Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
DISCLAIMER
Little House On The Prairie Burns To The Ground will not be seen tonight
COLD OPENING
Gerald Ford (CHC) talks geography after confusing Suez & Panama Canals
— The obligatory return of Chevy’s Gerald Ford. Watching SNL episodes in chronological order, it feels a little weird seeing Chevy on the show again after getting so used to the show without him since his departure.
— Right out of the gate, Chevy looks a little distracted in his performance. Understandable, considering that mere minutes earlier, he and Bill Murray famously got into a big fistfight backstage. I’m curious to see if there will be any visible tension in the cast’s performances throughout this episode.
— A reprisal of the memorable gag with Chevy’s Ford answering a glass of water as a phone.
— Chevy’s Ford to his wife Betty: “Thank you, Ron.”
— The map demonstration was really funny.
— And there’s the return of the traditional ending fall.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— Strangely, they reverted back to the opening montage from the first two seasons.
— Weird seeing this montage again. Is SNL only doing this to add to the night’s nostalgic “old school” feel with Chevy’s return?
MONOLOGUE
CHC shamelessly garners applause from the audience using various ploys
— It’ll be interesting to see how this monologue goes, considering this is SNL’s very first alumni-hosted episode.
— Chevy’s coming off really fidgety in this; obviously he’s still shaken up over the fight.
— Is all the frequent cheap applause part of the joke?
— Yep, I guess it is. This ain’t too funny so far.
— I feel like SNL ended up using the same “host keeps saying things to get frequent cheap applause” premise in another host’s monologue years later, but I can’t figure out which host it was.
— Oh, great, now he’s launched into a song. Ugh.
— Well, at least the song was brief.
— Overall, this monologue was kind of a disjointed mess, not helped by Chevy’s slightly off performance. I didn’t laugh much here.
STARS: **
MOTH MASHER
the Moth Masher compresses & plasticizes to ready insects for your wallet
— Nice to see another commercial with Dan doing his usual manic fast-talking pitchman.
— The bizarre nonsensical premise and the way it’s being played like it’s totally normal is great. I especially like the part about putting the plasticized moth into your wallet.
STARS: ****
AFTER LOVE
(CHC) & (GIR) evaluate their performance during a post-coital discussion
— I’m really liking Gilda’s various strange lines about her orgasms.
— This sketch is starting to have the feel of a Marilyn Suzanne Miller piece.
— Very funny part with Chevy explaining he said his own name during the sex because of all of his nights spent alone.
— Great “It’s your apartment” reveal at the end.
— Overall, a very well-written sketch and featured strong performances from Gilda and Chevy.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
KING
Jack (DAA) & Bobby (BIM) Kennedy bug Martin Luther King Jr. (GAM)
— Bill Murray’s first appearance of the night. I’m eager to see what his performances will be like tonight, considering how heated I know he is after the scuffle with Chevy.
— Bill and Dan’s Kennedy accents are really funny.
— Dan: “It seems the good ones, they die young.” Clever reference to the Billy Joel performance that preceded this. Speaking of which, some SNL fans are under the misconception that the Chevy/Bill backstage fight actually happened during the aforementioned Billy Joel performance, instead of happening before the show started. It IS funny, though, to imagine Billy Joel singing about good people dying young while Chevy and Bill are beating the crap out of each other.
— Dan: “Have you ever slept with a white girl?” Garrett: “Does your sister count?”
— A pretty forgettable sketch overall, despite decent performances.
STARS: **½
WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
WEEKEND UPDATE
a phony phone call from CHC displaces DAA from the anchor desk
LAN’s attempt to interview striking miner (ALF) is foiled by his coughing
JAC doesn’t fall for CHC’s attempt to displace her via a phony phone call
straying from topic of Spinks-Ali fight causes JOB to become animated
Emily Litella welcomes CHC back to Weekend Update; JAC tells them off
with GAM’s help, CHC repeats the top story for the hard-of-hearing
— The sponsored “Pussywhip” bit at the beginning was very funny.
— Haha, that’s clearly Chevy’s disguised voice talking to Dan over the phone.
— Dan announces he “has to split” after receiving family emergency news.
— Chevy has suddenly returned to the desk in Dan’s spot, and he’s even wearing his old anchorperson suit from the first two seasons. You can hear a guy in the audience very audibly exclaim “Alright!!”
— Over the years, I’ve heard some behind-the-scenes stories that Chevy taking over as Update anchor tonight was one of his demands that week, arrogantly explaining that “my fans expect it”. Reportedly, Jane was FURIOUS over this. This was just one of MANY ways that Chevy is said to have pissed off everybody at SNL that week (and as we know now, Chevy pissing off everybody at the show would go on to be a regular thing every time he hosted in the future).
