Month: July 2018

Posted on

March 13, 1976 – Anthony Perkins / Betty Carter (S1 E16)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
CHC unconvincingly denies a charge that there’s too much filler in SNL

— Interesting hearing him mention the names of all the writers.
— His fall at the end was even funnier than usual. This one had me howling.
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— The show’s title has changed from “NBC’s Saturday Night” to just “Saturday Night”, though Pardo still announced it as the former.
— Ah, and now finally, after spending this season being credited collectively in just a list, each cast member is now credited individually with their own respective picture.

MONOLOGUE
in his first chance to show his true self, host comes off as creepy

— Is that buzzing sound going to turn out to be the Bees?
— Oh, never mind, it’s just supposed to be a fly.
— LOL at Anthony eating the fly.
— I’m loving how creepy Anthony’s intentionally coming off. This is all very funny.
STARS: ****

A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 1
Gerald Ford (CHC) tries to roll a joint

— I’ve always found this bit funny, though for some reason, I thought I remembered this being done after Chevy left the show. I also had remembered this being pre-taped, but this actually appears to be live.
— The format of this sketch is interesting, and the gradual confusion/frustration of the hands is funny to watch.
— If the Triopenin commercial and the “Why Do You Think They Call It ‘Dope’?” PSA sketch had a lovechild together, the result would be this sketch.
STARS: ***½

HELLO DOLLY THERAPY
patient (JAC) sings “Hello, Dolly” as part of (host)’s therapy technique
 
— I’m usually not a fan of watching straight singing in sketches (where there’s no jokes in the lyrics), but this is a charming little piece.
— I can already tell Anthony is going to work very well in tonight’s sketches.
STARS: ***

HOUSEHOLD HINTS
dominatrix (JAC) tries to whip (GIR) into becoming a better housewife
 
— I like the reveal of the new “housekeeper” being a dominatrix, though I saw it coming since I recently read a write-up about this sketch.
— Two back-to-back Jane Curtin-led sketches tonight, in the cushy post-monologue spot. They seem to be trying to make up for her having practically nothing to do in the last episode.
— Great line with Gilda innocently assuming S&M stands for “scrubbing & mopping”.
— Funny ending with the “I don’t do windows” part.
STARS: ***½

THE NORMAN BATES SCHOOL OF MOTEL MANAGEMENT
learn proper knife use
 
— Love the random scary close-ups of mounted animals.
— A fun Psycho parody, featuring another delightfully creepy performance from Anthony.
STARS: ****

MUPPETS SPOT
their set destroyed, Ploobis & Scred ask host’s help in returning to SNL

— Well, they had to come back sooner or later…
— I think this is the first time they’ve ever appeared in the first half of the show.
— Very funny line from Anthony about how far his career has fallen in just the last four weeks.
— Overall, not too bad, surprisingly. The Muppets seem more tolerable when they’re taken out of the “Land of Gorch” setting and interact with people at SNL.
— I get the bad feeling we’re going to be seeing them again later in the night, however.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 2
Gerald Ford (CHC) tries another joint

— Oh, this is a running piece tonight?
— I’m cracking up watching the hands struggle to figure out how to use whatever that red thing is.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
Patty Hearst trial report is stop motion animation of dolls & shoes
 
— The Patty Hearst trial “artist’s rendering” weekly running gag continues. Tonight’s is particularly strange but funny, with clips from some bizarre stop-motion baby doll movie.
— Also, the reporter voice Chevy’s using during this Patty Hearst bit is different from the usual “plugged nose” voice he’s been doing.

LAND IS SCARCE, USE YOUR HEAD
(ALZ) demonstrates solution to land scarcity- use your head

— Kinda weird, but interesting. I get the feeling this is making fun of a real commercial from that time.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
prominent photo of Jerry Brown makes CHC’s impartiality claim suspect
March isn’t lion-lamb in other countries- JOB delineates the combinations
Emily Litella phones CHC, sees no need to preserve natural “race horses”
   
— Chevy’s fair-and-balanced commentary about the presidential candidates got absolutely no reaction from the audience. It took me a while myself to get the joke (that a picture of just one of the candidates was up on the news screen during the entire commentary).
— Hey, we have an Update desk piece that’s NOT Emily Litella for a change!
— I love how John’s gradually getting more and more worked up during his commentary. This is like an early prototype of his later “Luck of the Irish” Update rants.
— The ending with John suddenly wildly flailing himself out of his chair has me DYING right now.
— After watching John’s commentary, I can definitely see the strong influence John had in future cast member Chris Farley’s performances. Much like this commentary, Farley was also very good at doing bits where he starts out calm and then slowly gets more and more intense (e.g. the Herlihy Boy sketches).
— Oh, no. I guess I spoke too soon about Emily Litella not appearing, because here she is now, in the form of a phone call. (groan) Give me a break, SNL!
— Well, at least they tried something slightly different with Litella here, and I did like her thinking Chevy’s name was “Cheddar Cheese”. But, MAN, am I sick of even just the sight of this character after seeing her in so many consecutive episodes day-after-day.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

HAPPY HOUR
(host) wants to go beyond saying “Hi” & have affair with co-worker (GIR)
Scred’s willing to leave Muppets & stretch comedically to get back on SNL
 
— Wait, Scred? WTF? The Muppets hijacking a sketch? I was right when I said earlier that I have a bad feeling we haven’t seen the last of the Muppets tonight.
— Scred doing Emily Litella’s routine – ugh! I’m sorry, folks, but I’ve now gotten to the point where even seeing Litella imitations has me groaning.
— I’m not really liking where this whole thing is going.
STARS: *½

A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 3
Gerald Ford (CHC) gives up joint-rolling

— Eh, the joke has started to wear thin. Should’ve just left these at two.
STARS: **

CATS & DOGS
by Gary Weis- five New Yorkers discuss how they relate to their pets
 
— (sigh) So is Weis just flat-out admitting that he’s now only doing films involving pets?
— That one guy’s attempt to feed the ceramic cat was pretty funny, at least.
— WTF? That weird Taylor Mead guy again? Please, no.
STARS: *½

YOU GOT A BEE
Sherry complains to professor (host)- “I don’t deserve this Bee (JOB)”

— Funny how we now get the Bees when I had thought we were getting them in the monologue earlier tonight.
— This is boring me so far.
— The “B+” ending with the baby – whaaat???
— Overall, this sketch did absolutely nothing for me, and was a waste of Laraine’s Sherry character.
— Man, the quality of tonight’s episode has fallen off a CLIFF after Update.
STARS: *½

COMING ATTRACTIONS
host screens trailers for his post-Psycho low-budget horror movies
   
— Okay, well at least THIS seems to have promise.
— Oh, this is going to be performed live? The set-up from Anthony had me thinking the trailers were going to be pre-taped.
— I’m really liking this so far, and the hilarious over-the-top narrator (is that Aykroyd’s voice?) is especially cracking me up.
— Lots of fast costume changes for Anthony in this.
— This was the kind of fun silly sketch the show desperately needed at this point, considering what a dud the post-Update half of tonight’s episode had been until now.
STARS: ****

P-NUT FEVER
by Phil Van De Carr- animated nuts avenge eaten comrades
   
— This is interesting and fun to watch progress. It’s kinda reminding me of the style of that stop-motion apples film from a few episodes ago.
— Haha, the “eat fruit” ending was excellent.
— SNL has been on a roll lately with these fan-made home movies they’ve been airing the last few episodes. They’ve all been solid so far.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

BUTT COUNTY DANCE PARTY
small town policemen (host) & (DAA) host televised dance party
 
— Wait, is this the first time we’re seeing Dan Aykroyd all night? Are you kidding me, SNL?!?? How is a cast member as talented and versatile as him relegated to only appearing in the final sketch of the night?
— What the heck is that superimposed typewriter thing that randomly showed up on the bottom of the screen just now?
— Wait, did they screw up and show the typewriter thing way too early? The performers now seem to be waiting for something to appear on the screen, but there’s just awkward dead air as nothing shows up.
— That weird stock footage car crash ending was really random, but made me kinda laugh.
— I usually love weird Dan Aykroyd sketches, but I found this to be a misfire. I didn’t get what this was going for.
STARS: **

GOODNIGHTS
at closing, Ploobis & Scred run out of time before getting to perform
   
— A decent way to end tonight’s running bit with the Muppets.
— It feels kinda funny seeing the Muppets interacting with Belushi, considering how much he was known to hate them.
— It looked like Belushi actually pulled out a pocket knife and jokingly(?) acted like he was going to stab the Muppets before playfully being held back by some of the other cast members.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— This episode was a tale of two halves: the first half was consistently solid with a long string of good sketches, but there were so many things in the second half that left me cold.
— Anthony Perkins was a surprisingly fun host; one of my favorite hosts of the season so far. He also seemed to be more prominent in the show than most hosts this season, as he appeared in almost every sketch.
— The cast’s airtime has been strange lately, what with Jane being almost completely absent in the last episode, and now Dan only appearing in the 10-to-1 sketch tonight. And hey, was Garrett even IN tonight’s episode? I don’t remember seeing him at all. He might’ve been the black sheriff in the background of the Dance Party sketch, but I’m not even sure if that was him. I guess I just find all this scarce airtime for some of the cast to be weird, considering 1) how small this particular cast is (only 7 people!), and 2) the insanely large amount of sketches packed into each episode this season. The combination of those two facts would have you expecting there to be plenty of airtime for everyone each week. Instead, it’s starting to feel lately like Chevy’s the only cast member guaranteed to appear a lot every week.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jill Clayburgh):
— a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Ron Nessen

Posted on

February 28, 1976 – Jill Clayburgh / Leon Redbone (S1 E15)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
tired of being a clown, CHC holds up the show & tells LOM “no more falls”
   
— I’m really liking this. This is also reminding me of a sketch from Chevy’s 1995 hosting stint where he was reluctant to do a fall for a Bravehart parody.
— A good laugh from the “fan mail”.
— Love the part with Chevy going through the audience. Again, it reminds me of something Chevy would do later, in the cold opening of the 15th anniversary special.
— I’m enjoying how extensive the staging of this whole thing is, showing Chevy going back-and-forth all the way from Lorne’s office to the sketch set.
STARS: ****

MONOLOGUE
DOP’s game show-style cut-ins punctuate host’s description of their date
 
— Pretty funny, although it’s pretty much just the same joke over and over.
STARS: ***

GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY, PART 1
Anna (LAN) & Sigmund (DAA) Freud analyze dream

— Dan’s having some great reactions to Laraine’s increasingly-suggestive dream descriptions.
— Overall, this was very funny.
STARS: ****

