Month: July 2018

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November 22, 1975 – Lily Tomlin (S1 E6)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford (CHC) addresses link between NYC debt default & re-election
   
— Hmm, another disclaimer on the bottom of the screen, this time stating this is not a good Gerald Ford impression. Ha, unlike the last Ford cold opening, where the disclaimer they showed made it confusing as to whether or not Chevy was actually playing Ford, this disclaimer makes it clear that he IS playing Ford, but they’re comically acknowledging how there was zero attempt at accuracy with his impression.
— The Rich Little disclaimer was very funny, too.
— The gag with him answering a glass of water as if it were a phone is a well-remembered classic SNL moment.
— I got a kick out of seeing him hang the red and black receivers onto the opposite phones.
— Great backwards tumble over the desk at the end. My favorite Chevy falls so far have been the really messy ones where a whole bunch of stuff gets crashed into, rather than the straightforward falls where he just goes straight to the floor and then that’s it.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Nothing noteworthy about the cast list tonight: their names are again divided into two separate screens, like we saw in the preceding episode.
— I think it’s safe to say by this point that Michael O’Donoghue isn’t going to be put back into the cast list. We can pretty much officially say his last episode as a credited cast member was the Candice Bergen one, which was episode 4 of the season.

MONOLOGUE
host reads some one-liners from her journal & does a cheer for NYC
 
— Unlike the last few episodes, tonight they have the host actually make an entrance when their name is announced by Pardo.
— Lily’s jokingly-angry, psychotic yell of “STOP!!!!” during the audience applause after her entrance was great. Already, you can see she’s going to be a fantastic host.
— I really liking the format of this so far, with her doing a string of random funny one-liners, which, as I said in the George Carlin review, is my favorite style of stand-up comedy.
— This New York cheer she’s now doing is very funny.
— Overall, wow, this whole thing was great. Best monologue of the season so far, I’d argue.
STARS: ****½

BEETHOVEN, PART 1
Beethoven (JOB) invents “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round The Ole Oak Tree”

— Oh, is this going to be the classic Ray Charles bit?
— John’s various facial expressions when playing the piano are funny.
— Hmm, this ISN’T the Ray Charles piece; he’s playing a different song.
— This was still a funny twist in the sketch, though, made even better by John’s puzzled look while continuing to play the song.
— Oh, wow, and that’s it? I like how this ended when the joke was still hot. I guess this is going to be a running segment throughout the show, that’ll lead to the Ray Charles bit I’m remembering.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

TRIOPENIN
— Boy, they sure love re-airing this commercial………

JAWS III
Matt Cooper (JOB) & Sheriff Brady (DAA) resume Land Shark hunt
   
— Surprised to see a Landshark sequel so soon, but this should be good.
— The heavy breathing John does every time he and Dan are hesitant to look at the various victims’ remains is a little detail that keeps cracking me up.
— “That’s the third time he’s hit that building”? More like, it’s the third time he’s hit that APARTMENT. I have to laugh at how each scene with the Landshark targeting a different woman all take place in the exact same living room set, with the same furniture, background decorations and everything.
— I’m liking this change of pace by showing the Landshark at the police station.
— Loved the part with the voice of Pardo getting attacked by the Landshark during a radio announcement.
— Whoa, this is unexpected, with them breaking the fourth wall and being told by the Landshark that the sketch has to be cut short.
— Great ending line with John lamenting the fact that he turned down “Cuckoo’s Nest” for this show.
STARS: ****

BELL-HOP
a clumsy bellhop (CHC) walks in on an interracial couple (GAM) & (JAC)

— As if it weren’t already strange enough seeing the same living room set used in various scenes throughout the Jaws III sketch, now we see that same living room used in this next, completely-unrelated sketch. It’s especially odd since I’m watching the DVD version of this episode, where there’s no commercial breaks or bumpers, thus we go from Jaws III’s ending with John sitting on the living room couch to the beginning of this sketch with Garrett and Jane in the exact same spot John was.
— Wait… WHAT??? This sketch is over ALREADY??? Nothing even happened in it! It was just a minute of Chevy doing his usual ‘klutz’ shtick by fumbling around with newspapers while Garrett and Jane looked on, and then Chevy left the room, and the sketch ended. What the hell??!?! If there was a premise to this sketch, I sure missed it.
— And why did Chevy have an old-timey southern accent?
— And was there supposed to be some social commentary by having an interracial couple? (remember, this WAS in the 70s, back when showing interracial couples on TV was still taboo) The writers went absolutely nowhere with that aspect of the sketch.
— Overall, this whole sketch just left me baffled. I think my review of it is longer than the sketch itself was.
STARS: *

EDITH ANN SKATES
little girl Edith Ann (host) cautiously ventures onto an ice skating rink
 
— Is this the same character that Lily would later do in a sketch I remember seeing from her 1983 hosting stint where she and Julia Louis-Dreyfus played two little girls?
— This looks like an interesting film, and seems like it will be a good showcase for some physical comedy from Lily.
— Hmm, I was right about the physical comedy, though the main humor actually seems to be coming from the various funny little things she’s saying in her voice-over narration.
— I especially like the line about pasting her dog’s paws to the floor.
— Overall, a cute little film that I enjoyed.
STARS: ***½

BEETHOVEN, PART 2
Beethoven (JOB) plays piano & sings “My Girl”

