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.
I remember Rock being very embarrassed to play Robin in the Superman sketch.
Sinbad didn’t have a very long shelf life, but I always thought the guy was a reliable enough performer in the right settings and he did fine here.
I’m not sure why I’ve never realized that Adam Sandler was the voice of Clucky Chicken.
Sinbad may not ya e ever been a “cool” comic, but he had funny absolutely running through his veins. He’s just a natural and he deserves way more respect. It’s the way I feel about Spade too, people trash him, but he’s an ace comic.
Autocorrect gaff…*have*
Agreed on both parts. Spade is a super underrated comic. I’m surprised how many people hate him.
Loved Sinbad’s HBO special growing up. Always thought this was a great episode but I’m super biased towards the era. 🙂
*this* era
Spade has sort of leaned in to a very one-note comic persona – either sneering at everyone, or playing idiots. Watching these again I realize he was a bit more self-aware than that when he was on SNL, but it’s easy to not focus on that and just focus more on the more obnoxious elements (it doesn’t help that most of the tone of the show was like that at that time).
I don’t know. That seems like a pretty uncharitable reading on Spade’s comic persona. He plays a type but his cleverness is often overlooked. His a genuinely witty dude, I don’t really find him obnoxious at all.
I think when your first claim to fame involves an insult parade (as so much of his WU role was), a negative label is more likely to stick with you. I think Spade was aware of this and could make fun of himself because of said self-awareness, so it could sometimes be balanced on Update. I feel like also having that putdown persona in so many sketches outside of Update may have been more of a bad idea, as it just sort of cemented that tag. Of course, it didn’t really seem to do his career much harm in the long run. It just means people are more likely to remember one element of his comedy above the others.
I remember Norm MacDonald once said that Spade was the funniest guy ‘in real life’.
I saw Adam Sandler do that Thanksgiving song a couple of weeks before he did it on SNL. He had a college tour in 1992-93, where he went around to campuses across the country and he basically performed his stand up act for college students. He would go out there and he would work out his new material. And if it worked, he would later do it on the show. I saw a rough draft of the Thanksgiving song at one of these college shows, which was probably the first or second time he ever tried it. It killed even back then.
The cold open is a wonderful example of what a generous performer Phil Hartman was. There were no thumbs up and smirks for extended audience applause. This was Dana Carvey’s goodbye moment, and Phil let him have that moment.
Even more than most episodes, this episode is a mix of things that are still all too accurate today (long movies, and, of course, police brutality) and things that dated very very quickly (Clinton dropped his plans to allow gays to openly serve, leading to the badly misguided Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; Monica Seles was stabbed in the knee a few months after this and her career was badly derailed).
I didn’t think the Gloriana sketch was offensive, I just didn’t think it was funny. (I did like the part at the end with Tim’s confusion) In Living Color had a much more crass sketch about gays in the military around this time so at least we didn’t get that here.
I like the idea of the three quick shows – it’s something we only get now in the pre-tapes and they have a slickness that sometimes makes them feel dead. Hutsell’s impression of Seles shouting and grunting was a lot of fun, and something different for her.
Sinbad is a very able host, very low-key and easy to enjoy. He and Marisa Tomei would be the only two cast members of A Different World to host. By this time he was off the show and it was in its last days.
The Superman funeral sketch is much better than it could have been. They don’t go into jeering at comics, or comic book fans, and instead, other than the pretty funny segueways with Black Lightning (who is probably more known now as he has his own TV show), they focus on character beats and more natural humor. I like that they end on poor, dumb Lois still not knowing that Superman was Clark all along. This reminds me of just what a big cultural event “the death of Superman” was at the time – this was also the last gasp for stunts and buying various covers and first issues before the collector market crashed.
This Nat X does feel abrupt. I don’t think they could have gotten much more out of the same old Jackson family and Joe Jackson jokes, so maybe short and sweet was for the best. I always enjoyed this recurring character, and it still holds up for me.
Sade’s involvement means three musical guests in a row with flashy, memorable outfits (I think Natalie Merchant wins with her technicolor dreamcoat, spinning around). I wish they’d let Rock do his “your name ain’t Sade, it’s Sadie” routine one last time…
Another thing I notice is just how many office sketches they had in this era. You only get them a few times a season now.
I liked Kevin’s dramatic reenactment. I find that I like almost all of Kevin’s WU BUT the jokes and his delivery of them.
John, I’m just curious, do you go by the name Soaps & Sci-Fi on Twitter?
Yes. Sorry to leave so much blather all over your blog; I’d initially planned to just leave comments in the tweets, but this is really the only place to be able to talk about past seasons at length and be able to talk to other fans about these years. On top of that, I have a lot of appreciation for what you’re doing and sometimes a retweet or a brief line don’t really show that.
