Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
CBS outcast Brent Musberger (KEN) works at the Cable Shopping Network
— Good to see the Brent Musberger and Jimmy The Greek impressions back for the first in a long time, and this is a funny setting for them.
— Musberger’s out-of-place sports-like announcing of typical shopping network things is pretty funny.
— A good laugh from Jimmy The Greek once again starting to say something touchy about black people, and Musberger trying to stop him.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— An okay sudden turn with Corbin laughing off his attempt to convince us that he’s not cocky and that there was once a time when women didn’t want him.
STARS: ***
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
character names lend authenticity to (KEN)’s shows
— For some reason, I like the opening theme music to this, even though it was probably just a generic stock music score SNL had in the sound library.
— Dana once again plays a criminal character in a Scarface-esque manner.
— Not caring too much for this sketch so far.
— Okay, I got a pretty good laugh from the ridiculous use of “harsh” language during the tense Corbin/Dana scene.
— Overall, some good lines here and there, and the humor was well-suited for Kevin’s typical delivery, but this sketch suffered from being too sluggish-feeling, causing it to drag. What was this doing in such an early spot as the lead-off sketch of the night?
STARS: **
TV LAWYERS
host & other actors who play lawyers on TV try their act in a real court
— Pretty funny with Corbin thinking he can act as his own lawyer, but turning out to be very wrong.
— Excellent Susan Dey impression from Jan, and she’s giving a very funny speech.
— I love where this is going, with them bringing out other famous TV lawyers one-by-one.
— Phil’s Andy Griffith is PRICELESS.
— Jon is also very funny as Raymond Burr, and he’s doing a surprisingly dead-on vocal imitation.
— Good ending with each lawyer doing a “dramatic exit”.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A Girl Like You”
WEEKEND UPDATE
VIJ has words of praise for Mother Theresa & Mickey Mantle
Grumpy Old Man doesn’t like cash machines, Kleenex, motion pictures
— Meh, didn’t care too much for Victoria’s overall Mother Theresa commentary. Too much generic “blonde ditz” humor here.
— Just when I thought Dennis was having a bit of a ho-hum Update tonight (seriously, why have his Updates been so shaky lately?), he won me over with a bit where he follows an intentionally corny joke by saying “Well, THAT brought Update to a screeching halt” and then cues an airbag that inflates in front of him. That was so random, it was funny, and he made some really amusing ad-libbed comments about it afterwards.
— The usual strong Grumpy Old Man commentary. My favorite part was his story about the “family handkerchief”, which was unwashed for generations and was filled with diseases.
STARS: ***
THE NIGHT HANUKKAH HARRY SAVED EASTER
Hanukkah Harry & invisible Elijah (ALF) sub for Easter Bunny (host)
— Feels weird seeing Tom Schiller in a big role in a live sketch for the first time since season 5.
— I’m not as familiar with this second Hanukkah Harry installment as I am with the classic first installment from earlier this season.
— Boy, so far, this is paling badly in comparison to the first Hanukkah Harry sketch.
— Okay, Phil as the white trash father has provided my first big laughs, and that didn’t even come until about THREE-AND-A-HALF MINUTES into the sketch.
— Phil’s angry “We got us a jewboy!” after pulling out a rifle was funny.
— Good sequence with Phil getting beat up by the invisible Elijah.
— Overall, a slow and forgettable first half, but things got better in the second half. Still, they should’ve left Hanukkah Harry as a classic one-off sketch. Tonight’s sequel didn’t come anywhere close to measuring up.
STARS: **½
PLAYGIRL MODELS
Playgirl models (KEN), (DAC), (host) adorn their penises for the people
— Where have I heard that gruff voice from Dana before?
— Oh, now I figured out where I heard Dana’s gruff voice before: the now-obscure “Two Sammies” sketches that he and Kevin used to do. The voice also sounds like one he would later use for another now-forgotten recurring character: his Larry Roman character from the following two seasons.
— Phil casually applying make-up on the models’ penises is pretty funny.
— Some good laughs from the models’ ridiculous ideas for penis decorations, especially Kevin’s idea for an outdoor theme with a picket fence around the penis.
STARS: ***½
GEORGE F. WILL’S SPORTS MACHINE
intellectual baseball questions
— Dana as George F. Will’s out-of-place intelligent, verbose sports questions and Corbin & Jon being stumped over them is pretty funny, though the premise feels a bit thin.
— Amusing side segment with Kevin’s Sam Donaldson showcasing the game prizes.
— Fun ending with George F. Will being chased out of the studio and through SNL’s backstage.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Blue Before & After”
CONCEITED GUY
(JAH) discovers that her date (host) is preoccupied with his own face
— Funny sudden reveal of Corbin having a gigantic face photo of himself on his wall when he and Jan enter his apartment, after he came off humble and down-to-earth beforehand.
— When Jan turned Corbin’s stereo on, I expected the music that played from it to be sung by Corbin, but I turned out to be wrong. I feel like that joke DID appear in an SNL sketch, though I can’t remember which one.
— Just when I thought the joke was starting to wear kinda thin, they got me laughing again with the funny reveal of Corbin’s ridiculous slippers (last screencap above).
