Video: Grateful Dead on Saturday Night Live – 1980

In the early days of Saturday Night Live, the Grateful Dead were no strangers to the program. It didn’t hurt that two of the show’s main writers, Tom Davis and Al Franken, were big Deadheads. One of the group’s performances took place on April 5th, 1980 on an episode hosted by Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin as the Grateful Dead were promoting the soon-to-be-released Go To Heaven LP.

We’ve been searching for footage of this appearance, in which the Dead performed Alabama Getaway and Saint of Circumstance, forever. Turns out we should’ve just looked at DeadVids.com.

[Hat Tip – Chris DiLeo]