January 24, 1987 – Joe Montana and Walter Payton / Debbie Harry (S12 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
NFL Video Countdown- foreign-born special teamers sing “We Are Kickers”

— Some funny moments during Walter Payton’s intro, with the titles of music videos that football teams have put out.
— The Superbowl Shuffle-esque “We Are Kickers” is really funny and memorable, especially the simplistic, broken english lyrics.
STARS: ****

MONOLOGUE
deja vu episodes reveal Joe hasn’t fully recovered from his concussion

— Pretty funny straightforward bit with his concussion causing him to repeatedly state exactly what he had said earlier.
STARS: ***

ADOBE
— Rerun

BAR
in a bar, Tommy Flanagan & Walter compare their football achievements

— Another Tommy Flanagan sketch.
— A laugh from Flanagan talking about his inside-out scar.
— Walter was really stiff in his imitation of Flanagan’s liar shtick at the end, but for some reason, that made it funnier to me.
— I like the constant “and yet it happened” lines between Flanagan and Walter.
— Not sure if this is correct, but I recall that this ends up being Tommy Flanagan’s last appearance for a long time. After how overused he’s been, we  get a much-needed long break from him.
STARS: ***

THE HONEST MAN
sincere guy Stu (Joe) interferes with bone-jumping plans of (PHH) & (JAH)

— Some laughs from Phil and Jan’s inner thoughts.
— Immediate big laughs from Joe’s inner thoughts being exactly what he has just said aloud.
— And there goes the classic line “I’ll be in my room masturbating” that instantly makes this sketch memorable, and was the perfect way to end this.
STARS: ****½

CRACK
gymnast (DAC), executive (KEN), dancer (JAH) are Crack Achievers

— This is getting hilarious after the “crack generation” reveal, with all the action now getting crazy and being shown in fast motion.
— Great scenes with Jan attacking a dog, Kevin rapidly exercising himself into a heart attack, and Dana’s gymnast rapidly spinning on the parallel bars to the degree that he catches on fire.
STARS: ****

THE NFL TODAY
a Neil Young (DAC) interview; Jimmy The Greek’s (PHH) pick

— This sketch makes its debut, which would go on to be a semi-recurring sketch from this era that I’ve always liked.
— Very funny detail with Kevin achieving Brent Musberger’s droopy slant-eyed look by simply holding down the sides of his eyes.
— I like how they keep doing a replay of Joe’s concussion incident, much to his chagrin.
— LOL at some of SNL’s audience being heard booing at Joe’s slam about how the Giants don’t win often.
— Ha, Joe begins repeating a statement from the beginning of his interview, as a callback to the gag from the monologue.
— Dana’s Neil Young impression is dead-on and hilarious.
— Funny Mickey Mouse song from Dana’s Neil Young.
— Love the voice Phil’s using as Jimmy the Greek.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “French Kissin’ in the USA”

MACE
multiple escape attempts by hostage (KEN) flummox his captor Mace (PHH)

— The debut of Mace, one of Phil Hartman’s more forgotten recurring characters.
— I got huge laughs from Kevin’s initial failed attempt to wrestle the gun away from Phil as soon as Phil’s back is turned. Great reaction from Phil as well, especially the initial speechless look on his face (last screencap above).
— I’m loving Phil’s aggression throughout this.
— Phil’s threatening delivery of “I’m a bad, bad mother” slayed me for some reason.
— Overall, this sketch had me in stitches. I loved the execution, Kevin’s repeated foolish attempts to thwart Mace, and Phil’s comically aggressive delivery.
— I recall them later doing a sequel of sorts to this sketch, where Mace is trying to get in bed with a woman, but gets repeatedly annoyed by Kevin as a random guy constantly peeking in through the window.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE
VIJ says her baby daughter Scarlett’s nods & headshakes predict 1987
an electric football game shows what to expect from Super Bowl XXI
AWB examines how race relations have changed since MLK’s times

— Very funny joke about Chinese communist leader Hoo Yoo Bang (sp?).
— Oh, is this going to be yet another Victoria Jackson commentary where the joke is that her “investigative report” video just turns out to be a home video of her playing with her baby?
— Hmm, the premise of this particular Victoria/baby commentary actually seems pretty promising, with her daughter supposedly being able to predict the future when fed Cheerios.
— Victoria’s overall commentary ended up being okay, and was enough of a change of pace from the last two baby video commentaries she did.
— LOL at the audience’s reaction to Dennis’ jokingly mean-spirited, sexist punchline to the story about Corazon Aquino being Time Magazine’s Woman of the Year (“Congratulations. Now get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich”).
— Much like the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots bit last season, Dennis does another rip-off of a bit Joe Piscopo already did years earlier, where we’re shown a Denver Broncos practice session, represented with an electronic football game. This fell VERY flat tonight.
— A. Whitney’s getting some good laughs defending white trash.
— Another overall solid Big Picture commentary from A. Whitney.
STARS: ***½

