April 14, 1984 – George McGovern / Madness (S9 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
ten years in the future, (TIK) interviews Richard Nixon (JOP)

— A sketch set 10 years in the future in April 1994. Didn’t Nixon end up dying sometime around that exact same time? If so, that’s quite eerie.
— As usual, Joe is relying on tons of makeup for a celebrity impression. His Nixon makeup in this is really good, though.
— A pretty good Nixon impression from Joe, and I appreciate how unlike some of his other roles, he’s not playing this one too big.
— His blunt “I lied like a two-dollar whore” line cracked me up.
— Another funny line with “If you wanna get inside Nixon’s head, you have to use a proctoscope”.
— Overall, despite some funny lines, I wanted this to go further with the premise.
STARS: **½

MONOLOGUE
host solicits donations from audience members, except his wife [real]

   

— The audience is giving him a standing ovation?
— I really liked his opening statement to the audience, telling them “Thank you for that wonderful reception. Where were you last month on Super Tuesday?”
— Good line about waking up Reagan.
— His delivery is coming off slow-paced and fairly monotone, but he’s doing okay enough.
— He’s now going into the audience to ask them for money, which is pretty funny.
STARS: ***

MIDTOWN OPEN
host follows JOP & JIB on a round of golf through the streets of NYC

     

— Looks like we have yet another pre-taped short film this season, once again signaling what’s to come in season 10.
— The “sandtrap” being at a construction site is really funny.
— Fun video with Joe and Jim golfing all over the streets of NYC.
— Loved Jim’s “You win?” when George explains to him that he ran for president in 1972.
— Really funny part with Jim kicking over the passed-out lady to continue the golf game.
— Pretty solid film overall.
STARS: ***½

WHITE HOUSE FOODS
Ronald Reagan (JOP) for Very, Very Hungry Man Dinners; Clara Peller cameo

   

— Pretty funny concept with Joe’s Reagan hawking TV dinners for poor families, even though this is reminding me of a sketch with him in season 7.
— Some of the disgusting TV dinners being advertised are making me laugh, especially “Appalachian Black Lung Cake” and “Dead Pigeon with Paint Chips”.
— I also like how the kids’ version of the TV dinner comes with two “vegetables”: ketchup and salt.
— Ha, it’s the “Where’s the beef?” lady!
STARS: ***

TRAMPOLINE
circus people in the apartment below ruin (MAG)’s date with (TIK)

   

— Jim repeatedly bouncing up through the hole in Mary’s floor is a funny concept and I’m cracking up at Jim’s varied exclamations every time he pops up.
— This feels kinda like a companion piece to Jim’s “Man on Chain” sketch from earlier this season.
— Good touch with Jim’s bouncing gradually becoming less and less high after getting shot.
— Mary’s exaggerated aggression is funny, though something about the turn her performance has taken makes it feel like something went wrong with this sketch. Not sure what happened, though.
— Nice reveal at the end when camera pulls back and shows how this sketch’s set was layed out for Jim to bounce through the hole in the floor.
STARS: ***½

DIRECT HITS
updated songs reflect America’s military muscle

  

— Looks like this is going to be another in a long line of sketches this era with a spokesperson advertising an album of hit songs modified to fit a certain theme. SNL has been going to this well too often lately, and I’ve been getting tired of it.
— I notice that just about every time they do these album sketches, one of the songs being parodied is ALWAYS “My Boyfriend’s Back”.
— Okay, some of these song samples are making me laugh, and I like how there’s more parodies of then-contemporary songs (e.g. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” being turned into “Guerrillas Just Wanna Have Guns”) than these album sketches usually have.
— The vocalists are doing good impressions of the various singers who’s songs are being parodied here.
STARS: **½

I DIDN’T REALIZE
menage-a-trois seekers (JIB) & (MAG) find (EDM)’s involved with a couple

    

— Seems to be a lot of sketches tonight that begin with people coming home to a dark apartment after a night out.
— Well, here we are, folks: the final Eddie Murphy sketch aired during his SNL tenure. Very significant and makes this sketch feel special, even if it was taped before this season even started.
— The fact that the characters in this sketch are discussing Flashdance as if it’s a new movie makes it obvious this sketch was taped in 1983, back when the movie first came out.
— Interesting voice on Eddie here.
— Eddie’s drunk, slurred voice is now strangely starting to kinda sound like a typical Bill Cosby impression.
— I like Julia and Tim entering as another couple who Eddie is apparently “involved” with.
— Jim’s intense delivery of “You’re SICK!!!” to Eddie was funny.
— What’s with the very random breaking-the-fourth-wall ending with Eddie dropping character and introducing each actor to the audience one-by-one, as if this were a play? As strange as that is, something about it DOES feel kinda fitting for what ended up being the last-aired Eddie Murphy sketch. I wonder if that was the intention back when this sketch was originally taped.
— And, well, that’s the whole sketch. The Eddie Murphy era of SNL is now officially over. I’m really going to miss covering his SNL tenure, especially considering his HUGE importance to the show these last four seasons. I just wish he had a stronger sketch to go out on, as this was just an average, unmemorable piece.
STARS: ***

FRANKIE PACE
prop comic Frankie Pace [real] plays a miniature piano & does other stuff

     

