Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- clips show the guys “up close & personal”
— Not too excited to see the season start off with a recurring sketch that I was starting to get sick of by the end of last season.
— Hans’ confusing talk about picking up laundry without a claim check was pretty funny.
— Hmm, maybe it’s because it’s the start of a new season, but it turns out I’m surprisingly finding myself in a more tolerant mood towards these two characters than usual tonight.
— The slow-motion Olympic profile utilizing clips of last season’s Hans and Franz sketches is interesting. Also, the fact that SNL already had enough Hans and Franz footage to make a full montage out of, despite these characters having debuted only a year earlier, shows how heavily-used these characters have been in such a short amount of time.
— Another thing I noticed about that Hans and Franz montage is that it really shows how different SNL looks in this new season compared to how it looked the previous season. (just compare the visual look of the first screencap above with the last three screencaps above)
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— New montage!
— Very interesting blue screen filter used for this.
— The SNL logo has been changed. This new circular one is probably my favorite SNL logo of all-time, though I may be biased because it’s used during my favorite SNL years (late 80s and early 90s).
— Some really good shots of the cast, especially Dennis Miller’s cool shot in the convertible.
— A lot of VERY memorable visuals throughout this, particularly the static-y TV screen laying in front of a river, Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks laughing hysterically in the backseat of a car, an old man looking at the camera with a deadpan facial expression while sitting in front of a moving ferris wheel, the person who’s shown right after the SNL logo (fourth screencap above), the “Sin Will Find You” neon cross, the pants-less(?) guy bopping along to music (third-to-last screencap above), the close-up of a dog looking at the camera while getting its belly rubbed, and the shot of the entire cast gathered together at a restaurant table.
MONOLOGUE
host’s backstage conversations reveal that he truly is a really nice guy
— Feels kinda weird but fun reviewing a Tom Hanks episode again so soon after I reviewed his previous episode just two days ago.
— Some good humor from Tom’s humbleness over the press labeling him the nicest guy in Hollywood.
— Interesting fake-out with the monologue “ending”, only to continue when Tom arrives backstage afterwards. This false ending is something they’d later repeat in Tom’s season 17 monologue (the one where he goes off on a Joe Pesci-esque “How am I funny?” rant to Phil Hartman backstage).
— The backstage scenes have a lot of very funny exaggerations of Tom’s niceness, helped by the use of sentimental background music and dramatic close-ups of Tom’s face.
— Phil’s angry tirade in the control room is cracking me up.
— The very first on-screen appearance of then-SNL-writer Conan O’Brien (“Careful, Mr. Hanks, this horse bites everyone!”).
— We also get a noteworthy appearance from fellow SNL writer Bob Odenkirk as an NBC page getting manhandled by two thugs. This is the first time in this SNL project of mine that I’ve caught an Odenkirk sighting, but I just found out his first SNL appearance was actually as a background audience member in the BushWhacked cold opening that I covered in the previous season. A shame I didn’t notice him there.
— I love Tom’s overreaction to realizing he forgot to thank the audience for coming.
— Overall, one of my all-time favorite backstage monologues. So many memorable parts here.
STARS: ****½
FIRST CITIWIDE CHANGE BANK
Paul McElroy (JID) explains their mission
— The concept of a bank specializing in change is hilarious.
— I love the mock-seriousness of the testimonials and disclaimer screens.
— Jim Downey is fantastic in this. One of the best displays of how his dead-serious delivery can make absurd dialogue come off hysterical.
STARS: *****
ABC CAMPAIGN 88
Diane Sawyer (JAH) moderates Michael Dukakis (JOL) vs. George Bush (DAC)
— Good beginning with Tom’s Peter Jennings announcing what’s currently airing on other channels, as part of the Bush camp’s demands.
— Love Jan’s performance as Diane Sawyer.
— The gag with Bush being on a higher platform than Dukakis as they shake each other’s hand after making their entrance would later be copied in a George W. Bush/John Kerry debate sketch in 2004. The gag didn’t even make sense in that context! It made sense here because Dukakis is much shorter than Bush Sr., whereas neither Kerry nor Bush Jr. are short. Ugh, don’t get me started on what a failure those Bush/Kerry debate sketches were. I’m eventually going to have to cover the awfulness that is SNL in 2004 anyway.
— Kevin’s Sam Donaldson impression now has the comically-thick eyebrows that his impression is remembered for today.
