Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
on St. Patrick’s day, Siobhan Cahill finds Purim revelers; Ed Koch cameo
— Some really good laughs from Gary whole’s drunk Purim talk.
— I didn’t get who Julia and Brad are dressed as, even though the audience sure seemed to.
— Good characterization from Tim.
— Mayor Ed Koch is pretty funny in his cameo here.
— An okay twist on “Live from New York…”
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
BIC does stand-up about what it was like to go through puberty
— You know it’s 1984 when you see Billy Crystal in black leather pants.
— Nice callback to the Purim theme of the cold opening.
— I really liked him explaining the difference between the class clown and the class comedian.
— Love the deep “NOW NOW NOW” voice he’s using to represent his teenage glands.
— Good ending with the dog comment.
— A strong stand-up monologue overall.
STARS: ****
HUNG LIKE ME
TV movie has Pee Wee Herman (MAG) as woman dressed as a man
— I like the ominous background music being played during Mary’s male transformation.
— Funny reveal that Mary’s male transformation ends up being Pee Wee Herman.
— Love the “Hung Like Me” title.
STARS: ***
WINSTON UNIVERSITY
representative of fake college (BIC) makes secret pitch to high schoolers
— Love the sudden turn this has taken as soon as Robin’s teacher character has left.
— I’m really liking this, and the repeated “We will find you and we will kill you” are cracking me up.
— Julia’s hairstyle is looking kinda Elaine Benes-esque.
— Overall, yet another strong Andy Breckman-written sketch (special thanks to commenter Dkrom for letting me know Breckman wrote this).
STARS: ****
FAMILY IN THE ATTIC
a couple realizes they forgot to tell people hiding in attic WWII’s over
— The fact that right at the beginning, we’re informed this sketch takes place in 1983 despite the fact that tonight’s episode is from 1984 makes it obvious this is one of those Eddie Murphy sketches that was taped right before this season started.
— Strange moment with a “These are Dutch accents if you want to know” disclaimer showing up on the bottom of the screen. Seemed kinda pointless.
— Great realization from Tim and Robin that nobody ever let out the Jewish family hiding in their attic since WWII.
— Another instance of a then-current SNL writer’s last name being used in a sketch, with Eddie’s character in this being named Mr. Breckman.
— Eddie’s old jew voice is coming off even funnier than usual in this.
— Mary talking about her puberty-induced horniness is pretty funny. I almost expected a “NOW NOW NOW” callback, before I remembered this sketch was taped long before tonight’s episode.
— I like Eddie’s disappointment whenever he opens a platter of food given to him.
— The “To hell with zem” ending was good.
STARS: ***
SAMMY & REAGAN
Ronald Reagan (JOP) asks Sammy Davis Jr. (BIC) to hug Democratic rivals
— The debut of Billy’s Sammy Davis Jr. impression, which would go on to become one of his most remembered roles during his upcoming stint as a cast member.
— I like Billy’s Sammy explaining that as a black and a jew, he’s conflicted on whether or not to support Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson’s presidential campaign.
— An overall pretty good sketch, and Joe and Billy played well off of each other.
STARS: ***½
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE
Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer on Unanswered Questions of the Universe
— I love the “Who was Casper the Friendly Ghost before he died” question, as well as Tim’s answer (Wally Cox).
— The armpit-shaving part was awful.
— I like the “Why don’t sheep shrink in a rainstorm?” question, though Tim’s answer to it left a lot to be desired.
— Tim asking whatever happened to “I Will Survive” singer Gloria Gaynor is pretty funny.
— A reference to the “Where’s the beef?” craze from this time period.
— A hit-and-miss sketch overall.
STARS: **½
BAD CAREER MOVES
Herve Villechaise (BIC) says why he quit Fantasy Island
— Pretty funny visual of Billy as Herve Villachaize (however you spell it), even if that makes this yet another ethnic role for Billy tonight, as well as his second sketch appearance in a row wearing dark make-up. This is all something I’d better get used to, as we’re going to be seeing LOTS of ethnic roles from him during his tenure as a cast member.
