Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
president-elect George Bush (DAC) has money for a gratuitous negative ad
— Some good laughs from the overdramatic opening voice-over presenting a Dukakis nomination as being a disastrous choice and causing irreversible despair.
— Good premise with Bush having spent the remaining money on one last negative ad, despite the fact that the election is over.
— One of the children on the couch with Bush is a young Kirsten Dunst (the curly-haired blonde girl seated right next to Dana in the last screencap above), an appearance that she would later point out in her monologue when hosting in 2002. Ten years after tonight’s episode, she would also appear with Phil Hartman in the movie Small Soldiers.
— The negative Dukakis ad was very funny, especially the ending statement saying “Bush: He beat a bad man”.
— Now that the election is over, I’m really going to miss the solid election-related material from this season.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— A straightforward, short monologue that I don’t have anything to really say about, other than that the constant “12 weeks ago” reminders were okay.
STARS: **½
NEUBURG’S BLEU CHEESE COOLER
everyone agrees the beverage smells bad
— I love the visual of the disgusting-looking bleu cheese cooler. The groans heard from the audience also add to the humor.
STARS: ****
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
(host) & Vincent’s cousin (JOL) on a date
— Amusing how the serious, dramatic opening sequence is immediately followed by a suddenly-lighthearted announcement of “Tonight’s Episode: The Double Date!”
— Excellent make-up on Phil and Jon. If it weren’t for their voices, I’d never be able to tell that’s them under those grotesque prosthetics.
— I love Jon playing his beast character as a schlubby average joe, and it’s serving as a funny contrast to Phil’s romantic, deep beast character.
— Funny little touch with Phil making a sensual, tongue-trilling purring sound at Jan.
— Jon’s repeated “Shut up” outbursts at the end cracked me up.
STARS: ****
CAMPING TRIP
during a camping trip, Hans & Franz ponder the universe & get some rest
— Glad to see Hans and Franz in a different setting for once. I always like the rare times SNL does this with recurring characters who normally host a TV show.
— Some pretty funny hesitant threats Hans and Franz are making to scary animal noises being heard from off-camera.
— For some reason, it feels weird seeing Al Franken in a normal role like this.
— I really liked Hans line about putting a bear trap in Franken’s bed.
STARS: ***½
THE WORLD OF DR. KNOW-IT-ALL
animal abuse aids air pressure lesson
— The vacuum experiment with the gerbil was really funny.
— Great random part with Phil claiming Demi is wrong because she’s a girl.
— Phil, regarding the fish: “Why does he look dead? Because we talked toooooo…..” Demi: “We talked to God???”
— Love the underlying theme of Phil casually killing animals during his long talks to Dana and Demi.
— Overall, so many funny things in this. One of the more forgotten Phil Hartman gems.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Call Your Name”
WEEKEND UPDATE
DEM on whether Weekend Update contributed to campaign’s lack of substance
proposed order of succession to the presidency puts Quayle last in line
Imelda Marcos (NOD) confesses to DEM- she stole the money & she’s proud
VIJ sings “Dance Your Depression Away” & taps to follow her own advice
— I’ve been noticing throughout tonight’s episode that whenever the audience cheers, you can hear an unusual amount of screaming teen girls among them. It’s especially noticeable at the beginning of this Update.
— Funny bit from Dennis about how many SNL viewers get their news from Weekend Update.
— I like the extended bit with an altered version of the order of succession to the presidency, made to keep Dan Quayle from being anywhere near the first who takes over for Bush.
— Good part with Nora’s Imelda Marcos denying how big her buildings in Manhattan are.
— I’m enjoying Nora’s antsiness in her performance.
— Victoria’s anti-depression musical number is great. Also a very funny touch with Dennis handing her money during her dance on the desk.
— I like how it’s become something of a running gag for Dennis to question humanity whenever he announces that a new Ernest movie has come out.
STARS: ***½
ONE MAN’S DEMONS
voices in (PHH)’s head give him rather sensible advice
— Dana and Jon are hilarious as superimposed spinning demonic heads.
— I like the absurdity of this, as well as the increasingly less-threatening answers the demon heads give Phil.
STARS: ****
DON’T MOVE
(KEN) tries to keep wife (host) calm as he fights rattlesnake biting her
— Looks like this might be the same woods set that was used earlier tonight in the Hans and Franz sketch.
— Kevin’s various failed attempts to hit the snake right in front of him are pretty funny.