JILL CARSON, GUIDANCE COUNSELOR!
delinquent (JOB) receives advice
   
— Interesting intro to this. Kinda feels ahead of its time, as something about the sketch title’s crudely-written font (first screencap above) looks more like something from the mid-90s.
— Once again, John Belushi has the ability to get a big laugh from the audience merely from the way he walks into a scene.
— Gilda’s pretty funny as the mom.
— Jill is giving a very good performance as the counselor.
— Similar to a comment I made about the cold opening, I’m really liking how extensive this sketch is; it feels like an actual episode of a TV show, with all the scenery changes, the characterizations, etc.
— Dan’s cracking me up with his preppy demeanor when threatening John.
— Overall, a well-done sketch.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WHITE GUILT RELIEF FUND
GAM offers to accept Caucasians’ penance via the White Guilt Relief Fund

— The reveal of the main joke was really funny, after such a dead-serious set-up.
— The ‘honorary negro’ certification & I.D. is a great capper.
STARS: ****

GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY, PART 2
Isadora Duncan (host) chooses the long scarf
 
— A hilarious ending that made this whole sketch. I couldn’t help but notice, though, that the studio audience seemed to know where this was going long before I did, but then again, I’m not familiar with Isadora Duncan.
— I’m very impressed by how consistently strong tonight’s episode has been so far.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
a week after the primary, LAN reports from a vacant New Hampshire
amateurish artist’s renderings accompany Patty Hearst trial report
   
— Right at the start of Update, Chevy already throws to a remote segment with Laraine.
— It seems to have become a crutch lately to have an Update correspondent report from an event long before or after the event has taken place. I’m not really finding it funny anymore.
— A good unintended laugh from Chevy getting very tongue-tied when trying to say “former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter”.
— Wow, Update is on fire so far tonight, with lots of very funny jokes that are getting great reactions from the audience.

H&L BROCK
another reason to use H&L Brock- their fake church or synagogue tax dodge

— Hey, our mid-WU commercial is an actual new, live one this time!
— Eh, this was a little too dry for my likes, and as I said before, I’m usually not a fan of sketches where it’s one person delivering a speech to the camera.
STARS: **

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is aghast at the notion of a “deaf” penalty

— Ohhhhh, geez. After taking last week off after appearing in 3-4 consecutive episodes, Emily Litella is unfortunately back, continuing to run her predictable shtick into the ground. Watching these SNL episodes chronologically on a day-to-day basis, I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t even laugh at this character anymore. Like I said a few reviews ago, she’s too one-note to be used on a weekly basis; she’s appeared in almost EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND UPDATE since way back in the Richard Pryor episode!
— Chevy’s annoyed facial expression when Litella started her commentary mirrored my look exactly.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): *** (Would’ve been higher if not for the two correspondents. Chevy’s jokes were red-hot tonight.)

THE SINGING IDLERS
The Singing Idlers perform “Semper Paratus” to dumber-than-dolphin scroll
host, SNL Band, The Singing Idlers perform “Sea Cruise”
   
— Wait, what’s this “people who dolphins are more intelligent than” disclaimer that suddenly showed up just now during the performance?
— Ha, the list of celebrities who are dumber than dolphins is pretty funny. Some of these same names were used in the screen crawl in Buck Henry’s monologue earlier this season. And like in that monologue, I’m not familiar with 70% of the names on this list, though I’m still laughing. If SNL did something like this nowadays, the celebrities on that dumber-than-dolphins list would probably be people like the Kardashians and Trump.
— Okay, now that that the list is done, the rest of this seems to be a non-joke legit musical performance.

CAR YUMMIES
Car Yummies cheese snacks are the fuel supplements your auto will love

— Okaaaay… well, THAT kinda just came and went without anything worth noting.
— I guess the idea of this ad was cute, though.
STARS: **

MUPPETS SUBSTITUTE
CHC’s hand puppets perform “Paying The Milkman” to fill in for Muppets
 
— Why did they feel the need to announce the Muppets won’t be appearing tonight, when we’ve already gone through the last few episodes without them?
— Why would the SNL Muppets be at that year’s Grammys? I thought people hated those characters.
— Is that Chevy doing these hand puppets?
— This has some pretty funny little gags like the milkman hand puppet holding an actual glass of milk, and him checking the time on the watch around his “neck”.
— Ah, that IS Chevy, I see.
— Overall, pretty funny, and amused me more than the actual Muppets have.
STARS: ***

WEGMAN
by Gary Weis- William Wegman [real] shows his weimaraner Man Ray’s skills
 
— Oh, so is Gary Weis now only doing shorts involving someone talking about their pet? This is the second episode in a row.
— Wow, what a frisky dog.
— The staring contest part was pretty funny, I admit.
— The World Trade Center ending made no sense.
STARS: **½

ANDY KAUFMAN
Andy Kaufman [real] & audience members lip-sync “Old MacDonald”

— We haven’t seen Andy in a while.
— This isn’t exactly funny so far, but is pretty charming & fun with the reactions of the participants.
— Overall, that was pretty cool. However, I definitely prefer Andy’s weirder pieces from other episodes. He surprisingly came off a lot more “normal” in this one than he usually does on SNL.
STARS: ***

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT?
persistent (host) wants to know what boyfriend (CHC) is thinking about
 
— Haha, after such a long set-up, the warthog ending was a very funny unexpected punchline.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GREAT MOMENTS IN HERSTORY, PART 3
Indira Gandhi (LAN) prefers gun to nonviolence

— John is pretty funny as the father.
— Uh, I think I missed whatever the joke of this was supposed to be.
STARS: ???

THE MR. BILL SHOW
by Walter Williams- malice disintegrates a clay man
  
— Dan’s intro in the stiff suit was pretty random.
— “A home movie sent in by Walter Williams”? Oh, is this gonna be the debut of Mr. Bill?
— Ah, it is!
— Mr. Bill’s voice sounds a bit different from how it would soon go on to usually sound.
— This is getting funnier and funnier as it goes along.
— Overall, this was great. I didn’t know until now that these Mr. Bill shorts started out as just a fan-made home movie.
STARS: ****

AUDIENCE CAPTION

— I don’t usually acknowledge these in my reviews, but I just wanted to point out that this particular one had the same “Adjust your set if it will make you happy” caption that randomly showed up during the festive goodnights of the preceding Desi Arnaz episode. I have to wonder now if that caption showing up in those goodnights was a technical error, and maybe they meant to use it earlier that night for an audience caption before the show ran out of time.

GOODNIGHTS
Grable (JAC) & Lombard (host)- movie features their marriage to one other
   
— Wait, is this even the goodnights? Is this a skit? Is this another ‘goodnights wedding’, ala Elliott Gould and Gilda Radner? What am I watching???
— “Grable and Lombard”. Okay, I know who those two actresses are, but I didn’t get the point of this. If the sole joke was simply how “hilarious” the idea of two women getting married to each other is – ohhh, boy. I don’t need to explain why the humor in that has not aged well at all.
— Now the regular goodnights credits scroll and music has begun playing, though there’s nobody on stage besides the three performers from the “Grable and Lombard” sketch.
— Just now, the scrolling credits got blocked by something for a few seconds. (third and fourth screencaps above) Did someone walk in front of the projector or something?

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very strong first half, but the quality dropped off in the second half, and the weird “Grable and Lombard” goodnights left me a bit cold for various reasons. This was still an overall good episode, though.
— Jill Clayburgh fit in well on the show and came off very natural as a host.
— Whoa, I just realized: did Jane Curtin appear in ANYTHING besides the goodnights sketch? I can’t recall seeing her in anything earlier than that. Wow. Just when it seemed like she was recently starting to branch out and get better roles, she’s been really invisible these last two episodes.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Desi Arnaz):
— a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Anthony Perkins

Posted on

February 21, 1976 – Desi Arnaz (S1 E14)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford (CHC) undergoes a free association test with analyst (DAA)
 
— Dan’s hair color looks lighter than usual.
— The “primary/lose” part was very funny.
— Overall, a decent Ford opening, but there have been better ones.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
 
— “Acapulco Gold”?
— Okay, it’s now obvious from the things Desi’s saying about it that it’s marijuana, which makes this yet another example of drug humor in 70s SNL. Still funny.
— Wow, that’s it? Very short monologue.
STARS: ***

NATIONAL EXPRESS
Rubin Carter (GAM) carries National Express Card to get recognized

— Hey, it’s the same guy Garrett played in the preceding episode’s Pledge Allegiance film that went right over my head.
— Wow, the audience is loving this. But I’m afraid the humor is lost on me. While I have read up on this Rubin Carter guy over the last day (thanks, Jurb) and now understand why Garrett appeared as him in the Pledge Allegiance film, I don’t understand this National Express sketch’s premise of people not recognizing him.
STARS: ???

IMPOTENCE
(JAC) consoles husband (CHC) after unsuccessful sex on his 40th birthday
 
— Funny twist at the end, and Chevy’s facial reaction was very good.
STARS: ***

LUCIANA VERMICELLI’S BEAUTY REGIMEN
Luciana Vermicelli’s (LAN) book details her ghoulish beauty regimen

— Is this another celebrity who I have no context for, or is this a fictional character?
— LOL at her hideous childhood pictures at the beginning.
— Regardless of who Laraine’s playing, this is actually pretty funny so far and she’s a perfect performer for a sketch like this. Considering the disturbing dialogue and Michael O’Donoghue’s penchant for casting Laraine as the lead in his weird sketches, I can’t help but wonder if he wrote this one.
— I didn’t get what Laraine was nervously reciting/singing before laying back down in the coffin.
— Lots of short sketches tonight so far.
STARS: ***½

LITERARY RECITAL
host’s Cuban accent mangles Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky
 
— I got a big laugh from Desi stopping mid-recital and asking “Who the hell talks like this???”
— The premise is a little too thin for my likes, though Desi’s reactions are keeping this fairly funny.
STARS: **½

VERY WHITE
Caucasian guy Very White’s (CHC) sexy singing attempt isn’t very soulful

— Ha, I’m already laughing at just the idea of Chevy Chase playing a Barry White-type character.
— Him acting like he was finally about to sing, only to end up just sneezing was pretty funny.
— Okay, this is starting to run out of steam. They should’ve ended this while the joke was still hot.
STARS: ***

I LOVE LUCY PILOTS
failed I Love Lucy pilots have other Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz Jr.) mates
host welcomes a surprise guest- SNL prop man Willie Day [real]
   
— I really like the idea of this.
— Weird hearing “Ricky Ricardo” sound like a white guy. Why isn’t Desi Arnaz Jr. attempting to imitate his dad’s voice/accent?
— Speaking of non-impressions, Garrett didn’t even TRY doing Louie Armstrong’s trademark raspy voice. Was Garrett always this bad at doing impressions?
— The “I Loathe Lucy” scene is my favorite so far.
— Good to see Tom Schiller’s Ricky Ricardo impression again.
— Very random ending, with Desi Arnaz acting like he was going to introduce an I Love Lucy-related special guest, only to bring out SNL’s prop man.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1

— Random gag at the beginning, with Don Pardo announcing that Chevy’s assistant will be filling in for him, only for Chevy to correct Don.
— Wow, that Edward Kennedy joke got absolutely no reaction.

