Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
stupid Marines (DAC) & (KEN) let spies into the USA embassy in Moscow
— Dana and Kevin’s excitement over getting some “fine soviet fur tonight” is hilarious.
— For some reason, this doesn’t feel like a cold opening I’m watching.
— I like Dana and Kevin’s obliviousness to the fact that they’re among spies.
— Nice to see a rare instance of a host appearing in the cold opening, though it makes this feel even more like I’m not watching a cold opening.
— I like how Lithgow has gotten to say “Live from New York…” in both episodes he’s hosted so far.
— An overall pretty good sketch, but felt kinda strange as a cold opening. Perhaps this was based on a news story at the time, which I guess would explain its placement as the cold opening (though I’m well aware that not every cold opening back in these days had to be political or topical, which is more than I can say for SNL nowadays).
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
a too-low boom mike blows the show’s chances of winning a Benchley award
— Some good laughs from Lithgow’s giddiness about this episode being up for a Benchley Award.
— Love his slowburn after the boom mic ruined the shot (“There goes the award-winning John Lithgow show!”), eventually getting so upset he works himself into an anxiety attack.
— An overall solid monologue that was perfect for John Lithgow. He’s great at pulling off a gradual reaction to something, like his last monologue when he had a slow descent into horror when realizing he’s on the air live and is not at dress rehearsal.
STARS: ****
ADOBE
— Rerun
[ADDENDUM: According to episode guides, this wasn’t even in the original airing of this episode. Was this added into reruns to replace something that got removed? All the originally-aired segments in this episode seem to be intact in the rerun version, judging from the episode guides.]
REVEREND DWIGHT HENDERSON, WORLD’S MEANEST METHODIST MINISTER
(host) is World’s Meanest Methodist Minister
— This is already a funny concept, and seems perfect for Lithgow.
— Only John Lithgow could make the sarcastically-delivered line “Enjoy your turkey and Cheez Whiz” sound so damn funny.
— I like him having the married couple dismissed from his office simply because their marital problems isn’t a subject that interests him.
— Nice touch with Lithgow and his visitors being separated by a pole barrier.
— LOL at Lithgow doing the imaginary violin miming during Jan’s sad story.
— I liked Nora’s line that ends with her calling Lithgow a “butthole”.
— The ending came off pretty weak.
STARS: ***
MASTER THESPIAN
Baudelaire teaches his protege how to replace Olivier
— Glad to see this in tonight’s show, as the best Master Thespians are always the ones with Lithgow’s Baudelaire character.
— I got a laugh from Lithgow’s throwaway line about a “question du jour”.
— I really liked Master Thespian trying to outdo Baudelaire by doing the “there’s a spot on your shirt” trick on himself.
— Overall, a strong sketch as expected. Lithgow is so perfect for these sketches, and it’s so much fun to watch him and Lovitz play off of each other in these.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sweet Love”
THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
Halston’s (PHH) name doesn’t mean what it used to
— Well, I guess I can’t complain much about seeing this again, considering they’ve really cut back on the number of these Pat Stevens sketches this season. We’re pretty much in the homestretch of season 12, and this is only the third time Pat Stevens has appeared all season. Compare this to season 11, where Pat Stevens was in about 60% of the episodes.
— What’s with the faint tinkly music I keep hearing in the background while Pat’s addressing the viewers?
— Good characterization from Phil.
— Some laughs from the cheap products that Halston’s name is now on.
— Overall, this had its moments, but ehh, I’m still feeling a little burned out on the humor of these sketches.
STARS: **½
WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN’s editorial on surrogate motherhood is sprinkled with cliches
AWB questions the values underlying the Baby M case
— Looks like this is going to be yet another Kevin Nealon commentary where he constantly changes subjects.
— Kevin’s overall commentary had some funny lines, but these subject-changing commentaries of his have slowly been losing their luster for me lately.
