March 23, 1991 – Jeremy Irons / Fishbone (S16 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- they intend to liberate Kuwait atop a camel

— These characters seem to be appearing less and less lately.
— An interesting new setting for Hans and Franz.
— A chuckle from the visual of the obviously fake camel they’re sitting on.
— Their fake Arab dialect to Mike is funny, especially Dana’s random melodic “haaaaaaaah” in the middle of it.
— The camel’s bizarre-sounding loud laugh had me cracking the hell up.
STARS: ***

OPENING MONTAGE
— The theme music would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.

MONOLOGUE
hobbies designed to keep host’s mind off his Oscar nomination don’t work

— In addition to the theme music being replaced with the dress version in reruns, the same would also happen to this monologue.
— The Oscar statuette-shaped candle that Jeremy pulls out from his jacket is unintentionally missing its head (third screencap above). It must’ve fallen off while inside Jeremy’s jacket. This is most likely the reason why reruns replace this monologue with the dress rehearsal version.
— A good laugh from Jeremy’s “Thank you very much, Lorne” when handing his wood-carved Oscar statuette to an unseen stagehand.
— I like Jeremy’s comically exaggerated panicked, quivering way of saying Los AN-AN-AN-ANGELES” and “MON-MON-MONDAY”.
— Some good laughs from his various ways of “proving” he’s kept his mind off of the Oscars by taking up several hobbies, where his Oscars obsession still manifests itself.
STARS: ***½

MCINTOSH JR.
— Rerun.
— I wasn’t able to review the original airing of this commercial, since it was missing from my copy of that episode (Roseanne Barr). However, I can’t review tonight’s airing of the commercial either, because in the copy I’m watching, there’s strangely no sound AT ALL during this commercial.
— Halfway through this, a professional voice-over announces “We’re sorry for the audio difficulty originating at the network. We hope it will be fixed shortly.”
— Just now, the sound has finally come back on, right at the very end of the commercial when the audience is applauding.

OFFICE PARTY
Richard Laymer gets emotional at a goodbye party for co-worker (host)

— This installment was originally intended for the preceding week’s Michael J. Fox episode, with Fox playing the role Jeremy Irons will play here, but the sketch got cut after dress rehearsal. A video of it used to be available online at Yahoo Screen.
— Richmeister returns once again. At least they waited a while this time.
— Richmeister is still new enough at this point that he doesn’t receive recognition applause from the audience yet.
— The copy machine bit with Farley and Victoria was pretty funny, as was Richmeister panicking over that and calling security.
— At one point, Jeremy mistakenly calls Richmeister “Drew”, which is his own character’s name.
STARS: ***

SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Sherlock Holmes (host) spoils the fun at his own surprise party

— I love Phil’s voice as Watson.
— Perfect casting of Jeremy Irons as Sherlock Holmes.
— Weird how this is the second sketch in a row with a party being held for a character played by Jeremy.
— I like Sherlock using his brilliant clue-deducing skills to figure out from many minor details that a surprise party is being held for him.
— Jeremy’s delivery is surprisingly stumbly at times here.
— A good laugh from the bit with Watson’s gift to Sherlock being a sexy ladies outfit that was supposed to remain secret between both of them.
— An overall charming and clever sketch that this cast is always great at pulling off.
STARS: ****

DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on stories involving sad clowns & diarrhea

COWBOY SONG
(host) & lonesome cowboys sing about the unappealing nature of their job

— The return of a sketch from the previous season’s Woody Harrleson episode.
— Not sure what the joke here is supposed to be.
— Okay, there was finally a laugh, with the unexpected mention of a “catalogue of female genitalia”.
— Jeremy is selling the material well, even if I’m not laughing all that much at this. His charming performance is making me smile throughout this.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sunless Saturday”

WEEKEND UPDATE
DEM steps in before Razor Ruddock [real] can talk about end of Tyson bout
CSR gives tips on how to enjoy your trip to see New Jack City

