Five ‘SNL’ Guests Who Were “Banned” From The Show

The Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman star had infamously been arrested for cocaine possession before her hosting gig, and the monologue poked fun at both her off-camera persona and her sitcom character’s erratic, bizarre behavior. Lasser has said she wasn’t really banned, but that she herself never wanted to do it again.

Like Louise Lasser, Grodin’s on-screen persona was particularly odd and aloof, which made for a bold, meta jokes that didn’t particularly land well with a network audience. Grodin also admitted he wasn’t “banned,” but was in fact asked to host again, but recognized he wasn’t the perfect fit for the late-night sketch show.

The musician had already appeared as a musical guest, but he got the chance to play host during the show’s fourth season. Zappa didn’t get along with the cast, and during the broadcast he regularly mugged for the camera and make jokes about reading cue cards.

Lorne Michaels wasn’t wild about having the classic comedian on as a host, but NBC executives practically forced him to allow Berle to come on the show. Not only did he take every opportunity to hog the camera, but he was apparently a terror backstage as well. Rumor has it he walked around in his boxer shorts all week long in an attempt the prove the gossip about his, uh, endowment.

Musical guest Elvis Costello wanted to perform his song “Radio Radio,” a protest tune about the commercialization of radio, on air. SNL producers, however, nixed the idea; instead, they wanted him to play the more popular “Less Than Zero.” A few bars into the performance, Costello stopped the song, turned to his band, and the group started in on “Radio Radio.” The stunt is one of the more memorable moments in SNL history (more so than the show’s host, the 80-year-old Miskel Spillman: winner of the first and only “Anyone Can Host” contest), and Costello recreated the moment with the Beastie Boys on SNL‘s 25th anniversary show.