Set the TiVo

Very late Saturday night — or very early Sunday morning, depending on your attitude about such things — NBC reruns the full, 90-minute versions of old episodes of Saturday Night Live. These give you a rare opportunity to see the whole shows, since the reruns that air elsewhere (on E!, these days) are trimmed to an hour. NBC jumps around from season to season and this coming weekend, they're reaching back to 2/8/86 for the episode hosted by Ron Reagan. It's a fun show, as I recall, with the then-president's son dancing about in his skivvies in a parody of the movie, Risky Business, and also going back in time to meet his parents in a spoof of Back to the Future. But my favorite moment — and it may be one of the cleverest things I've ever seen on TV — was the guest spot by Penn and Teller, making their third appearance on the program.

The first time on, they did the bit where Teller is locked in a water tank and fails to escape on time. The second time on, they did the routine with Teller in the electric chair. And this time, they did…well, I don't want to give it away if you don't know it so I'll just say it's the one where they demonstrate amazing magic feats and make a big deal out of how it's all being done "LIVE!!!" If you know the spot, you'll want to see it again. If you don't know, trust me and set the TiVo or, if you want to be absolutely Stone Age about it, your VCR. I think it comes around two-thirds of the way through the proceedings.