Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
host says “hi” to CHC on way into studio; LOM haggles with musical guest
— This opened strangely with Don Pardo’s voice-over explaining that “portions of the following program have been pre-recorded”. You could hear some people in the audience awkwardly chuckling afterwards.
— Oh, an outdoors cold opening. I guess that explains the special Pardo intro.
— ANOTHER Chevy cameo?!?
— The joke of Chevy being a down-and-out street performer in his post-SNL career is pretty funny, I admit. But man, with him appearing in the first two episodes after his departure, it doesn’t feel like he’s even left yet.
— I love how Lorne and George Harrison’s conversation is referencing Lorne’s famous Beatle Offer sketch.
— Paul Simon’s doubts to Lorne about the monologue is pretty funny, especially when you know what the monologue is going to be.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
turkey costume-wearing host complains to LOM about his wardrobe
— This is a famous monologue that’s often shown in SNL’s annual Thanksgiving compilation special.
— The visual of Paul seriously singing “Still Crazy After All These Years” in that ridiculous costume is simply great.
— I’m getting a lot of laughs from Paul’s angry complaining to Lorne, and Lorne is equally hilarious not understanding Paul’s anger.
— Overall, a classic monologue.
STARS: *****
QUARRY
all-natural Quarry cereal is full of minerals because it’s made of rocks
— A very funny concept.
— I love the loud crunching sound effects.
— Overall, a strong fake ad.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PAUL SIMON)
BABA WAWA AT LARGE
Henry Kissinger (JOB) talks about his career
— Another Baba Wawa talk show sketch.
— Some of John’s deadpan facial reactions are pretty funny.
— Baba Wawa: “Have you any final words for the Amewican pubwic?” Kissinger: “(bluntly) No.”
— Overall, an okay sketch, though I’m beginning to tire of the constant Baba Wawa talk show sketches.
STARS: ***
THE TWILITE ZONE
Rod Serling (DAA) joins three starlets in a hotel room
— Dan is doing an absolutely flawless imitation of Rod Serling’s voice. I feel Dan doesn’t get enough credit for being such a strong impressionist in general.
— A funny unplanned part when the camera panned over to Dan too late after he had stopped speaking, then after an awkward silence, Dan just smiled really big at the camera.
— I had been wondering where this whole thing was going, but the reveal at the end was pretty funny. Still feels like this Twilight Zone parody could’ve been funnier, though.
STARS: ***
WEEKEND UPDATE
LAN reports from a Long Island diner full of Nazi war criminals
JAC asks viewers to suggest how Morris The Cat should kill himself
GAM reports on a new strain of gonorrhea that kills penicillin
— Jane’s porn star cocktail joke was great, made even funnier by Jane’s apologetic comment immediately afterward: “It’s my job, mom, I’m sorry.”
— The whole Morris the Cat bit is fantastic, especially Jane urging viewers to send in ways to kill him.
— I believe this is Garrett’s very first commentary at the Update desk.
— The old black-and-white cartoon footage representing penicillin is pretty funny. As I said sometime before, I always get a kick out of when SNL does stuff like that.
— The “Loretta” punchline of Garrett’s commentary was hilarious.
— Yay, no mid-WU break!
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PAUL SIMON AND GEORGE HARRISON)
CRACKERBOX PALACE
musical guest performs “Crackerbox Palace” in music video
— Not sure if I should rate this, since this is just a George Harrison music video.
— Despite that, this is fun to watch and the song is very catchy.
— I also like knowing that Eric Idle directed this; I can definitely see his influence in the video’s style.
STARS: N/A
BILLY PAUL
Billy Paul (host) fights for civil rights in an ice cream parlor
— Surprisingly, this is the first actual sketch Paul has appeared in all night.
— I like the shifting backgrounds behind Paul.
— That sure looks like 70s era Shelley Duvall as one of the diner patrons. (lower right corner of the third screencap above) That can’t be her, though, can it? Wouldn’t she have been too famous at the time to randomly appear as a silent background extra in an SNL sketch? In fact, doesn’t she actually host later this same season?
— Dan crushing ice cream cones during Gilda’s terrible singing is pretty funny.
— Hilarious gag when the door immediately slammed back into Paul’s face after he busted the door open.
— Paul’s cracking me up with his performance as an over-dramatic tough guy character.
— I like how this ended with the characters marching off the set and continuing to march through the studio.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PAUL SIMON)
TOMORROW
it’s clear that Tom Snyder (DAA) has no idea who host is
— The return of Dan’s hilarious Tom Snyder.
— Pretty funny with him constantly mixing Paul up with other people.
