Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- the duo criticize Jimmy The Greek’s remarks
— This again so soon? While it’s good that these characters are continuing to gain popularity, do we really need them two episodes in a row? Granted, SNL had a month-long Christmas break between these last two episodes, but I’m watching/reviewing these SNL episodes in chronological order on a day-to-day basis, and thus it feels like Hans and Franz literally just appeared.
— Interesting change of pace at least, with Hans and Franz here to talk about controversial statements Jimmy The Greek recently made about black people having superior thighs to white people.
— I got a big laugh from them mentioning Webster (Emmanuel Lewis) as proof that black people aren’t stronger than white people.
— An overall decent cold opening with some funny comments toward Jimmy The Greek.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about safe sex & the importance of using condoms
— I absolutely LOVE Robin’s entrance in this, busting through the doors and immediately going into a very extended, energetic, fun dance sequence all around the stage as the SNL Band continues playing the theme music (first screencap above). This has always been my personal all-time favorite entrance that a host has ever made for their monologue. Hell, this entrance of Robin’s was so epic that SNL even used a clip of it for an In Memoriam to Robin that was added to a season 39 summer rerun when Robin died in 2014.
— Robin’s whole talk about prophylactics has tons of funny lines.
— Now he’s making me laugh even more with his bit about Shakespearean actors in porn.
— Incredible monologue overall. I loved this just as much as Robin’s season 12 monologue. You can tell the audience found this phenomenal as well, judging from their particularly huge applause at the end.
STARS: ****½
COMPULSION
— Rerun
BIRTH TAPE
to recommend birth filming, (host) shows video of wife (VIJ) having baby
— I’m really liking this premise.
— Very funny reveal that Victoria’s the one holding the camera while she’s in labor.
— Memorable and hilarious part with Robin stretching out his mouth to imitate what Victoria looks like “down there” in her labor-induced state.
— I like the use of an obvious doll that Victoria has birthed.
— A fun overall sketch and was absolutely perfect for Robin.
STARS: ****
LEARNING TO FEEL
Denise Venetti (NOD) tells patients “look at yourself”
— Nora’s intense hand-on-face expressions when giving her guests advice are pretty funny.
— I liked Nora’s rapid, confusing, back-and-forth “Look at Glenn, look at Ann” to Phil and Jan.
— This overall sketch was okay and Nora gave a good performance, but you got the joke of the sketch really quickly and it didn’t expand from there. I’m not looking forward to this sketch eventually becoming recurring.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Never Die Young”
WEEKEND UPDATE
one-man mobile uplink unit ALF reports on the caucuses from Iowa
— Loved Dennis’ opening line, where he vaguely addresses the aforementioned controversial Jimmy The Greek statement by saying “So what if their thighs are bigger than ours? It’s that other thing that eats at me.”
— Lots of rapid-fire random one-line jokes from Dennis so far tonight.
— The debut of Al Franken’s one-man mobile uplink unit, a bit that I’ve always liked.
— A good laugh from Al professionally detailing the pain he’s in from carrying around all the gadgets.
— Good overall commentary from Al.
— Great ad-lib from Dennis after a blown joke resulted in deadly silence from the audience.
— Dennis’ random “What IS normal heterosexual sex?” bit didn’t work at all.
STARS: ***½
THE 8TH ANNUAL ACE AWARDS
reruns, tickers, infomercials get their due
— Dana is very funny in his impression of stand-up comedian Gallagher.
— I have no idea who Robin is playing, nor why the camera keeps cutting to such an extreme close-up of him whenever he speaks.
— Strange sketch so far.
— Jon’s acceptance speech has a few laughs, which is more than I can say for almost anything else in this sketch so far.
— The clips they’re showing are making less and less sense. If that’s the joke, it’s not working.
— I’m enjoying Nora’s impression of Shelley Duvall.
— For some reason, I liked Phil’s grumpy facial reaction when he’s announced as the winner.
— Overall, despite a few bright spots, I was not a fan of this sketch. The randomness in it just didn’t work. SNL usually has a poor track record with award show sketches, and this one is no exception.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Sweet Potato Pie”
I WUV YOU
(host)’s inability to sincerely say “I love you” irks girlfriend (JAH)
— A promising use of Robin’s knack for doing different voices.
— If you know me, you’ll know I loved the quick part with Robin doing Three Stooges voices.
— The ending was… okay, I guess.
— Overall, ehh, I wasn’t too crazy about this sketch as a whole. Not sure what about it didn’t work for me.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest sings “Lonesome Road”
DISCOVER
Peter Graves (PHH) interviews spirits channelled through (host)
— Some particularly funny bad analogies from Phil’s Graves early on in this.
— Some big laughs from Robin’s channeling of Lambda’s spirit.
— Robin channeling a random Jewish guy from Pittsburgh is pretty funny.
— This is strange for a Discover sketch. For once, the humor is more focused on the guest than on Phil’s Graves.
— Overall, this was okay for what it was, but I definitely prefer the previous Discover sketches. It didn’t feel right seeing Graves as basically a straight man for once, when the appeal of these Discover sketches has always been Graves’ idiotic statements and actions.
STARS: ***
60TH BIRTHDAY
on his 60th birthday, host is visited by chip-off-the-old-block son (DAC)
— Love this concept of Robin playing himself as an old man in the future.
— When it’s announced that Ronald Reagan is still alive at age 106, I loved a surprised Robin commenting how he assumed in the past that all that would be left of Reagan in the future is a wig and a colon.
— Another great line from Robin, this time remarking how future Michael Jackson looks like a photo negative of Katharine Hepburn.
— Very fun and dead-on Robin Williams impression from Dana.
— After a very long run of wacky ad-libs from his son, I love Robin’s only response to that being “I should’ve worn a prophylactic.”
— Some funny lines about where Robin’s career has gone in the future.
— Lots of great back-and-forths between Robin and Dana throughout this sketch.
— Absolutely loved the line about Dennis Miller being a U.S. Senator. Even funnier in hindsight, considering that prediction ended up coming true for another SNL performer from this era.
— After the aforementioned Dennis Miller mention, Dana works in his impression of him. Robin’s response has me wondering if that was an ad-lib on Dana’s part.
— Robin, after his son has left: “I don’t have the heart to tell him he’s a foster child.” That hilarious line was not only a killer way to end this sketch, but was also a perfect end to tonight’s episode in general. However, I’m aware that this sketch originally aired earlier in the show during the original airing, and was moved to the end of the show in the rerun version I’m reviewing.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty fun episode, as is usually the case whenever Robin Williams hosts. However, I’m not as big a fan of this episode as I was of Robin’s season 12 hosting stint. That episode was pretty much flawless in my eyes, whereas tonight’s episode had a disappointing post-Update half, aside from the 60th Birthday sketch. That being said, what worked in this episode worked well, and there were some memorable moments.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Simon)
— a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Carl Weathers