— Sadly, Dennis still sounds just as lethargic as he did in his terrible Update from the last episode.
— Dennis had a good joke just now, with him quoting Bush as saying “I am the lizard king! I can do anything!” I also liked how Dennis followed that up by ad-libbing “I always get so embarrassed when I act.”
— Very lame bit with the Razor Ruddock commentary getting cut off by Dennis shortly after it began, as a weak spoof of a then-recent incident where a referee cut short Ruddock’s fight with Mike Tyson.
— I like how Rock is doing a commentary about the controversial then-new movie “New Jack City” since he appears in it.
— Rock’s tips on how to enjoy seeing “New Jack City” in theaters is okay, though not my favorite Chris Rock Update commentary.
— Dennis’ jokes in tonight’s overall Update were a little better than the previous episode, despite his off delivery.
STARS: ***

ACCENT
(JUS), (JAH), (VIJ) love the novelty of (host)’s English accent

— Some aspects of this sketch have always brought to mind a bar sketch from the previous season’s Rick Moranis episode.
— Decent laughs from the ladies asking Jeremy to say increasingly specific lovey-dovey things in his natural accent.
— Not sure what the point of Farley’s appearance at the end was.
STARS: ***

WAYNE’S WORLD
the boys offer up their Oscar picks

 

— What in the world is this hugely popular recurring sketch doing on so late? The late placement of this sketch made sense in the John Goodman episode earlier this season, because they were showing a controversial Madonna music video that was banned from MTV, but I’m aware there’s not going to be anything like that in tonight’s installment, so what gives?
— I like the return of the “Wayne’s Oscar Picks” segment.
— I love Wayne and Garth’s examples of how cool Joe Pesci’s last name sounds.
— Here we have the very first time “Shwing!” is used in the manner we’re now familiar with, as a sound effect when miming an erection. Before this, Wayne only used “Shwing!” as a sound effect for more innocent, non-sexual things.
— Overall, this Wayne’s World installment was kinda average. Aside from the “Pesci” talk, nothing was memorable in this. That still doesn’t explain why this was buried so unusually late in the show.
STARS: ***

CELLMATE
Hannibal Lecter (host) psychoanalyzes rageaholic cellmate Mace

— A good laugh from the opening scene with Phil’s Mace character on a date with his hand, which is made up to look like a woman.
— Nice turn with Mace’s new cellmate being Hannibal Lecter. Though couldn’t they have at least ATTEMPTED to make Jeremy look even remotely like Anthony Hopkins?
— I love the rapid-fire back-and-forth right now between Lecter and Mace.
— Pretty good ending.
STARS: ***½

DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on how to temper homicidal urges

BUZZ PEN
shave phone messages into friends’ hair; Razor Ruddock cameo

— A good take-off on a popular craze from the early 90s.
— I like the still photo examples they’re showing of messages the Buzz Pen can shave into hair, especially the grocery list.
— Considering SNL had no black writers this season (unless I’m mistaken), I wonder who wrote this.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Everyday Sunshine”

LOONEY TUNES CLASSICS
host plugs album of classical music from cartoons

— Another great use of Jeremy.
— Very funny premise, associating famous classical melodies with well-known Looney Tunes scenes.
— Some good laughs from the scrolled titles and Jeremy’s accompanying Looney Tunes imitations when reading off the titles.
— You can tell Jeremy’s having fun performing this sketch.
— Love the classic clip they showed of Daffy Duck singing made-up, rapidly-sung lyrics to “William Tell Overture” while chasing Porky Pig down a fire escape (last screencap above). Brings back so many great childhood memories of watching that and other Looney Tunes cartoons.
STARS: ****

FOOTBALL DAYS
by Jennifer Meyer- Jack Handey’s gridiron career recalled

— A rare occurrence of a Jack Handey short film. There’s actually another film from him that was inserted into the reruns of the Sting episode from this season. That film had a teenage Jack Handey being played by the same actor who plays teen Handey here.
— Speaking of the actor who plays teen Handey, that’s perfect casting, because it’s easy to imagine Handey’s monotone, deadpan voice coming from him.
— I love the visual of Handey’s ridiculous football uniform.
— The sudden handcuffs twist was a great ending.
— Overall, the usual offbeat, bizarre, and very funny Jack Handey humor.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid and consistent episode, with nothing I disliked. The show was also helped by Jeremy Irons. Despite some line flubs here and there, he was a very solid host and came off fun, charming, and game.

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael J. Fox)
a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Catherine O’Hara