— Ah, this IS a running piece.
— An even funnier twist this time, with him now actually singing the tune he unexpectedly breaks into.
— I love how he actually kept the thick accent while singing “My Girl”s lyrics.
STARS: ****

NEXT SHOW
GIR announces Richard Pryor & Candice Bergen will do SNL in December

— So far, this seems to just be a straightforward announcement of upcoming SNL airings, but even in something as simple as this, Gilda comes off so charming and endearing.
— I liked the audience breaking out into applause at the mere mention of Richard Pryor being the next host. You can tell they’re eagerly awaiting him being on the show.
STARS: N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
 
— What the—? For our opening “phone conversation” gag, instead of saying something funny into the phone, Chevy just picked up the phone, dialed some numbers, stayed silent for a while, and then disinterestedly hung up without even saying anything. Odd. That, understandably, got zero reaction from the audience.
— Hmm, a news story about Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s death back when it first happened.
— Since Francisco Franco’s death was new at the time, the punchline of tonight’s joke obviously wasn’t what we would now expect (that he’s still dead), but was instead about how despite his death, doctors say his health has taken a turn for the worse, which in some ways is like an early prototype of the later ‘he’s still dead’ running joke.
— Oh, wow. The preceding episode’s Update had a tasteless George Wallace wheelchair joke that I liked a lot, but now tonight’s Update had an even-funnier tasteless George Wallace/“Ironside” wheelchair joke that I absolutely LOVED. I also enjoyed the audience’s loud “ooh” reaction. And again, that joke would be right at home in a modern-day Michael Che/Colin Jost Weekend Update.

SPUD BEER
Spud Beer is the potato-based brew to drink after electroshock therapy
 
— Haha, this is great. Again, while I’ve been kinda underwhelmed by most of this season’s fake ads so far, this one has a lot of things that I always like to see in an SNL fake ad, such as a memorably-creative fictional product that’s being advertised, a catchy commercial jingle, etc.
— A few familiar faces from the writing staff have prominent roles in this, including Tom Davis and Alan Zweibel, the latter of whom is particular funny here with his catatonic demeanor.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
CHC admits he drinks Spud Beer & pours a can of it on his suit
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— The ad-libbed “toyboat toyboat” vocal exercise Chevy just did when stumbling through a joke was pretty funny. Like I said in the preceding review, I always like when Chevy quickly ad-libs little things like that. I heard he actually does the “toyboat toyboat” thing in some other Updates later this season whenever he stumbles over a joke.
— In tonight’s obligatory hard-of-hearing-news bit, I like how towards the end, Garrett was yelling some of the things Chevy “said” before Chevy even said it. That was a bit of a much-needed shake-up to the hard-of-hearing-news routine. I mean, I know the routine is considered a classic nowadays, but man, did they have to use it in EVERY Weekend Update?
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

PATTY
Susie (host) forgives her recently-arrested sorority sister Patty Hearst

— I couldn’t think of anything to say at all while watching this, but overall, this was an okay piece that was helped by Lily’s performance.  And while I initially wasn’t happy when she started to break out into song here, I ended up liking how the song actually had some heart.
STARS: ***

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Ploobis & wife Peuta (Alice Tweedy) find that Scred has fallen for host
 
— I like where the premise is going; Scred being in love with Lily Tomlin seems like it will be a welcome change of pace for these Muppets segments.
— Interesting segue to Scred meeting Lily.
— Hmm, more singing…
— I have to say, though, that their performance of “I Got You Babe” is pretty funny and really sweet.
— Overall, definitely one of the better Muppet segments so far.
STARS: ***

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
— This is just a replay of Albert’s film from the first episode. Lily gave an interesting intro/set-up to this, though.

BEETHOVEN, PART 3
Beethoven (JOB) sings “What’d I Say” with backups wife (GIR) & maid (LAN)
 
— Is it really necessary to keep doing the ‘good morning, nice to see you’ bit at the beginning of ALL of these Beethoven segments?
— I liked John’s deadpan “achoo” after snorting some snuff.
— Ah, the sunglasses… Yep, here we go, we’re getting the Ray Charles piece I had been anticipating.
— Yes, this is fantastic. And I like how Gilda and Laraine are now getting involved, too.
— John’s Ray Charles imitation is simply perfect. This is definitely one of his all-time best performances.
— It’s great how these Beethoven segments used a three-part format to slowly build up to this Ray Charles bit, which is much better than if they had gone right into it in the first segment like I had been expecting.
STARS: *****

HARD HATS
forewoman (host) gives female hardhats lessons on how to harass men
 
— Lily just called Jane by her real name. Ah, I see this is yet another instance of this cast playing themselves in a sketch that in more recent years would’ve given them character names instead.
— Not too sure how I feel about this premise. However, Lily and the female cast are doing nice ensemble work here, and their fun performances are helping make this sketch more enjoyable.
— Very strange ending. Was Gilda’s “Don’t cry; it’s only school” line even intended to be funny? It ended the sketch on a flat note.
STARS: **½

SPEED
Speed diet pill lets housewife (Anne Beatts) get a lot of work done
 
— I’m loving the concept of this.
— Great visual with the cabinet filled with neatly-folded brown paper bags.
— Overall, another very funny fake ad tonight. They’ve been getting better with these.
STARS: ****

