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
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
Jane just happened to comment on this episode. Not a fan of Walter:
https://news.avclub.com/jane-curtin-on-the-worst-snl-guest-host-god-there-we-1829824004
That seems like an odd choice, although she does strike me as someone who really values professionalism. I can’t believe he was the most unprofessional, but perhaps Jane wasn’t really counting episodes she was barely in (Louise Lasser) and didn’t really count non-actors like Frank Zappa.
It’s interesting to watch Gilda play Silverman’s assistant in the cold open and grab him by the lapel just before the LFNY call. IIRC, only a few weeks before (if my reading of Hill and Weingrad’s account is correct), Gilda and Lorne had turned down the prime-time Carol Burnett-style show that Silverman *really* wanted Gilda to do, and we all know how Silverman took that. I’m interested to watch the moments to come, spoofing Silverman and the network, that I’ve read so much about.
Dan’s Nixon this episode is especially good, both in demeanor and in appearance. Uncannily so. Amused to see the “Tanned, Rested and Ready” slogan, which was on a “Nixon in ’88!” T-shirt I mentioned in another comment several episodes back.
The Epoxy-Dent ad (hey! George Coe!) had me howling. These were the days when you couldn’t go five minutes without seeing the Krazy Glue ads with the guy in a hard hat glued to the I-beam. But this is so over-the-top that it’s a hoot.
Maybe it’s a function of this week’s host, maybe it’s the lack of a typical musical guest, but this episode felt like it had a slower pace and the sketches seemed to play out longer than normal, with a little more tenderness mixed in – “Bedroom” and “Surplus Store,” in particular. Maybe it didn’t time out to being longer, but that was my perception, at least. It’s an interesting, and certainly different, episode to watch.
The lack of musical guest was something that Matthau specifically requested. I’m not entirely sure why, but he really wanted Garrett to do a straightforward musical performance without “any interruptions.” (21:30 mark for the source on that)
I was reading through the backstage book on SNL which came out in 1980 (it’s available on Archive) and this was the episode they went backstage for. Nothing especially juicy (unless you count Walter and Bill bantering and Bill jokingly lunging for Walter when he cuddled with Gilda), but a few interesting tidbits:
– Belushi came back from Hollywood during the week, with Don Pardo giving him a big announcement over the loudspeaker
– Belushi didn’t care for the cold open, unhappy with some of the lines and also some “cheap shots”
– The Julia Child sketch was originally in this episode, and the book devotes some time to Dan’s efforts to get it right (mainly the blood and gore).
– Another sketch called Dormifix, with Jane, John, Dan and Laraine, was cut from this episode. They mention this one as never making it back on the air.