Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
medal-contending figure skater (host) has fall-filled Olympic performance
— Pretty funny Scott Hamilton voice from Dana.
— Jason Priestley showing up as a figure skater is ALREADY getting pretty good laughs.
— Right off the bat, Jason’s proving himself to be a surprisingly good host. Despite the thin premise, Jason is selling it really well with his funny constant falls and misguided determination, as are Phil and Dana with their disappointed “Ohh!”s every time Jason falls.
— I’m liking the cutaways to Melanie as the mother, especially the small square screen shown of her smiling on and waving an American flag as Jason keeps taking a whole bunch of falls.
— Funny cutaway to the now-bloodied face of Jason at the end of his skating routine.
— When Julia is reading off the judges’ scores, she mistakenly skips one of them. This would later be fixed in reruns by altering how the scores are displayed onscreen.
— The joke with Jason being too out-of-breath to speak was recycled from an earlier Olympic skating cold opening with Tom Hanks in season 13, as I pointed out in my review of that episode.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
audience members’ questions for host are all about Luke Perry
— All of the ladies’ questions being about Luke Perry is pretty funny, though feels like an unfortunate precursor to those excessive one-joke questions-from-the-audience monologues from season 19, where “audience members” take turns asking the host variations of the exact same question.
— Good random bit with Rob as an Elvis fan asking Jason is he’s related to Elvis “Priestley”.
STARS: ***
JIFFY POP AIRBAG
Jiffy Pop Airbag serves your safety & snacking needs
— Great comedic concept of a popcorn airbag.
— Funny re-enactment scene with Melanie and Tim.
— For some reason, the part with Tim reaching into Melanie’s car and having some of her popcorn himself would later be removed from all reruns of this ad. I have no idea why.
STARS: ****
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHNNY HILDO
Johnny Hildo’s (host) unfortunate name causes grief
— I’m enjoying the escalation of everyone referring to Johnny Hildo as “Dildo”, especially when it comes from his teacher (Phil).
— When various students walk past Hildo while greeting him as “Dildo”, I love how one of them randomly is Richmeister.
— Very funny “Crazed Dildo Kills Seven” headline.
— Strong ending with Hildo bonding with a cellmate named Larry Bagina.
— Overall, it’s amazing how they got such a funny and memorable sketch out of such a thin and juvenile premise.
STARS: ****
SPROCKETS / LOVE WERKS
(host) chooses shemale Susan (PHH) on Love Werks dating game
— Sprockets goes through another nice deviation from its usual format.
— Jason’s shoutout to his “lover” Helmut was really funny.
— The debut of Phil’s Susan the Shemale character, who’s immediately coming off hilarious here. I also like the detail of the sloppily-applied lipstick.
— The contestants’ descriptions of themselves has some really funny absurd lines.
— I got a big laugh from Susan the Shemale’s description of the perfect date, especially the line about Jason waking up in excruciating pain with a size 7 poop chute.
— I love the random running gag with Jason’s exclamation of “Muzzah!” (mother), complete with a dramatic close-up and background music, in response to his mother.
STARS: ****
THE ARSENIO HALL SHOW
The New Kids On The Block respond to critics
— As usual, a funny and spot-on Arsenio impression from Rock.
— I liked the bit with there being no cheers when Rob introduces himself.
— I’ve seen various people point out that Rob looks eerily like Eminem in this sketch. All I can say is, they’re not wrong.
— Adam’s Donnie Wahlberg is cracking me up.
— A very solid satire of New Kids on the Block, especially with them bragging about doing everything themselves.
— A good laugh from NKOTB’s bad attempt at harmonizing.
— I love the musical performance, especially Dana’s falsetto during his solo, Adam’s rap during his solo, and the laughably bad choreography from all of them.
STARS: ****½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on what to do when you feel like killing
— Rerun from the preceding season’s Jeremy Irons episode
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Concept”
WEEKEND UPDATE
DAS defends rampaging circus elephant, tells how he would’ve subdued it
— A mention of an out-of-touch President Bush showing amazement at seeing a supermarket price scanner in action (first screencap above), which I only bring up because John, a frequent commenter on this site, recently wondered if that Bush incident was ever addressed on SNL.
— The first time all season that David has done an Update commentary as himself, though he’s had a number of them cut after dress rehearsal earlier this season.
— David has some funny comments about the torture elephants receive, and is getting some laughs with his bragging about how he could beat up Kelly the Elephant.
