Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Emily Litella’s new love makes her feel like a “national” woman
— A backstage Emily Litella cold opening? Normally, I would give the show credit for trying something different, but opening an episode with this tired, overused character is getting things off to a bad start.
— How come she isn’t saying who she’s in love with? Is she referring to tonight’s host?
— Jane: “Have you prepared anything for tonight’s Weekend Update?” Oh, no – so you mean this is going to be another episode where she appears twice?
— Overall, despite the change in setting, there was nothing particularly new from Litella here. Basically the same old shtick. One of the weakest cold openings of the season.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— The audience keeps chuckling for some reason, despite the fact that Julian has been saying nothing but serious things so far. Is something funny happening off-camera that we home viewers can’t see?
— Julian’s line about being SNL’s “chocolate Easter bunny” kinda made me chuckle, but please don’t tell me that’s the joke this monologue is going to end on.
— Aaaaaaand it IS the joke this monologue ended on, unfortunately. Second monologue in a row that had a long build-up to a punchline that wasn’t worth it (after Jack Burns’ cringeworthy “touching himself” gag).
STARS: **
H&L BROCK
Lowell Brock (JOB) takes time to do taxes right because he’s doing time
— Not too excited to see this back. These H&L Brock segments are usually a little too dry for their own good.
— The “I’m doing time” reason is making me laugh.
— The revelation that he’s actually behind bars is great.
— Overall, not bad at all, surprisingly.
STARS: ***½
BLACK PERSPECTIVE
GAM & host on IQ differences among & within the races
— Right out of the gate, the lead-off sketch of the night is what would go on to become the most well-known sketch from this episode.
— Some good laughs from Julian reading examples from the white-biased questionnaire.
— LOL at Garrett flubbing his set-up to the most famous part of the sketch that’s about to happen right now.
— Julian bluntly stating that light-skinned blacks are smarter than dark-skinned blacks, and Garrett, after a good non-verbal facial reaction, responding “Say whaat?” is truly a hilarious, classic turn this sketch has taken.
STARS: ****½
AN OVAL OFFICE
host & Andrew Young (GAM) remind Jimmy Carter (DAA) of campaign promises
— The “An Oval Office” opening title almost had me thinking for a second that this was going to be a Chevy-as-Gerald-Ford sketch, since they used that same title for some of his sketches.
— “How are things down there in the peach state?” “The pits.”
— What’s that white stuff in the back of Garrett’s hair?
— Dan’s Carter’s ridiculous childhood stories (peanut shell house, shoebox his parents kept him in) is pretty funny.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (TOM WAITS)
DR. X, FAMILY COUNSELLOR
weirdo (DAA) assesses catatonic Colleen (GIR)
— Right from the start, I already like the concept.
— The first real appearance of Gilda’s catatonic Colleen character (the “One Flew Over the Hornet’s Nest” sketch doesn’t really count).
— I’m loving the heated occasional bits with Bill as the father jumping out of his seat and physically attacking John every time John calls out the doctor’s physical oddities. Kinda reminds me of the Simpsons’ recurring gag of Homer strangling Bart.
— I didn’t even notice Dan’s mechanical arm until John mentioned it.
— Dan’s random maniacal sobbing when trying to explain his physical oddities is cracking me the hell up.
— Funny hearing the mention of a character named Dr. R.D. Lange. Doesn’t the name “R.D. Lange” sound an awful lot like the name of a certain rotund comedian from more recent decades?
— Loved Dan’s “The woman’s vegged out!” line about Gilda’s Colleen.
— The ending was pretty funny.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
— The jokes have been okay so far, though nothing noteworthy yet.
RIGHT ON AFRO LUSTRE
(host) uses Right On Afro Lustre, the hairspray in a fist-shaped canister
— At first, I didn’t even recognize Julian in that afro & mustache, until he started speaking. He looks hilarious in that get-up.
— The high-pitched disco-type singing in the commercial jingle was both funny and very catchy.
— Short but funny. Something about the combination of the aforementioned aspects of this sketch (Julian’s look & the high-pitched disco song) made me find this commercial even funnier than it actually was, which will bump up the rating a bit.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
during a related story, the landing of the Concorde SST drowns out JAC
— The audience groaning at Jane’s self-admittedly corny High-Chairman Mao joke was pretty funny.
— No idea what to say about the extended gag with Jane’s plane-landing joke being drowned out by the sound effect of a plane landing. I guess it was kinda funny if a little corny (again).
— Hmm, no Emily Litella on tonight’s Update after all. There IS a God.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***
GREAT MOMENTS IN MOTOWN
a musical group adopts hand gestures & dancing
— The premise of an all-black musical group being portrayed by three white guys and only one actual black guy, as well as the oddity of that not even being called out within the sketch, is reminding me of a cross between two things: 1) an infamously bad Boyz II Men sketch the show would later do in season 20, and 2) the pretty funny Roots II sketch from earlier this season.
