Month: January 2019

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May 15, 1982 – Danny DeVito / Sparks (S7 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
footage of wrestling match between Andy Kaufman & Jerry Lawler teased

— Just a quick, straightforward announcement of an Andy Kaufman wrestling match we’ll be seeing later in the episode.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


TALENT ENTRANCE


MONOLOGUE
Christopher Lloyd, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Judd Hirsch [real] bow

      

— Danny’s already getting lots of good laughs right off the bat. I had forgotten what its like to have an actual funny actor hosting this season, after the endless string of non-comedic hosts we’ve had in the second half of this season.
— The audience boos loudly when Danny announces that ABC has just canceled Taxi.
— Very nice idea having the Taxi cast show up to take the final bow they never got to do on their show.
— Oh, this is during Andy’s neckbrace phase.
— Lots of great infectious energy from the one-by-one entrances of the Taxi cast.
— The studio audience is actually giving a standing ovation now.
STARS: ****


TAXI
Louie DePalma (host) takes a taxi to ABC headquarters & blows up building

     

— Ah, Taxi’s opening credits. Considering it’s been a very long time since I last  watched a rerun of that show, it’s making me very nostalgic seeing these credits & theme song again.
— LOL at the sight of Danny moping outside ABC’s headquarters.
— Ha, Danny blew up the ABC building! Hilarious.
STARS: ****


WHINERS
(host) is stuck next to Doug & Wendy Whiner on an airplane

   

— Ohhh, the Whiners officially become recurring characters. Their return actually received APPLAUSE from the audience tonight.
— I got a good laugh from Mary as the stewardess forcibly throwing another passenger’s blanket at the Whiners when they complain about how cold they are.
— Another good laugh from other passengers eagerly requesting a headset in unison when Mary’s handing them out.
— Great ending with Danny purposely wrecking the Whiners’ box of china after they spent the whole sketch telling him to be careful with it.
— Overall, probably one of the more tolerable Whiners sketches ever, just due to all the various funny things happening around them, whereas in the first Whiners sketch, Tony was the only thing holding it together.
STARS: **½


EXECUTIVE STRESS TEST
(host) has to pass an unannounced stress test to get promoted

   

— Boy, those are some disturbingly exaggerated sexual moans from Mary over the phone.
— Great appearance from Eddie as a no-nonsense drug dealer.
— Haha, holy hell at the herpes revelation from Christine.
— Good twist with the stress test reveal.
— The knife ending was kinda weak in theory, but Danny’s acting made it funny.
— Overall, a pretty solid sketch and featured strong performances from all involved.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mickey Mouse”

 


SNL NEWSBREAK
Dr. Jack Badofsky lists types of rabies
MAG reports from Central Park that she’s found Annie’s Sandy
Argentine responses to a Falklands ink blot test
Lou Grant (TOR) gives the weather report

           

— I’m starting to realize that Christine’s delivery as an anchorperson is just wrong for SNL Newsbreak. She’s so OVERLY professional-sounding that it kills the humor.
— Yet another Dr. Jack Badosfsky appearance.
— During these last two Badofsky appearances, I’m noticing a trend where his commentaries start out not working for me at all, and then after about a minute or so, I find myself starting to actually laugh at some of his puns. I don’t know if this means he always uses his weakest, corniest puns up front before getting to the better material or what, but it’s just something I’ve been noticing.
— Good risque ending to Badosfky’s commentary, with Linda Lovelace-induced rabies being named “Fellabies”.
— Yet another “Mary interviews the wrong person” gag. This routine is getting tired.
— What’s with the dog’s growling? Or is that a sound effect they’re playing?
— Mary’s overall commentary didn’t work for me at all.
— Oh, no, Brian has begun listing off responses to a Falklands ink blot test. Here comes our dreaded weekly “long screen crawl” gag.
— I admit, some of the early entries in this screen crawl list are actually pretty funny, but I just know this crawl is going to get tired fast.
— Yep, I was right.
— Once again, Brian’s ends his spiel long before the accompanying screen crawl stops scrolling, forcing him to stall for time.
— Christine’s Rely tampon joke was actually really funny.
— Tony’s Lou Grant impression seems to have improved, or maybe it’s just growing on me.
— The Lou Grant weatherman segment was okay overall, but nothing special.
— Overall, for this season’s standards, tonight’s SNL Newsbreak was actually somewhat short. I’m glad it didn’t go on forever like it did in the last few episodes.
STARS: **½


PUDGE & SOLOMON
Solomon does his dance while Pudge plays his new song

  

— Good to see these characters back.
— Feels like Eddie hasn’t been appearing much in tonight’s show; a contrast to how much he dominated the last few episodes.
— Eddie’s comments about John Hinkley are really funny.
— I’m also getting laughs from Eddie and Joe’s conversation about “Puerto Ricans” being in the Falklands.
— Joe’s “I want a meal, not a snack” insult was hilarious.
— Nice to see Danny getting involved in this, though he’s not as good at doing the type of “black voice” that Eddie and Joe are effortlessly doing.
— Good ending with Eddie’s doing “his dance”.
STARS: ***½


ENZO
Enzo mouthwash- it can freshen even Ozzy Osbourne’s (TIK) breath

  

— Oh my god at Tim’s look as a bloody-faced 80s-era Ozzy Osbourne. And the casting decision to have HIM of all cast members play Ozzy seems pretty random.
— While this overall commercial had a decent idea, the result didn’t really work for me. This was very forgettable.
STARS: **


COME ON OUT AMERICA
— Rerun


TABLE TALK
TOR shows how to intimidate the wine steward

 

— I’m really liking Tony’s outbursts at the waiter and his subsequent Vic Salukin-esque sadistic laughter into the camera afterwards.
— Overall, a pretty solid showcase for Tony.
STARS: ***½


NO MORE WRESTLING
wrestling match between Andy Kaufman & Jerry Lawler [real] causes injury
Andy Kaufman [real] apologizes to wrestling fans, retires from the mat

    

— A Brian Doyle-Murray-conducted interview with Andy.
— Haha, I always crack up at Jerry Lawler’s whole fast-talking “Andy Kaufman, you’re about to get hurt, son” rant, as I’ve seen that clip multiple times before, in a documentary about Andy’s wrestling career that Comedy Central used to air an endless amount of times back in the day. (I think the documentary is titled “Andy Kaufman: I’m From Hollywood”)
— Some big laughs from Andy’s constantly ducking in and out of the ring when Lawler’s about to begin wrestling him.
— Lawler: “Are you here to wrestle or act like an ass?!?!”
— Seeing Andy repeatedly getting brutally pile-driven head-first into the ring floor is really making me wince, even if I know he didn’t REALLY get injured from it (his use of a neckbrace in the present-day scenes is just an act, IIRC, as is the whole rivalry between him and Lawler).
— LOL at the loud “Ohhh!”s from the crowd during the second pile driver Andy received (which looked PARTICULARLY painful).
— Oh, geez, now they’re replaying those wince-worthy pile drivers in slow-motion. I can’t look.
— After the wrestling video package ends, Andy gives a sincere apology for his entire wrestling shtick and announces he’ll never wrestle again, which receives genuine applause from SNL’s audience.
STARS: ***½


LOOKS AT BOOKS
(TIK) claims that the Beatles stole ideas from the Nazis

  

— Was it intentional to reuse the title of a Jane Curtin-hosted recurring talk show sketch (I believe Chevy hosted it at one point too) from the original era?
— A decent laugh from the record covers and titles shown.
— Overall, while the premise of the Beatles stealing their music from the Nazis was really promising, the sketch ended up being a little forgettable. This felt like a weaker prototype of two better sketches they would do later this era: the “Heil Hits” sketch where Tim advertises an album of Hitler-ized hit songs and the famous talk show sketch with Eddie claiming the Beatles originally had a black member (him).
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Predict”


GOODNIGHTS
host’s mom Julia [real] curses out ABC in Italian

 

— Great bit with Danny’s mother cursing out ABC in Italian.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— One of the better episodes of the second half of this season, which I was expecting considering the host. While nothing was really classic tonight, the show had a nice flow with mostly solid material. Even The Whiners and SNL Newsbreak were a little more tolerable and didn’t hurt the show as much as usual.
— Danny DeVito did an unsurprisingly fun job hosting and you can see why he would go on to be a fairly frequent host for the rest of the 80s as well as the 90s.  I’m definitely looking forward to reviewing his other episodes.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert Culp):
— a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Season 7 comes to an end, with host Olivia Newton-John

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April 24, 1982 – Robert Culp / The Charlie Daniels Band (S7 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Kelly (host) goes undercover to investigate old I-Spy buddy Scotty (EDM)

    

