The episode in query aired on March 22, 1986, and it started with Lorne Michaels, showing on the present, asserting that Coppola shall be stepping in to direct. The filmmaker behind “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” was well-respected in 1979, however by 1986, he was one thing of a laughing inventory. His 1982 movie “One from the Coronary heart” was one of many director’s extra infamous bombs, and even his movies “The Outsiders,” “Rumble Fish,” and “The Cotton Membership” have been typically solely well-liked slightly than beloved. It did not assist that Coppola had gained a repute for being a raving egomaniac, a repute spoken aloud on SNL by solid member Terry Sweeney (by the way, the primary brazenly homosexual solid member of SNL).
Throughout many sketches, Coppola would seem on stage and inform the actors, fairly earnestly, how you can higher play the scene. He appeared to Wendt through the opening monologue, telling the comic to consider an incident from his childhood with the intention to make his efficiency extra plausible. As a marginal cartoon in MAD Journal, possibly that joke would have labored. As a working gag on a 90-minute program, it was loss of life. There was no vitality. It is clear that Coppola was no actor.
Whereas athletes, politicians, Elon Musk, and different non-actors have appeared on SNL all through its historical past, the writers at the very least penned sketches to function round them. The comedians would do the heavy lifting whereas the non-performer delivered a punchline or tolerantly took it on the chin. Michaels frustratingly allowed Coppola to take up a whole lot of actual property. The one one who wrested management from the director was Jon Lovitz in character because the Grasp Thespian.