Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
(JOL) calls out names of “best frightened crowd” Academy Award winners
— Phil’s Michael Caine impression is very funny.
— Fairly funny how they keep throwing to clips of lesser and lesser award show categories, especially the cheap location that the awards for movie extras is being held at.
— Jon going through the names of each crowd member is pretty amusing.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— Wow, Don Pardo is clearly sick tonight, because his voice sounds TERRIBLE. Not to be grim or tasteless, but he sounds like he’s literally doing these announcements from his death bed. His ill voice tonight sounds almost SCARY, especially the ghoulish way he sounded when announcing Jon Lovitz’s name. Over the years, there have been other episodes where Pardo sounded sick (e.g. Tom Arnold episode from 1996, Freddie Prinze Jr. episode from 2000), but those are NOTHING compared to how scarily unhealthy his voice sounds in tonight’s episode. You really have to wonder why they didn’t just get someone like Carvey to fill in for him.
— In reruns, SNL replaces Pardo’s voice-over with a much-healthier sounding one from him that must’ve been taped sometime after he recovered from whatever was ailing him.
— Ben Stiller has been added to the cast as a featured player.
After having such a stable cast for two-and-a-half seasons, it’s interesting how SNL has suddenly been adding all these new young guys mid-season, especially since it’s not like any members of the regular cast are on their way out yet.
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— For the first time ever, there’s an SNL logo on top of the home base stage (screencap below), which the camera shows a close-up of right after the opening montage ends. This would go on to be a tradition until 1995.
— I like how Mary’s bringing up the controversy from this season’s earlier Nude Beach sketch where the word “penis” was uttered 28 times, according to her (though I swear I recall hearing it was a higher number than that, somewhere in the 40s).
— Funny line with her writing off the Nude Beach sketch as “political satire”.
— Love her example of the right time to use the word “penis”.
— An all-time classic line at the very end with her announcing “Elvis Costello’s penis is here tonight, so stick around, we’ll be right back!”
STARS: ****
THE DAN QUAYLE SHOW
Dan Quayle (DAC) with wife Marilyn (host) in Van Dyke-like show
— Strong concept, and obviously inspired by Marilyn Quayle having the same hairstyle as a young Mary Tyler Moore (which SNL made jokes about on some earlier Weekend Updates from this season).
— The son is played by the same child actor (Jeff Renaudo) who’s usually cast as Dan Quayle whenever SNL portrays Quayle as a child (which has yet to become a recurring gag by this point; it’s only appeared once so far). Until now, I had always thought that Jeff Renaudo’s only non-Quayle appearance on SNL was in the Nude House Of Wacky People sketch from the following season.
— Great moment with Mary parodying her own trademark delivery by saying a quivery-voiced “Ohhhh, Daaaaan!”
— This already-strong sketch has now gotten even better with the inclusion of Jon and Nora’s funny portrayals of Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie.
STARS: ****
CUSTOMS
smugglers voluntarily tell a customs officer (host) what they’re carrying
— I got a pretty good laugh from Mary jovially telling Dana’s Scarface-esque character “You’ll be going to prison now.”
— I’m enjoying Mary’s charming ways of getting customers to reveal secrets about what they’re carrying. This is the perfect role for her.
— Boy, it sure feels weird to see young Ben Stiller on the show. Maybe part of that weird feeling is because I have the benefit of hindsight and know his SNL tenure ends up being insanely short.
— Good part with Jon hesitantly revealing that he’s smuggling diamonds inside a certain bodypart.
— Solid ending with Mary happily taking Jon out for ice cream before he goes to jail.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Veronica”
WEEKEND UPDATE
— Man, even Don Pardo’s voice-over intro to tonight’s Update sounds awful. There’s absolutely no energy left in his ill voice by this point of the episode.
— Some big screw-ups with the news screen graphics just now, which Dennis saves with some good ad-libs.