— This sketch hasn’t been going anywhere great, and some of the “short” puns are pretty groanworthy.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mornin'”
GOD’S PLACE
in Heaven, JFK (BIC) is upset that Gary Hart is copying his style
— Another funny Purim reference.
— The bit with Abe Lincoln was really funny. Also, an Yvonne Hudson sighting next to him! I can’t remember the last time I spotted her in a sketch.
— An overall okay sketch, but not much to say about it.
STARS: ***
THE WOMB
a play about a mother (MAG) & daughter (JLD) relationship
— Loved Mary and Julia’s head-thrown-back laugh in unison.
— Oh, they’re playing mother and daughter? Mary doesn’t look convincing as Julia’s mother at all; they both look around the same age in this.
— This overall commercial was pretty funny and featured good performances from Mary and Julia.
STARS: ***
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Fernando (BIC) lists presidential candidates’ celebrity endorsements
ROD gives the Michael Jackson Report
GAK reviews Splash & complains how Darryl Hannah’s hair hid her breasts
write-in presidential candidate JIB raps his policy statements
— The debut of another Billy Crystal season 10 staple, his Fernando Lamas impression, anchoring tonight’s Saturday Night News.
— There’s our very first utterance of “You look mahvelous”, another thing I’m soon going to have to deal with ad-nauseum during Billy’s cast member stint.
— Fernando’s talk about which celebrities are endorsing which presidential candidates isn’t really working for me. Also, this feels like something that was already done on Saturday Night News either this season or last.
— Very interesting to see Robin doing a commentary as herself for a change.
— I liked Robin’s line about some of the slower students coming to school dressed as Jermaine Jackson when other students dressed like Michael Jackson.
— Pretty funny visual of a Michael Jackson doll with a flame-ignited head.
— I liked Fernando’s line about being the father of at least four members of Menudo.
— Gary “censoring” himself by saying “boobs” backwards was funny.
— Good bit with Gary doing a demonstration using a blow drier and a mermaid doll.
— Gary imitating an underwater conversation between two people is really good and very reminiscent of his educational film narrator voice.
— At the end of Gary’s commentary, they mention Daryl Hannah will be hosting the show three weeks from now, which never ended up occurring. What happened to that? IIRC, they had to cut an episode from the schedule somewhere around this point of the season due to SNL going over budget (which is why this season only has 19 episodes instead of the usual 20), so maybe the Hannah episode was a casualty of that.
— Once again, here’s Rappin’ Jimmy B, for the third episode in a row.
— Jim trying to make a recurring Saturday Night News feature out of rapping news stories isn’t working for me. His rapping shtick was much better when he just did it as a random cold opening a few episodes ago.
— Another “Where’s the Beef?” reference tonight, this time during Jim’s rap.
— Tonight’s overall edition of Saturday Night News was another long one, so of course, in typical Comedy Central fashion, they move it to the end of this episode.
— I just realized, they haven’t used the news screen at all in the last few editions of Saturday Night News. Shows how unconventional the segment has gotten after Brad’s firing as anchorperson.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Trouble in Paradise”
THE FIRST SHOW
BIC tells how he got bumped from the first-ever SNL episode
— He mentions that tonight is SNL’s 370th episode. He must be counting reruns. After all, it took SNL five seasons to reach their 100th episode, so there’s no way they’d be on their 370th episode a mere four seasons later.
— Interesting how he’s talking about how he was scheduled to do a stand-up piece on SNL’s first episode ever, only to get bumped from the live show.
— When name-dropping Valri Bromfield as one of the stand-up comedians who performed in SNL’s first episode, Billy makes a passing mention that she’s currently on Lorne Michaels’ (ill-fated) “The New Show”, which makes this probably the only time that show was ever referenced on SNL.
— An obvious but decent punchline with Billy starting to do the stand-up piece he never got to do in the first episode, only to immediately get cut off by director Dave Wilson.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A decent episode and had some strong material early on, but the show as a whole wasn’t particularly memorable.
— Billy Crystal fit in on the show really well. Maybe because I know what’s coming, but at times tonight, he kinda felt more like a cast member than a host. I enjoyed most of his performances tonight, despite some things that I know I’m going to have issues with when we reach his tenure as a cast member.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Edwin Newman):
— a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Michael Douglas