Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
fireman (CHC) leads his men on a door-checking mission in a smoky hallway
— Chevy’s constant “check that doors”s are kinda making me laugh, mostly due to his delivery.
— The second hallway the firemen are shown in looks like the same hallway set used in the second Willie and Frankie sketch last season where they were night watchmen.
— Okay, all the “check that door”s are losing their humor and seem to be the only joke, though I did like the variation with him asking one of the firemen “What do you want, your check?”
— Chevy “passing out” from the smoke felt like a weak, tacked-on variation of his trademark pratfalls.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
JOL asks CHC if he has any words of advice for the new cast
— Chevy jokingly ordering the removal of one particularly enthusiastic-sounding audience member is pretty funny.
— Not too crazy about most of the jokes here so far. They’re pretty weak and Chevy’s delivery is coming off fairly sloppy.
— The barbecue advice to Jon Lovitz was okay.
— I did like the ending of the monologue, with Chevy calling tonight’s musical guest S. Eisenberg.
STARS: **
THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
feminist stripper Harriet De Lafayette (DAV)
— Nora Dunn gets her very first comedic showcase, after not having any in the season premiere. (She was the only cast member I never got a chance to mention in my review of that episode)
— The Pat Stevens character is already coming off pretty funny with her clueless statements so far.
— A good initial laugh from Danitra’s occupation as a feminist stripper, as well as her explanation of what she does.
— Just now, the light on the city backdrop briefly turned off before immediately turning back on. Strange.
— Danitra has quite a lot of funny lines here.
— I like the pointless “exercise” routine that Nora has Danitra and viewers do.
— Overall, a pretty solid debut for these Pat Stevens sketches.
STARS: ***½
FORD & REAGAN
Gerald Ford (CHC) gives Ronald Reagan (RAQ) advice about Soviet meeting
— Nice way to work in the return of Chevy’s Gerald Ford impression, pairing him with Randy’s Reagan.
— As usual, Terry’s Nancy Reagan is coming off hilarious so far
— Strange how the painting of Randy as Reagan has Reagan’s real hairstyle, but Randy himself never does whenever he plays him.
— I like the repeated background gag of Terry’s Nancy struggling with the dog.
— The whole role-playing part with Ford and Reagan isn’t working much for me.
— Much like the monologue, Chevy seems a little off here.
— I do like Chevy’s trademark pratfall over the paintings.
— Overall, a few highlights, but the sketch was kind of a letdown.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A Love Bizarre”
PATHOLOGICAL LIARS ANONYMOUS
Tommy Flanagan (JOL) of Pathological Liars Anonymous tells his life story
— Lots of Mark McKinney voice-overs introducing sketches tonight.
— The debut of what would go on to be one of Jon’s signature characters.
— There’s the very first utterance of “That’s the ticket!”
— The “I did kill myself” line was great.
— There’s a distracting huge boom mic shadow that has just shown up in the background.
— Overall, a funny sketch and Jon came off great as this character right out of the gate. This also feels like the very first role where Jon was really allowed to show his comedic chops, considering he mostly just played it straight in the season premiere.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE
DAW suggests selling MX missiles to Iran & Iraq to generate mo’ money
— For the second episode in a row, Dennis starts Update with another funny random opening comment, this time telling Don Pardo he finds him so “fresh… exciting”.
— While none of the news jokes have stood out as particularly memorable so far tonight, I’m enjoying them and Dennis is still coming off really well with his delivery.
— Damon Wayans gets the honors of being the first guest commentator during the Dennis Miller era of Update.
— I absolutely love Damon’s demeanor and how he’s coming off in this.
— There’s the immortal words “mo money”, which Damon would later make famous the next decade.
— Wow, Damon’s overall commentary was very strong and gave me a lot of big laughs.
— I liked Dennis’ comments about Damon after Damon’s segment ended.
— Dennis ends tonight’s Update with “That’s the news, I’m gone”. Still experimenting with the ending tagline, I see.
