‘SNL’ Flew in a Monty Python Star Because They Didn’t Believe in Michael Keaton

Saturday Night Live just announced the first batch of hosts for its 50th season, which includes some pretty huge names like Jean Smart, Nate Bargatze, John Mulaney and Ariana Grande. Although the news probably came as a huge disappointment to those SNL fans who were pulling for Glen Powell and/or the ghost of Robert Blake.

Also hosting one of the first five shows of the season is the great Michael Keaton, who will appear at the end of October, just in case you needed reminding to dress up as Beetlejuice this Halloween — or, depending on your budget, “Juice Demon.”

This show will mark the fourth time that the Multiplicity star has hosted SNL. Which is amazing considering how absolutely terribly the first outing went – not because of Keaton’s performance, but because of how he was treated by the show’s producer at the time.

Back in 1982, Keaton, fresh off of his breakout role in Ron Howard’s Night Shift, similarly hosted the Halloween episode. His monologue was basically just a stand-up routine about going trick or treating as a kid.

Prior to that, the cold open found Keaton chatting with Eddie Murphy backstage, only to find out that the show will have to proceed without cue cards. Murphy remains calm, as does the show’s special guest, Monty Python’s Michael Palin, but the newbie Keaton freaks out. In a way, this sketch may have reflected some of the backstage tumult at Studio 8H that week. 

As viewers likely noticed, Keaton only ended up appearing in a handful of sketches, frequently ceding the spotlight to Palin, who appeared as characters such as “Topol the Idiot.” 

That’s because producer Dick Ebersol wasn’t a fan of Keaton’s performance at the episode’s read-through. According to SNL writer Margaret Oberman, Ebersol decided that he “didn’t like” Keaton and arranged to bring in Palin at the last minute, since he was “a real friend of the show” who “everybody loved.”

“Dick sort of inched Keaton out, and moved Palin in,” Oberman explained. “It was pretty nasty. Keaton was really hurt and angry and never really understood it.” 

While this behavior was unusual for Ebersol, it may have been due to Keaton’s methods as a performer. “Keaton was one of those guys who as an actor in read-through was very laid back and wouldn’t give you too much,” Oberman recalled. “Dick was convinced he was just bad and just lost all confidence in him.” 

Don’t hold it against Palin, though, apparently the Python was totally “oblivious” to what was going on. 

It was 10 whole years before Keaton returned to SNL, after Ebersol had left and Keaton had become a global superstar. 

Thankfully Tim Burton didn’t try to replace Keaton as Batman with, like, John Cleese.

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