SPEED
— Yet another mid-WU repeated commercial

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Betty Boop cartoon serves as artist’s rendering of Patty Hearst trial
 
— Foolishly, it took me a while to get the Nixon/China “I am not a clook” joke.
— As a lover of classical cartoons, I really like how tonight’s variation of the “Patricia Hearst trial artist’s rendering” gag is showing clips from a random Betty Boop cartoon. I always get a kick out of whenever SNL does that type of thing, like in an episode from 1984 when Rich Hall did an election report that treated clips from an old Heckle & Jeckle cartoon as if it was election footage.
— Wow, that’s it? Update’s over already? No guests? Probably for the better, considering how weak a lot of the side bits in the preceding episode’s Update were. And at least I didn’t have to see Emily Litella appearing for the 27th consecutive episode.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

THE UNTOUCHABLES
Eliot Ness (DAA) tracks Lucy (GIR) & Frank Nitti (host)
   
— I’ve actually started getting into old reruns of “The Untouchables” fairly recently. I can already tell I’m going to like this parody.
— The announcer of this sketch is doing an absolutely dead-on imitation of Walter Winchell’s announcing from the real show.
— And speaking of dead-on, Dan’s Robert Stack/Eliot Ness vocal impression is both uncanny and funny.
— Hey, it’s the Prisoners Audition set from the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore episode.
— What was with Michael O’Donoghue staring towards the camera with a frozen blank look on his face during his entire appearance? (you can see it in the background of the second screencap above) That did make me laugh, though.
— Interesting how this has turned into an “I Love Lucy” crossover.
— George Coe sighting!
— Very good ending.
— Overall, as an Untouchables fan, this sketch entertained me.
STARS: ***½

LUCY & ETHEL INTRO
Lucy (GIR) shows Ethel (JAC) costume ideas for sneaking into Ricky’s club

— I like how they’re keeping Gilda playing Lucy as a running theme tonight.
— Gilda’s Lucy performance continues to be fun, but I’m not sure where this sketch is going.
— Oh, looks like this was just an extended intro to Desi’s musical performance.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

PET TALK WITH TAYLOR MEAD
by Gary Weis- Taylor Mead [real] lauds his cat as it gets high on catnip

— Oddly enough, I had just read some stuff about this Taylor Mead guy when reading about Andy Warhol a few days ago.
— Uhhhhhh, I have absolutely no idea what to make of what the heck I’m watching right now.
STARS: Uhhhhhh…

CUBAN ACUPUNCTURE
practitioner of Cuban acupuncture (host) uses cigars on (JOB)’s migraines

— Hey, it’s the Untouchables set.
— I could already see the ‘Cuban cigar acupuncture’ reveal coming.
— I got a good laugh from John’s “I haven’t got many opens left” line.
— Haha, and now Desi one-upped that line with an even-funnier reply: “That’s what you think”.
— An interesting sketch to watch progress, even if some of it’s not all that funny to me.
— The vasectomy line at the end was worth a laugh, though.
STARS: ***

DOUBLE TALK
(CHC)’s nonsense words make communication with girlfriend (LAN) difficult

— SNL sure seems to like using their homebase stage as a restaurant set lately.
— Are they just re-using the same background extras from the Untouchables sketch?  I’m seeing O’Donoghue again and some others.
— Not too crazy about the premise of this sketch. I feel like I’ve seen this idea done funnier elsewhere, maybe even on this same show in a later era.
— I did like Chevy’s last line before he exited.
— The ending with John was predictable as hell.
STARS: **

BISEXUAL MINUTE
(JAC) recounts an early American’s lesbian affair

— Why does Jane keep glancing to the side?
— Hmm. Well, this sketch didn’t make me laugh (though I’m not sure if it was supposed to), but I guess Jane’s story was kinda interesting, at least.
STARS: **

DESI BOOK
Lucille Ball (GIR) comments on her inclusion in host’s new book

— Well, THAT ended almost as soon as it began, but I supposed it was just intended as a segue into the musical performance that has just started.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
host leads conga line of castmembers through studio
   
— Oh, wow, I’m loving this. Very fun to watch. I always enjoy whenever SNL does out-of-the-ordinary goodnights.
— I’m also liking how as they’re going around the studio, we can see the sets from tonight’s sketches.
— What’s with the “Adjust your set if it will make you happy” disclaimer on the bottom of the screen?

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— I’m a bit stumped over what to say about this episode overall. I felt like this episode was more “interesting” and “fun” than it was “funny”, as I didn’t find myself laughing out loud all that much throughout the show, but there were a lot of sketches where my enjoyment came from the performances rather than from the material itself.
— Desi basically played himself in everything, but he came off very likable and you can tell he really enjoyed doing a show like this.
— Again, no Muppets tonight. You’re spoiling me, SNL. It sure is going to be a disappointment when the Muppets do make their eventual return. Then again, maybe this hiatus will make me more tolerant of them.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Jill Clayburgh

Posted on

February 14, 1976 – Peter Boyle / Al Jarreau (S1 E13)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
during St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, valet (CHC) is riddled with bullets
 
— John Belushi has the ability to already get a good laugh from the audience by just simply walking into a scene with a fake mustache and accent.
— For some reason, I’m getting amusement out of watching Garrett’s background acting as the waiter.
— Chevy upped the ante with his usual falls, doing two consecutive big falls this time.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
host sings “My Funny Valentine” while girlfriend runs off with a stranger
 
— He’s holding a microphone already. Will he be doing stand-up?
— Oh, he’s going to sing, which, as I might have said before, is something I usually dread in monologues. But this IS Valentine’s Day, after all…
— Haha, great comedic twist with Peter’s sweetheart getting involved with the guy sitting next to her. I had been wondering why that guy was staring at her funny when Peter first introduced her to us.
STARS: ***½

THE CORRIDA
Ricardo Montalban (DAA) talks about the Corrida automobile’s faux luxury

— This is already making me laugh from the start.
— Overall, a decent commercial, helped by Dan’s very funny performance.
STARS: ***

SAMURAI DIVORCE COURT
Futaba & wife (JAC) split their assets
 
— “Futaba vs. Futaba”? Ah, I see this is going to be a Samurai sketch.  Who’s gonna be the other Futaba?
— Samurai’s wife? Well, this is gonna be different.
— Jane is really selling the fake Japanese gibberish.
— The Godzilla fake-out/desk-chop part was pretty funny.
— Wow, they didn’t even attempt to make that little girl look Japanese.
— I liked the fake freeze-frame ending.
STARS: ***

THE SHAPIRO SISTERS
The Shapiro Sisters [real] lip-sync & dance to “This Will Be”

— Uhhhhhh… cute, I guess?
STARS: N/A

ACID TRIP
stoners Jason (DAA) & Sunset (LAN) present slide show for neighbor (host)
   
— I’m liking how 70s this is.
— Laraine’s hippie character is pretty funny, though the voice sounds quite similar to her Sherry voice.
— We’re supposed to believe that’s Dan’s foot in that picture they’re showing right now, but if you know your Aykroyd trivia, you’d know that can’t be his foot because he has webbed toes in real life.
— Loved Dan just saying “That’s mine” when the hairy nipple picture showed up in his and Laraine’s slideshow.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
famous art makes up artist’s rendering of Patty Hearst trial testimony
GAM reports Olympic news from deserted Innsbruck
LAN reports from outside a snuff director’s room at the Blaine Hotel
   
— Showing professional paintings as “artist’s renderings” of the Patricia Hearst trial is a pretty funny variation on the gag of showing childlike Tom Schiller drawings.
— Hilarious Dorothy Hamill/Gerald Ford joke.
— What the heck was with the delayed start to Garrett’s commentary? That didn’t seem intentional. What went wrong there?
— And is there supposed to be scenery behind Garrett that we’re not seeing? We’re just seeing a plain blue screen behind him, even though we’re supposed to believe he’s “at the Olympics”.
— This Garrett bit is just a tired variation of Laraine’s Times Square commentary from earlier this season.
— I have to say, though, Garrett’s lament over having to cover “white sports” was kinda funny, even though it’s a cliched joke nowadays.
— I got an unintended laugh from Chevy’s mention of “CIA director George Bush”.
— Laraine’s Blaine Hotel bit didn’t work for me this time; it fell flat. The ones she did earlier this season were better.

K-PUT PRICE-IS-RITE STAMP GUN
— (sigh) Yet another rerun. Man, when was the last time a NEW fake ad was aired during an Update this season? And why does this season’s Updates even need to break in the middle for a fake ad anyway? I guess it’s to make this seem more like an authentic news broadcast from that time, but honestly, I’ve gotten tired of this format. I definitely prefer when Update is just one continuous un-broken segment. I’m guessing they don’t start doing that regularly until sometime after Jane takes over the Update desk the next season.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella thinks that “canker” research is a waste of money

— For the 50th time, please stop using the “guests of SNL stay at the Blaine Hotel” promo. It was only funny the first time.
— Oh, man, and speaking of tired rehashing, now we get Emily Litella AGAIN. This now makes, what, the third or fourth episode in a row she’s appeared in? I know she’s a well-remembered character nowadays, but come on, she was not flexible enough to be used EVERY WEEK.
— While there are many aspects of 70s SNL that I feel make modern-day SNL pale badly in comparison, there’s at least ONE thing I prefer about modern-day SNL: they at least know how to space out recurring characters’ appearances. We thankfully don’t have instances of the same recurring character appearing on Update week-after-week nowadays, unlike how 70s SNL had no qualms about using Emily Litella or Garrett’s “News for the Hard of Hearing” bit for long stretches of consecutive episodes. If they did that with any existing modern-day Update character from, say, Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, or Heidi Gardner, that would probably drive online SNL fans crazy.
— Please don’t tell me this baby sandpiper story Chevy’s telling is going to be the same one from the premiere.
— (sigh) I was right, it was the same story, right down to the exact same punchline.
— Overall, this Update was a huge letdown. The actual news jokes portion with Chevy was fine, but in regards the rest, there was WAAAAY too much lazy recycling for my likes. Easily the weakest Update of the season so far.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): **