— I didn’t get the “Margo (sp?) Adams trying stuff on that doesn’t belong to her” joke at all, though it got an “Ohhhh!” from someone in the audience.
— I like Dennis’ “Pete Rose’s Best Bets For The Oscars” segment.
— Wow, this overall Update surprisingly had no guest commentaries at all.
STARS: ***½
SWEENEY SISTERS
third Sweeney sister Audrey (host) joins Liz & Candy for a medley
— This ends up being the final Sweeney Sisters sketch, despite the fact that Nora and Jan both remain in the SNL cast for a good while after this (Nora doesn’t leave until the end of next season, and Jan leaves at the end of the season after that). Were they just tired of playing the Sweeneys? Then again, Nora’s recurring characters in general strangely seem to be getting phased out by this point, as Pat Stevens has only one remaining appearance, which surprisingly doesn’t appear until halfway through next season.
— Nice inclusion of Mary as a Sweeney Sister.
— Mary is fitting PERFECTLY into the Sweeney’s medley.
— I loved Jan’s overly-serious delivery of “I’m gonna bring the room down for a minute” and then launching into a softly-spoken rendition of “Hit The Road, Jack”.
— An overall strong way for the Sweeney Sisters to go out. If Nora and Jan really HAVE gotten tired of playing these characters, they sure don’t let it show, because they both appeared to be having a lot of fun during this installment.
STARS: ****
ROBOT REPAIR
robotic repairman (PHH) grows agitated over his show’s misleading titles
— Great make-up on Phil.
— I’m getting so many laughs over the constantly “fixed” titles and how the wording in them is still confusing. Phil’s straight-laced, slow, monotone robot delivery is making the already-funny dialogue that much better.
— A particularly hilarious part with Phil’s character calling out the producers for being intentionally deceptive with their new title “Let’s Fix, Robots”.
— Love the sudden Fugitive Robots turn.
— I’m always a sucker for absurd Jack Handey pieces, and this particular sketch is one of the most wonderfully-written and executed examples. An absolutely perfect sketch.
STARS: *****
LADY RHEMINGTON
host uses the Lady Rhemington shaver to plow through her thick leg hair
— A very short-but-sweet commercial with the sudden cutaway to Mary’s exaggerated leg hair. This commercial was the right length for a sight gag like this.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Let Him Dangle”
REQUIEM FOR DEATH
while portraying gangster in attempt to defy typecasting, host relapses
— “Introducing The New Guy as the boxer”. A nice meta mention of Ben Stiller being a new cast member.
— Is that Conan O’Brien as “Spooneye” O’McCallahan in the promotional boxing poster? (screencap below)
— I like Phil’s slow-witted old man character.
— Very funny use of Mary as an old-timey gangster.
— I’m loving Mary’s performance.
— Mary regressing in her performance by whining out of character is a funny turn. I incorrectly assumed that would lead to a fourth-wall break with the other performers dropping character and calling out Mary for not fully committing to her against-type role, similar to how that “And now, a sketch where Bruce Dern doesn’t play a psycho” piece from season 8 eventually led to Dern having an “unscripted” psychotic angry outburst, upsetting the cast members in the sketch.
STARS: ***½
BROADWAY STORY, PART 1
by TOS- rival producer (DEM) schemes against (JOL)
— Wow, I wonder if this is a record for highest number of black-and-white segments in a single episode. There’s the Dan Quayle Show sketch, the Requiem For Death sketch, and now this.
— We have the birth of the name “SchilllerVision”, which goes on to be used in quite a number of Tom Schiller’s remaining Schiller’s Reels.
— Wow, where has Victoria been tonight? This is the first (and ONLY) time we’re seeing her all night, and it’s not even a live appearance.
— This is an absolutely DEAD-ON recreation of a typical 1930s film. The overly-bright visual quality, the muffled audio, the authentic old-timey performances… I’m loving all the attention to detail throughout this, which they’re pulling off in a very comedic way.