CHICK HAZARD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
Chick Hazard busts Eddie Spimozo- singer Nancy Maloney (VIJ) is underage

 

— Good to see the return of the Chick Hazard/Eddie Spimozo sketch.
— I always like Jon’s delivery of “I gotta go, I GOTTA GO!!” in these sketches.
— Victoria’s song is actually really funny, especially her suddenly changing her pitch ridiculously low in the middle of the song. This is probably the most Victoria has made me laugh during her SNL tenure so far.
— Third episode in a row with Dana working the line “Why, I oughta pound yooouuu!” into a black-and-white sketch. This time, the audience actually somewhat applauds when he says it, as if even THEY recognize that it’s starting to become a catchphrase of his.
— Love the heated back-and-forth between Phil and Jon, culminating in Jon yelling “I didn’t touch that fish!”
— I said this in an earlier review, but I always love the authenticity this cast brings to these 1930s/40s-era sketches.
STARS: ***½

SUPER BOWL GAMBLING MEMORIES
despite losing, Dallas beats the spread

— An okay quick bit overall. Nothing else to say besides that.
STARS: ***

CHURCH CHAT
hosts’ football lingo is naughty; Church Lady catches a pass

— What’s this doing on so late tonight?
— Why has the usual guest couch been replaced with computer chairs?
— Good casting of Jan as Shirley MacLaine.
— Church Lady’s naughty description of football is funny.
— Another really good laugh, this time from Church Lady’s very suggestive detailing of the process of snapping the ball.
— Ha, Joe has a very amusing suggestive description of his own when describing how a football play typically goes.
— The mini-football game between Church Lady, Joe, and Walter is fun, especially Church Lady running out into the audience to catch a pass.
— Good ending with Church Lady, Joe, and Walter all doing the superior dance.
— Overall, this was the first Church Lady sketch that I felt was really strong. Hopefully, these sketches have officially taken off with tonight’s installment.
STARS: ****

THE MICHAEL JACKSON WORKOUT TAPE
the pop star (Walter) is pumped up

— An initial laugh from the visual of Walter playing Michael Jackson.
— Walter’s delivery in this is pretty rough with his constant pauses.
— The effeminate hand mannerisms and somewhat lispy voice are a bit much. This vaguely gay portrayal of Michael Jackson comes off strange in hindsight nowadays, which is the same gripe I had with Eddie Murphy’s MJ impression from back in the day. Then again, in Eddie and Walter’s defense, I guess there wasn’t much about Michael’s personality to make fun of yet back in the 80s. Oh, how that would soon drastically change…
— I like the inclusion of a random llama.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “In Love With Love”

UNITED WAY
the United Way is there for those impoverished by heeding Jimmy The Greek

— Pretty funny premise.
— Joe started out okay in this, but after a while, he’s now looking pretty lost with his delivery and has begun stumbling quite a bit.
— Overall, this sketch started out fine, but fizzled out a little after a while, and Joe’s performance didn’t help.
— This would later get removed from all reruns and be replaced with, IIRC, a Buster Poindexter musical performance from dress rehearsal (he was bumped from the live show, for the second time this season).
STARS: **

GOODNIGHTS

— In the live version I’m watching of this episode, Don Pardo’s voice-over during these goodnights mentions that the Weekend Update from the October 18, 1986 broadcast (Malcolm-Jamal Warner episode) used the name Eddie Fontaine, and Pardo explains it was meant to be a fictitious character, not a real person. I pointed out in my review of that episode that Fontaine’s name would later get bleeped out in reruns. I guess Pardo’s voice-over in these goodnights was basically an on-air apology after the legal trouble I’m assuming SNL got into for using Fontaine’s name in a negative manner.

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— An overall pretty solid episode, though the quality took a dip towards the end. A lot of good sketches tonight. For athlete hosts, Joe Montana and Walter Payton weren’t too bad. Despite the obvious stiffness, as well as their line delivery being distractingly rough during their respective final sketch (Michael Jackson Workout and United Way), they were likable and got some laughs.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (William Shatner):
— a mild step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW:
Paul Shaffer