Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Bill (PHH) & Hillary (JAH) Clinton greet oddballs & (Giorgio Armani)
— I love Rob’s psychotic, secretive spiel about his “notes” that he’s handing to Phil’s Clinton.
— Kevin just walking on and responding to Clinton’s greeting with “You black son of a bitch!” was priceless.
— Farley is dead-on in his imitation of trash-talking wrestlers.
— Funny segment at the end, with Clinton’s formal apology to the prime minister of Italy for the rough treatment he received by the White House guards when being mistaken for a crazy person.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
Obi-Wan Kenobi (PHH) counsels host on what to do on-stage
— Some good laughs from Phil as a Obi-Wan Kenobi giving Luke advice, and Luke constantly pointing out how ill-conceived this idea is. This is being executed well.
— I love the part with the “audience member” (writer David Mandel) suddenly yelling “You suck!” to Luke, and Obi-Wan then advising Luke to “kick his ass and take his wallet”.
— I got a big laugh from Phil pointing out how much Luke is bombing in his monologue (“I’m the only thing getting any laughs!”).
STARS: ****
CHAMELEON XLE
— Rerun from 11/14/92
THE TAMPON PRINCE
Prince Charles (DAC) abdicates to be Camilla Parker-Bowles’ (JUS) tampon
— The BBC1 station ID at the beginning is the same one used in the recurring Simon sketches.
— Good makeup and prosthetics on Dana’s Prince Charles.
— Very funny announcement from Prince Charles that he will live as a tampon in Camilla Parker Bowles’ “trousers”.
— I love how they’re actually showing the tampon transformation process.
— Mick Jagger’s delivery as the butler is priceless and has gotten a great audience reaction.
— Dana’s angry “I can’t walk away, I’m a tampooooonnnn!” outburst cracked me up.
— This ends up being Dana’s final lead role during his tenure as a cast member, as tonight is his last show. He appears in one more sketch later tonight, but it’s just a supporting role.
STARS: ***½
YARD BOY
dumb yard boy (host) doesn’t catch older woman’s (JUS) sexual overtures
— Odd how Luke is just now making his first sketch appearance of the night. I guess they couldn’t find a role for him in the preceding lead-off sketch.
— Very good characterization and delivery from Julia here.
— Despite Julia’s solid performance, this sketch hasn’t been going anywhere too interesting and feels kinda quiet for a sketch placed this early in the show.
— The ending with Phil made me laugh.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sweet Thing”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Operaman sings about gays in the military & other current events
Mick Jagger (MIM) & Keith Richards (musical guest) debate censorship
— A much lighter-colored suit than usual for Kevin tonight.
— The usual funny news items from Operaman, especially the one about Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the one making fun of the “horror” of Al Gore’s dancing.
— This is the first Operaman commentary to end with roses being thrown at him from off-camera, which would go on to be a tradition for his commentaries.
— In retrospect, it sure is something nowadays to see an old Update joke making fun of cellphone users, where the punchline is that most people don’t care if people who use cellphones die.
— A very memorable Point/Counterpoint commentary right now, with Mike doing a dead-on and funny Mick Jagger impression while Mick does a dead-on and funny Keith Richards.
— I recall once hearing that this is the very first time in SNL history that a musical guest ever appeared on Weekend Update. [ADDENDUM: Not including musical guests who are also hosting that night.] If that’s true, then it’s surprising that it took SNL 18 years for that to happen, considering how many occurrences we’ve had since then of musical guests showing up on Update. Hmm, come to think of it, have there been many occurrences of that? It feels to me like there is, but now that I’m thinking about it, barely any examples are coming to mind. There IS Paul McCartney in the very next Update, though (plus the Update from the 2010 episode he’s a musical guest in).
— The “Mick, you ignorant slut” line was a great callback to SNL’s Point/Counterpoints from the original era.
STARS: ***½
MAGIC FISH TOWN MEETING
dwindling population of wish-granting magic fish is topic of town meeting
— Here comes a sketch that I’ve always loved. The oddball, creative humor is right up my alley, and this is a great ensemble piece for the cast. I’m curious who wrote this sketch. Jack Handey?
