Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer first appeared as the Folksmen on the November 3, 1984, episode of "Saturday Night Live", the fourth episode of season 10. Guest and Shearer had both joined "SNL" as cast members that season, while McKean was hosting that episode. All three had previously worked together on comedy projects involving musical parody, including the "Lenny and the Squigtones" LP and a television pilot, "The TV Show", which marked the first appearance of Spinal Tap. The "SNL" sketch, entitled "The Folksmen Reunion", had a similar satirical intent, targeting the renewed interest in American folk music following then-recent reunions of such artists as Peter, Paul & Mary (1978), The Weavers (1980), and The Kingston Trio (1981). Introduced by Pamela Stephenson, the "SNL" sketch depicted the Folksmen as caricatures of semi-retired folk musicians: three conservatively dressed middle-aged men, spouting homilies and performing simplistic songs with cloying lyrics. In a 2009 interview, Shearer stated that the songs were intended to satirize "the fake folk music being written in office buildings in Manhattan’s Upper West Side."