MARGO’S DANCE PALACE
at a dance, 1950s teen (host) gossips about classmates to her friend

— Ah, I see this is a ‘one-woman show’ performance piece.
— Considering I usually don’t care for ‘one-man/woman show’ sketches, I’m surprised by how much I’m really enjoying this. Lily is doing such a great job and I’m very engaged in her performance.
— Overall, a very strong performance piece. I even liked the sentimental dramatic turn this took towards the end.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS
host & Bees GAM, LAN, GIR, CHC scat with SNL Band
 
— Oh, I can see these goodnights are going to be special, right from the beginning.
— Funny blooper when they were waiting for Gilda to speak and she didn’t even realize they were on the air.
— Looks kinda weird seeing Chevy in one of the Bee costumes, though I know he wore one in the Bee Hospital sketch from the premiere.
— I believe this is our first of several instances this era where Garrett showcases his nice singing voice.
— Wow at Gilda’s raspy-voiced scatting.
— This is a very nice way to close the show. Unpredictable format-breaking moments like this is part of what made the original cast so fun.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Another fun episode. This is what I expected would happen when you mix Lily Tomlin with 70s SNL.  It was a given that Lily would be an excellent host, and she certainly delivered, being fantastic in every single segment. Hell, she even got me to love a ‘one-man show’ piece. Overall, she was a strong enough host to make me wish she were a regular member of this cast.
— Lots of musical-based material tonight, which is something I’m usually not crazy about seeing on SNL, but it’s hard for me to complain about it in this episode when most of the music was actually fun, especially the goodnights number and, of course, the classic Beethoven three-parter.
— SNL seems to have officially hit its stride by this point. Knowing what episode is coming up next, it’s nice to know things get even better from here.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Richard Pryor

Posted on

November 15, 1975 – Robert Klein / Abba, Loudon Wainwright III (S1 E5)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
beauty pageant winner Sherry (LAN) refuses to accept her crown
 
— Hmm, Chevy called Laraine’s character “Sherry” just now. Is this the same Sherry character with the California accent that Laraine would later play?
— Yep, she’s speaking with the accent, so I guess this counts as that character’s debut. Odd how she’s not wearing the blonde wig she later wore in some other sketches I remember seeing her in, but as I pointed out in the last episode, I don’t think any of the cast members have worn a wig yet in any of these early episodes I’ve covered so far. Did SNL not have a budget for wigs yet back then or something?
— Interesting that they’re letting someone else get laughs in the cold opening besides Chevy for once.
— I especially like this part with Laraine angrily stripping down from her fancy pageant dress to just a plain shirt and (very 70s-looking) jeans.
— How are they going to work the traditional Chevy fall into THIS opening?
— Oh, he’s now walking towards the edge of the stage…
— Yep, and there’s the traditional fall. Good for a laugh as always, though.
— I liked the visual of him having Laraine’s crown crookedly on his head while saying LFNY.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Ha, instead of announcing “A Film By Albert Brooks” like Pardo’s been doing every week so far, they actually had Pardo announce “No Film By Albert Brooks” this time, which is pretty funny.
— Well, since it seems to have become a tradition for me to chronicle the different ways the cast has been listed in each episode’s credits so far this season, here’s tonight’s update: unlike in the last episode, the WHOLE cast is listed this time… well, everyone except Coe and O’Donoghue. However, the cast list is divided into two separate screens this time.
 
— I think I now understand the bizarre error in the preceding episode’s opening credits, where only four cast members were listed (Garrett, Laraine, Gilda, and Michael): the cast list was probably divided into two screens, but for some reason, one of those screens must’ve failed to display, and thus we only saw the screen crediting the aforementioned four cast members.

MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about the dangers of animal stereotypes & movie issues

— Like in the preceding episode, after the opening montage ends, the host is already present, sitting on a stool on stage as Pardo announces their name. I can see why SNL later decided to have it be a tradition for hosts to actually make an entrance after Pardo announces them: it’s more exciting for the studio audience to see that. In this episode, it looked kinda silly for the audience to start applauding Robert Klein after Pardo announced him, considering he was already there in front of them the whole time.
— Ah, a stand-up monologue, I see. I’m not familiar with Robert Klein’s stand-up, but I usually always enjoy seeing any hosts do this in their monologue.
— This is pretty good so far. I’m liking his delivery, and he comes off so natural in front of the audience.
— The “HE’S EATING MY BABY!!!” part was very funny.
— Another part I really liked just now is the bit about going “ooooooooWOOOOOooooooo” when you’re about to be murdered.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (ABBA)
— Very interesting having the musical guest being introduced by Robert as a captain on the set of a ship, and their performance playing out as if they’re entertainment for the ship’s “passengers”.
— I’m liking the amusing cutaways to Robert as the captain struggling with a leak on the ship.