STARS: ***
THIS SONG
musical guest performs “This Song” in a musical courtroom
— Another George Harrison music video.
STARS: N/A
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (PAUL SIMON)
GOODNIGHTS
— Paul: “My special apologies to Michael O’Donoghue, he knows why.” Did a segment of Michael’s get bumped?
_______________________________
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A strange episode, in how a majority of the show was taken up with musical performances and George Harrison music videos. Those were all fine in themselves, but that combined with the low amount of sketch content brought back not-too-fond memories of Paul’s season 1 episode, which consisted of almost nothing but musical performances. Tonight’s episode wasn’t nearly as extreme, but still left me craving more sketches.
— I guess I can’t complain too much. After all, what we got in this episode was still good, there weren’t any sketches I disliked, the monologue was a memorable classic, and as always, Paul Simon did a very good job and had a likable presence.
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:
14-year-old Jodie Foster
It was the George Harrison segments (including, presumably, the scene with him and Lorne during the cold open) that were pre-recorded, due to some previous commitment or other.
Also, Paul Simon himself wrote the turkey suit monologue, according to the first SNL book (the one with “host” Generalissimo Francisco Franco on the cover). And “Quarry” was written by Michael O’Donoghue, which I mention because, in spite of his reputation, he didn’t JUST write dark/disturbing/weird material.
And another thing (maybe I should start reading the whole review before compulsively replying): that was definitely Shelley Duvall in the “Billy Paul” sketch. I believe that she and Simon were dating at the time.
Spotted in the audience near homebase is actress/future host Sissy Spacek. wearing glasses , stage right to Paul Simon, you can see her when “Turkey” Simon first grabs the mike; I think that’s who Garrett Morris points to during the goodnights.
Spacek’s movie Carrie premiered in theaters in Nov 1976. I believe it opened in NYC that week.
If you watch the monologue, a guy in the front row nudges his date and points to Paul’s ridiculous turkey legs. I’m not 100% certain but I believe that’s Eddie Simon, Paul’s younger brother.
Oh boy, I remember seeing this one on SNL Vintage back in 2014. My favorite parts is Belushi’s “No”. That might be one of the funniest jokes I’ve ever heard, no joke!
Unfortunately, during the rerun version of this ep, This Song has been edited out so I’ve yet to watch that segment… It was replaced by that basketball sketch Paul did in his first ep…
NBC aired the network premiere of the cult film “Billy Jack” earlier that Saturday evening (supposedly a big deal), hence the otherwise “dated” callback with the Billy Paul sketch that night.
Fair guess that the third consecutive installment of “Mr. Mike’s Least-Loved Bedtime Tales” was bumped. (also, Simon’s on-air apology was prolly necessary…)
Just a wild guess, but I suspect that “Billy Jack” is yet another of the many movies/TV shows/commercials and historical/pop culture references our blogger/host is unfamiliar with.
Also, Gilda’s “terrible singing” was in fact a dead-on impersonation of folk singer Buffy Sainte Marie, but I guess you don’t know who she is either…
Mike, what’s with your sneering, condescending attitude towards me in some of your comments? I don’t just mean your comments in response to this particular Paul Simon episode review of mine, but also your comments about other reviews of mine. Pardon me for being a little too young to get some of the pop culture references from a decade before I was born. As you can see in my reviews, that still doesn’t stop me from appreciating the original SNL era in general.
Oh, and I love how, in the comments section of my season 2 Eric Idle/Joe Cocker episode review, you, in your typical sneering, condescending way, assume I’ve never seen Monty Python, despite me making Monty Python mentions and comparisons in some of my other reviews, including some Eric Idle and Michael Palin-hosted episodes. In your defense, maybe you’ve yet to read those reviews, but this just shows why it’s wrong to leap to conclusions about someone.
You’re welcome to comment about any episode you’d like in my blog, but you need to watch that attitude, my friend. It shouldn’t bug you THAT much that I’m too young to get some of the 70s pop culture references. Get over it.
Stooge…Great reviews. Please keep up the great work and please don’t let others discourage you from the insight you are providing.
Don’t blame him. It just makes you look like an imbecile, that’s all.
Neil Innes (of Python/Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band fame) can be seen pushing George Harrison in the pram in the Crackerbox Palace video.
My memory of the taped performances (including the Simon/Harrison duet) was that George was too nervous to perform live, and taping was the concession to get him on the show.
Shelley Duvall was in a relationship with Paul Simon at the time, so that’s almost certainly her as an extra.
