‘SNL’ Alum Jane Curtin Didn’t Think Her Early Work Was Funny: “That Really Wasn’t A Very Good Show”

Jane Curtin is reflecting on her early work on Saturday Night Live and is saying that watching it now she doesn’t find it very funny.

“We were sent the five-year compilation video of Saturday Night Live’s first five years a few years ago, and I gave one to my daughter,” she recalled in an interview with People. “We were out visiting her daughter one Christmas, and her husband said, ‘Have you ever watched any of these? And I said, ‘God, I haven’t seen them in a long time.'”

She continued, “He said, would you mind if we watch one? And I said, ‘No, great! Pick one!’ So we sat around the TV, and I had that sort of anticipatory, open-mouth grin that people have when they’re waiting for something to happen, that they know is going to be really great. And … it never happened. It wasn’t funny. Not one thing was funny. There was not one utterance of a laugh or a giggle.”

Curtin was one of the original Not Ready For Prime Time Players of the show’s inaugural season in 1975. The star would remain on the show through the 1979-1980 season of the NBC sketch show.

Curtin attributes the unfunniness of SNL now due to it being “dated” as it was a topical and live TV show adding, “Remember, this was almost 50 years ago. But after we rewatched, I was like, ‘That really wasn’t a very good show. It was terrible!'”

Despite not thinking any of her early work was funny, she does think Dan Aykroyd’s Bass-o-matic is still funny.