— Ha, Chevy doing a Mr. Ed voice once again.
— What the heck was the point of Franken’s coal miner commentary? It was weak and one-joke.
— Another phone call from a disguised Chevy, this time trying to lure Jane away from the desk.
— Jane’s “Nice try, Sparky” response to Chevy’s failed phone call ruse was great.
— LOL at Jane’s casual mention of Leon Spinks being “one of the ugliest heavyweight champs of all-time”.
— This is John’s first appearance of the whole night, surprisingly.
— During his story, John makes a passing mention of “Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill’s brother”.
— And now, John mentions a roommate named Steve Bushaikis, which is also the name of one of John’s more obscure recurring characters on the show.
— There’s the “But nooooooo” line, which pretty much officially becomes John’s catchphrase at this point.
— John’s whole roughhousing/boxing gloves bit with Jane was hilarious, especially Jane’s panicking and her passing out.
— Emily Litella shows up out of nowhere, happily greeting her favorite Update anchor “Cheddar Cheese”. As tired as I’ve gotten of this character, she’s actually coming off endearing here.
— Jane to Litella: “(angrily) First I get slugged by Belushi, now I gotta deal with YOU!”
— Chevy brings back his famous “making faces behind someone’s back” routine while Jane’s continuing to rant on at him and Litella.
— Jane’s aggression when calling out Chevy for greedily taking over Update is clearly part of the script, but you just know there’s definitely a lot of real-life anger she’s venting there.
— To conclude tonight’s Chevy Chase-Era Weekend Update Nostalgia Tour, we get the return of “News for the Hard of Hearing”. They’re really going all out in bringing back all of Chevy’s beloved Update staples.
— Overall, what an epic Update. Easily the best of the season so far. Kinda sad, though, that it took Chevy’s return for SNL to have its first above-average Update of the whole season. Really shows how fairly rough the quality of Update has been this season.
STARS: ****
BAGGAGE INSPECTION
customs trainee (CHC) inspects luggage of drug smugglers (JOB) & (LAN)
— I got a good laugh from Garrett hiding a joint in his mouth when trying to sneak away.
— Hilarious part with the cocaine leaking out of Laraine’s “chest”.
— During Bill’s funny walk-on at the end, he actually interacts with Chevy very briefly. Surprisingly, there was no visible tension at all, which at least shows they’re both very professional performers when they’re in character during a sketch.
— Overall, a very good sketch.
STARS: ****
THE VOICE
by Gary Weis- (Valri Bromfield) provides the soundtrack to LAN’s bad day
— A rare Laraine Newman showcase. I mentioned in an earlier review that she’s been really invisible this season.
— A very bizarre short so far, but the strange off-camera operatic singing and Laraine’s growing frustration are both making me laugh.
— What the–? Is that Valri Bromfield? The stand-up who did that awful “teacher” routine in SNL’s very first episode? How random that she pops up as a punchline at the end of this short. It looks like she’s even wearing the same outfit she wore in the first episode.
— The weirdness of this whole short was certainly more entertaining than the snooze-worthy humor Gary Weis usually offers.
STARS: ***
SERMONETTE
Church of Confusion holy man (CHC) tells a rambling story
— Chevy’s voice is kinda funny, but where in the WORLD is this going???
— Okay, now Chevy’s trying too hard with the “funny” voices here.
— And the sketch is over. I’m still left wondering what in the WORLD I just watched.
STARS: *½
GREAT MOMENTS OF WAR
at a checkpoint during WWII, GIs use USA culture quiz to root out Nazis
— Funny little detail with Bill quietly counting to himself in German.
— Predictable ending with John not knowing the answer to the Cleveland Indians manager question himself.
— I’m a little torn on this sketch as a whole. I felt the writing was tepid, but the performances were fun and made it worth watching.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
ENDINGS
CHC interrupts LAN, GIR, JAC during a badly-written old lady sketch
Twilite Zone- cast tries several methods to get out of a skit with no end
Jaws V- the Land Shark fools the women with promises of a sketch ending
GAM sees cast dead on the floor, ends show with “That’s All Folks”
— Gilda’s basically just doing an old-timey version of her Emily Litella voice.
— The fourth wall has broken with Chevy entering the scene as himself and calling for the sketch to end because “the piece is going nowhere”.
— Haha, sudden “Twilight Zone” twist. I always love Dan’s dead-on Rod Serling impression.
— Ha, and now we get a sudden John-as-Truman-Capote twist.
— Love the reveal of John randomly not wearing any pants.
