Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
arguing JOB & CHC attempt to make up by shaking hands, but a fall ensues
— A pretty good laugh from John walking on in those Hollywood movie star clothes.
— Great punch & fall at the end after John and Chevy’s extended handshake.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
host locks herself in dressing room after a disastrous on-stage ramble
— (sigh) Here we go…
— Well, her response to the audience’s huge applause at the beginning was kinda funny, I guess.
— “On my show (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), I’m having a nervous breakdown.” How appropriate that gets brought up tonight……
— Oh, boy, this is slowly starting to come off increasingly awkward and uncomfortable.
— What in the world was the point of the cue cards bit?
— Oh, God, this is getting painful. What’s going on?
— You’d almost think this is going for an Andy Kaufman-style intentional awkwardness, but if it is, they’re failing miserably.
— Aaaaaaaaand there’s her infamous walk-off. I know it’s part of the script, but the way the monologue had been going, I’m sure some people were confused over whether the walk-off was scripted or genuine.
— Gilda’s cramps comment is the first genuine laugh of the whole monologue.
— Dan pretending to be a probation officer is pretty funny.
— Landshark!
— Overall, thank god for the cast doing their best to redeem this, but it still couldn’t make up for that dreadful first half.
STARS: *½
VENEREAL DISEASE: NOTHING TO CLAP ABOUT
General Idi “V.D.” Amin (GAM) gives the warning signs of his syphilis
— LOL at the nickname “V.D. Amin”.
— Very funny opening line about venereal disease not just striking Jews.
— Hilarious visual with the Swiss cheese representing his brain.
— The “Venereal Disease: nothing to clap about” graphic was a great way to end this.
STARS: ****
SWEDISH MOVIE
Sven (CHC) & Inger (host) fool Death (TOS) in a Bergman-like scene
— The Swedish voice-over is kinda funny (why do I get the feeling that’s Tom Schiller?).
— What the hell IS this?
— Ah, so it IS Schiller.
— I usually like this kind of weirdness, but something as confusing and baffling as this sketch was probably not the best thing to put on so close to the monologue.
— The pizza line was pretty funny.
— I did like the ending twist where they fooled Death.
STARS: **
HUMAN HAIR POTHOLDERS
Sandra Goode (JAC) & Squeaky Fromme (LAN) pitch human-hair potholders
— Laraine’s almost TOO good at playing a scary psycho in this.
— Ha, this is insane.
— Was Laraine pinching her own nipples just now?
— This overall sketch was disturbing in a funny way. I’m gonna guess this was an O’Donoghue-written piece.
STARS: ***½
LOUISE & DOG
(host)’s relationship talk with her dog is more befitting a human partner
— This is the one sketch from this episode I remember seeing before, in an edited 60-minute version shown in syndication.
— Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh……
— Boy, is that dog’s panting loud.
— And now, Louise actually mentioned (ad-lib?) how the dog’s breathing is getting heavier.
— The close-up of the dog just panting at the camera was kinda charming, at least.
— Overall, what in the world did I just watch?
STARS: *
CATHODE RAY
LAN, JAC & GIR perform a musical ode to television
— Oh, is this gonna be our weird Dan Aykroyd sketch of the week? You know I enjoy those.
— What’s with the off-camera voices while Dan’s speaking?
— Hmm, this has turned into a song from the female cast members.
— The disclaimer that showed up on the screen just now is pretty funny.
— I like how the chroma-key background has now turned into a shot of SNL’s control room.
— Nice song overall. The lyrics weren’t humorous, but the girls did a good job and there were interesting visuals. I also like how everything felt so 70s.
STARS: ***
WEEKEND UPDATE
Olga Korbut (GIR) is bitter about Nadia Comaneci’s Olympic success
the Viking I spacecraft accidentally crushes a Martian welcoming party
— The extended intro from Pardo was a little weird. Chevy almost seemed kinda thrown off by it, though I guess he was just acting.
— The Jimmy Carter oranges joke was hilarious.
— LOL at John doing an accent despite the fact that he’s supposed to be playing himself.
— Gilda’s angry comment about Nadia Comaneci was very good.
