Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Fred Silverman (JOB) announces that host is part of NBC’s new image
— The debut of John’s Fred Silverman impression.
— I wonder what John was referring to when making a passing mention of “that burrito thing” that Frank Zappa did.
— Funny line from John: “You’ll be NBSeeing a lot of Frank, and I’m not CBS-ing you, either.”
— Feels weird watching the show open with such a pro-Zappa piece, knowing the animosity the cast had towards him after working with him that week.
— Overall, this opening wasn’t bad in itself, I guess, but I found this to be too pandering towards Zappa and/or Zappa fans. I wasn’t too crazy about that. Tonight’s already getting off to an iffy start for me.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
host performs “Dancing Fool”
— For some reason, Zappa’s already onstage when the camera first cuts to homebase after the opening montage ends.
— Geez, just now, he made this blatant aside to the audience: “Remember I’m reading this off these cards underneath this camera here”. I… I don’t even know how to respond to that.
— Boy, is he going to be a weird host tonight.
— He’s launched into a musical performance that’s based on what he calls “an important social problem”: disco. It’s probably a good thing SNL didn’t let him speak too long; after all, we might have gotten a 70-minute anti-censorship rant from him. (give yourself a hand if you get which sketch that’s a reference to)
STARS: N/A
THE CONEHEADS AT HOME
Connie Conehead (LAN) receives parental advice before her date with host
— Lots of good recognition applause from the audience each time one of the three Coneheads makes an entrance in this.
— I said this before, but it always makes me laugh when the Coneheads mutter “mmmebs” whenever they’re angry.
— Prymaat’s story about how she saved her virginity for Beldar was funny.
— Zappa playing himself as Connie’s new boyfriend.
— Man, Zappa’s delivery is terrible. And he’s very blatantly looking off-camera while reading his lines off of the aforementioned “cards underneath this camera here”.
— And now, he’s broken character and spit out a large chunk of the food that he has just “consumed in mass quantities” while Dan is desperately trying to keep the sketch moving.
— Now Zappa can’t stop laughing.
— The ending with Beldar and Prymaat eating the Zappa record was too predictable.
— Overall, easily the weakest Coneheads sketch I’ve covered so far. It started fine, but boy, did everything go south once Zappa entered the scene.
STARS: **
BAXTER PRISON
a middle class family helps with prison overcrowding by housing inmates
— What the hell? A prison cell under the stairs in a living room?
— And now, we see that Garrett’s being held prisoner in the living room closet.
— Boy, this is a weird, weird sketch so far.
— Loved John’s line about his plan to break off the edges of lasagna and let them harden so he can use them as a saw.
— I’m liking the wild prison riot.
— Overall, such a strange sketch, but it worked well and I enjoyed it.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE PREVIEW
WEEKEND UPDATE
Celebrity Corner- BIM interviews Sid Vicious (BDM) & his mother (LAN)
Father Guido Sarducci comments on the papal election campaign
JAC & DAA do a Point-Counterpoint about test-tube babies
— Well, I knew it was eventually going to happen, but Bill has now adopted a straight news delivery. I’m gonna miss the smarmy, proto-Dennis Miller delivery he used in his first two Updates.
— When Bill was introducing the “Celebrity Corner” interview, I expected Sid Vicious to be played by John or Dan, but it randomly ends up being writer Brian Doyle-Murray, who’s one of the last people I’d expect to play this type of role.
— The Sid Vicious interview wasn’t anything special. Doyle-Murray’s look made me laugh more than Laraine’s actual dialogue did.
— Father Guido Sarducci makes his Update debut.
— Sarducci’s overall commentary was fine, though there wasn’t anything I found worth noting in it.
— Where the hell did Dan come from? The camera just cuts from the end of Sarducci’s commentary to Dan sitting in Bill’s place at the desk, as if Dan was the anchorperson all along tonight.
— Ah, we’re getting a Point/Counterpoint, which explains Dan’s presence.
— The test tube baby debate between Jane and Dan was the usual good Point/Counterpoint stuff.
— Overall, I was not crazy about this Update. A lot of jokes either didn’t quite work for me or went over my head, and any laughs were mild at best until Point/Counterpoint saved the day.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
NIGHT ON FREAK MOUNTAIN
Jason & Sunset tempt stranded host with drugs
— Nice to see Paul Shaffer’s Don Kirshner.
— Oh my god at Zappa’s awful sarcastic mugging during Paul’s long spiel. Is this Zappa’s attempt to derail ANOTHER sketch tonight?
— The sequence with the model car in the storm was pretty funny.
— “Night on Freak Mountain”. Interesting turn this has taken. Considering this episode is from late October, I guess this will be our Halloween-themed sketch of the night.
— Hmm, the return of Dan and Laraine’s hippie characters. Eh, they’re okay, I guess, but I’m never overjoyed when they show up.
— Ugh, I am NOT liking the way this sketch has been going now.
— Not even John’s walk-on is saving this for me.
— Now Zappa has gone back to his annoying sarcastic mugging during another long spiel from Paul’s Kirshner, only this time, Zappa’s accompanying his mugging with sarcastic hand gestures for good measure. Good lord.