PONG
Pong-playing college students discuss their history midterm

— Surprised to see them bringing this unique segment back already after just one episode. And as the first sketch of the night this time, when in the last episode, it was in the 10-to-1 slot.
— I got a good laugh from Franken’s realization that he mistook Aaron Burr for Alexander Hamilton during the midterm.
— Overall, another pretty nice edition of this sketch. The conversation between Franken & Davis was actually a little funnier than the last one.
STARS: ***

MINUTE MYSTERY
Mike Mendoza (DAA) challenges viewers to solve a crime

— Heh, Laraine’s supposed to be a dead body, yet the sketch began with a tight close-up of her clearly turning her head. I wonder if that was an intentional joke.
— Dan is very funny acting like a Hollywood-type photographer while taking pictures of the dead body.
— John’s old-timey delivery is surprisingly great. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play this type of role before.
— The close-ups of increasingly-strange objects around the room while the ‘quiz music’ is playing is pretty funny.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½

BEE CENTENNIAL MINUTE
(GAM) describes an insect’s brush with history

— Ah, the Bees running gag continues…
— Quite a long set-up, but I do like the way it built to the ending line. I was hoping for a funnier punchline, though.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III)
— Wait, is this supposed to be a comedy performance instead of a musical guest performance? I went through the whole first minute of this assuming it was just standard musical guest fare, but now his utterly-bizarre facial expressions and increasingly-goofy singing style have me re-thinking that.
— And now I can hear some of the audience members actually laughing in response to some of his lyrics. Hmm. I’m still very confused over whether this is supposed to be a legit musical performance or just a comedy bit.
— There are some points where he bares quite a resemblance to future cast member Will Ferrell, especially with some of the over-the-top facial expressions he’s making.

GREG ALLMAN, HOW’S YOUR LOVE LIFE?
Gregg Allman (CHC) eventually answers “How’s your love-life?” truthfully
 
— Ha, Chevy in that ridiculous wig, goatee, and sunglasses…….
— Hey, speaking of which, I guess this is SNL’s very first instance of a cast member wearing a wig on the show.
— The structure of this seems so random. I wonder if this is making fun of a real ad that Greg Allman starred in at the time.
— The punchline with him just saying “toilet” (in response to being asked how his love life’s going) and then doing a depressed face-plant into the piano keys actually made me laugh out loud.
STARS: ***½

TOUGH DIRECTOR
Sam Peckinpah (JOB) treats actress (GIR) roughly while directing a comedy

— Isn’t this the exact same living room set we just saw minutes ago?
— Whoa at John slapping Gilda out of nowhere. Should I laugh? I think I’d feel bad if I did, partly because of all the stuff I heard about John supposedly being misogynistic in real life.
— And now he kicked Gilda in the shin. Okay, I see where this is going, where his abuse to Gilda will increase each time he stops the filming of the movie.
— This is kinda like a violent version of that Sexist Director sketch Michael McKean would later do in 1994.
— I have to say, Gilda is doing a great job selling John’s hits, especially the way she fell all over the place just now.
— Very funny ending with Robert turning the tables on John.
STARS: **½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1

— That Sammy Davis Jr. Judaism conversion joke was fantastic
— I liked how during the audience’s huge reaction to the David & Julie Eisenhower execution joke, Chevy briefly picked up the phone on his desk and pretended to start dialing while he was waiting for the audience’s reaction to die down. I always like whenever Chevy ad-libs quick little things like that.
— LOL at the tasteless George Wallace wheelchair joke. That’s a joke I can easily picture Michael Che or Colin Jost doing nowadays.
— Wow, that Muhammad Ali/Joe Fraser joke bombed hard.

JAMITOL
(GEC) tells how Jamitol lets his wife (JAC) keep very busy

— George Coe sighting!
— Jane’s delivery is very funny here.
— She also got me laughing just now with the way she slowly passed out.
— Oh, wow, Coe actually made me laugh for once, with his delivery of the “I think I’ll stuff her” line at the end.
— Overall, this was a lot better than the earlier Jamitol ad this season (the one with Chevy and O’Donoghue playing a couple).
— I guess it’s safe to say that by this point in the show’s history, they won’t be putting Coe back into the opening credits, considering how many episodes we’ve been through since the last time he was credited, which was the very first episode. So technically, even though he’s continuing to make appearances on the show, this puts him right down there with future short-lived SNL players Laurie Metcalf and Emily Prager as people who only lasted one episode as a cast member. I’m just a bit surprised, since there have been some SNL sites that have stated Coe’s stint as a cast member lasted SEVERAL episodes, not just one. There seems to be a similar confusion over just how long Michael O’Donoghue was a credited cast member.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
Frank Telinka (DAA) warns of the coming energy crisis while CHC mocks him
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— They’re not going to be doing the ‘Chevy makes goofy faces behind a correspondent’s back’ bit EVERY week now, are they? I mean, the “news for the hard-of-hearing” bit has already seemingly become a weekly recurring Update segment, and if that & the ‘goofy faces’ bit are BOTH going to be weekly features, I fear that it’s soon going to feel like I’m watching the same Weekend Update day after day. That reminds me of the complains the two hosts at the That Week in SNL podcast had about how Norm Macdonald’s Season 21 Weekend Updates always relied on the same cycle of punchlines week-after-week (as a Norm fan, I’m sure I’ll feel differently about that when I reach that season in my reviews).
— Hmm, strange – Chevy actually doing a news story about the birthday of his then-girlfriend-and-occasional-SNL-extra Jacqueline Carlin.
— And now he’s acknowledged Lorne Michaels’ birthday as well. I believe this is the very first on-air mention of Lorne in an SNL episode.
— Looks like I was right about the “news for the hard-of-hearing” bit having become a weekly segment.
— Something new I’m starting to find funny in these hard-of-hearing bits is the mock-serious look on Garrett’s face when the circle of him first appears on-screen. His mock-serious look tonight especially made me laugh.
— You could see Chevy trying not to laugh just now during the hard-of-hearing-news bit.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***

