Miskel Spillman

Why has there never been a documentary made about Miskel Spillman? - XMASTIME 2022

CNN tells a little bit about the story of Spillman, the 80-year-old grandmother who once hosted Saturday Night Live after winning a contest:

On November 19, 1977, the five finalists of the show’s first — and, ultimately, only — Anyone Can Host contest took the stage in Studio 8H alongside the evening’s host, actor and screenwriter Buck Henry, and introduced themselves to America. They were vying for a chance to guest host the Christmas episode two weeks later.

Spillman’s contest entry was a punchy pitch that abided by the 25-word count limit in the rules: “I’m 80 years old. I need one more cheap thrill since my doctor told me I only have another 25 years left.”

Spillman, one of only two hosts in the show’s history who was born in the 1800s, presided over the eighth episode of “SNL’s” third season. Her episode took place amid a true golden moment as far as casts go — John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris.

I guess this means that FINALLY someone is trying to catch up with the ol' schooner Xmastime, congrats to them I guess?

Fascinating du Jour: the episode Skillman hosted also happened to include one of the show's most famous musical moments, when Elvis Costello stopped his band from playing whatever zzzzzzzzz song they were gonna play and they played the "eff you radio!" song Radio Radio instead, which I guess got him banned from the show for 10 years (little-known- fun fact: Costello was only there in the first place because the Sex Pistols had canceled at the last minute.)