— What’s with Joe’s weird acting? Is he supposed to be doing a take-off of John MacEnroe’s infamous “You cannot be serious” rant?
— Ah, he is.  Just now, Robert addressed him as “Mr. MacEnroe”.
— A “reunion” between Culp and “Cosby”.
— Tim’s walk-on as Billie Jean King is giving me a good laugh.
— Another laugh from Tim’s BJK asking Robert to “hold her balls” (tennis balls) while she goes to the bathroom.
— Of course, we get a Jell-O Pudding reference, as well as other products the real Cosby was doing commercials for at the time.
— Decent twist with Robert turning out to still be a spy.
— Overall, despite a few highlights and good efforts from Eddie, I didn’t care too much for this cold opening. Too much of it dragged and felt like it went on a little too long.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Interesting hearing the show make an actual acknowledgment that they don’t do monologues anymore.
— That’s it?!?!? This just had Robert rapidly reading a bad stand-up joke, and then he ended the monologue. What was the point of this?
STARS: *


MIDDLE AGE OF AQUARIUS
Mary Travers (CHE) introduces updated ’60s hits

   

— This is in a similar vein to the “Jesus in Blue Jeans” commercial from earlier this season. I think there’s another commercial like this later this era, where Tim advertises a record of Hitler-ized songs.
— The 60s hippie hits adjusted for 80s yuppie-type audiences are pretty funny, though the studio audience seems more amused by it than I am. Then again, the studio audience has the benefit of living in the 80s while I’m watching this in a much later decade.
— The “It’s My Condo (And I’ll Sell If I Want To)” song gave me a good laugh.
— Overall, pretty decent, though it went on a bit too long for something that was fairly one-joke.
STARS: ***


EGG & SPERM
in (CHE)’s uterus, a sperm (TIK) tries to pick up an egg (MAG)

   

— Well, this certainly seems to be a weird sketch.
— Oh, I now see where this is going. A fairly decent concept showing a human representation of a sperm and an egg inside a uterus.
— Loved the part with Tim as the sperm mentioning how he had to enter through the “back door” because a “big rubber trampoline” was blocking the front.
— Tim looking upwards and yelling “You slut!” was hilarious.
— The bit with Tony as a sleazy sperm isn’t coming off that funny.
— Took me a while to recognize Brian in bed with Christine at the end; I actually almost mistook him for his brother Bill Murray at first. Guess I was thrown off by the wig and the fact that we can only see the side of his face.
— Awkward ending.
— Overall, despite a decent concept and a few funny lines from Tim, this kinda fell flat and ended poorly.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Still in Saigon”


SNL NEWSBREAK
various photos aid BDM’s explanation of Britain’s slow Falklands trek
tracked path of the Royal Navy’s Falklands route spells out their speed
disgusted with current naming trends, TIK lists some famous bad monikers
MAG sets a record running from ABC headquarters to assignment at CBS
JOP wants George Steinbrenner to stop trading the Yankees’ good players
racist joke prompts EDM to dispel the link between black people & monkeys

           

— Brian’s Oliver Hardy bit was just cringeworthy.
— Brian has begun listing off reasons why it took the Royal Navy so long to reach the Falkland Islands. Uh-oh, are we getting our weekly “long series of pictures” gag?
— Yep, looks like it. Ugh!
— Tonight’s SNL Newsbreak has been going on for five minutes so far, and Christine has yet to say a single word. Brian’s been doing all the talking so far.
— What is the point of this map bit that Brian is doing?
— The path that Brian drew on the map ended up spelling out “slow”. THAT’S the big payoff to the overlong map gag??? Ugh, SNL Newsbreak just gets worse and worse. Thank god there’s only two episodes remaining for this era of SNL’s news segment. Like I said recently, season 8 can’t come fast enough for me.
— Another commentary with Tim as himself.
— One of the “jerky” names that Tim complained about was Brad. Little does Tim know he would soon have a new castmate with that name next season.
— Some good laughs from Tim revealing the “real” names of celebrities, such as Ricardo Montalban really being named Irving Weinblatt.
— Here’s comes Mary’s weekly remote segment. Is she going to interview Akira Yoshimura as the wrong person for the third consecutive episode?
— Nope, the premise of Mary’s remote just turned out to be another “Mary’s reporting from the wrong location” gag, where she’s outside the ABC building when she’s supposed to be at CBS.
— Pretty fun with Mary “running over” from the ABC building to the CBS building.
— I’m enjoying Joe’s fast-paced recapping of the insane number of trades Steinbrenner has been making to the Yankees this season.
— Brian’s punchline to the blackface undercover cop joke was lame, but I got a laugh just from the premise of an undercover cop wearing ridiculous Al Jolson-esque blackface.
— Eddie’s whole “Black people don’t look like monkeys, whites do” commentary is great so far, and he’s making some really funny points.
— Great Monkees reference from Eddie.
— Interesting to see natural camaraderie between Christine and Eddie at the end of Eddie’s commentary. I didn’t realize until now that out of this entire cast, Christine is probably the cast member we’ve seen Eddie interact with the least on the show.
STARS: **


PARTY GIRL
out-of-town convention attendees (JOP) & (BDM) hire a “party girl” (ROD)

   

— There’s that same bedroom set again tonight.
— Great voice from Eddie as the bellhop.
— I’m surprised this is the first time we’re seeing Robin all night, but now that I think about it, this seems to be common for her lately. Feels like her airtime is diminishing more and more these last handful of episodes.
— With the facial expression she has in this sketch, Robin resembles Lily Tomlin in certain camera angles. I can kinda picture Tomlin playing a character like this.
— Brian dismissively calling Robin “Morey Amsterdam with a freight wig” has been one of my few laughs in this sketch so far, and this sketch has been going on for MINUTES.
— Overall, this sketch was a disappointment. I really wanted to like it because of how much poor Robin has been struggling for airtime lately, but I felt this missed the mark and very few things in it worked for me.
STARS: **


JAMES BROWN IS ANNIE
Godfather of Soul (EDM) sings hits from the musical

   

— Oh, this is a well-known sketch, though I’ve never seen it myself until now.
— Oh, this is great! I especially love Eddie singing a James Brown-ized version of “Tomorrow”; this version actually sounds like a genuinely great song.
— Wow, overall, this was fantastic. I kinda wanted it to go on longer, but maybe it was the right length after all.
STARS: ****½


BABIES IN MAKEUP
— Mary mentions that the show received hate mail from viewers in response to the “Babies in Makeup” short from earlier this season, so SNL is rebelliously airing the short again.
— Despite Mary’s funny intro, that doesn’t make up for the fact that I have to suffer through this film again. I kinda hated this the first time, and I ain’t liking it any better now.
— This is noticeably getting more audience response than the last time this aired.


HAPPY’S
Happy’s (EDM) Mayonnaise Palace- delicious treats made entirely of mayo

   

— Tons of airtime for Eddie tonight. With these last three episodes I’ve reviewed, I think I’ve officially reached the point in Eddie’s tenure where they famously start putting him into practically every single sketch.
— The concept of a mayonnaise restaurant is quite funny.
— I like Eddie doing the screechy aunt’s voice off-camera.
— Ha, Eddie looks like he started cracking up after doing the aunt’s voice.
— Great audience reaction to Eddie drinking the disgusting-looking mayonnaise drink.
— At some points, the kinda-screechy New Yorker voice Eddie’s using in this reminds me a little of Gilbert Gottfried. Makes me want to picture Gilbert doing this commercial in season 6.
— Overall, pretty funny commercial, helped by Eddie’s performance and his giggliness.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”


SUNKEN SUBMARINE
business-as-usual for the crew of a submarine stranded on the ocean floor

    

— Oh, much like tonight’s earlier James Brown sketch, here’s another sketch I’ve always heard about, except this time, it’s in a bad way. This is supposedly an EPICALLY terrible sketch.
— “Mr. Rosato”? Tony’s playing himself in this sketch?
— What the fuck is WITH this sketch so far? This is just bizarre in all the wrong ways, and the writing feels like a really bad attempt at doing silly M*A*S*H/Hogan’s Heroes-type humor.
— It’s almost laughable in itself how bad this sketch is. It’s getting ridiculously terrible and none of the things that’s been happening in it make any sense. And the audience is (understandably) COMPLETELY DEAD.
— Oh, now we’re just getting desperate. WTF at this human dog that was brought in just now? And whoever that is playing the dog (Neil Levy, I think) is overacting terribly.
— Okay, Eddie’s always-reliable line deliveries are making me chuckle at least, which is the first sorta-laugh I’ve gotten in this whole sketch so far.
— Eddie ALMOST came close to saving the sketch, but unfortunately, he’s already exited the scene before he could fully salvage this.
— Not only is this sketch dreadfully unfunny, but it’s becoming quite long too.
— Robert Culp’s delivery in this is pretty awful. I just now realized that I haven’t been enjoying him as an SNL host at all tonight. I honestly came into this episode expecting better from him.
— Overall, yep, this sketch definitely lived up to its negative reputation in every single way. In a way, it’s fascinating what a laughless trainwreck this was; probably one of the most noteworthy failures in SNL history.
STARS: *