— Hilarious bit with Dukakis using a mechanical lift to reach over the podium.
— A good laugh from a deadpan Dukakis “proving” how enraged and off-the-handle he is right now.
— Dana’s Bush impression has further developed over the summer, though it’s STILL not at the cartoonish, exaggerated level it would later be.
— Love the whole absurd argument between Bush and Dukakis regarding a time machine.
— Priceless part with Jan’s Diane Sawyer getting a bowl of popcorn thrown at her out of nowhere after kindly telling the audience to hold their applause.
— There’s Dana-as-Bush’s memorable, inane “Stay the course, a thousand points of light” speech.
— Dukakis’ rebuttal to the aforementioned inane Bush speech: “I can’t believe I’m losin’ to this guy!” A legendary moment that defines this debate sketch.
— Great part with Bush demonstrating a bulletproof bubble.
— Dukakis: “My parents were little people… little, swarthy people.”
— Bush, when explaining he didn’t know the Iran arms sale would go to the Contras: “I was told the money was going to the bombing of abortion clinics.”
— I love the commitment to this debate parody, with them even going so far as to do a post-debate analysis with Tom’s Peter Jennings and Phil’s David Brinkley.
— I’ve said it before, but I love Phil’s David Brinkley voice.
— Hilarious “food for maggots” line from Phil’s Brinkley.
— The debut of SNL child extra Jeff Renaudo’s Dan Quayle impression, which would go on to be a running gag. Very inspired joke to have Quayle played by a child, as a comical exaggeration of Quayle’s young age.
— Overall, this classic is among SNL’s greatest debate sketches of all-time, as well as among SNL’s best political satire in general.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Take It So Hard”
MR. SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Mr. Short-Term Memory (host) is forgetful during a dinner date with (VIJ)
— The debut of a very memorable Tom Hanks recurring sketch.
— I love the opening credits sequence of this.
— Tom’s increasing forgetfulness is very funny, with him even forgetting who his date is a minute into the sketch.
— Phil’s reactions are great.
— Tom is so fun as this character.
— I love how Phil is now making up stuff to go along with Tom’s forgetfulness.
— Hilarious part with Tom spitting out food that “mysteriously” got into his mouth, and then complaining in an outrage “This restaurant serves already-been-chewed food!”
— Good ending with the “mysterious” wallet Tom finds in his pocket.
STARS: ****
FIRST CITIWIDE CHANGE BANK
more customer testimonials in praise of First Citiwide Change Bank
— Very funny line from Phil detailing the type of foreign change he received for a five-pound note.
— An overall equally-classic follow-up to the classic Part 1 of this ad.
STARS: *****
WEEKEND UPDATE
at the All-Drug Olympics, KEN reports on (PHH)’s weightlifting attempt
— I loved Dennis’ suggestion of a presidential system called the “volleyball-tocracy”, where 6 men are elected president and one of them serves until he screws up and then one of the other men is rotated into the role for a while.
— Dennis is on fire so far tonight.
— Very funny concept of an “All-Drug Olympics”.
— Phil making a very rare Weekend Update appearance.
— A freakin’ PRICELESS and classic gag with Phil’s arms coming off during his attempt to lift a huge barbell. Great touch with the fake blood and those stringy organs hanging out of his arm sockets.
— Funny line from Kevin about how Phil’s character doesn’t have much pain right now, but tomorrow “he’s really gonna feel that.”
— An overall fantastic Update. My favorite Dennis Miller Update so far.
STARS: ****½
GIRL WATCHERS
the desensitized losers experience deja vu at their high school reunion
— Jon’s unibrow from the first installment of this sketch is missing tonight. Guess the unibrow was just a one-time thing.
— I said this last time these characters appeared, but I always love Jon and Tom’s smug, slow delivery in these sketches.
— Jon: “She caught the shine on my forehead and just kept on truckin’.”
— Jon, to an approaching woman: “It’s been a while…” (approaching woman passes them by) “…aaaand it’ll BE a while.”
— Kevin’s appearance here is much funnier than his appearance in the first Girl Watchers sketch. Love his bragging about his unappealing wife, especially him hinting that she’s “not the clean one”.
STARS: ****
JEW, NOT A JEW
contestants try to identify celebrities’ lineages
Feldman’s Kosher Pickles’ You Make The Call- yes, Sandy Koufax was a Jew
— There goes Jan in Ana Gasteyer’s future Bobbi Mohan-Culp dress one again.
