Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) ditches Admiral Stockdale (PHH) on the side of the road
— A very topical cold opening that still holds up, despite the Admiral Stockdale incident that this is based on (from the then-recent vice presidential debate) being obscure to later audiences. What helps this topical cold opening still remain very funny to later audiences who have no knowledge of Stockdale is Phil’s absolutely priceless performance and the fact that Dana’s Perot gives a nice rundown of all the bizarre things Stockdale did at that VP debate, the latter of which in retrospect provides good context to later viewers.
— It wasn’t until years after I first saw this cold opening that I was finally exposed to clips of the real Stockdale at the VP debate. “Oh. My. God.” is basically all I can say in response to his behavior there. Hell, at one point in that debate, Stockdale really did say “Who am I? Why am I here?”, which Phil’s Stockdale also famously says here (which is why the audience applauds when he says it).
— Huge laughs from Dana’s Perot going on and on about how all of the questionable things Stockdale did at the debate were pure brilliancy.
— Phil is absolutely killing me in this. Every single thing he’s doing and saying here is an absolute riot. I especially loved the random exclamation of “I’m outta ammo!” Definitely one of Phil’s funniest performances of all time.
— Classic turn with Perot suddenly zooming off in the car when Stockdale has stepped outside.
— Hilarious sudden reveal of Stockdale running after the car.
— Overall, this is hands-down one of my absolute favorite cold openings of all time.
— This ends up being Dana’s only appearance all night. After appearing in a normal amount of sketches in the first three episodes of the season, tonight’s episode begins the phasing-out of Dana, as we’re not too far away from his mid-season departure. In most of the remaining episodes of his SNL tenure, we’ll be seeing him in a significantly reduced role, and there will even be some episodes in that stretch that don’t feature him AT ALL.
STARS: *****
MONOLOGUE
host sings “Let’s Face The Music” & dances with castmembers & others
— Tonight, it officially becomes a tradition for Christopher to break out into a fun song-and-dance for his monologues.
— Very charming seeing Christopher taking turns dancing with each individual female cast member.
— Now this is getting even more fun with Christopher going off-stage, running into a robed Jan Hooks backstage, and then her joining him in a dance.
— I love Lorne sternly putting a stop to Christopher and Jan’s dancing, then refusing Christopher’s offer to join him in a dance, then suddenly giving in. I also love the use of a starry spotlight during the Christopher/Lorne dance.
— Fantastic monologue overall.
STARS: ****½
JIFFY EXPRESS
Jiffy Express will take the blame for packages you send late
— Great concept for a fake ad, and feels like a companion piece to the Einstein Express fake ad from the late 80s.
— Very solid spokesperson performance from Rob, continuing the strong season he’s been having so far.
— I love the footage showing the company’s process of making your package look beat up.
— Kevin’s irate delivery of “You guys are pathetic! People get fired over this kind of thing!” always cracks me up whenever I see this commercial.
STARS: ****½
THE CONTINENTAL
The Continental flirts when a woman comes to reclaim her glove
— Here comes another thing that officially becomes a Christopher Walken SNL staple tonight.
— This has always been my favorite installment of this great recurring sketch, though I might be biased since it’s the installment I’ve seen the most. (It’s also the installment that’s rightfully included in Christopher’s “Best Of” special)
— Julia’s brief appearance, fleeing from The Continental’s apartment in a panic, is the only time a performer other than Christopher Walken has ever appeared in a Continental sketch.
— I love the little part with The Continental playfully wrestling the coat away from the woman who we’re seeing the perspective of.
— As usual, big laughs from the woman bolting towards the door after The Continental says something particularly rude, only to have The Continental hurriedly jump in front of the door to block it. That never fails to be funny in these sketches.
— I got a big laugh from the woman suddenly throwing her drink into The Continental’s face after he compliments her “decolletage”.
— A pretty memorable blooper right now, where after the second time the woman throws her drink into The Continental’s face, Christopher’s fake mustache starts peeling off (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch), which gets a huge reaction from the audience. His deadpan facial reaction during all of this is great.
STARS: *****
ED GLOSSER, TRIVIAL PSYCHIC
Ed Glosser, Trivial Psychic (host) annoys co-workers with ho-hum visions
— Fantastic concept of Christopher having the unimpressive ability to see insignificant things in people’s future.
— Some really great creepy close-ups of Christopher’s face throughout this, especially during his scene with Rob and Phil.
— I loved Christopher’s passioned “You don’t get it, do you? You’re wasting coffee!” to Rob.
— Christopher’s trivial visions are all hilarious.
— Solid ending to what is absolutely one of Christopher Walken’s all-time best sketches.
STARS: *****
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on the status of pudding-traversing ants
— This is missing from my copy of this episode.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Tennessee”
WEEKEND UPDATE
undecided voter Jan Brady (MEH) likens candidates to her family members
Hollywood Minute- DAS defines terms for public figures on the decline
— Melanie’s Jan Brady is funny as usual, this time talking about the presidential election. Like with her last Update commentary, it’s fun seeing Melanie’s Jan relate things to famous scenes from random Brady Bunch episodes.
— David’s breakout Update segment, Hollywood Minute, officially becomes recurring tonight.
— Like in his inaugural Hollywood Minute from earlier this season, we’re getting a nice fast-paced, energetic, snappy delivery from David, which is quite different from his more deadpan, lower-energy delivery that would soon become his trademark a little further into his SNL tenure.
— Some of my favorite slams in David’s overall commentary tonight were about Vanilla Ice, Madonna’s “Sex” book, Kriss Kross, and the Encyclopedia Britannica guy.
— Fairly solid night for Kevin, with a lot of funny jokes and very minimal line flubs.
