October 10, 1981 – Susan Saint James / The Kinks (S7 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL sponsored by Exxico- “Yesterday’s Technology at Tomorrow’s Prices”

— Eh, funny enough, I guess. I’m still not crazy about this season using these quick disclaimer gags as cold openings, though.
STARS: **½

MONOLOGUE
audience decides against MacArthur & Wife, Macbeth & Wife sketches

   

— We’re getting an actual monologue tonight instead of just a “Talent Entrance”.
— Ah, so SNL calls the obligatory parody of something the host is known for “the host sketch”.
— Interesting letting the audience choose which McMillan & Wife parody to go with, though I’m not sure if that’s genuine or if it was already pre-decided which sketch they’re gonna do.
— Abrupt decision to do the McDonald & Wife sketch, though maybe that was an intentional joke.
STARS: ***

MCDONALD & WIFE
Ronald McDonald (JOP) & (host) solve crime while in bed

  

— Oh my god at that hideous clown makeup on Joe.
— All the “Mc” speak is just making me groan. Is that the big “joke” of this sketch?
— That’s it? That’s the whole thing? Ugh, I see we’re using leftover corny scripts from season 6.
STARS: *½

BUH-WEET SINGS
Buckwheat (EDM) is back & he has a new album- Buh-Weet Sings

   

— The debut of Eddie’s Buckwheat!
— There’s the classic opening line “Hi, I’m Buh-weet, amembah me?”
— The Buckwheat-ized songs are all hilarious.
— Love how they put question marks on the bottom of the screen in place of the song title when they couldn’t figure out which song he was singing just now.
— Overall, another all-time Eddie Murphy classic from this season. He’s been knocking it out of the park on a weekly basis in season 7 so far.
STARS: *****

THE BIZARRO WORLD
Black House policy is the same in this inverted realm

       

— I like the cube-shaped globe used to represent bizarro Earth.
— Some technical errors when the camera tries cutting back to Mary and Robin with their bizarro masks on.
— Love the scene with bizarro Jerry Falwell.
— Mr. Mike!
— The brief “Be Cruel to Animals week” scene with Eddie holding an axe was great.
— Nice touch with the bizarro version of the “Hail to the Chief” theme.
— I’m loving the whole idea of this sketch.
— Great part with bizarro Reagan being told to go to sleep during a national crisis.
— Overall, a pretty brilliant and fun sketch. Good political satire as well, which I’m surprised to see in the Ebersol era.
STARS: ****

PUSH BUTTON TO EXPLODE BUILDING
by Andy Aaron- (TOD) accidentally demolishes a building

    

— Oh, I remember seeing this as a clip somewhere a few years ago (probably in SNL’s 40th anniversary special), and I found it to be a hilarious random piece.
— Hey, is that Emily Prager as the first person seen in this? If so, it’s strange how she gets more airtime as an uncredited extra (in addition to this film, she also previously appeared in a season 3 Franken and Davis Show sketch taking place at a Thanksgiving dinner) than she did in the one episode she was a credited featured player in.
— Nice to see Tom Davis.
— The audience was silent during the aftermath of the building explosion, but I found it pretty funny, especially Tom’s reaction. However, this didn’t come off as funny to me as it did when I saw it during the aforementioned SNL 40th anniversary clip.
— “A Film by Andy Aaron”. That name sounds familiar. I think he’s the one who was credited as making that “Street Scene” short from season 5 (can’t remember which episode), and I remember saying in my review of it that it reminded me of this “Push Button to Explode Building” short.  Now I see why both shorts have similarities.
STARS: ***½

LIFEBOAT
shipwreck survivors (JOP) & (host) have a musical date in a lifeboat

 

— Uh-oh, it appears we have our very first of what I’m aware will be MANY musical sketches this season. This is something about this season I’m REALLY dreading, as I normally can’t stand musical sketches (there are some big exceptions, of course).
— Well, I did kinda laugh at that wacky slide whistle sound effect that was played after one of the verses.
— Overall, well, at least this was short, which is the only really good thing I can say about it. Otherwise, this was a chore to sit through.
STARS: *½

SHE’S A PIG
(TIK)’s skanky fiancee Paulette Clooney (ROD) meets him in a restaurant

   

— I liked Mary’s wrist-slashing line.
— LOL at Robin’s entrance.
— Whoa at the part with Robin briefly pulling open her top. We couldn’t see anything indecent on camera, but from where Tim was sitting, I think he got a clear view (unless Robin was wearing pasties under there).
— Robin casually wiping off her armpits while speaking is very funny.
— Mary’s blunt “she’s a pig” statements are great.
— Another good laugh from Mary’s penecillin line.
— Good ending with Christine.
— Overall, a solid sketch. Robin did well as the main comedic character, but my biggest laughs actually came from Mary as the straight man.
STARS: ***½

LET’S SEE WHAT’S BOTHERING BOB
suburban dad loses his marbles

   

— Looks like an interesting short film.
— I’m liking the “1950s instructional film” vibe to this so far.
— This is the second segment in a row tonight where Mary plays a character named Ellen.
— The son looks kinda familiar, but I’m not sure why.
— I like the look on each individual family member’s face when the father starts revving up the chainsaw.
— The dark ending didn’t really work and felt like it was trying too hard.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Destroyer”

SNL NEWSBREAK
BDM narrates footage of the devastating floods in the country of Senesia
weatherperson CHE chit-chats with BDM & MAG but forgets to give forecast
JOP uses bobblehead dolls to explain the complicated baseball playoffs
Ronald Reagan’s fan letter to EDM contains jokes about black people
MAG to would-be assassins- “if you’re looking for a target, try yourself”

