Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
DISCLAIMER
Charlie’s Angels Catch The Syph will not be seen tonight
COLD OPENING
MOD & Tina Turner (GAM) join to perform “Proud Mary”
— We start off with the debut of Paul Shaffer’s Don Kirschner impression. Funnily enough, his name is displayed on the bottom of the screen in the same memorable font as the one used in SNL’s opening montage from the first two seasons.
— Is this gonna be a Blues Brothers number?
— Oh, it’s actually “The Mr. Mike and Tina Turner Revue”.
— Yet another instance of Garrett in drag.
— The juxtaposition of Mr. Mike doing a Least Loved Bedtime Tale during the song is great.
— Oh my god at Garrett’s sudden wild dancing. Hilarious!
— Wow, Garrett’s giving a great performance in this.
— A very energetic and inspired way to start the show.
STARS: ****½
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about the time he played Shylock when back in college
— He points out that the first time he hosted was one of SNL’s very first episodes back when “nobody knew what they were doing yet”.
— Uh, didn’t he already do this “college brochure” bit in his monologue last time he hosted? I’m almost certain he did.
— The “subtle” antisemitism bit was hilarious, especially the sudden loud “HEY, JEW BOY!!!” remark.
— I’m liking a lot of his frequent little side comments & ad-libs during his routines.
— Overall, some really entertaining stand-up comedy here.
STARS: ****
THE OLYMPIA CAFE
Pete Dionasopolis’ (JOB) Olympia Cafe features a tripartite menu
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— I spotted Don Novello in the background. This must be his very first on-camera appearance. I didn’t even know he was a writer yet at this point; he must’ve been a recent mid-season hire.
— I’m loving the authentic feel of this whole thing, making this seem like we’re at a real cafe. Lots of subtle dead-on details in the performances.
— Bill’s ineptness when dealing with Robert’s order is hilarious.
— Ah, there’s the classic part with John rapidly pointing out to Robert all the “chee’burger chee’burger chee’burger”s that the patrons are having for breakfast when Robert complains that it’s too early for a cheeseburger.
— Overall, a strong debut.
STARS: ****
X-POLICE
X-Police terrorize a cohabitating couple (host) & (LAN)
— The return of X-Police! I think I’m in the minority in loving the first time they did the sketch, judging from lots of negative reviews I’ve read of that sketch from other SNL fans.
— Bill’s “slut” remark to Laraine got a good audience reaction.
— I loved Robert’s exaggerated growl when running towards the window to jump out of it.
— Overall, this was WAY too similar to the first X-Police sketch, basically doing all the exact same stuff with no variation. And while I liked the first time they did the sketch, I was looking forward to the sketch’s subsequent installments exploring different ground, not just repeating everything from the first one. Are the rest of the X-Police sketches (assuming there ARE any) like this?
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
WEEKEND UPDATE
Roseanne Roseannadanna’s topic wanders from an aneurysm to toenails
— This Update opens with a “sponsored by” gag, which, IIRC, would become a regular part of Update for a while.
— Finally, our first mention of “radioactive lobsters”, which kicks off the now-famous running premise of tonight’s episode. It’s about time. All the comments I had read about this episode over the years had me thinking the lobster premise was established right from the start of the show, which is why I’m surprised to see it didn’t happen until halfway through the episode.
— WTF at the accidental cutaway to Jane smiling hammily at the camera when Dan was doing the math formula joke.
— Why do I get the feeling that’s Tom Schiller’s hand that’s shown writing on the chalkboard?
— Ha, Jane made a funny ad-libbed “Was it worth it?” meta-comment after her brief Casey Stengel joke got badly screwed up by the camera.
— What the hell? Now Jane’s awkwardly stalling for time while Gilda is off-camera getting ready for an upcoming Roseanne Roseannadanna commentary. Jane acknowledges the fact that there’s still several news stories remaining but says there’s no point in doing them anymore (presumably because of how badly the last few jokes got screwed up). Holy hell, this Update has gone completely off the rails. What the fuck went wrong? It’s not every day you see an Update anchor actually aborting a joke on the air because of how sloppily things were going.
— Roseannadanna doing an aneurysm commentary. Haha, I can’t wait to see how gross this is going to get.
— Roseannadanna didn’t let me down. Her whole rant was very funny, especially the part about warts.
