Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
The Tonight Show- late walk-ons ruin Johnny Carson’s (DAC) last show
— Phil as a drunk Ed McMahon is hilarious.
— I absolutely love the taped farewell messages from other talk show hosts, with Kevin as Jay Leno rambling about how Carson’s retirement is great for him (Kevin’s voice constantly changing pitches throughout that speech kills me), Rock-as-Arsenio-Hall’s deep, intense philosophizing as the camera slowly zooms into his mouth, and Dana reprising his impression of his former castmate Dennis Miller, ranting about how badly his talk show is doing.
— Adam’s David Brenner impression is cracking me up.
— I like the insane turn this has taken during Carson’s final minute on the air, with a tiger cub going wild and peeing all over the place while attacking David Brenner, before being wrestled by drunk McMahon.
— According to GettyImages, Victoria (who’s final night on the show is tonight) was cut after the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, playing herself performing a ukulele song (pic here). Farley was also cut playing who appears to be Marlon Brando (judging by what it says on whatever that thing is he’s holding in his left hand in this pic) (another pic here).
STARS: ****½
OPENING MONTAGE
— The only second-category featured players (i.e. the featured players who only receive a still photo in the opening montage and are only credited occasionally) who are credited tonight are Beth Cahill and Melanie Hutsell, but reruns of this episode would add in Robert Smigel, presumably because he appears in a Super Fans bit later tonight.
— A very minor note, but it’s something I’ve always found strange: around the middle of this episode’s theme music, G.E. Smith’s plentiful guitar-playing suddenly stops for a long time before eventually continuing towards the end. I wonder what happened there.
MONOLOGUE
after denying ego problems, host plays guitar & sings a song about SNL
— A rare occurrence of G.E. Smith being heard speaking on camera, when handing a guitar to Woody.
— Some good laughs from Woody’s constant stopping before singing, to assure us of how his fame doesn’t affect him.
— His SNL tribute song is funny with its lyrics that’s repeating everything he just said about SNL before launching into the song.
STARS: ***½
ACTION CATS
— Rerun from the Mary Stuart Masterson episode.
TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF
(host) encourages grotesque-bodied beachgoers to take off their shirts
— I like how the body reveals are starting off conventional with Woody’s body, then gets just slightly odd with Farley being Farley, and then is getting flat-out grotesque starting with Kevin’s insanely hairy body.
— Adam’s phallic outie belly button is an absolute riot, as is Tim’s snarky one-liner as a passerby: “Can I put a bun and mustard on that thing? I’m gettin’ kinda hungry.”
— Woody’s encouragement to each guy after they take their shirt off is making me laugh, like him asking hairy Kevin “Did Burt Reynolds just ask me a question?” (though that line was kinda drowned out by audience laughter).
— Farley’s spastic gesturing while playing catch football with Kevin causes Woody to break.
— Considering Dana’s real-life infamous botched heart surgery from the late 90s, his character in this sketch having had heart surgery is eerily prophetic. That being said, I love the particularly disgusting visual of his transplanted baboon heart being outside of his chest.
— Another great snarky one-liner from a passerby, this time with Siobhan asking a feminine breasts-having Mike “Didn’t I see you on the cover of Juggs Magazine?”
STARS: ****½
SPROCKETS
(host)’s EuroTrash theme park is a rebuttal to EuroDisney
— They did a Sprockets sketch last time Woody hosted SNL, but his character in tonight’s Sprockets is different from the one he played last time. For some reason, I kinda love the name of the character he’s playing tonight: Graus Grek (which was used in an earlier Sprockets sketch as a name that Dieter mentioned in passing).
— I like Woody’s bizarre wig.
— The pictures that Woody’s displaying of his EuroDisney alternative, EuroTrash, have some funny pictures, especially the Diseased Bear Jamboree.
— I love the part with Dieter going on about what a Fred Flintstone fanatic he is.
— This ends up being the final Sprockets sketch in its normal (if it can be called that) format during Mike’s tenure as a cast member. All future Dieter appearances during Mike’s cast tenure are outside of the typical Sprockets format.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on having “impressions” during a math test
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Save The Best For Last”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Super Fans offer tips to Knicks fans on what to do after the Bulls win
Operaman sings about Ross Perot, L.A. riots, Mark Messier, Johnny Carson
— Very interesting seeing the Super Fans appear on Update for a change. However, it appears George Wendt was too busy this week to cameo (which is funny since his Cheers co-star is hosting tonight). Feels odd seeing the Super Fans without a “lead character” like Wendt or Joe Mantegna.