STARS: ***½
JOSE CUERVO’S PARTY SCHOOL BOWL
students answer very easy questions
The Jose Cuervo Institute rehabilitates those with party-related injuries
— I liked Joan pronouncing “synonyms” as “cinnamons”.
— Some aspects of this are kinda reminding me of a Community College Bowl sketch SNL would later do in a Jeff Daniels-hosted episode from 1991. Both sketches even have a contestant with the last name Hygaard or Hoigaard (played by Robert Downey in this sketch, and Mike Myers in the 1991 sketch). I’m guessing both sketches were written by the same person.
— Jon’s delivery of his answer “Ron Berger, Oldsmobile” was really funny.
— Hmm, now this sketch is showing a video showcasing one of the colleges, which is exactly something the aforementioned 1991 Jeff Daniels sketch did as well. Yeah, both sketches DEFINITELY must be from the same writer.
— An early Robert Smigel and A. Whitney Brown sighting among the students drinking and partying with the University of Colorado team.
— Interesting format break, now going to “commercial” to show a related ad for The Jose Cuervo Institute, starring Randy.
— The overall sketch was okay. A little better than the aforementioned Jeff Daniels version, which I remember being pretty one-note.
STARS: ***
THOSE UNLUCKY ANDERSONS
(CHC) prescribes butter for his ill-fated family
— I love the reveal of the lottery ticket-eating cat now being frozen. Good line from Chevy: “We’ll never get the tickets out of him this way.”
— I like the repeated advice of “Put some butter on it” being given for every situation.
— Chevy randomly works his Gerald Ford klutz shtick into this sketch when opening the door for Jon. Felt very unnecessary.
— Minor nitpick: Nora’s eyepatch is on the wrong eye. It was her other eye that “fell out” earlier in the sketch.
— An overall pretty solid sketch with several good random gags. It was also amusing how the various misfortunes were treated so casually by the family.
STARS: ***½
CRAIG SUNDBERG, IDIOT SAVANT
Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant (AMH) judges a violin recital in Moscow
— Anthony’s far-fetched excuse for not having his homework is pretty funny.
— Okay, I don’t care for where this sketch is going now. This violin competition judging scene hasn’t been working for me.
— There have been a lot of parts throughout tonight’s episode where this season’s infamous habit of sweetening audience reactions in reruns have been very noticeable, but it’s PARTICULARLY obvious in this sketch, because there’s absolutely no way the real audience is laughing so hysterically over THIS.
— Second sketch in a row ending with Dan Vitale in a walk-on role as one of two cops dragging a character away.
— Right before the camera freeze-frames at the end, Anthony accidentally bumps Jon in the face with his hand, resulting in Jon giving Anthony a very stern glare (though that last part was probably just Jon acting in character).
— Overall, I didn’t like this sketch, though at least it was short. If this is an example of the type of character work Anthony’s going to be bringing to the table this season, we’re screwed. This felt like a typical bad character that Pete Davidson would play nowadays.
STARS: *½
DRUMS DRUMS DRUMS
CHC plays selections from his three album collection
— The joke of the advertised tunes all having the exact same sound when played on drums was fairly funny initially, but this sketch doesn’t seem to be offering anything else.
— Okay, the “techno classics” bit right now was pretty funny, where Chevy just pressed a button on a drum machine.
— Overall, not too great. Impressive drumming from Chevy, though (which is a talent I don’t recall him ever displaying on SNL during his cast member years).
STARS: **
THE BLUE, THE GRAY, AND THE YELLOW
cowardly brothers are Civil War enemies
— The introductory screen bubbles of Anthony and Robert fearfully running away are kinda funny, but boy is Robert hamming it up with his overly-goofy facial expressions.
— Here’s the very first of what would unfortunately be many maid roles for Danitra this season.
— Oh, god, does Danitra have to play the role with such a cringeworthingly over-the-top, old-timey stereotypical voice?
