December 2, 1978 – Walter Matthau / (no musical guest) (S4 E7)

Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Fred Silverman (JOB) adds terrible shows to NBC’s programming grid

 

— Funny premise with Fred Silverman intentionally trying to one-up himself in increasingly bad TV show concepts to keep up with successful bad shows on other networks.
— Overall, a clever, sharp jab at both NBC’s struggles at the time and Fred Silverman’s infamy for making terrible programming decisions.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
host ponders the comedic differences between himself & SNL

 

— Good bit at the beginning with him having a napkin hanging out of his nose as a bet.
— I’m liking his story about the cast.
— Amusing hearing the audience disappointingly go “aww” when he announced he’s not going to drop his pants.
— Overall, a good old-fashioned story monologue.
STARS: ***½

EPOXY-DENT
a helicopter test proves it prevents denture slippage

     

— Is… is that our old friend, short-lived original cast member George Coe as the spokesperson??? If so, wow, I’m surprised. I thought he stopped making appearances after season 1. Wonder why they randomly called him back for this commercial, after a three season absence.
— The part with the “Epoxy-Dent Chopper Test” is hilarious, and really makes this commercial.
STARS: ****

BAD NEWS BEES
(host) counsels young ballplayers about buzzing off

     

— Good idea to do a crossover between the Bees and Bad News Bears.
— I got a big laugh from Dan proudly mentioning how he and a whole swarm of his bee friends “gang-stang” a female bee behind a bowling alley.
— The bee euphemisms for masturbation are pretty funny (e.g. “pulling his stinger”, “buzzing off”, etc.), as was Bill asking John “Why is there honey all over your sheets?” post-masturbation.
— The Reggie Jackson story was great.
— Overall, a very fun and charming Bees sketch. I heard that this actually ended up being the final Bees sketch the show ever did. If that’s true, they went out on a good note.
STARS: ****

THE OLYMPIA CAFE
Nico negotiates a new soft drink allegiance for the Olympia Cafe

    

— The part with the roach spray was pretty funny.
— Overall, this was good, but not one of the more memorable Olympia Cafe sketches. There wasn’t really anything worth noting here.
STARS: ***

BEDROOM
in her old room, (GIR) acts more like (host)’s daughter than (BIM)’s wife

   

— A lot of good little lines so far, such as Walter telling Gilda how she looked like Edward G. Robinson back when she was a newborn.
— I’m liking Walter’s increasingly hostile reactions to Bill.
— LOL at Bill’s random “I am the walrus” reference.
— What the heck was with the ending (Bill: “Why don’t you go sleep with YOUR wife and I’ll sleep with MINE?”, followed by a long, awkward silence)? Didn’t like it. It’s my only gripe with this otherwise strong slice-of-life sketch.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE
LAN’s item on gays mourning in Chinatown comprises Maoist footage
JOB works himself into a frenzy while discussing holiday depression

    

— Pretty funny segment with stock footage of Chinese communist groups being passed off as a Gay Rights gathering.
— Love the part of John’s story about suddenly pulling out a shotgun and going berserk over a bad Christmas.
— Overall, another good rant from John.
— Fairly short Update.
STARS: ***

THE NEW DICK
master conspirator (host) plots return of Richard Nixon (DAA) presidency

   

— Some laughs from the “The New Dick” bumper sticker.
— Walter’s kinda marble-mouthed during parts of this.
— I like Jane as a cranky Pat Nixon.
— Great crack from Jane about Nixon’s “New Dick” slogan.
— Overall, this was fine, though there have been funnier sketches with Dan’s Nixon.
STARS: ***½

WOMAN TO WOMAN
Connie Carson interviews a model women love to hate (LAN)

— Odd technical error during the opening title sequence.
— Gilda’s snarky insults to Laraine are pretty funny.
— Overall, nothing great, but a nice step up from the forgettable first installment of this sketch from earlier this season.
STARS: ***

GARRETT MORRIS: “DALLA SUA PACE”
GAM performs “Dalla Sua Pace” from Don Giovanni

  

— We’re getting another operatic performance from Garrett. Walter’s set-up makes it seem like this performance will be a serious segment.
— So far, there’s no comedic screen crawl disclaimer that usually interrupts Garrett’s operatic musical numbers. Looks like this WILL be a serious segment. I guess this is the closest we’re getting to an actual musical performance tonight, considering this is a rare episode that has no musical guest. To my knowledge, the only other two episodes in SNL history that have no official musical guest are Rob Reiner’s episode from season 1 and Sigourney Weaver’s episode from season 12 (and no, Buster Poindexter was NOT the musical guest in the latter episode, despite what many SNL episode guides state; he was just a special guest that night).
— Loved Walter’s dismissive delivery of “We’ll be right back with the regular crap” after exuberantly applauding Garrett’s performance.
STARS: N/A

SURPLUS STORE
owner of government surplus store (host) consoles & advises (LAN)

     

— I got a laugh from Laraine’s concept of using canteens as disco purses.
— Jane’s whole broken English spiel about “nine snowboots” is very funny and I love the thick accent she’s using.
— Funny comment from Walter telling Garrett to “get rid of this communist here”, referring to Jane.
— Amusing touch with Walter constantly wiping his face off during Dan’s heavy effeminate lisping.
— Good ending with Walter deciding who to sell the “fruity canteens” to.
STARS: ***½

NETWORK BATTLE OF THE T’S AND A’S
— Rerun

MR. BILL IS LATE
by Walter Williams- Spot & animal trainer Mr. Sluggo

 

— Oh, man, ANOTHER one of these? Didn’t I just say in my last review that I’m getting tired of these Mr. Bill shorts after how frequently they’ve been appearing this season? It’s getting to the point where I now almost groan when the “The Mr. Bill Show” title pops up, which I hate to admit because I’ve always liked this character in the past.
— That’s it? That’s the whole thing? Practically nothing even happened here, and it was only about 50 seconds long! What was the point of this???
— Overall, yeah, they need to cut back on this character BIG TIME. Tonight was his worst appearance yet.
STARS: *

GOODNIGHTS

 

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall good episode and had some really strong segments in the first half. As expected, Walter Matthau was a funny host and added a nice old-fashioned curmudgeon vibe that I liked.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Carrie Fisher):
— a moderate step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Eric Idle