— Much like last week, Kevin’s doing a lot of comedic random one-liner asides (e.g. “You know, I was thinking.”)
— The “joke” (if it can even be called that) about Michael Jackson making an announcement that he’s “rolling in dough” received absolute silence from the audience. I’m just as confused as they are over what the punchline there was supposed to be.
— Now, about a minute later, Kevin has done a follow-up to the baffling Michael Jackson joke, by saying Kenny Rogers had made his own announcement that he’s “raking it in”. I still don’t get it at all, but it’s starting to make me chuckle anyway.
— According to GettyImages, Siobhan Fallon had an Update commentary cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal, playing an… interesting-looking character (pic here). If it had made it on the air, it would’ve been Siobhan’s first (and only) time ever appearing at the Weekend Update desk.
STARS: ***
BEVERLY HILLS 90210
students are distraught over zip code consolidation
— From what I remember of the real show, this parody is spot-on so far.
— The debut of Melanie’s Tori Spelling impression and that infamous facial expression that accompanies it (a facial expression that I’ve never seen the real Tori Spelling make, by the way).
— I’m getting pretty good laughs from the overdramatic treatment of the zip code change.
— Dana is really funny as Luke Perry’s character, especially when doing the brooding hands-in-pockets walk (fifth screencap above).
— I love the running gag with Jason going “I can’t let you do that; give me your keys” to various characters over increasingly tame things, eventually putting the keys in a valet parking key box.
— David’s walk-on as Ian Ziering’s character is cracking me up.
— Pretty solid ending with Jason doing a PSA advertising a zip code directory book.
STARS: ****
LA TOUR AND JOHNSON
domestic violence pervades song lyrics of La Tour (TIM) & Johnson (ELC)
— Catchy melodies to the songs.
— I like the part right now with the scrolled song titles all being rearrangements of same words (e.g. “It’s Only Good When It Hurts”, “It Hurts? Good!”, “If It Don’t Hurt, It Ain’t No Good”), all made even funnier by Phil’s voice-over reading those titles off in a professional voice.
— Another funny song title, with “Love Stabbed Me In The Ribs And Never Came To Visit Me In The Hospital”.
— The premise started getting a little tired towards the end, but the sketch as a whole was okay.
STARS: ***
MARRIAGE TESTS
(host) passes oddball tests posed by fiancee’s (BEC) father (PHH)
— I got a good laugh from Phil’s random request for Jason to sit on his lap and “give daddy a great big kiss”.
— I’m liking the constant reveals of Phil’s bizarre requests just being a test.
— Phil’s performance and the increasing absurdity of this is very good, especially when he brings out a saddle.
— Funny ending line from Phil about how he feels like he’s losing a daughter but “gaining a fine young thoroughbred steed”.
— Overall, a forgotten and underrated Phil Hartman sketch.
STARS: ****
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on the merits of a kryptonite cross
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What You Do To Me” & “Pet Rock”
BANK ROBBERY
while robbing a bank in a black neighborhood, (host) & (DAC) deny racism
— I’m liking Rock’s wisecracks to the robbers, especially his remark about the robbers’ “sorry-ass jokes.”
— Writer Warren Hutcherson in his first of several speaking roles throughout his SNL tenure.
— Another funny line from Rock, with his “I know one thing: I’m not gettin’ on the floor in my good suit.”
— The overall sketch as a whole wasn’t that funny to me (aside from Rock’s lines), nor did the premise lend itself to many laughs, but it did provide some social commentary that at least made it fairly interesting.
STARS: **½
GOODNIGHTS
— Jason announces that tonight is Farley’s birthday. Given that, it’s odd how little Farley appeared in this episode.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very good and memorable episode. The first half in particular had a string of great sketches. Even what I felt was the weakest sketch of the night (Bank Robbery) had redeeming qualities. Jason Priestley was also a surprisingly very solid host. I recall hearing that SNL fans at the time were upset at the announcement of him hosting, as this was the very first (or one of the first) instance of SNL getting someone from a teen show to host, but I’m sure those critics quieted down after seeing how well Priestley handled himself as a host.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Susan Dey)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Roseanne and Tom Arnold
I’ve always enjoyed this episode, particularly the Johnny Hildo sketch and how it would keep cutting to the title card of the show in between segments.
Priestley also handled himself quite well, and I also love that you called out how good the Marriage Test sketch was. Phil Hartman was always so good at making you still love him while playing such horrible and/or weird characters.