— This sketch’s set looks like the same one from the Reagan/Ford sketch earlier tonight, only redecorated to have a more Civil War-era look.
— Boy, is Robert continuing to mug the camera like crazy.
— Okay, I finally got one legitimate laugh, from Randy’s overly-wordy, long-winded way of calling Anthony and Robert cowards.
— Anthony seems to keep having trouble putting his sword away in his sword case.
— Joan is yet another performer who’s overacting really badly in this sketch. Man, what was Lorne THINKING when hiring so many young kids for this season’s cast?
— Overall, this sketch was rough as hell, and exposed the weaknesses of this season’s younger performers (especially Anthony). It felt like Randy was the only thing holding this sketch together.
STARS: *½
THE LIFE OF VLAD THE IMPALER
Transylvanian prince has doubts
— Nice detail with that random huge boil on Randy’s face.
— This sketch is really tickling me so far, particularly Randy’s casual, overly-relaxed delivery, and the general conversation between him and Chevy.
— Randy’s look into the camera at the end was great.
— Overall, a very funny and clever writer-ly piece. This obviously wasn’t the type of sketch that was going to get a lot of laughs from SNL’s studio audience, but was something that comedy nerds like me can appreciate.
— I think I recall hearing this sketch was written by then-new writer Jack Handey. If this is the very first SNL sketch he got on the air, it’s a definite sign of many great things to come from him.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Much like the season premiere, this wasn’t a particularly terrible episode, but it wasn’t good either. This may have actually been a little worse than the premiere, considering the string of consecutive bad sketches towards the end of the show. We did at least get some promising debuts of future big recurring characters (Pat Stevens, Tommy Flanagan), and a few good absurd pieces in the post-Update half (Those Unlucky Andersons, Vlad The Impaler). But between the underwhelming season premiere and tonight’s episode, we haven’t exactly been seeing an encouraging sign of things to come this season.
— I can’t imagine the cast was in the best spirits by the end of that week anyway, considering Chevy’s notorious horrible treatment of them behind the scenes. I also noticed that Chevy seemed kinda off his game tonight, which is starting to feel par for the course whenever he hosts. Even his intentional gibberish-speak during his goodnights speech tonight fell flat.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Madonna):
— a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Pee-Wee Herman
Why is Anthony Michael Hall grabbing Chevy’s butt? (The last screenshot)
Hall and Chevy worked together when Hall was 14 on Vacation and Hall had a good relationship with Chevy. He was probably goofing around.
It sure is weird how Chevy went from effortlessly funny and humourously egotistical in Season one to awkwardly uncomfortable and just plain normal egotistical in all his later guest starring appearances.
Fun fact: Chevy Chase was the drummer for a band which eventually became Steely Dan.
Don’t worry – tomorrow’s episode is MUCH, MUCH better. One of my all-time favorite SNL’s, even.
Whoa, hate for Pete Davidson? I love that dude. His commentaries are the best.
Totes agree, I can’t watch the new season with all the missing people that were good, including Davidson. Loved his Eminem bits too.
As a kid, I always thought Pat Stevens was a real person and this was an impression. I think I thought she was Colorado Congresswoman Pat Schroeder.
Mike, she played Pat Schroeder during the 1988 political season (esp. the ’88 Republican primary debate sketch with Carvey as GHW Bush, Dan Aykroyd as Bob Dole, Kevin Nealon as Pierre DuPont, Al Franken as Pat Robertson, Phil Hartman as Jack Kemp, and host Carl Weathers as Rev. Jesse Jackson)
If I had to guess Chevy was probably high as a kite during this show hence both his awful acting and behind the scenes crap. That’s the only way I can imagine how he coulda been so awful to Sweeney and Downey. Even Hall in the oral history book admitted that Chevy never acted that way during the filming of Vacation so his problems musta got really bad by late 1985.
I always wanted to hear Quaid’s view on SNL in general. He’s been very quiet both then and now.
