May 15, 1976 – Dyan Cannon / Leon & Mary Russell (S1 E20)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
CHC has to repeat the show-opening fall when the camera turns on too late

— I’m liking the change of pace for the traditional “Chevy falls” opening
— Dave Wilson’s pushiness in getting Chevy to just do the fall is making me laugh.
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— Was Pardo’s announcement of the show as just “Saturday Night” dubbed into the rerun version I’m watching? After he says it, I could very faintly hear muted audio of him saying “NBC’s Saturday Night”.

MONOLOGUE
host’s unfulfilled dream is to be carried away by a man on a white horse

— Such a quiet, subdued beginning.
— Almost two minutes in, and I haven’t heard a single laugh from the audience.
— This monologue is just weird so far.
— “I like men… and women… and men…” Uh, did I hear right? “…and women…”?
— What’s with random cutaways to Paul Shaffer looking around?
— Oh, I get the Shaffer cutaways now. Fairly funny ending with him carrying Dyan away.
STARS: **

SUGAR FREE ZING
in a taste test, (LAN) prefers sugar-free Zing to a glass of Phlegm

— Laraine’s funny in this.
— This didn’t seem to have much of a joke besides the glass of “phlegm”, which wasn’t THAT funny.
STARS: **

HEARING TEST
hearing test subjects are oblivious to armed robbery & police shootout
 
— I like the turn this has taken, with all the sudden chaos involving the bandits while the students aren’t even aware of it.
— This sketch’s premise feels very quintessential of 70s SNL. Before doing these reviews, when I used to think of 70s SNL, sketches with this type of premise were usually one of the first things that came to mind.
STARS: ***½

DEAD DELIVERY BOY
(host) lies to husband (DAA) after being caught cheating with (CHC)

— This one girl in the audience has a weird-sounding noticeable laugh that I keep hearing throughout this sketch.
— Feels strange hearing the mention of “swine flu” in an episode from the 70s.
— Odd ending with Dyan’s character inexplicably not remembering the lies she told Dan.
STARS: ***

VACATIONLAND ADVENTURE
Bulgarian (JOB) promotes visits to his homeland
 
— For a second, I thought John was playing the same character from the very first SNL sketch ever (Wolverines). He appears to be wearing the same hat.
— LOL at the film title “Bulgaria Dis Vintor”.
— This Bulgarian film is pretty funny.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
hoarse DAA misinterprets host’s dream

— A fairly funny continuation of the monologue.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

NEXT WEEK
LAN & GIR announce that Buck Henry [real] will be doing SNL next week

— Hey, it’s Buck Henry!
— Laraine’s grossed-out reactions to the news of Buck hosting again is funny, and kinda relates to what would become a running gag with Buck not getting any respect from SNL in his monologues.
— A fun way to promote the next episode.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
in Nevada, LAN interviews supposed owner of Howard Hughes’ will (GAM)
the weather report comprises amateurish TOS drawings
   
— Is Chevy eating the same potato thing that John ate in the Bulgaria sketch earlier tonight?
— The random joke about statistics is another Chevy joke that I can easily picture Kevin Nealon doing in an early 90s Weekend Update.
— Boy, they sure love doing those childlike “artist’s rendering” drawings.

ORANGE JUICE
in Beirut, hostage Anita Bryant (JAC) pitches orange juice

— I don’t think I’m familiar with this hostage news story (though the name Anita Bryant IS sounding familiar to me, for some reason), but this is still making me laugh.
— Dan’s foreign gibberish while eating the orange sounded hilarious.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard of hearing
 
— Chevy combining the Miss USA pageant & horse race stories was pretty funny.
— After a much-needed long hiatus, “News for the Hard of Hearing” makes its return. Strange how Garrett has played two different roles in the same Update.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

FUNERAL
during a funeral, a minister (CHC) battles a bad case of the hiccups
 
— Dyan looks kinda Candice Bergen-esque in this.
— The paper bag part was really funny.
— What was the point of the kiss between Dyan and Chevy? Did we really need two sketches tonight with them making out?
— The frustrated attempts to stop Chevy’s hiccups are okay, though it feels like this could be funnier.
— Dyan started cracking up just now.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
pimp GAM & white whores GIR & LAN misinterpret host’s dream

— A little better than the last one, as Garrett playing a pimp always makes me laugh, and I like the wordplay with mixing up “white horse” with “white whores”.
STARS: ***½

NIAGARA FALLS
by Gary Weis- marital infidelity investigators & newlyweds are juxtaposed
 
— What in the world is this?
— The part with the stuffed dog was funny, at least.
— Overall, yet another Gary Weis film that I don’t care for.
STARS: *½

BATHWATER OF THE STARS
Cindy Cleavage (host) & Roy Waddmaker (DAA) pitch Bathwater Of The Stars
 
— I’m already liking this, as this appears to be another typically weird Dan Aykroyd sketch.  This almost has a proto-E. Buzz Miller feel to it.
— Another character break from Dyan – a huge one this time, when Dan unintentionally drops the fake rat into the bathtub.
STARS: ***½

MARINE
(CHC) takes abuse during multiple takes for a Marine Corps commercial
 
— For some reason, the detail of Chevy getting hit by rifles with boxing gloves on the ends of them is really funny to me.
— The premise isn’t much, but the physical humor and Dan’s great energy is selling this.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Ha, John as Joe Cocker once again randomly making a cameo in the middle of a musical guest’s number.
 

JOHNNY ANGEL
(host) sings “Johnny Angel” while her Hell’s Angels boyfriends terrorize
 
— The destruction the bikers are doing to the living room during Dyan’s song is a funny turn, and almost feels like a spiritual successor to the Interior Demolitionists sketch (both sketches even use the same living room set).
STARS: ***½

CRESK
druggist (JOB) recommends Cresk toothpaste for (GIR)’s deceased son

— From the way the audience is laughing before the big reveal, this must be a parody of a real commercial from that time.
— A decent premise.
STARS: ***

DYAN’S DREAM
JOB & his friend Horace (ALZ) give their version of host’s dream

— Pretty funny, just for the interplay between Belushi and Zweibel.
STARS: ***

THE HUB-CAP THIEF
an unexpected journey through the Bronx
 
— The visual of the thief spinning with the wheel is funny.
— Overall, not bad.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS
CHC & a white horse make host’s dream come true
   
— Fun ending, though I already saw it coming that Chevy would be the one to successfully fulfill Dyan’s “white horse” dream.
— Was something wrong with Pardo’s mic? I couldn’t hear some of what he was saying during the “goodnights announcements” gag of the night.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An episode that was average in every possible way. Most of the sketches stayed in just the “decent” range, with nothing standing out as particularly strong, and nothing receiving anything over a mere three-and-a-half star rating. I doubt I’ll remember much about this episode in the future.
— The monologue had me worried about what kind of host Dyan Cannon would be. She didn’t end up being quite as bad as I had feared, but she spent the episode being given the usual type of generic roles that “pretty girl” hosts typically get. Nothing memorable. She also broke character quite a bit.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Madeline Kahn):
— a step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Buck Henry