Month: February 2019

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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.

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

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April 7, 1984 – Michael Douglas / Deniece Williams (S9 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Karl Malden (JOP) saves host with an American Express Traveller’s Script

 

— Joe’s random Jimmy Durante-esque delivery of “Ha-cha-cha-cha-cha!” was pretty funny.
— Good “Live from New York…” delivery from Michael.
— An overall decent idea for a cold opening, but the execution didn’t come off all that funny or special.
STARS: **


OPENING MONTAGE
— Eddie Murphy isn’t credited at all tonight. Kinda surprising that they would officially remove him from the credits ALREADY, considering I’m aware they’re not finished airing all the sketches he taped before this season started. There’s, I think, just one more taped Eddie sketch remaining, but I forgot which episode it airs in. Removing him from the credits tonight probably made people think we wouldn’t be seeing him anymore for the remainder of the season.
— Feels weird seeing the credits just go from Julia Louis-Dreyfus to Joe Piscopo, with no Eddie in between. Also, with Eddie gone, Joe is now the cast member who receives by far the wildest audience cheers.
— Despite Eddie’s absence, I’ve noticed Comedy Central’s “The Eddie Murphy Experience” station bug showing up on the corner of the screen at one earlier point in my copy of this episode. If Eddie’s not in this episode, why in the world would Comedy Central air it in an Eddie Murphy marathon???


MONOLOGUE
host follows his dad’s advice & shows a clip from Romancing The Stone

     

— Nice that he brought up how his father Kirk hosted the show four years ago.
— I liked Michael’s very brief impression of Kirk.
— Ah, a “humorous screen crawl while someone is delivering a serious speech/song” monologue! I love this trope from the original era.
— Ehh, tonight’s screen crawl could’ve gone farther. This one paled in comparison to the Buck Henry ones.
— Wow, that mudslide clip they showed from Romancing the Stone was insane.
— An okay ending with the reveal of the back of Michael’s jacket.
STARS: **½


MTV NEWS
Nina Blackwood (JLD) does the MTV music news

 

— I admittedly did kinda chuckle at the cheap joke about winners of a ZZ Top contest getting to vacation in the beards of the ZZ Top members. I think Julia’s delivery of that line helped make it funny for me.
— The sketch is over already? Oh, judging from how Julia threw to a “commercial”, I think this sketch was just Part 1 of a two-part sketch that will continue after the “commercial”. Very interesting format break for SNL. Kinda reminds me of what they did with that David Susskind/Buckwheat sketch last season.
STARS: **


FOLDGERS CRYSTALS
hospital patients’ blood is secretly replaced with Foldgers Crystals

     

— Hilarious random concept with replacing hospital patients’ blood with Folgers Crystals coffee.  This is being executed perfectly.
— Much like the “Buddweiser Light” commercial from a few episodes ago, an SNL fake ad uses a real brand name but slightly changes the spelling (“Foldgers” Crystals instead of Folgers Crystals). I’m assuming that’s for legal reasons.
STARS: ****


MTV NEWS
The Garage Band’s (BRH), (JIB), (GAK) video “Look At Our Video”

         

— Yep, I was right; here’s Part 2 of the MTV sketch.
— I always like the way Julia’s Nina Blackwood says “hhhoottt!” in a whispery, exaggerated tone.
— “The Garage Band”? I wonder if this is an evolved version of the garage band that Jim, Brad, and others played in a sketch from the Smothers Brothers episode earlier this season. Can’t remember if Gary was part of that band or not, though.
— I like how we’re about to see the world premiere video of the band’s “song”.
— The random “Brady Bunch squares” part of the music video was hilarious.
— This whole video is fucking great, and feels so much like an authentic music video from 1984. So much dead-on detail in every aspect of this. I also love how this has such a different feel for this era of SNL.
— Great sketch overall, and the music video portion will definitely go down as one of my favorite moments of this whole season.
STARS: ****½


TV’S FOUL-UPS, BLEEPS, BLUNDERS, BLOOPERS, PRACTICAL JOKES, AND POLITICAL DEBATES
Shelley Winters (ROD) & Kirk Douglas (host) show debate bloopers

   

— It’s noticeable right out of the gate that Michael is wearing a band-aid on his forehead. I’m aware that the band-aid isn’t part of the sketch at all; it’s actually the result of an injury Michael suffered during a sketch tonight. However, said sketch HASN’T EVEN AIRED YET in my copy. Boy, do I hate how these Comedy Central reruns wildly shuffle around the original running order of episodes’ sketches, especially when it produces confusing continuity issues like how we’re seeing Michael in a head band-aid BEFORE he even cuts his forehead. [ADDENDUM: Turns out the way this Comedy Central version shuffled tonight’s original running order is especially crazy: they basically took the entire second half of the show and moved it to the first half, while pushing the original first half to the second half. What the HELL?!?] We’ll get to the injury-inducing sketch eventually, though.
— Michael’s intense impression of his father Kirk is pretty funny. Shouldn’t he have gray hair, though? I recall Kirk having gray hair when I covered the episode he hosted in season 5.
— I’m still a little iffy on Robin’s exaggerated take on Shelley Winters. I liked her impression better back when it was a little less over-the-top and didn’t rely so heavily on stretched-out syllables.
— The return of Joe’s blackface impression of Jesse Jackson.
— The casting choices for these political candidates seems so random. Little Timmy Kazurinsky as Gary Hart? Brad as Walter Mondale? Maybe the latter only feels weird because I know Gary Kroeger would later do a much better Mondale impression next season.
— This sketch is fucking terrible so far. Really, Ebersol-era SNL? THIS is your idea of political satire? A “wacky”, unfunny blooper reel?
— SNL makes yet another “Where’s the beef?” reference.
— Once again, Joe is nailing Jesse Jackson’s fiery delivery, even if the voice itself still isn’t dead-on.
— Now we’re getting “wacky” whoopie cushions? Ugh, just end this sketch already.
STARS: *½


SUGAR OR PLAIN
(JIB) & (Rob Riley) run high-pressure ice cream parlor

     

— Weird seeing so many unknown non-SNL performers starring in this, with Jim Belushi being the only cast member here.
— Jim and Unknown Other Guy are really funny with their creepiness as the ice cream clerks.
— I love how insane and chaotic this is getting.
— I’ve been noticing lately that Jim REALLY seems to excel in pre-taped short films. There are also some great ones with him coming up in season 10.
— Pretty strong short overall. Also, this kinda feels like the type of oddball short that Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney would do in recent years.
STARS: ****


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Wayne Huevos offers solutions to NYC’s vermin, court mess, ugly buildings
GAK gives Romancing The Stone a bad review- his girlfriend liked host

       

— Michael is our guest anchor of the week.
— I got a chuckle from the Space Shuttle Challenger clip that Michael sets up just turning out to be the mudslide clip from Romancing the Stone again.
— Okay, now they’re replaying the mudslide clip for EVERY news story Michael does. Yeah, not funny anymore.
— Do we really need the return of Tim’s Wayne Huevos character, after how weak his first commentary was a few episodes ago?
— As I was worried, tonight’s overall Wayne Huevos commentary was just as tepid as the first.
— Oh, god, now Michael has gone back to the tired joke of him overplaying the Romancing the Stone clip for every news story.
— Gary’s complaints about Michael are really funny.
— Haha, Gary once again gets thrown over a desk, for the third time this season.
— A bad edition of Saturday Night News overall, minus Gary’s commentary. As I expected, Michael came off weak in the anchorperson role.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Let’s Hear It For The Boy”


SOUNDTRACK
(host) goes to a psychiatrist to seek relief from his personal soundtrack

   

— I like the Twilight Zone music that’s suddenly started playing during Michael’s story.
— Oh, the music constantly keeps changing to tie in with what Michael’s saying as he’s telling Tim his life story of being tormented by music that follows him. Interesting premise.
— Here it is, the mishap that led to Michael’s aforementioned head band-aid: when hurriedly throwing a glass of water into his face just now, he did it too forcefully and unintentionally rammed the rim of the glass cup into his forehead HARD, producing a very loud “conk” sound. Ouch! You can tell by his genuine facial expression afterwards that it hurt like hell.
— And now, as Michael continues on with the sketch (and I give him credit for being all smiles, considering how much pain he must be in), you can very clearly see lines of blood trickling down his forehead. (last two screencaps above) HOLY FUCKING HELL.
— Overall, despite me liking the initial idea of this sketch, it didn’t go anywhere too interesting, and the ending was completely overshadowed by Michael’s forehead mishap.
STARS: **


FOOTLESS
rebel (BRH) moves to a town in which there are no feet

       

— I like Tim’s fake beard and accent.
— Gary appears to be playing his recurring old man character Walter.
— Boy, Robin is going really over-the-top in this, but her constant face-rubbing mannerism IS making me laugh. Her general twitchiness in this kinda reminds me of a typical Cheri Oteri character.
— I liked Joe’s Frank Nelson-esque “Eeyyeeeeeessssss???” Strange, though, how this is the second time tonight where Joe has thrown in a random old-timey catchphrase from a celebrity he’s not even playing (the first time was his Jimmy Durante quote in the Karl Malden cold opening).
— Interesting use of writer Nate Herman as Kenny Loggins.
— This sketch is getting really fun with the big “Footless” musical number, especially the dance sequence with Gary and Brad.
— Wow, great high jump from Gary just now during the dance sequence.
— An overall good sketch, highlighted by a fun dance interlude (which is something I don’t often say, as I’m usually not a fan of musical sketches).
STARS: ***½


SLEEPY BOY 2000
— Rerun from last season


PRICE WATERHOUSE
Price (TIK) & Waterhouse (JIB) choose who they think should win Oscars

— I like the randomness of Price and Waterhouse’s office door being a huge bank vault.
— Jim’s blunt “He sucked” critique of Sam Shepard made me laugh, just because of how brief the sentence was and how unexpected that comment was for his character.
— Jim and Tim’s ways of choosing Best Supporting Actress at random is really funny.
— Their other odd ways of picking winners of other categories are also funny. I like how this is kinda bringing back memories of Bill Murray’s unusual Oscar-picking method.
— This sketch has good writing and solid performances from Jim and Tim.
STARS: ***½


4 MINUTES TO LIVE
(GAK) endures slow elevator ride after learning he has 4 minutes to live

       

