February 25, 1978 – O.J. Simpson / Ashford & Simpson (S3 E12)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

DISCLAIMER
James At 16 Marries Roman Polanski will not be seen tonight

COLD OPENING
GIR answers “What happens when SNL is out of show-opening ideas?”

 

— Right off the bat, Gilda’s already coming off adorable and endearing with her ad-libbed reaction to the audience’s delayed applause.
— I think I remember this being shown as the cold opening  in Gilda’s “Best of” compilation. I’m not 100% sure, though, as Gilda did a number of cold openings like this where it was just her as herself speaking to the camera while standing in front of a curtain backdrop.
— Funny how all the questions are from people with the first name Kevin.
— Ha, and now it’s been revealed that the show’s writers made up all the questions Gilda’s reading.
— Overall, a very solid way to start the show, and a prime example of Gilda’s immense charm and likability as a performer. I can see why this was used to open her “Best of”.
STARS: ****

OPENING MONTAGE
— After the preceding episode’s revert to the original opening montage from the first two seasons (presumably due to Chevy hosting), they’re back to using this season’s jumbotron montage.
— Hmm, a big change, however: most of the cast now has new shots. Dan and Gilda, the first and last cast member announced, still have the same shot from before, in which they’re posing in front the jumbotron that’s displaying their name, but all the cast members announced in between them have new shots where they’re shown in a random place in the city.

 

— I particularly like John’s shot with him doing his trademark eyebrow-raise, and Bill’s shot with him giving a deadpan wink to the camera.
— This is actually the FOURTH time this season where they updated the cast shots. I can’t think of any other time in SNL history where an opening montage went through so many modifications throughout a single season.

MONOLOGUE
Conehead host tells inspiring life story about reaching his goals

— OH MY GOD at O.J.’s entrance, boogieing down to the theme music while wearing a friggin CONEHEAD prosthetic! Haha, I’m ALREADY getting a fun vibe from him as a host. This has eased the tension that I was worried I would have as a modern viewer watching a pre-infamy O.J. Simpson.
— The occasional bits with the band interrupting him with loud music is kinda funny, but boy is his story very long-winded and dull, and it’s being played too straight. I feel kinda bad for being down on this, because he’s coming off so likable, but it’s not enough to make this story interesting.
STARS: *½

SAMURAI NIGHT FEVER
Futaba & brother (host) go disco dancing

       

— I’m really liking Bill’s performance as the angry Italian father.
— It’s Futaba, somehow back from the dead!
— Yes, Samurai Night Fever!!! I’ve always been eager to finally see this sketch.
— The juxtaposition of Futaba at a dinner table with his Italian family is quite funny.
— John’s fake Japanese gibberish is particularly amusing in this one. I think John’s trying to go for a Futaba/John Travolta hybrid in his delivery.
— Funny part with O.J. not wanting to be black anymore.
— We’re now at a disco. I’m liking how extensive this sketch is becoming.
— Dan: “This is the life: to be young, stupid, and have no future at all!”
— Love how 70s this all is.
— Haha at the sequence with Futaba on the dance floor. This is great. His cartwheels and flips are awesome.
— I like how after the sketch ended, the camera pulled back and showed how they made the chroma-key set look like a disco dance floor.
— Overall, this lived up to my high expectations. Easily one of my favorite Samurai sketches.
STARS: ****½

GREAT MOMENTS IN SPORTS
Babe Ruth’s (JOB) broken promise produces karma

   

— LOL at John’s Babe Ruth casually stuffing his face with a hot dog and beer.
— Garrett makes one of the least-convincing little kids ever. It’s almost funny in itself.
— I’m liking O.J.’s various antics whenever the camera cuts back to him.
— Very funny part with Garrett’s reaction to finding out over the radio that he’s dying.
— The constant emotion swings over Babe Ruth’s near-home runs are pretty amusing.
— Good line from O.J. about this being another example of “a white man breaking a promise to a poor little colored boy”.
— Great twist at the end that Garrett’s sick boy character was actually a young Hank Aaron.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

MOHAWK MASTER
the Mohawk Master clippers help maintain your punk hairdo

  

— I remember years ago on the SNL Archives site, when going through the “commercials” section, I stumbled upon a screencap of Dan using the mohawk shavers on his own head and I remember thinking this looked like a hilarious commercial.
— I welcome just about any commercial that has Dan doing his manic, fast-paced pitchman shtick.
— Funny concept, but the overall commercial didn’t quite live up to my expectations. It wasn’t bad, though, just average.
STARS: ***

THE RAID ON NICOSIA
NBC’s all-star Big Event is based on recent events

     

— I like the quick-paced “dramatic” intros with the cast playing celebrities.
— Overall, a pretty fun ad.
STARS: ***½

WEEKEND UPDATE
discovered manuscript reveals “Moonlight Sonata” & “Night & Day” link
BIM warns Oscar nominee Woody Allen not to take the Orson Welles route
LAN interviews naked host from the Buffalo Bills locker room
Roseanne Roseannadanna strays from dental hygiene to Woodstock

       