— Speaking of Jan, I’m watching the live version of this episode, and Jan’s hair in this sketch looks very different from how I remember it looking in reruns. The rerun version of this sketch must be from dress rehearsal. (side-by-side comparison of Jan’s hair below)
— Great part with Tom explaining the rules of what qualifies as a Jew.
— Fun sketch so far.
— Nice “You Make The Call” segment.
— Al Franken voice-over: “Sandy Koufax: Baseball great. Jew.”
— A strong and memorable sketch overall.
STARS: ****
BIG
outtakes from Big show Josh (host) using his size to bully the other kids
— I like Tom’s threatening repetitions of “Look how big I am!” to a kid he’s bullying.
— Very funny part with Tom casually shoving a kid to the ground at the end of a scene.
— The baseball scene is a freakin’ riot, especially the child umpire eventually running away from Tom’s pending tackle.
— Nice segue at the end to introducing Keith Richards’ musical performance.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Struggle”
THE PAT STEVENS SHOW
Barbara Bush (PHH) & Kitty Dukakis (JAH) bicker
— Strange that a well-established recurring sketch like this is appearing at the end of the night.
— Some laughs from Pat Stevens’ explanation of a First Lady “runner-up”.
— Pat’s constant ignorance and mistakes towards her guests are coming off funnier than usual tonight.
— Funny line about Kitty Dukakis being addicted to amphetamines for 26 years.
— The way Jan’s Kitty Dukakis keeps pushing her husband Michael’s political issues is making me laugh.
— Love the cattiness between Kitty Dukakis and Barbara Bush.
— Overall, easily my favorite Pat Stevens installment so far. Also, contrary to my worries, this thankfully wasn’t a carbon copy of the previous Pat Stevens sketch that Phil’s Barbara Bush appeared in. In fact, I feel this was the better of the two.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An absolutely fantastic way to start the season. By far, one of the best season premieres I’ve reviewed so far. And what a stellar return the show made after such a long writers’ strike & summer break. This episode was firing on all cylinders, giving us lots of strong sketches all night and producing some all-time memorable and classic moments. Very rarely, if ever, have I done a review where I consistently gave out so many four and five-star ratings. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that Tom Hanks did his usual masterful job as host. With this season premiere, I feel that I’ve officially arrived at the late 80s era fully hitting its stride.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1987-88)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Matthew Broderick
Man, this episode is great! I think a lot of this was on the Tom Hanks VHS tape.
This episode contains two things I think of from this era–the commercial parodies, arguably the best in the show’s history (there was a good chunk of them for products that as silly or implausible as they were, I kind of actually wished existed, like the change bank or the Jiffy Express to fake late packages), and recurring characters that had goofy theme songs that explained their deal.
HiberNol sure would come in handy every winter.
I would love to have a Jiffy Pop airbag. “How’s the Jiffy Pop?” LOL
Wow! A fantastic premiere. The debate sketch is one of the best political sketches SNL has ever done. Everything about it was perfect. The change commercial is so hilarious. Just a great episode and a great way to kick off the season.
I really like the SNL circular logo as well. They used it for many years, and seeing it takes me back instantly to watching SNL as a kid.
The opening montage is good too. I like that the screencap of Dennis Miller at a quick glance looks like Dennis is giving us the finger. 🙂
My favorite part of the “Jew, not a Jew” sketch is when the picture of former NYC mayor Ed Koch goes up on the screen, the audience starts laughing, and Kevin Nealon immediately presses the buzzer and excitedly says, “He’s a Jew, Bob, he’s a Jew!” He was so excited and confident with his answer.
First heard of “Jew-Not-as-Jew” as an Al Franken sketch squashed by NBC standards during season 11 when Lorne barely had the legs he had in the 70s to get what he wanted (according to a Rolling Stone article from around the summer of ’86). Having it hit well in (I’ll call it!) the best episode from this generation is very telling of Lorne’s comeback/rise to power with NBC…
Howard Stern was doing Jew or not a Jew before then on NBC radio. Literally same name and everything, maybe that’s where Franken heard it.
This episode is a near-perfect example of why I’ve always thought this season (14) was the best season of the show ever: great host, great cast, great guests, great writers all working in sync. SNL would win its first writing Emmy in more than a decade for this season – the last time SNL won the award was all the way back in season 2!
Is it me, or does it look like part of WU was edited right after Miller’s joke about the “air quotes”? It looks like his posture automatically changes when he follows up with the Jackie Joyner-Kersee joke.
