Dabbs Greer on SNL (!) - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

jehobden · 04-05-2011, 08:07 PM

I have Seasons 1, 3, & 5 of Saturday Night Live on DVD, and in the 4th ep of Season 1 (Candice Bergen's first hosted ep of SNL), the film by Albert Brooks was a 7 min-long film which was a satire of network promo films. This film was a promo for midseason replacements which NBC had "waiting in the wings" to replace its new fall shows which would end up flopping. Though I'd seen this film a few times before, I'd never before noticed that Dabbs Greer had a small part in the 3rd replacement series promo "Black Vet", which was about a black Vietnam vet who was now a black veterinarian in a small Southern town. In a short scene in the phony promo, a man wearing a cowboy hat w/ a Southern drawl claims that his dog, Duke, doesn't want the vet to operate on him, and Dabbs Greer, in a Southern drawl rather than Alden's Midwestern accent, played the gentleman. I have not located this film on You Tube or anywhere online yet, but here is a link to the transcript of the full film:

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75dbrooks.phtml

If you look about 2/3 of the way down for "Dr. Bowman", Mr. Greer played the "Man" speaking w/ him. It's interesting seeing the other people in this promo that I (or others) recognized, like Rene Auberjonois in the 1st promo (Medical Season) & Kay Lenz as the single gal in the 2nd (The Three of Us). Of course, Albert Brooks himself played the husband in the 2nd promo, living w/ his wife AND her best friend. This film was made more than a year before Three's Company premiered, but it has a small resemblance to it. 11 years earlier NBC's 90 Bristol Court's 3rd segment, Tom Dick & Mary, had the same setup but w/ the genders changed and likely not nearly the same racy overtones as Brooks' promo.

catlover79 · 04-05-2011, 08:15 PM

I can't even imagine him on a show like SNL!!!

biffbronson · 04-05-2011, 08:41 PM

What a remarkable career he had. He did so many western episodes for shows like Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, etc. that you're almost more likely to find him in the cast of a random ep than not...! And then we go on to Lassie (as an escaped convict), Gomer Pyle, Dobie Gillis... He did show his versatility often, so I bet he could pull off most any role that was handed to him.

When I'm watching the old half-hour, b/w Gunsmoke eps, I sometimes don't recognize him right off -- but that distinctive voice is a dead giveaway!

catlover79 · 04-05-2011, 08:44 PM

Not to mention his last big role - that of the elderly version of Tom Hanks' character in The Green Mile.

70s show watcher · 05-20-2011, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover79

I can't even imagine him on a show like SNL!!!

he was pretty funny in the film even though he only had a few lines

04-05-2011, 08:07 PM	#1
jehobden Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 06, 2002 Location: DFW Area, TX Posts: 2,004	Dabbs Greer on SNL (!) I have Seasons 1, 3, & 5 of Saturday Night Live on DVD, and in the 4th ep of Season 1 (Candice Bergen's first hosted ep of SNL), the film by Albert Brooks was a 7 min-long film which was a satire of network promo films. This film was a promo for midseason replacements which NBC had "waiting in the wings" to replace its new fall shows which would end up flopping. Though I'd seen this film a few times before, I'd never before noticed that Dabbs Greer had a small part in the 3rd replacement series promo "Black Vet", which was about a black Vietnam vet who was now a black veterinarian in a small Southern town. In a short scene in the phony promo, a man wearing a cowboy hat w/ a Southern drawl claims that his dog, Duke, doesn't want the vet to operate on him, and Dabbs Greer, in a Southern drawl rather than Alden's Midwestern accent, played the gentleman. I have not located this film on You Tube or anywhere online yet, but here is a link to the transcript of the full film: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75dbrooks.phtml If you look about 2/3 of the way down for "Dr. Bowman", Mr. Greer played the "Man" speaking w/ him. It's interesting seeing the other people in this promo that I (or others) recognized, like Rene Auberjonois in the 1st promo (Medical Season) & Kay Lenz as the single gal in the 2nd (The Three of Us). Of course, Albert Brooks himself played the husband in the 2nd promo, living w/ his wife AND her best friend. This film was made more than a year before Three's Company premiered, but it has a small resemblance to it. 11 years earlier NBC's 90 Bristol Court's 3rd segment, Tom Dick & Mary, had the same setup but w/ the genders changed and likely not nearly the same racy overtones as Brooks' promo.

04-05-2011, 08:15 PM	#2
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,382	I can't even imagine him on a show like SNL!!!
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04-05-2011, 08:41 PM	#3
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,502	What a remarkable career he had. He did so many western episodes for shows like Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, etc. that you're almost more likely to find him in the cast of a random ep than not...! And then we go on to Lassie (as an escaped convict), Gomer Pyle, Dobie Gillis... He did show his versatility often, so I bet he could pull off most any role that was handed to him. When I'm watching the old half-hour, b/w Gunsmoke eps, I sometimes don't recognize him right off -- but that distinctive voice is a dead giveaway!
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04-05-2011, 08:44 PM	#4
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,382	Not to mention his last big role - that of the elderly version of Tom Hanks' character in The Green Mile.