December 16, 1989 – Andie MacDowell / Tracy Chapman (S15 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
(KEN)’s drunk driving message is interrupted by the Energizer Bunny

— Hilarious idea of the Energizer Bunny randomly interrupting a dead-serious drinking-and-driving PSA, though the timing of the bunny’s entrance was off and Kevin’s facial reactions to the bunny was a little too exaggerated and hokey for my likes.
— I like how this cold opening ended up being a quick blackout gag.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Her delivery of jokes is pretty rough so far, and you can tell she’s nervous.
— Her complicated advice to her father on how to watch tonight’s show is pretty funny, and was delivered decently enough.
STARS: ***

THE NIGHT HANUKKAH HARRY SAVED CHRISTMAS
Hanukkah Harry (JOL) helps sick Santa (PHH)

— A good laugh from an ill Santa barfing off-camera immediately after unsuccessfully trying to force himself out of bed.
— The Hanukkah Harry concept is hilarious, and this is a role that Jon Lovitz was born to play.
— The theme song is fantastic, especially the Jewish names of the reindeer.
— Jon’s portrayal of this character is excellent and is also humorously nailing just about every Jewish stereotype possible.
— Very realistic childlike bouncing up and down from Mike throughout this sketch.
— Victoria (in reaction to her gift): “Socks???” Hanukkah Harry: “8-pair! Can you believe it?!?”
STARS: *****

DAY CARE CENTER
exotic baby-carrying devices make (host) insecure about her parenting

— I’m really liking the increasingly odd baby-carrying methods being displayed (especially Nora’s and Kevin’s), as well as the parents justifying why its supposedly helpful for the baby.
— Funny ending with Jan’s baby being fed milk through a turkey baster.
STARS: ****

CHURCH CHAT
Nadia Comaneci (JAH), Leona Helmsley (NOD), host

— Believe it or not, this is the first Church Chat sketch in over a year! The last one was with Morton Downey Jr. back in November 1988 (though Church Lady herself appeared a month later in a non-Church Chat cold opening). Very odd. While I’m glad they’re not overusing Church Chat to death, putting it on a year-long hiatus when it’s still somewhat in its prime IS a bit much. Perhaps Dana is just getting sick of playing the character (after all, he does eventually make an on-air announcement that he’s retiring Church Lady, in the Roseanne Barr episode next season).
— Hilarious raunchy spiel from Church Lady about Nadia Comaneci twisting her body into into a sweaty pretzel, “ready to be smeared with man mustard”.
— I love Church Lady’s “What’s missing from this picture?” bit with Nora’s Leona Helmsley.
— Interesting turn with Andie filming a “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”-type confession from Church Lady.
— Another good deviation from the usual format, with Church Lady going out into the audience and singing “Let It Snow”, then asking random audience members about their sexual experiences.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gimme One Reason”

WEEKEND UPDATE
horny Mrs. Claus (VIJ) sings “Santa Please Skip Christmas This Year”
his decade over, ALF declares the ’90s will belong to his son Joe [real]

 

— Victoria’s Mrs. Claus song is very fun and one of Victoria’s more memorable Update songs.
— Funny comment from Dennis after all the things Mrs. Claus did to him during her song: “Suddenly, I’m sitting here with a candy cane.”
— I love the commitment that SNL has consistently been giving to the Al Franken Decade premise these last 10 years, and it’s only fitting that we get a wrap-up with this being the last episode of the decade.
— Great announcement that Al is passing the torch to his son and is declaring the 1990s the Joe Franken Decade.
— Memorable appearance from Joe Franken here, made even more meaningful in hindsight by the fact that SNL would stick to the Joe Franken Decade premise by doing a follow-up 10 years later in the final episode of 1999, with Joe as a bored teen telling his father he wants no part in his “lame bit”.
STARS: ***½

HAL JEROME TRIBUTE
tribute to Hal Jerome documents his very autobiographical Broadway songs

  

— What is with Andie’s sloppy delivery?
— I’m enjoying Phil’s “Oh Missouri” song.
— The bad song titles mentioned are really funny.
— Jan’s bizarre solo song about lost keys is FANTASTIC.
— This is an increasingly very interesting piece, and a good showcase for some of these performers, particularly Phil and Jan. Andie, on the other hand, is sticking out like a sore thumb. Couldn’t they have cast Nora in her part instead?
— Something about the style of this is reminding me a bit of the great Backer’s Audition sketch from the Bea Arthur episode in season 5. This Hal Jerome sketch in general does feel like something that would be right at home in the original SNL era.
STARS: ****

DIETER IN SPACE
by TOS- accidental astronauts say “Happy New Year!”

 

— Here’s a Schiller’s Reel that would later be removed from all reruns and be replaced with another Schiller’s Reel, starring Dana Carvey as himself (I think it’s titled “The Land Before Television”).
— Interesting use of Dieter outside of the Sprockets setting.
— The old stock footage shot they showed just now of a mad scientist giving a demented smile into the camera (last screencap above) was previously used in a Schiller’s Reel from way back in the original era (I can’t remember which Schiller’s Reel, though; it may be the baby-cloning one from the season 4 finale).
— I got a laugh from the monkey slapping the girl when she was acting delirious.
— Ehh, this overall film ended up not doing much for me, despite the creative and promising idea, and a few okay moments.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “All That You Have”

THIS IS YOUR DAY
visitors to bride-to-be’s (host) bedroom remind her- “this is your day”

— I like the over-the-top emotional squealing sounds when Nora and Jan make their respective entrance and greet Andie.
— Victoria’s exaggerated crying on the bed is cracking me up.
— I liked the line from Phil as Andie’s father, about how it took him and his wife 30 years to realize they didn’t even like each other… at all.
— An overall nice and funny slice-of-life piece.
STARS: ***½

SEASON’S GREETINGS
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein sing “The Little Drummer Boy”

— Frankenstein’s bad drumming throughout the song is very funny.
— Now this has gotten even funnier with Frankenstein unintentionally busting his fist through the drum, resulting in confused whimpering from him.
— Overall, the funny business with Frankenstein’s drum puts this a step above the usual great musical pieces with these characters.
STARS: ****½

GOODNIGHTS

— Funny aversion from Joe Franken as Andie MacDowell is planting many kisses on him. I’m sure he would’ve felt differently about her kisses 10 years later.
— Mike Myers is randomly dressed as a jungle native for some reason (he’s the half-naked guy in the last screencap above). Was a sketch cut at the last minute?

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Pretty solid episode, even if it’s not quite as outstanding as some of the other Christmas episodes from this era. There were a lot of strong sketches in the first half of this episode, and some nice memorable Christmas-y things throughout the night (particularly Hanukkah Harry and Victoria Jackson’s Mrs. Claus song). Andie MacDowell had a few rough moments in the monologue and Hal Jerome sketch, but was okay elsewhere.
— With this being the final episode of the 80s, I’m proud to say I’ve now covered an entire decade’s worth of episodes for the first time in this SNL project of mine. (I obviously couldn’t say that about the 70s, since SNL didn’t debut until halfway through that decade) From the original cast’s underwhelming winding-down in early 1980 to the Second Golden Age being in the midst of peak levels of greatness in late 1989, I got to review it all these past 7 months.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert Wagner)
a mild step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
We enter a new decade. Ed O’Neill hosts the first SNL of the 90s.