— Hilarious part with Jim’s cruel “I lied; there IS no good news” line after telling Gary the bad news about his health.
— Yet another pre-taped segment tonight that’s either a short film or a music video. You can DEFINITELY see aspects of season 10 now starting to arise in the homestretch of this season.
— I’m loving the concept of this short.
— Even Gary just simply waiting for the elevator all smiles as his triumphant background music continues playing is cracking me up.
— Ha, the triumphant music has suddenly stopped as a now less-smiley Gary is awkwardly waiting forever for the elevator.
— I like Gary’s panicked yells of “ Hold the elevator!!!” while frantically running towards the closing elevator.
— From the numbers on top of the elevator, I see that this is one of those buildings that superstitiously has no 13th floor.
— I believe this is the first SNL appearance of child actor Frederick Koehler, making this film feel even more like a season 10 piece, as Koehler would go on to be a frequent extra that season.
— LOL, I loved Gary angrily strangling Koehler for pressing a whole bunch of buttons on the elevator.
— Excellent ending with the elevator getting stuck RIGHT BEFORE reaching the first floor, as poor Gary is heard crying out loud off-camera.
— An overall strong film and a great Gary Kroeger showcase.
STARS: ****½


ANNIE AUDITION
(host) auditions 33 year-old (MAG) for a kid’s role in a play

     

— Tim seems to be getting TONS of airtime tonight. He’s been all over this episode.
— I liked Michael’s angry “If I wanna kill a diabetic, I’ll call you!” outburst to the first little girl auditioning.
— Holy hell at Mary’s sexy lingerie reveal after tearing off her dress.
— Michael’s stiff-legged walk was pretty funny.
— Michael’s sleazy actions towards Mary are getting a little uncomfortable.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wrapped Up”


GOODNIGHTS

 

— When bringing up how Michael Douglas is known for being a trouper in tough filming situations, Joe hilariously mentions tonight’s incident with Michael “shoving a glass into his forehead”.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty fun and interesting episode, especially with some of the entertaining musical sequences (the “Look At Our Video” music video and the Footless dance number) and the heavy reliance on strong pre-taped segments. While this episode was far from perfect, I got some really good enjoyment from the show as a whole.
— With Eddie Murphy not appearing in ANY form, very little Joe Piscopo, a more experimental feel to the night, and the aforementioned reliance on lots of pre-tapes, a shift appears to have started at SNL that will eventually lead us into the newness of season 10.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
George McGovern

Posted on

March 17, 1984 – Billy Crystal / Al Jarreau (S9 E15)

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

Posted on

February 25, 1984 – Edwin Newman / Kool & The Gang (S9 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
SNL employees Dion & Blaire decide what to do about host’s lack of hair

 

— Good meta premise with Dion Dion and Blair now working as SNL hairdressers.
— Pretty funny part with Dion and Blair mistaking Edwin Newman for Paul Newman and wondering why he aged so poorly.
— Amusing visual of Edwin in the Ted Koppel wig.
— Dion: “Blair, you ignorant slut.”
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— After being out sick in the last episode, Don Pardo is back, but he’s noticeably not as energetic-sounding as he usually is. His delivery is fairly low-key tonight. He must still be getting over his laryngitis.


MONOLOGUE
recently-retired host sings “Please don’t talk about me when I’m gone”

  

— Funny start with Edwin nitpicking a grammatical error on the cue card.
— Edwin’s coming off funny, likable, and a good sport, in a stiff, deadpan way.
— Love the audience worriedly going “ohhh” when he hints that he might sing.
— Nice audience response when he actually does end up singing well.
— A surprisingly strong monologue overall. Edwin did it ALL.
STARS: ****


BUDDWEISER LIGHT
— Rerun. I always find it odd when a fake ad that has a host in it (Robin Williams in this case) is re-aired in another host’s episode


HYMIETOWN
Jesse Jackson (EDM) tries to reconcile with Jews by singing “Hymietown”

— Eddie’s Jesse Jackson impression seems to have improved a little from the last time he played him, even though his portrayal is a lot more low-key than we’re used to seeing Jesse being impersonated on SNL.
— Oh, I can tell this is going to turn into the famous “Hymietown” number.
— Ha, the lyrics are really funny and the song sounds great.
— I think I just heard a woman in the audience saying “Sing it, Eddie!”
STARS: ****


HOTLINE
host corrects a suicide hotline caller’s (ROD) grammar

— Ha, even after the monologue, Edwin is still correcting people’s grammar.
— Funny bit about a “bottle of tequila wearing panties”.
— I like the whole “major/lieutenant slut” part.
— Robin’s threatening message at the end of the phone conversation was good.
— Decent sketch overall.
STARS: ***


FUR: YOU DESERVE IT!
— Yet another rerun, this time from two seasons ago. Boy, is this season in desperate need of new fake ads.


NEWS BAR
host bets Tom Snyder (JOP) a la My Fair Lady- I can make BRH an anchorman

   

— I’m liking this gathering of famous newscasters.
— Joe’s Tom Snyder impression looks different from how it usually does. It kinda looks more like his Dan Rather impression.
— Edwin’s quivery-voiced singing just now was funny.
— Brad’s playing himself and references his recent ousting as anchorperson of Saturday Night News. Very surprising that they’re openly acknowledging his firing on the air.
— I like Edwin’s constant utterances of “The bet’s off” regarding turning Brad into a competent anchorman.
— Great My Fair Lady-esque turn this is taking, especially the “The Iranian’s pains come mainly from Khomeni” vocal exercise. This is brilliant.
— Overall, a strong sketch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Joanna”


SPEAKING FREELY
host interviews James Brown (EDM)

— Great to see Eddie’s James Brown again. He’s already making me laugh with his opening statement just being typical James Brown-esque vocalizations.
— Okay, this sketch doesn’t seem to be offering anything other than Eddie’s James Brown answering all of Edwin’s questions with random lyrics from his own songs, which isn’t quite as funny as you’d think it would be. This is paling badly in comparison to Eddie’s classic James Brown sketches from the past.
STARS: **


HOW HIGH THE NOON
ex-gunfighter Kid Halpern (host) teaches (GAK) the tricks of the trade

   

— “The Kelton Gang”. Guess I don’t need to ask which writer penned this sketch.
— All of Edwin’s odd advice to Gary is providing some good laughs.
— The whole countdown confusion is cracking me up.
— Strong ending.
STARS: ***½


A NICKEL
old men (JOP) & (EDM) remember the days when everything cost a nickel

  

— I think I recall hearing this ends up being Eddie’s final live sketch as a cast member.
— This is another strong pairing of Eddie and Joe, and has some really funny lines between them.
— Ha, they’re both starting to crack up.
— Eddie acknowledges a line flub of his and, while laughing, angrily ad-libs “I read the card wrong!” which gets a great response from the audience.
— Joe: “(ad-libbing) Ever notice I look like Al Franken in 50 years?”
— Haha, I love how this sketch has gone completely off the rails, with Eddie and Joe now openly breaking the fourth wall and talking (in character) about having to end the sketch in time before the show runs over.
— A fun and solid sketch overall, enhanced by the flubs and loose ad-libbing. If this is indeed Eddie’s final live sketch, this is a pretty big deal. Even though I’m aware there are still a few taped sketches he’s in that will air in some of the remaining episodes of this season, tonight being Eddie’s final live episode as a cast member kinda feels like the end of an era in some ways. Kinda bittersweet, really. At least he got to go out while having fun in this sketch and being paired with the castmate who he’s always had the best chemistry with over these last four years.
STARS: ****


FACE THE PRESS
(JIB) rubs out panelists who mention his links to the mob

     

— Another funny instance of Jim throwing Gary over a desk, after the Cabbage Patch Kid bit from earlier this season.
— I liked Mary just casually moving on after the whole crazy incident with Gary.
— Good fake blood on Tim after getting shot.
— Loved Edwin’s “I pass” when it’s his turn to ask Jim a question, after seeing what Jim had just done to Gary and Tim.
— Edwin’s various ways of stalling when everybody’s waiting for him to ask Jim a question are very funny.
STARS: ****


HARRY ANDERSON
Harry Anderson [real] tells of his attempts to win at four card monty

 

— Nice reveals of how to do the “cheating” version of the four-card monty trick.
— An overall change of pace from Harry’s usual acts on the show and had an unusually low-key feel, but this was still pretty good.
STARS: ***


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
JIB raps recent headlines
irritated MAG complains about the multitude of official national holidays
Worthington Clotman chastises respected figures who sell out for laughs

     

— Fitting that tonight’s guest anchor is someone who has actual experience being a real newsman.
— Edwin already throws to a guest correspondent without having done any jokes.
— Hmm, Jim has a boombox with him. I think I know where this is going…
— Yep, we’re already getting the return of Rappin’ Jimmy B after only one week.
— Jim rapping the week’s big news is fairly fun, but this isn’t coming off quite as enjoyable as his cold opening from the last episode.
— Edwin constantly choosing to skip over certain news stories for little reasons is kind of a strange runner, but it’s working.
— Tonight’s Spittin’ Mad Mary Gross commentary is okay so far, but I notice it doesn’t seem to be getting as much audience reaction as it usually does. Usually, the crowd is really hyped up during these.
— I liked Mary’s line about having a holiday called ‘Are You Sure I’m The Father?’s Day
— The return of Tim’s Worthington Clotman.
— Tim’s criticism of Edwin is pretty funny.
— Haha, I absolutely LOVED Edwin silently responding to Tim’s “Vaudevillian buffoon” insults about Edwin’s SNL performances by pulling out a seltzer bottle and spraying Tim with it.
— This is the longest edition we’ve had of Saturday Night News in a while, but it’s also one of the better ones. Also, I’ve noticed in these old Comedy Central reruns I’ve been reviewing that their versions of this era’s episodes always move Saturday Night News to an unusually late spot in the show when it’s a particularly lengthy SNN (like we’ve seen tonight), whereas the short SNNs are usually kept in their original spot somewhere in the middle of the show.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Celebration”


URBAN ANSWERS
gang leaders (BRH) & (host) talk about their conflicts

 

— LOL at Brad freaking Hall of all people playing a hardcore gang member.
— Ha, now this has gotten even more comically ridiculous with Edwin Newman playing a rival gang member.
— Brad’s performance is kind of reminding me of future cast member Andy Samberg, for some reason.
— I love how Edwin’s using his normal professional delivery for his gangster character.
— Edwin to Brad: “(deadpan, while holding a switchblade) I am prepared to filet you.” Boy, this sketch is cracking me the hell up.
— Strange but funny turn this has taken, with the fourth wall being broken by Gary “dropping character” and calling Edwin out on “ruining” the sketch with his random delivery of “Live from New York…”.
STARS: ****