EXTERMINATORS
(host) tries to convince fellow exterminator (JOB) not to kill roaches
 
— Just now as John made his entrance, I couldn’t help but notice at first glance how much he resembled his brother Jim Belushi for a quick second. Maybe it’s the oil/grease on John’s face in this sketch that made the resemblance stand out more. Or maybe it’s because of the army clothes he’s wearing; I remember Jim often being cast as army-type guys during his SNL years.
— Speaking of first glance, I didn’t even recognize Robert Klein the first few seconds he showed up here. The glasses and hat make him look a lot different.
— I like the premise of this so far, with army-like exterminators treating their roach-killing job as if they’re soldiers at war.
— John’s accent & the look on his face are both fantastic. This is yet another sketch tonight where he’s surprised me by doing a voice I didn’t know he could pull off. Going through these early episodes one-by-one, I’m slowly starting to see that John was more versatile than I had thought.
— Weird segue to the “The Eternal Crawl”sequence. I almost thought they had cut to a separate sketch at first until I realized it’s still part of the same sketch.
— The little joke at the end with John subtly continuing to kill bugs behind Robert’s back was pretty funny.
STARS: ***

FIREMAN
fireman GIR talks about her job & gives some fire prevention tips

— Well, this seems random, but like I said recently, I like how these early episodes have been doing random little segments like this.
— Overall, there was nothing really noteworthy in this, but maybe it was intended to be more cute than funny. Either way, it was fine for what it was and Gilda’s performance was good as usual. But considering this starred her as herself, I kinda wanted to like this a little more.
STARS: ***

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Scred tries to come up with ways to remedy Ploobis’ migraine headache

— I liked the part with Ploobis stuffing the ice pack into his wife’s mouth; that felt like something you’d see on The Muppet Show.
— Okay, this is finally starting to actually get really funny, with the acupuncture needles sequence.
— Ploobis’ screaming when Scred jammed in that one needle was hilarious.
— Overall, this is easily the most I’ve ever laughed at these Muppet segments so far.
STARS: ***

ROBERT KLEIN STAND-UP #2
host does stand-up about college life, abnormal psychology, pot & monkeys
 
— I like how he’s getting multiple stand-up segments throughout the show, kinda like George Carlin in the first episode and Richard Pryor a few episodes from now.
— He’s pretty fun to watch as he’s going on about different topics.
— Pretty solid material overall.
STARS: ***½

K-PUT PRICE-IS-RITE STAMP GUN
save lots of money on groceries with K-Put’s Price-Is-Rite stamp gun

— Really good concept for a fake ad.
— Overall, I liked this a lot. I had recently been trying to find an opportunity in these reviews to voice how underwhelmed I’ve been by all the fake ads that SNL has aired in the handful of early episodes I’ve covered so far, but they won me over with this Stamp Gun commercial. So far, this is easily the most I’ve liked a fake ad at this point in the show’s early timeline.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III)
 
— Heh, now his facial expressions during this second performance are MORE crazy & Will Ferrell-esque than ever.
— There goes the audience laughing again, too.
— Okay, more and more, it’s becoming undeniably obvious that, yes, his two performances are indeed intentional comedic musical numbers, and now I feel dumb for thinking they were supposed to be serious performances. I guess I’m just not used to seeing comedic acts as SNL musical guests.

LOOKS AT BOOKS
JAC questions Little Kingdom author Emily Litella (GIR)

— Whoa, our very first Emily Litella sighting. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see her debut happen in a SKETCH; I wasn’t aware she had ever made any appearances outside of Update.
— Something looks a bit different about her in this first appearance.
— I’m liking Jane’s giddy facial expression whenever she fills in the end of Gilda’s sentences.
— The studio audience doesn’t sound like they’re into this sketch at all.
— Okay, the “teeeeeeny tiiiiiiiny…” phrase Gilda kept saying was kinda funny. But overall, ehh…. I wasn’t crazy about this sketch. It’s strange to see that Emily Litella, who would go on to become one of Gilda’s most beloved recurring characters, actually kinda bombed in her first appearance.
STARS: **

AMBASSADOR TRAINING INSTITUTE
— rerun

I CAN’T STOP MY LEG
host plays harmonica with SNL Band & sings “I Can’t Stop My Leg”

— Hmm, Robert’s about to perform what looks to be a comedic number. Is this going to be the “I Can’t Stop My Leg” bit that I’ve always heard about?
— Man, his facial expressions are cracking me up so far.
— Ah, it IS “I Can’t Stop My Leg”! Glad to finally get to see this.
— Wow, this is great. I’m absolutely loving this.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (ABBA)
   
— Whoa, these sudden disclaimers on the bottom of the screen….. Oh, that’s right! I remember reading about this before. I think I remember hearing this was Michael O’Donoghue’s idea. He’s actually one of the “passengers” on the ship set during both of these musical performances.
— I do like how they’re continuing the side-act with Robert as the hapless ship captain.
— What’s with all the white spots on the screen suddenly? Is this a technical error?
— Holy hell, that was great just now with the dining tables, waiters, and passengers all crashing into each other due to the ship slanting sideways. I love that.
— Why didn’t it ever become a semi-regular thing for SNL to do fun little things like this during musical guests’ performances?
— Hmm, this ended while Abba was still “singing”. Did the show run long and they had to cut to commercials before the band was done, or was it intentional for their performance to end like that?