I’ve generally enjoyed SNL’s youthful hosts (although there’s some clunkers, like the Beebs, and Taylor Lautner, although in the latter’s case, he wasn’t to blame). They generally are energetic and seem willing to poke fun at themselves.
Thank you for checking to see if the supermarket incident was mentioned. I guess the writing of this era was not interested in low-hanging fruit but I’m surprised they resisted the image of Dana’s Bush at the checkout line.
SNL had had some young hosts before but this one of their first that was meant to cater to a very specific market of younger viewers. It’s not something they ever would have done only 2-3 years earlier, I think. I take it as Lorne knowing they had to broaden their audience. I don’t know how well it worked out in ratings but clearly it was successful enough that more 90210 cast members would host (and they all did a good job). It’s interesting looking back at this now as I feel like they have pulled back from this approach in recent seasons.
We’re in a period of time where at least one, if not more, sketch per episode is considered a “classic.” For this one the Sprockets sketch may be the most remembered.
I wonder if it was some kind of running gag to put Phil Hartman in homoerotic sketches with 90210 hunks, as he (sort of) has one with Luke Perry the next season.
This all winds down with the 94-95 season premiere that has a Brian Austin Green cameo…and NO audience response. NONE. One of the funniest parts of that premiere…
Anyway, there’s something odd with Victoria playing the Jennie Garth role in the 90210 sketch. She certainly looked youthful enough, but after seeing her on the show for 6 years you just feel like her time had passed to be in this type of material. Yet it seems like this season has her playing a number of child and teen characters.
I don’t think Siobhan has ever said much about her time at SNL but I would love to know more about that character on WU. She looks like a variation of the crazy ladies Cheri Oteri would play.
Sorry (wish I could edit back). I forgot to say that Melanie Hutsell does some really good work in this ep, as you point out, in the cold open and the Jiffy Pop ad. She could be surprisingly on point when she had the material. It’s just that, as often happens, the mugging bits are what get more attention (and likely what got her another two seasons), and they are inevitably wrung out until they’re dry.
I remember watching this episode live. I was only 9 years old. I love the figure skating opening bit.
Being only 9, I had no idea what a “dildo” was, so the Johnny Hildo sketch went way over my head. I didn’t get it. The next day at dinner, to my parents horror, I asked (in front of everyone) “Dad, what’s a dildo?” … my parents were not enthused. 🙂
Earlier in the week NKOTB were on Arsenio defending the “rumors” that they lip-sync and write their own songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX8YDBFiJC0
Warning: its 25 minutes long
I didn’t remember the goodnights mentioning Farley’s birthday. One episode after the goodnights with Phil’s daughter. The universe seemed to repeatedly tie them together (beyond the obvious, there’s also that sad bit in Phil’s goodbye song where he and Farley are the last two left and he cradles Matt Foley to sleep as he tells the audience goodbye).
Such a lovely moment knowing what would happen to them months apart.
Being a Marquette alumni, it was cool to see Chris Farley wearing the Marquette sweatshirt during the goodnights. He graduated from Marquette in 1987, just a few years before joining the SNL cast. Unfortunately we didn’t go there at the same time – I’m a 1981 grad.
I’m guessing the Michael Jackson “rolling in dough” joke had to do with his appearance, as his skin becoming much lighter had started to become a big story around that time. Still, that’s pretty weak.
I don’t get the Kenny Rogers one, either. Maybe something to do with his hairstyle?
The jokes involving Hammer, Michael Jackson and Kenny Rogers had to do with their excessively expensive lifestyles and consequently financial problems they were suffering from at the time. Their responses of denial to the press were along the lines of Kevin’s quotes such as “rolling in the dough” etc.
I’ve been re-watching old episodes during lockdown, and also came across this very useful website! Anyway, about the “rolling in dough” joke, I think it was just commenting on the absurdity of Hammer bragging about “sitting pretty” financially. The bit didn’t really work, but I think that’s all there was too it.
Also, for years I thought Jason Priestley did his own skating in the opening, but after watching again, I’m pretty sure it’s a stunt double wearing a Priestley wig. (Which makes sense, as I doubt Fox would have wanted one of their biggest stars doing some pretty risky stunts.)
There is an older black gentleman in the robbery sketch, who appeared as an extra in tons of sketches from this era. Who was he – an actor? a member of the crew/staff?
His name is Grafton Trew (not entirely sure if it’s spelled Trew or True); I’m guessing he was just an actor they hired for background work and the occasional minor speaking role.