The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between September 24, 1977, and May 20, 1978, the third season of SNL.
A Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin sketch. Debuted September 24, 1977.
Joe and his ex-partner Bob (Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray) are two cops that were kicked off the force (apparently for being intrusive bigots) that harass the people that live in their apartment building for not living up to their arch-conservative standards (a man and a woman living together without being married, an allegedly lesbian couple, etc.) with disastrous results. Debuted October 15, 1977.
A Gilda Radner character. Debuted October 29, 1977.
A Gilda Radner character offering brash, tactless opinions on Weekend Update. Debuted January 21, 1978.
John Belushi is the Greek chef of a greasy spoon diner. Debuted January 28, 1978.
Gilda Radner is Lisa Loopner; Bill Murray is Todd DiLaMuca; Jane Curtin is Lisa's mother. Debuted January 28, 1978.
Al Franken is a coal miner. Debuted February 18, 1978.
A Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin sketch. Debuted April 22, 1978.
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi are an American blues and soul revivalist band. Debuted April 22, 1978.
A Steve Martin sketch. Debuted April 22, 1978.
Don Novello plays a chain-smoking, gossiping priest. Debuted May 13, 1978.
SNL writing partners Al Franken and Tom Davis host their own fictitious variety program, on which they would appear onstage as a double act similar to Rowan and Martin, with Davis generally as the straight man and Franken as his self-obsessed, dimwitted sidekick. They would also perform skits within the context of their "show". The sketch was often a late-addition to the show as a time filler if the broadcast was running short. Their best-known skit consisted of Davis appearing in normal dress, while Franken appeared in a flowing garment, with a shaved head and a pony tail and announced he was becoming a Hare Krishna. Davis responded by cutting off the ponytail, angering Franken who said, "Now people will think I'm a Buddhist!" Debuted May 20, 1978.
Aside from "The Franken and Davis Show", the two have made several appearances—either separately or as team—in many SNL sketches throughout the years. They also appear together in the film Trading Places as a pair of drunken baggage handlers. Al Franken later hosted his own talk show on which Tom Davis has made numerous appearances. Franken, who in 2009 became a U.S. Senator from Minnesota, is probably best known as a performer for his character Stuart Smalley, and for his on-air proposal at the end of the 1970s that the 1980s be known as "The Al Franken Decade."