— Ugh, the “Don Kirshner always talks like he does on his show” joke has gone from being quite funny to very annoying.
— Finally, the sketch ends.
— Overall, boy, was that rough. After suffering through this sketch, I never want to see these Dan/Laraine hippie characters ever again. They were never all that interesting to me in the past, anyway.
STARS: *
WOMAN TO WOMAN
happy wife (JAC) vexes career-minded Connie Carson (GIR)
— Gilda’s failed attempts to get Jane to dislike her marriage life are fairly funny.
— Overall, this wasn’t awful, but I wanted more from this. I kept waiting for the premise to go somewhere more interesting.
STARS: **
THE FRANKEN AND DAVIS SHOW
ALF & TOM show democracy’s inherent flaws with some negative campaign ads
— Thank god. Oh, Franken & Davis, please save this episode!
— What’s with Tom’s gray-looking hair?
— Haha, I like this format with Al and Tom each doing live political ads.
— The back-and-forth ads between Al and Tom started slow, but are now getting funnier. Not as funny as I was expecting it to be, though.
— Al suddenly interrupting Tom’s drunken ad to shoot him with a gun was pretty good.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
— Futaba!
— Not as funny as the last time Futaba showed up in a Zappa musical performance, but this was still very cool.
MR. BILL MOVES IN
by Walter Williams- Mr. Hands helps with a new flat
— Another Mr. Bill film already, after he just appeared in the last episode? I kinda don’t like when they use this character in consecutive episodes.
— Overall, despite my worries, this still gave me some pretty damn good laughs, though not as much as the last one, where he went to New York.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
— Very noteworthy that almost nobody in the cast interacts with Zappa at all; he stays at the front of the stage the whole time while most of the cast stays behind him. Man, even Louise Lasser and Ruth Gordon (two earlier hosts who were difficult for the original cast to work with) got warmer receptions from the cast in their respective episode’s goodnights than Zappa did.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Boy, let’s just say, this episode DEFINITELY lived up to its negative reputation. So much of this episode either frustrated or bored me, and it started feeling like a chore to sit through after a while. I’m surprised at the number of sketches I sat stone-faced through. I especially hated that awful hippie mountain thing. Even Weekend Update was below par. I don’t think I’ve had such a negative reception to an episode since probably season 2, which at least goes to show you how well the show had been doing since season 3.
— And Frank Zappa… man, no wonder the cast resented working with him. He mugged and half-assed his way through EVERY non-musical performance segment he appeared in, showing zero commitment or any visible interest in the material he was given; in fact, he came off as having DISDAIN for the sketches. He even managed to ruin a Coneheads sketch. I guess not every musical genius can be a good SNL host.
— As poor as this episode was, the really worrisome thing is, it might not even be the worst this season has to offer. After all, we still have the infamous Milton Berle episode coming later on in the year.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Fred Willard):
— a huge step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Steve Martin
I first watched this episode unaware of Zappa’s anti-drug stance and thought they were actual jokes
The Zappa thing kind of reminds me of the Charles Grodin episode except not being a joke. I’ve only seen a couple of these sketches in isolation–not seeing the other ones, I actually thought in the Coneheads one he was just trying to copy the way Beldar was talking (why, I don’t know).
I wonder Downey, Franken and Davis told stories about this week to Carvey when he was crafting his Zappa impression that would appear on season 15; along with Zappa’s presence during PMRC/censorship hearings that were happening in 1990.
This episode’s always struck me as really strange…. by most other accounts, Zappa was one of the nicest guys you could meet – tough to get on his level musically (because he was absolutely obsessed with details), but usually a warm, friendly personality. Except on SNL. Seems like it started when he was pitching oddball Mr. Mike-type sketches no one wanted to write, escalating to the point where they were trying to replace him mid-week. Just seemed like a really bad fit for the show that neither side could make work.
According to the cast the major issue was the drugs. Most of them were doing it, the staff were mostly doing it, and Zappa was anti drugs there was some conflict.
My guess is Zappa went in thinking he could enlist the cast in the sequel to 200 Motels, and couldn’t adapt to what he should have expected would happen instead (that he would end up playing himself in sketches written by other people).
From the best I could find he got the hosting job due to how much the cast enjoyed him from the 1976 Christmas show. Supposedly they all got along real well that week and Lorne brought it up and the behind the scenes folks were all for it. Then it came time for him to show up and he wasn’t as nice or fun to be around as he was 2 years earlier. He was always anti drugs and he irked those who did them there. I totally believe he went rouge once the skits were turned down. He always thought he was a genius and when no one agreed with him he threw fits. That makes since.
Those closing credits are SO brutal to watch; everyone there looked like they loathed him. Frank didn’t care though he did his troll job and knew he won. He got to host SNL, mocked it and got away with it, and got banned. He did what he wanted to do which was to make the show look stupid.
Just finished this episode. Man, I’m disappointed that it was just as bad as I’d always heard. Even more so considering how excellent I found the musical performances. Zappa brought his A-game to what he did best and half-assed the rest. It’s not even like he was a bad actor, he just didn’t even try, and actively sabotaged the sketches he was in. I’m kind of mad that he ruined Coneheads, which I usually love so much.
