December 20, 1975 – Candice Bergen / Martha Reeves, The Stylistics (S1 E8)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford (CHC) gives a Christmas Eve fireside chat from White House
 
— Was it intentional for Garrett to trip over the Christmas presents when he made his entrance? I thought Chevy was supposed to be the clumsy one in these cold openings.
— I liked Chevy’s Ford insisting Garrett call him “Dr. President” instead of the formal “Mr. President”.
— Ah, and there’s the famous Chevy-as-Ford Christmas tree pratfall, which has often been played in SNL highlight reels.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Wow, it’s over already? That was it? Geez, this monologue ended almost as soon as it began.
— There was no actual material in this. This just consisted of Candice saying her hosting a second time is her Christmas present to herself, gave thanks to Lorne Michaels, then threw to the following musical guest performance.
— This has to be the second shortest SNL monologue I can recall ever seeing, next to Teri Garr’s “monologue” a few years later in season 5.
STARS: N/A

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (MARTHA REEVES)

MEL’S CHAR PALACE, PART 1
they supply the cow, you make your own steak
 
— Oh, THIS. I believe this is actually one of the very first things I ever saw from this era, in reruns when I was much younger. But then again, I think this sketch ended up recurring in a later episode, so maybe that was the version I saw when I was younger.
— I absolutely love Dan’s manic rapid-fire delivery here; he’s fantastic. The crazy dialogue he’s saying is already funny in itself, but his delivery is making it that much greater.
— Gilda revving up a chainsaw while chewing gum with that sly look on her face is the part of this sketch that stuck in my memory the most from when I first saw this.
STARS: ****

PARENT’S NIGHTMARE
(CHC) calls his parents to say that he’s guilty of 26 counts of murder
 
— The murder revelation is great.
— Decent punchline at the end.
STARS: ***

HOME MOVIES
host & DOP invite viewers to submit home movies for absolutely no reward
 
— Watching this in 2018, I’m getting an unintended kick out of Candice’s line about sending film in “super-8 or 16mm”.
— Don Pardo’s lines about viewers getting absolutely nothing in return for sending their films in is pretty funny.
— Not even sure if I should rate this, since it was clearly an actual instructional segment on where viewers should send their films to SNL, but it did have funny lines from Pardo.
STARS: ***

BEE CAPADES
host & Bees do formations at Rockefeller Center skating rink
 
— This is a nice little segment, though I’m more ‘entertained’ than ‘amused’ so far. That’s not exactly a bad thing, though.
— The “Leon/Noel” ending bit was very funny.
STARS: ***

DON PARDO DIGITAL GIFT CATALOGUE, PART 1
an ashtray clock is just one item in DOP’s Digital Gift Catalogue

— This is being played so straight, it’s hard to tell if it’s even intended to be comedic. I mean, a digital ashtray that tells time sounds like something that would actually exist nowadays. Maybe the idea of that was funnier in 1975 (much like three-bladed razors).
STARS: **

SPONSORED POLAROID AD
(no synopsis available)

— “Hi, I’m the Easter Bunny” — John Belushi as Santa.
— Hmm, is this going to be another non-joke Polaroid ad? I guess I was right in that earlier review where I said I remember hearing they did several of these during this era.
— Why did Candice’s voice get all echo-ish for a brief moment just now?
— Overall, yep, this was another serious Polaroid ad. At least John added a little humor here, though.
STARS: N/A

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (THE STYLISTICS)

K-PUT PRICE-IS-RITE STAMP GUN
— rerun

LATENT ELF
(host) discovers that her brother (CHC) & father (DAA) are latent elves
 
— Funny to see Chevy playing a giddy elf, which is very unlike the type of roles we’ve seen him in so far this season.
— Interesting premise, with Chevy being outed as an elf the exact same way one would be outed as gay. This sketch is making some pretty funny parallels.
— Call me immature, but I got a big laugh from Candice’s “I can see your bells” line to Elf Chevy when he started sitting on top of the couch with his legs spread apart.
— Good revelation that their father (Dan) is an elf, too, complete with a hidden green elf hat. Right before that reveal, I was just about to ask why Dan had green hair sticking out from under his normal hat.
— Loved Dan joining Chevy in giddily dancing like an elf.
— Where did that loud beep sound at end come from? Didn’t seem to be part of the sketch.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
amateurish TOS drawings summarize the Squeaky Fromme trial
from Times Square, LAN reports on New Years’ bash 11 days too soon
attempting to call war-torn Angola, CHC reaches Angelo’s Pizza
   