Tom Fucking Hanks! Anytime the dude hosts, it’s SOLID GOLD. Right up there imo with Goodman, Baldwin, and Timberlake. ?
The opening was classic! There are certain recurring characters I just can’t stand (*coughNunicough*) but Hans and Franz aren’t one of them! It’s always so well executed by Carvey and Nealon!
The nice guy monologue was and still is incredibly fitting for Tom Hanks. The backstage stuff was a trademark of a few of his monologues back in the day! The gift Nora got from Tom was rehashed into the monologue for SMG/Portishead as Darrell presents Sarah with a Family History Album as well.
The “Jew, Not A Jew” game show was fantastic! I loved every second of it, including Victoria shouting very loudly and excitedly, “We’re gonna go with Jew BOB!”
(Sidenote: it’s tough to watch Jan Hooks in that dress and not think about the fact that Ana Gasteyer would eventually don that dress in the Culps sketches.)
Another classic with the debate sketch. Tom Hanks has done Peter Jennings in a couple of episodes he’s hosted and does it well, especially with the head bob. Bush/Dukakis debate!!!! There’s so much to love about this seamless sketch!!! The intros where Bush pats Dukakis on the head and Dukakis proceeds to use a lift device to raise him up to the podium is great! Nealon’s Sam Donaldson interrupting numerous times and Dukakis getting “enraged” are gold!!! Lovitz never really did it for me except for single handedly saving Season 11, but his Dukakis holds a place in my heart as a die hard SNL fan! Bush continually thinking he’s out of time is another shining moment of this sketch! And we end with, “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy!”
(I never cared for the kid playing Quayle. I get the joke but I feel they could’ve gotten a celebrity cameo to portray the VP candidate.)
First. Citiwide. Change. Bank. When I first saw this back in the day on the Commercial Parodies VHS, I thought that Jim Downey was a real bank teller. (Keep in mind, I was just 13) Easily in my top 10 of all time best SNL commercial parodies!!!
“That’s…what we do.”
Tom and Conan recently talked about the time around this episode, the monologue, and a tense encounter with Keith Richards.
This episode is being shown tonight as part of the SNL vintage.
I don’t know why, but a little kid playing Quayle is so much funnier and such a better “fuck you” to me than just gender flipping a politician.
Nick at Nite started airing “Best of SNL” episodes compiled from the 1970s episodes about a month before this season started. I think they were edited down to a half hour long. That had to be what got me watching the show this season, at age 11. I definitely saw some SNL in the early ’80s growing up, and have clear memories of some of the Murphy, Crystal and Short sketches. But I don’t remember seeing anything from seasons 11-13.
I was watching a lot of Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite in the late ’80s, and watched a lot of the Best of SNL episodes there. I had seen Big that year, so I think Tom Hanks hosting combined with a renewed interest in SNL from those reruns got me started watching. I stayed with it very steadily through 1994. My friends watched it too, and it would be a frequent topic of discussion at school and at home. A lot of the lines would get quoted regularly in conversation.
Going away to college combined with me being very disappointed with the 1995 cast changes and their unsubtle, “in-your-face” style of humor led me to gradually give up watching the show. Nothing I’ve sampled in recent years has made me reconsider that decision. But I’m really enjoying starting to go back and explore the “second golden era” of the show again via the “shared” copies that are out there. Watching full episodes is a much better experience than watching the clips one at a time on YouTube. The ebb and flow and rhythm just helps you appreciate everything better. The comedy during this era, and a lot of the earlier years as well, has so many high points that are as smart, solid and strong as anything that’s ever been on television.
In my opinion, this is the best season of SNL. The entire cast was on fire and this was when the show became popular again after several years of low ratings. Not to mention an impressive array of movie stars of the late 80s (Mel Gibson, Demi Moore, Geena Davis, Matthew Broderick) and SNL favorites (Tom Hanks, Danny DeVito, Steve Martin).
The show was probably at its peak when it came to political material. The Debate sketches are comedic gold. Dana’s Bush impression became an enormous hit.