— I’m loving all the false endings and weird meta-turns this sketch keeps taking in their attempt to “get out of the sketch”.
— Haha, now we get the return of Landshark!
— Overall, this was fantastic. Easily one of my favorite meta sketches of this whole era so far, which is saying something, as this era has had lots of memorable meta sketches.
STARS: *****
GOODNIGHTS
CHC plays organ with SNL band
— Chevy is seated at a piano as the cast crowds around him like he’s some sort of music legend. Ugh, his penchant for self-indulgence is on full display here.
— The DVD version I’m reviewing of this episode cut the goodnights very short. I had always heard that during these goodnights, a seething Bill Murray can be seen pacing back-and-forth in the background the whole time while giving Chevy a death stare. That description doesn’t quite match what I saw here, but it’s close enough: Bill makes a late entrance while looking miserable and he briefly shoots a particularly unhappy look towards Chevy hamming it up at the piano. Dan and John then stand by Bill, seemingly for two reasons: 1) to lighten him up and calm him down, and 2) to show solidarity with him, as if to say “We’re not on Chevy’s side”.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An okay episode, which exceeded my expectations. I came into this expecting a rough show, due to the backstage drama right before airtime and the fact that Chevy-hosted episodes usually have a reputation for being pretty tepid (probably due to his aforementioned habit of making everyone at the show miserable whenever he hosts). While tonight had a few subpar sketches here and there, the episode was decent for the most part and there were a few very strong segments, particularly the last sketch and the After Love sketch.
— The cast did a good job of hiding any tension during the sketches. Chevy himself, on the other hand, was visibly a little shaken early on in the show, but after the monologue, he got his concentration down and became his old self again, for better or worse.
— BTW, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the details of the Chevy/Bill fight, here’s an old article (from 1999) I dug up.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert Klein):
— a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
The controversial hosts keep on comin’, as our next episode is helmed by The Juice himself, O.J. Simpson
“It seems the good ones, they die young.”
Good catch on Billy Joel’s performance, but I’m pretty sure the line alludes to the folk ballad “Abraham, Martin & John” (Lincoln, Luther King, Kennedy) by Donovan.
Also, I think the other “cheap applause” monologue you’re thinking of is Karen Black’s from Season 6.
You mean Dion?
Indeed, nearly the ENTIRE sketch revolved around quoting the lyrics to that Dion song.
According to “I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not,” he wrote “After Love.”
I think the idea of the Chevy/Bill fight backstage occurring during Billy Joel’s performance comes from a quote of Lorne in the Shales/Miller book, where he said something along the lines of, “Meanwhile, while all of this is going on, Billy Joel is onstage singing his heart out.” (not verbatim – don’t have the book with me at the moment)
Also, IIRC: in the Shales/Miller book, Jane recalled not really caring about Chevy wanting to take over Update for the week. I think the only thing she was peeved about was that the impromptu meeting Lorne and Chevy wanted to have with her regarding the issue made her and her husband late to the ballet they were to attend that night.
Lastly, I believe Steve Bushaikis was indeed a real-life friend of Belushi’s, and his name popping up in various sketches was a shout-out/inside joke of sorts.
SNL, A Backstage History mentions that there was a sketch called Celebrity Crackups rehearsed
this week. They did it later.
Also:
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20111230/281998964310470
That “Sermonette” sketch made it onto The Best Of Chevy Chase. I’m not quite sure why…. kind of feels like a failed Monty Python sketch.
Chevy’s “Sermonette” was a parody of an old broadcast tradition that had faded away by the 1990s.
Back on the pre-infomercial days when stations signed off for the night, they frequently invited local members of the clergy to give short 1-2 minute inspirational messages, which was an easy way for local tv stations to build community goodwill (and fulfill their public service obligations to the FCC.) They usually had titles like “Today in Your Life” or “Faith and Living”, and aired right before the sign-off speech/Star-Spangled Banner/test pattern.
I never understood why they would let Chevy close the show while playing organ when BILLY JOEL is standing a few feet away. He was probably thinking “my album better go through roof after I missed my high school reunion just to be here and watch Chevy Chase noodle around.”
Was it some weird attempt by Chevy to parody the recent Ray Charles close?! Weird.
It does seem he was trying to show off here and in season 5. His season 6, 8 and 11 stints all had their own oddities, but he seemed genuinely appreciative of the 86-94 casts when he hosted in that era.
Presumably, he returned to his next high school reunion to sustained applause!
The “Will Not Be Seen Tonight” is very funny cause of the fact that that was the EXACT last episode of Little House on the Prarie. No Joke.
Wikipedia says it ran until 1983.