ALL-PRO WRESTLING
Bees (JOB) & (host) vs. WASPs (CHC) & (GIR)
   
— It’s been a while since we’ve last seen the Bees.
— This is pretty fun to watch, as we don’t usually see anything this physical in a live sketch.
— Dan is great as the fast-talking announcer.
— LOL at the random “drop the cow” ending. This is the second episode in a row that happened. Was this SNL’s new go-to ending?
STARS: ***½

REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST
disguised Richard Nixon (DAA) philosophizes
 
— Haha, it’s Nixon!
— It’s hilarious hearing Dan do the gruff Nixon voice inside that ridiculous mask.
— Another great performance from Dan. I’m glad we’re seeing so much of him in tonight’s episode, considering how underutilized he seemed to be the last few episodes.
— Him doing the ‘ohm’ meditation thing gave me a big laugh just now.
STARS: ***½

PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
by Gary Weis- kids & Rubin Carter (GAM) recite Pledge Of Allegiance
 
— Is this gonna be another Gary Weis film? He’s been having a bad track record the past few episodes.
— It’s over already??? Uh… I’m definitely gonna need some clarification of what this was about, because I didn’t understand this AT ALL. Was this short making some kind of social or political statement? And who was Garrett playing at the end?
STARS: N/A

DUELLING BRANDOS
Duelling Brandos (host) & (JOB) trade Marlon’s famous movie lines
 
— They misspelled “Dueling” with two ‘L’s on the title card.
— Ah, yes, this is one of two sketches I was looking forward to seeing from this episode, after having only seen this in the form of a clip when Peter made a cameo in Ray Romano’s 1999 SNL monologue.
— I’m loving this, with Peter and John taking turns reciting increasingly-brief Brando movie quotes.
— Excellent ending with Peter and John yelling Brando’s rant from “On The Waterfront” in unison.
STARS: ****

JANITOR IN A FRIDGE
(JAC) convinces husband (host) that orgy participants are new products
   
— And here’s the second of two sketches I was looking forward to seeing, after reading a write-up about this just a few days ago.
— Jane is great acting like an overly-chipper commercial spokeswoman with that forced big smile. Between these last two episodes, Jane’s been getting a lot of nice showcases lately.
— Funny subtle bit with Garrett slowly walking away with Jane behind Peter’s back.
— Nice ending with Laraine.
STARS: ***½

A HOME MOVIE
by Howard Grunwald- a single shot of a house
 
— The audience is already chuckling and nothing’s even happened in the film yet, except for an exterior shot of a house.
— Oh, I get it. Haha, this is the entire “home movie”: a shot of a home. I love this type of humor.
STARS: ****

VALENTINE’S DAY CARD
GAM gives GIR a raunchy valentine

— Interesting pairing of Gilda and Garrett.
— Garrett’s increasingly-raunchy poem is pretty funny.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

HOMEWARD BOUND (GARY WEIS FILM)
— An encore presentation.

GOODNIGHTS
at closing, host points out handcuffed Patty Hearst lookalike in audience
 
_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good, fairly-consistent episode. There wasn’t much to complain about, and it was a nice rebound after the underwhelming Dick Cavett episode.
— Peter Boyle did fine throughout the show, though it felt like he was given too many straight roles.
— Thankfully, no Muppets tonight, for the second episode in a row. You’d almost think that SNL finally dropped them from their show permanently, but I recall hearing that their final SNL appearance was the first episode of season 2. So it looks like I still have more Muppet sketches to put up with until then.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dick Cavett):
— a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Desi Arnaz

Posted on

January 31, 1976 – Dick Cavett / Jimmy Cliff (S1 E12)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
envious GAM employs voodoo to make attention-getting CHC tumble
 
— Interesting way to address that Chevy was becoming a bigger star and getting more press than the rest of the cast.
— They keep mentioning “last week’s fall”, but Chevy didn’t do his traditional fall in that episode; he instead got “hit” with a pie.
— The twist of Garrett having a Chevy voodoo doll is hilarious.
— Great segue to the traditional Chevy fall.
STARS: ****

MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about various topics before “dropping the cow”
 
— His jokes here had been pretty good so far, but he really won me over just now with the sperm bank/losing-interest-after-making-a-deposit joke.
— Another good laugh came from the ‘dropping the cow’ part.
STARS: ***½

HUNTER BOYFRIEND
eager to be wed, (JAC) ignores misfires of her hunter boyfriend (CHC)
 
— I kinda saw where this was going, where Jane would have forgiving reactions to Chevy’s increasingly-unforgivable accidental shootings.
— This is featuring a really good Jane performance. It feels like she hasn’t gotten many showcases this season so far, beyond straight roles or talk show host roles.
— Ending was a bit strange.
STARS: ***

DICK CAVETT’S SCHOOL OF AUTO REFINISHING & UPHOLSTERY
enroll in host’s school to earn money via auto refinishing & upholstery

— Nothing special, but I liked the ending.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

H&L BROCK, PART 1
Lowell Brock (JOB) gives some reasons to use H&L Brock- they cheat
 
— Two sketches in a row with one person talking to the camera? This is usually one of my least favorite types of sketches.
— Like the preceding Cavett Upholstery sketch, this was also a quick piece, but I liked this more, as this had a funnier premise and better jokes.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
amateurish TOS drawings summarize the arraignment of Patty Hearst
in war-torn Angola, lonely British mercenary (DAA) wants sex with LAN
   
— The joke about Professor Backwards’ cries of “pleh pleh” while being murdered was great, and was one I had always heard about on some SNL boards.
— The Dan/Laraine bit had a pretty funny payoff.

FELINA CAT FOOD
— Rerun.
— I still don’t get what the joke of this was supposed to be.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella disagrees with an “eagle” rights amendment
TOS repeats the top story a la Ricky Ricardo for I Love Lucy fans
 
— Emily Litella AGAIN??? Man, are they overusing this character lately.
— She still had some funny lines tonight, though.
— The “News for ‘I Love Lucy’ Fans” bit was our latest in funny variations of “News for the Hard of Hearing”.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

DICK CAVETT’S SCHOOL OF HYDROPLANE OPERATION
enroll in host’s school of hydroplane operation for a solid future

— Oh, this is a recurring bit tonight?
— He said a slightly-different phone number than the one that was displayed onscreen.
— I’m finding this one even more forgettable than the first.
— Funny ending line, though.
STARS: **

OUR TOWN
Stage Manager (host) lists some of his favorite NYC problems

— Two solo Dick Cavett sketches in a row?
— Overall, I wasn’t too sure of this sketch at first, but it started winning me over towards the end. This was fairly funny in a dry way, and it had a unique structure.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

CAVETT LOOKALIKE
winner of a lookalike contest (Marshall Efron) doesn’t resemble host much

— Uh…………..
— This “lookalike” guy seems kinda funny, but I dunno, I’m not too crazy about this segment.
STARS: **

CLOTHING DESIGNER & PLASTIC SURGEON
by Gary Weis- in absentia, tailor & plastic surgeon improve each other
 
— Unlike the last two Gary Weis films, this one seems to have a somewhat-interesting premise.
— Okay, that was a letdown. I liked this film more for the idea than for the execution of it. At least this wasn’t as frustratingly pointless as Weis’ last two shorts, though.
STARS: **

DANCE TO THE NATION
Betty Ford (JAC) combines advice & modern dance
 
— This is the first time we’ve seen any of the cast since Update, which feels like 20 minutes ago.
— Another interesting showcase for Jane tonight, in another type of role we don’t usually see her in. Her performance in this is making me like the material more than I would under a lesser performance.
— A kinda funny ending with her thinking the inept “turkey” of a husband described in the third letter was her own husband Gerald.
STARS: ***

H&L BROCK, PART 2
another reason to use H&L Brock- they will bribe the IRS

— I liked the random little opening gag with the torn pieces of paper.
— Overall, not as funny as the first one was.
STARS: **½

LOOKS AT BOOKS
Nebraska Pimp host is a quaint prostitution practitioner

— I was expecting to see Jane as the host once again, but surprisingly, we get Chevy this time. A bit of a different role for him.
— Pretty funny seeing Cavett playing a pimp in a very “Dick Cavett” way.
— This started losing me towards the end, but they got me back with some funny lines at the end, especially Dick’s ad-lib(?) about the lack of audience laughter.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

H&L BROCK, PART 3
yet another reason to use H&L Brock- they have mob ties & cheap goods
  
— “We have close ties with the underworld” – Ha, I’m already liking this.
— Is John trying not to laugh?
— Hmm, and now the audience is laughing, too, as if something funny is happening off-camera. I wonder if this is the incident I remember reading about before, where a cast or crew member pranked John Belushi during a live sketch by tying his shoelaces together off-camera while John was speaking to the camera in-character.
— Yep, I was right. Haha, the sketch ended with the camera cutting to a wide shot where you could see someone crawling away from John, then John stood up and broke character a bit as he noticed his shoelaces are tied together. None of that was supposed to be part of the sketch, from what I read in the past. I also remember reading that John angrily mutters an audible “What the fuck? Goddammit!” when he notices his tied-together shoelaces, but I didn’t hear that at all just now. He just laughs and mumbles something indecipherable before the camera fades to black.
— Does anyone know the whole story behind this? Who was the person who tied John’s shoelaces together, and why’d they do it? Were they just goofing around? I guess this shows how loose SNL was back in these early years, because it’s hard to imagine an on-air prank like that being pulled in later SNL eras. The closest I can think of is an absolutely classic incident from 1983 where Eddie Murphy was performing a sketch and suddenly kept getting food thrown at him from off-camera by Joe Piscopo.
STARS: N/A (because the actual material of the sketch was completely overshadowed by the prank)

THE APPLE FOLLIES
by Harry McDevitt- peel show ends with arrests
   
— This is pretty interesting to watch.
— Funny gag with the stripper apple “undressing” by peeling its skin.
— Good ending with the director eating the cast.
— Considering this was a fan-made home video, this was well-done.
STARS: ***½

AL ALEN PETERSEN
hardhat Al Alen Petersen [real] becomes blonde girl to “I Gotta Be Me”
 
— Another strange special guest performer tonight.
— Whoa, what in the world am I watching???
— Overall, I have no idea what to make of this as a whole, but hey, I did laugh.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS
 
— After Cavett gives his goodnights speech (with nobody onstage with him, BTW), they just cut to still photos from opening montage while the ending credits scroll by and the goodnights music plays. This is similar to what they did in the rerun version I reviewed of the Rob Reiner episode, when the live show supposedly ran long and got cut off before they could even get to the goodnights. Did the show run long tonight, too?

