Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC), Bill Clinton (PHH), Ross Perot (DAC) debate each other
— Great debate title, “The Challenge To Avoid Saying Something Stupid”, which is in the same vein as the title to the preceding season’s democratic candidates debate sketch, “The Race to Avoid Being the Guy Who Loses to Bush”.
— It cracks me up that two of the three presidential candidates here are played by the same performer (Dana). They’re able to pull it off by having all of the Perot portions be pre-taped, but during the shot of all three candidates making their entrance together, David Spade is actually standing in as Perot (third screencap above). SNL would also utilize David as a Perot stand-in during that year’s SNL Presidential Bash special (which was filmed sometime around this week, I believe, and aired in early November) when all three presidential candidates make their entrance together for the monologue.
— Kevin’s Sam Donaldson going on and on to Clinton about redneck stereotypes is hilarious. (Clinton’s response: “I’m sorry, Sam, do you have a question?”)
— Very funny story from Bush about being assaulted by inbred mountain people.
— I liked Tim’s uncalled-for scenario of Kitty Dukakis being raped and murdered.
— I’m getting good laughs from Clinton always claiming how “advanced” his state of Arkansas is.
— A lot of laughs from Perot’s details of how he would handle Kitty Dukakis’ hypothetical assailant, involving tying him to a stake and using ants to torture him.
— A particularly classic part with us seeing each candidate from the perspective of the other candidates, with Clinton being viewed as a pot-smoking hippie, Bush as an old lady, and Perot as a munchkin from The Wizard of Oz.
— Nice touch with the meta bit at the end, with Perot explaining he can’t say “Live from New York…” because he’s on tape, so he asks “live boy” Bush to say it.
— Overall, one of the absolute best presidential debate sketches in SNL history, along with some of the best political satire the show’s ever done. This cold opening consistently kept me laughing all throughout and featured lots of great lines and moments.
STARS: *****
MONOLOGUE
host criticizes Sinead O’Connor’s actions & shows repaired Pope picture
— He’s immediately addressing the controversial Sinead O’Connor picture-tearing incident from the last episode. I’m sure a lot of viewers at the time were wondering how SNL would respond to the incident.
— Joe displays the now-pasted-back-together Pope picture that Sinead tore up.
— When going on about what he would’ve done to Sinead if she pulled that move on his show, I got a guilty laugh from Joe’s line “I would’ve grabbed her by her… uh, eyebrows…”
— Joe: “I’m not like the Pope… I’m Italian.”
STARS: ***
GREEN & FAZIO
lawyer Barry Green (PHH) says you don’t have to be in an accident to sue
— A solid satire of lawyer commercials, and excellent performance from Phil.
— I love Phil’s ridiculous listed-off types of “accidents” that this company handles.
— The black-and-white dramatization with Kevin’s whole “Green, stop harassing me!” rant on the car phone cracks me up, even though I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be funny.
STARS: ****
THE BENSONHURST DATING GAME
bachelor competition creates racial tension
— Rock appears to be playing the same character he played in the famous Sabra Price is Right sketch from late last season, as his character in tonight’s sketch has the same name: Kevin Stubbs.
— Good to see Rock actually in a sketch this week, by the way, after his sullen attitude during the last episode’s goodnights when he wasn’t in any sketches that night.
— A lot of laughs from Joe’s various discriminatory interactions with Rock.
— I’m loving Adam and Dana’s goofy performances here.
— I liked Julia’s passing mention of having already been with Adam and Dana.
— Very memorable gameshow sketch overall.
STARS: ****½
PINKY RINGERY
(host) shops for a pinky ring that’ll go with his style of communication
— Simple premise so far, but there are so many laughs from Joe’s miming into the mirror to test out various pinky rings, especially now that his miming is starting to get overly detailed with him acting out an actual conversation. Even just hearing the audience’s laughter during all of Joe’s silent miming is somehow adding to my enjoyment.
— Classic turn right now with Joe getting into a heated, silent argument during the miming and clearly mouthing “Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck me? No, fuck YOU!” Also a great touch in the middle of that, where Kevin asks him what he thinks of the ring and Joe says “Wait, I’m not finished” before continuing the mimed argument.
— An overall very well-done and perfect little sketch.
STARS: *****
GREEN & FAZIO
Barry Green offers some more ways to get rich through litigation
— More laughs from additional ridiculous listed-off types of “accidents” that Phil’s company handles, such as being shot while committing a robbery.
— Some pretty funny testimonials from customers here. I especially liked Farley’s emotional delivery of “But who will give me back my tooth?”