JACOBY ESCORT SERVICE
(ROD) & (MAG) guarantee “absolutely no sex”

— Good to see a rare Robin Duke showcase.
— A fairly funny concept with Mary and Robin’s escort service spokeswomen advertising no sex.
— What was with Robin’s off-camera “Call us now” while Don Pardo is announcing the phone number?
— Overall, this wasn’t too bad, but comes off as a lesser sketch compared to other material from this episode.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A great episode, with lots of strong sketches, a fun atmosphere, and even a decent Saturday Night News.
— Who would’ve guessed that Edwin Newman would turn out to be such a fun host, enhancing every sketch he appeared in and without even having to stretch his range? He’s one of those non-actor hosts who surprise you by how funny they come off and how they end up adapting well to SNL’s format.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jamie Lee Curtis):
— a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Future cast member Billy Crystal hosts

Posted on

February 18, 1984 – Jamie Lee Curtis / The Fixx (S9 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
JIB raps & breakdances to celebrate the fact that it’s Saturday Night

   

— Funny “Thriller”-esque opening disclaimer about not endorsing a belief in the occult.
— The debut of Jim’s Rappin’ Jimmy B persona.
— This doesn’t seem to be going much for laughs, but I’m finding this to be a very fun and exciting way to hype up the show.
— A pretty good laugh from his intentionally bad breakdancing attempt, which also serves as a reminder of the huge breakdancing craze around this time.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Don Pardo is noticeably absent, as Joe takes over with the Pardo impression that we’ve heard him practice on the show in a season 6 cold opening. This is the first of what would be several times over the years where someone had to temporarily fill in for a sick Pardo. Darrell Hammond would usually be given those honors (too many instances to count, but the most memorable one has to be the James Van Der Beek episode from season 24, considering the monologue that night), but there’s one instance where Seth Meyers fills in for Pardo (the Jonny Mosely episode from season 27) and one where Bill Hader does it (Christoph Waltz episode from season 38).


MONOLOGUE
EDM believes host when she jokes that she’s pregnant with his child

— Between Jim’s “Eddie Murphy’s here and Jamie Lee Curtis” lyric in the cold opening and Jamie’s talk at the beginning of this monologue, they’re making a big deal tonight about proving that Eddie’s in the building and isn’t on tape like he’s been in so many recent episodes.
— Funny line from Eddie about “a little beige baby” that he and Jamie are going to have.
— An overall decent monologue, with Eddie getting his usual laughs.
STARS: ***


RUBIK’S GRENADE
— Rerun


TAG, YOU’RE IT
(JIB)’s life goes down the tubes when he’s tagged “it”

       

— A big laugh from Tim’s shifty-looking burglar character just turning out to childishly tag Jim “it”.
— I like where this is going, with Jim’s wife seriously backing away from him afterwards.
— They’re going all out with this, now cutting to a pre-taped scene with Jim slowly walking out in the street as everybody is fearfully jumping out of his way. This whole thing is great.
— Funny quick part with the old lady.
— The pre-taped sequence continues to be strong, with a cut to several weeks later showing Jim slowly descending into homelessness while failing to tag anyone “it”.
— Loved the bear trap part.
— Overall, my new favorite writer Andy Breckman does it once again. Also, much like the Shoplifting short from a few episodes ago, this feels like another precursor to the heavy reliance on great pre-taped segments that the show will soon be doing the following season.
STARS: ****


JAKE’S VIDEO HUT
a video store employee (EDM) acts out scenes from movies not in stock

  

— Fairly fun bit with Eddie acting out an Elvis movie live for Robin, which is reminding me of that Gas Station sketch from last season where Eddie played a guy possessed by Elvis’ spirit.
— Now Eddie’s acting out another movie. This sketch seems like a pretty good concept for him.
— Good part with Tim requesting that Eddie do Deep Throat, which Eddie responds to by nervously telling Joe “You’re gonna have to help me out with that one”.
— The ending came off awkward and botched.
STARS: **½


TEXXON
— Another rerun. I didn’t realize until now that it doesn’t feel like there’s been many new pre-taped commercials this season AT ALL. In fact, the Buddweiser Light commercial from the previous week’s episode is the only one that’s coming to mind right now. Are there any others I’m forgetting, or is this the record for lowest number of new pre-taped fake ads in a single season?


EL DORKO
on a date with contest winner El Dorko, host discovers he’s a good kisser

   

— They seem to mention Gary’s real-life hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa quite a bit these last two seasons.
— The return of Gary’s El Dorko character.
— A pretty good laugh from Gary talking about a prank that some of the guys played on him where they spread deep heating rub in his jock.
— Another ending with an unlikely girl falling for El Dorko.
STARS: ***


THE JULIA SHOW
self-absorbed JLD dominates interview with host & EDM

   

— Good way of giving the underused Julia Louis-Dreyfus a showcase as herself.
— Very funny part with Julia’s quick “Do you think my hips are getting too wide? I don’t. Nobody does!”
— The redubbed “Trading Places” clip was fairly funny.
— Interesting segue at the end, with Julia throwing to Joel Hodgson’s following segment.
— Great performance from Julia overall.
STARS: ***½


JOEL HODGSON
Joel Hodgson [real] uses props & plays Rock-’em Sock-’em robots

     

— Some of these gags aren’t working for me tonight.
— Okay, I did like the trick he did just now with his “face” going through the rollers device.
— The part with the audience requests has a pretty good laugh with Joel insultingly telling one particular audience member “This is you, okay?” while holding up a Mr. Potato Head doll.
— I’m really enjoying this Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots competition between him and an audience member.
— Overall, this was very hit-and-miss and a step down from Joel’s last appearance (which itself was a step down from his first appearance), but what worked for me here gave me a pretty good laugh.
STARS: **½


REAGAN WORKOUT
during a workout, Ronald Reagan (JOP) can’t find anything to watch on TV

— This is already starting off rough, with that bad “steering aid” joke that was met with complete silence from the audience.
— This is tepid so far, and no funny lines have been standing out for me.
— What’s with the painfully awkward, long silent pause after Reagan wishes the Three Stooges(!) were on TV?
— Overall, boy, was this weak.
STARS: *½


REHEARSAL
(host) & (JIB) verbally rehearse a love scene they’re doing together

 

— The stiff lovemaking sounds are pretty funny.
— I’m liking Jim’s reaction to Jamie suddenly doing a high-pitched lovemaking scream in the middle of the script reading.
— Jim’s loud, out-of-place “AAH!” during the lovemaking sounds was funny and seems to have made both him and Jamie almost crack up.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “One Thing Leads To Another”


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Wayne Huevos (TIK) offers his thoughts on improving NYC’s garbage problem

   

— As “Pardo” is doing the opening voice-over, the camera pans over to Joe in the anchorman chair to reveal that it’s him doing the Pardo voice. During Joe’s explanation about Pardo being out sick with laryngitis (which Joe says is tonight’s top story), we get the “immortal” line about how no one can fill Don’s throat.
— Also, Joe mentions that Don has been the SNL announcer for the last 9 years, which would mean he’s been there for SNL’s entire run so far. I guess they already forgot about season 7 and Mel Brandt.
— Without even doing any news jokes at all, Joe immediately throws to a commentary.
— A new Saturday Night News character for Tim.
— This commentary from Tim hasn’t been working at all, though the part with him suggesting we dress hobos as clowns was so dumb that it kinda made me chuckle just for that reason.
— And already, this Saturday Night News ends, without Joe doing a single news joke. Not even an SNL Sports commentary from him. This, along with some of the other recent editions of Saturday Night News, really shows how Ebersol would often give SNN short shrift in the post-Brad Hall era.
STARS: *½


PERSONS EXPRESS
passengers of Persons Express economy airline are treated as cargo

   

— I already like this concept with passengers being in place of shipment in a crowded cargo room.
— Funny sequence with Jim and Robin very roughly trying to switch seats when Robin wants the “window seat”.
— Good little touch with Jim pointing to one part of Robin’s grandchildren picture and saying “That one’s ugly”.
— Jim’s been having a really strong night in this episode.
— The Yentl ending didn’t really work.
STARS: ***


HEART TARTARE
host & (GAK) rehearse their parts in a horror-based Broadway musical

   

— Ah, the familiar “Halloween” music sting has begun.
— Heh, if this is supposed to be “Halloween”, why is Jamie’s attacker wearing Jason Voorhees’ iconic hockey mask?
— Gary’s menacing killer character suddenly breaking out into a joyful musical number is fairly funny.
— This hasn’t been going anywhere too interesting after the above-mentioned part, though I did like the sudden addition of chainsaw-wielding dancers circling around Jamie and Gary.
STARS: **½


WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Pete Best (BRH) is still upset over Beatle ouster

   

— I remember when I last saw this sketch years ago (when NBC showed it on “Classic SNL” in 2004), I couldn’t for the life of me recognize Brad in that wig and mustache, and I spent the whole sketch racking my brain trying to figure out which cast member that was. I eventually settled on it being either Piscopo or some unannounced special guest who I’m not familiar with. It wasn’t until the following day when reading a discussion of this episode on an SNL message board that I realized it was Brad playing the role.
— Seeing this sketch again now, it’s instantly obvious to me that it’s Brad under that wig and mustache, though that may be because thanks to doing daily reviews of this era lately, I’m much more familiar with Brad than I was in 2004.
— Usually, Brad’s tendency to play certain roles too hokey and over-the-top kinda annoys me, but it’s working perfectly for this sketch with his back-and-forth violent crying outbursts.
— Funny part with him repeatedly stabbing a Ringo Starr picture on the inside of a cabinet door.
— Good fake out with Gary’s Rolling Stones drummer-seeking roadie wanting to hire Tim’s narrator character instead of Brad.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Red Skies at Night”


PROSE AND CONS
— As if all the repeated fake ads tonight wasn’t enough, now we get a rerun of a short film from two-and-a-half years earlier.  I wonder why.  It’s not like they had to cut off Fear’s musical performance again.