Of the cast, Jan Hooks never ceases to amaze me with her talent. She could play just about any character. Dennis Miller, though many have soured on him in more recent years, is my all time favorite Weekend Update anchor. From day one, he just took the desk over with his own unique style in a way no one else has. Victoria Jackson was often cast in ditzy, idiotic roles or as a teenager. For what it’s worth, most of the roles she played fit her more than it would her female co-stars. She showed good impression skills with her Roseanne. I sometimes wonder if her act was an “act”. Dana was the main draw of the show. The Church Lady, Hans and Franz, Bush were all immensely popular. He was very funny in just about everything he was in that season. Kevin Nealon is the low key guy out of the group. He excels when he does those one-man straight to camera bits or those sketches he starred in and you can tell he wrote. Looking back on the reruns now though he seemed to often be stuck playing straightman non comedic roles. Lovitz doesn’t dominate here like he did a couple seasons ago but he still manages to churn out some hits. His hammy, smug, Vaudellian style is always funny to me. Nora Dunn does a good job with what she’s given. She’s often cast as matriarchs or businesswomen. She has more versatility than Victoria but less than Jan. Phil was the backbone of the show. Or as Chris Farley put it – The Glue. He added so much charisma to any character or impression he did. Perhaps the most talented performer the show has ever had. Mike Myers made a splash almost immediately with Sprockets and Wayne’s World. Ben Stiller, like RDJ and AMH, was more akin to movie acting than sketch comedy acting. He did an admirable job though. A. Whitney Brown’s Big Picture commentaries are hit and miss for me. Some of them are hilarious while others are duds. Franken’s WU pieces are good for the most part.
The musical guest selection for this season reflects the show in general’s orientation towards a Baby Boomer audience. Lots of soft rock and Americana music. Though we do get some emerging alternative rock groups and a couple R&B performers.
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
I concur with a lot of your thoughts! I think Jan Hooks is easily my favorite female caste member on SNL of all times, though I’m not sure this is my favorite season, as I also like episodes with more current music and felt like it was hit or miss sometimes with either thr hosts or the music acts, but Miller will always be my fav anchor. And I don’t think I really ever got the humor of A Whitney brown, though it seems like Miller idolizes him, he doesn’t do it for me but I do like franken a lot, particularly because of his stuart Smalley role (before the cast changed and seasons got worse later on). I find Franken enjoying to watch when he plays a role too as a political role or he’s playing some bit role.
This defintely was the start of the strongest Hanks hosting episodes, though I think he did a great job hosting w Aerosmith a couple Yrs later. I love girl watchers, & even though it’s not in this episode, enjoy it when a Carvey impersonates Miller and the infamous episode of Hanks doing it too and them singing some Christmas jingle.
I never took to Nora Dunn, although ironically thought she did Well in the season 11, before Carvey and Hartman. I don’t mind the pat Steven’s show when she’s interviewing dole Vs bush, find that funny, as well as the later real super model sketch with out of place Leslie Neilson, but it’s really hard to believe her character as a model as she is so butch to me for some reason and also just hard generally speaking.
I’m also not a fan of a Victoria Jackson, I find her on equal level with later cast member (drawing a blank now, but the woman that plays Pat). I thought Victoria did well in small doses, like in the mr. Subliminal first episode, which I think was season 12? And I don’t mind her on a date w hanks as mr short term memory. But I really can’t stand her weekend update segments, and feel like she is someone that should have left after 3 seasons at most. Dunn always looked like she just didn’t fit in there, but apparently because she was dating Lorne at some point I think Lovitz mentioned In an SNL book or def read an article about it, she was able to get a lot of her sketch’s on air, but found most of them to be repetitive, learning to feel is not much of a reach of her pat Steven’s character. Her earlier stuff she seemed much more vibrant and usable.
But anyways I think you brought some solid points and think this was a great start to the season, also just an overall great episode!
First Citibank is so funny I just love it.
I found a live copy of this episode: https://archive.org/details/nbc-wmaq-chicago-snl-october-8-1988-tom-hanks-keith-richards
Clicked this link and noticed an interesting thing: the real commercial that airs after the monologue/First Citiwide (the Budweiser) seems to be a very direct inspiration for the Schmitt’s Gay parody. It’s pretty funny actually.
I worked with the film unit during this time period, as a PA for wardrobe. This episode was a blast, I mostly worked on the Change Bank shoot that week, Jim Downey is one of the most talented comedy writers on the planet!
Your insights to any episodes would be welcomed, Leela.
Dana said the key to perfecting his George Bush impression was combining Mr. Rogers with John Wayne. It seems that, at this point, he hadn’t added the John Wayne layer yet. That’s why the impression wasn’t what it would eventually be. Pretty much still all Mr. Rogers in this episode.