— Another sketch where Julian’s get-up is giving me some good laughs.
— Bill’s voice is very funny.
— Funny unscripted moment with Garrett kinda calling Julian out for referring to him as “Clemont” when his name is supposed to be “Clement”.
STARS: ***
CREELEY’S SOUP
announcer (BIM) sidetracks a little girl (GIR) as she eats Creeley’s Soup
— I seem to recall seeing this before; probably in Gilda’s Best Of.
— The part with her stuffing corn into her nose because “the soup man says so” is pretty funny.
— Overall, this was decent, but nowhere near as funny as I had remembered it being. If this sketch is widely considered by SNL fans to be a near-classic, then count me as someone who finds it overrated.
STARS: ***
BAD CINEMA
Truman Capote (JOB) & others review “ooh-la-la! les legs!”
— The return of the “Bad (insert type of play here)” sketch.
— What in the world was up with the blooper where Laraine was missing from the beginning of the sketch, and then made a very late entrance? And as if that wasn’t bad enough, we then had to wait for her to find her clip-on mic before she was able to deliver her first line. Yikes! Recently back in 2016, people on online SNL boards understandably gave short-lived featured player Jon Rudnitsky a lot of crap for mysteriously showing up late to the famous “Space Pants” sketch, but now I see he wasn’t the first SNL cast member to make that bad mistake. I wonder what Laraine’s excuse was for showing up so late.
— Also, I think this was Laraine’s very first appearance of the whole night, and keep in mind, we’re in the last 20 minutes of the show! (ADDENDUM: I just now remembered Laraine was in the Oval Office sketch earlier tonight) What’s going on with her airtime lately? She’s been struggling kinda badly.
— Yet another sketch tonight where I’m getting good laughs out of Julian’s get-up.
— WTF at this film they’re showing. Is this footage from a real French film, or is it an SNL-made clip? That guy with the main girl looks kinda like Bill.
— No, never mind, that’s not Bill. I guess this IS a real French film clip. It’s starting to remind me of the “Les Jeunes de Paris” sketches SNL would later do in the early 2010s.
— I liked the specificity of Julian’s line about his expertise being in “bad 3D insect fear films of the 60s”.
— Overall, this was okay, but way too different from the format of other Leonard Pinth-Garnell sketches for my likes. I prefer the usual format.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (BRICK)
CIVIL RIGHTS FARBERS
the Farbers try to convince host of their neighborhood’s racial tolerance
— Julian: “[Young black men’s] unemployment rate is as high up as 40% in the south.” John: “Well, they’re not gonna come up HERE, are they?”
— This sketch has a nice, enjoyable realistic tone to it, which I’m guessing will be par for the course in the Farbers’ subsequent sketches.
STARS: ***
MR. MIKE MEETS UNCLE REMUS
MOD tells a tale involving Brer Rabbit
— This interestingly opens with a disclaimer about how “Mr. Mike’s Least Loved Bedtime Tales” will not be seen tonight.
— Oh, looks like this IS a Mr. Mike sketch after all. This premise of him meeting Song of the South’s Uncle Remus seems like a very intriguing change of pace.
— It feels unusual seeing Garrett Morris so prominent throughout tonight’s episode. He usually never gets this many leading roles in one night.
— I’m really liking the mismatch of Mr. Mike’s usual sadistic storytelling with the more conventional old-timey southern storytelling of Uncle Remus.
— Garrett’s reaction to the story’s dark ending is pretty funny.
STARS: ****
PATTI SMITH
by Gary Weis- Patti Smith [real] discusses censorship & her SNL gig
— I want to appreciate the message Smith is trying to express in this film, but man, could this be any more rambly? And could she use the word “like” any more times?
STARS: *½
NEW SOUTH
George Wallace (JOB) lists supposed improvements to the South’s bad image
— Yet another one-person-talking-to-the-camera sketch tonight starring John. I actually thought at first that he was playing the H&L Brock guy again.
— The new “respectful” racial segregation rules are pretty funny.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The first legitimately solid episode in a while. Glad to see the show get out of the slump it had been in during the three March episodes.
— After a slow start with a tepid cold opening & monologue, tonight’s episode had a consistent run of pretty good sketches and about two great ones. There was also an interesting running thread of racial humor throughout the show.
— For a stiff politician, Julian Bond was surprisingly not bad. He actually made me laugh a few times, he had a good sense of humor, didn’t play himself in every single sketch, and something about his stiffness actually worked in his favor in the sketches where he wore silly get-ups.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jack Burns):
— a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Elliott Gould
First!