GOODNIGHTS
EDM kills time at the end of the show by showing host how to tell a joke

 

— We’re told there’s a lot of time to kill, so Robert begins doing a follow-up to his monologue by telling more bad jokes. Ugh.
— Haha, to show Robert how it’s done, Eddie tells the same joke but with funnier delivery, which gets a much better audience reaction.
— Eddie’s now re-telling Robert’s earlier joke from the monologue with a long-winded Bill Cobsy delivery, until the goodnights music officially starts.
— I like how in these earlier SNL seasons from the 70s and early 80s, the host and cast would do fun things like this during the goodnights whenever there was time to kill. We really see the cast’s genuine personalities, as well as the camaraderie between them and the host. We never get anything like this in modern-day SNL’s goodnights.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very off episode. Very few things stood out as truly good, a lot of the sketches starring usually-reliable performers surprisingly flopped (e.g. Tim and Mary’s Egg & Sperm sketch, Robin’s Party Girl sketch), and that god-awful submarine sketch at the end of the show was a noteworthy disaster and left a bad taste in my mouth. There also seemed to be an unusually low amount of sketches tonight, I guess due to how insanely long SNL Newsbreak and the submarine sketch were (and even Party Girl felt kinda long too), not to mention the unnecessary rerun of the Babies in Makeup short.
— Eddie at least had a particularly strong night, starring in the two of the few highlights of the show (Happy’s and especially James Brown Is Annie), doing a great Newsbreak commentary, and getting the only thing closely resembling laughs in Sunken Submarine.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Johnny Cash):
— a huge step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Danny DeVito, the first host in a long time who’s name alone has me excited for an episode

Posted on

April 17, 1982 – Johnny Cash / Elton John (S7 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host sings while his younger self (TIK) has character-forming experiences

   

— Looks like we’re getting a straight musical performance as the cold opening.
— Oh, turns out they’re doing a sketch during the performance after all, with Tim playing Johnny’s younger self acting out the song Johnny’s singing.
— The extra who’s playing Tim’s cellmate looks like the same guy who played Sinatra’s mean-looking bodyguard in an earlier SNL Newsbreak where Mary interviewed Joe as Sinatra. I think I heard he’s writer Nelson Lyon.
— LOL at Johnny receiving a rough back massage while singing in his trademark vibrato.
— Funny story from Johnny about how he gained the last name Cash.
— Why did the screen randomly turn black-and-white for a few seconds? (screencap below) Technical error?

— This is a very charming opening so far.
STARS: ***½


TALENT ENTRANCE

— Where’s Joe? I guess he’s going to be at the beginning of the sketch that follows this.


THE HONEYROONEYS
Andy Rooney (JOP) plays Kramden & makes observations

   

— Yep, there’s Joe. Still don’t see why he couldn’t have been with the cast in the Talent Entrance and then ran over to the Honeymooners set; he had enough time considering how long the opening credits of this sketch were.
— I guess the black-and-white filter used for this sketch explains the aforementioned technical error in the cold opening.
— A fairly funny concept, combining The Honeymooners and Andy Rooney, though they’ve really been going heavy on Joe’s Rooney impression this season.
— Christine does a good Alice, which is no surprise as she seems like a natural for that role.
— Good laugh from Joe’s Rooney pointing out the fake backdrop outside the window.
— Great Norton impression from Eddie. I always like seeing Eddie do dead-on impressions of white celebrities/characters.  The man is so talented.
— Overall, despite the somewhat promising concept, this sketch didn’t come off all that funny in execution and kinda ran out of steam halfway through. The studio audience wasn’t very into this either, only really responding to Eddie’s impression.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Empty Garden”


LAST REQUEST
a death row inmate’s (EDM) last wish- host sings “99,999 Bottles of Beer”

   

— Second time we’re seeing that prison set tonight. I think the cellmate is also the same one from the cold opening. Funny to imagine that he just stayed in that same jail cell set during all the time between the cold opening and this sketch.
— Eddie’s funny requesting that the priest read entire Old Testament, just so his execution will be stalled.
— Great use of Johnny in this.
— This is getting even funnier with Eddie requesting that Johnny sing the “original uncut version” of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.
— Eddie’s gleeful dancing during Johnny’s perfectly deadpan singing is hilarious.
— Loved Tim’s angry delivery of “You had your last request; now move it!”
— Very fun sketch overall.
STARS: ****½


SNL NEWSBREAK
MAG asks a Japanese tourist (Leo Yoshimura) if he’s seen Leonid Brezhnev
BDM examines world leaders’ predilection for salutes
Dr. Jack Badofsky lists varieties of amputations
EDM gives a Larry the Lobster update- a viewer letter prompted boiling

           

— I must have Elton John on the brain after having just seen his musical performance, because when they first showed the picture of John Hinkley in this Newsbreak (screencap below), I honestly thought it was Elton at first. Hinkley’s a dead ringer for a young Elton John in that picture.

— Ha, I like how it’s become a running joke for Mary to interview Akira Yoshimura as the wrong person. Yoshimura’s monotone delivery never fails to amuse me.
— Aw, geez, here comes another “long series of pictures” gag, this time showing various dictators doing a hand salute. Again, NOT FUNNY.
— As a Three Stooges buff, I did like how during the Mussolini salute picture, Brian made a reference to “Curly of the Three Stooges”.
— Also a reference to the original SNL era’s classic “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead” running joke.
— Are they freakin’ kidding me with this?!? This “dictator salute” photo montage is going on even longer than the “waving Reagans” photo montage from the last episode, and that’s saying something! There were about four times where I thought this dictator montage would finally end, only for it to continue. Why do they consistently waste so much time on SNL Newsbreak with unfunny stretched-out segments like this?
— Finally, 100 years later, the montage has ended.
— Another appearance of Dr. Jack Badofsky. At least they waited a few episodes after his last appearance.
— I liked Badofsky’s opening trick with his “cut-off” finger.
— What in the world was the point of Badofsky’s “stamp in the mouth” bit?
— Bah, none of the corny puns on Tim’s cards have been making me laugh so far tonight.
— Okay, after a very slow start, Tim’s puns are getting funnier. “Diaphragmputation” got a pretty good laugh from me just now.
— Ha, Tim has started cracking up after the “Diaphragmputation” one.
— I got another good laugh from Tim’s “Wham-Bam-Thank-You-Ma’amputation” card.
— Brian’s George Foster/black superiority joke was actually really funny.
— Ah, a callback to the famous Larry the Lobster gimmick in the last episode.
— I like how Eddie’s reading what we’re told is a real letter that SNL received from a viewer objecting to Eddie’s manhandling of the lobster throughout the previous week’s episode. The random racist part of the letter is hilarious (“I thought those people didn’t like seafood”, referring to black people).
— Ha, great ending with Eddie sticking it to the letter-writer by eating the now-cooked Larry the Lobster (though I assume, or at least hope, that that’s just some random lobster they cooked, and not Larry).
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “I Walk The Line” & “Folsom Prison Blues” & “Ring of Fire”


JAY CLAY GETS DEPRESSED
by Timothy Hittle- suicidal claymation

   

— A follow up to Timothy Hittle’s previous claymation short from earlier this season, featuring the same clay character.
— This is really weird so far, and hard to figure where it’s going.
— I got a laugh from the clay character using a Marlboro cigarette box to boost himself up to the noose.
— WTF at the random “I lost mah head!” part.
— This overall short was just plain strange. I didn’t like this one anywhere near as much as the last short with this character.
STARS: **


TEGRIM
see if you have dandruff by shaking your head over host

  

— I think this is Robin’s first appearance of the whole night.
— Robin’s face (especially her eyes) looks kinda different in this sketch, for some reason.