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— I’ve been praising so many episodes lately, saying the show has been on a hot streak since episode 4. But tonight’s left me underwhelmed. A lot of the sketches had a middle-of-the-road feel, and there was almost nothing that I’ll remember by the time we reach the end of this season. I wouldn’t say this was a particularly “bad” episode; just a letdown compared to how strongly the show had been doing before this. This IS the fourth in a string of four consecutive live episodes, though, which could explain the drop in quality.
— Cavett handled himself well, and performed smoothly throughout the show. It didn’t feel like he played any characters, though; it seemed like he was “Dick Cavett” in every single sketch he appeared in. I guess the Our Town sketch was the only one where he played someone other than himself. He seemed to make a good impression on the people at the show, considering they bring him back to host again the following season, IIRC.
— A lot of the cast seemed underutilized, especially Gilda and Dan, who I think made their only appearance of the night on Weekend Update. Thinking back on the show, almost every sketch tonight each involved only one or two performers, so I guess that explains why a lot of cast members had such a light night. I wonder if that’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t too crazy about this episode.
— I just realized, there were no Muppets tonight, for the first time all season. THANK GOD.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Peter Cook & Dudley Moore):
— a step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Peter Boyle

Posted on

January 24, 1976 – Peter Cook & Dudley Moore / Neil Sedaka (S1 E11)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
bomb squad expert (CHC) attempts to deactivate a cream pie bomb
 
— George Coe sighting!
— It’s funny listening to the audience tittering during the long stretches of mock-tense silence.
— I’m already laughing right before Chevy’s even opened the box, because I heard about this before: a hand in the box is supposed to hit Chevy in the face with a pie, but the bit gets botched when the hand unintentionally misses his face, which actually sounds pretty funny to me. I think I also heard that it’s John Belushi’s hand in the box.
— Yep, I see I was right about the gag getting botched. I got a good unintentional laugh from that. I heard they actually re-do the gag properly during the goodnights.
— By the way, interesting how this didn’t end with Chevy doing a trademark fall for once. It’s good that they’re starting to branch out and have other silly things happen to him at the end of the cold openings.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Despite the fact that the cast members are still credited collectively in a list, Pardo has now started announcing their names individually for the first time ever.

MONOLOGUE
producer (Peter) tells one-legged actor (Dudley) he’s unfit to be Tarzan

— I’m not familiar with Peter Cook & Dudley Moore as a comedy team, but based on my familiarity with just Dudley and my love for British comedy, I already know I’m going to like them.
— This is very good so far, as expected.
— A funny little part just now with Dudley placing his non-leg onto the chair, accompanied by a light “thunk” sound.
— Great line from Peter: “I’ve got nothing against your right leg. The trouble is, neither have you.”
STARS: ****

UTAH PRISON
prisoners audition for parts in a jailhouse production of Gigi
 
— Another George Coe sighting!
— Oh, is this gonna be the famous sketch with Garrett singing “I’m Gonna Get Me a Shotgun and Kill All the Whiteys I See”?
— Dan’s whole scene is great so far.
— Dan’s insane rant at the end of his scene was hilarious! This is one of the types of Aykroyd performances I’ve been loving the most while going through these episodes one-by-one.
— LOL at Chevy suddenly lunging at Gilda in the middle of his harmonica solo.
— Chevy’s pedophile song – uh, wow…
— Ah, yes, the classic Garrett song. This is a riot just like I had remembered.
— I’m surprised to see that Garrett’s song is just a small part of the sketch. From the clip I had always seen of it, I had assumed it was its own sketch.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

DON PARDO’S HOLIDAY IN AN ELEVATOR
(GIR) & (DAA) go on the low-cost vacation
 
— Very interesting premise.
— I like how every country the elevator opens up on is just Dudley in front of a green-screen with a fake animal head.
— Dudley saying “No way, no way” to doing the Borneo part was great.
— The un-tucked uniform on Chevy as the “cop” was a little detail I liked.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC’s attempt to call Angola ends up reaching Angela’s roommate JAC
at Times Square, LAN asks (GAM) for his opinions on abortion
 
— If Jane’s playing herself, why are we supposed to believe she would be at home during a live SNL episode?
— Jane’s “stringing beads” line was a funny callback to Chevy’s opening phone conversation gag.
— “Swarms of killer bees from South America crossing the border…” Oh, so THAT’S why they did that Killer Bees sketch a few episodes ago. I hadn’t realized it was based on a topical news story.
— Hilarious ad-lib with Chevy briefly spouting random Spanish after messing up the beginning of the Great Britain plane joke.

MIDDLE AMERICAN VAN LINES
— rerun

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella doesn’t understand the fuss about “saving Soviet jewelry”
CHC declares a moratorium on Gerald Ford jokes, then finds a loophole
aided by showering ALZ, CHC repeats the top story for wet people
 
— Loved the bit with Chevy having to combine two unrelated news stories since Update was “pressed for time”.
— The “News For the Wet” is our latest variation of “News for the Hard of Hearing”. I didn’t think this one was all that funny, though. I do like how these have been a nice way for Alan Zweibel to get some airtime.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

TABLE TALK
(Dudley) interviews The Frog & Peach restaurant owner (Peter)

— I’m already laughing right at the beginning, with Peter kicking Dudley’s clipboard out of his hand while crossing his legs.
— I’m really enjoying watching these two play off of each other.
— Again, this has the type of absurd British humor that I love.
— A good laugh from Peter’s anti-World War II letter: “Dear sir, stop it.”
— The whole bit about Peter’s character’s wife is hilarious.
STARS: ****

THE PARAMOUNT NOVELTY STORE
by Gary Weis- shop owner explains the jokes

— Where is this going? So far, this has been nothing but the store owner showcasing different novelty items.
— And that’s the end??? Man, I can accept the fact that there weren’t any jokes in this, as I know serious segments weren’t uncommon during this SNL era, but this short wasn’t even interesting or entertaining. What in the world was this going for???
— I had heard somewhere that Gary Weis’ SNL shorts were generally bad, but I wasn’t willing to believe it earlier this season after seeing his heartwarming “Homeward Bound” short and his creative “Play Misty for Me” short. But after his short tonight and his one from the preceding episode with Buck Henry searching for the funniest person, I’m slowly starting to understand why his shorts were supposedly considered bad.
STARS: *

SONNY & CHER
British Sonny (Dudley) & Cher (Peter) sing “I Got You Babe” & trade barbs

— Haha, oh my god at the initial sight of Peter and Dudley dressed like that.
— This is pretty funny, with the Scottish version of “I Got You Babe” and the spot-on imitation of bad Sonny & Cher humor.
STARS: ***½

GILDA & SCRED
GIR breaks it to Bee Scred that the Bees skit has been cut from the show

— Well, this is different. Hopefully, this means we won’t be getting our usual “Land of Gorch” Muppets sketch tonight.
— Hey, this is actually kinda cute so far.
— I like how when imitating Chevy’s Update shtick, Scred referenced Chevy’s habit of ad-libbing “toyboat toyboat”.
— This and the sketch with Lily Tomlin prove that Scred is actually a charming character when used the right way.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

BACKSTAGE BANTER
JAC interviews male impersonator Sheila Ellington (JOB)

— Hmm, unique premise with John as a woman who’s a male impersonator.
— It’s funny how this is being played so straight.
— The ‘cramps’ bit was great.
— John’s brief Rod Steiger impression just now sounded the exact same as the voice he used in the Exterminators sketch from the Robert Klein episode. Was that Exterminators sketch a parody of a Rod Steiger movie that I’m not aware of?
STARS: ***

LOVERS
neither (CHC) nor (Jaqueline Carlin) use products to feel more attractive

— Another appearance from Chevy’s then-girlfriend and occasional SNL extra Jacqueline Carlin.
— Uh, what??? That’s the whole commercial???? It was, like, 10 seconds long, and its punchline was a voice-over simply saying “neither of these two people used any commercial product to make themselves more attractive to each other”. I guess that’s kinda funny if it was intended as a spoof of the type of beauty product commercials I’m thinking of, but this came off a little too random for its own good.
STARS: **

OPERATING ROOM
not-quite-deceased (GAM) objects to having his organs harvested
 
— Another very short sketch, though at least this one had an actual good punchline.
STARS: ***½

GOSPEL TRUTH
Matthew (Dudley) interviews a shepherd (Peter) who saw the baby Jesus

— I’m liking all the little ad-libs they keep throwing in here. I caught Dudley stifling a little laughter a few times.
— So far, this is yet another fun Peter/Dudley piece, and I’m enjoying all the wordplay here.
STARS: ***½

GOODNIGHTS
CHC & hosts redo the botched opening
 
— Ah, so I was right when I said I remember hearing they re-did the cold opening’s botched pie gag. Haha, this is pretty cool.
— Oh, so that really WAS John as the pie-thrower in the cold opening.
— Okay, now that the goodnights music is playing, where’s the rest of the cast?
— And why is there no scrolling ending credits? Technical error?
— Oh, there’s the credits. For some reason, the credits are in yellow text tonight instead of the usual white text that’s typically been used this season.
— Oh, and there’s the rest of the cast, showing up one-by-one.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Yet another pretty solid, fun episode, even if not quite as strong as the last two that preceded this.
— This episode made great use of the hosts, not only utilizing them well in sketches with the cast, but also giving them lots of spots throughout the show to do their two-man act, all of which were solid.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Buck Henry):
— a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Dick Cavett

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January 17, 1976 – Buck Henry / Bill Withers, Toni Basil (S1 E10)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
suicide hotline worker (CHC) takes a fall while trying to field a call
 
— Wow, we’re getting our trademark Chevy fall right out of the gate at the beginning of this cold opening.
— Haha, the gunshot heard from the other end of the call is dark, but funny.
— Wow, that’s it? That’s gotta be one of the shortest cold openings in the show’s history. The brevity definitely worked here, as a very quick ‘set-up & punchline’ funny gag.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
on-screen super lists people the producers called before settling on host
 