— Whoa, Update’s over? No mid-WU fake commercial break? This change is very refreshing. As I mentioned sometime before, I prefer when Update is one continuous segment instead of breaking in the middle for a fake ad.
STARS: ***
GIRL TALK
teens (JAC) & (GIR) talk about issues related to boys & making out
— The cemetery revelation cracked me up.
— This is reminding me of the slumber party sketch from this season’s Madeline Kahn episode. I’d like to think Gilda and Jane are playing older versions of their characters from that one.
— Wasn’t too crazy abut Gilda’s ending line.
STARS: ***½
DINER FILM
by host- in a diner, unsure players are fed lines
— Oh, man. I had been enjoying the nice long break we’ve had from Lasser the last few segments.
— Oh, goody, more bizarre aimless rambling from Lasser.
— The dialogue being constantly drowned out by other sounds in the diner isn’t helping this.
— I ask once again tonight: what am I watching???
— What’s with the fourth wall break?
— Man, this fourth wall break is not working.
— I was hoping Lorne’s walk-on would save this, as I’ve been really enjoying his on-camera appearances this season, but he did nothing funny here.
— “A film by Louise Lasser” – ha, that explains EVERYTHING.
— Overall, man, was this abysmal. I think I’d happily take even the dullest Gary Weis film over this.
STARS: *
JOHN BELUSHI WARDROBE
cash-strapped JOB’s line of clothing consists of his actual garments
— Pretty funny revelation.
— John’s increasing desperation is being played well.
STARS: ***
JIMMY CARTER
Jimmy Carter (DAA) tells what to look for in his upcoming campaign
— The debut of Dan’s Jimmy Carter impression!
— The voice is slightly different from what it would later sound like.
— Dan’s Carter is remembered for famously having a mustache when the real Carter didn’t have one. But, hell, in this sketch, Dan’s Carter doesn’t even have gray hair! I believe in all of the subsequent Carter sketches, they’d dye Dan’s hair gray.
— This is pretty funny so far.
— Good ending with the Bob Dylan quote.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— By this point, I forgot this episode even had a musical guest. Very unusual for a musical guest’s first performance to be buried this late into the show.
LOUISE LASSER RAMBLING PIECE #309,454
host sits on the apron of the stage & rambles about her year
— What’s with her again making an entrance down the homebase stage’s stairs, as if this is the beginning of the monologue again?
— Oh, I can already tell this is gonna be YET ANOTHER weird, awkward, rambly piece.
— How in the world has this story suddenly shifted from “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” to buying a dollhouse?
— Oh, please let this finally end. This mess has been going on for what feels like 10 minutes.
STARS: *
GOODNIGHTS
— Louise giving credit to the cast made me realize that she didn’t appear on camera with ANY of them in tonight’s sketches, except for Chevy. I think I remember reading somewhere that was actually a request from her. I’m sure the rest of the cast was just FLATTERED that Louise would openly rather work alongside Chevy and a dog than with any of them.
— I like how John’s still silently advertising his wardrobe.
_______________________________
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………
— Yeah, this one definitely lived up to the bad reputation. Sure, there were some good host-less sketches, but the stuff centered around Lasser was SO awful, SO uncomfortable, SO drawn-out & overlong, that it’s unfortunately what you come out of the episode remembering the most. The good sketches weren’t enough to make up for that. Bad idea for SNL to let Lasser do so many segments where she was allowed to ramble about whatever she wanted. The only thing I found her remotely tolerable in was the Swedish Movie sketch, and that’s only because she didn’t have to do any heavy lifting in it.
— I guess I was overdue to review a bad episode, as ever since I started this ‘One SNL a Day’ project, I had yet to come across a truly bad episode until now. Every Season 1 episode prior to this one had enough redeeming values; yes, even the musical performance-dominated Paul Simon episode (while I disliked the format, at least the music in it was good).
— Well, at least I can say I got through this. When I started reviewing this season, this was an episode that I was both fearfully dreading and morbidly anticipating, simultaneously. I’m happy it’s now over with, though I know this is FAR from the last disastrous episode I’ll have to cover in my project.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elliott Gould):
— a huge step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Season 1 comes to an end, with host Kris Kristofferson