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”
WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN gives a subliminal editorial on election campaign mudslinging
Cajunman tells KEN why he would be a better presidential candidate
— My growing frustration with Kevin’s penchant for flubbing jokes continues tonight, as he seems to be misreading a lot of words and then correcting himself. It’s odd how I’ve never had any real problems with Kevin’s Update tenure until doing this SNL project. I wonder if reviewing six straight seasons of Dennis Miller spoiled me and makes me enjoy Kevin’s Updates a little less than I used to.
— I’m a little surprised to see another Subliminal Editorial so soon after Kevin just did one just two episodes go.
— Kevin’s overall Subliminal Editorial tonight was thankfully an improvement over his surprisingly forgettable last one. Various good subliminal lines tonight.
— Cajunman’s routine is coming off as funny as always.
— Hmm, what was with the random ending to Cajunman’s commentary, with him saying an uncharacteristic “Have a very good Columbus Day”?
— More bad misreadings and flubs from Kevin.
— Overall, despite the frustration I expressed towards Kevin throughout this Update, he did have a few really good jokes tonight, a solid Subliminal Editorial, and got some nice assistance from Adam’s reliable Cajunman routine (Kevin’s interactions with him are always fun too).
STARS: ***
SINGLE WHITE PERSON
androgynous Pat gets an obsessive roommate (MEH)
— A very interesting, inspired, and fun change to the usual Pat format, crossing it over with the then-recent movie Single White Female.
— Some good laughs from Joe as the gay roommate, just because it’s Joe Pesci, of all people, playing the role (and he’s absolutely nailing it).
— Very good part with Melanie entering with Pat’s hair, glasses, and attire. I also loved Pat’s “You have GOT to be kidding me” response.
— Good casting of Melanie in this role, and I’m liking her performance.
— Nice to see Dana’s Chris character again, for the first time since this character’s debut in a Pat sketch from two seasons earlier. I’m surprised this character hasn’t been utilized in more Pat sketches.
— Solid climax with the whole fighting sequence.
STARS: ****½
BANK ROBBERS
bank robbers waiting for TV news exposure sit through endless commercials
— The shot of Farley in the diarrhea commercial is hilarious (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Is playing news anchors all that Tim is going to get to do this season? It’s literally the only type of role he’s been getting so far this season.
— I’m enjoying the robbers’ growing frustration over having to wait and wait for the news report about their bank robbery, and always managing to run into the same “Hungry Puppy Dog” commercial no matter what channel they turn to.
— I’m cracking up at how Phil’s anchorman keeps throwing to commercials each time he’s about to reveal details of the bank robbery.
STARS: ****
BULLIES
(host) & (ROS) relay fake insulting phone messages to passers-by
— The tense part with Phil slowly walking up to Rob and suddenly going into a VERY angry rant at him had me dying with laughter, even if I’m not sure that part was intended to be funny (I seem to be saying that quite a bit in this episode review).
— Fun performances from Joe and Rob here.
— Another screaming outburst from a passerby, this time with Farley’s whole “Don’t get on my bad side!” rant, though it didn’t make me laugh as much as Phil’s rant from earlier in the sketch.
— Good turn with David and Adam as another pair of wise-asses one-upping Joe and Rob on their own “(insert person here) called, they wanted their (insert thing here) back” routine. It’s fitting that David would be cast in this role, given his knack for snark and the fact that the whole “(insert person here) called…” routine would kinda go on to be one of his catchphrases.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues”
BACKSTAGE
Robert DeNiro & Martin Scorsese [real] show up when Zoraida hassles host
— Oh, god, here comes our first Zoraida sketch of the season…
— Meh, as usual, I’m not caring for Zoraida’s routine here.
— Okay, I admit, I’m getting laughs from the part right now with Zoraida asking Joe tips for where to hide a dead body.
— A great and memorable sudden appearance from Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro at the end (back in the days when a DeNiro cameo on SNL was actually a positive thing).
STARS: **½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and had a mostly consistent quality. This is the first episode this season that I felt really highly about. Most of the sketches tonight were great, we got some classics and near-classics, and even the Zoraida sketch had its redeeming qualities.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tim Robbins)
a fairly big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Christopher Walken, a very special episode for me, as it just may be my personal favorite episode of all time
Aside from the bit where Pesci goes on about wanting to assault Sinead O’Connor (which just feels crass, even for 1992 [which was, believe it or not, hyped as “The Year of the Woman”]), and the bullies sketch (which just feels incredibly sour and reminds me of how increasingly mean-spirited these once-fun pieces on two men sitting around reacting to everything around them became in the early/mid-90s), this is a very strong episode. Pesci commits to all of his roles when he could have easily sleptwalk through them, and the sketches are for the most part very well-written. If the bank robber sketch had had a tighter ending it could have been an all time classic.