— Hilarious concept, with the dandruff test being to shake ones head over “The Man in Black” Johnny Cash. This is helped even more by how Johnny is just sitting there deadpanly, and then apathetically brushes Robin’s dandruff off of his shoulders.
STARS: ****


HAIL TO THE CHIEF
Ronald Reagan (JOP) suggests Margaret Thatcher (MAG) kiss an Argentinian

    

— Now it’s Tony who’s making his first appearance of the night, very late in the show. I guess between all the musical performances from Johnny and Elton, not to mention the super-long SNL Newsbreak, there’s not much airtime left for some of the cast.
— Amusing hearing Joe’s unseen Reagan voice-over happily singing “Day-o”.
— Interesting how we can now actually see Joe’s Reagan as a “reflection” in the (fake) mirror. He kinda looks creepy in this, for some reason.
— Pretty good laughs from Reagan making Mary’s Margaret Thatcher and Brian’s character romance each other as part of a “movie”. Some funny facial expressions from Mary during the hesitant kiss too.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
(I just HAD to make a separate section for this just to show the priceless screencap of Johnny’s intro below)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ball & Chain”

— It’s probably just me, but I can’t help but notice that without glasses, early 80s-era Elton John kinda resembles future cast member Taran Killam. Elton would actually later end up working with Taran when hosting SNL decades later in 2011.


TRAIN POET
train commuter (host) waxes poetic about his preferred mode of transport

— Johnny doing a bizarre poetic spiel in a typical Johnny Cash-esque way about riding trains is strangely tickling me a lot.
— Overall, wow, it’s hard to explain why this sketch was so funny to me, but it just was. Johnny did a really good job in this.
STARS: ***½


BLACK TALK
(EDM) & (Clint Smith) engage in some of the show’s title

— Clint!
— Eddie’s still wearing the outfit he had on in SNL Newsbreak.
— Haha, this was a funny quick fake-out sketch, with “Black Talk” just turning out to be Eddie and Clint in the middle of a jive-talk conversation with each other while not even acknowledging the camera.
STARS: ***½


REACH OUT
parents “reach out & touch” elderly couple

— Aw, man, yet ANOTHER rerun of this. Boy, am I beyond sick of seeing this commercial so much while reviewing this season over the last few weeks, especially since this commercial isn’t as funny when you already know what the big twist ending is going to be.
— If I see this or that Khaddaffi Look commercial one more time before I reach the end of this season, I think I’m gonna snap.
— Strangely, there were no audible audience sounds at all during this particular airing; no laughter during the reveal of the big twist, and no applause at the end. Is the audience as sick of seeing this commercial as I am, or were they just not mic’ed during this?


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE / GOODNIGHTS
host performs “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”

  

— Nice to see the cast sitting around Johnny during this.
— Really cool how the show is now segueing into the goodnights right in the middle of the performance.
— This is one of the rare episodes in SNL history that doesn’t end with traditional goodnights music.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A solid episode. Despite the decreased number of sketches and cast appearances, this episode was fun, enjoyable, and had a certain feel that made it stand out from other episodes in the second half of this season. Part of what gave this episode such a good atmosphere was Johnny Cash, who was a surprisingly fun host, despite (or maybe because of) basically playing himself all night. Something about his style and personality just worked really well in SNL’s format. He’s the first host I was impressed by in a LONG time this season.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Daniel J. Travanti):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Robert Culp

Posted on

April 10, 1982 – Daniel J. Travanti / John Cougar (S7 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
EDM asks the home audience to call in to decide Larry the Lobster’s fate

  

— Heh, immediately, we open on Tony doing the most Italian-est Italian stereotype ever.
— Eddie ‘s “You people are sick!” rant to the viewers is really funny.
— Very interesting and fun gimmick for tonight’s show, having viewers call in and vote to either save or kill Larry the Lobster. I wonder how they came up with the idea for this.
— Amusing how an “unbiased” Eddie speeds through the “Save Larry” number and then slowly reads the “Kill Larry” number.
— Tony: “(Italian accent) Let’s boil that sucker, eh?!?”
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host’s recognizability helps a policeman settle a domestic dispute

     

— A kinda interesting-seeming pre-taped sequence with Daniel taking a ride in a cop car.
— The Spanish couple’s excitement at recognizing Daniel from “Hill Street Blues” is fairly funny.
— Overall, this was a bit of a letdown. It wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be, and came off kinda dull.
STARS: **


WHINERS
Doug (JOP) & Wendy (ROD) Whiner go out to eat on their anniversary

   

— Ohh, no. The debut of The Whiners, two characters that I’ve been dreading having to review. These characters seem like they’re going to be unbearable.
— Tony’s funny as the straight man, especially him yanking the wine bottle off of the passing-by waiter’s platter. He’s been my only enjoyment in this sketch so far.
— Another laugh from Tony giving the Whiners the keys to his own car just so they won’t stay at the restaurant.
— Overall, if it weren’t for Tony’s funny straight man performance, this sketch would’ve been completely worthless. I fear any of the future Whiners sketches that may not have as good a straight man for them to play off of.
STARS: *½


EVERYBODY DOES MERMAN
(TOR) tells Ethel Merman impersonator (CHE) that her skill isn’t special

       

— LOL at Tim as a “Tim Kazurinsky lookalike”, and Tony telling him that nobody’s interested in the real Kazurinsky, let alone a lookalike.
— Christine’s Ethel Merman impression is cracking me up.
— Loved Tony’s angry “Everyone does Merman!!!” outburst.
— Whoever that is as the Woody Allen impersonator is pretty funny.
— This sketch is getting even better, as they’re now breaking the fourth wall by having Tony take Christine off the set and show her SNL staff members (including Dick Ebersol) doing a Merman impression.
— During Tony and Daniel J. Travanti’s conversation, you can see someone in the background wearing the same fish costume that Blythe Danner wore in the goodnights of the last episode.
— This sketch is getting even better and better, with Tony having a breakdown by seeing a Merman impression everywhere he goes backstage. Tony’s been delivering a lot of strong performances tonight in general.
— Great Twilight Zone twist, and Brian is doing a dead-on Rod Serling.
STARS: ****½


VOTING SO FAR
host gives a Larry update- a slight majority says “boil him”

— We get an update on how the Larry the Lobster vote results are going so far.
— Funny part with Daniel saying “Eddie’s right, you’re sick” when some of the audience applauds the fact that “Kill Larry” is getting a higher number of votes.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hurts So Good”


SNL NEWSBREAK
MAG interviews bogus Prince Andrew (Leo Yoshimura) en route to Falklands
TOR gives a realistic version of the Emergency Broadcast System
a frozen JOP silently indicates that it’s too cold for baseball in April
the many photos depicting the Reagans waving are documented
TIK has some suggestions regarding how to improve the Academy Awards
BDM gives an update on Larry’s fate

           

— LOL at Akira Yoshimura as “Prince Andrew”.
— The monotone delivery that Yoshimura always uses on the show cracks me up.
— Tonight’s SNL Newsbreak is having lots of mentions of the Falkland Islands situation going on at the time.
— Tony’s emergency broadcast test (him just screaming a whole bunch of panicked things) was too obvious a joke. Also, it was something I can picture John Belushi doing in the original era, and I feel like he would’ve done it funnier. I mentioned in an earlier review that I once heard Tony was supposedly hired to be a Belushi type for the cast, which never really ended up panning out.
— Haha, this whole bit with a funny-looking frozen Joe Piscopo silently doing his SNL Sports report via subtitles is freakin’ hilarious to me. I especially got a big laugh from the “Froze my #&%@$x’s off!” subtitle.
— Ugh, a variation of SNL Newsbreak’s dreaded “long screen crawl” gag, showing a long series of pictures of Ronald and Nancy Reagan waving.  How the hell is this supposed to be funny?
— Man, the Reagan waving montage is STILL going on. THIS IS TORTURE.
— Interesting seeing Tim doing a commentary as himself.
— I like Tim’s list of improvements to make to the Academy Awards. Some of his complaints are still relevant today.
— God, tonight’s SNL Newsbreak is looking to be one of the longest news segments in SNL history. Feels like tonight’s Newsbreak been going on for 20 minutes. Maybe I wouldn’t complain about that if Brian and Christine’s jokes were actually funny.
— The mushroom cloud picture bit seemed like it could’ve been interesting, but ended up coming off fairly weak.
STARS: ** (mostly just for the guest commentaries)


HILL STREET BLUES
Furillo (host) & Belker (Bruce Weitz) at the station

       

— The reveal of the bedroom being in a police station office didn’t come off that funny to me.
— Joe’s making me laugh, even though I’m not familiar with who he’s impersonating (I have no memory of ever watching Hill Street Blues). The audience seems to think he’s doing a good impression.
— I know Robin already kinda resembles future cast member Cheri Oteri, but she is looking PARTICULARLY Oteri-esque here.  I swear I remember Cheri once wearing the exact same wig that Robin’s wearing here.