— Hmm, no letter from “Richard Feder” in tonight’s Roseannadanna commentary. I thought that was a staple of all her appearances.
STARS: **½
NICK WINTERS
at a ski lodge, Nick “Winters” sings & Jimmy Joe Red Sky (DAA) reports
— Nick the Lounge Singer!
— I can tell from Bill’s outfit that this is going to be the installment with the famous moment where he sings lyrics to the Star Wars theme. I’ve often seen that as a clip in various SNL highlight reels, but I’ve never seen the full sketch itself.
— Bill’s opening “da da da” number hilarious.
— A good laugh from Robert calling Bill a pimp.
— I love Bill’s singing of “That’s The Way (Uh-Huh Uh-Huh) I Like It”.
— There’s the classic Star Wars number! It’s just as fantastic as I remember.
— Overall, an excellent second installment of this sketch; even better than his debut from late in the preceding season. This just may be the character at his absolute peak.
STARS: *****
FROGS LOOK AT FILM
Jerry Lewis (host) & The Nutty Air Traffic Controller
— Well, judging from the show’s title and Laraine’s intro, THIS is going to be a weird sketch.
— Who’s gonna play Jerry Lewis? I can’t picture anyone in this cast playing him, so I guess it’s gonna be Robert.
— Yep, it IS Robert.
— What’s with the studio audience? They’re completely silent.
— The concept reminds me of Lucy A-Bomb sketch. Dan’s even playing his uptight straight man character the same way he did in that sketch.
— Overall, a very accurate Jerry Lewis parody and a decently-performed sketch, though not anything I’d call great (then again, I’m in the minority in not finding Lucy A-Bomb to be a classic, either).
STARS: ***
NERD ROCK
KLOG deejay plugs album of nerds Todd (BIM), Lisa (GIR), Spaz (host)
— At first, I almost thought this was going to be a sequel to Dan’s AM/FM sketch.
— Is this the debut of Bill and Gilda’s Nerds characters?
— Hmm, never mind. Bill and Gilda’s characters in this aren’t named Todd and Lisa, so I guess this is just an early prototype of the Nerds sketches.
— Then again, just now, Bill did the noogie routine his Todd character would become well-known for.
— And now, Jane entering as a character called Mrs. Loopner proves that this IS the official debut of the Nerds. Interesting seeing how different the sketch was in its first appearance.
— Overall, a pretty funny sketch; Bill was especially strong in it. Weird, though, seeing him play Todd with a mustache; all the Nerds sketches I saw in the past had a clean-shaven Bill.
STARS: ***½
LOBSTER UPDATE
JAC breaks in with a news flash- giant lobsters are headed for NYC
— I had been wondering when the heck they were going to continue the lobster premise that was established on Weekend Update. I have to say, I’m kinda disappointed to see that the premise hasn’t been dominating this episode as much as I was expecting it to.
— Robert’s comment about lobsters not eating Orthodox Jews was pretty funny.
STARS: N/A
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Ha, in the middle of the performance, we get a news update scrolling across the screen regarding the whereabouts of the giant lobsters. Great commitment to the premise, having it actually “interrupt” a musical performance. They’re starting to go all out with this concept, which is exactly what I wanted to see when I came into this episode.
RHONDA & BARBARA
Rhonda Weiss & Barbara talk & smoke some dope
— The audience is getting a huge kick out of the stoner humor in this, which shows what a novelty that type of comedy was back in the 70s.
— This has been way too slow so far, but I just now finally got my first big laugh, with the “I hear a black man stealing your jewelry” bit.
— The fourth wall has broken with Jane and Gilda dropping character to question what the hell that sudden odd noise is. Must be a continuation of the lobster premise.
— The audience went nuts at the sight of John walking on in a Bee costume.
— There’s the “Attack of the Atomic Lobsters” title. I guess I should separate the remainder of this into its own segment.
STARS: ???
ATTACK OF THE ATOMIC LOBSTERS
large seafood invades Rockefeller Center
host describes the scene as the lobsters wreak chaos in the studio
— Haha, a pre-taped special effect sequence of the lobsters in the city. Hell yeah! I’ve been waiting the whole episode for the lobster premise to fully take off.