— Okay, what the HELL just happened? As Dennis pulled out a pair of Jim Bakker brand shorts, audio suddenly played of somebody announcing “The winner is Paul Newman”, which is followed by the sound of a crowd applauding, then the audio suddenly gets cut off. Dennis looks a bit perplexed for a second, and then amusedly responds in a head-shaking kind of way “That Betty”. What in the world?!? Was that whole thing some kind of reference to that year’s then-recent Oscars? A non-sequitur? Was the “Betty” that Dennis referred to Bette Davis? Why was that audio played during a completely unrelated bit about Jim Bakker’s clothing line of shorts? Was that some kind of bizarre technical error? So many questions…
— A. Whitney’s commentary is already stating off with strong with his “masturbating into a cup” comments, even if I had no idea what that was referring to until he soon made it clear it’s a reference to a topical news story.
— A. Whitney’s overall commentary was particularly good. Probably one of his best so far.
STARS: ***½
LARAMIE VICE
Crockett (host) & Tubbs (KEN) smell drugs in the Wild West
— Dennis’ attempt at an Old West accent is hilariously bad. A. Whitney’s attempt, on the other hand, is surprisingly strong.
— Another Miami Vice parody. Ehh, I’m not too eager to see one after the awful Cleveland Vice sketch from the previous season.
— At least the opening credits sequence didn’t go on forever like Cleveland Vice’s opening did. I also liked the detail of Kevin Nealon being credited as “Kevin Michael Nealon”, ala Phillip Michael Thomas.
— Love Phil’s gravelly voice.
— Dana’s Scarface-esque performance is hilarious.
— Clever detail with the “Mary Todd Lincoln Rehab Center”, as an old-timey version of the Betty Ford Clinic.
— My biggest laugh of the whole sketch didn’t come until the very end, during the “preview of next week’s episode” scene where Lithgow badly lip-syncs to Don Johnson’s “Heartbeat” with a hilarious intense look on his face (second-to-last screencap above). I also got a huge laugh from the ensuing shot, where Dana getting impaled by a bull is pulled off VERY poorly with an extremely cheap-looking effect.
— Overall, while I enjoyed this more than the Cleveland Vice sketch, this still was nothing great as a whole. I’m thinking SNL needs to stay away from doing extensive, long-winded Miami Vice parodies. They’re 0-for-2 so far.
— IIRC, this sketch was originally placed as the post-monologue lead-off sketch during the original live airing. I can see why they pushed this into a much later timeslot in the rerun version I’m reviewing.
STARS: **½
DISCOVER
Peter Graves (PHH) doesn’t really comprehend bacteria
— Phil-as-Graves’ bad similes are cracking me up, especially the comparison between invisible bacteria and Heather Thomas’ breasts.
— Funny part with Phil’s Graves randomly getting caught inhaling from a gas tube.
— Overall, this was solid, but doesn’t quite compare to the classic first installment from earlier this season.
STARS: ****
THE FIGHTER
wealthy (PHH) hires washed-up boxer (host) to hit son (DAC)
— Good to see yet another black-and-white sketch this season.
— They seem to be going for even more authenticity than usual in this one, using a grainy visual effect that makes this look exactly like something from the early days of TV.
— Particularly good delivery from Nora in this.
— I remember a review I once read of this episode pointed out how Dana seemed to be doing a Jon Lovitz impression in this sketch. It’s true. The voice Dana is using as Phil’s son is eerily Lovitz-esque. So much so, that there’s no way that WASN’T intentional. Must’ve been some kind of inside joke between Dana and Jon.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Same Ole Love”
CROSS COUNTRY
cab driver (host) gets (JOL) from New York to San Francisco in 9 minutes
— Of the last three episodes, this is the second to end with a taxi sketch.
— I like how a mere $20 bill convinces Lithgow to do the ridiculous task of driving all the way to San Francisco.
— Very funny greensceen effect of the taxi driving insanely fast. I like how the greenscreen is randomly using black-and-white stock scenery.
— Also a very funny use of a model toy car to represent weather changes the taxi is driving through.
— Good ending with Lithgow beginning to head all the way back to Lovitz’s home just because Lovitz forgot his wedding ring.
— Very fun overall sketch that I’ve always loved.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Fun episode. While not perfect, I got a lot of enjoyment from the show as a whole, and the presence of John Lithgow certainly helped. He is now 2-for-2 in solid episodes.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charlton Heston):
— a moderate step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
John Larroquette, our second consecutive host named John L.