— Ha, another Akira Yoshimura appearance! His walk-on was pretty funny.
— The bit with Tony as the Gypsy King was really weak.
— I would probably enjoy the various walk-ons from the cast members if I were actually familiar with Hill Street Blues. Since I don’t know who’s playing who in this and since the references are so specific, a lot of the humor is lost on me. Is Christine playing Betty Thomas’ character?
— Now we get a cameo from what appears to be an actual Hill Street Blues actor. Why in the world is he acting like a dog?
— Travanti: “That’s another thing that’s been getting my Mediterranean goat!” That line is so bizarrely cringeworthy that it’s funny in itself.
— Overall, I couldn’t wait for this sketch to end. It went on SO long and almost everything in it went over my head as someone who has no familiarity with the real show.
STARS: *½


LARRY’S STORY
Larry’s life history is told

  

— “Save Larry” is now in the lead.
— The video package showing Larry’s biography is fairly funny if nothing great.
STARS: **½


BAVARIAN BUTTERFLY DANCE
by Josef Sedelmaier- a demonstration of the Bavarian Butterfly Dance

  

— What the hell is this?!?
— Ha, the ending with the guy suddenly crashing through the floor caught me off guard and made me laugh out loud.
STARS: ***½


CAREER CORNER
Tooth Fairy (EDM) wishes to change his profession

— Promising concept with Eddie playing a very Eddie Murphy-esque Tooth Fairy.
— Overall, while there was nothing much to say about this, it was a pretty solid sketch and featured the usual good amount of funny Eddie Murphy lines.
STARS: ***½


IF LARRY LIVES
EDM announces that Larry will live large if the callers spare him

   

— A pretty decent video package, showing exaggerated examples of what Larry will be treated to if he lives.
STARS: ***


REAGAN BRAND ECONOMICS
“where the D.C. stands for don’t care”

  

— First time we’re actually seeing Joe’s Ronald Reagan impression instead of just hearing him as a voice-over in those Hail to the Chief sketches.
— LOL at the poverty-stricken family’s meal being “rat tail gumbo”.
— An overall pretty biting parody of Reagan’s economics.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ain’t Even Done With The Night”


FINAL VOTE
the final count is in- Larry lives by a vote of 239,096 to 227,452

  

— Eddie reveals the results: Larry lives!
— The cast and extras (including Fake Woody Allen from the Merman sketch) come out to celebrate while confetti drops down. Nothing else to this. For a second when the cast first showed up, I thought this would segue to the goodnights, but nope.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Decent episode, helped a lot by the Larry the Lobster gimmick, which added a fun, unique feel to the episode. The rest of the show was pretty hit-and-miss, though things got better towards the end of the episode. There were a few terrible things earlier on that really got my Mediterranean goat (sorry, I had to use that at least once), such as The Whiners, the non-commentary portions of SNL Newsbreak, and Hill Street Blues.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Blythe Danner):
— somewhat of a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Johnny Cash

Posted on

March 27, 1982 – Blythe Danner / Rickie Lee Jones (S7 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Alpo pitchman Lorne Greene (JOP) is the meat dogs really prefer

 

— A short cold opening with a quick, funny punchline of Lorne Greene getting attacked by the dog because Greene himself is “The Meat Dogs Love”.
STARS: ***


TALENT ENTRANCE


MONOLOGUE
MAG ruthlessly forces host to do impersonations of random celebrities

 

— I’m confused over the inconsistency of when they decide to do Talent Entrances. The last two episodes just went straight into the monologue without a Talent Entrance, whereas one preceded tonight’s monologue. It’s baffling; how do they decide when to randomly do these Talent Entrances?!?
— Mary’s brief Eleanor Roosevelt impression is pretty funny.
— I’m loving Mary’s increasingly faster and bossier requests to Blythe.
STARS: ***½


COME ON OUT AMERICA
America is turning gay- “Wouldn’t you like to be a homo too?”

   

— I remember hearing that this is a parody of a specific soda commercial from that time.
— Some of the shots of happy townspeople are amusing, especially the random Nixon one.
— Overall, I found this commercial to be pretty funny and well-made, but for various reasons, I’m sure I would’ve laughed at it even more in 1982.
STARS: ***


THE NEW CELIBACY
discovering their celibacy was accidental, (ROD) & (TIK) rush dinner

     

— A very long delay before the camera fades into this sketch at the beginning. Also, when the camera finally does fade in, Christine can be seen making a late entrance.
— Tim’s “Don’t touch me, I’m a time bomb” line was great.
— This is getting really funny with Robin and Tim frantically speeding through dinner to get to their lovemaking.
— Great delivery from Robin of the line “Just give me meat!”
— Excellent part with Robin and Tim sultrily eating their meal while staring at each other.
— Overall, a very strong lead-off sketch for the night.
STARS: ****½


20/20
Geraldo Rivera (JOP) badgers baby delivery during hospital expose

  

— Joe’s Geraldo impression is pretty good.
— I like the surgeons going “Who the hell is this guy?!” when Geraldo enters the delivery room while reporting to the camera.
— Short sketch overall. Not sure where else this could’ve gone, but I kinda wanted more from it.
STARS: **½


THE KHADDAFFI LOOK
— Rerun, for the billionth time this season. At this point, I can’t even get any enjoyment out of this ad’s catchy jingle anymore.


POETS
reclusive poet (MAG) finds her kindred spirit in burglar Tyrone Green

  

— A laugh from Robin “treating” Mary to the joy of tweezing Robin’s chin.
— Eddie’s “I don’t know nothin’ about your wazoo” was a funny line.
— I’m liking Eddie’s various confused reactions to Mary’s speech to him.
— Ah, they’ve revealed Eddie is playing his Tyrone Green character from the classic “Prose and Cons” short earlier this season.
— Eddie (and eventually Mary) quoting the familiar “Cill My Landlord” poem got a good audience reaction.
— Pretty amusing ending.
— Overall, a good sketch and featured several very funny lines from Eddie.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pirates”


FAB FIFTIES
some of the less appealing facets of the ’50s have resurfaced in the ’80s

 

— Brian’s amusing delivery of “Abortion’s illegal, so you’re ruined for life… you tramp” was VERY Bill Murray-esque.
— Interesting premise, pointing out how the 80s seems to be bringing back the worst aspects of the 50s. This is serving as a nice snarky contrast to how people usually tend to overglorify the 50s.
— Blythe’s delivery doesn’t seem right for this commercial AT ALL. She also stumbled over one line really badly.
STARS: ***


SNL NEWBREAK
MAG reports from Vince Edwards’ house instead of Shuttle landing site
Yvonne DeMouchier (ROD) gives fashion tips to Best Actress nominees
JOP gives Georgetown the NCAA championship on merit of coeds’ looks
BDM announces the birth of BIM’s son Homer Banks Murray

        

— We get the arrival of Christine Ebersole as Brian’s new co-anchor, while Mary is announced as being “on assignment”.
— WTF was with the random shot of Christine laughing and saying to the audience “It’s okay” as she puts on her clip-on mic?
— Wait, what the hell is going on? There seems to be major microphone issues in general at the start of this Newsbreak. Brian sounds like his mic isn’t working and you can hear very loud moving sounds off-camera. And what the hell was that high-pitched rewinding sound I just heard? All of this is completely drowning out Brian’s first joke (something about Norton from “The Honeymooners”).
— Haha, the technical difficulties are now getting a great audience reaction and Brian has acknowledged that his clip-on mic hadn’t been applied yet. It’s sad that this blooper is probably the hardest I’ve laughed at SNL Newsbreak all season.
— Mary’s commentary was pretty weak.  I did like her opening ad-lib about the earlier technical snafus with Brian and Christine’s mics.
— Christine’s delivery as a Newsbreak anchor so far is okay, I guess. Nothing special, though; pretty generic.
— Strange seeing Robin in an SNL news commentary. Didn’t realize until now that, unless I’m forgetting something, she’s the only person in this cast who had never appeared at the SNL news desk until now.
— Robin’s fashion critic commentary is very weak and her delivery is not working.
— Boy, I don’t think I’ve laughed at a single news joke from Brian or Christine so far.
— Joe’s SNL Sports commentary was kind of a letdown tonight.
— A very nice ending with Brian mentioning that he’s recently become an uncle thanks to his brother Bill Murray.
STARS: **


MICHAEL DAVIS
Michael Davis [real] juggles a bowling ball, an egg, a tomato

   

— Some good laughs from his “razor-sharp bowling ball” test.
— I really like the idea of his stunt being to juggle a bowling ball, egg, and a tomato while eating just the tomato.
— Great unplanned bit with the audience member tossing the tomato back to Michael right as Michael’s about to tell him not to do that.
— Funny line from Michael about people juggling in India.
— Wow, very impressive part with him seamlessly going from catching the tomato from the audience member to immediately juggling that tomato with the bowling ball and egg.
— Ha, he ate the egg by mistake!
— Overall, the usual fantastic Michael Davis segment.
STARS: ****½


