Residing in New York, there was no question that I would make a try for Saturday Night Live stand-by tickets, I just never thought that I would actually get in. After braving surviving nine hours on the cold cement of the streets of Manhattan (I arrived at NBC studios at 1 am), my friends and I managed to get numbers four through nine in the stand-by line for the dress rehearsal (I must recommend right here and now that if you EVER have to decided between rehearsal or a live taping of this show, GO FOR THE REHEARSAL!). Everyone assured us we would probably get in. And we did.

Okay, so enough about me...let's get to the good part and Lucy!

There were differences in what WE saw in the dress rehearsal and what the rest of America saw when the show finally made it air. The main difference being we got to see a few sketches that didn't make it past the final cut and I will discuss one particular sketch at length which I think SHOULD have made the final cut, but didn't. And we got to see Elliot Smith peform two songs instead of one (he was a really good live peformer).

Unaired Sketches...

1. Irish Women.... This is what my friends and I dubbed the sketch. We were, in the words of the Soverign, "VERY DISAPPOINTED" that this did not make it to air because I thought this was the FUNNIEST SKETCH of the entire dress rehearsal. Anyway enough build-up....I'll try to write down all that I remember about this one...even though I was so busy laughing that I might have missed a lot of it.

The sketch opens with a title card...."Ireland 1785" and we see a woman with long red hair and long skirt (SNL cast member Molly Shannon) in a bar full of men. She is very tough. A old man (Chris Kattan) tries to hit on her, but she tosses him onto a table that breaks. She drinks. She breaks a man's hand arm wrestling. She leads the pub in a sad song which causes all the men around her to cry. Everyone wonders if they will ever be a man who will tame her (I knew where this skit was heading the moment this was mentioned). Enter the answer....another woman (Lucy sporting long red hair and a VERY convincing Irish accent) who wants a drink, but Molly Shannon (I forget her name in the skit) says she has to sing a song first. So Lucy belts out a Irish song about how big and strong her liver is (believe me, it's funnier than it sounds and I'd kill to get my hands on the lyrics). She then grabs a mug out of Molly Shannon's hand and chugs it tossing the glass aside and breaking it. Molly Shannon grabs another drink from off the bar and chugs it and toss the glass aside. The two women are now in competition with each other. They stare each other down and then proceed to Riverdance (the sight of Lucy Irish step-dancing is quite a sight let me tell you). The bar of men are clapping and wondering who will win the duel. Finally, they pause and look into each other's eyes. And both women proceed to lean in to each other until Lucy has her arm around Molly Shannon's waist and Molly has her hand on Lucy's stomach...and she moves her hand up and, I kid you not, until her hand was practically on Lucy's breast. The bar of men have stopped clapping and stare at the two women who look like they are about to kiss. Then Molly Shannon says "Ah, we're just dancing!" And they break away from each other. The frame freezes a narrator says (along with the words on the screen) "They were the first two Irish lesbians....who inspired many dirty Irish limericks." I hope this sounds even mildly amusing or if this is a case of "you had to be there" to truly get how funny it was.

Lucy looked stunning with red hair. Lucy singing this ridiculous "Irish Drinking Song" was just as good if not better than her Stevie Nicks skit. Lucy dancing in a long skirt reaching down to her ankles had me laughing until I was blue in the face. And Lucy sharing a "moment" with Molly Shannon...better than Peach I tell you!

2. New York Lottery....This was supposed to be aired during the Weekend Update segment with Colin Quinn. Lucy acting as an agent of the New York Lottery gives Tim Meadows his check for 210 Million dollars. Lucy asks what he plans on doing with the money, and Tim has this weird plans for the money including getting a time machine etc. This skit was not particularly funny, but Lucy did have a few priceless expressions as Tim just went on and on about what he was going to do with the money.

3. The Bus....This was one of the last sketches of the dress rehearsal. Lucy was on board a bus with a blind man who kept falling asleep, snoring loudly, and waking up thinking he was somewhere completely different (a coffin, in bed with his wife, infront of a firing squad). This skit wasn't really funny, but it was amusing to see Lucy with two pony tails braids on each side of her head.

A few other minor skits were so left out, but they did not have Lucy in them so I'll just skip over them.

Other Changes....

1. Gothic Talk....this skit was actually longer. Lucy was supposed to go toward to back of the store saying she was going to show us some dangerous instruments of evil, but as she pulled the curtain back, it was just a poster of Michael Jordan from Space Jam. She turns to the camera and says "that was left over from the Foot Locker."

2. MSNBC....a line was changed...Lucy threatened to hands in warm water if anyone fell asleep before sunrise. In dress rehearsal, she said "I'm going to put your bras in the freezer."

3. Judge Judy...Lucy's outfit got a bit skimper for the Live show....when we saw her, she had on another shirt.

4. Lucy's sweater was unbuttoned showing a lot of navel and stomach during the dress rehearsal.