— I loved Smigel’s disparaging comment on what a Knick is: “It’s what a New York man gets when he shaves his leg before going into a Greenwich Village bar.”
— Operaman officially becomes recurring, only two episodes after making his debut.
— Fantastic biting satire with Operaman singing about President Bush sleeping during the L.A. Riots.
— Another great part during the Operaman commentary, with him lamenting “El chin-o” (Jay Leno) replacing an about-to-retire Johnny Carson. I like that SNL’s not afraid to take shots at Leno tonight after he had just cameod on the show a week earlier.
STARS: ***
DELTA DELTA DELTA
Pam, Di, Meg don’t want to give their notes to Sigma Chi frat brothers
— Here comes what ends up being the final installment of this sketch (though Melanie’s character would end up making a “cameo” in the very first Gap Girls sketch next season).
— Boy, am I glad I’ll never have to hear that annoying-as-hell catchphrase “Delta Delta Delta, can I help ya help ya help ya?” anymore after this episode.
— David’s constant sotto-voced attempts to persuade Beth are kinda funny.
— I found this overall installment to be really meh and mostly unnoteworthy. A step down from the surprisingly semi-tolerable preceding installment from the Mary Stuart Masterson episode.
STARS: **
COWBOY SONG
lonesome cowboys sing about how they’re proud they’re not minorities
— Another recurring sketch making its final appearance tonight. This sketch debuted the last time Woody hosted.
— I’m getting a lot of “That is SO wrong” laughs from the cowboys’ bigoted lyrics about minorities and “girl-boys with big ol’ girl vaginas”.
STARS: ****
BACKSTAGE
Zoraida confuses host’s Cheers & White Men Can’t Jump roles with reality
— (*groan*) This character again…
— Ugh, this routine with her confusing hosts’ fictional characters with real life is BEYOND tired by this point.
— An overall particularly tepid, by-the-numbers Zoraida installment. No redeeming factors at all here.
— While I was never all that crazy about this character’s routine to begin with in her debut in the season premiere, it’s amazing how quickly they milked it dry over the course of just one season.
STARS: *
FRANK GANNON, P.I. P.I.
politically incorrect P.I. looks into abortion clinic vandalism
— Good to see this character officially become recurring, though we end up never seeing him again after this episode.
— Frank Gannon assuming the “Baby Killers” graffiti was the abortion clinic’s real sign was hilarious.
— Lots of funny offensive, bigoted (I seem to be using that word quite a lot tonight) assumptions from Gannon throughout this, especially his theory that young black men from the L.A. Riots looted the abortion clinic and stole the files so they can know the names and addresses of all the loose women in the neighborhood.
— I like the addition of Woody as Gannon’s rookie assistant, Rudy.
— The close-up of Gannon’s dopey, cocky grin into the camera as Ellen is getting arrested is great (second-to-last screencap above).
— It’s Victoria’s final episode as a cast member, and she’s JUST NOW making her first appearance, in the last 20 minutes of the episode.
— I love Victoria’s tearful “You’re an idiot!” to Gannon at the end.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Comfort Zone”
THE SENSITIVE NAKED MAN
The Sensitive Naked Man attends a baseball game with his son
— Much like Frank Gannon, this character makes his second and last-ever appearance. Seems to be a lot of characters unknowingly taking their final bow tonight (Delta Delta Delta, Singing Cowboys, Frank Gannon, Sensitive Naked Man, Sprockets sorta… too bad Zoraida’s not one of them).
— I got a laugh from Rob thinking he’s ridiculed by his son’s friends just because he’s a social worker.
— An overall surprisingly forgettable installment of this sketch. The ending especially came off weak, and the sorta-reveal of Rob’s bare behind fell flat. This overall installment doesn’t hold a candle to the far-superior installment from earlier this season.
