Could Elon Musk do a Bond skit on SNL?

Elon Musk photo on Twitter in 2015.

Billionaire Elon Musk is scheduled to host NBC’s Saturday Night Live on May 8. Musk also has a fascination with James Bond. Could Musk have the comedy show do a Bond skit?

On Twitter the night of May 1, Musk ssaid he was throwing out skit ideas. This tweet apparently was one of them.

Woke James Bond
SNL May 8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2021

Wikipedia has this definition for woke:

Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is a term that refers to awareness of issues that concern social justice and racial justice. It is sometimes used in the African-American Vernacular English expression stay woke. Woke resurfaced in 2014 during the Black Lives Matter movement as a label for vigilance and activism concerning racial inequalities and other social disparities such as discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, women, immigrants and other marginalized populations.

Woke has also been the subject of memes, ironic usage and criticism.

Some critics argue woke goes too far. If you type in “James Bond woke” into YouTube’s search engine, you’ll find a variety of fan videos who argue Bond has gone woke with No Time to Die, a movie nobody has seen yet outside of Eon Production and its studio partners.

To be sure, Elon Musk generates a lot of publicity. Could he be seeking some more attention with this? That’s an absolute possibility.

On the other hand, when a billionaire who is into electric vehicles and rockets teases the possibility you have to note it. If Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffett pulled something like this, it would get attention.

On top of that, Musk may be the world’s richest James Bond fan. He purchased the submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me. At one point he had a Twitter avatar that evoked Blofeld and/or Dr. Evil (see above). And Musk’s Tesla electric-car company, Tesla, once had a “Project Goldfinger.”

Clearly, Musk has Bond on the brain. On Saturday Night Live, guest hosts get a lot of input into comedy sketches. We’ll see if Musk’s Bond enthusiasm spills into SNL on May 8.

Art Gilmore: Versatile announcer

Art Gilmore appearing on-camera in Dragnet

Another in an occasional series about unsung figures in television.

Trivia question: Name somebody who has ties to the very first James Bond production (1954’s CBS production of Casino Royale), Highway Patrol, Quinn Martin TV shows (the first one, The New Breed), Fred Astaire (a late 1950s TV special), Red Skelton, The Wild Wild West and Hawaii Five-O.

That person would be announcer Art Gilmore (1912-2010).

Gilmore began his announcing career in the 1930s and moved into television and movie trailers. Here’s an excerpt from the Los Angeles Time obituary for Gilmore.

“He was one of an elite corps of radio and television announcers, a voice that everyone in America recognized because it was ubiquitous,” film critic and show business historian Leonard Maltin told The Times this week.

“For at least 20 years, if you listened to radio, watched TV or went to the movies, you couldn’t help but hear Art Gilmore’s voice,” said Maltin. “It wasn’t especially deep like some announcers, but it had authority, command and yet also a kind of friendliness. I think it was an all-American voice.”

Gilmore’s voice was the first viewers heard on the 1954 CBS live telecast of Casino Royale. “Live from Television City in Hollywood!”

The early years of television were heavily influenced by radio. On radio, an announcer introduced a show and often acted as a narrator.

Gilmore did a lot of work at CBS, including being the long-time announcer for Red Skelton’s variety show. His voice could often be heard on promos.

A YouTuber recreated a second-season promo for The Wild Wild West, which featured Gilmore’s voice and music by Richard Shores. Most of the visuals are based on the originals with a few tweaks.

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In 1968, CBS televised a program-length promotion for its upcoming season. Here’s the segment for the upcoming Hawaii Five-O where Gilmore’s voice features prominently.

Finally, here’s a brief YouTube tribute to Gilmore, focusing on his work on Highway Patrol and Dragnet.