Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
The Rolling Paper Chase- what Douglas Ginsburg (JOL) was like in the ’70s
— Good reveal of Jon playing Douglas Ginsburg, or as he calls himself, “Captain Toke”.
— Funny premise for a Paper Chase parody, which makes this SNL’s second parody of that show during this calendar year.
— I like the fake freeze-frame while we see an epilogue on what each character went on to do.
— The look on Dana’s face during his fake freeze-frame close-up is hilarious. (last screencap above)
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— I like how his only understanding of doing SNL is “In 90 minutes, I go to a party”.
— A very short, to-the-point monologue, which seems to be becoming the norm lately.
STARS: ***
COMPULSION
cleanliness-obsessed (JAH) uses the Calvin Kleen disinfectant
— This is a fantastic, dead-on, and memorable parody of a famous Calvin Klein “Obsession” commercial(s) from this time period. The real Calvin Klein “Obsession” commercial(s) is actually one of my earliest memories ever (I was 3 years old at this time in 1987), so seeing this SNL parody of it is very nostalgic for me.
— Dana’s especially funny in this, particularly him getting slapped by Phil right before the camera cut away.
STARS: *****
DEATH BE NOT DEADLY
private eye Philip Marlowe (host) narrates film noir
— Some really good laughs from Robert unknowingly speaking his inner narration out loud, while a confused Kevin can hear.
— The constant “and?” stuff from Robert is funny.
— This is getting even funnier with Robert’s increasingly poor attempts to hide his spoken narration.
— Great part with Kevin and Robert’s speak overlapping for a while.
— I like the subtle joke of there being an Eleanor Roosevelt Clinic.
— Good ending with Robert’s inner narration spouting off a string of poor analogies.
— An overall very spot-on and memorable film noir spoof.
STARS: ****½
THE MOUNTAIN MAN
Mountain Man’s (DAC) odd outdoor wisdom alienates (JOL) & (VIJ)
— A good laugh from Dana’s “You’ve got some set of ovaries, woman” comment to Victoria.
— Loved Dana’s very random “I bet you have a teeny weenie peenie” line to Jon.
— I really like Dana’s increasingly absurd “Have you ever…” questions throughout this sketch.
— Yet another very funny line from Dana, this time telling Jon “It’s mini men like you who make women turn lesbo.”
— Overall, a hilarious, forgotten, underrated Dana Carvey gem.
STARS: ****
TEAM XYNEX
— Rerun from last season
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Right Thing”
WEEKEND UPDATE
VIJ shows a clip of her daughter Scarlett keeping in shape
AWB explores the link between marijuana & the nation’s ills
— Victoria’s advice to women had some okay lines, but was nothing special. Also, I didn’t care for the overlong video of her baby daughter exercising.
— A. Whitney Brown makes his first appearance of the whole season. Strangely, he was credited in the opening montage of this season’s first two episodes, but was nowhere to be seen in either of them.
— A. Whitney’s first Big Picture commentary of the season has turned out to be a strong one as usual. I particularly liked the comments about pot being a cure for PMS, blaming pot on America’s financial problems, and selling pot to the Japanese to make the quality of their products go down to match ours.
STARS: ***
SWEENEY’S COMEBACK
Liz averts Sweeney breakup by getting Candy’s mind off (host) with medley
— Very surprised to realize a minute into this sketch that Jan is playing her Candy Sweeney character. This sketch is a huge change of pace for the Sweeney Sisters.
— Interesting premise with Jan’s Candy not wanting to be a Sweeney Sister anymore.
— I like the way the Sisters’ tension is being worked into their medley.
— Nice moment with the Sisters breaking out into their usual Trolley Song when Candy decides to become a Sweeney Sister again.
— Very charming installment overall.
STARS: ***½
OUT OF GAS
by Trina Mitchum- host & Jane Greer [real] relive film noir
— Interesting-seeming film.
— Nice twist with the gas cap necklace.
— Overall, while there wasn’t much to say about this, this was a well-done film and yet another spot-on film noir spoof.
STARS: ***½
ANDRE & REX: MACHO HAIRSTYLISTS
Andre (PHH) & Rex (host), Macho Hairstylists are visited by the gay mafia
— Ehh, not to sure about this concept, though I liked the opening voice-over announcing the title.
— Pretty funny outburst from Phil over the missing cap on his sculpting gel.
