Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Ross Perot (DAC) talks about dirty tricks played on him by the GOP
— A big laugh from the altered photo of Perot’s daughter making out with Madonna.
— Perot’s far-fetched story about engaging in combat with four men and a talking dog is really funny.
— Another funny absurd story from Perot, this time with him talking about a plot by the republicans to yank out his family’s dental work and replace it with transmitters.
— I’m cracking up at Dana-as-Perot’s various “You are not listening!”-type responses to the reporters.
— Good meta ending with Dana’s Perot and Rob going back and forth on how the show’s going to start if Perot doesn’t say “Live from New York…”
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— Nice Halloween costume that Catherine makes her entrance in.
— Funny reveal that she put a real arrow through her head, mistakenly thinking that’s what Steve Martin did back in the day.
— Good punchline to Catherine’s scary Halloween story.
STARS: ***½
ASS DON’T SMELL
an anonymous gift of Ass Don’t Smell gives (KEN) a scent-free butt
— A huge laugh from Kevin finding a can of Ass Don’t Smell on his desk, as a “gift” from an anonymous co-worker. I also liked Kevin’s “Maybe somebody’s trying to tell me something” response to that.
— Funny montage of Kevin’s unsuccessful attempts at getting rid of his scent.
— Tim: “But your ass doesn’t smell!” Kevin (self-satisfied, looking into the camera) “Exactly.”
— Overall, a very low-brow concept, but was executed in a very funny and solid way.
STARS: ****
NANNY GREENWOOD
(PHH) & siblings grow weary of Nanny Greenwood’s (host) cloying songs
— A perfect role for Catherine.
— Some good laughs from Nanny Greenwood breaking out into a sappy kiddie jingle for every situation, much to the others’ increasing frustration.
— I love Nanny Greenwood returning while singing an inappropriately upbeat song with a guitar during Julia’s very emotional reveal that her husband left her two months ago.
— Phil’s suddenly angry outburst to Nanny Greenwood is great.
— Excellent out-of-left-field turn with a gunshot suddenly being heard from the other room, making you think Nanny Greenwood committed suicide (after the others have finally told her they’re sick of her songs), only for her to then slowly reveal through a song that she only pretended to shoot herself.
— I recall hearing this sketch was written by former SNL writer Conan O’Brien along with somebody else (I forget who).
STARS: ****
COPY MACHINE
Richard Laymer does his thing for Halloween costume-wearing co-workers
— Our first Richmeister sketch of the season.
— Kevin entering as a scantily-clad Madonna is hilarious.
— The various Halloween costumes are providing a pretty fun change of pace for this recurring sketch.
— Good turn with the grim reaper showing up to take Richmeister away.
— Funny reveal that Richmeister’s death was caused by radiation from the copy machine, a fate that Richmeister notes is ironic.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on dropping your keys in lava
— Not included in my copy of this episode.
MY DINNER WITH SISTER SOULJAH
(TIM) ignores Sister Souljah (ELC)’s black-power tirades
— I have no idea who Sister Souljah is, and Ellen’s performance as her isn’t doing a thing for me.
— Tim’s out-of-place light-hearted responses are a pretty funny contrast to Souljah’s stern, militant, black-power statements, with Tim being his usual likable self.
— Speaking of Tim, man, what a rough season the poor guy has been having so far, even moreso than his preceding two seasons before this. Out of the five episodes so far this season, Tim spent two of them not being in ANY sketches (Nicolas Cage and Christoper Walken), and in the three episodes that he HAS appeared in, he’s only been used in straight roles, all of them being just small parts until his big role here. At least his straight role in this sketch is actually providing laughs, though.
— A lot of Madonna references in tonight’s episode so far. I know her “Sex” book was huge at the time, but it feels kinda weird seeing her mentioned THIS prominently throughout an SNL episode that has nothing to do with her directly.
— David as a waiter got a good laugh with his reaction to a statement Sister Souljah made towards him.
— Wow, that’s it? The sketch is already over?
