Following the series' cancellation, Shaffer returned to "SNL". In the fall of 1979, Shaffer became the first person to say "fuck" on "SNL". That year, "SNL" parodied "The Troggs Tapes" with a medieval musical sketch featuring Shaffer, Bill Murray, Harry Shearer, and a "special guest appearance" by John Belushi (who had left the show the previous spring). In the middle of a long tirade that featured repeated use of the word "flogging", Shaffer inadvertently uttered the forbidden word. It not only escaped the censors in the live broadcast and the West Coast taped airing, but also reappeared in the summer rerun, and even in the syndicated versions of the show for several years. Shaffer, at Letterman's urging, related the story on the first episode of "Late Night". In February 2015, Shaffer appeared on the 40th-anniversary special of "SNL", playing music to Bill Murray's lounge-singer character, a love song from the movie "Jaws".