(the only time I will ever be able to say that…)
Matt, a commenter here, mentioned an op-ed with Julian Bond that I had never seen before – it was written around the time Sasheer was hired, so unfortunately puts a burden on her shoulders that no cast member ever could have managed. He also talks a little about his episode, mainly the colorism sketch, which he still has mixed feelings about.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/snl-civil-rights-leader-julian-671054/
Yes, “Creeley’s Soup” was indeed in “The Best of Gilda Radner” VHS tape issued by Warner Home Video in 1989 after Gilda’s passing. All the sketches were picked by Ms. Radner herself during her remaining days…
The French film looks to be a Scopitone, a short music video produced to be viewed in giant jukebox-style projection machines most popular in Europe for a brief time in the 1960s.
Here’s my reviews of the musical performances.
Eggs and Sausage
— Haha, Tom Waits with the most Tom Waitsy vocals you can imagine. And of course he’s wearing a beret.
— Liking the running sax improv in the background
— Great gradual zoom in on Tom’s face from the back of the piano, as you see the hammers hit the strings on the piano
— Glad we’re finally getting a look at the sax player.
— Like the more energetic vibe this song is taking (briefly) during the sax solo. Some good work from the upright bassist too
— Tom’s vocals are kind of blending in with the other instruments, I’m not fixating too much on the actual lyrics, it’s like a gruff caustic instrument interplaying along with the sax, piano, and bass.
— Finally get a shot of the drummer as the camera zooms out at the end.
— A very solid performance of a relatively straightforward song by Tom Waits standards.
— Can’t believe he only gets one song. I know SNL loved to do multiple musical guests at this time but c’mon it’s Tom freakin’ Waits.
STARS: ****
Dazz
— Nice groove here with tight drumming and a great bassline
— Good falsetto vocals
— Having a bit of trouble hearing the sax druing the first solo and what is that cord attached to the mouthpiece, some kind of mic?
— LOL he’s switching to a flute, geez this dude does it all.
— I like the clapping and swaying of the bassist and guitarist in the background during the flute solo
— Holy heck as the goofy staccato thing he’s doing with the flute here.
— And on the flute solo goes! Hahaha, very long winded solo but I’m still enjoying it despite myself due to the enthusiasm.
— This was goofy, cheerful and charming enough to win me over and I’m not TOO upset we didn’t get a second Tom Waits song.
STARS: ***
I’ve always had mixed feelings about politicians hosting this show, especially when the whole cast shows up during the Goodnights wearing Julian Bond t-shirts. In fairness, I do believe that although the show has always leaned to one side, they did at least have Ron Nessen host earlier and the Carter sketch here seems much more critical of the newly-ensconced president’s idealism (the indecisiveness, over-preparation, folksy narrative and tendency to micro-manage are all seen here as a house of cards). By contrast, a great sketch from weeks earlier portrayed him as the ultimate problem-solver. I think if I had to narrow my issue down about this, it would be that I can’t stand when the show gets wonky (if I’m not mistaken, I remember them starting to trend this way when Belushi and Aykroyd left). Some politics are part and parcel, but there should be a balance.
And what to say of Tom Waits. Let’s just say he’s an acquired taste. His song delivery, to my ears, sounds not much different than Billy Crystal’s “Jazz man” character from an earlier bit. Similarly, Patti Smith is another oddball with a certain flair for affectation that I’ve never quite bought into. I did love her rendition of Gloria during her appearance, however, so I guess I’m being selective. At any rate, I don’t know what the hell she’s going on about in the Weis film. Initially, I thought it would be really interesting to hear her thoughts on that appearance.
I’m pretty sure the hairspray commercial is a take on the Afro Sheen commercials that commonly aired during black programming blocks back then. Is that a member of Brick doing the falsetto?
I think it’s Paul Shaffer singing in the commercial.
all this talk about Afro Sheen: I’ve just gotten a joke from season 5, when Jane Curtin advertises a hair product called Martin Sheen, and the real Martin Sheen spits in her hair! I thought it was just a typical season 5 grossout gag, but its a pun!
Patti Smith’s spoken word stuff was always very rambly, I dont know if she wrote any of it down but she always makes it seem as if she’s free associating. always lots of surreal dream imagery, literary references and puns, and usually a bit of scatology and sacrilege. both her and Tom Waits in one episode is a very good thing, I agree its a shame Tom didnt get a second song. and I think either one of them woulda made a great host
reading all the complaints about Weiss’s films (which mostly bore me too), I’m starting to see a pattern of two types: some are his New York art world friends, and most are portraits of oldschool New York characters. I think all these, especially the latter, wouldve meant more to a NooYawker, especially in the 70s. Those oldschool characters (like the jokeshop proprietor) seem like people you wouldnt even find in the city ten years later