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A fairly underwhelming episode. Barely anything stood out as truly strong, and quite a bit of the show came off as pretty forgettable. There was also a strange amount of padding with all the reruns of fake ads and shorts from earlier seasons.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Edwin Newman

Posted on

February 11, 1984 – Robin Williams / Adam Ant (S9 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
at the Winter Olympics, JOP interviews bobsledders (host), (EDM), (JIB)

  

— After appearing on tape for the last three episodes, Eddie’s back, making his first live appearance of 1984.
— For whatever reason, Eddie’s hand has been held on his crotch the whole time so far, which apparently wasn’t in the script. I see I don’t have the censored version of this sketch, where they hide Eddie’s hand-on-crotch by superimposing something like a grass bush on the bottom of the screen.
— The bobsledding stock footage with the guys’ voices dubbed in screaming is fairly funny.
— That’s the whole cold opening? Not much to this at all.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about what it’s like to be a new father

   

— Some pretty funny stuff about the winter Olympics.
— I’m enjoying his material about parenthood. No particular jokes have been standing out at all in this monologue, though. I recall liking his later two monologues (from seasons 12 and 13) better.
STARS: ***


BUDDWEISER LIGHT
hockey players (host) & (JOP) bring out their best

     

— It feels rare in this era to see a host appearing in this type of pre-taped fake ad.
— Piscopo’s sudden whack to Williams’ face with the hockey stick really cracked me up.
— I’m getting some good laughs from the hockey players’ wild fight being played over a commercial jingle.
— Good ending shot with a beat-up-looking Piscopo and Williams jovially enjoying a beer together.
STARS: ****


ROCK & ROLL AND THEN SOME
Clarence Walker (EDM) proves he was 5th Beatle

  

— I have great memories of first seeing this sketch in Eddie’s “Best Of” compilation special, which was my very first exposure to this era of SNL. This was one of the first sketches I caught in the special, and immediately, I could see how strong of a cast member he was. It will be great to revisit this sketch.
— I’m loving Eddie’s hostility and fast-talking demeanor here.
— The medley of “original” Beatles songs being played on a tape is great, especially the one song with Eddie just speak-singing for a long time over the music.
— Here’s the part of the sketch that I’ve always remembered the most, where they play a Beatles song in reverse and you can hear John Lennon hilariously saying “Let’s get rid of Clarence and steal all his good ideas”.
— This overall sketch held up very well and was just as strong as I remembered it.
STARS: ****½


WILD KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
an evangelical veterinarian (host) heals pets

   

— Robin Williams’ voice in this is already making me laugh.
— The concept of this doesn’t seem all that great, though I have no doubt that Williams will get some laughs out of it, and this does seem like a good vehicle for his penchant for ad-libbing.
— I’m pretty sure that’s the same fluffy white cat that I once pointed out had appeared in a few sketches from seasons 5 and 6 (one of them being the sketch with Bill Murray and Ann Risley as a couple desperately trying to remember the name of their friend’s cat).
— I like the album title “Hymns That Only Dogs Can Hear”.
— Pretty funny reveal of Duke’s pet being a now-cooked fried chicken.
— A good unintentional laugh from Williams’ repeated difficulty in saying “Colonel Harlan Sanders”.
STARS: ***


GANDHI AND THE BANDIT
a movie about the truckin’ man of peace (TIK)

 

— They might as well have just said Tim is playing his Havnagootiim Vishnueerheer character, as his “Gandhi” portrayal here is the exact same, using the same voice, delivery, make-up, and outfit.
— Overall, while I kinda liked the initial concept, the sketch didn’t end up going anyplace interesting.
STARS: **


NEW BAD BABIES
babies (host), (EDM), (ROD), (TIK) plan an escape from their playpen

  

— An interesting-seeming sketch, even if the concept does kinda remind me a bit of the somewhat-corny Oscar Statuettes sketch from last season.
— Good baby voices from the performers, especially Williams.
— Mary’s “You’re being circumcised tomorrow” gave me a big laugh.
STARS: ***


FIRING LINE
William F. Buckley (host) asks (EDM) about flammable blacks

 

— Good to see Eddie so prominent tonight. It’s kinda funny how him appearing in a lot of sketches has become such a rarity lately, considering how much he typically dominated the show last season.
— The concept of flammable black men is already making me laugh consistently.
— Not familiar with William F. Buckley, but I’m getting amusement from Robin Williams’ impression.
— The Michael Jackson part was good.
— What’s with all the brief, quick cuts to a close-up of Williams silently listening to Eddie speaking?
— Good ending gag with smoke coming from Eddie. I also liked his yell of “Help! Tito!”
STARS: ***½


BABIES IN MAKEUP
— Are they kidding me? THIS short film again? Wasn’t it bad enough suffering through this TWICE back in season 7? Why bring this back two seasons later? And what’s with the baby theme in tonight’s episode anyway?


MIME ROOMMATE
(BRH) is fed up with having a mime (host) for a roommate

   

— A perfect role for Robin Williams.
— Ehh, despite the promise this initially seemed to have, this is kinda falling flat.
— Okay, I do like the part with Williams acting as a mirror while imitating all of Hall’s moves.
— The ending with Williams getting shot was nothing special, though it felt like it should’ve been.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Strip”


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
BRH interviews (JIB), the person who is mugged every eleven seconds
TIK criticizes NY Post’s lack of creativity regarding Andropov’s death

         

— I cannot imagine what Robin Williams will be like as an anchorperson.
— Ha, a callback to the Beatles sketch from earlier tonight.
— Hmm, Brad Hall’s picture has just shown up on the news screen. We’re getting a joke about our recently-fired SNL news anchor?
— Oh, it turns out to be a set-up to a pre-taped remote bit with “correspondent Brad Hall”, which was said as if Brad’s technically still part of the Saturday Night News team. I guess this is Ebersol’s way of trying to keep Brad happy despite his firing, but it’s still sad that an anchorperson has gotten demoted in this manner. Though thinking about it, I guess they already kinda did that with Mary Gross in season 7’s SNL Newsbreaks.
— I love the concept of how the saying “a person gets mugged every 11 seconds” turns out to be literally one person. Despite being a bit one-joke, this commentary is coming off very funny, and Jim is perfect for this role.
— I like the Jack Nicholson impression Williams’ did during his Nicholson joke.
— This is a really good edition of Tim’s “Salute to Journalism” so far, with him displaying his suggestions for typical New York Post-esque bad headlines that the Post should’ve given for Andropov’s death, instead of the uncharacteristically normal one they ended up using.
— If this ends up being Tim’s final “Salute to Journalism” (after all, he IS leaving soon), this was a very fitting way for it to go out.
— While Robin Williams ended up coming off a little less out-of-place in the anchorman role than Don Rickles did in the last episode, I still found him to be an ill fit here. However, Rickles and Williams may end up being two of the better guest anchors of this era by default, compared to how poorly I’m sure some of the upcoming hosts like Michael Douglas and Bob Uecker will do anchoring the news.
STARS: **½


MTV NEWS
an interview with musicians The Ugly Sisters Step (MAG) & (ROD)

 

— We’re starting off with an Adam Ant music video?
— Oh, the music video turns out to be part of an MTV sketch, with the return of Julia’s Nina Blackwood impression.
— I’m liking how very 1984 Gross and Duke’s musical group is coming off. I also like Duke’s fake teeth.
— Ehh, this sketch doesn’t seem to be offering much other than obvious ugly jokes.
— The camera-breaking gag at the end came off really weak.
STARS: **


SIAMESE TWINS
odd couple Siamese twins (JIB) & (host) try to pick up women in a bar

   

— For some reason, this bar set reminds me of the one used in the final Festrunk Brothers sketch that Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd did.
— Great reveal that Williams and Belushi are Siamese twins.
— This feels like the first appearance Gary has made all night, and of course, it’s just a small straightman role.
— Good touch with Belushi himself getting hurt as he’s beating up Williams.
— Belushi’s “I made the swim team… I didn’t make the swim team” line flub gets some good ad-libbing out of Williams, which makes Belushi smirk afterwards.
— Pretty funny ending.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Goody Two Shoes”


PAULA POUNDSTONE
Paula Poundstone [real] does stand-up about her driving woes

— I think this is the first (and maybe only?) time a special guest stand-up performer on SNL has been a female.
— The part about no longer being afraid to hurt people while driving is pretty funny.
— Good part at the end regarding Sirhan Sirhan and Robert Kennedy.
STARS: ***


PATTY’S PLACE
(JLD) & (TIK) live 30 seconds ahead, behind present

   

— Judging from the beginning with Julia answering a question Mary didn’t even ask yet, I’m going to guess that Julia’s character is a psychic.
— Oh, turns out Julia’s character has a condition where she’s always 30 seconds ahead.
— There’s the name Dale Butterworth once again, making it obvious that this is another sketch written by my new favorite writer Andy Breckman.
— Now it’s revealed that Tim’s character is 30 seconds behind. This whole concept is great.
— Good part with Mary patiently waiting a long time for 30-seconds-behind Tim to say the “funny” thing that Julia laughed early at, only for it to turn out to be a bad corny joke.
— Haha, I like how Julia is now being grossed out by something we haven’t seen Tim do yet.
— Funny visual with the rope of snot hanging from Tim’s nose.
— Solid ending with an even more grossed-out second reaction from Julia causing Mary to panickedly end the show in a hurry so she doesn’t have to see what disgusting thing Tim is going to do.
— Overall, Andy Breckman knocks one out of the park once again. He seems to particularly excel at doing conceptual talk show sketches like this, Larry’s Corner, and No That’s Okay (though I’m only speculating that he wrote the latter; it hasn’t been confirmed whether he did or not).
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

 

— We’re told there’s time to kill, which is perfect for Robin Williams’ knack for freely ad-libbing.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good episode. Even if there wasn’t much that was outstanding, the overall show still had a good feel, helped by Robin Williams’ always-fun presence and him fitting perfectly in the sketch comedy format.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Jamie Lee Curtis

Posted on

January 28, 1984 – Don Rickles / Billy Idol (S9 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Ronald Reagan (JOP) says “vote for me, Ronco’s TV President”

  

— A fairly funny concept with Joe’s Reagan doing his presidential campaign in the style of an infomercial.
— An overall simple, short cold opening, but a decent one.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host insults audience, including John Madden & Brandon Tartikoff [real]

     

— Unsurprisingly, Don Rickles is immediately coming off hilarious here and is doing great at working the crowd.
— Lots of great snappy ad-libs in response to various sounds from the audience.
— Haha, loved his “I don’t care what you are, you’re fat” comment to the racially-ambiguous audience member.
— This is like an actual funny version of Milton “I usually bow for 20!” Berle’s infamous season 4 monologue.
— I like how Don is actually going into the audience now.
— I loved his initial reaction to the punk-dressed female audience member.
— Former one-time SNL host John Madden is in tonight’s audience.
— Another former SNL host, Brandon Tartikoff, is also in the crowd. I thought I recognized him during an earlier shot of the audience, but I wasn’t sure.
— Great responses from Don towards director Dave Wilson when he cuts Don’s monologue off.
— Absolutely fantastic monologue overall.
STARS: *****


KANNON AE-1
— Rerun. Why are they re-airing this Stevie Wonder-starring commercial in someone else’s episode?


