode of “Let’s Talk Jaws Live!,” one guessed was tossed out that, while they had never occurred to me, as soon as I heard it I thought they were perfect. The LandShark from “Saturday Night Live.”
For those of you who may be too young to remember, or to have even seen “Saturday Night Live” in it’s first season, Chevy Chase played the “LandShark” in several episodes in 1975, the same year that JAWS was released. While going through my DVD sets of “SNL” I realized that the show and JAWS were no strangers to each other. A brief history…
November 8, 1975
In the fourth show of the inaugural season, audiences were treated to a sketch titled JAWS II. The sketch consisted of innocent people sitting at home, disturbed by a knock on the door. When they inquire who it is, a muffled voice replies, “Flowers.” Or “Candygram.” Or “Plumber.” Unaware of the danger behind the door, the resident opens it, only to have their head grabbed by the great beast and pulled to almost certain death. As the attacks continue, the audience is treated to conversations between Dan Aykroyd as Chief Brody and over-the-top John Belushi as Matt Hooper. The skit ends when a woman, hearing a muffled voice announcing a Jehovah’s Witness at the door, grabs a large mallet and strikes the “intruder,” only to have a man fall on the floor. The skit’s version of “It’s bluefish Chief!”
The LandShark would return two more times that season: in a skit on November 22, 1975, titled JAWS III, and during Louise Lasser’s opening monologue on July 26, 1976.
In season 2, the Land Shark returned twice more: as “The Trick or Treating LandShark” on October 20, 1976 and while encountering famed aviator Charles Lindbergh in “Lucky Lindy,” which aired on May 21, 1977. The May show would prove to be the last show for Chevy Chase as a cast member.
The LandShark would return twice more in Season 3 before taking a hiatus. On February 18, 1978, Chevy Chase returned to the show as the guest host. The last skit of the evening, allegedly held after Chase and his replacement, Bill Murray, got into a physical altercation, the skit, titled “That’s Not Funny Enough” consisted of various ways to end the show. On May 13, 1978, the guest host that evening was Richard Dreyfuss. As the show closed the LandShark attacked him. More on Dreyfuss’ episode next time.
On September 25, 1982, the show began its eighth season with Chevy Chase again the guest host. However, Chase was not in New York. Rather he was in LA. Chase was presented to the viewers through a television set placed on the stage. The show opened with the LandShark “attacking” through the television.
It was another 19-years before the LandShark returned. During the “Weekend Update” segment aired on October 6, 2001, Tina Fey reports on the large number of shark attacks that year. Hearing a knock on the door, Fey opens it only to be attacked. As her co-anchor, Jimmy Fallon, signs off with “I’m Jimmy Fallon” the Landshark removes it’s head to reveal Chevy Chase. In a tribute to his time as “Weekend Update” anchor, Chase replies, “and I’m not. Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.”
On February 15, 2015 “Saturday Night Live” celebrated forty years on the air with a star-studded primetime special. A sketch finds returning cast members Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Jane Curtin in an apartment when the doorbell rings. As Fey goes to answer the door, a terrified Curtin begs her not to, certain that the dreaded LandShark is on the other side. Fey opens the door to reveal “Matt Foley” – created and originally performed by the late Chris Farley but now being played by Melissa McCarthy – who walks in dispensing some of his motivation wisdom. Behind Foley is the LandShark (played here by Bobby Moynihan), who again tries to attack Fey. As the sketch ends, Poehler and Curtin pull Fey to safety. This show also featured the return of Bill Murray’s lounge singer, Nick Ocean. Nick was well known for “singing” the theme to STAR WARS but on this night, he goes with another John Williams tune, the theme from JAWS. Accompanied by Paul Shaefer, the tune begins with Murray yelling out “JAWS!” The rest of the song is as follows:
Get away from me, Jaws.
You Goddamned Jaws!
Won’t you leave me as I am?
You took me…
You took me out of the deep blue.
You took and you made me…you made me…
You made me part of you.
Now, Jaws, you found someone new.
Why, Jaws? Jaws, why?
Wasn’t I enough for you?
You bastard, Jaws!
The bit was so funny that I excused Murray for committing, in my mind, the Cardinal sin of the film’s fans – referring to the shark as “Jaws.” It’s Bruce. Or, if you’re not on a first name basis, “the shark.” Anyone who comes up to me and says, “I love it when Jaws comes out of the water” is shunned forever!
Words by Michael A Smith. Michael is co-author of Jaws 2: The Making Of The Hollywood Sequel. You can order the book by contacting Michael at OsFanMike@aol.com.
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