— Liked the part just now with Kevin firing a long string of 10 consecutive gunshots at the snake, only to follow it up by asking “Where’d he go???”
— This overall sketch had a simplistic-but-silly Kevin Nealon feel that I always like (I’m guessing he wrote it himself).
STARS: ***
POKER GAME
(PHH), (JOL), (DAC) teach deliverywoman Lou (NOD) how to play poker
— Interesting characterization from Nora.
— Boy, this is a strange sketch.
— Overall, this was hard to figure. I’m not even sure if I liked it or not, but I don’t think I did, despite a few chuckles from two or three of Nora’s lines.
STARS: **
TRAVEL AGENTS
annoying travel agents (KEN) & (host) give (DAC) & (JAH) honeymoon ideas
— Solid performances from Kevin and Demi here.
— I like Dana’s sudden angry outbursts at Jan, especially his delivery of “You want to go to Vermont? GO!!!”
— IIRC, this sketch would later be removed from reruns, but I’m not sure what it’s replaced with.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Take My Heart Away”
BUSINESSMAN’S CHATTER LINE
Businessman’s Chatter Line lets you gab with other white-collar workers
— Some good laughs from the guys excitedly engaging in mundane businessman-type conversation.
— I like that this sketch has a feel and a charm that’s representative of this cast and era.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode. Not particularly great like most of this season’s episodes so far, and I had kind of a hard time coming up with stuff to say about the post-Update sketches, but the show was still enjoyable. There were a few strong stand-out pieces like Beauty And The Beast and The World Of Dr. Know-It-All.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Matthew Modine)
a mild step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
John Lithgow
You could tell they were really firing on all cylinders because I feel like in many other eras, a host like Demi Moore would be given a lot of sketches in which she just plays a hot chick or “Brat Pack” parodies, but instead there’s a lot of straightforward, silly, conceptual sketches.
is Hulu the best way to see the show now? some of these skits look hilarious
Hulu is the best way to see seasons 1-5 and everything past season 30. That’s all they have for full episodes. For all the rest of the seasons in between, it’s best to use the SNL mobile app on one’s phone or just go to nbc.com/SNL and click where it says “sketches” and search by season from there (and even then they don’t have EVERYTHING)
I saw a one-hour edit of this episode forever ago, but just watched the full 90 minute version for the first time a few nights ago. I *loved* it! SNL was in such a great stretch at that point. Only the “Lou’s Poker Game” sketch really fell flat for me, but there’s such an odd vibe about it that I kinda find it endearing nevertheless. I didn’t find “Travel Agents” super great either, but it’s an okay bit.
A very funny cold open and hilarious (and appropriately disgusting) commercial parody get things started off really nicely, and except for “Lou,” things remain pretty strong throughout. The hilariously condescending “Dr. Know-It-All” is probably my favorite skit of the whole episode.
Even Johnny Clegg & Savuka, which I didn’t think would really be ‘my’ kinda musical guest, I thought they were terrific.
Got a kick out of seeing Bruce Willis playing harmonica with the band, too!
I really liked Johnny Clegg & Savuka, and these performances showed Clegg’s Zulu dancing and guitar playing. He will be missed.
Where on YouTube or on-line can I find this? I love the cold opener skit and saw it on the 1992 SNL Presidential Special.
As I understand it, in 7 days the Peacock version of this episode (and others) will either a) become unavailable or b) become unavailable to people without a paid subscription, I’m not sure which.
Unlike at least one Comedy Central 60-minute version of this episode, Peacock’s version includes “The World of Dr. Know-It-All,” “Don’t Move,” and “Businessman’s Chatter Line,” So some people reading these words might want to watch it this week.
Also, the older SNL sketch videos at nbc.com have been disappearing lately, but “Dr. Know-It-All” is currently available here: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/the-world-of-dr-knowitall/2859805
I missed “Businessman’s Chatter Line” while searching nbc.com this morning, but that’s currently available too (https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/businessmans-chatter-line/2859804).
Apparently, Peacock decided to give those episodes a reprieve. The episodes are still on Peacock, and the messages on the site that suggested they were going to disappear are all gone.
“One Man’s Demons” has always been one of my favorite SNL gems of a skit. I think it would have been cool if they did a couple more of these, but this always sticks with me as a favorite Hartman sketch and love Lovitz and Carvey faces as Hartmans “demons.”