WITNESS RELOCATION
(host) doubts the FBI’s witness relocation program will work for him

    

— I like the randomness of Don’s character’s last name being Booty.
— Hilarious how Tim’s “disguise” for Don is just a simple cowboy hat.
— I absolutely LOVED how after Joe ad-libbed a funny comment to Don, Don ad-libbed right back to him “I’ll do the funny stuff; you just do the regular lines!”
— Don and Joe are having a lot of fun with each other in general here, with ad-libs galore between them.
— And now, a priceless improvised slap-match between Don and Joe keeps surfacing.
— Don’s stone-faced silent reaction to Joe managing to get in a whole bunch of consecutive slaps to Don’s face while delivering a lengthy line to him is great, as well as how Don “passed out” afterwards.
— This whole thing is fun as HELL. All the constant ad-libs are so funny that the scripted ending with the off-camera explosion almost didn’t even register at first.
STARS: *****


FASCINATING PEOPLE AND THEIR FRIENDS
(EDM) uses dynamite to get women, Dr. Joyce Brothers [real] disapproves

  

— A Dr. Joyce Brothers appearance. Heh, this almost makes me feel like I’m watching an “All That” sketch, as I recall it being a running gag for her to make random cameos on that show.
— Also, Joyce Brothers’ appearance in this sketch makes it obvious that they must’ve filmed this during the Eddie Murphy “preview show” taping, as the famous James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party sketch that was also filmed at that “preview show” ends with a photo of Eddie in the hot tub with Dr. Joyce.
— Dr. Joyce is already coming off funny here, especially the bit with her saying an unintentionally dirty-sounding “not afraid to stand up and show his we-ness”.
— Pretty funny concept with Eddie’s method of using dynamite to get women.
— The stock footage montage of Eddie’s explosions cracked me up, even if it got predictable fast. For some reason, I usually always like when SNL does this type of “explosion montage” (e.g. Linda Hamilton’s monologue from season 17).
— I also like how after the clip of an entire building exploding, Eddie says “Boy, I couldn’t walk for a week after that one.”
STARS: ***½


SAINT DON OF VERONA
during Romeo & Juliet sketch, host breaks character to spew venom at JOP

  

— Oh, ALREADY this is perfect with Don playing a very Don Rickles-esque character in a Shakespeare-type setting.
— This has REALLY started to take off with another display of loose back-and-forth improv between Don and Joe.
— An epic breaking-the-fourth-wall ad-lib with Don telling Joe “I didn’t forget in the other sketch when you slapped me around for a half an hour” as well as “Even though we’re eight centuries behind, I’m fed up with you!”
— Just when I thought all the improv between Don and Joe couldn’t get any funnier, now Don utters an absolutely classic “I hope Eddie Murphy robs your house!”
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “White Wedding”


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
host comments on various politicians & celebrities in the news
NBC censor Worthington Clotman (TIK) dislikes insult comedians

     

— And so begins the dreaded era of guest hosts anchoring Saturday Night News (though there will be some occasional episodes where a cast member or special guest fills in as anchorperson, such as Piscopo in the upcoming Jamie Lee Curtis episode).
— Don’s usual style is coming off kinda awkward in this “Faces in the News” format (a format that works better for someone like, say, David Spade in the “Hollywood Minute” commentaries he would later do on Weekend Update), though he still got some laughs from me with his comments about John Glenn, Dean Martin, Mussolini, and Prince Charles & Princess Diana.
— A new character for Saturday Night News staple Tim Kazurinsky. This particular character, Worthington Clotman, is based on then-current NBC censor William Clotworthy.
— Don’s silent facial reactions to Tim’s decry of insult comedians are quite funny.
— I liked Tim namelessly referring to Don as “a certain fat little bald Jew from Las Vegas who should wear a truss over his head”.
— Though predictable, I got a laugh from Don physically attacking Tim’s character at the end of the commentary.
— Overall, not a great edition of Saturday Night News. The fact that not even Don freakin’ Rickles could make this work all that well just shows how Ebersol’s idea of having guest hosts anchor the news was ill-fated as hell.
STARS: **½


EL DORKO
(MAG) & (JLD) fight for the right to kiss loser El Dorko (GAK)

     

— Looks like this will be another good character piece for Gary.
— Funny turn with Mary’s waitress character bizarrely falling in love with Gary.
— Good delivery from Mary of the line “He’s mine, you tramp!”
— Wow at the wild bit with Mary and Julia fighting over Gary by taking turns aggressively making out with him.
STARS: ***


THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE
(GAK) makes suicidal comedian (host) want to live

       

— Boy, this era sure does a lot of sketches with a suicidal character preparing to jump off a ledge. The exact same set is always used in these sketches too.
— Nice “This is Your Afterlife” twist.
— Ha, Tim sneaks in an unscripted slap to Don during their talk, which Don responds to by saying “Another slapper I got!”
— I like Mary’s interesting delivery of the word “alimony” while talking in that high-pitched, old-timey, Betty Boop-esque voice.
— Don’s ad-libbed “Get my alpine shoes!” had me howling.
— LOL at how during Don and Joe’s improvised(?) impression-off, Don tried to stretch his Humphrey Bogart impression when Joe was ready to move on with the sketch.
— The Rickles/Piscopo slap-match resurfaces once again!
— A huge laugh from Joe realizing that at one point during his ad-libbing, he accidentally called Don by his actual first name instead of by his character’s name. After amusedly correcting himself on that flub, Joe adds in a great “This sketch is going in the toilet anyway” remark.
— Haha, now Don breaks the fourth wall in an epic manner, by pointing out that Joe (who’s ghost character has just “dissolved” into thin air via special effects) is actually making his exit on an off-camera ladder, then Don runs over to yell at Joe on the ladder, as the camera follows all this unscripted action and actually shows the off-stage portion of this sketch’s set. You usually NEVER see anything like this happening in an SNL sketch.
— I really liked Don’s “I don’t know who you are, but I’m gonna see you’re on the show every week” ad-lib to the underused and underappreciated Gary Kroeger.
STARS: ****½


I MARRIED A MONKEY
Madge is having an affair with (host)

     

— They really fooled me at the beginning. I did not foresee this turning into another “I Married a Monkey” sketch at all.
— This is the first time they’ve done this sketch in almost an entire year. I can definitely see why they brought this sketch out of the mothballs tonight, as the perpetual loose, ad-lib-heavy nature of it is absolutely PERFECT for Don Rickles.
— LOL at the baby monkey unexpectedly imitating Don’s monkey-esque “Ooh ooh ooh” sounds, which makes Don actually crack up after a while.
— Overall, this was the funniest “I Married a Monkey” sketch in a while. The quality of these had slowly been going downhill during the last 2 or 3 installments, but Don’s presence in tonight’s version immensely helped bring up the quality.
— I think this ends up being the final “I Married a Monkey” installment. (Tim’s leaving SNL a few months from now anyway) I wonder if tonight’s sketch was before or after Tim found out about that life insurance that Ebersol secretly took out on him…
STARS: ***½


THE HAMLISCH MANEUVER
Marvin Hamlisch’s (JOP) nauseating songs stop choking

   

— Meh, kind of a corny concept of Marvin Hamlisch’s version of the Heimlich maneuver being him singing to choking victims, which causes them to throw up the food stuck in their throat.
— I think this has been the first time all night that I wasn’t crazy about a segment. [ADDENDUM: Oh, I forgot about Saturday Night News]
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rebel Yell”


GOODNIGHTS

 

— For some reason, Mary is dressed as Pee Wee Herman. I’m guessing a sketch got cut for time, which doesn’t surprise me, as I figured all the constant ad-libs we saw throughout the night would cause the show to run long (much like what happened with the Jerry Lewis episode earlier this season).
— Now Rickles has pointed out someone onstage who’s randomly dressed in an old-timey Native American outfit. I think that’s Brad, but I can’t tell.
— Now I’ve noticed Joe dressed as David Letterman. Wow, what in the world kind of sketch was cut that involved Pee Wee Herman, an old-timey Native American, and David Letterman? [ADDENDUM: Turns out Mary’s Pee Wee and Joe’s Letterman appeared together in a fake “Late Night with David Letterman 2nd anniversary special” promo that actually made it on the air but was removed from reruns. Not sure about Brad’s Native American character, though.]
— What’s with the unseen audience member who can be heard constantly making indecipherable shout-outs in a loud, growly, punk-ish voice while the goodnights music is playing? Billy Idol fan, I take it?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— I had thought the earlier Jerry Lewis episode was insanely fun with a loose, ad-lib-heavy nature, but THIS takes the cake. I absolutely LOVE this episode, so much so that I can officially dub it one of my all-time favorite SNLs ever. Don Rickles made everything a blast, the sketches he was put in were great and fit him PERFECTLY, the cast – particularly Joe – played well off of him (it’s too bad Eddie couldn’t be there, though; imagine seeing him and Rickles playing off of each other), and the show was wise to loosely format the show to allow for Don to run wild with plentiful ad-libs. This episode is probably the closest we’ll ever come to seeing what an entirely-improvised episode of SNL is like.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Palin and his mother):
— a huge step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
SNL keeps the fun, ad-lib-prone comedians coming, as Robin Williams hosts our next episode

Posted on

January 21, 1984 – Michael Palin and his mother / The Motels (S9 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
JOP is upset- they gave him Charlie Chan makeup for a Donahue sketch

   

— LOL, oh my god at Joe’s makeup. Who in the world is he playing?
— Ha, turns out he’s Phil Donahue. Why in the world does he look like that, though?
— Joe’s Donahue voice still leaves a lot to be desired.
— I’m loving how they’re now breaking the fourth wall with Joe storming backstage after realizing he was mistakenly given Charlie Chan make-up for his Donahue impression.
— This is hilarious, and Joe is really selling the hell out of his anger. I especially loved his loud outburst of “I’m supposed to be Phil Donahue! DOES THIS LOOK LIKE PHIL DONAHUE?!?!”
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
Michael’s mother interrupts his monologue with requests & advice

