Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Leonid Brezhnev (JOB) parlays NBC Olympic coverage into Tonight Show spot
— This feels like an odd choice for a cold opening, but maybe that’s because of Elliott Gould’s presence.
— John entering the scene by wiping off his pants when exiting the bathroom was pretty funny.
— I like John resorting to bomb threat gestures to persuade Elliott and Bill.
— John’s whole Johnny Carson request is great.
— Overall, a solid cold opening.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— In the version of the episode I’m watching, the show has strangely gone back to being titled “Saturday Night” in the opening montage, despite the fact that it was titled “Saturday Night Live” in the preceding two episodes. What’s up with this?
MONOLOGUE
JOB, host, BIM demonstrate the new dance craze- The Castration Walk
— Will we be getting another song-and-dance monologue from Elliott?
— Pardo’s intro to the musical number is very interesting and is getting me excited.
— Haha, this “Castration Walk” number is hilarious. I’m glad they’re letting Elliott do an actual comedic song-and-dance number this time.
— Great lyric from Bill about how the mohel made him a “goil”.
— Overall, this was very fun and catchy.
STARS: ****½
THE CONEHEADS AT HOME
Merkon (GAM) arrives from Remulak to check on Coneheads’ progress
— Judging from this living room set, I think we’re in for another Coneheads edition.
— I was right!
— LOL at the visual of Conehead Garrett Morris.
— Garrett’s doing a better job in this role than I would have expected.
— Laraine’s delivery sure was awkward when she was explaining what pizza is.
— Very funny part with Dan and Jane scolding Laraine for having a senso-ring hidden under her bed, as if it were an adult sex toy.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (THE MCGARRIGLE SISTERS)
YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BUDDY
men talk about men’s issues
— Dan’s over-emphasis of how every painting he’s displaying was done by a man is funny.
— Yet another stumbly performance from early-era Bill Murray. He kept tripping over his lines throughout his portion of this sketch.
— I’m loving the tasteless humor of John promoting a rape hotline that helps male rapists after they commit a rape. This portion of the sketch is hilarious.
— Overall, a well-written and mostly well-executed group sketch with an interesting gender-flip premise.
STARS: ****
WEEKEND UPDATE
BIM uses sexual metaphors while covering anti-pornography rally
at Howdy Doody’s funeral, LAN interviews his widow Debbie (GIR)
as a service to shut-ins, JOB explains the different types of weather
— Tonight, Jane seems to be over-relying on lots of ad-libs and exaggerated laughter after a joke gets a tepid audience reaction, which has been happening an awful lot so far.
— Bill’s suggestive descriptions in his anti-porn rally commentary are really funny.
— And now, Bill has an even funnier post-commentary bit about how he’s embarrassed to stand up in front of the camera due to the stimulating commentary he just did.
— Hmm, Jane is making Bill read several Update jokes. Interesting. Is this their way of trying Bill out as a potential future Update co-anchor? Though as we now know, they would end up giving Dan a season as Jane’s co-anchor before eventually giving that spot to Bill.
— Great Howdy Doody suicide joke.
— I like this interview with Gilda as Howdy’s wife, Debbie Doody. The visual is very funny, and Gilda’s giving an excellent physical performance.
— John’s commentary seems different from his usual Update stuff. Not too sure how I feel about tonight’s bit with him using a lamp to demonstrate different kinds of weather.
— Oh, wait, here’s John’s Update staple where he gradually gets intense and over-the-top. This always cracks me up.
— Ah, and there’s the debut of John’s “But nooooooo!” catchphrase.
— Great backwards tumble from John out of his chair.
— No mid-WU break tonight.
STARS: ***½
NICK SUMMERS
at a resort, lounge singer Nick “Summers” (BIM) works unresponsive crowd
— Bill in that get-up is making me wonder if we’re in for our very first Nick the Lounge Singer sketch.
— Bill: “My name is Nick Summers.” Yep, that confirms it. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— I like John and Gilda’s sour attitude.
