January 9, 1993 – Danny DeVito / Bon Jovi (S18 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Bob & Bill Swerski write a letter to protest firing of Mike Ditka [real]

— Yet another unique use of the Super Fans. They’re especially treading new territory here.
— Alongside George Wendt in his usual Bob Swerski role, we surprisingly have Joe Mantegna returning as Bill Swerski, the original Super Fans host. The reason for his return is presumably because of the lack of Chris Farley, who will not be appearing in tonight’s episode, as he’s currently in another rehab stint (his second this season alone).
— Now we get a mention of the absence of Farley’s character, who’s written out of the sketch as recovering from a particularly massive heart attack when he heard the news of Mike Ditka’s firing.
— Some good laughs from the Super Fans returning all of their ridiculous Bears memorabilia as well as season tickets they purchased for the 1993 season through the 2032 season.
— I love the part with Mantegna’s character accidentally dripping cheese sauce on the letter Wendt’s character is writing.
— Nice pre-taped scene with the real Mike Ditka reading the letter and then calling up NASA as a response.
STARS: ****

OPENING MONTAGE
— Dana Carvey is credited in tonight’s montage, despite the fact that he will once again not be appearing in the show. I’m confused as to why he was removed from the preceding episode’s opening montage and yet is kept in tonight’s opening montage, when he’s absent in both episodes.

MONOLOGUE
dysfunctional vaudevillians host & ROS will do anything for a laugh

— Fun energetic entrance from Danny, dancing all around the home base stage.
— I love Danny and Rob’s “I’ll Do Anything For a Laugh” musical number, with them taking turns musically listing off all the ridiculous, embarrassing, painful thing they’ll do to entertain us. I’m enjoying the vaudevillian approach to this.
— When concluding the monologue after the song is finished, I really liked Danny announcing tonight’s musical guest by saying “Top that, Bon Jovi!” instead of the usual “Bon Jovi is here.”
STARS: ****

CANIS
— Rerun from the Nicolas Cage episode

AARON SPELLING’S AMY FISHER 10516
Tori Spelling (MEH) in FOX TV-movie

— Pretty funny idea of a 90210-ized version of the Amy Fisher story. Also, very good casting of Danny as Joey Buttafuoco.
— Boy, Melanie is really doubling-down on the mugging in this particular Tori Spelling appearance.
— Didn’t care too much for how this overall sketch turned out. After a funny start, it didn’t go as far as it should’ve and got too dominated by the mugging.
STARS: **

SIMON
American tub-sharer Vinnie (host) has ties to the mob

— Danny is hilarious as a wiseguy Italian kid, especially his more crude versions of Simon’s signature lines (e.g. saying “My mummy’s sleeping with the fishes” instead of “My mummy’s sleeping with the angels”, and saying “Were you lookin’ at my ass?” instead of “Were you looking at my bum?”).
— The drawings being displayed are funnier than usual, especially Danny’s violent drawings.
— Overall, an improvement over the usual Simon sketches. Danny provided a good boost to this.
STARS: ***½

MASTERPIECE THEATRE
the PBS Amy Fisher tale is “The House Of Buttafuoco”

— Several technical issues at the beginning. The Masterpiece Theatre opening title sequence actually stops at one point before continuing, you can hear SNL stagehands mumbling to each other, and you can also hear loud running footsteps in the studio, which might be Mike Myers and Danny DeVito rushing to get changed from the Simon sketch to this sketch, considering these two sketches are airing back-to-back, with no commercial break in between.
— Always refreshing to see a Jan Hooks special guest spot, and she’s great in this role.
— Now THIS is a funny presentation of the Amy Fisher/Joey Buttafuoco story.
— I love how various dignified people throughout this sketch, including Jan as the host, are pronouncing the name Buttafuoco phonetically.
— Mike’s butler role is basically just Mike doing his Kenneth Reese-Evans character (the host of the Theatre Stories sketches). He’s using the exact same voice, vocal tics and all.
— Amusing seeing Danny as Buttafuoco again tonight.
— Funny touch at the very end with Jan exhaustedly slumping back in her chair as the camera zooms out.
STARS: ***½

SHIFTY EYES
restaurant patrons imply guilt via suspiciously shifting their eyes

— I like the format of this sketch, and this is the type of sketch that the late 80s/early 90s years are usually good at pulling off.
— This is starting to get especially funny with other characters getting into Danny’s eye-shifting act, especially Phil as the waiter doing it when angrily asked “What were you doing back there, playing with yourself?”
— Good ending with Kevin.
STARS: ***½

DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on coaxing a spirit back to its body
— Not included in my copy of this episode.