    

— This is unique, having someone host with their non-famous mother. And even funnier, Michael Palin’s mother was literally announced and billed as “his (Michael’s) mother”, which makes this probably the only time in SNL history where a host wasn’t billed under any name. I also wonder if she’s the second least-famous SNL host ever, after “Anyone Can Host” contest winner Miskel Spillman.
— This is pretty funny with Michael angrily making frequent trips backstage to accommodate his mother’s wishes.
— The fact that Michael’s mother isn’t even saying anything audible makes this even funnier, for some reason.
— Okay, she did speak aloud just now.
— The ridiculous hat Michael’s forced to wear is pretty hilarious.
STARS: ***½


BOY GEORGE BURNS: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC
a strange TV special

— Nice hybrid of a Boy George and a George Burns impression.
— This overall sketch didn’t turn out to be anywhere near as funny as the setup had me thinking it would be. Jim did a pretty decent George Burns, though.
STARS: **


MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
the dognapper shows how to ransom a pooch

   

— Nice addition with the puppy.
— I liked Eddie’s line about kids asking him “You don’t have no job, do ya?”
— I love how Eddie named the dog Cujo.
— The phone call to the puppy’s owner has a lot of very funny parts.
— Great Mister Robinson sketch overall.
STARS: ****


MICK PITWHISTLE DOES IT ALL
Pitwhistle’s (Michael) singing is bad in many genres

 

— Another fake promo starring a singer tonight?
— I did get one laugh so far, from Pardo’s jovially-delivered line “Mick Pitwhistle is the number one recording artist NOWHERE!”
— Overall, a letdown. The writing of this was really weak and not even Michael could save it.
STARS: **


POWERFUL LIVING SNAPS
Lorne Greene (JOP) for Powerful Living dog snacks- nutrition & religion

 

— Another sketch involving someone with a dog? There seems to be a lot of running themes in tonight’s episode.
— The “Powerful Living” book turning out to be a box of dog food gave me a chuckle.
— Overall, this ended up being another disappointing sketch tonight. There just wasn’t much to laugh at here.
STARS: **


MAN ON A CHAIN
(Michael) tries to lease an apartment that contains a man-on-chain (JIB)

   

— Hilarious entrance from Jim as some random cave-living savage who comes with the apartment that Brad and Robin want to buy.
— Jim’s reminding me so much of his brother John in this. I can easily imagine John playing this character in the original era.
— Very funny part with Michael’s explanation of the vague “M.O.C.” (man on chain) description that was in the lease.
— Outrageous part with Jim dragging a screaming Robin into his cave.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Brad following the above-mentioned Robin-dragging incident by casually asking Michael “Would that include utilities?”
STARS: ***½


THAT’S OKAY
(BRH) is stuck when (JOP) wants him to perform his skill

   

— There goes Julia in Ana Gasteyer’s future Bobbi Mohan-Culp dress once again.
— Pretty funny gradual reveal that the show’s title (“No, That’s Okay”) is what the host, Joe, always says to the guests when they ask him if he wants to see their incredible talent that they’ve just described to him.
— Great twist with Joe telling the third guest, Brad, that he actually wants to see him perform his talent involving driving three nails into his head with a hammer, and Brad responding that he never intended to do that dangerous stunt because he thought Joe would tell him the usual “No, that’s okay”.
— Hilarious how Gary and Tim are forcibly holding Brad down and hammering the nails into his head.
— Haha, great callback to Joe’s “No, that’s okay” mantra by having him say it in response to Jim’s cry of “My god, somebody help him!”
— I wonder if this was another sketch written by my new favorite writer Andy Breckman. This sketch kinda had the feel of his usual writing style.
STARS: ****


SHOPLIFTER
(JIB) steals the contents of a convenience store from under (GAK)’s nose

     

— Ah, here’s the “Shoplifting” film that was supposed to air in the previous week’s episode but got cut for time.
— Jim’s cracking me up with his hastily grabbing things near him in the store.
— Haha, this is getting insane with Jim stuffing literally EVERYTHING into his jacket.
— Very funny visual with the end result of Jim’s whole shoplifting spree causing his jacket to be insanely huge and clunky, which Gary’s store clerk character is hilariously oblivious to.
— There was a weird abrupt cut to the ending shot of Gary and Tim surrounded by a completely empty store.
— Overall, a really good short film. This kinda felt like a precursor to the “The Bulge” short we’ll be seeing in the season 10 premiere (both films involve Jim stuffing a ridiculous amount of things into one part of his clothing that results in it looking like a huge, clunky mess). In fact, this feels like a precursor to the general high usage of clever short films we’ll be seeing in season 10.
STARS: ****


WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?
(Michael)’s high-tech game show has problems
more technical difficulties during second attempt

    

— Very interesting setting.
— Wow, holy hell at the immediate explosion at the beginning of the show, just as Michael’s character was talking about how technologically advanced his show is.
— Heh, after the sudden explosion, the show has restarted with a now-bandaged Michael.
— Michael’s name randomly being Sally Benjamin cracked me up.
— Ehh, this overall sketch ended up fizzling out after a while and didn’t live up to its potential.
STARS: **


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
JOP analyzes upcoming Super Bowl XVIII by using the telestrator

     

— This is the first time we’re seeing Saturday Night News after Brad’s firing as anchorperson.
— Hmm, interestingly, Don Pardo introduces this as “A special sports edition of Saturday Night News”, and we then see Joe in the anchorman chair, doing his SNL Sports routine.
— Joe’s commentary about the following day’s Super Bowl (between the Redskins and the Raiders) has some pretty good laughs.
— Ha, the audience boos loudly when Joe predicts the Redskins will win, so he “changes” his prediction to the Raiders.
— That’s it? That’s the whole “Saturday Night News”? Wow, they didn’t even TRY to make this come off as a fake news segment. From Pardo’s intro to this, I assumed this would turn out to be Joe doing sports-related news stories, but instead, it was just the usual type of SNL Sports commentary that Joe typically does as a guest correspondent.
STARS: ***


WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?
first question is 17-2=?, “fedora” is accepted

 

— Yet another follow up to this sketch.
— I like the random cartoonish sound whenever a paper gets printed out of the futuristic machine.
— A good laugh from the participant choosing “fedora” as the answer to the math question 17 minus 2.
— The bungling-up of the transportation gimmick is another part I like.
STARS: ***


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Dr. Jack Badofsky goes over the types of menopause

   

— Oh, so it’s going to be a recurring thing tonight for regular guest commentators to “anchor” Saturday Night News. Yeah, I’m not crazy about this idea AT ALL. Ebersol clearly has no idea what to do with Saturday Night News anymore ever since he fired Brad.
— Tim’s portrayal of Dr. Jack Badofsky seems even more twitchy than usual tonight.
— The audience boos hard after Badofsky’s “Gentle-Ben-opause” pun. Between this and the audience’s constant booing and hissing during Badofsy’s previous appearance, they seem to officially have had enough of this character.
— Heh, I love how after the audience had a PARTICULARLY negative reaction to the “Tutankhamen-opause” pun, Tim added a “I guess that joke ‘sphinx’” and then smiled self-satisfyingly.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Suddenly Last Summer”


SAVE LOTS OF PLANKTON
(Michael) says “don’t worry about the whales, save all those poor plankton”

 

— This silly, ridiculous concept seems like a perfect sketch for Michael.
— The acronym for the S.L.O.P. organization was kinda funny.
— Overall, there were a few decent parts, but this kinda ended up being yet another underwhelming use of Michael’s talents tonight.
STARS: **½


HOUSE OF MUTTON
(Michael) is the owner of the House of Mutton sheep-themed restaurant

   

— A Clint Smith sighting. His speaking role in this sketch makes it obvious that this is yet another episode where Eddie’s not there live in the studio.
— I haven’t been liking where this sketch is going. Not even the “black sheep” joke with Clint could make me laugh much.
— What was with Michael randomly getting water thrown into his face when speaking to off-camera waiters in the kitchen? Michael’s strange reaction to that makes me wonder if that part wasn’t in the script.
— An all-around bad sketch overall, and I’m running out of different ways to say Michael’s talents were wasted.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Remember the Nights”


BOY’S LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI
riverboat captain (Michael) is mentor for (GAK)

 

— LOL at Michael quickly writing down the answers that Gary gives to Michael’s boat questions.
— During Michael’s brief song, I can see where they dubbed over his “Oh, you big wet bastard” lyric, which I guess was deemed too offensive to re-air.
— I like the bit where we find out Gary’s brother was run over by the ship.
— This overall funny sketch played well to Michael’s strengths, which is more than I can say for some of the other material he was given tonight.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A very hit-and-miss episode. About half the episode was well-written, solid pieces, like That’s Okay and Boy’s Life On The Mississippi, while the other half was mediocre, thinly-written stuff that Michel Palin couldn’t save, like House of Mutton and Mick Pitwhistle Does It All.
— In hindsight, it seems pointless for them to have credited Michael’s mother as a co-host when she only ended up appearing in the monologue and musical guest intros. Couldn’t they have found a way to use her in a sketch or two?