— Despite the laughs that Tim and David provided as straight men, I didn’t care much for this sketch as a whole. Ellen’s performance brought it down for me and something about the writing felt kinda underdeveloped, though I might’ve appreciated Ellen’s performance more if I was familiar with who she was playing.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “These Are Our Days”
WEEKEND UPDATE
while reviewing Madonna’s book Sex, CSR decries lack of good black porno
ADS offers some more low-cost Halloween costume ideas
— Lots of pretty good presidential election-related jokes tonight, with this being the final episode before Election Day.
— Yikes, Kevin’s delivery of the Norman Schwarzkopf joke was awkward as hell. It looked like he wasn’t even sure of half the words he was reading there. Yet another example of how his flubbiness as an Update anchor can drive me nuts.
— More Madonna references tonight, with Rock’s commentary focusing on her.
— Rock is getting lots of laughs ranting about how bad black porno magazines are, especially his line about seeing a big bullet wound in one magazine model’s ass.
— Adam returns for his second annual Halloween costume Update commentary.
— Hmm, Adam suggests that it’s not too late right now for trick-or-treaters to try to get some more candy. Heh, it must’ve been around 12:15 by this time. Who the hell goes trick-or-treating that late? I know I’d be pissed if some idiot rang my doorbell that late at night on Halloween while yelling “Trick or treat!”
— Adam’s always-funny cheap costume suggestions are particularly funny tonight, and have the usual goofy charm. Amazing how Adam has the ability to get so many laughs out of such a simplistic premise.
— I’m surprised Adam’s commentary didn’t end with Kevin displaying a cheap costume of his own and Adam humbly responding “You have topped me again, Kevin Nealon!” I thought it was a tradition for all of his Halloween costume Update commentaries to end that way except for the first one.
— Ah, it turns out that at the very end of this Update (a good while after Adam has left), we DO end up seeing Kevin displaying his own cheap costume, right before the camera fades to black (screencap below).
STARS: ***½
PUMPING UP HALLOWEEN WITH HANS & FRANZ
Hans & Franz belittle trick-or-treaters’ costumes
— Wow, we haven’t these characters in an entire year. Feels odd seeing them again after such a long hiatus. This ends up being their final appearance during Dana’s tenure as a cast member.
— The “candy” that Hans and Franz hand out to trick-or-treating kids, like metabolic bulk enhancer, is pretty funny.
— An overall mildly funny installment, but nothing special, and a noticeable step down from Hans and Franz’s usual work. Not even the Halloween aspect could breathe much life into a recurring sketch that had already run its course by this point. Tonight’s sketch was at least not as depressing as Hans and Franz’s last appearance before tonight, where I witnessed their popularity dying right before my eyes.
STARS: **½
PROUD CANADIANS
via song, Canadians PHH & host gloat about Toronto’s World Series victory
— Interesting piece, and a nice pairing of real-life canucks Phil and Catherine. I love seeing these two sketch comedy greats being paired together.
— Pretty funny lyrics from Phil and Catherine, especially their various criticisms of America.
— Overall, not a particularly hilarious piece, but certainly an entertaining and charming musical number with funny lyrics.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on really knowing what sensuality is
— Not included in my copy of this episode.
DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart tells a scary story with a happy ending
— Ha, yet ANOTHER sketch tonight that references Madonna. It would probably be faster to list off the sketches tonight that DIDN’T mention her.
— I liked the bit with Stuart saying he originally wanted to dress as a feeling for Halloween.
— Funny mention of him handing out rice cakes to trick-or-treaters.
— His idea of a “scary” story has provided a good laugh.
STARS: ***½
CERAMIC MUGS
after years of drinking from Mexican mugs, (host) exhibits brain decay
— When Catherine asks why the occupation of bond analyst sounds familiar, I liked Phil’s mildly-annoyed-but-patient delivery of “Well, honey… that’s what you do.”
— Meh, the constant forgetfulness of Catherine’s character isn’t that funny. Not even a true comedy pro like Catherine can do much for this material.
— Rob is stealing the sketch with his funny direct-to-camera bit.