Even without Zappa’s obnoxious mugging, the “Night on Freak Mountain” sketch still would have been dull. There was really only one joke (the irony that a guy who makes such wacked out art like Zappa doesn’t take drugs), and it got repeated over and over. I guess the characters were supposed to be funny but they didn’t do anything for me. Although I didn’t come away hating the hippie characters and I wouldn’t mind seeing them again.
“Franken & Davis, please save this episode” is funny to me because I felt kind of the opposite… “oh great, not these guys.” I have no idea why their humor falls so flat to me. I generally appreciate the concepts but I don’t like the execution. This one particularly dragged on for me.
I would LOVE to know who wrote the house/prison sketch. Whoever thought of that has an exceptional imagination.
When Brian Doyle-Murray appeared on Update, I was so confused for a second because he looked so much like Bill. I had never seen him when he was young before. The resemblance is quite close!
I don’t know if you (or anybody) is still checking out these comments, but the house/prison sketch was the work of the great Brian McConnachie.
im a huge FZ fan but yeah, pretty weak. i as well like to imagine Franken Davis etc. telling Dana Carvey some Frank stories to bolster his impression (which isnt bad, he just plays it pretty wide). and i believe the “burrito” reference is regarding a track off the Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore East album.
Frank Zappa may have fit in more smoothly with a Michael O’Donoghue-run writers’ room. His irreverent sense of humor may have also worked better in an earlier season, not season 4 when the show was a success, its cast was moving into features, and Lorne Michaels’ ego began ballooning.
“It’s probably a good thing SNL didn’t let him speak too long; after all, we might have gotten a 70-minute anti-censorship rant from him. (give yourself a hand if you get which sketch that’s a reference to)”
The cold open of the controversial Andrew Dice Clay episode from 1990?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t6IX9iVgkPQ
I had never seen this episode all the way through, I guess because of its notorious reputation. Saw it last night, and if the whole backstage part of Night on Freak Mountain was cut and if Coneheads was replaced with something else, you may actually have a passable episode – since music is everything with Zappa, I doubt he would have been too upset to concentrate on that in this episode (the music, as typical with Zappa in this era, is indeed quite good!)
A couple other things:
1). Was the girl in the audience that Zappa brings on stage during the monologue a real audience member, or an extra/plant? (In the good nights, he brings her back on stage after the cast fairly obviously ignores him.)
2). There’s an early Yvonne Hudson sighting in the backstage portion of “Freak Mountain”
3) The in-home jail sketch didn’t really work for me, even though the acting was good all around
4) Woman to Woman was better than I expected
I just watched this episode, and while it was certainly on the weaker side, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. If you take out the two sketches Zappa appeared in, it’s a pretty average episode, in my opinion.
Even though it was mostly Zappa butt-kissing, John’s performance in the cold open made me laugh, so it’s hard for me to rate it too low. The house prison sketch wasn’t the funniest thing they’ve ever done, but the premise was clever enough to keep me interested.
And contrary to Stooge’s opinion, I really enjoyed “Woman to Woman.” I liked that it gave Gilda a chance to do a character with a bit more maturity and subtlety, as opposed to her usual broad comedic style. I was also surprised, because I kept expecting a twist where the ostensibly happily married housewife would be revealed to be miserable but in denial about it. I feel like subsequent eras of SNL probably would’ve taken it in that direction. A lack of cynicism seems novel by today’s standards.
I could do without Mr. Bill (sadistic humor isn’t my thing), and I’ll second what “Blue” said above about Franken & Davis. I respect them as writers, but as performers, they tend to give off a smug, “look-at-us-and-how-smart-we-are” vibe. They seem like two guys who are their own biggest fans, which doesn’t exactly endear them to me. I don’t get the appeal.
It’s a shame Zappa dragged this episode down so badly. There was enough there for it to be halfway decent. At least it still wasn’t as bad as the Louise Lasser episode.
We lost Brian McConnachie! Truly a genius! RIP
(*again this was his first episode as SNL writer. “Baxter Prison” was his first sketch (unless you count the “Police Line-up” segment in the Richard Pryor episode ‘stolen’ from McConnachie’s NatLamp cartoon…)
In 1965, in order to stop NBC pestering him about doing a TV variety show for them, Dean Martin offered the network ridiculous terms. He wanted a huge salary, no involvement in show prep, taping on Sunday afternoon after his morning golf game, and no rehearsal. He’d just come in, read the cue cards, and do the show, with no edits except for technical problems. And, to his shock, NBC agreed. So, Martin pretty much winged it each week, obviously reading the cue cards, and making it all a joke. And the show ran for a decade, always getting great ratings. As I understand it, this episode was Zappa’s homage to “The Dean Martin Show”, except nobody else was in on the joke and he didn’t have Martin’s great comic timing and style. Perhaps this answers some questions you might have.
I actually didn’t mind this episode. There were a number of sketches I enjoyed (Coneheads, Woman to Woman, and especially Update). As for the performance of the host, I mostly view it as, “Welp, Zappa’s gonna Zappa.”