— Funny line from Bill about Dan: ‘He’s an Indian and they don’t lie. I love that.”
— After how much Bill has struggled as a cast member so far, it’s great to see him have his first successful character piece with this sketch. He’s doing so well here, and it’s a lot of fun watching him play this type of smarmy character with total ease.
STARS: ****
UNITED FACE BANK
Joan Crawford (JAC) solicits donations for the faceless
— Oh my god at Garrett’s transplanted white girl face. A hilarious sight.
— The fridge of faces was delightfully creepy.
— I get the feeling this is a parody of a real Joan Crawford ad from the time, but I was still able to find this sketch pretty funny and I liked the oddball premise.
STARS: ***½
SPORT VIOLENCE
by Gary Weis- “America the Beautiful” plays over sports fight footage
— This feels like a typical Gary Weis film, but I’m always entertained by watching fights break out during sports games.
— Okay, the fight clips are starting to get old now, and this film is just coming off pointless. And besides, didn’t Weis already do a film like this, where it was another Ray Charles song being juxtaposed with clips of rowdy crowd members at sports games yelling and cheering?
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (THE MCGARRIGLE SISTERS)
SIDE NOTE: After the preceding musical performance has ended and before the following sketch has begun, a screen briefly showed up saying “SAT NITE: Aren’t You Glad You’re Not Watching Lloyd Dobyns Right Now?” From what I understand, Lloyd Dobyns hosted a show that aired in SNL’s slot whenever SNL was on break during their early seasons. But this brief screen gag still seemed like a random, strange bit for SNL to do.
24 HOUR BANK
automated teller machine subjects (BIM) to pointless security tests
— I like the subtle joke of how Mesopotamia keeps randomly showing up as the last option in all the multiple choice questions.
— This sketch kinda feels ahead of its time. The excessive, ridiculous confirmation tests Bill and Garrett are subjected to are not too far removed from the ridiculous “prove you’re not a robot”-type online Captchas we have to put up with nowadays.
— I’m really enjoying the fast-paced increasing silliness of the tests.
— Haha, the money being replaced by headcheese was a funny way to end this.
STARS: ****
NATURAL CAUSES RESTAURANT
restaurant of Jason & Sunset serves animals that died of natural causes
— Hey, it’s the hippie characters that Dan and Laraine played in the Peter Boyle episode from season 1.
— Some decent laughs from the odd ways that the animals in the menu are said to have died.
— Hmm, as Dan and Laraine are recalling an incident where a cow fell from the sky, it sounds like you can hear a plane flying nearby. Are we in for another “drop the cow” ending?
— Yep, and there’s the cow-drop. Funny ending as always.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (ROSLYN KIND)
CLOWN DOLL
a man learns his wife is having an affair with a toy clown
— The silliness of seeing a man in a wild, violent physical fight with a tiny puppet is pretty funny.
— My only complaint is the ending. Why was there no punchline? The man just gets back together with his cheating wife, and… The End?
STARS: ***
PILSON’S FEEDBAG DINNERS
— Rerun of a Chevy Chase commercial. It feels a little weird to see Chevy again after I’ve gotten so used to the show without him in the second half of this season.
GOODNIGHTS
DAA informs viewers that he needs tanks for his motorcycle
— We get some funny antics with the cast trying to kill time. Dan is especially funny desperately asking viewers for tanks that his motorcycle needs.
— John declares Elliott the best host they’ve ever had.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very strong Elliott Gould episode, and a bit of an improvement over the second episode he hosted back in season 1. So many solid sketches tonight, several of which had interesting, creative, and fun premises. And aside from the Gary Weis film (seriously, when does this guy’s tenure as an SNL filmmaker officially end?), none of the segments in this episode fell flat; everything worked.
— However, is it just me or did it feel like Elliott didn’t do much in this episode? I’m having a hard time remembering a lot of what he did. It feels like he spent most of the second half of the show just intro-ing musical guests and short films.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Julian Bond):
— a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Eric Idle