— The whole ceramic mug poisoning twist was okay, but wasn’t funny enough to redeem this sketch as a whole.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Candy Everybody Wants”
AFTER THE HALLOWEEN PARTY
Marilyn Monroe-costumed (host) wakes up next to JFK doppelganger (KEN)
— Very interesting structure to this.
— Some really good silent acting from Catherine, and she’s helping give this sketch a slice-of-life feel.
— Very busy night for Kevin in this episode. He’s appeared in almost every single sketch.
— I liked Kevin’s “Thank god I still have my spleen.”
— The Madonna theme throughout tonight’s episode concludes with Kevin humorously mistaking Catherine’s Marilyn Monroe costume for a Madonna costume.
— The ending with Catherine laying against the door, then very slowly sliding down to the floor, and then sobbing was VERY odd and way too drawn-out. It also took the audience an unusually long time to applaud at the end. Turns out, there’s an interesting backstory to this sketch’s ending, which explains why it was so painfully awkward. According to Catherine in this article, the original ending of this sketch was apparently shortened after dress rehearsal and the director was now supposed to fade the sketch to black after Kevin exited. However, the director apparently didn’t read the alterations made to the script for this sketch and just kept the sketch going after Kevin’s exit, leaving a panicked Catherine on the air with no further material to work with and a silent studio audience. Not knowing what to do, Catherine leaned against the door on the set to signal the director to fade the screen to black and cue the “applause” sign, but nope, didn’t work. Then Catherine very slowly slid down to the floor as another way of hinting to the director that the sketch is over, but that STILL didn’t work. All of this is the reason why after Catherine finishes sliding to the ground and then begins sobbing (in character) in a slumped-over posture, there’s such a long pause before the audience finally applauds and the sketch finally fades to black.
— I recall hearing that some local NBC affiliates prematurely cut this sketch off long before the aforementioned painfully awkward ending, because the show had run long.
— In reruns of this episode, this sketch ends like it was supposed to, with Kevin exiting.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
— Wow, this must be the shortest goodnights in SNL history. It lasted literally all of ONE SECOND and got cut off before Catherine even said anything. What you see in the above screencap is pretty much all that aired of these goodnights. Obviously, the mishap at the end of the last sketch caused the show to run long and left no time for the goodnights.
— I recall that in the full version of these goodnights shown in reruns, Catherine spits out her goodnights speech in rapid-fire speed in an attempt to beat the clock, and then says in kind of a mock-panicked manner “I wish I had time to explaaiiiinnn!”, which must be referring to how she wanted to explain to us what went wrong during the last sketch, but couldn’t because the show didn’t have enough time.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode, though felt a little average for this season’s standards. Only a few things tonight stood out to me as particularly great, and there were also a few weak spots here and there. Still an enjoyable show as a whole. And the reliable Catherine O’Hara helped give a fun vibe to this episode, much like her first hosting stint. Another fun aspect to this episode was the heavy Halloween theme throughout the night. (Really makes you wonder why after this episode, SNL would stop doing live episodes on the Halloweens that happen to fall on a Saturday) There’s also that weird Madonna theme that I kept pointing out throughout the review……..
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christopher Walken)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Michael Keaton
Sister Souljah represented a flashpoint in the 1992 campaign.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Souljah_moment
Conan wrote “Nanny Greenwood” with Greg Daniels.
I actually prefer the live ending of the last sketch. I wouldn’t even be able to tell it was unintentional if not for the articles. To me it fits the tone of the sketch – a woman embarrassed and self-loathing for one more drunken hookup.
The Nanny Greenwood sketch reminds me of something that would be on the show today – and would probably be heavily panned by some fans. I tend to like this type of “normal people reacting to crazy character” sketch as long as it is relatively restrained, as this one was. The very dark ending with Nanny Greenwood faking a suicide attempt to keep the ‘kids’ in line added just the right ghoulishly manipulative touch.