— For the first time in a while, Update wasn’t preceded with a mini-segment where one of the anchors “previews” what’s to come in tonight’s Update. I guess that was a short-lived experiment.
— Another Dan joke that’s accompanied by someone shown in the news screen writing something extensive on a chalkboard. I still think that’s Tom Schiller’s hand we’re seeing.
— First time in a while where we get a review from Bill “Now get out of here, ya knuckleheads” Murray.
— Bill’s overall commentary was funny, and an improvement over his last two or three review commentaries.
— For once, we have a Laraine remote segment where Laraine’s actually funny in it. I’m getting some pretty good laughs from her getting all hot-and-bothered over O.J.’s nudity.
— Only Roseanne Roseannadanna’s third Update commentary, and already she’s become an audience favorite, judging from the huge recognition applause they gave her tonight.
— Hmm, the letter Roseannadanna’s reading tonight is from someone named “Bob Van Ry” (which is an inside joke, BTW, as that’s the name of one of SNL’s stage managers) instead of the usual Richard Feder.
— As usual, Roseannadanna’s nasty rant is a riot. Some really good laughs here.
— Loved Jane’s sudden loud “What the HELL are you talking about???!!” outburst at Roseannadanna.
STARS: ***

O.J.’S RECORD
host uses voodoo to keep Walter Payton from breaking his rushing record

   

— Haha, great reveal with O.J. secretly sabotaging Walter Payton via a voodoo doll.  I’m really liking this premise.
— Did the usually-unbreakable Dan Aykroyd actually start cracking up at the end? (screencap below) It looked like it, but perhaps he was laughing in character as part of the script.

— Overall, a very good sketch. O.J. was great in this.
STARS: ****

THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
ALF’s brain tumor hurts his joketelling, so TOD solicits audience support

   

— Oh, the Franken & Davis “tumor” one. I remember hearing about this one before.
— Franken’s drawn-out delivery, and him getting lost mid-jokes and screwing up the punchlines are being pulled off well.
— Overall, a daring, ballsy premise that had a good payoff.
STARS: ***½

MANDINGO II
hot passion between slaves & whites breaks taste boundaries

     

— Garrett in drag once again…
— The increasingly-fiery model set and Dan’s steamy narration are hilarious.
— Is the DVD version I’m watching of this sketch edited? Around the part when they briefly show make-out sessions between Laraine & DragGarrett and Bill & O.J.(!), there’s a lot of weird fast, sloppy cuts that make it seem like portions were spliced out of it. Does anyone know what this is all about?
— Speaking of the Bill/O.J. kiss, that moment actually has importance: it was apparently the very first interracial same-sex kiss in TV history, which was pointed out by O.J. himself during a segment in SNL’s 15th anniversary special (though IIRC, he jokingly explains that it was actually Walter Payton who kissed Bill Murray).
— Overall, what a wild sketch.  This was a friggin riot and I love the way it escalated.
STARS: ****½

E. BUZZ MILLER’S ANIMAL KINGDOM
film footage shows copulating fauna

   

— Interesting how E. Buzz Miller hosts a different show in each of his sketches. That’s a good way to keep the character fresh.
— Overall, nothing much to say here other than that this contained the usual funny E. Buzz Miller sleaziness.
STARS: ***½

HERTZ
host learns image-wary Hertz gave his car rental to Walter Payton

   

— Ha, random brief Emily Litella cameo.
— A very quick commercial, but the punchline gave me a good laugh and I liked the irritated look on O.J.’s face during the ending freeze-frame.
— I recall hearing that this is the last new pre-taped fake ad of the whole season, despite the fact that there’s still about 8 episodes remaining.  Apparently, we get nothing but repeated fake ads from here on out this season, which sounds pretty lazy.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

CELEBRITY BATTLE OF THE SEXES & RACES
black men easily best white women

    

— Funny concept.
— Laraine has surprisingly been getting tons of airtime tonight. It feels like she’s appeared in practically every single sketch, which is a refreshing change from how invisible she’s been coming off this season.
— LOL at Garrett’s look as Leon Spinks.
— Some really funny lines with Bill listing off all the earlier events.
— I’m not sure, but I think that’s frequent extra and future obscure featured player Yvonne Hudson as the lady hosing down Laraine and Gilda.  If so, this must be one of her earliest SNL appearances.  I’m surprised, because I thought she didn’t start popping up on the show until season 5.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

 

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— What a fun episode. While this wasn’t exactly an all-time classic episode or anything, the sketches were consistently enjoyable and the show had a fun, silly, easy-going vibe that I loved. I’m pleasantly surprised, because I came into this episode kinda dreading the inherent awkwardness of watching an O.J. Simpson-hosted show through modern eyes. Glad to see I was wrong about the awkwardness; in fact, I enjoyed the episode so much, O.J.’s post-1994 infamy wasn’t really on my mind after the first few minutes of the show. And O.J. himself actually did a very good job as host, giving a lot of fun performances and having a good sense of humor, which was evident right from the beginning of the monologue where he randomly made his entrance in a Conehead prosthetic.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chevy Chase):
— a moderate step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Art Garfunkel