Every Saturday Night Live sports host, ranked
By Hunter Cooke
10. Billy Martin
Martin is part of a long tradition of Yankees stars hosting SNL. He hosted the finale of Season 11, a time when the show was at a crossroads. It was slowly tanking, and the top brass needed something to revitalize the show. Enter the eccentric Billy Martin to give the show a little unpredictability
As far as making his cues and remembering his lines, Billy Martin was awful. A generous cast and crew played around that, and poked fun at the forgetful Martin, which became a running joke throughout the show. Martin was “drunk” on set, dispensing sage wisdom like, “It doesn’t matter how much you drink, as long as you drink as much as you can”. The episode ended with Martin being fired for forgetting his lines, and then setting fire to a room all of the cast was in.
It was a quirky poke at soap opera cliffhangers, and told the audience that the show would soon change in a way that was ahead of it’s time. Martin may not have been traditionally funny, but he definitely provided a show.
Next: 9. Chris Evert