— For some reason, I thought this episode had that great monologue where Buck fails to show up on stage because he’s stuck downstairs arguing with NBC pages who won’t let him into the show, and Lorne has to come downstairs to rescue him. I guess that’s from the episode Buck hosted later this season.
— SNL’s very first of what would be quite a number of “screen captions” monologues over the years, where the host’s speech is overshadowed by disclaimers on the bottom of the screen.
— The long list of potential hosts SNL called before Buck is very funny, even if I’m not familiar with 70% of these names.
— I wonder why they listed “The Two Stooges”. Who would that have been? All of the main Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly, and Shemp) were dead by this point. I guess SNL’s referring to lesser-known Stooges Joe Besser and “Curly Joe” DeRita.
— Haha, Generalissimo Francisco Franco was on the list just now.
— It looks like an extra name got cut off right when the screen crawl went away.
— The “We? Buck’s a little out of line here” caption gave me a big laugh.
— The “Buck’s favorite charities/favorite activities” lists were also very funny, especially how the latter just repeated the same list as the former.
— Wow, this list of “people we are calling now” has even MORE celebrities I’ve never heard of. It’s still giving me a laugh, though.
STARS: ***½

SAMURAI DELICATESSEN
Futaba makes a sandwich for Mr. Dantley (host)
 
— Probably the most famous installment of John’s Samurai sketches.
— Interesting how he’s already getting a good amount of recognition applause from the audience, despite this only being his second sketch.
— Loved him using his forehead to split open the hero bread in half.
— Great part with him about to use his sword to commit seppuku after he messed up Buck’s order.
— Interesting to see that right from the start, Buck was always excellent at playing off of Futaba.
— Nice fake-out with Futaba violently taking out his sword only to end up just gently cutting the sandwich in half.
— Overall, I’d say of all the Samurai sketches I’ve ever viewed, this one is definitely the quintessential installment.
STARS: ****½

PRESIDENTIAL FOREPLAY
affair claimant (GIR) mixes up Richard Nixon & JFK

— A very different role for Gilda. I’m not used to seeing her play sultry characters.
— The twist at the end where it turns out she was actually talking about Nixon instead of JFK was decent, but overall, I wasn’t all that crazy about this sketch.
STARS: **½

AN OVAL OFFICE
Ron Nessen (host) & Gerald Ford (CHC) launch Operation Stumblebum
   
— I don’t know why, but I’m already laughing just from the quiet beginning where the “An Oval Office” title graphic showed up on screen.
— Hilarious how after Chevy says to the already-sitting Buck “Come on in and sit down”, Buck actually gets up, leaves the room, re-enters, and sits down.
— The little things Chevy keeps doing during the briefing are pretty funny.
— The stuffed dog tipping over when Chevy says “Lie down, Liberty” is a memorable gag.
— Some of the odd-looking NBC logos on the press conference microphones Buck’s speaking into seem to be a reference to an Update joke in the preceding episode, where they displayed a series of (fake) unused NBC logos.
— This is great with Buck, Garrett, and John imitating Chevy’s constant blunders.
— Ah, I recognize Lorne’s voice as one of the off-camera press people asking the president a question.
— Haha, the imitations of Chevy’s blunders is now getting insane and is killing me.
— All-in-all, a hilarious sketch.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (BILL WITHERS)

THE EVELYN WOODSKI SCHOOL OF SPEED READING
poor reader Evelyn Woodski (LAN) advertises her speed reading school
 
— Wow. Much like the cold opening, here’s another sketch that surprised me with how extremely brief it was. I thought what I was watching here was just the set-up to the main premise, but it ended up being the entire sketch.
— Again, the brevity definitely worked here, and was much funnier than if they had tried to stretch this joke out into a normal-length sketch, where it could’ve risked getting old.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC’s midnight call to Angola reaches janitor (GAM) at 6am
 
— Hmm, instead of the usual “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not”, we instead get “I’m Chevy Chase and I love you all very deeply”.
— Considering the sketch that preceded this, it’s funny seeing Chevy have a hard time reading off the word “Presbyterian”.
— I’m glad the Angola phone call bit didn’t just end up being yet another “Angelo’s Pizza” mix-up. Garrett as the janitor was pretty funny with his confused reactions.
— Got a good laugh from the “killer dope / squirrel playing with his nuts” joke.
— Chevy’s coming off pretty stumbly with his delivery tonight. Toyboat.

GERMASOL
roll-on Germasol air freshener removes foul odors without aerosol
 
— Why does Gilda look so much taller than usual in this?
— While the initial sight gag with the giant deodorant stick was funny at first, it wasn’t enough to carry this whole commercial. The joke fell kinda flat after a while.
STARS: **½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
CHC mocks Henry Zuckerman (host) during his anti-masturbation editorial
dead ALZ helps CHC repeat the top story for deceased viewers
 
— Ohh, here comes the ‘Chevy makes goofy faces behind a correspondent’ routine again.
— Geez, the ‘goofy faces’ routine felt half-assed this time. Chevy didn’t get anywhere near as into it as he usually does. Hell, I got more laughs from Buck’s actual speech than from the faces Chevy was making during it.
— Like how the preceding episode’s Update substituted the overused “News for the Hard of Hearing” bit with a new segment called “News for the Foreigners”, tonight’s Update has a very funny new variation called “News for the Dead” featuring Alan Zweibel as an unresponsive dead body.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

CITIZEN KANE II
a search for meaning of his post-“Rosebud” words
   
— Wow, this is the first time we’ve seen Dan all night, which is odd since the episode’s halfway over.
— Quite a fast mid-sketch costume change for Chevy.
— Dan is fantastic in this.
— LOL at Chevy’s crooked mustache after he had to quickly re-change back into the elderly version of his character.
— Haha, and now Chevy has started cracking up. It looked like Laraine began smirking a bit before him, too. I wonder what happened to make them lose it like that. Was it Chevy’s sloppily-applied fake mustache? BTW, I guess this counts as SNL’s very first major instance of performers breaking during a sketch.
— The “roast beef on rye with mustard” ending was pretty funny.
— Overall, this was an interesting and pretty entertaining Citizen Kane parody.
— Oh, wait, we’re not done yet. Now there’s an “Introducing the Cast” bit that I thought at first glance was the beginning of a separate sketch, but appears to be part of this Citizen Kane sketch.
— Ha, Chevy’s still laughing a bit.
— This “Introducing the Cast” bit is kinda funny with all the awkward pauses, though I’m not sure if that’s intended to get a laugh or not.
— At times, Tom Schiller reminds me so much of future cast member Fred Armisen. There’s something similar about their facial features & expressions.
STARS: ***½

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Scred & Peuta try to figure out how their new Japanese sex device works

— (groan)
— Hmm, they’re back to doing the usual intro sequence, after not using it in the last two Muppets sketches.
— Scred thumping Peuta on the head twice and asking “Feel anything now?” was kinda funny, at least.
— Oh, man. Seeing/hearing these Muppets acting out sex is just plain disturbing.
— One positive thing to this installment is that it was surprisingly much shorter than the usual Muppets sketches. Doesn’t make it any better, though. That unnecessary ‘puppet sex’ sequence killed any redeeming factors this may have potentially had.
— Oddly, Ploobis was nowhere to be seen in this one, despite the fact that he’s, you know, THE MAIN CHARACTER.
STARS: *½

TRIPLE-TRAC
— rerun

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (TONI BASIL)

MECHANICS BEDTIME STORY
auto mechanic (DAA) tells his daughter (GIR) bedtime car repair stories

— Gilda’s always very convincing playing little girls.
— The ‘Bambi getting run over’ part of the story was pretty funny.
— Overall, this was decent.
STARS: ***

WHY CALL IT DOPE?
drug user (CHC) misuses a joint- “Why do you think they call it ‘dope’?”
 
— I almost thought at first that this was going to turn into the recurring(?) “A President’s View on Marijuana” bit they did in this era, where the camera shows “the president”’s hands unsuccessfully attempting to roll a joint.
— It’s very funny when you come to the realization of what Chevy’s going to try to do with the joint.
— Hilarious punchline with the “Why do you think they call it ‘dope’” ending title card.
STARS: ****

WHO’S FUNNY?
by Gary Weis- host looks for the funniest person in Irvington, New York
 
— Why was the studio audience already laughing at the beginning of Buck’s intro?
— Uh, and that’s the end? Huh? I thought the lady calling herself the funniest person would, you know, actually SHOW us how she’s the funniest person, but then this film ended before anything even happened there. Maybe I didn’t “get” what this was going for.
STARS: ehh, I don’t know…

THE BLUES BROTHERS
Blues Brothers Jake (JOB) & Elwood (DAA) perform “King Bee” with SNL Band
 
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Interesting how these two wore Bee costumes in their debut, which is something that eventually got dropped in their later appearances.
— Another unusual thing about this is that Dan’s not singing along with John; he’s only playing harmonica in the background the whole time.
— John’s cartwheels and flips are fun and impressive.
— Overall, this was absolutely great.
STARS: ****½

IMPRESSIONIST MICHAEL O’DONOGHUE
MOD does impression of Mike Douglas having long needles plunged into eyes
 
— Ha, I can tell just from Buck’s intro that this is gonna be the famous “celebrities’ eyes plunged with needles” bit making its first appearance. Of Michael O’Donoghue’s many disturbing, weird ideas that would appear on the show over the years, this bit has always been one of my favorites.
— After the kind-hearted set-up where O’Donoghue gives all this praise to Mike Douglas, it’s funny to hear the audience reaction when O’Donoghue slowly reveals what his “impression” is going to be.
— O’Donoghue writhing all around the stage while screaming is as hilarious as I’ve always found it.
STARS: ****

AMERICAN CONSTIPATION SOCIETY
neighbors’ euphemisms about (host)’s constipation make him uncomfortable
 
— I’m liking how all the constipation euphemisms & cliches are getting more and more out of hand.
— Buck’s facial reaction is great, too.
— Ha, and now this is getting even funnier with more and more people randomly coming in to join in on the euphemisms.
STARS: ***½

GOODNIGHTS
at closing, host announces that the entire SNL cast & crew is gay

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Yet another solid episode, keeping alive the long streak of good shows since episode 4. I’m so impressed with how consistently well SNL has surprisingly been doing this early into its run.
— You’d have never guessed that this was Buck’s first hosting stint. Right out of the gate, he came off as a total pro who’s already been doing this for years, navigating his way through the sketches with total ease & perfection. His interplay with the cast was also fun and seemed so natural. There’s a reason it became a tradition for him to host multiple times per season during this era (IIRC, he becomes a 10-time host over the course of just five seasons).

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elliott Gould):
— about the same

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

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January 10, 1976 – Elliott Gould / Anne Murray (S1 E9)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
a chain reaction in The Dead String Quartet causes cellist (CHC) to fall
   
— The inactive, silent beginning of this with the dead quartet just sitting there is giving me a big laugh, and it’s also funny hearing the audience reaction during it.
— Oh, that was absolutely great just now, with the very slow chain reaction of each quartet member tipping to the side while “playing” a slight musical note, culminating in Chevy doing a particularly funny fall at the end.
— Overall, that was brilliant. My favorite cold opening of the season so far.
STARS: ****½

OPENING MONTAGE
— “New talent Franken and Davis”. It looks like this episode is when those two start doing their recurring comedy segment.

