-I would imagine, based on not liking
the crowds leaving, the "SNL" New Orleans
Mardi Gras Special must have been
incredibly traumatic, as well,
because, for those who don't know,
this is the second season of "SNL."
Lorne decided to bring the cast down to do a live show,
live two-hour special, at Mardi Gras,
which I believe eliminated the decision
to ever try to do anything like that ever again,
based on how it went down.
-It was such a good idea.
It was -- the planning that was involved was so meticulous.
I mean, every -- every minute was counted for.
We had -- not. I was --
-[ Laughs ] Did you think it was
a bad idea when you first heard it?
-No, I thought it would be really fun,
'cause, you know, we're with a group,
and we would be well taken care of and protected.
But it wasn't that way.
And I was doing the color commentary
for the parade with Buck Henry.
So, Buck and I didn't have any rehearsal to do during the week
because there was no parade during the week,
so we just played, and we just sort of
wandered around the streets during Mardi Gras.
Henry Winkler was in town, and at that time, the Fonz was huge.
-Sure. -And people thought
that Jack Lemon was in town, and they thought
that Buck was Jack Lemon, so they'd come up and say,
"Mr. Lemon, Mr. Lemon, have you seen the Fonz?"
And Buck would go, "Charles Street.
Charles Street, about 10 minutes ago."
So we just had a great time.
Meanwhile, Gilda and Laraine and Dan and John
are out doing sketches or rehearsing sketches
in the middle of Mardi Gras,
and there's no police protection.
So people are storming Gilda. They're accosting her.
They're throwing Laraine around.
I mean, it was just -- It was horrible.
It was just horrible. But then, the day of the parade
happens and the day of the show happens,
and Randy Newman opens the show.
He's in a -- the convention center,
and there's an audience there.
And I don't know who else is doing the show.
And then, they cut to the parade,
and there's Buck and me, and we're sta-- we're sitting
on a platform above the parade route,
and there are 15,000 people who are really plastered,
shouting our names and throwing bottles
and doubloons in our faces.
And we're sitting there going,
"Well, the parade should be here any minute.
We think it's gonna be great, and we heard that they were --
oh! -- lots of people -- ow! -- lots of people here.
Lots of people here. Buck, what do you think?
Lots of people." -[ Laughs ]
It sounds horrifying. -It was so horrifying.
And we were dodging doubloons and all this kind of stuff.
And there was a writer, a sound guy,
a cameraman, and a P.A.
That's what we had up in this little platform.
So, at the parade route, there was an accident.
So, I think it was a fatal accident,
so the parade never happened, but...
-Oh, no. -...it did in our minds.
So we described the parade that we saw
coming down the street, dodging doubloons and bottles.
The show ended, and people are climbing up
onto the platform to get at us.
-Sure. -And -- yeah.
And the P.A. is stomping on their fingers,
trying to pry them off.
And somebody screams, "We need police protection,"
and somebody screamed back,
"There are no policemen available!"
So, Buck and I are going -- [ Shuddering ]
'Cause there are people all around.
We couldn't get down.
They send two detectives, two retired detectives,
guys in their 60s, wearing trench coats,
you know, a little bit of a beer belly.
They come, and they said, "Okay, okay, come on, come on,
come on down, come on down, come on down."
So we're climbing off the scaffolding, climbing down.
They grab us in a fireman's hold,
throw us over their shoulders.
We're marching through the crowd of 20,000 people.
I'm wailing, I'm crying so hard.
Just the release of tension
because I was saved by these guys.
Buck, I think, was in the same boat.
And when they went to drop us to, you know,
to let us down and say, "Okay, that's it,"
we didn't want to let go.
"No, no, I'm sorry. I'll die if I let go of you.
I will die." But they pried my little hands
off of his trench coat and sent me off on my way.
-I'm so happy you went through that so I never have to.
-Ah, well, it was my pleasure, Seth.
-Was -- I always regretted
that I never got a chance to meet Buck Henry.
Was he one of your favorites?
-Yeah. He was my all-time favorite.
Buck and I worked together,
oh, for a long time after "Saturday Night Live."
We did an NPR show for 11 or 12 years
with Robert Krulwich and Tony Hendra.
Buck and me and Herb Sargent was the producer.
Yeah, you know, we just hung out.
-That's great. -Yeah.
-I guess once you go through something
like New Orleans together,
you're probably just like forever...
-It's true. -Forever fused.
-Yeah, no, no, no, we bonded, we bonded.
-Well, thank you so much for being here.
Congrats on the new show,
and it's always such a delight to see you.
-Good to see you, too, Seth.