— I love the brief cutaway to a silent, big brain-having Al Franken. Actually, is that Al Franken? (the fourth above screencap for this sketch) I’ve always assumed it was him, as it looks like him to me, but it’s hard to tell with that makeup, and SNL Archives doesn’t list him in this sketch. The fact that Tom Davis is seated next to him kinda supports my theory that it’s Franken.
— The randomness of Mike pulling on his ear with one hand while spanking his behind with his other hand as he’s casually speaking cracks me up.
— Hilarious part with a regretful, long erection-having Adam asking if there’s a magic fish that can undo a wish.
— Phil’s head exploding out of nowhere during his poignant speech is a freakin’ riot.
— After the aforementioned head explosion, the shot of Julia standing up and asking “Who did that?!?” would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version (and rather sloppily, might I add). The reason for this dress rehearsal substitution is because in the live version of that shot of Julia, you can see a glimpse of somebody trying to hide from the camera in the window behind her, while holding an unidentifiable object (screencap below).
STARS: ****½
SNL HALFTIME SPECTACULAR
Michael Jackson (CSR) lip-syncs during the SNL Halftime Spectacular
— Quite a laugh from hearing Don Pardo imitate the Wayne’s World catchphrase “Not!” while announcing the (fake) sponsor Wayne’s World Potato Chips (a product that I’m almost surprised didn’t become a real thing, considering Wayne’s World’s huge popularity at the time).
— Wow, this is a VERY out-of-the-ordinary, unique piece for SNL. I absolutely LOVE how they’re going all out on this extensive, ambitious piece, exploring the entire studio. Very fun.
— Great touch with the Richmeister and Pat mascots.
— A lot of laughs from the blatantly lip-synced Michael Jackson song medley, with Rock’s MJ having a hard time keeping up with the rapid song changes.
— Now this is getting even more extensive and fun with the audience participation, involving audience members revealing a flipcard message.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Tear Me Up”
HIGH SCHOOL LIARS CLUB
contestants bluff to impress fellow students
— Right out of the gate, there are a lot of sloppy minor issues with this sketch: 1) The gameshow board is oddly already showing all the questions that are going to be chosen later in the sketch, instead of revealing those questions one-by-one as they’re each chosen. 2) One of the numbers covering a question on the board is sloppily hanging off, as if it were literally just pasted on in a hurry right before airtime. And 3) the usually-flawless Phil Hartman actually makes a big gaffe at one point while he’s reading the categories off the board.
— Not caring much for how this sketch has been going so far. Most of the contestants’ lies aren’t doing much for me. I do like Adam’s lies, especially how most of them randomly involve Canada, and when he resorts to stealing David’s police-station-burned-down excuse at one point.
— Another blooper: when the camera is supposed to zoom into the question on the board that states “How did you get to party with Van Halen?”, we instead see a number covering the question. I’ve never seen the rerun version of this sketch, but I’m betting it’s replaced with the dress rehearsal version to hide all of the sloppiness in this live version.
— The back-and-forths between David and Rob are funny.
— Does Farley have a sore throat? Something about his voice here sounds kinda hoarse to me.
STARS: **
SASSY’S SASSIEST BOYS
Russell Clark (PHH) with impudent heartthrobs
— Interestingly, this sketch is starring the exact same four lead performers from the High School Liars Club sketch that preceded this (Phil, Luke, David, and Adam), and they’re even playing the same type of role they each played in that sketch: Phil as the show’s host, and Luke, David, and Adam as the three young guests.
— Phil’s many “Sassy!” variations into the camera are consistently funny. This is a premise that could’ve gotten old FAST, but Phil’s performance is so funny.
— Good Christian Slater voice from David.
— Adam is hilarious as young, Marky Mark-era Mark Wahlberg.
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
on the need for plane crash-site security
QUEEN SHENEQUA’S DARK MOMENTS IN BLACK HISTORY
Super Bowl XXVII folly
— An awkward brief pause after Ellen introduces herself as Queen Shenequa, as if she were expecting a big response.
— Well… this sketch sure came and went. This ended up being a really weak piece and it fell flat. Another failed attempt at giving Queen Shenequa her own sketch.
— This was actually originally going to be the first of a three-part sketch tonight, but the second and third parts got cut after dress rehearsal. In the second part, the “dark moment in black history” that Queen Shenequa focused on was her friend taking back a cheating boyfriend who gave her a stolen diamond ring. In the third part, the “dark moment” focused on John Amos leaving the sitcom Good Times.
