Guess, this one falls under the "We Watch So You Don't Have To" Category.
I just found this little photo gem up on eBay ... and no, your eyes do NOT deceive you.

And even though I am one of those die-hard fans who never even acknowledged the Eddie Murphy I-SPY movie -
I guess we can still call this one ....



Here's KELLY ROBINSON!!!





The photo is from Bob's appearance hosting "Saturday Night Live" in 1982. Did anybody see that show - and can tell us something about it??


I guess even though a few years had passed, and this show aired in the midst of Culp's "Greatest American Hero" days - it sure looks like a little homage was being paid to "I SPY" here!





And since the above locker room scene was taken from APOLLO, we should follow it to its .... conclusion!





Perhaps, if the "real" Kelly Robinson knew what movie travesty was waiting down the road, he would have decked Murphy instead.


And for those of you avid eBayers, here's the auction link ....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ROBERT-CULP-EDDIE-MURPHY-SATURDAY-NIGHT-LIVE-OR-STILL_W0QQitemZ120178045534



... and I guess this would be a good place to mention the charming website featuring a "Biography of Kelly Robinson"



~ ~ ~ ~



http://www.tvacres.com/char_robinson_kelly.htm



As always,

Tatia

~ ~

As a matter of fact, I was there for the taping of that epsiode of "Saturday Night Live", hosted by Bob. The photos you see are from the teaser, in which Kelly Robinson is working in a locker room (I believe in a tennis club), when Eddie comes in as Bill Cosby, doing an amazing imitation, of course. The joke is that "Bill" keeps interrupting the conversation to make references to different products that Cosby was endorsing at the time (Coke, Jell-O Pudding, etc.). At one point, he and Bob "sing" the "I Spy" theme.

The episode was not one of the best, mainly because they didn't know quite what to do with Bob. He did a sketch in which he was the captain on a submarine that has been stuck on the bottom of the ocean for years and the crew is bored to death and must find ways to amuse themselves. The sketch really didn't go anywhere. Years later I worked on a project with the guy who wrote the sketch, who claimed that sketch killed in run through.

The Charlie Daniels Band was the musical guest. When Bob announced them, he was holding up Samantha, who was a baby at the time, dressed in a tiny Greatest American Hero costume, his hands covering her tiny ears.

Mr. Beardface,

THANKS AGAIN for another insight into the real life of our man Culp. It's always fascinating.

Mona

Hi Mr. Beardface,

Always good to hear from you - and - to read your always interesting information.

It would be great to see Bob's "Saturday Night Live" appearance. I know several seasons of SNL are out on DVD, but not this one. (I just looked it up - he hosted on April 24, 1982 - Season 7, Episode 18.) Does anyone know about the SNL DVDs - are they all going to be made available eventually?

> RE: The episode was not one of the best, mainly because they didn't know quite what to do with Bob.

Guess that doesn't make much difference - that opening scene with Murphy doing Cosby - sounds worth the price of admission.


This is the only other photo out there I could find to commemorate the occasion ...





As always,

Tatia

~ ~

I watched the Robert Culp hosted edition of SNL back in ’82 and my memory of it is very similar to Mister Beardface’s. The locker room sketch with Eddie Murphy as Bill Cosby was kinda funny. The submarine sketch was not. I don’t remember anything else about the episode including the Samantha appearance. Thank you Tatia for finding those photos, and thank you Mister Beardface for corroborating my memories. Sometimes I think I dreamed some of this stuff.

Jimmy