GOODNIGHTS
 
— I guess they’re still experimenting with how the goodnights are done. While in the previous episode’s goodnights, they introduced the now-traditional aspect of having the cast on stage with the host, this episode has gone back to what we saw in the first two episode’s goodnights where the host is on stage alone.
_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Pretty good episode. Didn’t have quite as much of a fun vibe as or as many fun quick random sketches as the preceding episode with Candice Bergen, but this was still an overall pretty solid show with not much to complain about. Even the performances from the two musical guests were funny, which is almost unheard of for SNL.
— Going into the episode not being all that familiar with Robert Klein, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from him, though I figured beforehand that he MUST’VE done a good job since I know they bring him back a few more times throughout this era. Watching this episode, I ended up being impressed by him: he was a fun host, I enjoyed his stand-up, he got some laughs in the sketches, I loved his “I Can’t Stop My Leg” number, and he even got involved in Abba’s musical performances where he helped make it watchable with his funny acting & facial expressions.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Lily Tomlin

Posted on

November 8, 1975 – Candice Bergen / Esther Phillips (S1 E4)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
clumsy Gerald Ford (CHC) has a few accidents during a speech   
— Ah, our debut of Chevy’s famous Gerald Ford non-impression.
— Wait, now there’s a disclaimer on the bottom of the screen stating “This is not the president of the United States, but he thinks he is”. Huh? So does that mean this DOESN’T count as him playing Ford? Or does it, but that disclaimer was just their way of waving off the fact that there was no attempt to make Chevy look or sound anything like Ford? If this DOESN’T count as him playing Ford, does that mean this and all of his subsequent Ford appearances should technically be counted as a “character”, and we were wrong all these years when we counted it as an impression? Ha, it’s funny how one little disclaimer has me asking so many questions…….
— I’ve just come to the realization that, unless I’m mistaken,  we’ve yet to see Chevy wear a wig in any of the four episodes I’ve covered.  Actually, come to think of it, have ANY of the cast members wore any wigs yet by this point?
— The overabundance of goofy accidents Chevy keeps having is kinda over-the-top, but pretty damn funny, especially the gag with the glass of water he keeps pouring. Chevy is very skilled at performing a rapid-fire string of blunders; he makes it look effortless.
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— I swear, the cast list in the opening montage has been getting stranger and stranger with each passing episode. Tonight, for some bizarre reason, literally only HALF of the cast is listed: Garrett, Laraine, Gilda, and Michael O’Donoghue. What in the world???!!

— Considering the fact that their names are shown on the lower half of the screen, I have to wonder if the full cast was supposed to be listed, but there was maybe some weird technical error where the names on the upper half of the screen failed to display. I know that theory sounds strange, but it’s possible. After all, this IS a very early episode back when SNL’s technology was kinda shoddy.

MONOLOGUE
allergic host attempts to dissuade CHC from hitting a Bee (JOB)

— Right after the opening montage ended, Candice is already on stage, sitting on a stool as Pardo announces her name. It’s interesting seeing how in these early episodes, SNL experimented with how they had their hosts begin their monologues. The first and third episode had the host (George Carlin and Rob Reiner, respectively) make an entrance after Pardo calls their name, whereas the second and fourth episode (Paul Simon and Candice Bergen, respectively) had the host already there on stage as their name is called. Wonder how long it is until SNL made the permanent decision to stick with the former, where the hosts make an entrance.
— It always feels unusual for me seeing Candice Bergen look so young. Because I grew up in the 90s, most of my exposure to her has been from “Murphy Brown” and onward.
— Did I just see one of The Bees in the background?
— Ah, I was right, although it’s just John as a Bee instead of the whole cast playing them.
— I like how they’re playing this out, treating John as an actual bee and trying to sneak up and kill him the way you would a real insect. This is a change from the last two Bees appearances, where the premise was that they’re recurring characters who nobody likes.
STARS: ***

AMBASSADOR TRAINING INSTITUTE
start your career in diplomacy at Ambassador Training Institute
 
— Pretty decent premise.
— The ‘multiple choice’ list has been my favorite part so far.
— Overall, not bad.
STARS: ***

CIA DEPARTMENT OF RECORDS
CIA records keeper (DAA) says he can’t find career criminal GAM’s file

— Hmm, I wasn’t expecting the reveal that Garrett’s playing himself. Until then, I had assumed he was just a random character.
— I’m not really sure where this sketch is going, though I’m liking Dan’s performance and the increasing desperation of the crimes Garrett’s claiming he committed.
— The twist/punchline at the end was pretty funny, but I’m not sure if all that set-up was worth it.
STARS: **

JAWS II
a clever Land Shark (CHC) attacks young women in their homes
  
— The debut of the Landshark!
— All the stuff that Chevy’s saying behind the door in that sheepish voice keeps cracking me up.
— Ah, there’s the classic “Candygram” line.
— I’m liking the short cutaways with John and Dan, especially the egg salad bit just now.
— Another great part of the John/Dan scenes is the “good news/bad news” phone conversation.
— Nice touch having Pardo’s voice as the radio announcer that Candice is listening to.
— Funny ending with Garrett getting mistaken for the Landshark and staggering around after getting conked with the mallet.
— Overall, a very memorable and strong sketch, and I love how they made this feel like an actual movie, with all the various scenery changes.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

