Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
depressed George Bush (DAC) gives Bill Clinton (PHH) a White House tour
— A great passing of the torch between presidential impressions, and a fun use of Dana and Phil’s chemistry.
— Phil-as-Clinton’s claims of “I can feel your pain!” are really funny.
— Amusing bit from Bush about his unsuccessful attempts to get photographic proof Hillary Clinton being a lesbian.
— A lot of laughs from Clinton trying to get Bush to open up, and Bush eventually breaking down over the fact that he’s a one-termer, crying “I’m a Jimmy Carter!”
STARS: ****½
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about how to act around Dracula
— For some reason, I love his very 1992-looking shirt.
— Very funny stand-up so far with almost non-stop laughs. I particularly like all of his questioning of cliches in Dracula movies.
STARS: ****
THE CLUCKIN’ CHICKEN
Clucky’s head narrates as his body is turned into food
— Second episode in a row with a fake ad that’s always been one of my favorites.
— Fun voice work by Adam here.
— I love Clucky happily detailing the process of how he’s cooked as we’re shown the disgusting visuals.
STARS: *****
THE GLORIA BRIGADE
gay Civil War unit has dinner with black soldiers
— Lots of gay stereotypes here, but this is being executed well and I feel these characters are coming off likable.
— Farley’s irate delivery of “I’ve been cookiiing… all morniiing!” made me laugh.
— Funny how Kevin’s character always manages to find away to say “There’s no need to be snippy; we’re all under the same pressure” in every situation.
— Good ending with a confused Tim conflicted over which unit he belongs to: the black one or the gay one.
STARS: ***½
BLACK MOTORIST TODAY
guests discuss how to avoid harassment by troopers
— I like how Rock is cast as himself here.
— Rob is particularly funny in this with his amiable delivery of racial statements, especially him saying that, regarding black people, the police are always going to find something in their car, no matter what.
— Kinda surprised by how short this overall sketch was.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “No Ordinary Love”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Hollywood Minute- DAS skewers celebrities that annoy him
KEN joins in while ADS plays guitar & sings “The Turkey Song”
— Good random bit with Kevin doing a “dramatization” of a news story with the use of dark lighting and a very dramatic delivery.
— Some really good one-liners throughout David’s Hollywood Minute commentary tonight, such as the “Hi, I was skinny for 10 minutes” line about Oprah, the “Why the long face?” question towards Ric Ocasek, the whole bit about Hammer, and David passing up the opportunity of a Milli Vanilli joke because it’s “too easy”.
— Kevin introduces Adam’s commentary by saying this is the start of what they hope will be a Weekend Update tradition where every Thanksgiving, a cast member composes and sings an original song for the holiday. I wonder if they were serious about that idea at the time, because as we know now, nothing ever became of it. It would instead start a tradition of Adam doing guitar songs on Update for various holidays. And what better way for that tradition to start than with the now-legendary Turkey Song?
— Very catchy melody to Adam’s Turkey Song, especially the key change in the middle.
— Fun random, irrelevant lyrics throughout the Turkey Song, especially “Can’t believe Tyson gave that girl VD.”
— Now the Turkey Song has gotten even more fun with Kevin joining in.
— The overall Turkey Song was fantastic, and was a great inaugural Update guitar song for Adam. Strong way to end tonight’s Update too. It’s very rare in this era for Update to end with a guest commentary.
STARS: ***½
SUPERMAN’S FUNERAL
superheroes pay their last respects at Superman’s funeral
— This is immediately coming off as a very fun sketch. Kinda of a spiritual successor to the also-fun and memorable superhero party sketch from the Margot Kidder episode in the original era.
— I love Al Franken’s Lex Luthor dropping his sorrowful act and admitting he’s glad Superman is dead and that “This should be a great year for me.”
— Good bit showing Lois Lane being oblivious as to why Clark Kent hasn’t shown up at Superman’s funeral.
— Very funny cutaway to Robert Smigel as Penguin seemingly doing his trademark laugh, only to reveal he’s actually crying.
— Hilarious turn with Sinbad crashing the funeral as Black Lightning and nobody there having any idea who he is.