— Funny touches with the blatantly-fake things being superimposed into some stock footage shots.
— Heh, is Dennis miming to somebody else’s voice, or is that all him? Doesn’t sound a thing like his normal voice. He looks very different in this, too. I didn’t even recognize him at first.
— We get a “To be continued…”-esque ending, telling us that a Chapter Two will appear in a later episode. A rarity for SNL to break up a segment into various parts that are continued in subsequent episodes. I’m sure there’s been one or two other times this has happened, but nothing is coming to mind right now.
STARS: ****
WAYNE’S WORLD
an apology to Beev; math teacher (host) tries to be cool
— It sure didn’t take them long to make this sketch recurring. I see it’s still stuck in the 10-to-1 slot, though.
— Interesting how Jan’s Nancy Simmons character is actually a co-host in tonight’s installment.
— Feels weird not hearing the audience go wild in these early Wayne’s World installments whenever Wayne and Garth yell “Paaaartyyyyy!”
— Needless to say, Wayne’s immature prank on Beev after Wayne’s “apology” is very un-PC nowadays (second screencap above).
— I’m enjoying the whole “gimp” back-and-forth between Wayne, Garth, and Nancy.
— Some good laughs from Mary’s character trying too hard to seem cool.
— Despite the laughs, I actually found tonight’s overall Wayne’s World installment more charming than funny. These sketches definitely get funnier later on after they fully find their voice. Nonetheless, these early installments are still fun to watch, not to mention an interesting time capsule of late 80s teen culture.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
— Boy, sick Pardo sounds even MORE depressing during his voice-over in these goodnights. Poor guy sounds like he’s half-asleep by this point, and it’s hard to understand what he’s saying.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Season 14 does it once again with yet ANOTHER consistently very solid episode. A lot of strong things tonight, and there weren’t any segments that I disliked. Also, Mary Tyler Moore was a very game and fun host, and you can tell she was having a blast.
— I don’t want to jinx myself, but this is shaping up to be the first (and maybe only?) SNL season that has no episodes that I feel are subpar (though I think I recall hearing that the soon-to-come Geena Davis episode isn’t up to snuff; I myself remember very little about that episode, so I can’t say).
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Glenn Close)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Mel Gibson, the only live SNL episode to air on April Fools Day
I remember seeing Costello’s performance (returning after supposedly being banned for changing songs during his 70’s appearance).
I’m pretty sure that Margo Adams was the mistress of Red Sox superstar Wade Boggs. So the joke about her “trying on someone else’s things” would’ve been a reference to that.
Thanks for the info.
Would you happen to have a link to Don Pardo’s announcement for this episode? The ones I’ve found are reruns.
I remember some of this one clearly from the original airing of this show and probably seeing some of the NBC clips of it online later. Rewatching a rerun now, I didn’t remember the opening. I thought it would’ve been better if they dived deeper into lesser award shows one more time, and then had that one loop around dive back into Michael Caine again. Especially since Caine is so memorable in this sketch, the audience would’ve known right away they were back at the beginning.
Mary Tyler Moore’s monologue is fantastic. She knocks it out of the park with her neurotic, endearing performance. And, once again, SNL has a host perfectly self-parodying their own public image.
The Dick Van Dyke parody was incredible. It’s just hilarious serendipity how the idea probably came from Marilyn Quayle’s resemblance to Mary Tyler Moore, but now they have MTM on the show and they also have great impressions for Morey and Rose Marie. The writers TRULY knew The Dick Van Dyke Show with the references they made. I think MTM only said the “if you don’t know then I’m certainly not going to tell you” line once on the original series. Could be wrong, but they knew it was iconic and they captured a lot of other stuff too, like how they’d sometimes have the “song and dance” episodes.
The MTM airport sketch is cute, but basically a one-joke sketch, so it wears out on multiple viewings.