HAMLET / POLAROID
Hamlet’s (CHC) crib notes scatter when he fractures Yorick’s skull
   
— The skull breaking and Chevy attempting to read the lines off the small fragmented pieces is pretty funny.
— LOL at the brief “Hello Dolly” part.
— A Polaroid segue? What??? THIS sure came out of left field.
— Oh, I remember hearing about this, where SNL had their performers do an actual non-joke live Polaroid ad in an episode. In fact, I think I heard this was actually done several times in this era of the show, though I might be mistaken.
— I like how Candice is randomly wearing a Bee costume. It’s cute how the whole Bees thing became a big running gag so quickly on SNL in just four episodes.
— Well, this Polaroid bit is just plain odd to see on SNL. I keep expecting some kind of humor, but it’s been played completely straight so far.
— Okay, there was a little humor at the end just now, with Candice and Chevy’s quick insult to each other.
STARS: N/A

LONG DISTANCE
gay son’s long-distance call to mom is “the next best thing to being her”

— Whaaaaaaaat???  That’s all I could say after this commercial ended.
— Wow, I didn’t understand this at all. Was it even intended to be funny? Was the “it’s the next best thing to being her” tagline intended to be an insult to gay men? I get the bad feeling the latter is what SNL was going for here, which is something that wouldn’t fly on the show nowadays in our more gay-friendly world.
— I have no idea what to make of this ad as whole. Man, like I said a few episodes ago, some of these early SNL fake ads are STRANGE.
STARS: *

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
 
— Ah, we have our very first utterance of Chevy’s famous “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not” intro!
— Hmm, the president back then was known for making big firings and hirings in his white house staff? Heh, some things never change…
— I loved the joke about vandals attaching arms to the Venus de Milo statue.

TRIOPENIN

— We break in the middle of Update for our very first instance of a repeated fake ad.

WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
while CHC makes faces at her, JAC blasts New York’s vote on the ERA
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
 
— Finally, four episodes into SNL’s existence, Weekend Update has its first-ever guest commentary at the desk. Jane Curtin gets the honors. Kinda meaningful in hindsight, considering she would later go on to be Chevy’s successor as Update anchor.
— Oh, this is the well-known recurring bit where Chevy makes faces behind the guest commentator’s back while they’re addressing the camera. Wow, a lot of Chevy trademarks were born in this episode: his Gerald Ford impression/character, his Landshark sketches, “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not”, and now this.
— After just one episode, they’ve already brought back the “news for the hard of hearing” bit? I can’t complain, because as I said before, it’s always funny.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***½

CHANEL
Catherine Deneuve (host) lies on a Chanel bottle & talks about fame

— I can tell this must be parodying a specific ad that’s before my time, but I’m still enjoying this so far. Candice’s performance is excellent and her accent is making me laugh.
— Good ending with the bottle still attached to her face when she held her head upright.
STARS: ***

ANDY KAUFMAN
as Foreign Man, Andy Kaufman [real] bombs while attempting stand-up

— Yes! Our first instance of Andy’s “Foreign Man” act on SNL.
— I love the way this is building up so far.
— The very long, painfully-awkward pause when he “forgets” what impression to do next is fucking great. Most of my favorite Andy Kaufman bits over the years are ones that rely on making the audience confused & having no idea how to react to what they’re seeing.
— Oh, I see this is where his sobbing noises are gradually going to turn rhythmic and then segue into him playing on the big bongo drum and then dancing. I saw a clip of that part years ago in an Andy Kaufman documentary.
— Overall, this was such a fascination to watch. It had just about everything I love to see in an Andy Kaufman performance.
STARS: *****

FEMININE TALK
GIR & host chat about their insecurities, femininity, gender equality

— Hmm, Gilda and Candice as themselves on the homebase stage… I can already tell this will be interesting.
— So far, this hasn’t been too laugh-out-loud funny, but is very charming.
— Overall, this was really good. While there were some jokes scattered in there, there’s something I enjoy about seeing a realistic, slice-of-life, laid-back conversation between these two charismatic female performers.
STARS: ****

A FILM BY ALBERT BROOKS
NBC series Medical Season, The Three Of Us, Black Vet
   
— Previewing various fictional mid-season replacement shows seems like a premise I’ll enjoy, and is a bit of a change of pace from the other shorts we’ve seen from Albert Brooks so far.
— This medical show preview is strange, but kinda funny.
— The guy with the sunglasses in the “you could get hit by a car driving home today” bit looks familiar.
— This “The Three of Us” preview is cracking me up with the intentional bad jokes and typical sitcom laughtrack.
— Is that the same little girl from the ‘age of consent lowered to seven’ scene in Albert Brooks’ short from the first episode?
STARS: ***

MIDNIGHT PROBE
host interviews kiwi trappers (DAA) & (JOB)
 