— The bad haircuts reveal at the end was weak.
— Overall, despite a few okay moments early on, this wasn’t too great a sketch.
STARS: **
BEAUTYBATH
Corazon Aquino (JAH) escapes from her worries by taking a BeautyBath
— This is a funny topical concept for a beauty bath commercial, and it’s also a good use of Jan’s Corazon Aquino impression.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Suffer”
MYSTERIOUS OLD MAN
a beggar (host) tells his rich son (DAC) about how he obtained a jewel
— Love how Phil’s butler character is randomly named Sprinkles.
— Some laughs from Robert’s dramatic story about the bee in his car.
— Funny unexpected turn with Robert casually pulling out a human hand from his bag.
— Overall, a kinda strange sketch, but a decent one for this late in the show.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly solid episode, and had a few very memorable gems (Compulsion, Death Be Not Deadly) as well as one forgotten gem (The Mountain Man). I also liked the classy, old-timey atmosphere Robert Mitchum’s presence gave this episode.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dabney Coleman)
— a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Candice Bergen makes her hosting return after an 11-year absence from the show
I think I always heard Mitchum’s line in the monologue as “IN 90 minutes, I go to a party,” as in, he doesn’t know what’s happening here but a party is about to come afterwards. However, I haven’t seen that monologue in a while, so I don’t know for sure.
The Death Be Not Deadly sketch is an underrated gem. Kevin had a knack for playing what I’d call the “dumb straight man”–someone who is not very bright, but is also reacting to genuinely weird stuff.
I listened to the monologue again, and you’re right, it IS “In 90 minutes”. I’ll edit the review.
The Death Be Not Deadly sketch was always one of my favorites.
I was just talking to a friend the other day who only really watched this era and got hooked on it, but it made me think about Danitra Vance and how much I wish she got a chance to perform with THIS cast…although I’m not sure they would’ve done her much better writing wise. Acting wise though, she would’ve been toe to toe with Hartman, Hooks, and Carvey.
Do you have a copy of Death Be Not Deadly? It would bring back some great memories for me and my friends.
If anyone can get me a video for Death Be Not Deadly, I would be grateful!
Here’s my review of the musical performances.
The Right Thing
— Uhh, the lead singer’s haircut looks like it’s going to crawl off his head and attack the audience.
— Best part of this song by far is the slap bass. Other than that, meh.
STARS: **
Suffer
— This one’s working better for me. I like the call and response chorus, and appreciate the involvement of the keyboardist and backup singer on vocals.
— Alright, a sax solo! Nice touch, and the song built up to it well.
— Pretty cozy little soul tune, this. Good placement toward the end of the show as the program winds down.
STARS: ***
Watched ep on archive.org. “Death Be Not Deadly” was fantastic. Can’t believe I’ve never seen, or even heard of, before. Hilarious. Underrated gem.
My guess on Dennis Miller’s cryptic last WU bulletin (“Something else big happened this week but I’d be damned if I could remember what it was…”) was he got engaged to model Ali Espley. (unconfirmed)
According to Dana on the Fly on the Wall podcast there was a sketch with him and Mitchum as beekeepers written by Jack Handey that was cut from this episode
Well I would assume now that the “beekeeper” sketch Dana recalled was actually the “Mysterious Old Man” sketch and it was written by Handey
Before I saw “The Mountain Man” sketch when it aired live, I knew of this Dana Carvey character from one of his magazine profiles when he first became the “It” comedian around late winter-spring 1987; Carvey described future character ideas for SNL sketches, like Mountain Man and Brad (based on his brother or brother-in-law) which became a character in those group therapy sketches with Garry Shandling and Glenn Close and later melded to be a part of Garth Algar.
(*I collected magazine articles on SNL and stand-ups back then, never saved them. Could only cross out Carvey’s profile in Rolling Stone in ’87 and narrow it down to US Weekly, People or TV Guide, or another magazine I can’t recall…)
The cold open is interesting since Lovitz actually guested on “The Paper Chase,” one of his first acting jobs:
https://x.com/kabirbhatiatime/status/1641445723857371138?s=46&t=PSlENSkEIIpLue0IyHOYmQ
The “Out of Gas” short is an homage to the opening scenes of 1947’s Mitchum/Greer film, “Out of the Past.” Nice to see them reunited:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Past