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Father Guido Sarducci):
— about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Don Rickles

Posted on

January 14, 1984 – Father Guido Sarducci / Huey Lewis & The News (S9 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
JOP & MAG announce & explain the SNL National Phone-In Democratic Primary

   

— Looks like we’re getting another Larry the Lobster/Andy Kaufman-type vote-in contest.
— A very noticeable cut right after Joe brings up Larry the Lobster. I recall hearing that SNL removed a mention of the Andy Kaufman vote-in, due to the fact that Kaufman passed away before this episode was first rebroadcast.
— A somewhat interesting idea for viewers to call in and vote for their favorite democratic candidate.
— Some pretty funny loose ad-libs between Joe and Mary.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


MONOLOGUE
host thinks we should worry less about Central America, more about Canada

— The idea of a recurring character hosting the show is very original, even if Father Guido Sarducci is far from my favorite character.
— His Central America/Texas/Maine bit was funny.
— Very funny line from him pointing out how Canada is closer to the United States than Manhattan is to Brooklyn.
— I’m surprised by how much I’m actually laughing at Sarducci in this.
— Good monologue overall.
STARS: ***½


BUCKWHEAT’S GHOST
Buckwheat’s ghost appears when publishers want tell-all book from Alfalfa

   

— I like the idea of this Alfalfa sketch so far.
— Mary’s whimper of “Heelllp!” cracked me up for some reason.
— The ghost of Buckwheat suddenly appears.
— Funny entrance from Gary as Buckwheat’s translator.
— Haha, Gary’s great at doing “Buckwheat speak” when translating the execs’ normal talk into gibberish that Buckwheat can understand.
— They make a passing mention of fellow Little Rascal Darla being dead too. Uh, what? When did she die? Didn’t we just see Julia playing her in Robert Blake’s Little Rascals Reunion monologue a season earlier?
STARS: ***


WHAT’S NEW
Linda Ronstadt (JLD) answers the musical question “What’s New”- not her

— I never knew Julia could sing so well.
— Some funny lyrics so far.
— This is a pretty solid (and harsh) parody of Linda Ronstadt. Something about it feels like a sketch that would’ve appeared during the original era. Maybe I’m reminded of that Barbra Streisand sketch that Laraine Newman once did.
STARS: ***½


COUNTDOWN 84
Jesse Jackson is the number one vote-getter so far; host nominates ZZ Top
Democrats join ZZ Top in “Sharp Dressed Man” video to ensure equal time
Nina Blackwood (JLD) announces that the winner will get a T-shirt

       

— An update on the voting so far. Due to the nature of this particular poll, it takes Joe a long time to go through each of the candidates’ vote totals and and call-in phone number, which is getting a little tiring to watch, though Joe IS throwing in some loose ad-libs here and there.
— Now Joe throws to a commentary from Father Guido Sarducci. So I take it this whole “Countdown 84” thing is also being used as a substitute for Saturday Night News tonight? After all, Brad Hall HAS just gotten fired as anchorperson, so maybe Ebersol didn’t know what to do with Saturday Night News yet, which just goes to show you how un-thought-out his decision to fire Brad mid-season was. You can’t fire an anchorperson mid-season without having a backup anchorperson ready to go.
— Sarducci putting ZZ Top into the vote-in polls is pretty funny.
— Now Sarducci has thrown to a ZZ Top music video. They’re not going to show the ENTIRE music video, are they?
— Okay, they cut the video off after about 30 seconds.
— A montage of the democratic candidates is being played to the ZZ Top song we just heard. This is actually pretty fun and I’m getting some laughs here.
— Now after the video ends, we suddenly get the debut of Julia’s soon-to-become recurring impression of MTV VJ Nina Blackwood.
— Julia’s pretty funny here.
STARS: I guess I can give this one a rating, so… **½


TASTELESS CHOICE
(JOP) is incestuous- times like these are made for Tasteless Choice

 

— Haha, holy hell at Joe’s out-of-nowhere “I’ve been sleeping with our daughter” reveal to his wife (Mary). Hilarious.
— Another big laugh from Mary’s response to Joe’s aforementioned reveal: “I’ll make some coffee.”
— Judging from the background music playing right now, I get the feeling this is going to turn into a coffee commercial.
— I was right.
— Strong sketch overall.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Heart & Soul”


THE MAN WHO LOVED SWIMMIN’
movie shows how host keeps his chastity vow

    

— Robin’s screentime seems to be becoming more and more scarce these last few episodes.  She’s been very invisible lately.
— Pretty funny setting for Sarducci.
— Julia’s very funny in her scene so far. I’m surprised by how many funny things she’s been getting to do tonight in general, considering she’s usually wasted in forgettable straight roles.
— This sketch is getting pretty repetitive.
— Ha, I did love Sarducci immediately jumping back into the pool after silently looking through a National Geographic magazine.
STARS: **½


NICE BOYS DON’T GET GIRLS PREGNANT
Michael Jackson (EDM) says “Nice Boys Don’t Get Girls Pregnant”

 

— Considering how huge Michael Jackson was at the time, I’m surprised by how little SNL has been spoofing him in this era.
— This sketch appears to be in a similar vein to the Poly-Rock sketch from earlier this season (a sketch where Brad played an aging fictional rocker in need of denture glue). They’re even re-using the exact same concert stage and backstage sets that were used in that sketch.
— Like the last time Eddie played Michael Jackson, his impression is disappointingly generic, just doing an unspecific high-pitched voice and portraying him as vaguely gay (which probably comes off strange nowadays). I guess there wasn’t much about Michael’s personality to spoof yet back in this time period.
— Very short sketch overall, and I’m not quite sure the “Nice boys don’t get girls pregnant” twist worked for me. I didn’t really get a laugh from it.
STARS: **


STEVEN WRIGHT
Steven Wright [real] does stand-up involving his unique perspective

— Yes! Great to see Steven Wright again.
— Right off the bat, he’s already making me laugh out loud.
— This overall segment wasn’t quite as strong as his last appearance, which was more consistently funny and tighter, but what DID make me laugh here was fucking hilarious and had me in tears. My favorite one-liners were the bit about everything in his apartment having been stolen and replaced with an exact replica, his random “I’m feelin’ kinda hyper” line, and him thinking the dictionary was a poem for everything.
STARS: ***½


COUNTDOWN 84
ZZ Top has now pulled in front of Jesse Jackson in the voting
host asks people on the street who they would vote for

   

— Oh, turns out we DO get Brad Hall (in his first appearance of the whole night, by the way) in an anchorman-type role tonight after all. Having him anchor one of these “Countdown 84” segments seems to be Ebersol’s way of throwing Brad a bone to keep him from getting too upset over his recent Saturday Night News firing.
— By the way, this is the first time in SNL history where an episode doesn’t have a fake news segment. Ebersol HAS been known to occasionally do away with some of SNL’s traditions, but dumping the fake news segment is pretty drastic.
— The first guy who Sarducci is interviewing seems kinda familiar, but I’m not sure why. (third screencap above)
— Oh, no, I’m hearing another instance of the dreaded “Comedy Network overlapped audio”. You see, as I mentioned in a recent review, whenever these old Comedy Network reruns remove something from a sketch, it often strangely results in a few seconds of the sketch being overlapped with audio of the removed portion. In this particular sketch’s case, when the camera cuts back to Brad in the studio after Father Guido Sarducci’s Man on the Street segment ends, something that Brad said appeared to be removed and you can momentarily hear audio of it while Brad’s speaking. Very sloppy. Who the heck was in charge of these Comedy Network edits anyway?
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Want a New Drug”


RIGHT TO VOTE
JOP encourages viewers at home to participate in the democratic process

— Interesting setting for this vote-in update.
— Despite a few comedic lines, this was a pretty straightforward segment overall. Nothing for me to say here.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


AIRPORT
after host’s flight is delayed, TransEastern employee (JIB) gets friendly

 

— LOL at Sarducci’s violent temper tantrum when finding out his flight has been delayed.
— I had been wondering where Jim was tonight. This is his first appearance of the whole night, very late in the show. The whole “Countdown 84” stuff that’s been eating up a lot of the show seems to have made it hard for most of the cast to get any airtime.
— This sketch seems to be taking a slice-of-life, low-key turn.
— The “I work on tips” ending was kinda weird.
— Overall, this was another sketch tonight that I’m not sure what to think of. I usually enjoy the low-key slice-of-life pieces that SNL does in these older seasons, but I’m not even sure if I liked this particular one or not.
STARS: **½ by default


PHONE-IN RESULTS
Dick Ebersol [real] gives host the tally- ZZ Top wins with 131,384 votes

      

— We get a VERY brief walk-on from Dick Ebersol, making one of his rare on-screen appearances.
— I like how behind Sarducci, we see the cast, Steven Wright, and Huey Lewis each holding a board with one of the candidates’ face on it.
— Speaking of the cast, Eddie is noticeably absent, making this yet another episode this season where we wasn’t there live in the studio.
— The voting results are announced. Predictably, ZZ Top is the winner.  Uh, yay?
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


GOODNIGHTS

  

— A pre-taped segment titled “Shoplifting” is noticeably listed in the scrolling ending credits, even though it was nowhere to be seen tonight. I guess it got cut for time. If “Shoplifting” is what I think it is (a short film with Jim Belushi as a shoplifter sneakily stuffing items from a convenience store into his jacket), it ends up airing in a later episode this season.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An unusual-feeling episode, with the “Countdown 84” vote-in contest absolutely dominating the night (much moreso than the prior Larry the Lobster and Andy Kaufman vote-ins, which didn’t get in the way of their respective episode’s sketches too much). The non-election portions of this episode felt scarce and, as mentioned earlier, we barely saw most of the cast. (Julia Louis-Dreyfus had a rare strong night, though) The fact that there was no fake news segment also added to the odd feeling of the night. There were still a few good non-election segments, though, and the election stuff itself did provide a few fun moments.
— Father Guido Sarducci was a surprisingly decent host and came off more likable and enjoyable than I usually find him.


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Michael Palin and his mother

Posted on

December 10, 1983 – Flip Wilson / Stevie Nicks (S9 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Blaire’s amused when Dion Dion’s mother Geraldine (host) visits the salon

   

— Nice to see Dion Dion and Blair in the cold opening slot.
— Perfect casting of Flip Wilson’s famous Geraldine character in the role of Dion Dion’s mother.
— Ha, I like how we find out Dion Dion’s real name is Harold. I also like seeing Joe’s Blair being amused by that.
— When Flip incredulously asks “Quasi-what?!?” repeatedly to Eddie, Eddie’s clearly trying not to laugh.
— Something got bleeped out in my version when Flip’s Geraldine says “I had big (bleep) back then”. I’m guessing it was a euphemism for the word “breasts”.
— Eddie again cracks up when Flip keeps loudly repeating “I’m sorry” to him.
— Loved Eddie and Flip both saying “Shut up, bitch!” to Joe in unison.
— Very fun cold opening overall.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— For some reason, when the montage ends, they don’t show the SNL Band playing on the home base stage’s rooftop like they usually do this season.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Oh, no. My copy of this monologue is unfortunately the edited version. See, there’s two different versions of this monologue: one where Flip tells a joke, and another version where the aforementioned joke portion is removed, leaving his monologue to be a pointless brief segment where he just comes out on stage, says his greetings, then suddenly says “We’ll be right back!” and the monologue ends. Unfortunately, the latter version is the one in my copy (which is an NBC “Classic SNL” airing from sometime around December 2004). I remember once seeing the unedited version of this monologue on Comedy Central ages ago.
— I can’t remember what exactly Flip’s joke is in the unedited version of the monologue, but I do remember Flip preceding it by asking someone off-camera if the censors have allowed him to go ahead with it. I guess the joke he did was so off-color that some of the rerun versions of this episode censor it.
STARS: N/A