— Feels like the first time we’re seeing Belushi in quite a while.
— Unusual sketch so far, but I’m enjoying how the silliness of what Dan and John are saying is being played so straight.
— Wow, this turned crazy all of sudden with the demonstration of kiwi-bagging. This is hilarious, especially Dan and John’s goofy high-pitched chanting during it.
— This HAD to have been written (or at least co-written) by Dan. Watching & reviewing these SNL episodes in order, I’m starting to notice in the four episodes I’ve covered that he’s the one in this cast who seems to star in the particularly bizarre, inventive, out-there material (e.g. the Square Dance and Home Security sketches), which is starting to make him my new favorite of this cast.
STARS: ***½

CRANK CALL
airline ticket vendor (LAN) calmly takes (MOD)’s sadistic crank call

— Oh, THIS sketch. I’ve never actually seen it before, but I must’ve read the transcript because this is coming off very familiar to me so far.
— I’m always a fan of O’Donoghue’s disturbing, fucked-up humor, so naturally, I’m absolutely loving his psychotic deadpan rant to Laraine in this sketch.
— Great punchline with Laraine. Once again, I really like how these early SNL episodes have so many quick, to-the-point, random little sketches.
STARS: ****½

JIM HENSON’S MUPPETS
Scred & Ploobis consult Mighty Favog about the dwindling Glig population
 
— Ploobis’ extended eating sequence at beginning is pretty funny.
— Hmm, the food-deliverer’s (I think her name is Vazh) voice is completely different from her voice in the first Muppets sketch. I like this new voice better.
— Ploobis’ wife’s delivery of her lines always amuses me.
— While I’m going on about the Muppet’s voices, I’m getting a pretty good laugh from the yelling Glig’s voice. That character is one I can picture being on The Muppet Show.
— Overall, while none of these SNL Muppet sketches have been anywhere near great so far, I’m surprised to see I haven’t exactly been hating them yet.
STARS: **½

IRK THE TURK
host’s obnoxious practical jokes eventually ire third-world ruler (JOB)
 
— There seems to be a lot of instances tonight where it’s randomly revealed someone’s playing their self after I assumed they were just playing a character. Like the interviewers Candice played in both this sketch and Midnight Probe. I guess this is yet another unique aspect of 70s SNL. If they did those two sketches nowadays, the host would’ve been given a character name instead of their real name.
— Kinda surprising seeing Candice doing these rude antics to John’s character. Her antics are funny, especially the match-burning bit. I also really like John’s frustrated facial reactions; they’re a lot more subtle than you’d expect from a performer like him.
— I know I keep saying this, but again, I’m loving the randomness of these early sketches. They seem so unconventional by modern-day SNL standards.
STARS: ***½

BLACK PERSPECTIVE
GAM praises lily-white African-American expert JAC

— When they first showed Garrett after the title screen, I almost expected this to be the well-known bit with him interviewing Julian Bond, but I know that doesn’t come until later on in this era.
— “Soul sister Jane Curtin” – haha! And again, this further proves my point that there’s a lot of instances of performers playing themselves in tonight’s sketches. There’s something about that I’m starting to find fun.
— LOL at the ‘jungle bunny’ line, which naturally brings up memories of a certain epic Richard Pryor sketch that’s coming up in a few episodes.
STARS: ***

PONG
Pong-playing college students (ALF) & (TOD) discuss Thanksgiving plans

— Oh, yeah, this. I know this eventually becomes a recurring bit this season. I recall seeing at least one of these before.
— I really admire the unique structure of this sketch. I can see why some would find its format boring, but it’s intriguing to me for some reason.
— Not really any actual laughs so far, but I think Franken & Davis’ conversation is supposed to be going for a ‘slice-of-life’ feel, kinda like the Gilda/Candice conversation earlier.
— Oh, wow, very funny ending just now.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

GOODNIGHTS
 
— Ah, not only do we thankfully see the goodnights this time unlike the last episode, but finally for the first time ever, the goodnights actually have the cast onstage with the host.
— All Candice says is “goodnight”, and is then bombarded with a rose by each cast member.
— Chevy’s surprisingly coming off sweet in his interaction with his castmates.

_______________________________

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— What a fun episode. I especially liked the post-Update half, where just about every sketch kept me entertained.
— Now that I’ve finally seen this episode, I can say that yes, the comments I had read over the years about this being the first episode that feels like a typical SNL is correct. This episode introduced the traditions of: 1) the host playing various characters while appearing in sketches with the cast (though, as mentioned earlier, there were some instances of Candice playing herself in certain sketches that usually would give the host a character name), 2) there being only one musical guest and two musical performances, 3) Weekend Update having guest commentaries at the desk, and 4) the cast being present at the goodnights. There are still some aspects of the show that come off foreign to viewers today, however (e.g. the host already being on stage at the beginning of the monologue as Pardo calls their name, a lot of the pre-taped fake ads starring unknown actors instead of cast members, etc.).
— Candice was a great host, easily the best of the four we’ve had so far. She fit into the show perfectly, had great chemistry with the cast, and got several good laughs of her own. It’s no surprise she went on to be a recurring host so quickly; as you’ll see very soon, her second hosting stint is only shortly after this one.
— So far, I’m having a blast discovering these early SNLs. I love how loose, unpredictable, and experimental the sketches have been. We’re seeing interesting things like cast members frequently playing themselves in sketches, a lot of creative and weird sketches, a lot of sketches that are very short and lead to an actual punchline, and, of course, the running gag with The Bees. There were so many fun aspects of the show back then that you unfortunately don’t see in modern-day SNL.

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Robert Klein