STARS: **½
BAD EXPECTANT MOTHER
(VIJ) unwittingly sets examples of what expectant mothers shouldn’t do
— Much like Jan Hooks in the preceding season’s finale, I’m glad they gave Victoria the 10-to-1 spot in this season finale even if I’m not 100% sure if they knew at the time that she’s leaving (though the fact that she gets to stand at the front of the stage during the following goodnights suggests they possibly were indeed aware).
— I liked Woody’s line about it being safe for Victoria to drink Irish coffee because “the alcohol and caffeine will probably just cancel each other out”.
— A lot of big laughs from Victoria doing a succession of actions that pregnant women should never do, such as sniffing glue, putting her belly in the microwave when trying to fix it, etc.
— A great cutaway to a pre-taped Jon Lovitz revealing that the sketch was based on his mother when she was pregnant with him, and then plugging his upcoming FOX special.
— An overall strong note for Victoria to go out on. One of her best sketches ever.
— In reruns, SNL moves this sketch up to a much earlier timeslot in the first half of the show. I can kinda see why, but I like this better in the 10-to-1 slot, as this is Victoria’s last show, and it’s also a solid way to close the season. (Reruns place the underwhelming Sensitive Naked Man sketch in the 10-to-1 slot, which is a pretty poor way to close the season)
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly solid season finale, even if it doesn’t measure up to the two fantastic episodes that preceded it. Despite tonight’s episode being weighed down by a few recurring characters I dislike (Delta Delta Delta and Zoraida), there was still plenty of good material in the show. We also got a surprisingly large amount of delightfully offensive, un-PC material in the post-Update half, such as Cowboy Song, Frank Gannon P.I. P.I., and Bad Expectant Mother.
— Tonight ended up being the final episode for veteran Victoria Jackson and first-year newbies Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill. Victoria’s tenure ended with a very forgettable final year for her, as she was gradually phased out (hell, as mentioned earlier in this review, she didn’t even appear in her final episode until the last 20 minutes) and did very little of note in the second half of the season. Overall, though, I feel Victoria’s SNL tenure as a whole was pretty good. While she was very limited in her range and does not measure up to the fantastic work of most of her original late 80s castmates, I appreciate what she brought to the show, especially on Weekend Update during the Dennis Miller era. And she had a likability about her that made her lack of range more forgivable. Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill are both interesting cases, given their short time on the show. I feel Siobhan showed a lot of potential in her somewhat-limited airtime and also had a professionalism that I liked. However, she did sometimes have a tendency to kinda overact in her delivery during some walk-on roles. I feel that overall, she definitely deserved a second season, but supposedly, the reason she was dropped was because her strong religious beliefs caused her to turn down the more “un-clean” roles she was offered on the show (I was told that the “Their Eyes Were On Their Breasts” sketch was one of them), which apparently was frustrating for the writers. Beth Cahill is difficult to assess, given her extreme lack of airtime and generic roles she was usually stuck in. I did find her Denise Swerski character to be decent, but other than that, I’ve always felt Beth usually had kind of a blandness to her as a performer. But again, it’s hard to tell, considering how little she was used and how non-descript her roles typically were. She deserved a second season just to see if she would’ve gotten more of a chance and developed, but that probably wouldn’t have happened much in season 18, with a still-gigantic cast and a slowly-increasing Boys Club mentality. I could go on about how unfair it is that the very limited and occasionally very annoying Melanie Hutsell got to stay over either Siobhan or Beth, and I do feel that way, but I’ve been a little more lenient on Melanie in this SNL project than I’ve been in the past (anyone who remembers the standalone 1990-1994 reviews I did on SNL message boards back in 2010 would know that). During this SNL project, I’ve found myself having more recognition of and appreciation for Melanie’s non-annoying moments. I’m not sure how much longer that’ll last, considering I recall her performances being consistently bad two seasons later during her final year (season 19).
— Season 17 as a whole was yet another in a long line of strong seasons. As much as I absolutely love the preceding season 16, I think I enjoyed season 17 slightly more as a whole. I felt this season had even bigger highs than season 16, and had impressive stretches of solid consecutive episodes at various points of the season. And the historically gigantic cast strangely helped give this season a fun feel to me, especially the times the show would go out of their way to work all or most of the cast into sketches (e.g. Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight, Partridge Family vs. Brady Bunch, History Class).
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a mild step down
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1990-91)
a very slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 18 begins, with Nicolas Cage as host, and a slightly smaller cast