Anyway, even though Catherine got several standout sketches, I can’t help feeling she was slightly wasted in this episode. If, say, Demi Moore had played the mother in Hans and Frans or an employee in Copy Guy, I wouldn’t blink, but one of the finest sketch comedians of all time? Eh. Still, better to see her around time than if she’d hosted several years later and I had to see her reacting to the Spartan Cheerleaders or Mr. Peepers…I don’t think I could have ever watched again.
I hadn’t remembered Kevin Nealon being as stumbly as I thought he was, but episodes like this bring all that flooding back. I wonder if the slow fade was down to his heavy screentime – he was in so many sketches. While Phil is rightfully remembered as “the glue,” Kevin has a much more central role in these years than I appreciated at the time. I noticed that Kevin seemed much more comfortable when he got to deliver some blatantly political digs (against Bush), which was out of the norm for most WU of these years. I wonder if they should have gone more in that direction.
Chris Rock’s WU commentary felt much cruder than most of his SNL stuff (that I remember, anyway).
The coffee mugs sketch has the same ending other sketches in this time period, like a herpes sketch in the Sally Field episode, has – the kind of ending that gives the whiff of “We don’t know how to write our way out.” My main problem with this sketch is that even if you can find some comedy form for dementia, they don’t really play it that way – Catherine’s performance makes you feel sorry for this woman. Making me again wonder if someone meant for this to be a slice-of-life piece about a woman with dementia until they decided it was too sad.
It kind of amused me that the audience could only bring themselves to laugh in the Canadian song toward the end – I guess they were still sore about the loss, or were afraid this was some kind of anti-American piece.
I liked Ellen Cleghorne and I still do, but sometimes her solo sketches, the few she got on, don’t really seem to fit SNL (especially of earlier years), and this is no real exception. I think trimming down the run time and maybe having Hartman as Clinton would have helped. Still, it’s different from the norm, and I do appreciate that.
Stuart Smalley may be one of the strongest overall recurring characters on the show. Rarely did he have any bad sketches, and most, like the one in this episode, were pretty decent.
I thought Carvey had much more airtime as Bush and Perot in this season than he’s turned out to have. This has made me warm a bit more to the impressions than I sometimes felt at the time. The manipulated photo of his “daughter” genuinely made me laugh.
As for all the Madonna focus – part of it is probably the show being in a bubble, part is running an obvious national controversy as far as they could, but also, scandals really did drag on much much longer back then. I feel like access to the Internet has sped up scandals and shortened attention spans in a way that would have been unthinkable for most of the ’90s.
Stuart Smalley is also an example of a character that succeeded mostly on the character and writing, not on a lot of rapid fire jokes or high concept stuff. Almost all the Stuart sketches are just him and/or a guest.
I think the central difference between the nanny sketch then and now would be that the sketch would turn RECURRING now.
I was not a gigantic fan of Kevin as Update anchor, but there are some things only he could carry off–like how he would always one-up Adam Sandler’s Halloween costumes. That felt like his signature in the same way that Dennis would always have great interactions with like Victoria Jackson.
I bet Dana was relieved that neither Bush nor Perot won the election that year. I’m sure there would have been a lot of pressure for him to stay on a couple more seasons to portray the President. As Dana starts to be phased out in his last season, you can tell that he was ready to go. He was probably ready to go last season.
Catherine is funny and actually quite adorable as Nanny Greenwood. While her songs are obviously inappropriate, there’s something sad and wistful about the nanny who just wants to comfort the adult children the same way she did when they were young, but can’t because their grown-up problems are way more complicated. I get the feeling Catherine could carry that role through a feature-length comedy-drama kind of film. The dark turn of the sketch at the end is a bit too much, wish they’d found a softer and more natural way to wrap the sketch up, although it was funny to watch Catherine sing about it afterward. The sketch seemed like it wanted to be kind of melancholy and funny at the same time, wish they’d leaned more one way or another. Phil’s overreacting is one of the few times he hams it up too much on SNL, he could have played it a bit more subtle there.
The Richmeister on Halloween sketch is my favorite one by far. The random cow costume, Nealon as Madonna, Phil’s disappointment, and Schneider’s delivery of ‘ironic’ when finding out how he died all stand out to me.
A big night for both Nealon and Hartman.