STARS: *½
SAYING GOODBYE
country boy (host) tells folks (MEH) & (PHH) goodbye before leaving home
— The audience is howling at Melanie throughout this sketch.
— I absolutely love Phil’s voice in this so far.
— Damn, Phil is giving one hell of a performance.
— Speaking of Phil, he’s been having a VERY big night in general. He’s appeared in literally almost EVERY SINGLE SKETCH in tonight’s episode, with most of his appearances being lead roles, in which he anchored the sketches like the consummate pro he is. And even in some of his smaller roles, he made a positive impact (e.g. the Yard Boy sketch). This episode is a great microcosm of Phil’s utmost importance as “The Glue” of SNL.
— Overall, wow, this was a wonderful slice-of-life, dramatic, emotional piece, in an era where sketches like this had pretty much become extinct. Phil was PHENOMENAL here, and Luke and Melanie were both very solid in their own right.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode, though I’ve always felt it comes off really average compared to the strong episodes that it’s surrounded by around this point of the season. Watching and reviewing the episode just now, my opinion of it is a bit higher than it used to be, even if it’s still not a particularly great or memorable episode. I appreciate how the second half of the episode contained a few interesting, creative, out-of-the-ordinary pieces (Magic Fish Town Meeting, SNL Halftime Spectacular, and Saying Goodbye), all of which I found to be strong.
— Farewell to Dana Carvey. Right out of the gate early in his SNL tenure, he had possibly the strongest first episode an SNL cast member has ever had, and played a pivotal role in helping SNL do an instant huge turnaround after the troubled season 11. He would go on to have a fantastic run and would become an SNL legend, as well as being in my personal list of top 3 favorite cast members of all time. Even though SNL prepared us for his departure by phasing him out to an extreme degree during his last few months on the show, I’m still going to miss being able to review him regularly.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Harvey Keitel)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin / Paul McCartney
Sad that out of all the hosts in S18, this is the only one who is deceased (which I’m assuming you would not have guessed in 1993).
No, not the first time a musical guest appeared on Weekend Update – Olivia Newton-John did a guest commentary on the last episode of Season 11. Quite likely the first time a musical guest appeared on WU and was actually FUNNY, though.
Sorry, I meant Season SEVEN. My kingdom for an edit function.
Didn’t she also host? I wonder if they meant the first time a MG who wasn’t hosting appeared on WU.
Yeah, Olivia Newton-John was doing double-duty that night as both host and musical guest. I should’ve specified in the review that this is about Update appearances from musical guests who weren’t also hosting.
As far as later examples, Sarah McLachlan appeared on Update in 1997.
First episode with the first flat end credits style (green-white font) used from this half of season 18 until season 20 season finale
Julia Sweeney and David Mandel tweeted some kind words about Luke when he passed. When I watched this episode recently I found myself wishing they’d done a bit more with him – I guess since he was a teen idol they may not have wanted to put too much fate in his hands, but he gives an absolutely lovely performance in that last sketch with Melanie and Phil. Also one of her best performances. The whole sketch is an underrated gem – I wonder if it was another Marilyn Suzanne Miller piece.
There’s also something a bit sad about when you reach the end of the episode and see that Luke Perry’s bumper photo is of him turned away, but looking back at us…
Dana just doing his Grumpy Old Man character (in a Pope hat) for his last sketch amused me.
The halftime sketch is definitely very ambitious, and doesn’t feel like anything they would normally have done in these years. I wonder if some of the technical issues are why they never did again. The heavy Super Bowl focus also doesn’t feel like something you’d get very often in later years.
The Copy Guy and Pat mascots are another reminder of how popular these characters were – although I think we’ve only seen him once this whole season.
I agree that Copy Guy and Pat were HUGELY popular SNL characters at the time…but they don’t seem to have aged too well. And when iconic and Hall-of-Fame SNL recurring characters are discussed…they don’t seem to get too much of a mention and largely seem to be forgotten.
As for Copy Guy, I think a lot of it has to do with how disliked Rob Schneider currently is in the industry and public (Heck, remember when Tina lamented on Jan Hooks death why she didn’t have a bigger career on Rob Schneider?…I don’t know if Tina intended it, but it looked like a huge slam on Rob). Which I don’t really get the hate, but people consider his career a joke, and I think that overshadows his work on SNL. Somewhat akin to Joe Piscopo.
