Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Great Moments In Rock & Roll- James Brown (GAM) abandons Scottish music
— Oh, this is going to be a James Brown parody? Uh-oh, I don’t think I’m looking forward to seeing Garrett horribly butcher an impression of him.
— That’s Peter Aykroyd as the guy Garrett’s talking to, right? In certain angles, I can see a very-slight physical resemblance to his brother Dan.
— I’m actually liking Garrett in this.
— Haha, the Scottish version of James Brown’s “Please, Please, Please” is pretty funny, and I’m genuinely liking Jane, Laraine, and Gilda’s background singing.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Novello receives his first credit as a featured player.
MONOLOGUE
to guard against extremism, host leads audience in a pro-restraint chant
— I like the (then-contemporary) Betamax mention, simply for retrospective historical purposes.
— Mr. Bill reference.
— Howard’s doing great leading the audience in various chants.
— Was the unseen audience member’s “What if it takes forever?” a scripted bit?
— Overall, a strong monologue with good energy, thanks to Howard. He’s always been good at doing monologues that get the audience involved, judging from what I’ve heard about some of his later monologues from the early 80s.
STARS: ****
THE BEL AIRABS
(host) & (GAM) try to steal fortune of Abdul (DON) & kin
— Bel-Airabs! I remember really liking the installment of this recurring sketch that I once saw years ago, though it wasn’t the one from this episode; it was the installment from the Chevy Chase episode later this season.
— The Beverly Hillbillies-esque theme song and opening credits is brilliant, as is the overall concept of this whole sketch.
— I liked Bill painting pubic hair onto the Venus De Milo statue.
— Gilda as a wild, high-pitched foreign gibberish-screaming, burqa-wearing Granny is absolutely hilarious to me.
— Feels weird seeing Don Novello playing such a big non-Father Guido Sarducci role after I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as only Sarducci lately.
— Wow, Jane is dead-on as Nancy Kulp’s Beverly Hillbillies character (I forgot her name).
— How’d they pull off that hand-chopping bit so fast?
— Funny subtle joke with Kareem Abdul Jabbar being listed among the middle-eastern names in the scrolling ending credits.
— Overall, that was great.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It’s Money That I Love”
musical guest performs “Pants”
WEEKEND UPDATE
paternity suit victim Chico Escuela on backboard-shatterer Darryl Dawkins
ALF says goodbye to the selfish ’70s & introduces the Al Franken Decade
— Random Update joke about Chico Escuela. Is this going to lead into a commentary from him?
— Yep, it did. First time we’ve seen him all season.
— We get a clip of yet another Daryl Dawkins backboard-shattering incident.
— Chico’s “rubber breaks” comment was great.
— Third episode in a row with Al Franken doing an Update commentary. I wonder why they have yet to begin crediting him as a featured player in the opening montage this season.
— Oh, this is going to be the famous Al Franken Decade bit. From the clip I had seen of this in the past, I had always assumed this came from the final episode of 1979 (the upcoming Ted Knight episode).
— I like how they keep displaying Al’s name and occupation on the bottom of the screen whenever he says “me: Al Franken”.
— Overall, a fantastic and memorable Franken commentary, made even better in retrospect by the fact that he would later do follow-ups to this at the end of the next two decades.
STARS: ***½
OLD FLAME
(GIR) explores personal growth with old (BIM) & new (host) boyfriends
— So far, this appears to be a quieter, realistic, slice-of-life type of sketch that we haven’t been seeing much of anymore in this late stage of SNL’s 70s era.
— I liked Howard’s “I’m starting to feel bad now” after sitting through Bill and Gilda’s sappy conversation.
— I got a good surprised laugh from Howard’s “candy ass” comment. I didn’t even know that was a term yet in the 70s.
— Interesting semi-touching ending with Gilda.
STARS: ****
STEREO 105
WKRP star host shares studio time with real deejay Steve Marvin (HAS)
— Ah, a radio show sketch starring Harry Shearer. This is gonna be good.
— Interesting backhanded comment from Howard regarding CBS moving WKRP in Cincinnati’s timeslot. That’s probably Howard venting some real-life frustration with how CBS infamously kept screwing over his show.
— Howard confusedly trying to follow Harry’s hand signals is good.
— I’m loving the authenticity of how they’re making this feel like we’re at a real radio show. Lots of good little details, especially in Harry’s performance.
— Harry’s asinine statements are getting funnier and funnier.
— Great part with Howard grabbing Harry by the throat to get some words in.
— Howard’s been doing a good job with his slowly-mounting frustration throughout the whole sketch.
— Do they eventually make this sketch recurring? I had recently heard that Harry does a particularly great radio sketch later this season in (I think) the Elliott Gould episode, and I’m wondering if that one is a sequel to tonight’s radio show sketch.
STARS: ****
THE NUCLEAR FAMILY
radiation-sick power plant neighbors are lethargic
— Just judging from the title and opening credits sequence, why do I think this sketch sounds like something from the 81-82 season?
— Hey, it’s Peter Aykroyd once again. With all these somewhat-big speaking roles he’s been getting in this episode, why wasn’t he credited in tonight’s opening montage?
— I initially said this sketch looks like a premise from the 81-82 season, but now this sketch is starting to remind me a little of the “Those Unlucky Andersons” sketch the show would later do in the 85-86 season.