Rusty should have said “would be” but that is in fact how the show ended.
Too bad they stopped doing the Will Not Be Seen Tonight bits but at least You Can’t Do That on Television carried the torch.
In Alan Zweibel’s new book, he talks about how he and Gilda wrote the after sex with Chevy sketch
Always loved The Voice film with Larraine!
Never realized how much Emily Litella was utilized even into ’78.
Chevy definitely looks unnerved. Don’t know why he kept making appearances after he left. I think he regretted it seeing how big the show got.
I mainly remember Chevy’s return to “Weekend Update” and Jane’s ranting to him and Gilda’s Emily Litila at the end as well as that “drug possession check-in” sketch and that Sermonette that I remember was amusing especially “Here is my body…How do you like it?”. Oh, and, of course, Billy Joel performing his two hit songs, “The Good Die Young” (which is played frequently on my oldies station) and “Just the Way You Are” (which I haven’t heard in years…)
I can believe the story John relates about Jane not really caring about doing Update, but I also think she was not pleased by Chevy basically assuming he gets to do Update.
What was put on air was probably the best compromise–Jane still gets to appear and do some jokes, but Chevy gets to come in and do his classic routines. I agree that apart from the fall, Update was Chevy’s defining thing on Update, so he obviously should have gotten to do SOMETHING on Update, but it would rather be arrogant and presumptuous to just do the whole thing and kick off Dan/Jane.
The pre-show fight is discussed in this clip from Chevy on Stern: https://youtu.be/QjVdEq6moQM
Whenever I watch this one and I pay close attention to the goodnights, I can see Bill strutting around the stage as a victory lap of sorts, as mentioned in the 1st SNL history book. I also notice John coming up to Bill, playfully miming boxing moves (John having provoked the confrontation – and took a hit trying to separate the two), which is fun to catch.
John also mentions fellow Second City member Tino Insana in his commentary
I really hate to admit that Chevy Chase is kinda hot lmao
Haha I’m watching this and thinking the same thing…
Aside from that I know there’s many Chevy haters out there, and while he def did a fair amount of things that were dickish, I wouldn’t say that there aren’t other hosts on SNL or previous cast members that hosted that had a big ego like Chevy, when they were never on his level.
I agree that Chevys monologue is weak, I think the best parts of the episode are the after love sketch, the later part of weekend update when Chevy takes over, the drug search luggage sketch is hilarious.
But the real gem to me is with LN. I love that story/song, I’m not sure if this is the only one that has been done with her, if it is then maybe I did get thru more than my share of these older episodes a couple years ago, but def picked and chose as I really couldn’t handle these geezers that hosted and hated the early muppet material which was in season 1.
I think LN is a very underrated cast member, I remember discovering the movie “Perfect” with Jamie Lee Curtis and a John Travolta from the early 80s, and LN has a decent part (she plays the role as a gym junkie in search of a man, and just basically in search of trying to look good to find someone, as she sleeps w men like Candy in an editorial that JT wrote in the movie, called looking for Mr. Goodbody or something of the sort…
I also think Jane Curtin is great and as much as I think Gilda is talented, I feel like she’s very overrated at times when she plays certain roles, as I have similar thoughts to John Belushi, I see Guilda as someone that really had talent, JB never did it for me, not to say he didn’t add to the show, but to me the real star will always be Chevy, and I think the female Cast.
Also just watching the goodnights I def saw the pacing of BM, It was also crazy to see how young he looked here!
Honestly this episode will be memorable to me because of the Loraine Newman Story, my teacup poodle perked up when that showed it certainly even caught her attention.
I find it funny that in these tellings of the Chevy Chase-Bill Murray fight, they make it sound like Bill was some street-tough Chicago kid. He actually grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, which is an upper-middle class suburb on Chicago’s North Shore. Not exactly the mean streets. That’s not to say he couldn’t have gotten into some fights growing up, but it definitely seems like Bill Murray’s background is being exaggerated for dramatic effect.
Interesting choice in the After Love sketch to have Chevy give his name as “Terry Forster” and claim to be a pitcher for the Yankees. There was an MLB pitcher in those days named Terry Forster, though he never played for the Yankees. It reminds me of that Murder Mystery Dinner Theater sketch from Season 20, where several characters are named after NBA players.
I agree that the Great Moments of War sketch was fairly predictable and not exceptionally clever, but the performers sold it well, and it was a nice showcase for the men of the original SNL era. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the only sketch in the show’s history that features just the five of them.
Terry Forster was a guest on Letterman after Dave called him ” a fat tub of goo”.
P.S., Ian loved your show with Barbara Liberman. One correction, Guest told Aykroyd he hated Neigbors, not 1941.
