Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
DISCLAIMER
Grandma Walton Tries To Tie Her Shoelace will not be seen tonight
COLD OPENING
Oscar-winner Vanessa Redgrave (JAC) uses podium as a political forum
— Jane’s acceptance speech was pretty funny.
— LOL at John as Yasser Arafat.
— Pretty funny opening, and it helps that the premise of award winners using their acceptance speech as an excuse to go off on a political rant is more relevant than ever today, 40 years later.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host’s manager Sid Biggs (host) kills time, puts two cats in his pants
— Michael coming out in character instead of as himself is a fun idea.
— His awkward stalling for time is making me laugh.
— Michael: “I have available a man who swallows live macaws! Wonderful act… disgusting to watch.”
— Haha, oh my god at him stuffing his pants with a salad and two cats. What a riot. Hilarious way to end this monologue.
STARS: ****½
LITTLE CHOCOLATE DONUTS
— Rerun
CONFESSION
IRS agent (DAA) questions a priest (host) about his tax deductions
H&L Brock solves moral dilemmas in addition to doing your taxes
— At first, I thought Dan was playing a mobster.
— This is pretty slow-moving so far. I’m starting to wonder where the big laughs are supposed to be coming from.
— Fairly funny visual with Bill in the thought bubble.
— Hilarious twist with this unexpectedly turning out to be a message from John’s H&L Brock character, which made the slow build-up worth it.
STARS: ***
THE SEAGULL
host tries to break record for escaping from a chest during Chekhov play
— Very funny and ambitious with Michael’s struggles to get out of the trunk and straitjacket while Bill and Jane are going on with the play and a timer is on the bottom of screen.
— Some pretty good laughs from Michael’s crazed rant about how he wanted to be a claims adjuster rather than an actor.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
WEEKEND UPDATE
actor (Leo Yoshimura) impersonates Tongsun Park to better his career
JOB wants the Rockefellers to spare Radio City Music Hall from demolition
— Dan’s opening “I’m in love… with this paper clip” bit was ruined by a badly-timed camera switch.
— Huh? Former president Gerald Ford announced plans for running again in the 1980 presidential race? I don’t know much about politics, but I thought that after a president leaves office, they couldn’t run in future elections.
— Hey, it’s Akira Yoshimura in his own Update commentary!
— I liked Jane’s “How quickly they turn” ad-lib in response to her bank robbers joke bombing.
— Another great John Belushi Update rant.
STARS: ***
NERDS MUSIC LESSON
piano teacher Mr. Brighton (host) gets fresh with Lisa during a lesson
— This appears to be our first traditional Nerds sketch, after their experimental first two appearances earlier this season.
— Gilda is even funnier in this than she usually is in these Nerds sketches.
— Heh, what was with Bill doing Steve Martin’s “excuuuuuse meeee!”? Was it all the rage at the time for EVERYBODY quote that?
— I got a good laugh from Michael suddenly throwing Gilda on the piano keys and starting to kiss her.
— Michael’s overdramatic “Yes, I know!” before leaving cracked me up for some reason.
— Good ending with the “lollipop kiss”.
— Overall, easily my favorite of the Nerds sketches that have aired up until this point.
STARS: ****
THE FORGOTTEN MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
Sherlock Holmes (host) investigates The Case of the Scarlet Membrane
— Michael’s pre-taped intro was weird, but the constant corrections from the off-camera voice made me laugh.
— LOL at whatever that is sticking out of Michael’s nose.
— When Michael randomly fired a loud gunshot at the target sheet, I’m pretty sure I could hear an audience member audibly say “Whoa, shit” in surprise.
— This is very funny so far, and has a very Monty Python feel, which I love.
— Bill’s raspy British accent is cracking me up.
— Overall, very funny sketch led by a great Michael Palin performance.
STARS: ****
PARTY NIGHT
(BIM)’s desire to have a good time at a party bothers his wife (LAN)
— I smell a Marilyn Suzanne Miller-written slice-of-life piece.
— This took a while to start getting funny, but I’m starting to get some laughs.
— Loved Bill’s exclamations and happy dance at the end.
— Overall, this was pretty good, though there have been better slice-of-life pieces in this era.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
MR. BILL PAYS TAXES
by Walter Williams- an arm & a leg
— Another one so soon? Didn’t we just get a Mr. Bill film in the last episode?
— Mr. Bill’s voice sounds even higher-pitched than usual in this.
— Overall, this was fine, but I think it was too soon to do another Mr. Bill. These are probably better in small doses, as I didn’t laugh quite as much as I did in the last Mr. Bill film.
STARS: ***
DANGER PROBE
a fop (host) & his servant (GAM) provoke rednecks in a bar
— I recall this eventually becoming a recurring sketch later on.