— The glow-in-the-dark stomach ending was decent.
— Overall, I’m not quite sure what to think of this sketch, but I guess I found it okay enough.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Story of a Rock & Roll Band”
FIRST LOVE
by Aviva Slesin- JAC keeps missing Walter Cronkite
— “Aviva Films, N.Y.” Looks like this is going to be another Aviva Slesin film. Much like her(?) two films from last season, is this going to be another Bill Murray-starring film centered on animals?
— Ah, a film starring Jane Curtin. There’s something you don’t see everyday in this era.
— I’m liking the drawn-out awkwardness of this.
— Good slow reveal that she doesn’t actually know Walter Cronkite.
— Never mind, it turns out she DOES actually know him.
— Who’s doing Kronkite’s voice over the phone? Doesn’t sound like it’s Bill.
— Nice ending.
— Overall, a good showcase for Jane, who continues to have a strong season.
STARS: ***½
THE HOLIDAY INN HORROR
maid (GIR) repeatedly disturbs guests’ slumber
— Judging from how Gilda looks in her initial walk-on, is this going to be her Rosa Santangelo (“I clean up, okay?”) character?
— Yep, it is.
— Judging from how Dan Aykroyd-ish the voice-over narrator sounds, I think that’s once again Peter Aykroyd in yet another speaking role tonight.
— Gilda using an axe to get through the door is very funny.
— This has the reliable sketch comedy trope of presenting an everyday annoyance as the subject of a horror movie. This sketch also feels like something that would’ve fit perfectly among the various bad horror movie trailers in Christopher Lee’s season 3 monologue.
— Loved Howard’s appearance as the cruel desk clerk.
— Overall, a very good closing sketch.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Really solid episode, with every single segment working, some of which were very well-written and performed.
— Howard Hesseman was a great host, which is no surprise considering both his improv background and how good a recurring host I’ve heard he was later on in the Ebersol era.
— The show has been on a strong winning streak these last three episodes. Can’t help but wonder when this season goes back to being shaky again. Also, I’ve always heard that the cast comes off really burned-out this season (I’ve especially been keeping my eye on Garrett, as it’s known that his drug problems reached its breaking point this season), but I have yet to see evidence of that so far, so I’m also wondering when that will start.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bea Arthur):
— a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Martin Sheen
WKRP aired on CBS, not NBC. Also, I always thought Tom Davis did the VO for Holiday inn, it sounded similar to what he did in the Christopher Lee trailers in ‘78
Whoops, sorry about the NBC/CBS mix-up. I’ll fix it in the review.
I just checked SNL Archives’ page for The Holiday Inn Horror (link below), and my hunch was correct: it was Peter Aykroyd as the voice-over.
http://snlarchives.net/Episodes/?1979120811
Also, re: the DJ sketch, you’re sorta right about Shearer following it up a few shows down the line (“K-TIME” in the Elliott Gould ep, I believe), but it wasn’t quite the same guy he played. If you want a more Direct follow-up to Shearer’s DJ character, look no further than his appearance in “Wayne’s World 2″…
Could it be that “The Nuclear Family” reminded you of “At Home With The Psychos”? That was another far more deranged O’donoghue-like sketch that aired in the 81-82 Christmas episode that Bill Murray hosted about a family being forced to move away from a malfunctioning nuclear plant.
I haven’t watched this episode in a while, but wasn’t the Iranian hostage crisis what Hesseman was fired up about in his opening monologue?
Indeed, and in watching the episodes that immediately preceded this one in Nov, I was amazed at the lack of references to what was obviously a VERY big news story.
Another sparkling review!
Hesseman was a great host and really should have gotten a writing credit for contributing ideas to the cold open, monologue, nuclear family and most of the Steve Marvin interview sketch. Surprised that Ebersol waited so long to have him back (twice in season 8, the latter a replacement for Marvin Gaye).
Shearer did Cronkite’s voice.
Shearer posted on his Wayne’s World II appearance on Instagram, also mentioning the Hesseman sketch adding it was based on his real experience on air with morning DJ in San Francisco Don Bleu.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHqgNnPFZBN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Also, listening to Pardo’s v/o during the closing credits, I’m astounded that there were still people mispronouncing David Bowie’s name as “BOO-ee” in late 1979.
“BOO-ee” sounds like “BOO-urns” in the film episode of “The Simpsons.”
There’s a brief scene in 1984’s “Woman in Red” where Gene Wilder’s character pronounces it they way… only to be corrected by his teenage daughter. So I guess it wasn’t until “Let’s Dance” that the tide turned?
Also, RIP Howard Hesseman, who really should have been a 5-timer. He would have done well with the season 10 and later casts, I’m sure.
Nancy Culp’s character was named Jane Hathaway.
The pubic hair scene from the Bel-Arabs sketch was usually censored in syndication. It’s funny because the statue was visible in the background with its new paint job, so I knew I hadn’t imagined it! I didn’t see the uncensored version again until the DVDs came out.
This is a good episode and I’ve always loved Shearer’s DJ character as I have family who’ve worked in radio for many years (very accurate!). Hesseman would appear with Shearer again with a brief cameo in “This Is Spinal Tap.” I think their connection goes much further back, however.