I heard about the gay bashing esque stuff he said to Sweeney, I think suggesting to the writers they do something about AIDS with Sweeney, but interested in what or how he treated Downey?
Also I don’t think he seems high here, though he’d enter the better ford center the following year for painkiller addiction citing it to years of his infamous pratfalls on SNL, but I didn’t see him drugged out, just a bit lazy. Was disappointed in his overall experience but also don’t think the sketches were particularly that great, think the best was the game show, which highlighted the cast, and the unlucky andersons seemed very similar to his role as Clark Griswold from National lampoon’s vacation etc.
The drumming sketch would have been good if it had better writing, but thought that Chevy drumming was pretty remarkable.
Ian, that is probably what happened–I saw her impression of Pat Schroeder and then just assumed “Pat Stevens” was supposed to be that person.
Isn’t Randy Quaid himself pretty troubled and kind of loopy right now? Which is a shame, he was a great actor and very good on SNL.
McKinney and McCulloch (from KITH) actually did contribute quite a bit to this season even though they weren’t officially credited – I imagine the only reason they weren’t credited had to do with a possible delay in getting American work permits and/or membership in the WGA
I never knew about McKinney and McCullough being part of Saturday Night Live before 1994! I am just finding this out now being an SNL fan for over 25 years now. ?????
Looking at the caps here and man the lighting looks awful for this episode and for this season in general. Were there budget cuts this season?
I mean it’s like 80/81 type lighting and production
Wasn’t there a part in the “Live From New York…” book where the cast and crew hid from Chevy after this particular show in the party afterwards?
I think I remember a story where they would hide so they wouldn’t have to take an elevator with him.
I believe Dennis’ response to Don Pardo is him quoting the then-recent Kool & the Gang hit “Fresh”?
I know I posed this link on another episode yesterday, but worth repeating that longtime Simpsons Writer John Swartzwelder wrote for SNL during this S11; among the other sketches he wrote: “Those Unlucky Andersons”
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/john-swartzwelder-sage-of-the-simpsons
They had a lot of good past and future writers on that staff including him, the older SNL writers, George Meyer, and the 2 Kids in the Hall.
I just watched the monologue again for the first time in maybe 20 years. In the first half, Chevy seems WAY off… not high, per se, but kind of out-of-breath and harried, just like his first time hosting (after the infamous fight with Bill Murray). And I get the sense Lorne allowed him to write a lot of it, or he’s half-improving, which would account for the weird spaces and pauses and jokes that don’t land. Once he gets to the part with Lovitz, he seems a lot more confident; almost relieved. So I’m thinking he was suffering from nerves and maybe winded from the sprint out to homebase? Also irritating how he mispronounces Jon’s name (LOW-vitz). But the jokes about Sheila E., the size of the cast, etc., are all pretty good, proving that he’s a comedic actor and not a comedian/comic. Weird, since he started as a writer.
As a teen at the time, I remember being disappointedly underwhelmed by a former cast member not able to bring his A-game to this ep unlike his previous guest hosting roles (though I’ve only seen his fifth season ep once before this live broadcast and don’t remember being off on that one). I think I was also surprised in later years of reading in that Tom Shales “SNL” book of how rude Chevy was backstage since he supposedly had recovered from his drug addiction as per his People profile a few years back when he was showing off his first baby on that magazine’s cover…
Chevy suggested a sketch where Sweeney plays an aids patient who goes to the doctor and is continously losing weight, not really funny and homophobic too.
Oh yeah, Dennis is WAY better than any previous news anchor. And Damon Wayans is proving he’s a lot funnier than the rest of his cast mates. So of course they’ll get rid of him at the end of the season. Luckily Jon Lovitz will get more and better material over time and become a classic member of the SNL lineup.
Wait, wasnt this the episode where backstage Chevy Chase suggested Terry would die of AIDS?
He suggested a sketch where Terry would be weighed and each time would lose weight from aids it was a horrible and unfunny idea.
You have 3 cast members of National Lampoon’s vacation and you do not use them.