‘SNL’ Alum Shocks With Confession About O.J. Simpson Episode
Original cast member Laraine Newman made the surprising reveal Tuesday night.
WWHL
Saturday Night Live alum Laraine Newman made a stunning confession about the 1978 episode O.J. Simpson hosted.
During her appearance Tuesday on Watch What Happens Live! With Andy Cohen, Newman volunteered a surprising takeaway from Simpson’s episode.
Simpson was a “good host,” Newman agreed, but also “a good kisser,” she recalled from performing with the late former football star.
Simpson, who was infamously acquitted for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman in 1995, died of prostate cancer in April 2024.
Pressed further about how Newman discovered Simpson’s kissing abilities, she explained, “We did a parody of a movie that is so horrifyingly objectionable called Mandingo.” Newman was an SNL cast member from its first episode in 1975, through 1980.
@huggyattack s3e12 2/25/78 O.j. Simpson #snlclassic #snl #saturdaynightlive
♬ original sound - Huggy
Per Ultimate Classic Rock via Decider, the sketch in question was called Mandingo II, and involved Simpson’s character “making out with everyone from Laraine Newman’s southern belle to Garrett Morris (in drag) as a fellow enslaved woman.” Cohen agreed with Newman that the sketch likely “wouldn’t play today.”
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- Episode 12 -- Aired 02/25/1978 -- Pictured: (l-r) Bill Murray as farmer, Laraine Newman as farmers daughter, Garrett Morris as farmer, O.J. Simpson as Mandingo during the "Mandingo II" skit on February 25, 1978 (Photo by NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
NBC/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Newman appeared on Cohen’s show alongside fellow former cast members Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, Cecily Strong, and Rachel Dratch to promote the SNL’s 50th anniversary special. Elsewhere in the sit-down, Cohen asked them to weigh in on “some hot button SNL questions,” like their favorite SNL president (Dana Carvey was their loudest choice, though fans chose Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump) and their favorite “Weekend Update” hosts. The comedians deferred to Cohen’s audience’s choice of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
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