THE UNCLE TOM SHOW
Gumby (EDM) tells Snyder (JOP) of toon scandal

 

— Is there supposed to be music playing during the opening credits? We can’t hear anything except the announcer’s intro. Seems to be a technical error.
— I’m surprised to see this sketch again. Never knew this became recurring.
— The debut of Eddie’s Gumby! I thought we wouldn’t first see him until season 8.
— Eddie’s choice of playing Gumby with a curmudgeon Jewish accent is brilliant. But wow, his delivery in this debut is VERY different from the trademark angry delivery that I remember him having. He’s speaking in a much more low-key voice here. I guess he didn’t develop the angry delivery until subsequent Gumby sketches.
— Great part with Eddie’s Gumby explaining how Wilma Flintstone is a slut.
— There’s the very first utterance of “I’m Gumby, dammit”, but it ain’t the same without his now-famous angry delivery.
— Wow, the audience is kinda dead so far.
— Okay, the audience getting more into it.
— Overall, a pretty good sketch, but definitely not as strong as some of the future Gumby sketches I remember seeing.
STARS: ***½


MEET THE PEOPLE
panelists’ rude questions offend Princess Di (CHE)

   

— Blythe’s method of making people seem less dignified by picturing them going to the bathroom is pretty funny.
— Not too funny of a premise with all the panelists asking Princess Di crude questions.
— Overall, aside from a few lines, I didn’t care for this sketch. Just didn’t work for me.
STARS: **


BLYTHE’S PLEA
lack of funding forces legitimate actors like host to do shows like SNL

 

— Wow, this sketch is over already? This had a pretty funny initial idea, but it didn’t go anywhere near as far as it should’ve. It felt like they ended this too early or something.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lush Life”
musical guest performs “Woody & Dutch On The Slow Train To Peking”


GOODNIGHTS

  

— Pretty funny continuation of the ending of the Blythe’s Plea sketch, by showing Blythe in the fish costume.
— Oh, we find out that was Joe’s own dog in the cold opening.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good episode. Excluding SNL Newsbreak, there was a consistent quality throughout the night until it really trailed off with the last two sketches. As a whole, this was an overall perfectly satisfying show.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert Urich):
— A fairly big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Daniel J. Travanti

Posted on

March 20, 1982 – Robert Urich / Mink De Ville, Buhweet And De Dupreems (S7 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Burt Reynolds’ ghost (JOP) comes when host tires of being compared to him

— I liked Mary’s dismissive comment about how nobody knows who Robert Urich is anyway. I wonder if that’s a dig at how the second half of this season in general has been having an endless string of bland, forgettable, unexciting hosts, which I complained about in my last review.
— The Clutch Cargo-style moving mouth on the Burt Reynolds picture is pretty funny.
— Who IS that doing the Burt mouth, anyway?
— Very awkward “segue” to the opening credits. That’s the second time I’ve said that in my last few episode reviews. At this point, I can’t wait until they bring back the traditional “Live from New York…” tagline next season, because they’ve noticeably been struggling lately trying to find other ways to end a cold opening.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Continuing the premise of the cold opening, Robert is pictured here with a mustache and is announced as Burt Reynolds.


TALENT ENTRANCE / MONOLOGUE / ???????
(no synopsis available)

— A very brief segment, with Robert coming out onstage as Burt Reynolds and throwing to Buckwheat’s musical performance.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Buckwheat sings a Motown medley with the Dupreems

  

— The whole idea of this is really creative.
— I was just about to ask if this was the first time the credited musical guest of an SNL episode was a character played by a cast member, but then I remembered the Blues Brothers.
— I like how lyrics have now started showing up on the bottom of the screen, and I also like how Eddie has gone into the studio audience.
— Overall, pretty fun musical performance, but not the classic I wanted it to be. Hate to say it, but I think lately, I’ve been starting to get a little tired of the whole Buckwheat routine. Honestly, his whole routine is pretty much a one-joke bit that was only truly hilarious in his very first sketch (the classic “Buh-Weet Sings” Album sketch). I can see why Eddie would later get tired of doing this character and would request that the writers kill him off.


REACH OUT
— Rerun


RADIO NEWS
an in-studio look at a Paul Harvey (JOP) broadcast

 

— What’s with the big pink smudges on the corners of the screen all of a sudden? (you can see it in the first screencap above) Very distracting.
— What exactly IS the joke of this sketch so far?
— Okay, I’m now finally seeing where this is going. A fairly funny premise, with Joe’s mid-sentence pauses making his statements sound very dirty before he eventually finishes the sentences.
— The ending with Brian was kinda weird.
STARS: ***


FOCUS ON FILM
host mimics Burt Reynolds on Raheem Abdul Muhammed’s show

 

— Robert Urich makes his first sketch appearance of the night, still keeping up the “Burt Reynolds” facade from earlier.
— Robert’s high-pitched Burt Reynolds laugh is really funny.
— Some of Robert as Burt’s racial jokes to Eddie are pretty amusing.
— Tonight’s Robert Urich/Burt Reynolds running plotline seems to have already ended right now, as Eddie has suddenly removed Robert’s Burt disguise.
— Loved Eddie’s “I don’t need no out-of-work white people on my show!” and “Get a job!” complaints when finding out that Robert is from the canceled series “Vega$”.
STARS: ***½


BUY A BULLET FOR A HUNGRY KID
support American troops in El Salvador & “buy a bullet for a hungry kid”

 

— A pretty biting premise, but for some reason, the result isn’t doing much for me.
STARS: **


LOW CLASS ITALIAN THEATER
ethnic cliches include a Rocky-inspired Hamlet

   

— Yet another Italian stereotype character from Tony.
— Oh, Tony’s basically doing Stallone as Rocky.
— Joe’s performance is cracking me up. Unfortunately, those are the only real laughs I’ve been getting from this sketch so far.
— Overall, a really weak one-note sketch.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Mink DeVille performs “Maybe Tomorrow”


SNL NEWSBREAK
BDM reveals to MAG that he’s naked below the waist
Pac Man branches out into other fields
Dr. Jack Badofsky defines phobias
Ronald Reagan’s speech about troops in Central America is Kennedy-esque
in response to Rev. Donald Wildmon’s boycott, a list of RCA subsidiaries

         

— There’s the pink smudges on the corners of the camera again. What’s going on tonight anyway?
— Yet another continuation of the romance story arc between Mary and Brian. Still not working at all. Man, when does Christine Ebersole join as a co-anchor, so I no longer have to deal with this unfunny romance arc?
— A lot of jokes are bombing HARD tonight. Also, way too much reliance on the always-lazy “SNL anchorperson misinterprets a news picture” gag.
— Okay, the segment showing different Pac Man types is actually fairly funny.
— After making his debut in the last episode, Dr. Jack Badofsky ALREADY returns. I see SNL ain’t wasting no time in running this character into the ground.
— Badofsky’s “Mofobia” name for the fear of being insulted by black people was really funny.
— Was Phoebe Snow known for having hiccups while singing? I didn’t understand that joke in Badofsky’s commentary.
— I didn’t get the “Hojophobia” one either.
— The overall Badofsky commentary was very hit-and-miss. Some of the names worked for me, some didn’t. And even most of the ones that worked weren’t all THAT funny.
— Now back to terrible news jokes from Mary and Brian. Again, the studio audience is not into these AT ALL.
— The bit with the JFK clip was awful.
— (*groan*) And now, here comes yet another insufferable “long screen crawl” gag. As if this SNL Newsbreak hadn’t already been dreadful enough…
STARS: *½


GOLDEN AGE SCHOOL OF OBEDIENCE
shut up complaining elderly parents with Golden Age School of Obedience

   

— I guess we’re going to be seeing those pink smudges on the corners of the screen all throughout tonight’s episode.
— Eddie’s insanely rough, angry treatment of the two old folks is a riot, even if I saw it coming as soon as he calmly walked in.
— The false teeth part was particularly funny.
STARS: ****


FUR: YOU DESERVE IT!
fur-wearing city-dwellers learn their lesson- “You deserve it!”

