
Quite a few dominoes fell on Saturday Night Live this week after Dave Chappelle ended up delivering a nearly 17-minute monologue—the longest in show history.
One of those dominoes—in addition to at least four cut sketches—was a more extended tribute to filmmaker David Lynch.
Despite never appearing on SNL, Lynch, who passed this week at age 78, did receive a memorial card before goodnights on the live show (apparently pre-empting one-time SNL host Bob Uecker, who also died this week.)
But according to our spies, Saturday night’s dress rehearsal included a more lengthy tribute to the legendary director, featuring archival video of Roy Orbison performing the song “In Dreams” on SNL back in 1987. (“In Dreams” was prominently featured in Lynch’s Blue Velvet, and Lynch himself co-produced the re-arrangment of the song that Oribison performed on the show that night.)
Had the tribute aired Saturday night, here’s the performance viewers would have seen, followed by the memorial card to Lynch:
David Lynch received a memorial card before goodnights this week on SNL, but the show had grander plans earlier in the night at dress rehearsal, where a longer tribute featured this video of Roy Orbison performing "In Dreams" on SNL back in 1987. pic.twitter.com/GGEAUjRDXb
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) January 20, 2025
SNL memorably re-aired another of Roy Orbison’s performances from his one visit to SNL (“Crying”) the week he died in 1988.
Despite never appearing on SNL, David Lynch’s card bumped Uecker’s?? That’s not right.