MONOLOGUE
host sings “Let Yourself Go” & “Crazy Rhythm” before tap-dancing
GIR tells host that she had a wonderful time with him last night
 
— Kind of a weird beginning to this, but he’s carrying himself well and showing interesting stage presence right out of the gate.
— I guess this counts as SNL’s very first instance of what’s usually my least favorite monologue trope: the host singing and dancing. Since it was a new thing for monologues back at this time, I’ll go easy on this.
— Despite the fact that this is a non-comedic performance, Elliott’s doing a great job and is actually making me get into this song. The studio audience is loving it too. Oh, and now he’s tap-dancing? Impressive.
— Gilda’s back-and-forth with Elliott about “last night” took this into a different direction, and was charming like most sketches with Gilda playing herself are. However, I kept expecting some kind of twist during their conversation, but then it just ended.
STARS: ***

TRY-HARD 1-11
— rerun

INTERIOR DEMOLITIONISTS
interior demolitionists (host) & (CHC) wreck the home of (JAC) & (DAA)
 
— I’m loving this random premise.
— This got even funnier just now with the handheld wrecking ball used to destroy the TV.
— Loved them cutting down the chandelier just to break the table under it.
— Strange when the couch barely moved when it “exploded”. Was there a special effects failure there?
— Dan coming downstairs and reacting angrily to all the mess is great.
— Was it intentional for the vase NOT to break when Jane threw it at the wall?
STARS: ****

GODFATHER THERAPY
support group members Vito Corleone (JOB) & Sherry discuss their troubles
 
— Oh, THIS, the “Vito, you’re blocking” sketch. I’m happy to finally get to see it, after hearing great things about it for years.
— Ah, now Laraine’s Sherry character has the familiar blonde wig that she was missing in her first appearance earlier this season.
— John is doing a fantastic Godfather impression, and his performance is cracking me up a lot. This is another sketch that’s proving to me that he had a lot more range than just the wild performances I remembered most from him.
— Great line just now with the ASPCA going after Vito for “this horse thing”.
— The non-verbal orange-peel-in-the-mouth enactment was insane and very funny.
— Laraine’s doing an excellent job with her whole long spiel.
— Overall, this sketch definitely lived up to all of the hype.
STARS: *****

NEW SHIMMER
new Shimmer can be used as both a floor wax & a dessert topping
 
— Ah, and here’s another well-known piece from this era that I’ve never seen for myself until now.
— This is already very funny, with Dan and Gilda’s bickering at the beginning.
— Interesting seeing Chevy play a commercial pitchman.
— All-in-all, a very funny and cute ad.
STARS: ****½

PLAY MISTY FOR ME
by Gary Weis- lounge pianists perform interpretations
 
— Another serious, non-comedic Gary Weis film. This isn’t having anywhere near the same effect on me that his touching “Homeward Bound” short had, but I like the structure of this one, with the back-and-forth cutaways to different performances of the same song.
STARS: ***

GILDA & ELLIOTT
GIR tells host that she meant everything she said to him last night

— Ah, a continuation of the storyline from the monologue. Now I see why the monologue ended so abruptly when I expected there to be a twist.
— This was too short to give a rating to, as it just segued into introducing the musical guest performance, but I always like when SNL does a running storyline throughout an episode.
STARS: N/A

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC again reaches Angelo’s Pizza during attempt to reach Angola
LAN reports from Cape Canaveral on attempt to dump nerve gas into space
 
— “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not” got absolutely no audience reaction just now.
— The Angola/Angelo’s Pizza bit from the last Update wasn’t really necessary to repeat a second time.
— The gradual explosion of the deadly gas-loaded rocket behind Laraine had a very slow but hilarious build-up.

JAMITOL

— Rerun. Weird that they would re-air this in the middle of Update, since this ad stars Chevy as a character.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
CHC & wife MOD have a domestic squabble at the newsdesk
as a safety measure, CHC volunteers to test marijuana sent in by viewers
a look at some early designs of the new NBC network logo
as an aid to foreigners, CHC repeats the top story in a foreign language
 
— Ah, the Jamitol storyline is continuing into Update! Chevy and Michael’s argument at the Update desk was funny. Interesting how they played it off like they were actually playing themselves in the commercial.
— Yet another “toyboat” ad-lib when Chevy flubs a joke.
— Good bit with Chevy informing viewers to mail any “killer dope” to his home address.
— Hmm, him doing a “News for the Foreigners” bit. So I take it they finally realized how much they were overusing the “News for the Hard of Hearing” bit. Thank god, because MAN was I getting tired of seeing that in every Update.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

THE KILLER BEES
Killer Bees take (GIR) & (CHC) hostage in an attempt to get pollen
LOM finds reason for poor camera work- drunk director Dave Wilson [real]
GIR introduces host to her mother (Paula Kahn)
     
— The random Sandy Duncan ad on the radio gave me a good laugh.
— I’m liking this new variation of the Bees running gag.
— The right end of the “The Killer Bees” logo looked like it was cut off.
— Haha, this is great, with them dropping character and breaking the fourth wall regarding the camera staying on the wrong shot.
— Ah, we have Lorne Michaels’ very first on-camera appearance.
— As the camera’s following Lorne backstage while the cast is talking off-camera about Lorne losing his temper, I got an unintentional big laugh just now from whoever’s voice that was (I think Chevy) mistakenly saying “I’ve seen Elliott mad, but… uh, I mean, Lorne, not Elliott…”
— This is also, I believe, SNL’s very first instance of showing someone walking through the halls backstage.
— Lorne arriving in the control room and finding a drunk Dave Wilson is hilarious! Man, I’m loving this.
— I love John’s mock-dramatic “He’s in there… firing… his own father” speech.
— Right now, this segued back into the Gilda & Elliott storyline, which is pretty funny, though I feel it’s slowing down the great momentum of where this sketch had been going before then.
— I’m assuming that’s just an actress and not Gilda’s real mom.
— Man, this was one jam-packed sketch.
STARS: ****

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
(James L. Brooks) & other audience researchers study Albert Brooks [real]
   
— This is going to be his last SNL short, eh? I’ve actually enjoyed his work this season, aside from whatever that “Sick in Bed” short was supposed to be.
— The visual quality of this is noticeably a lot better than most of his other shorts.
— No big laughs so far, but I’m enjoying this.
— His frustration with the old couple viewing him via satellite is funny.
— Great part with that one guy vehemently going on to Albert about how he hates him.
— If this really was Albert’s last short, he left on a pretty good note. Overall, he added a unique voice to these early SNL episodes.
STARS: ***

GILDA & ELLIOTT
GIR asks host to consider the possibility of marriage

— The “Mr. Gilda Radner” line was pretty funny.
— Another charming continuation of the storyline.
STARS: ***

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
affair of Scred & Peuta is jeopardized when Ploobis becomes suspicious

— Neither this nor the preceding episode’s Muppets segment opened with the usual intro sequence. I wonder if it’s because Jim Henson and/or SNL have become aware that a lot of people have been hating these sketches.
— Yet ANOTHER bad ending punchline from The Mighty Favog.
— Overall, this installment wasn’t exactly horrible, but I still didn’t like it at all. I’ve gone easy on the first few Muppets sketches this season, but I knew it wouldn’t be long until I’d start understanding why everybody hated them. The Richard Pryor episode is when I officially reached that point. And to think, I still have the rest of the season to put up with this! Why does Albert Brooks have to leave mid-season, but not THESE guys?
STARS: *½

BIRTHRIGHT
doctors (DAA) & (host) explain their preferred birth methods
 
— Hmm, the set-up of this is going on so long, I can’t predict where this is headed.
— Okay, after Dan’s calm, conventional birthing technique, I can predict what the joke will be: Elliott’s technique will be chaotic and loud.
— Yep, I was right. Even though I saw it coming, it was still pretty funny.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

FRANKEN AND DAVIS
ALF & TOD present alternate society in which Indians stereotype whites
 
— Nice to see them actually appearing, and not doing another Pong voice-over bit again.
— The ‘alternate universe’ in which Indians won instead of the whites is an interesting concept.
— The racist white team names are all very funny.
— Overall, a good segment, and knowing that “the comedy team of Franken and Davis” goes on to become a recurring feature on SNL this era, this first appearance was a nice way to introduce them to viewers.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS
at closing, a priest (MOD) marries GIR & host
 
— Oh, wow, this sudden “wedding” came out of nowhere and is a funny way to end the show. I like that the Gilda/Elliott storyline built up to this.
— Dave Wilson’s name being crossed out during the scrolling credits is a great reference to his “firing” earlier.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very solid episode. The first half was especially strong, featuring some all-time well-remembered pieces like Godfather Therapy, Shimmer, and The Dead String Quartet. There was also a great post-WU Killer Bees sketch that had a fantastic meta turn midway through.
— The impressive long streak of solid shows since episode 4 stays alive.
— The sketches must’ve been longer than what we’ve usually been seeing this season, since there was noticeably a much smaller amount of segments tonight compared to the last few episodes.
— Elliott was a fun and loose host, and the bits with him and Gilda was a nice running storyline that escalated humorously. I can definitely see why he went on to become a frequent host of this era. I can’t recall when his next hosting stint is, but knowing how things were done on SNL back in these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s later this same season. As a side note, I wonder why getting someone to host multiple times in one season eventually fell by the wayside sometime in the 80s. It would be fun if they still continued that to this day.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Candice Bergen):
— a slight step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Another future five-timer makes their hosting debut: Buck Henry

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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

Posted on

December 13, 1975 – Richard Pryor / Gil Scott-Heron (S1 E7)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
CHC gives pointers after yielding to host’s wish that GAM do the fall
 
— Interesting seeing them actually acknowledge that it’s become a tradition for every cold opening to have Chevy to do a fall and say LFNY.
— Wow, that was possibly Chevy’s best fall so far this season.
— Our very first non-Chevy LFNY, which I believe happens only one more time this season later on.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about an alcohol-induced bar fight & an acid trip

— I think it’s safe to say that by this point in the show’s timeline, it’s finally become an official tradition for hosts to make an entrance after Pardo announces their name.
— Knowing that this is going to be Richard Pryor doing stand-up, I can already predict right now that I’ll probably have next-to-nothing to type while watching this, because 1) I’ll be too engaged in the stand-up, and 2) it would be too much for me to list every single thing I find funny in this.
— I believe that’s the very first time the words “bitch” and “ass” have ever been uttered on SNL. I might be wrong, but I don’t recall hearing either those words in any of the previous episodes I reviewed this season.
— His imitation of a person on acid is freaking great.
— Overall, absolute A+ comedy as expected. I lost count of the number of times I nearly busted a gut laughing.
STARS: *****