— Hmm, the Update set has changed a bit. The Weekend Update logo in the background is now colored differently, and there’s now a Weekend Update logo on the front of Chevy’s desk.
— And why does Chevy now have a (very distracting) anchorman earpiece?
— Ha, and now his earpiece just fell out. He made a bit of a funny brief ad-lib in response.
— Ah, the “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead” line that was introduced in the preceding episode’s Update now becomes an official running gag. Interestingly, despite the fact that this is only the second time the line has been used, it surprisingly got a huge reaction from tonight’s audience as if it were already a classic long-running gag.
— The childlike “artist rendering” drawings of the Squeaky Fromme trial is really funny. I also like the muffled nasal voice of the on-scene reporter, which is a dead-on imitation of those types of reporter voices in news & radio broadcasts.
— Oh, that’s Chevy doing the reporter voice! Great reveal when the camera pulled back and showed the voice was just him plugging his nose.
— Laraine’s Times Square New Years report reminds me of something very similar they would later do in a Dennis Miller-era Weekend Update (I think in the Bruce Willis episode from 1989), where Victoria Jackson basically did the exact same bit Laraine did here, right down to the same punchline. That Victoria Jackson bit was mysteriously removed from all reruns of that episode, and I wonder if maybe the person who wrote the original Laraine Newman version complained to SNL for stealing his/her material.
— This Angola/pizza shop phone call mix-up is pretty funny.
— The “brief lookback at 1975” gag with Chevy literally looking at the number 1975 briefly is something that would’ve felt right at home in a Kevin Nealon Weekend Update from the early 90s.

TARN-OFF
Tarn-Off gets Princess Grace’s (host) jewels sparkling clean
 
— Ah, a bit of a change of pace having the mid-Weekend Update commercial be a live one instead of a pre-tape.
— Nice visual of Candice dunking her head into a bowl of the product.
— She’s selling this ad like a pro.
— The two knights are funny, too.
— Overall, pretty good ad.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is against “firing the handicapped”
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— Hmm, Emily Litella again.
— Overall, another decent Litella commentary, though I hope they aren’t on their way to overusing this character so quickly. It’s bad enough we have to see the “News for the Hard of Hearing” bit in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. Heh, I guess this is one of the downsides of my ‘One SNL a Day’ project: watching these season 1 episodes one-by-one on a day-to-day basis has almost officially ruined my enjoyment of “News for the Hard of Hearing”, which I used to find hilarious back in the days when I only saw it occasionally.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

LAUNDROMAT
in a laundromat, (JOB) & (GIR) silently flirt via clothing they deposit
   
— This is coming off charming so far, and I always like this type of sketch where there’s no dialogue at all.
— I love the way this is building up.
— John pulling out a wine bottle & drinking glasses from his laundry basket is very funny. He’s giving a surprisingly sweet performance in this sketch.
— Aww, what a nice ending.
— Overall, this was a great little piece. I wonder if this was one of those sentimental Marilyn Suzanne Miller-written sketches that this era often had.
— In a way, the fact that this touching sketch starred two performers whose lives would sadly end early adds even more of a sentimental feel in retrospect.
STARS: ****

PONG
Pong-playing college students are accompanied by “Pinball Wizard”

— I mentioned in the last review that while I’ve actually enjoyed the Pong segments so far, one more of them will probably make me start getting tired of them. Let’s see if that prediction is correct.
— Well. this is actually kinda funny so far.
— Oh, wow, this is over already???
— This was literally only about 15 seconds long, and was basically just a reference to “The Who”. Weird. But, hey, this did make me laugh, and at least they took it into a much different direction from the earlier Pong segments.
STARS: ***

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
the Bees’ Christmas party overshadows one thrown by Ploobis & Peuta
host, Ploobis, Scred perform “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
 
— Strangely, this began without the usual set-up introduced by Don Pardo.
— Yet another reference to The Bees.
— This unfortunately seems to have the same type of bad pun-ny humor that I hated in the weak Muppets installment from the preceding episode.
— Candice’s appearance helped breathe some much-needed life into this. While it didn’t make this any funnier, it gave this a feel-good atmosphere.
STARS: **½

MEL’S CHAR PALACE, PART 2
Mel & chainsaw-toting Mrs. Mel (GIR) advertise the Char Palace again

— Oh, they made this recurring in the SAME NIGHT? I had assumed they at least waited until a later episode to bring this back.
— Uh, what exactly was the point of this follow-up? There was absolutely no discernible difference from the first one. Dan was basically just saying the same thing he said in the first, and Gilda just did the exact same rev-up-a-chainsaw-while-chewing-gum thing.
— The studio audience was dead silent during this one.
STARS: **

WINTER WONDERLAND
GAM, host, cast & SNL Band perform “Winter Wonderland”
   
— Hmm, a Garrett Morris musical performance? Well, as I said a few episodes ago, he DOES have a wonderful singing voice.
— Oh, wait, I think this is the classic “Winter Wonderland” performance that’s often shown on SNL’s annual Christmas compilation special.
— Yep, I was right!
— What’s with the frozen, almost-unhappy deadpan look on Jane’s face while she and the rest of the girls are dancing? I guess she’s just doing that to be funny.
— Overall, a fun classic as always. After having only seen this in the aforementioned Christmas specials, it was nice to now get to see it in the context of the original episode it came from.
STARS: *****