— Tom Davis accidentally addresses Spider Man as “Superman” at first, before correcting himself. I’m not sure if they fix that in reruns or not.
— Great bit with Hulk putting on glasses and suddenly speaking perfectly when reading from his written speech.
— Funny reveal of Black Lightning sneakily stealing from the bowl of shrimp when all the other heroes are leaving in a hurry.
— Nice comic book animation ending.
STARS: *****
AT HOME WITH MONICA / BLACULA / GILLIGAN’S BIOSPHERE
At Home With Monica- tennis star Seles (MEH) grunts around the house
Bram Stoker’s Blacula (host)- a new version of the blaxploitation classic
Gilligan’s (DAC) Biosphere- Skipper (CHF) & castaways live in a bubble
— Melanie imitating Monica Seles’ loud, unique tennis grunting sounds while performing simple tasks is cracking me up.
— Funny touch with Blacula playing a slow jam on the stereo to woo Ellen.
— Very unique and fun structure to this sketch with all the different shows they’re cutting back and forth to.
— Phil as the professor from Gilligan’s Island is perfect casting from a physical standpoint.
— Farley’s arms noticeably have a faint greenish color to them here. Obviously, they weren’t able to wash off all the Hulk makeup in time for this sketch.
— Farley’s impression of Skipper is freakin’ hilarious.
STARS: ***½
THE DARK SIDE WITH NAT X
Joe Jackson (host) reacts to TV movie about Jackson family
— This ends up being the final installment of this sketch during Rock’s tenure as a cast member, not counting when they bring it back during his 1996 hosting stint.
— Great intro to Joe Jackson’s interview: “My first guest is the envy of most men in America because he is known to have slept with Janet Jackson. Please welcome her father, Joe Jackson.”
— Nat X to Joe Jackson: “Sit yo ‘I don’t believe in birth control’ ass down!”
— I like how Joe’s “talents” that Nat brings up turn out to be about Joe’s ability to beat his kids.
— Funny visual of Joe punching out Sandman.
— What was with Rock’s delayed reaction to getting punched in the face?
— An unusually short Nat X sketch overall. Felt like it should’ve had more to it, especially considering how well the sketch had been going.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Cherish The Day”
THE PROUD PATTERSONS
overacting dramatizes the black condition
— Nice to see the underused Chris Rock in so many sketches tonight for a change, especially given how many episodes he’s sat out this season so far (including the previous week’s Michael Keaton episode). Rock is having easily the biggest night of his entire SNL tenure. A little sad that all it took for that to happen was SNL having a black host, as it means Rock will most likely go right back to being severely underused after this.
— Very funny performances from everyone, and good execution of this concept.
— Good contrast between Tim and the rest of the family, with Tim being the only one who doesn’t approach everything in an overdramatic manner.
STARS: ***½
OFFICE THANKSGIVING PARTY
at an office Thanksgiving party, (host) translates for friend (DAC)
— Funny format with various people coming up to Sinbad making increasingly dirty-sounding vague references to past encounters, only for Sinbad to clarify to a confused Dana what innocent thing they were really talking about.
— Adam steals the sketch with a hilariously random usage of what’s known to some SNL fans as his “abbie doobie” routine (a spelling that comes from a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch where Jimmy Fallon plays Adam).
— Good follow-up to the Adam bit, with Tim (who, like Rock, has refreshingly been having an unusually busy night tonight) entering and doing the exact same thing Adam did, only for Sinbad to reveal that he’s just making fun of Adam’s character.
— Solid ending with Sinbad having no translation for Kevin’s long, crazy spiel.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very fun and consistently good episode. I enjoyed everything in it and, while it certainly wasn’t what I would call a classic episode, it had an atmosphere throughout that I loved. Sinbad added to the fun vibe of this episode with his solid performances.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Keaton)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Tom Arnold, filling in for the originally scheduled host Gary Oldman, who was even announced by Don Pardo tonight in a bumper promoting the next episode’s guests.
We also get the return of cast member Mike Myers, after being on hiatus all season so far filming So I Married an Axe Murderer.