Dennis had a lot of “caption the picture” gags this time. The meta gag at the end about the transcript was probably the funniest scripted line. The ad lib about knowing it’s live, after someone forgot to cycle through the pictures was the winner though.
Robot Repair is one of those sketches that seems to get better the more you watch it. You can never quite remember just what the title variations are and how the robot reacts to them each time. The character itself looks and sounds funny and then the fact that a fake show can never seem to get started is a classic thing SNL goes back to from time to time (similar to Phil’s Anal-Retentive Chef sketches). It’s funny to think how this is probably dramatizing arguments writers have in the writers’ room over changing a line of dialogue. Lionel Hutz had a similar gag on The Simpsons about removing commas to change the meaning of a phrase, so I have to wonder if Phil was involved in writing one or both of those gags. It’s strange how the audience didn’t seem to laugh that much at this one. Seems like the whole meta aspect of it went over their heads.
Lady Rhemington, the mismatch on the wide and close shots of her legs kind of ruined the joke.
Sweeney Sisters just kind of goes on and on. Not much going for it besides Jan’s performance. I recently saw a YouTube video of an old duet medley with Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett which was even more annoying than this, so at least I know this could be worse.
Two more black-and-white segments for a total of three so far. These move a lot slower than the Dick Van Dyke one. Nothing too exciting or memorable. That does sound like Dennis Miller doing a voice to me.
MTM’s “they’re baaack” for the band into was a perfect delivery of the classic “Poltergeist 2” tagline…
More fun with early format Wayne’s World here. It’s still a basement cable access show with no production values, no celebrities, no structured comedy bits, very little pop culture commentary, and Wayne is a complete jerkass. Interesting that Jan really started out as part of a three-person team in the sketches so far. Seems like the main appeal of it in these early stages is how closely they capture the lingo and attitude of this slacker generation. But I can start to see why they might’ve wanted to soften up Wayne to make him a more likable hero later. Beating up on the lovable MTM didn’t seem to help him win the audience over. After the sketch, Hartman continued mugging in character during the show closing.
The Sweeney Sisters actually met up with Mary Tyler Moore a few months earlier, on August 28, 1988. They opened the 1988 Emmy Awards.
Also saw in this interview Nora Dunn say that when Mary Tyler Moore came in she said the only demand she made was that she wanted to be a Sweeney Sister. So just like Pat in Roseanne’s episode, the host was responsible for the reappearance of the characters this time.
The Steven Spielberg/force is with them joke is interesting; apparently Spielberg was generally associated with Star Wars in ’89 enough to justify that joke, even though he really has nothing to do with that franchise?
On the most recent Fly on the Wall podcast Dana sad he separated his shoulder falling in the Dan Quayle sketch but was able to continue the rest of the show. Injury still bothers him till this day
I think after that experimental era (season 11) Lorne felt it best to play things safe so he only added actors when he thought the show was stable and solid. Let the writers and audience discover new players slowly and don’t let anyone ruin the show by changing too fast. This worked great for Mike Meyers, not so well for Ben Stiller. But they both had plenty of success after SNL so overall it was a good strategy.
Also I need to point out to any young people reading this that even in 1989 randomly calling people “fags” was generally considered childish and old fashioned, so most normal respectable adults didn’t do it. As a joke on a sketch comedy show about idiot teenagers it was funny for a while, but they will soon realize how tasteless it is and move on to better, classier jokes, like Brian Doyle-Murray blowing goats.
When Ed O’Neill was a guest on Fly on the Wall, he said he did a Sweeney Sisters sketch with Nora and Jan. However, since there’s no Sweeney Sisters sketch in that episode, we can only presume it was something that got cut after dress. But apparently they did attempt to do the Sweeneys at least once in Season 15. I doubt it would’ve been as great as this one with Mary, though, so I’m kind of glad they went out on such a high note.
I also read somewhere that the hardest part of putting those sketches together was arranging the songs into a medley, so the fact that they gradually stopped doing them was probably more due to work burnout than character burnout.