Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- USA Olympic skier (host) isn’t very pumped
— During their simulated pummeling, I like how Hans and Franz are rapidly repeating “pummela pummela pummela” over and over.
— Memorable part with Hans and Franz’s chests moving in unison.
— I got an unintentional laugh from how the box of “Weaties” is noticeably spelled without the “h”. (last screencap above) I’m assuming that’s for copyright reasons, kinda like how when some of the fake ads from the Ebersol era would use real brand names, they’d spell it slightly differently (e.g. Buddweiser, Foldger’s Crystals).
— Overall, not too bad in itself, but to be honest, I’m starting to get kinda tired of these characters. Until doing this SNL project of mine, I never realized how one-note Hans and Franz are. After a few installments, you start to realize that their shtick isn’t all THAT funny. Did we need to see these one-note characters so frequently this season?
STARS: **½
MONOLOGUE
host whistles a cowboy song
— Interesting turn this has taken, with the home base stage being darkened and stagehands putting up western-like set pieces as Judge describes a story.
— This whistling song kinda has a charm, but it’s going on far too long for my likes. Some of the brief stuff Judge is doing in between the whistling is fairly funny, though.
STARS: **
WILSON TRAP DOORS
they reliably remove unwanted people from your office
— Even though I’ve never seen tonight’s episode before, I’m very familiar with this fake ad. I must’ve seen this in one of the “SNL Goes Commercial” compilation specials.
— Love Jon’s nervous smile when Phil looks at him after noticing his failed trap door attempt.
— Dana’s scream when falling down the trap door was very funny.
— Excellent part with an innocent guy suddenly crashing leg-first through the floor while he was casually walking towards Jon’s desk. I also love how Jon angrily bangs his fists on his desk during that part.
— This commercial is freakin’ hilarious so far.
— Great ending with Kevin, and I absolutely LOVED his scream when falling down the trap door. That scream of his had me howling.
— This overall commercial has always been one of my absolute favorite SNL fake ads of all-time, and is usually one of the first things that come to mind whenever I think of how great the fake ads in this era were.
STARS: *****
CHURCH CHAT
televangelists Pat Robertson (ALF) & Jimmy Swaggart (PHH)
— Good to see Al Franken’s funny Pat Robertson impression back. That smile alone always cracks me up.
— Pat Robertson: “Hitler’s brain is being kept alive in Paraguay.”
— Very funny entrance from Phil as an over-the-top crying Jimmy Swaggart.
— Some really great lines from Church Lady towards Swaggart.
— Phil’s performance is hilarious.
— The back-and-forths between Robertson and Swaggart are cracking me up.
— The “If You’re Happy and You Know It” number was an okay ending to the sketch.
STARS: ****½
JORGE GARCIA, NICE GUY DICTATOR
absolute power hasn’t corrupted Jorge Garcia, Nice Guy Dictator (host)
— They seem to like doing this type of sketch in this late 80s/early 90s era. In the preceding season 12, John Lithgow had that Reverend Dwight Henderson, World’s Meanest Methodist Minister sketch, and several years later, Tim Robbins stars in a (terrible) sketch titled Sweet Jimmy, The World’s Nicest Pimp.
— I liked Judge’s modest “sorry” after angrily yelling “SILENCE!”
— I got a laugh from Judge sternly ordering his soldiers to give Phil a ride home.
— This sketch is too slow-paced for my likes.
— Very weak and abrupt ending.
— This overall sketch as a whole didn’t work for me, despite some laughs early on.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Like the Weather”
WEEKEND UPDATE
electrical storm cuts one-man mobile uplink unit ALF’s Florida report
— Nice addition of a neck brace on one-man mobile uplink unit Al Franken.
— Excellent sight gag with Al suddenly getting struck by lightning.
— I already like this idea of A. Whitney doing an analysis of each of this year’s presidential candidates, where I can already tell there’s going to be some good lines.
— Very good bit about A. Whitney and his daughter each coming up with a lie against his wife.
STARS: ***½
DEREGULATED AIRLINE
(host) flies on a filthy, crime-ridden post-deregulation airline
— This kinda reminds me of the tobacco-spitting airline sketch from the previous season’s Garry Shandling episode.
— Some really good visuals in this sketch.
— Good part with Jan’s stewardess character suddenly tearing open her blouse when flirting with Judge.
— Decent ending with Jon as a preacher touting a bible.
STARS: ***
THE COP & THE PROSTITUTE
unlikely couple has career clash
— Judge’s cop being overly accepting towards Victoria’s profession is fairly funny so far.
— Not sure I care for where the rest of this sketch has been going.
— Overall, the audience seemed really tickled by the normalcy that Judge and Victoria’s odd relationship was being treated with, but I found myself fairly bored throughout this.
STARS: **
WHEN GREAT MINDS MEET
temporally disparate historical figures waste time
— The set-up of this reminds me of a really bad sketch the show would do several years later with Jeff Goldblum, titled History’s Great Over-Thinkers, where Goldblum tries to interview a panel of important historical figures like Leonardo DaVinci and Thomas Edison.
— I like how this is turning into the historical guests trying to get each other’s names straight.
— Some good laughs from the guests’ confusion whenever one guest casually mentions something that wasn’t around yet in the other guests’ respective time periods.
— I love Jon’s frustration.
— Good sketch overall. This was pretty much a far better version of the later History’s Great Over-Thinkers. Or more accurately, I should say History’s Great Over-Thinkers was a much worse version of this earlier sketch.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What’s the Matter Here”
PIRATES
pirates (KEN) & (DAC) prefer birds other than parrots on their shoulders
— I love the visual of Dana and Kevin’s pirates having a penguin and swan on their shoulder instead of a parrot.
— Hilarious walk-on from Judge, with his shoulder having a bird perch with three small parakeets on it.
— I liked this overall sketch a lot. Something about the escalating silliness of it embodied what I love about this era of SNL.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Considering this ends up being the unintended final episode of the season due to a writers’ strike, this was not the best way for the season to end. There were still some really good things tonight, particularly a strong installment of Church Chat, but I felt the weaker segments weighed down the show quite a bit. Still, I found more good than bad in this overall episode; I just wish this season could’ve gone out with more of a bang.
— Season 13 as a whole continued the growth of this still-somewhat-new era, but the season was honestly not quite as strong as I had been expecting. I was kinda surprised to see that it was a little more on the average side than I had remembered. A majority of the episodes were just good or average, not great. Aside from Paul Simon and Tom Hanks, there weren’t any episodes that I feel stand out as classics or near-classics. However, on the other hand, there at least weren’t any particularly terrible episodes either. Angie Dickinson is probably my least favorite episode of the season by default, and even that episode was merely forgettable rather than outright weak. There’s plenty of things to like about this overall season, but much like the preceding season 12, it feels like SNL is still taking steps towards the full potential that this era eventually reaches.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a step down
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1986-87)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
After a long writers’ strike and summer break, SNL finally makes its return, in what I feel is possibly SNL’s greatest season EVER. Season 14 kicks off with host…… Tom Hanks?!?! Wow, didn’t we literally just see him host? I’m certainly not complaining, though. He’s indeed THAT good to bring back so soon.