I also have to give Julia Sweeney some praise for her diverse performances, jumping from Jane Pauley to Pat to the Brooklyn bachelorette. Her work there was delightful. That sketch had just the right balance.
Hartman’s performance in the lawyer pre-tapes was brilliant, but they reminded me of the whole “frivolous lawsuit” blitz of the ’90s, culminating in all the media jeering of the old woman who was horribly burned at McDonald’s yet was somehow made into the villain of the piece.
You probably already know this, but the Kitty Dukakis question was actually a real (and infamous) question in the 1988 debates. Anyway, watching that sketch again made me realize I’d been too harsh in my assessment of Carvey’s George Bush impression. Watching all the Oval Office addresses from 88-91 or so I felt like Carvey had fully lapsed into caricature, but he was very sharp here. I think that playing Perot (who was a full on caricature) made him take his main impression as more of a sharp edge. Anyway, I don’t want to spam the blog with the interview, so I’ll just say that in the Robbins review entry I posted a link to a recent interview with Spade and Carvey where they talk about how upset Spade was about playing Perot but not actually playing him.
Oh and I think the Cajun Man bit was supposed to be a fakeout for the audience – they’d assume he was ending without the rhymes, only for him to add “Kevin Nealon” a few seconds later. The applause over what the audience thought was the end of the piece drowned out the joke.
Good golly this is an outstanding episode! I remember watching it live. The 92 debate is priceless. Bensonhurst Dating Game, Pesci banters with contestants: Dana and Adam. Then Chris Rock asks “What’s up” Pesci “…nothing” walks off. Such a great delivery. The pinky finger ringer sketch is also great.
Pesci would’ve been a great regular host in the 90s, loved that guy whenever he did comedy. Instead we get endless DeNiro stints who can’t read a cue-card to save his life.
This isn’t specific to this episode, but wow — pretty much every episode starting in season 14 has been a classic or near classic. Remarkably high batting average. These days, the show wins umpteen Emmys each year for makeup or guest hosts, so it’s strange how little the season 12-19 peak was recognized: one award each for acting (Carvey), writing, series…. and I think two for electronic camera work. Bizarre
The rules were changed in recent years. Even then I’d say the nominations given are often questionable (with a few exceptions, like Vanessa Bayer).
I remember reading in the LFNY book that David Spade had no idea he wasn’t gonna have any lines and have nothing to do with being Ross Perot in the sketch. He was very unhappy to just don the make up and stand there for a few quick shots.
I felt that this whole episode was solid.
I can’t find the interview, but I remember hearing Phil say he took a piece of the torn up pope picture for himself, much to the anger of the higher ups who had people looking for it all week. That’s why the top left is missing when Pesci holds it up here.
I think it was Spade who took a piece of the torn picture. He’s mentioned it in a few interviews. Ken Aymong yelled at him the following Monday for doing it. It eventually got to Lorne who wasn’t happy.
Ah, that’s possible. I was watching a couple random interviews from cast members around the time last week, and both Hartman and Spade were in there.
The songs in the Bensonhurst Dating Game were “Get Off” by Foxy and “On the Beat” by The B. B. & Q Band. I’m not sure what songs replaced them in the video release.
Just revisited “The Bensonhurst Dating Game” (still as strong a satiric piece as a first saw live); It must’ve been a while since I’ve seen it because I just realized the theme song is this sweaty South Florida disco track I discovered a few years ago climbing the AT40 charts in 1978. And the music video is a splendid trainwreck I turn to every now and then to help power down:
… and I just now noticed Anton Spivack’s comment so….
My mother is from Bensonhurst and I remember showing her that sketch for the first time on The Best of Chris Rock. (She doesn’t share the attitudes of those in the sketch.) Still a classic.
Per Fred Wolf on Fly on the Wall he wrote the Bullies sketch. Wolf was not hired back for 92-93 but they used this sketch which he submitted as a guest writer the previous season.
Also Scorcese and DeNiro appeared in the dress version of the Bullies sketch as guys passing by.
They moved them to the Zoraida sketch for the live show
I hate Pat and Pat sketches. I like they are still using real animals for a live sketch show where anything can go wrong. I still hate Ellen playing obnoxious characters. Its not funny and its also worn out.