— Franken’s exaggerated redneck accent is making me laugh out loud.
— Michael and Garrett are pretty funny as the fop and blackamoor.
— Haha, holy hell at the sudden wild scuffle between the cops and the rednecks. I love that for some reason.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
— Michael shows that the two cats from earlier are fine.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid, fun episode that had something worthwhile in every sketch; nothing got a bad rating from me.
— It goes without saying that Michael Palin would be a natural as SNL host, and I like how he helped give this episode a strong Monty Python feeling, which makes this reminiscent of the times Eric Idle hosted prior to this.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christopher Lee):
— a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Michael Sarrazin
The 22nd Amendment only bars individuals from being elected to the presidency twice (or serving someone else’s term and then getting elected to your own term, in Ford’s case). Ford had served the equivalent of one term, but had lost election for his “second” term, so he was still eligible to run again and win one more term.
Palin (and Idle!) would both go on to host 4 times apiece. Too bad both seem to have retired from active performing, because they would have made great members of the “Five-Timers Club.”
Actually a person can be President for one day less than ten years. If Ford had taken over for Nixon with less then two years left on Nixon’s term, Ford could’ve ran twice (1976 & 1980 if he’d have won). However Nixon resigned with 2 years, 9 months on his presidency, thus making Ford eligible to serve only one complete term of his own. Sorry, but as a history teacher with OCD I had to make the point
Watching these episodes is interesting because you see real-time reactions to well-known moments, shortly after those events happened. The Vanessa Redgrave/Oscars open is one such example.
Neither cat was happy about being shoved into Palin’s pants, but that tabby to the left was NOT happy at all and couldn’t wait to get free. Hard for me (who has two cats) to watch without wincing.
Hey, is that white-haired stagehand to the left the stagehand from the Ray Charles episode who “knew Howdy Doody personally?”
“The Seagull” is similar to a Monty Python sketch in which a concert pianist escapes from a sack, padlocks and handcuffs during a performance. And as soon as Palin started ranting about how he never wanted to do this for a living, you expect him to launch into the Lumberjack Song setup – which he adapted into wanting to become a claims adjuster. He starts singing “I’m a claims adjuster and I’m okay” as they put him back in the steamer trunk.
Not to belabor the Gerald Ford thing from “Update,” but not only could Ford have run for one more term, but so could have Nixon (who only served five years, six months and 20 days, and thus would not run afoul of the 10-year limit if elected to one more term). In the ’80s there was a running joke that Nixon, who was well into trying to rehabilitate his reputation by that point, would run again under the slogan “he’s tanned, he’s rested, he’s ready.” (I have a “Nixon in ’88” T-shirt, which I got in 1988, with this slogan on it.)
As someone who was around in these days, this was indeed about the time that the Steve Martin “excuuuuuuse me!” was a thing, so popular that an “excuuuuuse me!” rant from a stage performance was the B-side of Martin’s “King Tut” single.
The filmed intro to “Sherlock Holmes” was very Python-esque. Even sounded kind of like Terry Jones feeding Palin the corrected dialogue.
“Hey, is that white-haired stagehand to the left the stagehand from the Ray Charles episode who “knew Howdy Doody personally?”
Yes. He’s Willie Day, SNL’s prop man.
That was indeed Terry Jones feeding Palin the dialogue. That film insert was taken off of the pilot episode of Ripping Yarns, a post-Flying Circus tv series that Mike and Terry wrote together.
According to the Saturday Night: A Backstage History book, the cats pooped in Michael’s pants and there wasn’t time to clean up before the confessional sketch, and Dan was perturbed by the smell.
I’ve owned a cat for ten years and never have I seen it crap as much as that poor cat on the left did. Michael recounts it in his diary:
“A warm reception, the monologue intrigues them, but I can’t wait to get to the dance with the cats and sea-food salad. All is going well, but the cats have stage fright and, as I gyrate and at the same time try and coax these pussies into my trousers, I become aware of a frightful smell, and a warm, brown mess all down my arm. Even as I am grinning manically and pushing it down, the cat is shitting more violently. I can’t hear the audience reaction above the band, but I know that the worst is happening. This is going to be tele-embarrassment on a monumental scale.
The offending cat leapt away, and I was left stroking the other one’s little marmalade head as it peeked out of my trousers. I caught sight of myself on the monitor and it looked nightmarishly obscene. But the red light of the camera shone unblinkingly at me – revealing to the entire US a man who looked as if he was masturbating with an arm covered in shit. Awful. An awful, monumentally awful, moment.”
https://www.themichaelpalin.com/my_diaries/the_python_years/saturday-april-8th-1978-new-york/