Quick Sighting:
In “The Voice”, I believe the clothing store assistant “helping” Laraine in the beginning is played by jeweler/artist Constance Abernathy, who can be seen in another Gary Weis film with her dog (Anthony Perkins, s1e16 March 1976)
John Travolta was scheduled to host this episode, but backed out in late January in favor of promotion tour for “Saturday Night Fever” in the UK (It was believed Travolta was advised the SNL gig might hurt his Oscar nomination chances)
Actor Raymond Burr (Perry Mason, Ironside) stepped in as replacement host but had to cancel a week before air reportedly for health reasons.
So, Chevy…
Saw Burr got listed in the Chicago Daily News’ listings that day
Recall Terry Forster’s original rejoinder to Letterman of “Johnny Carson’s janitor”- he made tacos during his appearance on Late Night
Imagne seeing that fight
I think Chevy’s voice for the phone call
To Dan sounded like his Landshark voice.
I do not think Jane had an issue with Chevy doing the Weekend Update. She had an issue with Chevy. She had issues with other cast members too but at that point he had left and his ego had gotten huge so that just made it worse.
The fight with Bill and Chevy was kind of caused by the others. And they made up later so it will eventually pass.
That last sentence was proven by their subsequent appearances together in Caddyshack and other times they appeared on “SNL” together.
I really enjoy this episode. I’ve watched it numerous times, and for the life of me, even though many say he was “visibly shaken”, I do not detect any real rattled quality to Chase’s performance. He did an outstanding job considering the tensions on set. And while his monologue may have seemed a little tepid, I really enjoyed the “meta” quality of the que cards bit (first of several meta moments in this episode). Other observations:
1. The Abraham, Martin & John sketch is weak imo. Over the past few decades, if fact, the biggest pitfalls SNL indulges is the one-joke premise, which even happened in the old days on occasion (I have long been of the opinion that it began in earnest in the ’90s because they were so preoccupied with creating the next big recurring-character-with-catchphrase). Simply referencing this song over and over is not particularly funny. And by 1978, frankly, who hadn’t heard a gazillion Kennedy impersonations? Sure, the boys get some milage out of it, but still, kinda bland territory.
2. The Voice – While Larraine was sparsely used earlier in the season, she had been prominent in the Miskel Spillman episode and I believe a few others around the time. Anyway, while I too think Weiss’ films often fall flat (but are sometimes very interesting), this one is great for its hilarious reveal. Valri Bromfield was once a comedy partner of Dan Aykroyd and is characterized in the new “Saturday Night” film (by an actress who doesn’t look anything like her). I’ve always felt the vocals were parodying music from The Omen and The Exorcist.
3. Chevy’s then-wife, the late Jacqueline Carlin, is seen in one of the audience cutaways before commercial break. She also features in the new SNL film by someone who doesn’t resemble her at all (the guy playing Chevy is quite excellent though!).
4. As mentioned, Belushi’s frequent reference to Steve Beshekas comes from real life, as does Tino (Insana). He became friends with both while attending DuPage College in Illinois. Tino followed him to the Second City shortly after.
5. Chevy seems to get a lot of crap for apparently insisting that he get to do Update. To me, I don’t understand why that would be controversial as, yes, that was what he was best known for as well his falls, which we get in the cold open. Chevy has stated that he underestimated the resentment and thought he would be more welcomed. Evidently, Belushi held the biggest grudge against Chevy and deliberately stirred things up between the cast. During the backstage fight, director John Landis, who was visiting at the time, recalled that Murray called him a “fucking medium talent”, which he found hysterical. I guess he wasn’t saying he had “no talent”, which is pretty funny if you think about it. I have a video of a rebroadcast that I need to review because, yes, the goodnight are definitely cut off on DVD, but you do at least see Belushi and Murray doing some faux sparring in the background. Not sure how many scapes Murray had been in, but growing up in a large household of boys, even in Wilmette, probably toughened him up some. In Shales’ book, Chevy boasts of having been in many fights. Who knows how that match would’ve ended up. Chase is 6’4″ after all and was in very good shape, but Murray is 6’2″ and pretty fit himself (…and in this corner). There seems to be conflicting accounts of how physical it actual got, but didn’t go far at any rate.
6. I’m not sure how seriously Chase took his musical interests. He famously once played drums in an early, college-era version of Steely Dan. Remember, he joined in on backing vocals for Carly Simon during her appearance. He playing keys here during the goodnights, and does some semi-serious musical bits in his next appearance IIRC. Of course, there’s that classic little bit from Caddyshack with Lacy Underall (“I was born to lick your face…”).