SAMURAI HOTEL
Futaba (JOB) & bellboy (host) fight over (CHC)’s luggage
 
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Right out of the gate, John is fantastic in everything he’s doing as this character. Even the foreign gibberish he mutters is cracking me up.
— Chevy is doing fine, but I’ve always felt Buck Henry was the best at playing straight man to Futaba.
— LOL at Richard suddenly appearing as a black samurai. And, oh my god, that insane wig…..
— “Your mama-san” was a hilarious line.
— Very funny out-of-character moment with Futaba saying in a humble American voice “I can dig where you’re comin’ from”. From what I remember reading before, this ends up being the only time he ever spoke English in any of his sketches.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

LOOKS AT BOOKS
Junior Griffin (host) talks about his life as a Caucasian
 
— The book is titled “White Like Me”? Heh, I don’t think I need to say which future classic SNL sketch THAT brings to mind.
— I got a big laugh from Richard saying he accomplished becoming white by simply using shoe polish.
— His “white guy walk” is hilarious.
— Overall, this whole sketch can, in many ways, be considered the spiritual precursor to the aforementioned future classic sketch that needs not be named. While tonight’s version wasn’t QUITE as great, this was still a very strong piece.
STARS: **** ½

NEW DAD
— rerun

LINE-UP #1
rigged police line-up leads to handcuffed (host) being chosen as culprit

— Overall, a funny quick piece, and I always love when these early episodes do “blackout gag”-type mini-sketches that are basically just ‘set-up & punchline’.
STARS: ***½

WORD ASSOCIATION
interviewer (CHC) conducts racially-charged free association with (host)

— Oh, here we are, folks…
— Richard’s subtly-annoyed facial reaction after Chevy’s “tar baby” is perfect, and is the official kickoff point of this sketch’s main humor.
— What does “ofay” mean? That’s something I’ve always wondered ever since first seeing this sketch. However, I still always laugh at Richard’s great delivery of that word.
— Ah, and there it is – the immortal moment that defines this classic sketch. That part still kills me no matter how many times I’ve seen it. It goes without saying why it’s so funny, but a little detail that I’ve always felt added to its greatness is the dramatic pause Chevy does right before saying you-know-what.
— And as if that epic moment wasn’t perfect enough, the aftermath just now with Richard’s face-twitching during his intense staredown of Chevy was a hilarious way to follow it.
— Overall, unarguably one of the greatest SNL sketches of all-time.
STARS: *****

PONG
Pong-playing college students recount a rough hockey outing

— What’s with Franken’s lisp? He didn’t speak like that in the previous installments of this segment.
— Oh, I see, the lisp is from a hockey accident they’re going into detail about right now.
— Funny ending line.
— Overall, another okay edition of this segment, but I’m not too sure if I want to see these continue. The novelty of its unique format is starting to wear off, and I can see myself starting to get tired of these if there are any more of them.
STARS: ***

THEY’RE TAKING OVER
(DAA)’s paranoia about black takeover misses changes in his own family
 
— I’m absolutely loving the structure of this so far, with each family member returning as a black person while Dan obliviously rants on.
— “Pass the grits” – haha! A perfect ending line.
— Overall, a brilliant sketch.
STARS: ****½

NEXT WEEK
(no synopsis available)

— Another straightforward bit with Gilda informing us who’s going to be next week’s guests.
— Gilda again manages to come off so likable in such a simple non-comedic segment.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
 
— I’m glad Chevy’s back to actually saying funny things during the opening “phone conversation” gag, after the baffling bit in the preceding episode where he said absolutely nothing during the phone call.
— Ah, we get our very first utterance of the “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead” line.
— Another “toyboat” ad-lib from Chevy after he stumbled over a joke.

SPUD BEER
— Rerun. Didn’t we just see this in the last Weekend Update?

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Emily Litella is upset about the prospect of “busting” school children
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— I like Chevy briefly singing the Spud Beer jingle to himself when the commercial ended and he (jokingly) didn’t realize he was back on the air. That IS a catchy jingle, isn’t it?
— Emily Litella makes her very first Update appearance.
— Ah, now THIS is the Emily Litella humor that people remember nowadays. This is definitely better than that subpar sketch she made her debut in a few episodes ago.
— I’m also glad her commentary didn’t turn into yet another ‘Chevy makes goofy faces behind the correspondent’ bit.
— I don’t know whether to laugh or groan at the intentionally(?)-bad “ship hitting the fan” punchline to Chevy’s Frank Sinatra joke.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

LINE-UP #2
(host) is chosen from a line-up featuring a nun (JAC), a duck, an icebox

— Even funnier than the first one.  These sketches have kind of a comic strip-type of format, which is interesting to see on SNL.
— I also liked Gilda’s voice-over asking “Could you open the ice box please?”
STARS: ****

L-PILL
soldier (host) accidentally takes suicide pill during mission briefing
 
— Hey, it’s the Word Association set!
— You could hear Richard stifling his laughter for some reason when Dan shows him the hook gadget on the desk. Dan does a bit of a double-take when he notices Richard’s laugh.
— I love the camera slowly zooming in on Richard’s facial reaction to hearing the pill he just swallowed will kill him.
— His slowly passing out was great, and… wow, the sketch is over already. Once again, I love blackout gag / ‘set-up & punchline’ mini-sketches.
STARS: ****

JIM HENSONS’S MUPPETS
drunk Ploobis & Scred decide to pay a visit to the Mighty Favog

— The jokes are pretty bad here so far.
— Hmm, another blooper where one of the puppets gets its hand caught on something.
— The “why don’t, why don’t, why don’t” drunken stammering was the only time I’ve come close to laughing at anything in this so far.
— Was that ending even supposed to be funny? It was awful.
— Overall, yikes. Until now, I surprisingly haven’t been hating any of the Muppet sketches so far; in fact, the one from two episodes ago with the acupuncture needles actually gave me some big laughs, and the last one with Lily Tomlin was downright good. But THIS one, on the other hand, was exactly the type of bad humor that people had me expecting to see from these segments when I first came into this season.
STARS: *½

LINE-UP #3
(host) is chosen from a line-up in which all the other choices are cops

— Yet another really good one.
— I also like how all the cops were immediately pointing at Richard.
STARS: ****

EXORCIST II
another priest (host) tries to help possessed Regan (LAN)
 
— I recognize the actor with Richard; I recall seeing him in guest appearances on various black sitcoms from the 70s. The most notable role I remember seeing him in was Raj’s dad in “What’s Happening”.
— Richard already wanting to leave as soon as he heard the demonic sounds from upstairs is great.
— Strangely, this is Laraine’s first appearance of the night, and I remember hearing it ends up being her ONLY appearance. Then again, A LOT of cast members haven’t been seen much tonight. I wonder if it’s because this episode has so many guest performers who Richard requested be brought in.
— I read someplace (I think at SNL Archives) that it’s Chevy who does Laraine’s demonic voice-over in this. Is that true? Watching the sketch now, I’m having a hard time believing that’s his voice I’m hearing.
— Excellent timing from Richard when he seamlessly went from chanting “The bed… must be… on the floor” to frantically chanting “The bed… is on… my foot”, which is a quote I remember very well from seeing this sketch when I was a lot younger.
— Laraine’s facial expressions in this are great.
— Hilarious ending with Richard helping the other priest strangle Laraine.
STARS: ****

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
from his sickbed, Albert Brooks [real] advances his own agenda

— Is he actually sick, or this just a bit? His congested voice certainly sounds genuine.
— “Broasted” chicken???
— What did they bleep out when the delivery boy was saying the record title?
— What was on that big poster that Albert held up? It’s hard for me to see it in the copy of this episode I’m watching.
— Bad ending.
— Overall, I have no idea what to make of this film as a whole. All I can say is I was very underwhelmed by it compared to Albert’s usual work this season.
STARS: **

ASSASSINATION
(TOS) is shot after alleging JFK assassination was a conspiracy
 
— Hey, it’s Tom Schiller in a big role!
— Richard desperately denying having any involvement in Schiller getting shot is very funny.
— Wow, what a random little segment overall, but again, that’s one of the things I love about these early SNLs.
STARS: ***

RICHARD PRYOR STAND-UP #2
host does stand-up about a heroin addict being mentored by a wino
 
— Again, don’t expect to see me type much while watching a Richard Pryor stand-up set.
— The way he’s able to flawlessly go back-and-forth between all the various different-voiced characters he’s doing is so much fun to watch.
— Man, this is just getting funnier and funnier as it goes along.
— Overall, another prime, brilliant stand-up set; even better than the monologue earlier.
STARS: *****

SHELLEY PRYOR
Shelley Pryor [real] tells a story about a pair of carousel horses

— Okay, THIS is unusual, but intriguing.
— Overall, I surprisingly liked this, despite it not really being a comedic segment. Her story was interesting, and I liked the poetic, rhythmic style of it.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
 
— The cast members are each holding food up to Richard. (Jane especially has a very funny intense deadpan stare on her face) I wonder if this is an inside joke and/or a comedic follow-up to the Candice Bergen goodnights where the cast members each held up a rose to her.
— These are, I believe, the very first goodnights to have the special guests of the night joining the host & cast onstage.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— What can I say about an episode like this? An all-time classic show, and I’m glad to see that it still holds up.
— Unlike most of this season’s episodes I’ve reviewed so far where I had never seen them before, I was already familiar with a lot of this episode, due to various SNL compilation specials that some of tonight’s sketches made it onto, airings on “SNL Vintage” on NBC, etc. But, thanks to my ‘One SNL a Day’ project, it was interesting to now view this episode in the context of the other episodes that aired around this time. And I’d say this is by far the episode I’ve enjoyed the most so far this season, which is truly saying something since SNL’s been on an impressive streak of solid shows since episode 4 (the Candice Bergen one).
— I think part of what helps this episode still hold up, besides the basic fact that most of the sketches were very funny, is that a lot of the social commentary and racial humor that dominated the night is surprisingly still relevant today, all these decades later. That’s just one of the reasons why this is widely considered a very important episode in SNL history.
— And what can be said about Richard Pryor as host? Unsurprisingly, he was laugh-out-loud hilarious in every single sketch he appeared in, he gave many all-time-memorable performances, and his two stand-up sets are among some of the best stand-up comedy that’s ever been performed on the SNL stage.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lily Tomlin):
— a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
— Candice Bergen becomes SNL’s very first return host, only one month after her first hosting stint