   

— This was credited during the goodnights of the last episode, even though it didn’t air. Must’ve gotten cut for time.
— I’m really liking the creepy, mock-tense atmosphere of this so far.
— Overall, wow, this was weird and really dark, but also pretty funny and very well-made.
STARS: ***½


KOALA BEAR
(TOR) discovers wife (ROD) was artificially inseminated with koala embryo

 

— The koala bear embryo reveal is fairly funny.
— What’s with the abortion part?
— Didn’t like the epilogue ending at all.
— Overall, while this had a somewhat interesting premise and a very good performance from Tony, the sketch had too much of a flat feeling and didn’t work as well as it should’ve.
STARS: **


HAIL TO THE CHIEF
Ronald Reagan hires Dr. Strangelove (TIK) against Ed Meese’s (TOR) wishes

  

— Feels like Tony has been all over tonight’s episode. With the consistent airtime he usually gets and the solid performances he usually delivers, I really can’t understand why he ends up a one-season wonder. This season’s other one-season wonder (Christine Ebersole), on the other hand, seems to be slowly disappearing in the back half of this season. It feels like the writers are already kinda giving up on her. Where has she BEEN in tonight’s episode?
— Tim entering as Dr. Strangelove is very interesting.
— Okay, I initially thought this premise had potential, but I’m not too sure anymore. This sketch hasn’t been going anywhere great.
— Reagan’s joy at seeing a toy of himself and his horse is fairly funny.
— Overall, something about the execution of this sketch felt really off. My least favorite of all the Hail to the Chief sketches that have aired so far.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Mink DeVille performs “Love & Emotion”


JOGGER MOTEL
— Rerun. I’m starting to get just as tired of seeing this as I am of this season’s often-repeated Khaddaffi Look, Reach Out, and Elizabeth Taylor “In The News” pre-tapes. What’s with all these tedious repeats this season anyway?  How many actual NEW fake ads has this season had?


HEADLINE CHALLENGE
panelists fail to identify Jose Espinoza (TIK)

   

— I’m getting an unintentional laugh from Eddie in that big mustache.
— Eddie’s accent is great.
— LOL at Joe receiving a buzzer sound for asking the same question twice.
— After some laughs early on, this sketch has really fizzled out after a while.
— Overall, yet ANOTHER dull sketch tonight.
STARS: **


THE THING THAT DESTROYED TOKYO
by Gary Snegaroff- a hammer wreaks havoc

   

— The bad Japanese dubbing is kinda funny, I guess, but it’s a cliched gag.
— I’m getting some amusement from the very-obviously-not-Japanese guy playing the boyfriend.
— That’s it??? I was expecting a lot more. This overall film was more weird than funny. Tonight’s episode disappoints yet again.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very underwhelming, blah episode. Most of the episode wasn’t even particularly terrible, just very dull… which in some ways is worse, because at least terrible sketches can sometimes have an interesting trainwreck value and it can sometimes be fun riffing on them in my reviews. With dull sketches, on the other hand, what is there to say about them? NOTHING. (Reminds me of a huge gripe I’ve been having with SNL’s current 44th season)
— There was at least an interesting running storyline early in the episode with Urich passing himself off as Burt Reynolds, but they cut it off too early. It might’ve been interesting to keep that storyline going for most of the show, especially considering Urich ended up offering nothing great to any of the sketches where he played normal characters. As I predicted in the last review, he was yet ANOTHER in an endless string of bland season 7 hosts. At this point, Season 8 can’t come fast enough for me. I’m not sure if the writing is any better that season, but at least SNL gets actual interesting and FUNNY people to host that year.
— My copy of this episode is unfortunately missing a reportedly really nice tribute that Brian Doyle-Murray does for John Belushi, who sadly had recently passed away (the very first SNL cast member to do so).


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Elizabeth Ashley):
— a fairly big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Blythe Danner

Posted on

February 27, 1982 – Elizabeth Ashley / Daryl Hall & John Oates (S7 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Dan Rather (JOP) tries to loosen up & ends up emulating Walter Cronkite

   

— Boy, am I getting tired of seeing Joe’s mediocre Dan Rather impression so often this season.
— Brian’s joke about the difference between Rather and Ed Bradley was funny, as was Joe’s little correction to the joke.
— I really liked the ending, with the reveal that Rather’s makeover has turned him into his more well-liked predecessor Walter Cronkite.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— We seemed to have officially arrived at the point of Eddie’s tenure where his name begins receiving much louder cheers than anyone else in the cast.  This would soon get taken to even greater heights the next two seasons, where the announcement of his name in the opening montage practically receives SCREAMS from the audience.


MONOLOGUE
host reads a letter she sent home during her first visit to NYC

— A rare instance this season of no Talent Entrance after the opening montage.
— Just based on her looks, I wasn’t expecting her to have such a scratchy, raspy voice.
— The letter to her mother isn’t all that funny or interesting so far.
— Overall, this was weak. I would’ve gladly taken a plain-old Talent Entrance over this.
STARS: *½


IN THE NEWS: ELIZABETH TAYLOR
— Rerun. Boy, they sure have been airing this A LOT this season. I don’t know what I’m more tired of seeing this season: this or The Khaddaffi Look. Well, at least The Khaddaffi Look has a catchy jingle…


SPEAKING AS A WOMAN
host & other female panelists discuss past loves

   

— What was that weird audio clip of someone speaking during Tim’s opening speech? Is that a sound glitch in my copy of this episode?
— Robin is hilarious as Shelley Winters.
— Some of the ladies’ catty comments to each other are great.
— The “scratch and sniff” insult about Christine as Britt Ekland was hilarious.
— Mary’s Harriet Nelson listing off famous 1950s sitcom families as her next-door neighbors reminds me of that fantastic Twilight Zone sketch from the Rick Nelson episode in season 4.
— Overall, a strong ensemble sketch for the female cast, with a good amount of funny lines.
STARS: ****


GIRLS TO WOMEN
women’s party conversation mirrors one they had twenty years before

       

— A nice realistic 1960s scene so far, and this is looking to be yet another good showcase for the ladies of the cast.
— Wow, I love how in the later scene with the female characters as present-day adults, they’re saying the exact same dialogue from the 1960s scene, only those lines take on a whole different meaning in this context (e.g. “Why don’t you tell Mrs. Conner?”, “Guess who finally got their period?”, etc.)
— Very funny walk-on from the adult version of Tony’s now-sleazy-looking boyfriend character.
— Overall, a great and very creative sketch.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You Make My Dreams”


SNL NEWSBREAK
while defending his political stance, Ed Asner (TOR) turns into Lou Grant
a rundown of the many “Ed”s in the news this week
Dr. Jack Badofsky (TIK) lists the many strains of genital herpes
a troubled kid (EDM) recalls the time he brought a gun to school
JOP speculates where the trend of sexuality in sports magazines will lead
after MAG confronts him, BDM agrees to meet her in his dressing room

           

— First time in a while where Mary has co-anchored two consecutive SNL Newsbreaks. I know it’s not going to last long, though, because doesn’t Christine Ebersole’s stint as co-anchor start very soon?
— For once, I got an actual big laugh from an SNL Newsbreak joke (the one about the cigarette company Newports changing their slogan from “Alive with pleasure” to “Half-dead with cancer”).
— Tony’s Ed Asner impression still doesn’t do much for me.
— The bit with Tony’s Asner slowly turning into Lou Grant isn’t that funny and is too easy of a premise. At least it was a decent excuse to see Mary briefly doing her dead-on Mary Tyler Moore again.
— Oh, no, Brian setting up a listing-off of famous Eds. Looks like we’re getting our obligatory “long screen crawl gag of the week”.
— Never mind, this wasn’t a screen crawl gag nor was it all that long.
— The debut of Tim’s Dr. Jack Badofsky character. No idea how I’ll react to his commentaries, knowing that his “thing” is listing off cheesy play-on-words.
— Badofsky’s “Herpes Duplex” card made me laugh.
— I got another laugh from him naming herpes from midgets as “Twerpes”.
— The overall Badofsky commentary wasn’t too bad for his debut. However, I just KNOW I’m eventually going to get sick of this routine, especially with how frequently they supposedly end up over-relying on this character.
— What the hell? There’s a bizarre audio error at this point in my copy of this episode, where a joke that Brian is telling gets overlapped with louder audio of him telling a completely different joke (something about Liz Taylor’s birthday). WTF has happened? This is similar to the weird audio glitch I mentioned at the beginning of the Speaking As a Woman sketch. What’s going on here?
— Surprisingly, this is the first time we’ve seen Eddie all night. Unfortunately, the aforementioned audio glitch is still occurring, which is making it hard for me to hear what Eddie’s saying here.
— Okay, the audio glitch has finally stopped.
— Loved Eddie’s “I shot the bitch” line.
— Joe’s SNL Sports commentary had an okay payoff.
— Oh, we get a tacked-on follow-up to the romance story arc between Brian and Mary. Still not funny.
STARS: **½


JOSEPH PAPP AUDITIONS
(EDM) takes a hostage in order to audition in front of Joseph Papp [real]

  

