November 10, 1984 – George Carlin / Frankie Goes To Hollywood (S10 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
GAK is mad that he wasted time developing a Walter Mondale impersonation

— I liked Gary-as-Mondale’s line “Nobody wants to lose an election by a whisker.”
— Interesting turn with Gary dropping character to complain about how, thanks to Mondale’s recent election loss, Gary already has to retire his Mondale impression after spending all summer working on it.
— Several good lines from Gary here.
— Nice “Live from New York…” variation.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
after a clip of host’s entrance on the first SNL, he talks about religion

— Very nice touch how this started with a clip of George’s monologue entrance from the very first SNL episode ever. The clip brought back nice memories of when I reviewed that episode back when I first began this project, and it makes me fully realize how far I’ve come along in the project.
— There’s the line “They told me if I did a real good job, they’d have me back”, which would go on to become a go-to line (with variations) for many hosts who return for their second hosting stint after a long time gap
— I like how he’s doing a callback to his controversial God stand-up routine from the first episode, and discusses how it received a complaint.
— Very funny line about how church and state both screw you up bad enough on their own, so “if you put them together, you got certain death”.
— Some good laughs from the “prayer” he’s doing.
— An overall great stand-up monologue as expected.
STARS: ****

NIGHT WATCH
while on patrol, night watchmen Willie & Frankie talk about pain

— This has always been the installment of this recurring sketch that I’ve been most familiar with and the most fond of, as my first viewing of it was my introduction to these characters and I liked them instantly.
— Funny talk about Willie and Frankie being a “stallion” with the ladies.
— I really like the part about pouring tabasco sauce into open foot wounds.
— This installment is even better than these sketches usually are, as some of Willie and Frankie’s descriptions of their masochistic actions are particularly making me both cringe and laugh at the same time.
— There’s Christopher’s “stripped down to the nude” line, which will eventually cause Billy to crack up.
— Yep, there’s Billy’s laughing. This is oddly a strong way to end this sketch.
— Overall, a great installment just like I had remembered.
STARS: ****

THE JOE FRANKLIN SHOW
Jackie Rogers, Jr. (MAS) & Senor Cosa (CHG)

— The debut of a sketch that would go on to be a season 10 staple. I was never all that crazy about these sketches before, but I get the feeling I’ll appreciate them more now.
— Speaking of debuts, this is also the SNL debut of Martin’s hilarious Jackie Rogers Jr. character.
— Nice to see George Carlin will actually be participating in sketches this time, unlike his first hosting stint where he only did stand-up pieces throughout the show.
— Christopher’s Senor Cosa character is cracking me up.
— Funny bit with Billy watching Christopher taking a drink of water in anticipation of seeing a ventriloquist trick, only for it to turn out Christopher’s simply taking a drink of water.
— I love how Jackie Rogers Jr’s book is titled “Damn You Daddy, Sir”.
— George’s details about firemen’s occupational hazards are pretty funny.
— Overall, as I predicted, I enjoyed this sketch more than I used to.
STARS: ***½

THE GHOSTBUSTER SHOW
sisters Chi Chi (MAG) & Consuela (JLD) are big fans

— Feels good to see Jim again for the first time in what feels like a while, after his absence in the last episode.
— More season 10 recurring characters debuting tonight, as we get the first appearance of Chi Chi and Consuela. Not sure if this Ghostbusters talk show is a great setting for them, though.
— I did get a laugh from the rumor about a Ghostbusters sequel starring Tim Matheson and Prince.
— Good characterizations from Mary and Julia here.
— Mary’s lines about how the black Ghostbuster “deedn’t do notheeng” are funny.
— Overall, this contained a few more laughs than I expected, but this still wasn’t too great as a whole.
STARS: **½

YE OLDE COMEDY SHOPPE
stand-up pioneer (host) does 18th century jokes at Ye Olde Comedy Shoppe

— Pretty funny concept of a colonial stand-up comedian.
— Eh, the stand-up jokes themselves aren’t turning out that great, but George’s delivery is making them work fairly well.
— Overall, decent execution of a so-so script.
STARS: ***

NOT A COP
(host) points to family tradition when son (BIC) doesn’t want to be a cop

— Pretty funny examples from Billy of why he’s not good at being a cop.
— I liked George’s “Thank god your mother’s not here to see this… she’s out on patrol” line.
— Billy and George are playing well off of each other here.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½

TED’S BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS
Ted’s (host) Book Of World Records contains his achievements only

— I really like this, with George listing off some of his unimpressive, strange world records.
— I especially got a good laugh just now from “Most rattlesnakes ever milked: none!”
STARS: ****

PROFILES IN SPORTS
by Claude Kerven- intense chess club coach (JIB)

— Love Jim’s performance as an aggressive, violent Bobby Knight-esque chess coach.
— Great little part with the play that Jim draws on a chalkboard being a chess board, down to him even coloring in the dark squares.
— Hilarious part with a wild brawl breaking out among the coaches and the chess nerds.
— Good ending with Jim at the dinner table making chess-like moves with salt and pepper shakers.
— An overall fantastic film featuring what is possibly Jim Belushi’s most well-known SNL performance.
STARS: ****½

SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
PLS introduces American men to her large, very agile breasts
host thinks Charlton Heston would make a good GOP candidate in 1988
host cures GAK’s “spot bleeding” condition by reminding him of shirt pins
Lew Goldman gives the sports report for members of his family

— Abrupt transition from George’s jokes to Pamela’s commentary, the latter of which didn’t even begin with the usual applause.
— Rare to hear Pamela speaking in her natural accent.
— Great concept of Pamela introducing us to her breasts.
— LOL at Pamela’s left breast slowly moving up while Pamela’s speaking to the camera.
— Great ending with Pamela’s breasts going completely out-of-control and throwing her over the desk.
— Some funny comparisons from George, between Charlton Heston and Ronald Reagan.
— Gary being introduced as a “science editor” initially made me almost think we were getting another Dr. Jack Badofsky commentary before I remembered Tim Kazurinsky isn’t in the cast anymore.
— Funny reveal that Gary’s “spot bleeding” is simply caused by him forgetting to remove the pins from his new shirt.
— Loved George’s “You’re a moron, Kroeger!” line.
— George is noticeably doing very few jokes between commentaries. Maybe a good thing, as he’s not a great fit for Saturday Night News.
— Haha, what was with an audience member shouting “LEW!! LEW!!” at the beginning of the Lew Goldman commentary?
— I liked Billy’s response to the aforementioned audience member: “Shut up, you idiot!”
— The Lew Goldman sports commentary is a just a variation of his earlier meteorologist commentary. Nothing too exciting here.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Two Tribes”

RICH HALL’S ELECTION REPORT
sound bites are mouthed by characters in a cartoon

 

— It’s about time Rich Hall appeared tonight. It’s a shame how underused he often tends to be.
— I love how Rich is using an old Heckle and Jeckle cartoon to represent Reagan/Mondale “footage”, which is pretty funny. As I mentioned in an earlier review, I always like when SNL does stuff like this.
STARS: ***½

STRATEGIC AIRBORNE CONTRACEPTIVE
cold war technology makes the Strategic Airborne Contraceptive possible

— Hilarious concept.
— Good visual of the device lighting up in the dark when detecting the possibility of love-making.
— Another great use of stock footage tonight.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Born to Run”

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very good show, continuing the streak of really solid episodes that started with Jesse Jackson. A lot of tonight’s sketches were above average, and the overall show had a feel that I find very representative of this season as a whole.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael McKean):
— about the same

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Ed Asner