— The cheesy stop-motion effects is adding to the great surreal-ness of this whole thing.
— They truly are going all out with this, now even getting the audience involved.
— Klein on Belushi’s death: “He had his whole life ahead of him… or at least two or three more years, anyway.” Yet another prediction of John dying in a few years… and we haven’t even reached whichever episode has “Don’t Look Back in Anger” where John says at one point “They all thought I’d be the first to go”.
— Wow, this whole thing is getting INSANE. I love it.
STARS: *****
GOODNIGHTS
(MOD) & (TOD) develop a plan to cook the crustacean menace
— A continuation of the lobster attacks. Hell, even the Robert Klein bumper pic that preceded these goodnights had screaming and lobster noises in the background instead of the usual piano music and audience applause that always precedes the goodnights. It can’t be said enough how much I’m enjoying the way they’re going all out with this whole thing. Earlier in the episode, I expressed disappointment over how light the first 2/3rds of this episode was on the lobster premise, but they’re making up for it IN SPADES with these last 15 minutes.
— Now Pardo’s getting involved in the action.
— I’m loving the strange conversation between the two off-camera voices (who appear to be Tom Davis and……. Bill Murray, maybe? No, wait, I think it’s Michael O’Donoghue) while the scrolling end credits is displayed over a snowy static screen. Such a unique, unconventional, deadpan way to end an SNL episode.
— Among the scrolling end credits: “Lobster roars by Chevy Chase”. Wait, WHAT?!?!??!
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Oh my god, I can’t believe the greatness I just witnessed! Uh, sorry, folks, I’m still on a natural high from that epic ending. As someone who’s a fan of anytime SNL breaks their own format and anytime they do a rare “conceptual episode”, I got such great pleasure out of how the Atomic Lobster premise progressed. This definitely lived up to all the hype from over the years.
— The rest of the episode was no slouch, either. Between that wild Mr. Mike/Tina Turner opening number, a solid stand-up monologue, the debuts of some of the most defining recurring characters of this whole era (Olympia Cafe, Nerds), and what’s probably the most well-remembered Nick the Lounge Singer installment of all-time, there was plenty to love in this overall great episode.
— Robert Klein did another solid job hosting, and he also held his own during the whole lobster attack, doing excellent narration of all the carnage.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Steve Martin):
— a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Chevy’s back… and boy, does something infamous happen backstage right before airtime
Yes, Don Novello and Brian Doyle-Murray were hired midway through this season. This was only their first or second episode, IIRC. Furthermore, the “Olympic Cafe” sketches were Novello’s handiwork.
I always get a kick out of the shot of Mr. Mike lackadaisically yanking the rabbits out of his guitar during the cold open, as well as his and Davis’ discussing their plan over the credits. Funny thing: at the very end, O’Donoghue asks Davis if he’s “gonna bring Emily?” . . . as in Emily Prager? (Whom I believe Davis was seeing at the time.)
Solid episode overall.
And in typical Mr. Mike fashion, as soon as cameras stopped rolling, Michael apparently threw a tantrum in the studio about the lobster bit not coming out as well as he planned, and he drop-kicked a folding chair into the balcony while the audience got out as fast as possible.
How the hell does someone dropkick a folding chair that high? Lmao, gotta love Mr. Mike.
Oh yeah, spot an (almost) familiar face – one of the air-traffic controllers is Mitchell Laurance, brother of future featured player Matthew; they look *very* similar to each other.
I saw this ep of “SNL” on the Warner Home Video VHS tape that also had Robert Klein’s previous hosting stint from the first season. Both shows excised the musical guest on the tape so I didn’t see Loudon Wainwright III or ABBA from the first show until NBC showed the ep on their Classic SNL schedule during the early ’00s. I’ve yet to watch the Bonnie Raitt performances from this show but since I know there’s a third season DVD set of “SNL” available, maybe someday… And, yeah, this is one of the most classic of eps of this particular cast!
Comedy Network and NBC All Night both aired the repeat version of the show; the jokes affected by the technical screwups during Update were completely cut (somewhat awkwardly), and there’s no awkward pause while Curtin waits for Roseanne Rosannadanna. They fill time by putting in The Acid Generation after Frogs Look At Film (still with the audience caption from Kahn); they also moved Nerd Rock after Nick Winters.