March 15, 1980 – Paul Simon and James Taylor / David Sanborn (S5 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
for SNL’s hundredth show, LAN, JAC, GAM, GIR summon spirits of MOD & JOB

   

— A mention of this being SNL’s 100th episode.
— Hey, a Mr. Mike cameo!
— Loved O’Donoghue’s line “Did I mention that since I left, the show really sucks rubber donkey lungs?”, which is a criticism he really did famously state about this season of SNL (and maybe season 4, too) during an interview, I believe.
— Good comeback from Laraine to O’Donoghue, giving him a sarcastic “By the way, congratulations on Mondo Video”.
— The male voice that a possessed Jane is miming sounds like John Belushi doing his Samurai gibberish.
— Yep, it IS Belushi!
— A welcome return of John’s traditional “but noooooo” rant, complaining about doing this “cheap séance sketch”.
— Overall, a pretty fun cold opening, featuring an interesting premise and nice visits from some alums. Too bad they didn’t get Dan Aykroyd, though. Was he unavailable that week?
STARS: ***½

OPENING MONTAGE
— Okay, this episode has always been listed on SNL sites as having no host, and lists Paul Simon, James Taylor, and David Sanborn as the musical guests. However, I noticed that in the section of tonight’s opening credits where the host is usually announced, Don Pardo says “With Paul Simon and James Taylor” (“with” was typically how Don announced hosts in the opening montage back then, instead of announcing them as “your host” or any variation thereof) while David Sanborn is announced separately as the musical guest. Looks like all those SNL sites are wrong; this episode DOES have a host – two, in fact. Lorne seemingly considers those two the hosts of this episode as well, because the famous 1990 monologue with Tom Hanks being inducted into the Five-Timers Club includes Paul Simon as one of the club members, which used to baffle many SNL fans (including myself), as it was always thought that Paul has only hosted FOUR times (seasons 1, 2, 11, and 13). Well, now I see that he actually HAS hosted host five times. And, hey, who knew James Taylor ever hosted SNL as well?
— So, after all that, I just have to ask: where did this decades-long misconception that this episode has no host come from?

MONOLOGUE
commuter BIM sings a song about what a typical day in NYC is like for him

     

— Looks like Bill gets the honors of doing the 100th monologue. Maybe THIS is why everybody thinks this episode has no host. But then again, when The Rolling Stones hosted the previous season, they didn’t do a monologue either – Mayor Ed Koch randomly did. Yet I don’t see any episodes guides listing THAT episode as having no host.
— Hey, we get a remodeled home base stage! Are they doing this because it’s the 100th episode?
— The new home base is a replica of a subway set, and it reminds me of a more extensive version of the subway newsstand home base stage they would later use temporarily at the beginning of season 10.
— Bill going into a Nick the Lounger Singer-esque number about New York.
— Loved Bill’s little jumping dance interlude.
— This song is really starting to get amped up, and damn, Bill is REALLY going all out with an insane, energetic performance. He’s cracking me the hell up.
— Loved Bill shouting “NEW YORK!!!! I LOVE YOU SO!!!!” and then doing a flip onto the floor.
— Funny little part with him spitting on the “spitting is unlawful” sign.
— Overall, I got a lot of enjoyment out of this, and Bill’s increasingly manic performance freakin’ killed me.
STARS: ****

HORIZON SYSTEM 12
the Horizon System 12 is the largest television system ever

   

— This parody of then-contemporary TV sets is serving as a nice little time capsule.
— Nice graphics for an SNL fake ad from 1980.
— That’s the whole thing? Not much of a joke. There was no audible laughing from the audience, either.
STARS: **

THE BIGGEST LEPRECHAUN
Patrick Moynihan [real] narrates the tale of The Biggest Leprechaun (PEA)

   

— A big role for Peter Aykroyd?
— Oh, I see they needed someone tall for the role, and Peter IS the tallest of all the cast members and featured players this season, so…
— Great voice from Harry.
— Overall, eh, I didn’t care for this. A pretty dull sketch.
STARS: **

TODD’S CAMPAIGN
Todd’s quest to be student body president is threatened by moon blackmail

   

— SNL has surprisingly been cutting back on The Nerds lately. This is only their third appearance of the season, and the season is almost over. I wonder if this ends up being these characters’ last appearance.
— I like how these sketches always make a mention of Mrs. Loopner’s famous egg salad.
— Uh, what the hell is Garrett doing??? Very awkward entrance from him, with him silently looking around every area of the house for some reason, like a paranoid weirdo. What in the world??? The audience is DEAD SILENT during this part, too.
— Oh, now I see what Garrett was doing. He’s Todd’s bodyguard, so he was scoping out the house to make sure it’s safe for Todd to enter. Still, it feels like that could’ve been executed in a less-awkward way.
— I like Garrett’s “I’ll just say it was me” plan, regarding the mooning picture of Todd.
— Fairly weak ending.
— Overall, despite an interesting premise for the Nerds, this ended up being just average. If this turns out to be the final Nerds sketch, this was not the best way for them to go out.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
hosts perform “Cathy’s Clown” & “Sunny Skies”
hosts perform “Take Me to the Mardi Gras”