— Well, THIS is unexpected. Why wasn’t this guy credited as a special guest in the opening montage like stand-up guest performers in this era usually are? Also, who IS this guy??? I’m usually already familiar with the stand-up performers that SNL gets in this era (Harry Anderson, Joel Hodgson, Paula Poundstone, Steven Wright, etc.), but this guy is a complete unknown to me.
— When he first walked on, I initially almost thought he was Danny DeVito in character.
— His movie impressions bit is fairly awful, especially the constant “Rocky” ones.
— Wow, this guy is corny as hell.
— Boy, this guy sure laughs at himself a lot. Well, I’m glad SOMEONE’S being amused by this stand-up performance, because I sure ain’t.
— Some people knock Joel Hodgson for being a prop comic, but Hodgson’s SNL stand-up segments are comedic brilliance compared to THIS guy.
— Okay, I admit, I do kinda like the bit he’s doing right now where he’s using a hole in a scarf to act out a baby being birthed.
STARS: *½

SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
GAK plays a phony tape recording of host in lieu of a movie review
financial advisor Maurice Frank (TIK) describes unusual tax write-offs
JOP reports on recent happenings in baseball, hockey, Olympics, golf

         

— George’s Madness/Boy George joke was fucking terrible.
— Third consecutive edition of Saturday Night News with Gary Kroeger giving a movie review.
— I really liked George’s delivery of “Why, you scoundrel” when Gary reveals he has a tape of George acting rude backstage.
— Ha, the tape is clearly just Gary doing various voices. I probably should’ve seen that coming, but it’s still making me laugh. The use of subtitles on the bottom of the screen is also adding to the humor.
— LOL, the running joke of Gary getting thrown over a desk continues yet again. Love how this time, he actually says “Oh, not again!” as he’s about to get thrown.
— George’s delivery as an anchorperson is not working for me. The aforementioned slow, monotone delivery we’ve been hearing from him all throughout tonight’s episode is hurting these news jokes he’s reading.
— Another new Saturday Night News character for Tim, debuting late in his SNL tenure. The look of this character alone is already making me laugh.
— The little things Tim’s saying you can claim as tax write-offs are pretty funny.
— Man, George’s news joke segments are a comedy vacuum. The guest correspondents have been the only saving grace of tonight’s edition of Saturday Night News.
— Considering Joe is leaving SNL two episodes from now, I wonder if this ends up being his final SNL Sports segment.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Joe’s “Screw em!” regarding the Olympic-boycotting Russians.
— Joe breaking out a sports toy to use as a demonstration brings back memories of when he used to regularly do that during his earliest SNL Sports commentaries way back in season 6 when Charles Rocket was anchoring SNL’s news. If tonight ends up being the final edition of Joe’s SNL Sports commentaries, then you can say they came full circle.
STARS: **½

COSMOS
Carl Sagan (GAK) shows universe where host won ’72 election

   

— Interesting “what if?” premise.
— George’s “just kidding” prank to the Russian over the phone was pretty funny.
— A pretty good laugh from George’s idea of getting the Oscars down to 40 minutes.
— Very funny implication of George having republican work camps.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Our House”

BOOK BEAT
archeologist’s (host) discovery makes (BRH)’s book worthless

   

— There’s the name Dale Butterworth. Yes! We’re getting our Andy Breckman sketch of the night!
— Brad’s performance here is actually really good. I love his anguish over the treasure being found. Between the MTV and Footless sketches in the last episode and now this Book Beat sketch tonight, Brad’s been growing on me as a performer lately. Unfortunately, it’s too little too late, considering this ends up being his third-to-last episode as a cast member. I wonder if he would’ve continued improving as a performer if he were given another season.
— Decent payoff at the end.
— Overall, another good premise-driven Andy Breckman-written talk show sketch, even if this one wasn’t quite as strong as earlier talk show sketches Breckman’s written.
STARS: ***½

BROTHER IN LAW
Walter & his wife (ROD) are fed up with his less successful brother host

  

— Wow, is this the first time we’re seeing Robin all night? Geez. Then again, I don’t know why I’m surprised. Her airtime is usually pretty scarce. Still, a cast member not appearing until the final sketch of the night is always pretty crazy, and it’s especially sad in Robin’s case, considering we’re in the homestretch of her SNL tenure.
— The return of Walter and Ike, Gary and Robin’s married couple from the Footless sketch in the last episode.
— There goes Robin’s twitchy face-rubbing mannerism that she used for this Ike character last time.
— Pretty funny how George is playing himself as a down-on-his-luck relative of Walter and Ike.
— Walter and Ike’s back-and-forth insults are cracking me up.
— Loved Walter finally calling out Ike on her face-rubbing tic by asking her “What the HELL are you doin’, woman?!?”
— An overall pretty good piece, with nice character work from two underrated cast members (Gary and Robin), and George McGovern being a good sport about himself.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Keep Moving”

GOODNIGHTS

  

— Okay, I’ve heard ENOUGH “Where’s the beef?” for one night. I can only imagine how long it took for America to get sick of that catchphrase back in 1984.

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very average episode. Nothing special at all, though the consistent flow of decent-but-not-great sketches was still fairly enjoyable.
— George McGovern wasn’t TOO bad for non-actor standards, and his slow, monotone delivery didn’t hamper the show too much (aside from his turn as guest anchor of Saturday Night News), though there certainly have been better politician hosts over the years.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Douglas):
— a step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Barry Bostwick / Spinal Tap