Don’t apologize for your comments in my blog, John. In fact, I encourage them. Your lengthy comments are always worth reading and make a lot of interesting points.
It looks like a few other people agree that this ep. is a little underrated. All the sketches are pretty strong and Sinbad is a great, funny host.
Cluckin Chicken is a stone-cold classic (and shows Sandler could have had a great voice over career — thanks for that bit of interesting triva). Superman’s funeral has to be one of the greatest comic book parodies on SNL or anywhere else. A really great and creative ensemble piece and Sinbad is particularly funny.
it goes by fast, but the Blakula sketch one of my favorites in this ep. and the audience seemed to love it too. Chris Rock is perfect in it, even if he only utters three words.
That was Tim Meadows.
Superman’s Funeral sketch was three days after DC published and kicked off the now-famous The Death of Superman storyline.
It was a huge deal at the time.
In todays bummer news of the day 🙁
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/sinbad-is-recovering-after-suffering-a-recent-stroke/
Farley’s bit as Hulk shows what a special performer he was. Gets the big laugh of just “fat guy dressed as Hulk”, then absolutely crushes the Aykroyd-esque eulogy he gives. As for this episode, it’s one of the show’s most purely fun IMO. Sinbad has a great energy throughout, plus we get two of Sandler’s best ever moments (Cluckin’ Chicken & Turkey Song). Does anyone know who wrote Cluckin’ Chicken by the way? That’s gotta be top 5 commercial parodies the show ever did.
Does anyone know where to find the last 2 sketches though? Archive.org cuts this episode off after the second Sade performance.
I’m pretty sure Robert Smigel wrote Cluckin’ Chicken.
Ah, that tracks. Thanks!
An update on Sinbad’s condition:
https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1594813115870371840
I was a huge comic book geek at this time. The Superman’s funeral sketch left a huge impression on me and I never forgot it. I had already seen the Lois Lane party sketch on Nick at Nite “Best of” reruns, so it immediately reminded me of that one at the time. Sinbad as Black Lightning definitely stole the sketch. The strange thing is, I can’t remember seeing a single other thing from this episode, even though I know I saw this live. I haven’t watched it since, other than Superman’s Funeral on YouTube. But none of these other frame grabs ring a bell at all. Hopefully I’ll enjoy watching it again when I get around to it.
OMG thank you for reviewing this episode, describing each sketch, and putting up screenshots. This episode’s cold open really stuck with me (or at least the “I’m a one-termer!” bit) and it’s been impossible to find a clip of it anywhere. Thankfully, this helped a lot and led to finding the entire episode on archive.org.
Again, thank you. It’s a little thing but it’s honestly a big service, going through all of these and documenting it.
I thought this episode was ok, the highlight for me was David Spades Hollywood minute, didn’t really get the Cindy Crawford rant as she was at the time one of the fab 5 supermodels so if she was on 30 covers that month it wasn’t like it would be today where it would be a contest to see how many million followers you’d get on Instagram vs another supermodel. But liked the other snarky remarks, enjoyed Adam Sandler turkey song.
Also I wasn’t sure if it was the first episode of WU where KN didn’t start his segment with “ I’m Kevin Nealon and (I’m a “insert something here”), vs he just went off right with the news this time.
Love the cold opening but also very sad, not sure if this was Dana’s last episode, but liked the premise. Dana will always be my favorite SNL alum and with him and Hartman (and Hooks) those were the three best of all time to me, (and Al Franken was magic as SS, and even his smaller roles).
I thought the Superman Funeral was the best skit, followed by thanksgiving office party, but felt like Dana was underused and could have had more presence overall.
I thought Al Franken as Lex Luther was hilarious and especially when he admitted he was happy Superman died, Farley did a great job as the hulk, and the ending with Sinbad going back to the funeral at the end to steal some shrimp.
*puts on Norm hat*
Oh no, we’re going from Sinbad to Sin-worse!
Live cat during the civil war sketch. They won’t be using live animals very much for the rest of the series. The black motorists sketch was funny but too short. Years later on his own, Chris Rock would make a video about how to not get your ass beat by the cops. I do not find Adam Sandlers singing characters to be even mildly amusing. But it seems popular with the audience. Superhero funeral could have been funny with edgier jokes. Melanie Hutsell is funny but she never had enough good material during her tenure. And the jokes in the Monica sketch are just lame. A tennis player grunting isn’t really comedy. I loved the politically incorrect humor of the office party. My version is only 55 minutes and completely skipped the Proud Pattersons sketch. I dunno why that one was dropped. Racial humor? Anyone?
But overall a good episode. Key element in these seasons is the show gets funny when the writers or producers are not afraid to be a bit edgy.