STARS: ***½
STALK TALK
guests discuss the nature of their obsessive trailing
— A huge laugh from Christopher claiming his girlfriend’s name is Bitch.
— Christopher is perfect as this creepy character.
— Jan is a riot as an obsessed David Hasselhoff fan. I even liked the little bit with her staring down Rob after Rob says he also likes Hasselhoff “……a lot”.
— Christopher’s story about hiding in the bushes and making bird noises to distract his girlfriend is priceless. I also like how when saying he got arrested for that incident, he mentions he was also naked during it and that “there were a variety of charges” made against him.
— Great ending with Christopher very randomly telling Julia “I think about you when I masturbate. I bet that… that disgusts you , doesn’t it?”
— A very strong sketch with solid ensemble work from everyone, though Christopher and Jan definitely ran away with this.
STARS: ****½
IT’S PAT
androgynous Pat’s new boss (host) is discombobulated by gender dysphoria
— Another Pat sketch already, after we just got one in the last episode? I’m not complaining, though.
— When Julia makes her entrance as Pat, part of a female stagehand can accidentally be seen behind Julia for a good while (the first above screencap for this sketch) before moving out of the shot. This shot would be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version.
— Christopher’s prolonged dramatic asides to Phil about how troubled he is by Pat’s androgyny are freakin’ hilarious, especially Christopher’s mention of how he’s “in a tizzy” and how Pat’s behavior is “not at all the norm”.
— This is such an unconventional Pat sketch, but I am absolutely loving it. The lack of focus on Pat and the redirected focus on Christopher’s perplexed reactions to Pat is very interesting, and Christopher is making this priceless in his typical Walken-esque way.
— I love how when Christopher “jumps” out of the window, he casually just walks out of the scene through the window and doesn’t even attempt to make it look like he jumped. That’s the type of “not giving a damn” acting that Christopher (and Norm Macdonald) can make funny.
STARS: ****½
SINEAD O’CONNOR GOODTIME HAPPY JAMBOREE
Sinead O’Connor (JAH) is booed off-stage during a Goodtime Happy Jamboree
— Another great use of Jan tonight.
— I know SNL making fun of the Sinead incident in this manner probably doesn’t sit well with a number of people, considering Sinead wasn’t exactly wrong in her point about the Catholic church (and that’s all I’m going to say about it; I really prefer not to use my SNL reviews to go into this type of serious issue), but personally, this spoof doesn’t bother me at all.
— Good walk-on from Phil as Kris Kristofferson silently consoling Jan’s Sinead, parodying what happened while Sinead was booed at a then-recent concert.
— An overall short but inspired, very funny, and memorable piece.
STARS: ****
PROFESSOR C AND THE SUPER SLEUTHS
sleuths watch their mentor (host) undergo embarrassing medical procedures
— Funny little part with the comically fake sound effect of the dog in Kevin’s arms barking.
— Pretty funny with the sleuths’ awkwardness when having to stay in the room while Christopher’s using a bedpan.
— Another laugh now from Phil detailing how he’s about to catheterize Christopher’s penis.
— Good ending with Christopher happily taking a newspaper photo while Ellen gives him an enema.
STARS: ***½
PLEA
Audience McGee (ADS) to Sinead O’Connor (JAH)- “love, don’t hate”
— More good comedy mined from the Sinead incident.
— Very funny with the various notorious figures who’s picture Jan’s Sinead keeps claiming she REALLY meant to tear, only to panickedly try to come up with another notorious figure when the audience disapproves. I’m getting big laughs from how Jan keeps quickly transitioning from a fiery, angry voice to a suddenly sheepish demeanor whenever she gets booed.
— We get the debut of Adam’s very funny Audience McGee character. He’s particularly hilarious in this sketch.
— Fun ending.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “People Everyday”
— This is missing from my copy of this episode.
THE BOULEVARD OF BROKEN BALLS
(host) sings about catching crabs on “The Boulevard Of Broken Balls”
— This memorable musical piece ends up being the final sketch submitted by former SNL writer Michael O’Donoghue.
— An overall excellent musical number with priceless and well-written lyrics. I can definitely picture this O’Donoghue-penned piece appearing in the original era.
STARS: *****
GOODNIGHTS
— Christopher congratulates Toronto on having just won that night’s World Series against the Atlanta Braves. During the ensuing cheering in the studio, canuck Phil Hartman can be seen letting out particularly loud and energetic cheers, while Georgia-born Jan Hooks comically pouts and boos (the first above screencap for these goodnights). Phil’s Canadian pride over Toronto winning the World Series would later be turned into a musical sketch the following week, where Phil is accompanied by a certain female canuck who happens to be hosting that night.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— And so ends what I’ve always considered to be probably my favorite SNL episode of all time. After watching this episode just now, my opinion has not changed at all. This was such a phenomenal episode, and I had an absolute blast from beginning to end. And not only was there nothing that I disliked, but almost every single segment received an impressive four or five-star rating. Add in Christopher Walken doing his second fantastic job as a host and solidifying himself as a sure-fire thing for SNL, and you have an episode that’s a force to be reckoned with. Just a perfect, perfect episode in my eyes, and holds a very special place in my heart.
— No Chris Farley in tonight’s episode. He’s going through a rehab stint at this time (his first of two this season alone), which will cause him to also miss the following week’s episode. Interesting how we have both his and Mike Myers’ temporary absence overlapping with each other, plus there’s also Dana’s diminishing presence. I guess this is one of the positive things about having such a large cast this season, because in a much smaller cast, the simultaneous lack of appearances from three standout audience favorites would impact the show HUGELY.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Joe Pesci)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Catherine O’Hara hosts SNL’s third and (as of 2019) final live episode to air on Halloween