NBC/Peacock is putting out a lot of content this year about Saturday Night Live, a not-surprising turn of events given this year marks the show’s 50th anniversary. One of those projects is the documentary series, SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night. It’s a comprehensive chronicle of the show’s history, and the fourth episode centers on the production’s “weird” 1985 season, which, in addition to being the year Lorne Michaels returned to the program with a completely new cast, included recurring performances from Penn & Teller.
The episode features an interview with the duo (where Penn, of course, does all of the talking). “We didn’t think we belonged there,” Penn says at one point. “We were just weird, weird guys who did this weird little show that we really, really liked. And then, because of Lorne Michaels, Saturday Night Live changed everything.”
The episode includes snippets of their Water Torture act, which was perilously close to not working at all, and also their Upside Down performance on the show, which Penn calls “probably the best TV bit we ever did.” In preparation for it, the two stayed upside down during rehearsal for 90 minutes, so long that all the veins in their face broke, requiring them to wear copious amounts of makeup when they went live.
If you have Peacock, check out the back half of the 36-minute mark to catch the beginning of the duo’s longest segment in the episode.
Photos courtesy of John Lovick