NEW YORK -- For only the second time in the 12 seasons of 'Saturday Night Live,' NBC last week had to strip offensive material from the show, already broadcast in the East, before it aired on the West Coast.
The two jokes in question came from a show guest, Sam 'The Screamer' Kinison. They concerned the last words of Jesus Christ and the highly addictive drug crack, which has become an acute problem in many urban areas.
Just a few years ago, 'Saturday Night Live' might have gotten away with the remark about crack. But partly because of 'SNL' excesses and President Reagan's pleas, the three networks have taken a much harder line on drug humor.
The first time 'Saturday Night Live' pulled offensive material from the recorded verson occurred early in the first season in 1975 when Richard Pryor was the host. NBC was so jittery about Pryor's language that it added a five-second tape delay to bleep obscenities.
Despite the precautions, two obscenities aired live on the East Coast. They were edited out of the West Coast version.
The latest time, last week's show, Kinison slipped in the jokes about crack and Christ. He had been forbidden by producer Lorne Michaels to use the Jesus joke and the crack joke had never been heard in rehearsal.
'Sam broke the rules and that was why the censor reacted the way he did,' said 'Saturday Night Live' producer Lorne Michaels.
Those on the East Coast heard the jokes. Those on the West Coast saw the censored version, in which a graphic was popped onto the screen where the jokes were supposed to be.
Michaels said the crack joke 'went something like this: 'We're in the middle of a drug war. There's no more pot. There's NO MORE POT. If they give us our pot, we'll give them back the crack.''
The network received a few complaints.
Joking about Jesus was tasteless enough, and joking about religion is taboo for the networks, but when the censor heard the drug joke it was just too much. A decision was made to censor the tape-delayed West Coast version.
The action came as no real surprise. NBC has been concerned for years about drug jokes, and the issue has haunted 'Saturday Night Live.' John Belushi, one of the original cast members, died in 1982 at the age of 33 from an overdose of heroin and cocaine. Chevy Chase, another original cast member, recently checked out of the Betty Ford drug rehabilitation clinic after two weeks that left 'his system clean of drugs,' his spokeswoman said.
Glamourizing drug use -- making it seem cool -- is about as far removed from the true calling of television as you can get. Yet for years, 'Saturday Night Live' got away with it. The reason: it was a powerful new show that made lots of money for NBC and therefore, people were afraid to tinker with success.
Michaels became a master at having his way with the censors, and not just on matters concerning drugs. At the time, the censors and their standards were too tight and Michaels was correct to challenge them.
But this is a new world, one with almost as many drug rehab clinics as McDonald's restaurants. The networks, prodded by forceful language from President Reagan and his wife and a plea from 300 House members, have done an about-face and are now on-air anti-drug activists.
Next month (Nov. 1), for the first time ever, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will hold its all-day substance abuse conference.
Speakers include Stacy Keach, the actor who served six months in a British prison for possession of cocaine; Daryl Gates, Los Angeleschief of police; and Michael Mann, executive producer of 'Miami Vice,' a show about two undercover vice cops who spend most of their time busting those who traffic in narcotics, primarily cocaine.
The networks have launched an intensive anti-drug campaign covering every format: from made-for-TV movies, to soap operas, to prime-time shows, to news specials, to public service announcements.
The joke about crack came at a time when networks and Hollywood are especially sensitive about their drug image. By telling the crack joke, Kinison insured that he will not soon appear on an NBC show again.
But the greatest damage is that the network censors will gain more power, and that NBC will get fidgety about doing a show like 'Saturday Night.'
Michaels will do his best to soothe the censors and if the ratings are good, the network will let the show roll along.
Michaels, the censors and NBC know that there is no way to make sure this does not happen again because of that one element that makes 'Saturday Night Live' so unique -- the fact that it's live.
'Saturday Night Live' is off to a good start this year with its new cast members, and Michaels has been very successful in securing big-name entertainers like alien-chaser Sigourney Weaver and star Rosanna Arquette to host the show.
But a few more bad jokes about dope could just blow the whole thing.