DON PARDO DIGITAL GIFT CATALOGUE, PART 2
a mood ring clock is another item in DOP’s Digital Gift Catalogue

— Again, are these intended to be comedic? In today’s age of everything being digital, the humor is lost on me.
STARS: **

MINUTE MYSTERY
Mike Mendoza overlooks clues that point to sexy (host)

— Couldn’t help but get a laugh from this sketch opening on a shot of Michael O’Donoghue as a dead body with a deadpan (no pun intended) look on his face & a smoking pipe hanging from his mouth.
— The voice of Don Pardo (who SNL is getting a lot of mileage out of tonight) getting in on the act of trying to impress Candice is pretty funny.
— Overall, a pretty good second installment of this sketch, and it’s nice that this went in a different direction from the first.
STARS: ***½

DON PARDO DIGITAL GIFT CATALOGUE, PART 3
a three-piece suit clock is one more item in DOP’s Digital Gift Catalogue

— Okay, this one actually kinda worked for me. The idea of a digital vest clock IS pretty funny.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (MARTHA REEVES)

WHAT GILDA ATE
GIR recalls how she overate during the previous Christmas

— Though there was no opening title screen this time, this looks like it’s going to be another “What Gilda Ate” bit.
— Yep, it is. I never knew until now that this was a recurring segment.
— Like last time, this got funnier the more and more Gilda went on about the details, and again, she had the same charm from last time.
STARS: ***

THE FRITZIE KRINGLE SHOW
cooking ingredients get eaten prematurely
 
— I’ve never heard Laraine talk in this kind of voice before. She’s doing a very good job.
— Ha, she’s eating far more ingredients than she’s putting into the meal she’s cooking, which is pretty funny, but feels kinda redundant seeing this right after we just got through a sketch with Gilda talking about eating excessively.
— The terrible-looking finished cookies are very funny.
STARS: ***

MEL’S CHAR PALACE, PART 3
another ad for Mel’s Char Palace- “Over 3000 Stunned”

— Oh, man, now we get a THIRD one of these??? Oh, why couldn’t they just leave these at one?
— Please tell me this one’s going to actually have some distinction from the first two.
— Nope. No distinction at all, I see. It was just Dan once again basically re-performing the same script from the first. As I asked earlier, WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE POINT OF THIS FOLLOW-UP????
— Oh, SNL, it’s wonderful to see that even way back in 1975, you had that now-familiar bad habit of running once-funny things into the ground. Some things never change.
— It pains me to give such a low rating to ANYTHING that features a manic Dan Aykroyd, but…
STARS: *½

MARGARET KUHN
Margaret Kuhn [real] says “getting old is nothing to be afraid of”
 
— So far, this has just been a straightforward serious segment, but this has a very sweet message and she’s making some great points about aging.
— Whoa, an unexpectedly very funny moment just now with her Gray Panthers sign-off: “Off your asses”. That came out of nowhere!
STARS: N/A

HOMEWARD BOUND
by Gary Weis- holiday travellers reunite with family
 
— I remember hearing about this one before. Wow, this is very beautiful.
— Overall, that’s got to be one of the most sentimental, heartwarming things that has ever aired in the show’s entire history.
— I’m currently having a hard time deciding whether I should give a rating to any of SNL’s serious, non-comedic shorts, of which I know we’ll be seeing quite a number of throughout this era. But for now, I’ll give this one what I feel is a well-deserved rating.
STARS: *****

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Wow, what a line-up! This has got to be one of the most crowded I’ve ever seen the goodnights stage.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— This episode had such a feel-good, heartwarming vibe. In present day, we’re right smack dab into summer, yet watching this episode STILL got me in the Christmas spirit.
— While this was far from the funniest episode ever, it was definitely an entertaining holiday show. Thinking back on it, this episode was probably more heavy on the “feel-good” and the “heartwarming” than it was on the “funny”, but hey, that describes quite a number of SNL’s Christmas episodes over the years, and let’s remember that this IS the show’s first-ever Christmas episode, after all. Honestly, doing this type of heartwarming holiday episode was probably the only sensible way to follow the almost-untouchable Richard Pryor episode.
— Candice did another very solid hosting job and perfectly justified SNL’s decision to bring her back so soon after her first hosting stint a mere month ago. And they clearly loved having her as the host of this Christmas episode, since they bring her back a year later for the next Christmas episode, which I remember being a very strong one.
— Tonight might have the all-time record for highest number of segments in a single SNL episode. You may have noticed while reading through the review, but man, this episode had TONNNNS of segments. I look back at the long list of sketches from this episode (here and here), and at first I wonder “How in the world did they fit all of that into just 90 minutes???”, then I wonder “Why can’t SNL episodes nowadays have this many segments?”

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Richard Pryor):
— a step down (though I kinda feel it’s unfair to compare almost ANY episode to Pryor’s)

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
We enter 1976, with Elliott Gould making his hosting debut