WEEKEND UPDATE
during a polemic on economics, Ralph Nader [real] bashes the Ford Pinto
BIM models different hats on a dummy of Ayatollah Khomeini
Roseanne Roseannadanna wanders from breast-feeding to Bo Derek

         

— What’s that thing hanging off of the upper clock behind Jane? (first and sixth screencaps above)
— A cameo from SNL one-timer Ralph Nader.
— Another Nader reference to hot dogs having rat excrement, which was originally a line he said in the cold opening of the season 2 episode he hosted.
— Nader’s commentary was pretty dull overall. Not even the visual of a Pinto toy car lighter came off all that funny.
— Jane’s presumably made-up news story about Walter Cronkite being attacked by a swarm of Malaysian butterflies is an interesting variation of this season’s Jane/Cronkite story arc.
— Haha, Bill’s WTF-type facial reaction to Jane’s Malaysian butterflies story was great. (fifth screencap above)
— Bill to Jane, regarding Cronkite: “You’ll do anything to get in that old geezer’s pants, won’t you?”
— Bill’s Ayatollah hats segment was decent. I liked the SNL meta-reference with one of Bill’s looks for Ayatollah being “the Jake and Elwood routine”.
— First time we’ve seen Roseanne Rosannadanna in a while.
— Rosannadanna’s rant about Bo Derek’s nose hairs is fairly funny.
— The rest of Rosannadanna’s commentary did nothing for me, not even her little song at the end. I’m so burned out on this character. Couldn’t they at least try doing something different with her instead of just the same tired routine every single time? Even Emily Litella got put in different settings every now and then.
STARS: **½

MEDIEVAL BAND
(BIM)’s lack of rhythm irks fellow minstrels during gig for queen (JOB)

   

— Ah, here’s the infamous “flogging” sketch that contains an epic Paul Shaffer slip-up.
— This seems to be possibly the biggest role Shaffer has gotten in a sketch so far.
— James Taylor surprisingly sounds like a natural doing the medieval accent.
— Haha, there it is! Shaffer’s accidental f-bomb when he was supposed to say the fake swear word “flogging”. Some people in the audience react for a bit, but the performers immediately keep the sketch going. I didn’t see any visible realization from Shaffer after his mistake, unlike the infamous puffed-out-cheeks facial expression future cast member Jenny Slate made after her similar f-bomb slip-up in a sketch where she was supposed to say “friggin” over and over.
— Belushi again!
— Oh my god, John’s voice and accent…
— John sounds like Dan Aykroyd as Julia Child.
STARS: ***

TALK OR DIE
guests’ lives are threatened on (Michael Palin)’s talk show

     

— Random Michael Palin appearance!
— This sketch is already starting hot, with a great stunt at the beginning involving Michael flipping a man over the table. You don’t usually see stunts THAT physical in a live sketch.
— Interesting premise.
— The audience seems to be more familiar with who Jane is playing than I am.
— A REAL spider on Garrett’s shoulder?
— Pretty exciting sketch so far.
— The random bear attack is funny.
— Overall, a crazy sketch that was pretty fun, helped by the usual reliable Michael Palin performance.
STARS: ***½

NEW YORK STATE WINES
Honker & bums (PEA) & (GAM) are wine critics; Patrick Moynihan cameo

   

— Another sketch with Garrett playing a subway wino? Didn’t he just do a character like this in the recent Elliott Gould episode?
— Another rare Peter Aykroyd showcase.
— I still keep hearing Dan Aykroyd’s voice every time Peter talks in a sketch.
— Hey, it’s Bill’s Honker character.  Perfect addition to this.
— Another Senator Moynihan twist?
— I got a good laugh from Garrett spitting out the wine after drinking it, which Moynihan also seemed VERY amused by. (last screencap above)
— I wasn’t crazy about the overall sketch, but it had some worthy individual parts.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Anything You Want”

THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW
surgery hasn’t helped celebrity lookalikes

    

— Bill’s Susskind impression seems to be different every time he plays him. I can’t judge the accuracy of Bill’s impression, having no familiarity with Susskind.
— The pre-Elvis surgery picture of Harry looking like Rod Stewart was hilarious.
— I love the out-of-place voice Jane is using as the Dolly Parton lookalike.
— Funny line from Jane about having “sections of [her] buttocks implanted in [her] breasts.”
— Hilarious make-up job on Tom Davis’ face.
— You can hear an audience member audibly say “Thank god” when Bill mentions Paul Simon breaking up with Art Garfunkel.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

 

— Lorne makes a very rare goodnights appearance. This is also the earliest episode I recall seeing him in a suit, which would later become his default look whenever he would appear on-camera.

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— The best episode of the disappointing second half of this season so far, which still isn’t saying much, as this episode was just average. Still, it was helped by all the energy of this being the 100th episode, and also helped by all the star-studded guest appearances. It also helps that the weaker sketches were kept to more of a minimum than in the last few episodes.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rodney Dangerfield):
— a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss