Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) offers to base his presidential salary on America’s GNP
— The debut of Dana’s memorable Ross Perot impression.
— Right off the bat, this begins with Dana’s Perot addressing the L.A. Riots, which had occurred the previous week when SNL was in reruns. I can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like if SNL had a live episode during the weekend the L.A. Riots were still occurring.
— Solid part with Perot displaying a check to pay for damages made during the L.A. Riots.
— Dana’s Perot impression is coming off pretty low-key here compared to his more goofy portrayal in later appearances. This is also the only time he ever plays Perot without glasses.
— Perot, regarding his aforementioned check: “This a one-time deal. If you burn down a buildin’ tomorrow, that’s your problem.”
— Very funny line about training the Crips and the Bloods to operate computers, as part of Perot’s plan to rebuild L.A..
— A lot of laughs during his proposal on how much we pay him proportionate to the percentage of growth in the economy during his hypothetical presidency.
— Great part with him reading off an ad for Munsingwear underwear, as part of a deal for the airtime he was given.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
last-minute replacement for Joe Pesci host asks PHH “How am I funny?”
— Tom mentions Joe Pesci was the originally-scheduled host for this episode but had to drop out due to the filming of his latest movie running late. Pesci would later end up making up for this by hosting early next season.
— Good bit with Tom’s over-the-top bragging about Pesci’s great year.
— Much like Tom’s season 14 monologue, this has a false ending where the screen fades to black but then suddenly continues with Tom being shown entering backstage when the show is supposedly in a commercial break.
— Tom’s great at doing Pesci’s famous “What do you mean I’m funny?” GoodFellas rant, especially when he gets really worked up by the end of it.
— Priceless visual of Tom smashing a bottle over Lorne’s head and then roughhousing him while heading towards the home base stage. I also love Tom’s hilarious angry gibberish during that (at one point noticeably saying “Bada bing, bada boom!”).
STARS: ****
JOHN CABRIZIO CHEVROLET MAZDA HYUNDAI
Los Angeles car dealer rep (ROS) announces sale on riot-damaged autos
— More good comedy tonight at the expense of the L.A. Riots.
— Solid spokesman performance from Rob, and some good laughs from him proudly advertising destroyed cars from the L.A. Riots. I like how the condition of each advertised car is getting increasingly worse as the sketch goes on, such as a still-burning Chevy Pickup.
STARS: ***½
SABRA PRICE IS RIGHT
merchants of shoddy wares haggle with contestants
— Oh, here comes a classic sketch that has HUGE historical significance to me as an SNL fan. I want to go into details about that, but since it’s a long story, I’ll save it for the end of this sketch.
— This sketch is improving upon the lesser-known original Sabra Shopping Network sketch from Tom’s last episode.
— A good laugh from Tom’s iffy, speechless reaction to a black contestant (Rock) entering the game.
— I love the cheap products being falsely advertised, such as a TV antenna being passed off as a satellite dish, and a “cordless telephone” that’s simply a home phone with its cord unhooked.
— The whole back-and-forth between Tom and Mike kills me, especially Tom’s endless “Nonono nonononononono” and Mike’s “It’s not even a CD player; it’s a child’s bank!”
— “Deesco, deesco, good, good!”
— I’m not sure, but I think portions of this sketch are replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. Some parts of the live version I’m currently watching don’t quite match the version of this sketch that’s been deeply ingrained into my memory since my teenage years (you’ll find out why it’s been so deeply ingrained into my teenage memory in a moment).
— An overall priceless, perfect, and very memorable sketch.
— Okay, now for the story of why this sketch has HUGE historical significance to me as an SNL fan: Back when I was just starting to get into SNL, which was during my teenage years, I was first exposed to this episode in a rerun during a Friday night SNL marathon on Comedy Central. As I watched this particular sketch, I was absolutely enthralled by it, as I found it SO funny and quotable. Thankfully, I happened to be recording this Comedy Central airing on my VCR, and so, some days later, I replayed this sketch on my VHS tape while recording the entirety of its audio onto a cassette tape, which also contained three other select sketches that teenage me loved, so I could listen to all four of those sketches on my walkman while either drifting off to sleep or if I was at a place that didn’t have a TV (for those curious, the other three sketches I had recorded on that audio cassette tape was 1) one from next season’s Kevin Kline episode where Kline plays an Italian celebrity with an uncontrollable farting problem, 2) Jennifer Aniston’s Fight Club monologue from her then-recent season 25 episode, and 3) another sketch from that same Aniston episode, where she and Rachel Dratch play old-timey street urchins trying to get a modern-day family to take them in for Christmas). Boy, did I end up playing the hell out of that audio tape. I loved listening to all four of those sketches over and over, but especially Sabra Price is Right. I listened to that particular sketch on that tape SO much to the degree that, ever since then, I have the ability to recite almost all of the dialogue of the sketch by heart, word-for-word. All-in-all, teenage me’s constant listening to this sketch on that cassette tape has been partly responsible for me becoming an obsessive, hardcore SNL fan.
STARS: *****
MR. BELVEDERE FAN CLUB
weirdos speak at a meeting of The Guy Who Plays Mr. Belvedere Fan Club
— Boy, the hits keep on comin’ tonight. Here’s another personal favorite sketch of mine, even if it doesn’t have quite the historical significance to me personally that Sabra Price Is Right has.
— I love the detail of how, despite these people being huge Mr. Belvedere fans, they apparently don’t even know the name of the actor who played him, judging by how they named their club “The Guy Who Plays Mr. Belvedere Fan Club”.
— I like the club members proposing nicknames for Mr. Belvedere, culminating in them settling on the now-legendary-among-SNL-fans moniker Brocktoon.
— Great disturbed facial reaction from Tim during Farley’s long-winded declaration of his admiration for Mr. Belvedere.
— Farley at the end of his above-mentioned declaration about Mr. Belvedere: “I’m wondering… should we kill him?”
— The increasingly disturbing turns this meeting keeps taking are fantastic.
— Adam: “I should like watching Mr. Belvedere a lot, but I shouldn’t have to masturbate at the end of every episode.”
— There’s my absolute favorite part of this wonderful sketch: the entire “to tear the flesh” spiel delivered by a particularly creepy Phil. Tom’s taken-aback speechless reaction to that is also great.
— Excellent ending with Tim’s whole “You people are crazy!” rant being immediately followed by a cutaway to him locked in the giant jar that was mentioned earlier in the sketch.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lucky Town”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Jay Leno [real] gives KEN the latest news on the L.A. riots
DAS uses a personal anecdote to explain why he prefers Mother’s Day
Queen Shenequa talks about the L.A. riots; Akeyla Cleghorne cameo
— Lots of good L.A. Riots-related jokes right off the bat… that is, when they’re not being bungled by Kevin’s stumbly delivery.
— Random appearance from Jay Leno, playing himself as an L.A. Riots correspondent.
— I liked Leno’s line about how he considers the sight of a black man and white man stealing a TV together as a sign of unity.
— A short overall commentary from Leno that was basically an excuse for him to do some stand-up jokes about the L.A. Riots.
— After Leno has left, Kevin says “We wish Jay good luck with The Tonight Show”, as this is shortly before Johnny Carson’s retirement and Leno taking over for him.
— David Spade FINALLY gets an Update commentary on the air, after getting a string of them cut from the last few episodes’ dress rehearsals.
— David tells a childhood story about his father giving him a Nerf football, which David responds to with a funny sarcastic “Ooh, it’s two colors. You spoil me, ya bastard.” I’m not 100% sure, but I think he later reprises that exact same bit during an edition of Spade in America from season 21, where he re-enacts a conversation he recently had with his dad when reuniting with him for Thanksgiving (one of my favorite editions of Spade in America).
— Some pretty solid humor from David here, especially him telling us how, after breaking the news to his mom that he can’t be there at Arizona for Mother’s Day because he’s busy working at SNL, his mom responded to him “Can’t you get someone else to stand there and wave goodnight?” A great self-deprecating dig at David’s extreme lack of airtime on SNL.
— Another Queen Shenequa commentary already, after we just saw her two episodes ago?
— Some fairly tepid jokes from Queen Shenequa overall tonight, but I enjoyed the Mother’s Day-related ending with her daughter, especially Shenequa explaining to us that her daughter’s Swahili name translates to “Little bitch, don’t even think about gettin’ pregnant”. By the way, this is the very first of many SNL appearances from Ellen’s real-life daughter Akeyla (not counting the goodnights of the Rob Morrow episode from earlier this season, where she can be seen being held high by Ellen).
— Kevin’s Mother’s Day poll on the most often-used phrases by his mother when he was growing up had a funny ending (second-to-last screencap above).
STARS: ***
SHE TURNED INTO HER MOTHER!!
(JUS) takes on the traits of her mom
— Very funny performance from Julia, who’s doing a great job pulling off her character’s uncontrollable back-and-forth transitioning from her normal voice into her mother’s voice. Tom is also a perfect straight man for this.
— I like the horror movie presentation of this whole thing.
— Solid ending.
— Overall, one of the best showcases that the underappreciated Julia Sweeney receives during her entire SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “57 Channels” & “Living Proof”
THE DARK SIDE WITH NAT X
Nat X argues with disguised Rodney King trial jurors
— Nat’s line “I wanna say hello to all my fans watchin’ on brand-new TVs!” was yet another funny joke tonight at the expense of the L.A. Riots.
— Nice topical variation of the usual White Man Cam segment, with it now being the L.A.P.D. Cam.
— I like how Nat’s guests tonight are the Rodney King jury. Some good laughs from them all entering with goofy disguises, such as David in a Cousin Itt wig and Julia with a Batman mask.
— Nat’s angry questions to the jury has some pretty solid laughs.
— I love the casual cutaway to Phil with a brown paper bag over his head that has the words “PLEASE DON’T KILL ME” on it.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on hoping that God likes enchiladas
— This is missing from my copy of this episode.
SHOWCASE PLAYHOUSE THEATER
(MIM) & (JUS) grow up wanting to fly
— You can immediately tell this sketch is a Jack Handey piece by the use of the character name Cameron Hormel, which is to Jack Handey-written sketches what the name Dale Butterworth is to Andy Breckman-written sketches, though to a much lesser extent in Handey’s case, as I can only think of one other sketch of his that uses the name Cameron Hormel (Tales Of Fraud And Malfeasance In Railroad Hiring Practices, from season 20’s George Clooney episode).
— A big laugh from Phil’s promo for the sponsor Nice Ass Baby pantyhose (Jack Handey knocks it out of the park once again with yet another great fake sponsor).
— Julia is getting a lot of good airtime tonight, which feels rare for her this season.
— Some really funny back-and-forth reveals from Phil of the legitimacy of the Nice Ass Baby pantyhose sponsor.
— I’ve always kinda had difficulty figuring out what to make of this sketch, but I can appreciate its weirdness. It’s far from one of my favorite oddball Jack Handey pieces, but all the flying fake-outs during the Mike/Julia scenes are amusing and Phil’s intro segments are solid.
— Pretty funny bit at the end with Phil randomly removing his mustache during his sign-off.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— As usual when Tom Hanks hosts in the late 80s/early 90s years, this was a strong episode, even if it’s not my favorite episode he hosted. The first half of tonight’s episode was particularly great, where we got two all-time classic sketches back-to-back: Sabra Price Is Right and Mr. Belvedere Fan Club, one of the greatest one-two punches in SNL history (and coming right after an episode that itself had a fantastic one-two punch in its first half, with Stand Up And Win and History Class). There were also no sketches that I disliked tonight, for the second episode in a row.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jerry Seinfeld)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 17 comes to an end, with host Woody Harrelson. We get the last hurrahs of veteran Victoria Jackson and newbies Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill.
and, of course, there’s the famous blooper in that 10-to-1 sketch where someone walks in front of the camera (and Phil), and he has to stop, look towards them, and go “…friend of mine?”
What’s interesting about the “one-two punches” of these last two episodes is that I don’t think any of them became widely recognized as classics until about a decade later thanks to the influx of themed greatest hits compilations. The TimeLife series certainly didn’t tap into these episodes too much. It makes me wonder what sketches from today will be viewed better in 10 years.
And for the record, I rank the four sketches thusly:
1. Mr. Belvedere Fanclub
2. History Class
3. Stand Up and Win
4. Sabra’s Price Is Right
All classics though.
Julia’s sketch is terrific too, the best of the rest for either episode.
I think with Youtube and viral moments sketches get different and faster reactions now, but it mostly depends on changing tastes. I think some things like the Beck and Kyle shorts will probably be more respected in later years.
Back then it seems like mostly Sandler and Farley bits became immediately known to the public (Canteen Boy, Matt Foley, etc.). And they would then become recurring characters.
I’m not sure which one-off sketch of that era became immediately popular. You may have to go all the way to 2000 or so with the Cowbell sketch.
I don’t think Tom Hanks ever got his due as an SNL host. That sounds like a dumb thing to say, because he hasn’t exactly been hurting for recognition in his career, but you never really hear about him as some kind of great host as much as you do with Baldwin, Goodman, Martin (of recent years) even though he had some absolutely terrific shows. I guess because he didn’t host as many times as they did. It seems like it was his last hosting gig that finally got him some of that praise.
It’s harder to say about very recent seasons because since everything goes up on YouTube, it’s harder for things to fall through the cracks. One thing I think of in recent memory might be the Blake Lively “potato chip thief” sketch, which is way more famous now than when it first aired.
Just rewatched both these episodes. I’d rank those sketches:
1. Mr. Belvedere Fan Club
2. Sabra Price Is Right
3. Stand Up and Win
4. History Class
I’ve always viewed History Class as very accurate but not particularly funny, and that didn’t really change this time around. The top 3 slay me, though. Mr. Belvedere Fan Club especially is maybe in my top 10 SNL sketches. Just perfectly stupid comedy.
Jay Leno giving SNL fans a preview of the same hacky jokes he’d bring to the Tonight Show for 20 years…
I went back and watched In Living Color’s episode about the riots to see how the comedy differentiated. They mostly hit the “can’t we all just get along” jokes and used their recurring characters (including one of my all time favorites of any sketch show, Benita Butrell). I’m glad SNL had a few more black cast members than the norm at this time as it meant the material had more of a balance than it might have a few years earlier or later. The Nat X piece was pretty good.
I don’t really remember if this was the first Hillary joke on WU but it still makes you pause when you realize there are going to be 25 long, long years of these to come (and boy the ’90s jokes about her could get brutal).
Seeing Robert Smigel in the (wonderful) Price is Right sketch makes me pause. Of course he’d been on air before, in the Swerski sketches, but this is more as himself. He has a great deal of charisma. I wonder if he should’ve tried for more of an oncamera career.
I’m Turning Into My Mother is the main sketch from this episode that I had in my head for many years. Julia is fantastic here. It’s also a very funny piece.
Julia mentioned on Twitter recently that after the last sketch, Bruce Springsteen helped her get out of her harness in time for the goodnights.
Jordan, that blooper wasn’t in the aired version of the sketch. It was a dress rehearsal blooper that was only shown in the outtakes feature of Phil’s “Best Of” DVD.
As I mentioned a few reviews back Fred Wolf wrote the Mr Belvedere sketch and I think this one got him a full time gig.
Price is .Right is one of my favorites of all time
Hanks wouldn’t host again for four years. Yeah I think his career changed a bit during that time
Man, I have plenty of issues with Fred Wolf, but that may be the most impressive debut of any writer in the show’s history. Also, surprised no one around here ever claimed the name Brocktoon.
Even the subtitles in Mr. Belvedere Fanclub are great such as Adam voting against the nickname and voting for killing him
Oh man…Mr. Belvedere Fan Club might be one of the best SNL skits of all-time.
Chris Farley’s delivery, ending with the perfect (I was wondering…should we kill him?) Hanks’ frustration with the vote (it shouldn’t have been that close) and Phil’s absolutely insane comment (to wear the flesh…etc) is so hilarious.
One of the best.
This might be the best of Tom Hanks hosting stints. Although his 1988 stint my be better. Every time he comes back after this episode (1996, 2006, 2016) doesn’t compare to this episode or those ones before.
I’d put his Season 14 episode at the top. It’s probably in my top five ever. This is next, followed by a Season 15/16 toss up. He’s 2016 episode is actually really strong and his 96 episode is good when they’re not trying to shoehorn Hanks into the recurring character formulas. The 06 episode is a little weird. I think I need to give it a rewatch. Can’t really remember too much from that ep.
With the Mr. Rogers movie…. does that mean we might get ANOTHER Hanks show? Here’s hoping!
Incidentally, the Mr. Belvedere sketch actually wound up as a “Special Feature” on the show’s Season 1 & 2 DVD set…which I always found a little odd for them to include considering the show aired on ABC, was produced by Fox, and released by Shout Factory–talk about a flying dutchman
You bought the Mr. Belvedere dvd?:)
It was listed on the back cover; I can think of better ways to waste money.
True.
Forgot about this: http://kentuckysportsradio.com/pop-culture/getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-funniest-snl-related-story-ever-told/
It’s also a little odd given that the sketch is about lunatics who want to kill him and wear his flesh.
I wonder how viewers who had little awareness of the sketch (or of SNL) reacted…
I think the commercials where people become their parents ( State Farm, can’t remember?) are a rip off of “She turned into her mother”.
This is one of the episodes (albeit a one hour edit from the Comedy Central days) that helped make me a full-fledged SNL fan. The “Mr. Belvedere” skit is an absolute classic – not only because of the club members or that they don’t mention his actual name (poor Christopher Hewett!), but also because it’s just such a random, weird premise to begin with.
I know you don’t review the musical performances during this project, so I’d just like to point out some interesting notes regarding Bruce Springsteen in this one: this was basically his first real legit television performance. Sure, he had music videos and interviews and clips and whatnot beforehand, but prior to this, Springsteen didn’t really ‘do’ TV. Even with his career at a (relatively) troubled point (he had dissolved the E Street Band, the musical landscape was changing, and the two simultaneously-released albums he was promoting here had garnered a somewhat-mixed reception – though I’m personally fond of the “Other Band- era Bruce seen here), there was some real anticipation involved here, as evidenced by the promos for this episode and Tom Hanks’ comments at the start of his monologue.
Unfortunately, Springsteen’s appearance here wasn’t (and isn’t) always held in the highest regard among the mega fans. “Lucky Town” is fine, but “57 Channels (and Nothin’ On)” is generally seen as an embarrassment. I didn’t mind it at 16/17 years old, but in retrospect, that screeching “FIF-ty seven channels…” wasn’t Bruce at his best. (That song doesn’t have the best reputation among the fanbase anyway, though I’m in the minority as I generally like the studio, remix and live versions. Still, the performance of it here, yeah, it’s not Bruce’s shining moment.)
On the other hand, the performance of “Living Proof” that immediately follows is stunningly good.
Man, that sketch about Turning into your mother is kinda being stolen from Progressive insurance, of course when they do it, they BEAT THE PREMICE IN YOUR HEAD SO BADLY YOU NEED A FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION JUST TO BREATHE
Interesting take. I thought the Progressive commercials came out much later than this sketch?
Oh dammit, I meant *BY* Progressive Insurance. Still, my point still stands.
Oh and *Premise. I would fucking kill to have an edit feature here…
Mr. Belvedere Fan Club is really one of the most brilliant pieces of random absurdity the show has ever done. In the pantheon of perfect sketches. It kind of surprised me that Fred Wolf wrote it, considering all the hacky trash he later wrote.
Also, Bruce’s performance of 57 Channels is notoriously noted as one of his all time worst performances. The Slim Whitman yelps he does are unintentionally among the funniest moments of this (great) episode.
This and his surprise appearance on Letterman’s last NBC show a year later were Springsteen’s first two “real, live” TV performances
Just over a year after this SNL episode aired, Hanks and Springsteen were the guests on Letterman’s last NBC Late Night show (6/25/93):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IwaTTo623Kw