— There would be a rip-off of this sketch years later in an (infamous) episode hosted by Adrien Brody in 2003, with Chris Kattan in the Corbin Bernsen role and Rachel Dratch in the Jan Hooks role (Adrien Brody had a side role as an effeminate servant-type character). Yes, I said “rip-off”. One might call the similarity between both sketches a mere coincidence, but nope, I don’t think so. The similarities are WAY too stark. I have a theory that the Kattan version of the sketch was written by a certain long-time SNL writer (still currently working at SNL as of 2019) who’s received quite a number of accusations of stealing material over the years. I’ll go into more detail about all of this when we reach the Adrien Brody episode.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A completely average episode. While there wasn’t much I found weak, very little stood out as great either. After how consistently strong this entire season has been (aside from the Quincy Jones episode) before these past two episodes, there’s been kind of an unexciting quality to the show lately, between the forgettableness of the preceding episode with Debra Winger and the extreme averageness of tonight’s episode. Then again, I know that this mild slump doesn’t last any longer, considering what the next episode is…
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Debra Winger)
a very slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin makes his hosting debut
Corbin Bernsen was probably at his biggest at this time, with his LA Law buttressed by his (very entertaining) supporting role in Major League. He was also in a pretty good TNG episode around this point. I wish he’d hosted later in his career when he was able to embrace being a character actor more than he did at this point.
The only thing I really remember from this episode is the penis sketch.
It’s odd how many new hosts this season either never hosted again, or would go on to hosts many times and/or many years apart.
I remember watching this episode live and thinking that it (and the Winger episode) were pretty average by this era’s standards. However, the George F Will sketch was great – it was a parody of the real-life program “George Michael’s Sports Machine”, which aired on many NBC stations late Sunday night.
Yeah, George F. Will’s Spirts Machine is really good. A low key favourite of mine from the season.
*Sports* obviously
Almost. George Michael’s show was not a Quiz Show, just weekly highlights
Is that writer you’re referring to in the Brody episode the one with the initials of J.A.?
Yes.
Bernsen is a dead ringer for Mike Schmidt (or at least what Schmidt looked like in 1990) in the Sports Machine sketch. In fact, the first time I saw any part of that sketch, it was in a montage. I had to look it up to check and see if it wasn’t actually Schmidt himself in a cameo.
The Sports Machine sketch reminded me a little of Season 22’s “Freakin’ Giuliani” where Bob Costas spins a baseball-related yarn on a prerecorded message.
Incidentally, Mike Schmidt is currently a part-time color commentator for the Phillies. John Kruk is also a current member of the broadcast crew. It makes me wonder how many other teams have multiple announcers who have been portrayed on SNL…
Here’s my review of the musical performances.
A Girl Like You
* Yeah, I LOVE the opening guitar riff of this song, it’s so simple but such an earworm.
* They’re doing a great job of capturing the energy of the studio version
* Dang this song is such a great little slice of power-pop.
* I do miss the female backing vocals in this live version.
* Alright, I’m loving the guitar soloing in the outro of the song, nice bonus that’s not present in the studio version.
STARS: ****
Blue Before & After
— Oh my gosh at the ridiculous orange hat the lead singer is wearing
— I like the call and response between the singer and the rest of the band in the verses
— Nice mini guitar solo by the lead singer
— The nifty interplay between singer and band members continues. Without it, this song would be at risk of sounding too much like A Girl Like You.
— Heck yeah, great extended outro guitar solo, again by the lead singer.
STARS: ***1/2
Regarding the episode as a whole, it was poorly structured. The last two sketches were the best and should have been positioned earlier in the show.
The 10 to 1 sketch was brilliant, and Jan gave a textbook straight man performance. Bernsen did a great job of deadpanning and letting the comedy breathe. Would have been an outstanding first sketch.
The George Will sketch is funnier if you’re a baseball fan, and actually just as relevant today with the advent of Sabermetrics. I’m sure many fans frustrated by 3 true outcomes baseball would love to scream “THROW THE BALL” at nerdy, stat-obsessed GMs and executives who have little regard for the actual experience of watching or playing the game.
The cold opening unfortunately is very context-dependent. I had no idea who Jimmy the Greek was before watching these old SNL episodes and I’d always known Musberger as an ABC/ESPN guy so didn’t get most of the jokes until I wikipedia-ed the situation.
The Hanukkah Harry sketch was awful. Should have left that as a one-off. Movers and Shakers had potential but it died on the vine. Very under-written but the concept could have been hilarious.
Not much Mike Myers in this episode, and it shows. I know Season 16 is considered “uneven,” but the homogenous — albeit very talented — cast needed a shake up at this point in my opinion. Mike was the start of a different style of humor, and then Rock, Farley, Schneider, and Sweeney brought some much-needed variety to the cast in Season 16.
I’ve always loved George F. Will’s Sports Machine, maybe since it was on Carvey’d Best-Of that I saw when I was 12. I had no idea who Will was, but just the concept of such a boring man hosting this show made me laugh. That’s why Carvey is such a gifted impressionist- you can laugh at them even without knowing who he’s lampooning. He’s so keyed into specific tics amd nuances that it’s almost more of a character.
Another vote for George Will’s Sports Machine. If you know just a bit about his personality – and also the fact that he’s written books on sports, one of which he holds up here – the sketch is a riot.