How ‘Saturday Night Live’ almost pulled off a Beatles reunion
Given the pioneering nature of their work, the fandom and hysteria that came with ‘Beatlemania’ and the resounding commercial and financial success that propelled their fame, The Beatles continue to dominate music headlines even to this day. It seems increasingly likely that they always will.
If you couple the whirlwind that they whipped up in their prime with the chaotic, volatile and somewhat mysterious demise of the band, you’re left with a wealth of rumours, tales, fantasies and more to detail every minute aspect of the Fab Four and the relationships that came with them. Among the most fascinating to ponder are the great, big ‘what ifs’.
There are a lot of ‘nearly’ moments in rock and roll history, a chance meeting or decision that almost descended into something iconic. However, one of the major discussion points that has always lingered for all Beatles fans is the genuine moment that Saturday Night Live nearly reunited the four bickering band members in 1976.
In the hugely popular first series of Saturday Night Live – dubbed as America’s home of alternative weekend entertainment – the show’s legendary producer, Lorne Michaels, set himself an unrealistic challenge: to reunite The Beatles. He started as any SNL act would, with an unflinching piece direct to camera.
While Michaels’ ambition of reuniting the most enigmatic songwriting partnership in the history of popular music had more than a hint of comedic sarcasm, his sketch shared the sentiment of a nation and managed to pique the interest of those closely affiliated with The Beatles.
At the time of his address, The Beatles were still on the radio with prolific regularity and, to add more flavour to their legacy, all four members of the group found solo success in their own right. In truth, the desire to see the Fab Four together at once was still too much to avoid, and Michaels knew it all too well. His stindly finger was stirring the pot at the most opportune time.
In his initial appeal, Michaels speaks undeviatingly into the camera, discussing how The Beatles had affected so many lives, “In my book, The Beatles are the best thing that ever happened to music. It goes even deeper than that: you’re not just a musical group, you’re a part of us. We grew up with you,” he said with a noted fanboy spirit.
Taking what appears to be a more genuine approach, Michaels then suggests an offer, pointed at the pair at the heart of The Beatle’s split: “Now, we’ve heard and read a lot about personality and legal conflicts that might prevent you guys from reuniting,” he said.
Adding, “That’s something which is none of my business. That’s a personal problem. You guys will have to handle that. But it’s also been said that no one has yet to come up with enough money to satisfy you. Well, if it’s money you want, there’s no problem here.”
At that moment, the collective music world held its breath. Had the Fab Four just been offered an endless pot of money by the hottest new show on television? Michaels continued, “The National Broadcasting Company has authorised me to offer you this cheque to be on our show,” he added, as anticipation began to build.
Then came his perverse punchline: “A certified cheque for $3,000.” Measly sums aside, it was never clear whether Michaels was actually serious about his proposal. His tongue was firmly in his cheek, but was it a joke to test the waters and see whether a bite of some description followed?
With this in mind, in typical comedic fashion, the producer continued the bang the same drum, repeating the sketch, insisting that he only requires the band to come into the now-iconic studio to perform three songs.
He even modestly listed that setlist: “‘She Loves You,’ yeah, yeah, yeah – that’s $1,000 right there. You know the words. It’ll be easy. Like I said, this is made out to ‘The Beatles.’ You divide it any way you want. If you want to give Ringo [Starr] less, that’s up to you. I’d rather not get involved,” he quipped, perhaps hoping the ‘Funny One’ would laugh along.
While Michaels humoured the audience in the studio with his skit, little did he know that the joke would manage to reach John Lennon’s New York apartment in the Dakota building. Sat back alongside his partner in crime, he and Paul McCartney were well and truly in the midst of mending their broken relationship, letting the past issues flow under the bridge as they looked to a brighter future.
Unbeknownst to Michaels and the rest of the watching world, the Beatles duo were just a mile or so away watching the show together. It presented a somewhat eerie, somewhat promising potentiality. He was inadvertently pitching to the stakeholders, and they were awkwardly watching on.
“Paul was visiting us at our place in the Dakota,” Lennon previously said in 1980. “We were watching it and almost went down to the studio, just as a gag. We nearly got into a cab, but we were actually too tired. He and I were just sitting there watching the show, and we went, ‘Ha ha, wouldn’t it be funny if we went down? But we didn’t.” Even for a gag alone, that ‘we didn’t remains crushing.
Paul McCartney would later confirm the story, saying, “John said, ‘We should go down, just you and me. There’s only two of us so we’ll take half the money.’ And for a second… But It would have been work, and we were having a night off, so we elected not to go. It was a nice idea – we nearly did it.” And Michaels nearly pulled off the coup of the century. Alas, everyone is entitled to a night off, I suppose.
But is that the whole truth?
Now, though, while appearing as a guest on the Adam Buxton Podcast, McCartney has been discussing the truth behind the story in more detail. “As with all of these stories, it’s kind of true, but it’s not. I did visit John, and Lorne didn’t actually come on the TV, Lorne was on the TV the week before, and John told me about it,” he said.
“He explained the thing to me, and John said: ‘We should go down there now, it’s live!’ and for five minutes we were like ‘Yeah, lets’ go down there, it’d be great, what a hoot!’ and then we went ‘No, let’s not’ and then we didn’t.”
McCartney concluded: “So yeah, it’s kind of true, but facts have been mangled to protect the innocent.” While his clarification is odd, somewhat confirming the pre-existing story and dispelling very little of the pertinent detail, what does seem clear from his revision is how far the duo came from being swayed by the flirtation of a reformation.
Yet, the story didn’t stop there on two fronts. First of all, George Harrison did actually step up to the plate. A year later, he would go on to be a musical guest on Saturday Night Live and carry on the joke.
Arriving to collect the previously offered cheque, he and Michaels comically negotiated the split. With the producer’s hands tied, Harrison even bartered that for an extra $250, he would say the show’s iconic opening line, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” Secondly, while The Beatles might not have gotten close to fulfilling Michaels’ wish, there were a few moments when a reunion did, indeed, seem within touching distance. Alas, perhaps it’s better that their time together was neatly curtailed with the close of the 1960s. It embalms their legacy in an inviolable coracle amid a sea of continuation. But of all the ‘what ifs’ that might just have worked, then perhaps one last blast on SNL might’ve been the most fitting.
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