AMY FISHER: ONE MESSED-UP BITCH
BET’s Buttafuoco variant

— I love how it’s a running gag tonight for each female cast member to play a different version of Amy Fisher. Very fun.
— A funny concept of a BET-ized version of the Amy Fisher story, and it’s being executed pretty well.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bed of Roses”

WEEKEND UPDATE
on a technicality, Jan Brady (MEH) names Leprechaun the year’s best movie

— Wow, tonight’s Jan Brady commentary just came and went, and surprisingly did not work for me. The bit was too brief for its own good, I didn’t find the “Leprechaun is the only movie that’s come out so far this year” spiel funny, and Melanie’s penchant for flubbing lines was on full display here.
— Kevin’s joke where he basically implies Madonna is a slut made me laugh out loud, considering Madonna’s going to be the musical guest in the very next episode.
— Robert Smigel had a commentary cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal, in which he reprised his Hank Fielding “Moron’s Perspective” character and gave an analysis of president-elect Bill Clinton. We’ll be seeing this character return later this season.
STARS: ***

THE GAP
Gap employees Kristy (DAS) & Lucy (ADS) hassle Di & other customers

— There’s a funny subtle blooper at the beginning. This sketch opens on a shot of two extras playing customers looking through some clothes, but they linger way too long and are very late on their cue to exit the scene. If you listen closely during that part, you can actually hear an off-camera Joe Dicso (SNL’s stage manger) whispering to them in an increasingly agitated tone “Go! GO! GO!!” before the extras FINALLY exit the scene.
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring sketch debut!
— Good characterizations from Adam and David here.
— A sudden return of Melanie’s Delta Delta Delta character, Di. I never cared much for those sketches, but it feels odd and a little sad seeing Melanie’s character without her two friends played by Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill, as this just brings back a reminder of how Siobhan and Beth deserved to be given more of a chance and shouldn’t have been fired so early.
— I’ve refreshingly been fairly tolerant of Melanie Hutsell throughout this SNL project of mine, compared to how overly harsh I used to be towards her, but tonight’s episode has unfortunately been highlighting her worst tendencies as a performer, between her excessive mugging in both this sketch and the Amy Fisher/Tori Spelling sketch and her line flubs throughout her Jan Brady commentary on Update.
— I found this overall Gap Girls debut decent, but it felt a little empty without Chris Farley, knowing what a scene-stealer he would go on to be in most future installments of this sketch.
STARS: ***

BOOKS ON TAPE
Charlton Heston (PHH) helps convert Madonna’s book Sex to Books On Tape

— An absolutely priceless use of Phil’s always-funny Charlton Heston impression, having him narrate Madonna’s Sex book.
— Heston’s various suggestions for vagina euphemisms are hilarious, especially “furburger”.
— Danny as Al Goldstein is really funny in his own right, with his horny descriptions of the raunchy book photos.
STARS: ****½

UNBELIEVABLE NEW BREAKTHROUGHS
Mary Jo Buttafuoco (JAH) & hair-in-a-can

— Tonight’s Amy Fisher running gag continues, with even infomercials now getting in on the Amy Fisher dramatization craze.
— Jan is hilarious as Mary Jo Buttafuoco, with her imitating Mary Jo’s talking-out-the-corner-of-the-mouth side effect from getting shot, and her constant mentions of that “crazy teenage bitch” who tried to kill her.
— Overall, short but very well-executed.
STARS: ****

HITMAN
hitman (host) doesn’t hide his occupation from his wife (JUS) very well

— Not caring much for this so far. I will say that I am liking Danny and Julia’s performances and the way they’re playing off of each other.
— Okay, I’m starting to be kinda amused by some of the instances of Danny immediately following his usual “Stay outta my business!” warnings to Julia by asking her specific things that would give her knowledge of his “business”. This is still nothing great to me, though.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wanted Dead or Alive”

ADULTS LIVING AT HOME
support group for adults still living with their parents holds a meeting

— Pretty funny subject matter for a support group sketch.
— Kevin’s character is particularly funny, with his constant denial that he lives with his mother. Even something about just the physical look of his character is making me laugh.
— I love Danny’s obnoxious pride in living with his mother, and detailing how he has her doing EVERYTHING for him.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode, though not quite as strong as I remembered. Some portions of this episode were a little more average than I recalled, but I still found this to be an overall enjoyable show, and it had a few really strong highlights. And this episode still contained the fun vibe that I had remembered it having, helped by Danny DeVito’s always-fun presence and the Amy Fisher running theme throughout the show.

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Glenn Close)
a mild step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Harvey Keitel