43 Years Ago, This ‘SNL’ Joke Accidentally Triggered a Real Bomb Scare
· Vice
Prior to creating Mystery Science Theater 3000, Joel Hodgson was a prop comic/magician known for his appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live. Although those guest spots helped expose Hodgson to a wider audience, a prop he used during one gig landed him in a little hot water.
On November 12, 1983, Hodgson performed his act on SNL, which included a joke about blowing up the audience. After being told that he had roughly three minutes left, Hodgson pulled out a bundle of dynamite, set the timer, and told the crowd, “I guess we’ve all got about three minutes now.”
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The gag went over well, and Hodgson quickly moved on to the next thing. However, when the comedian checked out of the Berkshire Hotel in Manhattan the following morning, he somehow left his fake explosives behind. A hotel employee found the prop that afternoon and called the police, thinking it was real.
“It looked like a real bomb,” said NYPD Detective Donald O’Sullivan while being interviewed for the local news.
The ‘SNL’ Joke That Accidentally Triggered a Real Bomb Scare
The third, fourth, and fifth floors of the Berkshire were evacuated as a result. Police and firemen believed that the phony dynamite was a genuine threat and decided to bring in explosives experts to check it out. The specialists eventually determined that they were dealing with a “simulated hoax device.” Hodgson was also apparently questioned by the FBI after he returned home to Minneapolis.
According to a news report from the time, it was assumed that Hodgson simply forgot to take his props with him when he left the hotel. “And it’s assumed his publicist is not at all unhappy,” quipped one of the anchors covering the story. Hodgson went on to make three more appearances on SNL in both 1983 and 1984. He launched Mystery Science Theater 3000 on November 24, 1988.
You can check out an old news segment about the bomb scare below.
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