       

— Just as I was afraid, they repeated the “letters from the SNL Newsbreak logo falling on Brian” gag.
— Ugh, the joke about John Hinkley wanting to shoot Jodie Foster and make love to the president made me groan out loud.
— The flood pre-taped segment was a pretty laughless waste of time.
— WTF at this Christine Ebersole meteorologist commentary so far?
— That’s the whole meteorologist commentary? Didn’t work for me AT ALL.
— The Italian currency/“bucket of warm spit” joke gave me a good laugh.
— First time in a while they’ve done a Joe Piscopo SNL Sports commentary.
— Love how Joe is activating each bobblehead as he’s going through the names of various baseball players.
— Yikes, Brian’s Agent Orange joke received complete silence from the audience.
— Haha, holy hell at that racist “four colored people trying to catch an elevator” joke that Eddie read off of Reagan’s letter. Eddie’s reaction is great.
— I got even more laughs from Reagan’s racist joke about the three things a colored man can’t get (a black eye, a fat lip, and a job). Brian being seen laughing on the side is also hilarious.
— Not sure how to feel about Mary’s suggestion to would-be assassins to kill themselves. It just seemed to be an excuse to receive clapter from the audience, and I recently mentioned how clapter bugs me nowadays.
— Overall, another SNL Newsbreak with lots of tepid jokes from Brian and Mary. At least some of the commentaries were worthwhile.
STARS: **

SINGLE WOMEN
CHE performs “Single Bars & Single Women”

 

— I smell another musical sketch starting.
— Oh, I’ve always heard about this Single Women number. I believe this is probably the biggest thing Christine is remembered for doing on the show.
— As I was once told a few months ago (by a commenter on this site, I believe), this song has the same melody that was used in that weird season 3 sketch where Madeline Kahn played a singing bowling trophy. Michael O’Donoghue wrote both that sketch and this Single Women one, I believe. I also heard that this melody would later be used for a Dolly Parton song.
— Overall, I can put aside my aversion to musical sketches to admit that this was a very nice musical number. There was no comedy at all here, but the song was very good and Christine did an excellent job performing it.
— All that being said, I’m not sure if I’ll be so lenient later this season after sitting through Christine’s 150th musical sketch.
STARS: ****½

HONEYMOON
on their honeymoon, (TOR) is surprised that wife (host) is a virgin

 

— At first, I thought Susan Saint James was Mary Gross, until she started speaking. I guess it was her wig that caused the confusion.
— Tony’s making me laugh with his wild pre-love-making actions.
— Pretty decent premise with Susan’s revelation.
— Overall, an okay funny sketch. Not much else to say about it.
STARS: ***

CHEAP LAFFS
Sta-Free Peenie Pads is the uncouth joke of the week

   

— I admit to getting a laugh from Tim’s idea to do a Love Boat parody called “The Lez Boat”.
— Interesting how the cast is playing characters with their own first names in this.
— LOL at the whole lowbrow idea of this commercial.
— Overall, this was a riot. The commercial probably wouldn’t have worked as well without the “Cheap Laffs” framing.
— I believe “Cheap Laffs” goes on to be a recurring sketch, but I’m not sure.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Art Lover”

ANDY WARHOL’S TV
he relates his thoughts on makeup & death

 

— Oh, god, here’s our weekly Andy Warhol film.
— Overall, I once again find myself asking “What… the… fuck?!?” At least the last one was very short, whereas this one seemed to go on for quite a while.
STARS: *

ALAN ALDA SENSITIVITY TRAINING FOR MEN
Alan Alda’s book gets girls

  

— Lots of sketches tonight taking place in a bar. I can’t tell if it’s been the exact same bar set each time. If it is, I wonder if it holds the record for most recycled set in a single SNL episode.
— Pretty funny concept with Alan Alda authoring a sensitivity training book.
— Loved Tim telling Tony “You’ll be drilling pipe like a demon”
— Nice touch with using the M*A*S*H* theme song during the scene transition.
STARS: ***

SADAT ASSASSINATION
by John Fox- a custodian cleans the aftermath of the Sadat assassination

   

— Looks like I’m in for another serious, dramatic short film, much like the Yoko Ono one from the season premiere. Hope this isn’t going to be a regular thing this season.
— Overall, no idea what to say about this or how to rate it. Overly dramatic, sad films like this feel too out-of-place on SNL (though there have been some exceptions, like some of Tom Schiller’s best work, but at least in those, Schiller usually casts people from SNL, and thus, I don’t feel like I’m watching a dramatic film made for some other TV show).
STARS: N/A

GOODNIGHTS

 

— I forgot to mention this in the last review, but it feels nice hearing the original goodnights music this season after getting so used to the new (and not as good) goodnights theme that was used in season 6.

---

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An okay episode overall, though it was weighed down by a number of weak or questionable pieces scattered throughout the show. However, there were a few really strong sketches tonight that made this episode worth watching, mainly Buh-Weet Sings, Single Women, and Bizarro World.
— After mentioning how unimpressive the debut of the three new cast members (Christine, Mary, Brian) was in the last episode, I felt that most of them fared much better tonight. Mary had some good moments, particularly her funny straight man performance in She’s A Pig. And Christine was all over this episode, and had an excellent showcase with Single Women.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (no host):
— a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
George Kennedy