Sunday, December 15, 2024

Paul Simon Returns to “SNL” Tonight on His 77th Birthday, He Was 34 The First Time Around

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It’s all numbers tonight with Paul Simon.

Today he turns 77 years old. The first time he appeared on “Saturday Night Live” he was just 34. He’d already been a music star for over a decade. He was on the second show, in 1975.

His appearance tonight is his 9th. One time he wore a chicken suit. Another time he sang with Art Garfunkel. Over the course of 43 years he became best pals with Lorne Michaels. Chevy Chase was featured in the video for “You Can Call Me Al.”

Tonight’s appearance will be notable in that “SNL” hasn’t had a real classic rock star on in years. The average age of their musical guests is 10. Most of them are unintelligible.

Frankly, Lorne should keep it up– give us Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Sting, Stevie Wonder, etc. The people who are home at 11:30pm would rather see them than… you get the drift.

So happy birthday, Paul. Maybe they’ll drag out the chicken suit.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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