I don’t think I ever noticed Shelley Duvall in the Billy Jack sketch! Love Shelley (who was mainly working with Robert Altman at the time) and that type of trivia. I pointed out a Carrie Fisher cameo in the Paul Simon music guest episode from 1980, and she was also dating Simon then. So, Shelley appearing here has unearthed a pattern! Speaking of Altman, Sissy Spacek and Shelley starred in his “Three Women”, which was released in ’77, likely filmed in ’76. Maybe Spacek appearing in the audience here is somehow related to that?
I didn’t catch the Shelley Duvall cameo, but if I’m not mistaken, the next week’s host, Jodie Foster, can be clearly seen in one of the audience shots halfway through the episode, sitting just below one of the audience members selected for a caption.
Also worth mentioning: Art Garfunkel is seen in the audience right after the Quarry commercial. He’s talking to his companion, who I’m pretty sure is the late actress Laurie Byrd (he was with her at the time; she’s in the lower left corner of your screengrab). And that’s definitely Jodie Foster right after the Twilight Zone sketch (in the lower right corner of your screengrab, wearing the same hat she wears in her upcoming monologue).
I’m also curious about the door slamming in Paul Simon’s face in the Billy Paul sketch. Judging by the way it springs back towards him, I’m guessing it was planned, but it actually nails him right in the nose. You can clearly see his nose imprinted on the glass afterward, and if you watch in slow-mo (I do this so you don’t have to!), the imprint is not there until it makes contact.
I also love that Garrett Morris is introduced during Update as himself, but sounds like he’s using an accent. That bit is very funny besides.
I don’t have access to my books/albums at the moment, but I’m pretty sure the 1985 Hill/Weingrad book is where I read that George pre-taped his appearance because he had a scheduling conflict: he was going to be in India for a “religious festival.” I doubt it was Diwali, which is the best known but was on Oct. 23 in 1976 (it jumps around wildly each year, like Easter). Bootlegs list the date of the rehearsal and/or recording as Nov. 18, and without knowing his specific sect of Hinduism, there’s several other mid-late Nov. holidays it could’ve been. During the SNL taping, George and Paul jokingly trade lines of “Yesterday” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” before going into “Rock Island Line”; they also do “Bye Bye Love” and the songs for the broadcast, of course. It sounds like there’s a small crowd (staff/cast) for this. The on-air applause must be mixed in from the crowd for the live show — same setup as for Carly Simon.
This is the song Gilda is singing while doing her Buffy Sainte-Marie impression in Billy Paul.
I watched Bill Murray appear in the dreaded SJP season 20 episode 5 when Mike had passed away that week and Murray chose one of the least loved bedtime tales which I never saw (had never watched many of the older episodes).
I really don’t get the appeal nor do I like those sketches, I think the only way that particular one that aired during his period of mourning was seeing Loraine Newman as herself, drugged out, frail but still promising talent. Have no idea why Mike Gets so much love, I find his humor to be extremely specific, so it surprises me that he was held with such great regard, as I find his work a snooze fest. The cereal sketch was probably as good as I’ll ever notice in a piece he did, but it was Jane that made it work imo. Just going on a rant cause I feel like there were some solid writers, but his sense of humor seems like it doesn’t fit on SNL, similar to a lot of Weis films which I wanted to like after seeing the one he did featuring Loraine Newmans in season 3 or 5…which was fantastic, but I haven’t seen any others that could get more than 2 stars at best if I’m being generous (but I am not sure If i have it in me to watch all these older seasons, they drag a lot and I can’t stand a lot of the reoccurring characters).
What I do like about this episode: very strong musical performances of Paul and George. Particularly memorable performance of Simons “50 ways to leave your lover.” My teacup poodle bobbed her head a when he performed.
Was refreshing to see the commercial free weekend update with Jane Curtain. Brings me to wonder why Akroyd was brought on later as co anchor, Jane did a flawless job solo, taking over Chevys charming shoes.
Only sketch I enjoyed that featured a cast member was Dan Akroyds as Tom Snyder, he does a great imitation of him except he’s missing the excessive cigarette smoking he’d do on the real show!
I know “this song” wasn’t a sketch but it certainly felt like it, too bad the cast wasn’t in it, or at least that I caught.
For me, my Favorite was the cold opening with Chevy panhandling and trying to say live from New York! Also gotta love Harrison’s negotiations w Lorne on the $3000 Beatles order. And Paul Simon in the Turkey is a timeless holiday act.
During this year when Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” was on Top 40 AM radio wall-to-wall and several months before he performed that particular song on this ep, I saw and heard Dinah Shore do her own middle-of-the-road version on “The Carol Burnett Show” which was in the last hour of prime-time Saturday ending just 30 min. before “NBC’s Saturday Night”. Her version, which was quite slow in that Easy Listening muzak-vibe, was interesting, to say the least!