Earth’s Ambassador To The Universe: Chuck Berry (1926 – 2017)

Below is an except from a skit on Saturday Night Live that aired on April 22, 1978. It says all that’s need to be said about Chuck Berry’s importance to the universe.

From Saturday Night Live 04/22/1978 

Skit Name…….Next Week in Review
Maxine Universe…..Laraine Newman
Mitzi Molnar…..Jane Curtin
Cocuwa…..Steve Martin
Kreeg Antwoord…..Dan Aykroyd

[ open on futuristic set, with TITLE CARD ]

Maxine Universe: Good evening, and welcome once again to “Next Week in Review”, the show that believes any news is old news if it’s already happened, and dares to predict what’s going to happen next week. [ to her guests ] Well, psychics… you did superbly again last week. You batted 1.000 once more. Mitzi, you predicted that the Panama Canal Treaty would be approves by a 68-to-32 vote… Cocuwa, you predicted that Harry Reasoner would be leaving the ABC News because he didn’t fit in with the plans… and, Kreeg, you predicted correctly that world heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks would be arrested for driving without headlights and having cocaine in his hat. Um — but let’s get on to tomorrow’s headlines: What does next week look like? What’s going to be the big story?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Maxine Universe: Well, uh, Cocuwa — you predicted every Time Magazine cover for the last two years. Um, what’s going to be on the Time Magazine cover this week — uh, next week — the Pope’s cloning, the nuclear dump disappearance, or the Boone-napping?

Cocuwa: NONE of the above, Maxine! You know that my adopted name — Cocuwa — means “To help without compensation” in Hawaiian. And I have NOTHING to gain in ANY way from the personal wealth of my great gift. I believe… next week’s Time cover… will be about the recent communication from outer space.

Maxine Universe: Well, what — you mean a foreign planet will actually send a message next week?

Cocuwa: No! A foreign planet actually SENT us a message last week. Next week, the government will reveal the message to the public.

Kreeg Antwoord: [ coughing ] You see, it all started on August 20th, 1977, when NASA put up a recording of the sounds of Earth on Voyager I. A two-hour long tape included, uh, natural sounds of animals, a French poem by Gaugliere, a passage from the Koran in Arabic, messages from President Carter, United Nations Secretary Kurt Waldheim, music — everything from classical to Chuck Berry.

Maxine Universe: Uh — and you’re saying that the, uh — another civilization has found the tape?

Cocuwa: Yes. They’ve sent us a message that actually proves it. It may be just four simple words, but it is the FIRST positive proof that other intelligent beings inhabit the universe.

Maxine Universe: Uh — what are the four words, Cocuwa?

Cocuwa: The four words that came to us from outer space — the FOUR words that will appear on the cover of Time Magazine next week — are: [ he holds up the magazine” “Send More Chuck Berry”.

[ the audience applauds enthusiastically ]

Here’s a link to the full sketch on SNL 04/22/78:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/next-week-in-review/3008107