April 15, 1978 – Michael Sarrazin / Keith Jarrett, Gravity (S3 E17)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Jimmy Carter (DAA) urges Americans to burn cash to fight inflation

   

— This is the first in a long time where the cold opening wasn’t preceded with a comedic “(insert fake show title here) will not be seen tonight” disclaimer.
— Funny beginning with Dan’s Carter saying that instead of doing a fireside chat, he’s doing a “plantside” chat because it’s spring.
— I got a big laugh from the “The Buck Burns Here” ashtray.
— Overall, pretty funny opening.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
on Abraham Lincoln’s death anniversary, host vows nothing bad will happen

— The monologue is ending already? No, there’s gotta be more.
— Damn, I guess that really IS the ending. Well, this monologue sure was a whole lot of nothing; almost as pointless a monologue as Jill Clayburgh’s from a few episodes ago. I’d like to think Sarrazin’s worry about being assassinated during the show is a set-up to a premise that will run throughout the night, but I highly doubt it.
STARS: *½

ANGORA BOUQUET
— Rerun

JOSH RAMSEY, V.D. CASEWORKER
Josh Ramsey, V.D. Caseworker (host) deals with teen couple (BIM) & (LAN)

         

— The strange picture of a man with syphilis was pretty funny.
— Liked Michael’s line about V.D. being “a loaded pistol pointed right at your crotch.”
— Bill’s over-the-top screaming when urinating off-camera was something I saw coming, but still made me laugh out loud nonetheless.
— Hilarious with the announcement of Laraine having V.D. over a loudspeaker during old stock footage of a basketball game.
— Some big laughs from Gilda and Dan as the parents freaking out when hearing Bill had sex.
— Dan is great as the angry father.
— Good ending with Bill’s “Yes, I still hate you.”
— Overall, a very strong sketch and I always like when this era does extensive, fully fleshed-out sketches like this that involves multiple scenes, various sets, etc.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (KEITH JARRETT)

JUDY MILLER
Judy Miller entertains herself while expressing dislike for her sister

   

— The return of Judy Miller. Only being familiar with the often-shown classic first installment, I’m curious to see what the follow-up is like.
— Another endearingly-realistic child performance from Gilda. Her way of imaginatively playing around the room reminds me so much of my own childhood.
— Liked the ending with Gilda reconciling with her off-camera sister.
— Overall, while not a classic like the first installment, this was still very good and I like how they gave this a different premise to distinguish it from the first installment.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW

WEEKEND UPDATE
BIM interviews “American Hot Wax” co-star LAN from her Los Angeles home
JAC & DAA do a Point-Counterpoint about the neutron bomb
Roseanne Roseannadanna strays from spring depression to her period

       

— Bill’s usual review segment is very different tonight, with him doing a pre-taped meta interview with Laraine Newman as herself.
— Also a rarity to see Laraine in an Update segment where she’s not a reporter doing a remote piece.
— Another point/counterpoint.
— Jane’s snarky “prediction” about Dan gaining a whole bunch of weight was awfully prescient, given Dan’s girth in recent decades.
— What? No “Jane, you ignorant slut” from Dan??? Dan’s whole rebuttal to Jane was great nonetheless. It’s a shame, though, that these point/counterpoint segments are the only times he’s been consistently reliable as Update anchor.
— The Roseanne Rosannadanna segment had a great ending with her reciting a long, catchy bedtime poem.
— Another Update that strangely ends with the camera being on just Jane, as if they’re trying to hide the fact that Dan’s (seemingly) not at the set anymore.
STARS: ***

PENALTY BOX
in the penalty box, hockey players (DAA) & (host) find common ground

 

— Bill’s last name in this is “Novello”, presumably as a reference to a certain then-current writer on the show.
— Speaking of then-current writers, Brian Doyle-Murray has what I think is his very first speaking role.
— I liked the brief physical fight between Bill and Sarrazin.
— Judging from the fact that Aykroyd and Sarrazin are both Canadian in real-life and the way the conversation between them is going, this looks like it will be a Canadian-centric sketch.
— That’s it? That’s the entire sketch? Eh, I didn’t care for the whole “Canadian insider” dialogue. A rarity for me not to like a Dan Aykroyd sketch.
STARS: **

E. BUZZ MILLER’S EXERCISE WORLD
Christy Christina (LAN) works out

   

— Speaking of a Dan Aykroyd sketch, hopefully he’ll rebound nicely with this.
— Laraine’s providing nice eye candy.
— Laraine seemed genuinely mixed-up on what exercise she was supposed to do first.
— A good change of pace from the earlier E. Buzz Miller installments.
— I kinda wish there was a little more to this sketch, but it was fine.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (KEITH JARRETT)

LA DOLCE GILDA
by TOS- a sample of GIR’s Fellini-esque life

          

— I don’t think I’ve ever seen this famous Schiller’s Reel. I’ve always been curious to.
— Hilarious part with Dan “riding” the girl.
— I’m loving all the random “foreign” things happening in rapid-fire pace.
— Very charming ending with Gilda on the bridge speaking to the camera.
— Overall, such a fantastic, well-done short, a dead-on parody of this type of artsy foreign film, and a beautiful showcase for Gilda.
STARS: *****

AUDIENCE CAPTION
— It’s worth noting that sitting beside the captioned audience member is Bill as Abraham Lincoln. It took me a few seconds to realize that was referencing the monologue.

ARCHAEOLOGICUS
(LAN) narrates “The Treasures Of Morton Kamen”

   

— Big night for Laraine; she’s getting a ton of airtime.
— What in the world is that around Laraine’s neck? A dead snake?
— Eh, this whole sketch left me kinda bored. This reminded me too much of a similar sketch I didn’t care for that Laraine did in the first episode Eric Idle hosted in season 2 (a sketch called “Cufflinks of the Gods”).
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE (GRAVITY)

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Season 3 continues to be on fire, as we got another pretty strong episode tonight. There were a few things post-Update that I didn’t care for, but for the most part, there was a great number of solid sketches, some of them very memorable (e.g. La Dolce Gilda, V.D. Caseworker).
— Michael Sarrazin was the epitome of a completely average host: he did the job he was required to do, but was entirely unmemorable and had no effect on the episode’s outcome.
— Belushi had an unusually light night, making very few appearances, all of which were just small supporting roles. Was he busy filming scenes for “Animal House” or another movie that week?

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Palin):
— about the same

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Steve Martin / The Blues Brothers. Awwww, yeeeaaahh! This episode is very special for many reasons, two of them being:
1) It’s the first and only time in SNL history where someone hosted THREE times in a single season, which goes to show you what an SNL god Steve was considered to be at the time
2) For the longest time, it was widely considered THE all-time best episode in SNL history, and is also widely looked at as the quintessential microcosm of 70s SNL