UNREQUITED SEX
sleazy couple (ROD) & (JOP) exchange Christmas presents & cheap jokes

  

— I’m trying to figure out which celebrity Joe is playing. They haven’t said his name yet.
— Never mind, I guess Joe’s just playing a random character. I wonder why they gave him such a specific, detailed look, though. It made me think he was playing someone famous.
— I loved Joe’s suggestive “Remind you of anything?” ad-lib(?) to Robin when some eggnog accidentally(?) spills on his lap.
— Some laughs so far, but I’m not sure what the main joke of this sketch is supposed to be.
— Joe’s smooth-voiced delivery of “Baby, you KNOW what I like!” cracked me up.
— And the sketch is over??? The punchline that neither of them wants to go through with the sex didn’t quite work for me. I was hoping that the long set-up of this sketch was leading up to a funnier punchline than that.
STARS: **


AIRPLANE WASHROOM
(host) is an attendant in a cramped airline restroom

  

— Pretty funny concept of a small, cramped airplane lavatory having a bathroom attendant.
— I like how the addition of Gary is making the already-cramped space even more chaotic.
— Again, I ask, the sketch is over ALREADY??? The ending of this was terrible, with Brad’s “Nah, get out of here!” after he acted like he was about to pay Flip a tip.
— This overall sketch didn’t come off quite as funny as it could’ve.
STARS: **½


CRAZY WEINSTEIN
Crazy Weinstein (JIB) isn’t selling anything- he’s just insane

— Great twist on the usual “Crazy Eddie” commercial spoofs, by having the “crazy” pitchman this time turn out to be a random, legitimately-crazy man who’s not even selling anything.
— Jim is hilarious in this with all his random psychotic revelations about himself. I especially like the various “Don’t touch my hat!” warnings he keeps repeating throughout this.
STARS: ****


PUDGE & SOLOMON
at Christmastime, Solomon & Pudge discuss shoes & feet

  

— I like how Eddie’s trying to make Joe crack up with his shoeless foot.
— Eddie’s whole “cold feet, warm news, etc.” philosophy is hilarious. Again, you can tell Eddie and Joe are having fun with each other during this.
— As usual in these Pudge & Solomon sketches, this takes a touching turn, this time by having Pudge’s Christmas gift to Solomon be a much-needed new pair of shoes.
— I wonder why they didn’t put Flip Wilson in this sketch. He actually would’ve fit really well into this.
— There’s an infamous backstory that right after this sketch ended, Joe had a HUGE blow-up backstage when Dick Ebersol congratulated Eddie on his performance in the sketch and then walked off with his arm around Eddie while completely ignoring Joe. This infuriated Joe and he WENT OFF on both Dick and Eddie. I wonder if this could be considered the official beginning of the end of Eddie and Joe’s friendship.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stand Back”


REVEREND LEROY
a reverend’s (host) parishioners agree with him until he asks for money

— I’m liking Flip’s energy here.
— Yet another sketch tonight with a weak, abrupt punchline that just leaves me going “THAT’S the ending? The sketch is over ALREADY???”
STARS: **


UNANSWERED QUESTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE
Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer on more Unanswered Questions of the Universe

— I take it this is going to be a follow-up to Havnagootiim’s last appearance where he asked viewers to mail in mysterious questions that he will answer in his next appearance.
— I was right.
— I liked the answer to the question “What makes Ed McMahon laugh so much?” (2.5 million dollars).
— One of the mailed-in letters comes from someone named Louis Klein. I’m assuming that’s the same Louis Klein who’s a long-time SNL viewer and is well-known for attending SNL every single week.
— Another funny answer from Havnagootiim, this time in response to the question “Why do we always look in the toilet after we’ve gone to the bathroom?” (We want to know how fast corn travels through our body).
STARS: ***


HELLO, TRUDY!
call-in show’s sole viewer (JLD) asks (JOP) dumb questions

— I liked the bizarre thumb/roller coaster question that Trudy asks Joe.
— Funny reveal that Trudy is always the show’s only caller and how the show’s original name eventually had to be changed to reflect that.
— Solid sketch overall. I think this sketch goes on to eventually become recurring. I worry that it’ll suffer diminishing returns, as I’m not sure that the joke will work with repetition.
STARS: ***½


JOEL HODGSON
Joel Hodgson [real] shows the devices that enable him to become Agent J

     

— Interesting backstory from Flip during his intro, addressing how after Joel Hodgson’s previous appearance on the show in which he displayed a prop bomb, Hodgson later got in trouble with the law for leaving that prop bomb in his hotel room wastebasket, which got mistaken by the hotel staff for a REAL bomb.
— Good to see Hodgson on SNL again.
— All his stealth gun props are getting increasingly funny.
— Love the random part with him displaying some kind of weird pig thing he built when he was bored.
— Overall, this was a slight step down from Joel’s previous appearance on the show, but this was still consistently funny with me receiving one laugh after another all throughout this.
STARS: ***½


SHOE TIER
Walter (GAK) insists he can make a living by only tying host’s shoelaces

  

— The debut of Gary’s old man character, Walter.
— I’m enjoying the bizarre concept of a professional shoe-tier.
— Gary’s bitter “Scum!” remark to Tim as Tim’s walking off was a little thing that gave me a surprisingly big laugh.
— Nice subtle touch with all the pictures on Gary’s wall being of Flip Wilson.
— Overall, the usual good Gary Kroeger-starring sketch, and a great character piece for him.
STARS: ***½


WHAT FAMOUS PERSON DO YOU LOOK LIKE?
— A rerun of a Man on the Street segment that originally aired just two episodes ago. Did they just add this to the reruns to fill in the extra time left over from the edit they made to Flip’s monologue? [ADDENDUM: In addition to the cut portion of the monologue, this Man on the Street rerun also replaces a sketch removed from rebroadcasts, titled “Older Sisters Of The Young” starring Mary Gross as Mary Tyler Moore.]


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Dr. Ruth Westheimer (MAG) points out holiday season sexual imagery
TIK extends the “Truly Tasteless Jokes” idea to other literary genres
BRH offers sample dishes from the Cabbage Patch Cookbook

      

— Okay, two things to immediately address here. One, this ends up being Brad’s final night anchoring Saturday Night News. Dick Ebersol would abruptly fire him from his anchorman role sometime between this and the next episode. The second thing to address here is how INSANELY FUCKING LATE tonight’s Saturday Night News is airing. There’s only about 20 minutes of the show left and Saturday Night News is JUST NOW starting. Now, I know some of the earlier Comedy Central reruns I’ve reviewed of this era also have Saturday Night News appearing unusually late in the show, but that’s a different case: those are just the result of the episodes’ original running order being rearranged in those Comedy Central reruns. In tonight’s case, however, Saturday Night News REALLY DID air this late in the original airing. This is NOT an edit. And I’m honestly stunned by this. After all, it’s absolutely unheard of for SNL to schedule the show in this bizarre manner, burying their news segment into the 12:40 timeslot, just 20 minutes before the show ends. The writing is CLEARLY on the wall for Brad by this point. Placing tonight’s Saturday Night News in such a ridiculously late timeslot must’ve been Ebersol’s way of letting Brad know that his days are numbered. I have a lot more to say about Brad’s firing, but I’ll save it for the end of this edition of Saturday Night News.
— Mary’s overall Dr. Ruth commentary was okay. No particular lines stood out, though, and I’m not happy that they revived her tired old habit of always doing the “finger-in-hole” sexual gesture at the end of her commentaries.
— I got a good laugh from Brad’s joke about Gary Coleman being Sammy Davis Jr.’s black Cabbage Patch Doll.
— Tim’s suggestions for bad book ideas has some pretty good laughs, especially “Nancy Drew’s Unbearable Cramps”.
— Ehh, not to sure about this bit with Brad displaying samples from a “Cabbage Patch Cookbook”. It’s not really working for me.
— And so ends Brad Hall’s final Saturday Night News ever. I have mixed feelings over Ebersol’s firing of him. On one hand, I never really warmed up to Brad too much as an anchorperson. I did initially find him to be a mild breath of fresh air from the dreadful Brian Doyle-Murray “SNL Newsbreak” era that preceded him, but those somewhat-amiable feelings towards Brad soon faded once I started realizing I don’t care for his hokey delivery nor his tendency to try too hard when doing some of the sillier bits & ad-libs. The weak jokes he was often handed didn’t help, either. He still occasionally had some okay moments, but overall, I can’t say I’m going to miss him as an anchorperson at all. On the other hand, I still can’t help but feel bad for him getting fired from the news desk right in the middle of the damn season. Couldn’t Ebersol have at least had the decency to pull this move over the summer, when the season is over? Yanking Brad from the news desk mid-season would at least be slightly understandable if Ebersol had someone else in the cast prepared to take over his spot. But here’s the thing: HE DIDN’T! Instead, he ends up resorting to getting the freakin’ guest hosts to anchor each Saturday Night News, turning the segment into a ridiculous revolving door of out-of-place anchormen. Boy, am I dreading that era of the news segment.
— Oh, and this isn’t the only time in my SNL project where I’ll have to cover an SNL news anchor getting fired mid-season. 14 seasons later, the same thing that happened to Brad happens to a certain other anchorperson, but considering how I’m MUCH more of a fan of said anchorperson than I am of Brad Hall, you can bet that I’m going to have things to say regarding his firing when we reach that point in SNL’s timeline.
STARS: **½


SUBTERRANEANS
classical station ad is (TIK)’s solace from clashing subway radio mimics

   

— An interesting piece so far. I’m eager to see where it’s going.
— Good turn with Tim, fed up with the other passengers obnoxiously singing along to the various contemporary songs playing on their respective walkmen, making them each tune into the same classical radio station, which they all beautifully sing along to in unison.
— Overall, this clearly wasn’t intended as a laugh-out-loud sketch, but it was a well-written and very nice piece, especially for this late in the show.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Nightbird”


GOODNIGHTS

   

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A pretty good episode overall, though there were a few fairly rough things early on after the monologue, and there was an unusual amount of quick sketches that had weak punchlines. Flip Wilson seemed a little too underutilized as a host, especially considering his background.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (The Smothers Brothers):
— a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
We enter 1984 (my birth year!), with host Father Guido Sarducci