— Looks like a very interesting premise.
— I got a good laugh from Eddie breaking out into “I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General”, though he seems to be having trouble delivering some of the words in such a rapid-fire manner.
— Is Eddie cracking up now, right after his song has ended? Hard to tell.
— The ending with Robin doing the same thing as Eddie felt too tacked-on.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Can’t Go For That”


HARRY ANDERSON
Harry Anderson [real] explains card trick & does it via pants grappler

   

— A lot of funny quick gags at the beginning.
— Very funny random bit with the fake headline “World War III Begins, Millions Die!” being seen on the newspaper Harry holds up.
— Interesting how he’s explaining how we can do the card trick as he’s doing it himself in real time.
— Overall, another entertaining Harry Anderson segment.
STARS: ****


AFRICAN TOUR
a cardinal (TOR) daydreams about Pope John Paul II’s (JOP) African tour

  

— A fantasy sequence with Joe playing the pope in a diva-esque manner? Blah. The studio audience seems to be getting a kick out of this, but this premise is lame in my eyes and this is EXACTLY the type of Joe Piscopo performance that I never did like.
— Tim’s “You’re bigger than the Beatles” line was okay, I guess.
— Surprised to see Eddie in such a dull, throwaway, non-comedic token black role. They really “Garrett Morris-ed” him in this, to borrow a quote that Eddie himself is known to have once said about his early SNL days (I think back when Jean Doumanian didn’t know what to do with him).
— This sketch is going on WAY too long for my likes.
— Overall, didn’t care for this sketch at all.
STARS: *½


LOWEMBRAU
after losing a patient, doctors drink Lowembrau to loosen up

  

— Oh, god, they’re breaking out into song…
— Hmm, this is actually kinda funny. This appears to be a parody of a specific then-current beer commercial.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”


GOODNIGHTS

   

— Who’s the random crew member in the balcony that the camera is randomly zooming in on? Is this his last episode?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good episode, and a step above the bland averageness that the show had been falling into lately. There were some very strong showcases for the female cast members early in the show, and the second half of the show mostly contained good segments as well.
— Elizabeth Ashley was one in a long line of forgettable hosts who gave a blandly average performance. (Yes, I know I’ve been throwing around the words “blandly average” a lot lately, but honestly, do those two words NOT sum up a lot of this season?) Unfortunately, I don’t think the trend of forgettable bland hosts ends any time soon, considering who’s hosting the next episode (listed at the end of this review). Honestly, the second half of this season has what is probably one of the dullest, least-impressive rosters of hosts in SNL history. Did SNL have trouble booking people after the failure of season 6? Season 7 DID have some cool hosts in the first half (George Kennedy, Tim Curry, Bill Murray), but I don’t know what the heck happened after that.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Robert Urich

Posted on

February 20, 1982 – Bruce Dern / Luther Vandross (S7 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
host advises TIK to be realistic about his movie prospects

— Nice to see a backstage cold opening this season.  Also interesting to see what the door that the hosts make their entrance through for the talent entrances/monologues looks like from the inside.
— Bruce’s negative comments about Tim’s looks are pretty funny.
— Weak LFNY substitute with Tim starting the show by halfheartedly saying “Roll the montage” into the camera.
STARS: ***


TALENT ENTRANCE

 

— Love the way this transitioned into the next sketch with the camera panning over to the next set as Bruce walked over to it.


SKI DATE
(host) accidentally agrees to take (MAG)’s dog on a ski trip

— The set-up to whatever the main joke is going to be sure is long.
— Some of the reveals about Mary’s dog are fairly funny.
— Not sure whether to find that “I guess you couldn’t call her a complete dog” ending funny or weak.
— Not too great of a lead-off sketch, overall.
STARS: **


WHO DO YOU HATE?
people on the street answer the question “Who do you hate?”

   

— The debut of the man-on-the-street segments, which would go on to be recurring throughout the Ebersol era.
— Some laughs from the celebrities, politicians, and TV shows that people are saying they hate.
— Very funny part with the black guy’s argument that black people and Puerto Ricans have more fun than blondes.
— Some more good laughs from one guy saying a whole bunch of bad things about his mother-in-law.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


FOCUS ON FILM
Raheem Abdul Muhammed denies that his buddy is homosexual

 

— First time Raheem Abdul Muhammed has been used outside of SNL’s news segment.
— Also the first appearance of Eddie’s real-life friend Clint Smith, who would become a frequent SNL extra in this era.
— Eddie’s constant gay panic when catching himself saying ambiguous things about Clint is pretty funny.
— The “Clint I’m sorry I thought you were a homosexual” mail address at the end was great.
— For some reason, I find it amusing in itself how Clint didn’t say a single word during the whole sketch.
STARS: ***


THE BIZARRO WORLD
NBC programming is unchanged in the backward dimension

     

— I’m surprised to see another installment of this sketch at this point of the season, because I thought the recently-fired Michel O’Donoghue was the writer behind the earlier installment of this.
— The opening narration bit doesn’t work as well with Bruce in the role; Mr. Mike was much more suitable for it.
— The scene with Bizarro Alan Alda was very funny.
— Amusing how Bizarro NBC is the same as real-life then-present NBC, as a pointed satire of the network’s troubles and asinine decisions at the time.
— Funny in hindsight seeing the execs talk about how absurd the idea was of giving David Letterman a late-night show (which had debuted very recently at the time) after the infamous failure of his morning show. If they only knew……
— Another good comment making fun of the absurd practice of hiring Jewish writers for black sitcoms.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Never Too Much”


SNL NEWSBREAK
after much prodding, MAG makes public her affair with BDM
novelty of chopper flight dominates CHE’s traffic report
JOP reports on what’s going on in sports- nothing

     

— On-again off-again anchorperson Mary Gross is back at the desk as a co-anchor tonight. I guess they’re doing this as a follow-up to the end of the last episode’s Newsbreak where Mary and Brian fell in love.
— Yep, they’re making Mary and Brian’s romance a story arc. Still not finding it all that funny.
— Is that Tom Schiller as the guitarist? (second screencap above) Between the short film he did earlier this season and now this appearance, I’m confused over his involvement in this season. Is he on the writing staff this season and I didn’t know it?
— Christine’s traffic report was just as big a waste of time as her weather segments usually are.
— Joe’s hyped-up SNL Sports commentary turning out to just be him announcing that nothing is currently going on in sports was good for a quick laugh.
STARS: **


SONGWRITERS
songwriters Schleimer (JOP) & Laub (TIK) have trouble selling their work

  

— Tim and Joe’s song titles that they’re listing off are pretty funny, especially “The Lindbergh Baby Polka”.
— I really liked Christine’s sudden dissatisfied “No, I don’t think so” immediately after passionately singing the whole song she was given.
— A pretty solid sketch overall, with a nice old-timey Vaudeville-esque charm to it.
STARS: ***½


THE MILD ONE
a Zen-inspired biker (host) verbally dissects diner patrons

   

— I liked Joe’s angry “You scum” remark to Bruce after Bruce’s gentle poetic speech about a rose.
— Funny sudden turn with Christine’s “You’re a flop in the sack” revelation about Joe.
— I’m enjoying all the mock-dramatic, mock-tense acting from everyone.
— Overall, not much else to say about this, but a decent sketch.
STARS: ***


FRACAS
by Timothy Hittle- a battle between a man & a claymation foe

— I already covered this in my review of the Bill Murray episode. This was actually originally aired in tonight’s episode.
ORIGINAL RATING: ****


FLYING
an unstable pilot (host) makes his passengers nervous

 

— A good laugh from Bruce’s “dropping acid” comment.
— Was something censored just now? In the copy of the episode I’m watching (the West Coast airing of the original live broadcast), the audio briefly got muted when Bruce said “How long you been (blank) my little mama here?”
— And now, Bruce again got censored when repeating the line. Looks like “screwing” was the muted-out word.
— Overall, while the premise had potential and the performances were fine, the resulting sketch was pretty “meh”.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A House Is Not A Home”


MELINA’S CAFE
while entertaining at her cafe, Melina (ROD) makes her troubles known

 

— Looks like a good character piece for Robin, which will be refreshing to see considering how underutilized she’s been the last few episodes.
— Haha, her angry heavy-accented quick singing of “I Know What Boys Like ” gave me some good laughs.
— Her whole “I love you, I hate you” bit with Tony is being pulled off well.
— Overall, a pretty good closing sketch.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An okay episode, but also fairly forgettable. Barely anything really stood out; almost the entire show hovered around the “average/pretty good” range, and never went above that. That seems to be slowly becoming status quo for the show lately, and I worry that it’ll stay status quo for most of the remaining Ebersol era (or at least until season 10), as my impression of this era has always been that it specialized in bland averageness. Can’t say I’m looking forward to two more seasons of that.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (James Coburn):
— a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Elizabeth Ashley