Two Saturday Night Live broadcasts. Maya Angelou. The Victory Garden. Motorweek. And wall-to-wall local commercial breaks that turned into something special.
The Tape
Fuji PRO 120. Six hours in EP mode. Part of the Sunbury Collection — a batch of tapes from the Sunbury, Ohio area acquired in January 2026. Tape ID: VHS-2026-163. The sleeve said nothing. Classic blank-label mystery.
What Is On It
The tape opens with a Maya Angelou special, then drops into the Saturday Night Live Special Event from WKYC Cleveland — the September 28, 1991 broadcast hosted by Michael Jordan. Best and worst of summer 1991 with Wayne and Garth. A Patriot Games trailer. A Lethal Weapon 3 trailer. The Jay Leno Tonight Show premiere promo.
Then The Victory Garden with Roger Swain on PBS/WGBH, followed by WOSU-TV Columbus content and Motorweek 92 (10th anniversary). The tape closes with SNL from July 18-19, 1992 — John Goodman hosting. Adam Sandler as Cajun Man. Barcelona Olympics previews. Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and Death Becomes Her trailers. The tape runs out before it finishes.
The Commercial Breaks
The local ad breaks are the reason this tape matters. WKYC Cleveland and WOSU-TV Columbus each had their own regional advertisers, and this tape caught both. Some highlights:
- Colt 45 with Billy Dee Williams — not in character as Lando, just selling malt liquor to Cleveland
- Seth Green in a Rally’s ad — a credit card bit, very pre-fame
- Bonnie Blair for McDonald’s — speed skating into a Big Mac
- Lever 2000 foot commercial — this one sent the chat sideways and became the strongest clip of the night
- Fretter appliances — “cheaper than Sears 87% of the time” per an independent survey
- Buddy’s Carpet — appeared twice, both times with deals that were crazy
- Mr. Hero — Cleveland’s beloved sandwich chain
- Oakland Nursery — Columbus garden center still operating today
- Ohio Bell call waiting — very 90s energy
- Picway Shoes — buy two pairs, get a third free
- WGAR radio promo — Cleveland country/pop station
- Magic 105.7 WMJI promo — Cleveland oldies
- Gatorade purple ad — announcing the new grape flavor
- Taco Bell CGI bell — “Tacos to Go!”
Stream Notes
This ran as the Mystery Tape Thursday reveal on March 26, 2026. About 200 viewers. The Lever 2000 foot commercial hit around the 1:10 mark of the VOD and turned into the strongest moment of the stream — Quentin Tarantino and wikifeet references took over the chat for a while. The Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines riff landed well when he appeared on the SNL tape around VOD 2:20. The tape reveal itself was at about 0:37.
The tape ran past the stream — WOSU and Motorweek sections are still unplayed. It’s going back in on a future stream.
Catch the next one live on Twitch.