As for Pat…I just don’t think that modern audiences would find the premise funny at all (and would likely be offended). Pat seems very un-PC today…maybe that’s just me. Also, the terrible “It’s Pat” movie did a lot to destroy the legacy of the character.
Regarding the halftime sketch – by the early 90s, NFL halftime shows were still dominated with relatively unhip, older-skewing entertainment along the lines of “Up With People.” In Living Color was hot at the time, so Fox asked the Wayanses to consider doing a halftime show of their own to compete with the official halftime show on NBC.
The “In Living Color” halftime show got enough of a positive reaction from viewers that the NFL began to book the big names and “living legends” that dominate the official halftime show today.
Just curious, Stooge, who are the your other two favorite cast members?
By the way, it’s been a blast to follow you chronicle the evolution of the show daily. It’s always something to look forward to in my day.
Thanks, Leo.
The other cast members in my personal top 3 are Phil Hartman and Will Ferrell.
I have a hard time narrowing it down to Top 3.
So I’ll give my Top 5 favorite (in no particular order):
Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Will Ferrell.
Apologies to Eddie Murphy (he would be No. 6)
I also have to do a top 5. People come and go, as there are some who just don’t get the credit they deserve (like Dan, Jane and Laraine), but it mostly sticks to:
Gilda, Jan, Phil, Nora.
I didn’t ever expect that to seriously change, but when I got back into SNL not long ago I realized I had to add Bill Hader to that list as well.
You alluded to it but I think the big reason Melanie was kept on for three seasons is that the audience always seem to respond to her. I know she’s been highly criticized but she did have some degree of popularity so it’s understandable why she lasted that long
I think Melanie was a very specific comic actress. If she had someone who could write in her range she would have had more success outside of Jan and Tori. I know she played Jan pre-SNL. I’m not sure if she did the same with Tori, but she never felt very comfortable to me in that role.
dress version of High School Liars Club:
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/high-school-liars-club/2859851
also, Marilyn S. Miller didn’t return to the credits until Goodman/Blige next month, so I wonder who wrote “Leaving Home”, as it’s very much in her style
Jack Handey did indeed write “Magic Fish”. Back for 2 episodes and he’s given us 2 kooky klassiks with “Insane Idiot’s Deer Heads” and now this
Thanks. Maybe Bonnie and Terry Turner?
Good-bye Dana Carvey. Perhaps not the greatest SNL cast member of all time…but pretty darn close. Top 5, easy. Maybe even top 3.
Responsible for 3 of SNL’s most memorable and iconic recurring characters (Church Lady, Hans, and Garth) that defined this era of the show and a top-notch impressionist whose send-ups essentially became characters of their own (Bush, Perot, John McLaughlin, Regis, George Michael, Dennis Miller, John Travolta, Casey Kasem, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Stewart) and a host of other wacky contributions (Grumpy Old Man, Choppin’ Broccoli, Carsenio, Massive Headwound Harry, Lyle the Effeminate Heterosexual) and even very memorable characters when he came back to host (Tom Brokaw reporting on the death of Gerald Ford, Pepper Boy). Wow! Has there been a more prolific SNL cast member, when it comes to recurring characters and impressions? Hard to find one.
Dana seemed to enjoy every SECOND he was on the screen. His energy was contagious. I loved watching him on the show. And I’m going to miss him as these reviews continue. It’s a shame that Dana’s post-SNL career never really took off. Dana Carvey Show was underappreciated and way ahead of its time and of course, cancelled WAY too soon. Most of Dana’s movies were duds…and let’s not talk about that ghastly Master of Disguise movie…yikes. Dana’s had a pretty good stand-up career and is connecting to newer generations with his appearances on Late Night. But it has always been bewildering to me that he didn’t have a bigger career. Anybody want to venture into the reasons why? Thoughts?
While I think Dana’s stuff was the type of broad, wacky humor that works best on TV, you could say the same thing about any number of SNL veterans who had successful film careers, so I’m not sure what happened to him. I think the bad taste of the Dana Carvey Show hurt him, and I believe he intentionally stepped aside from Hollywood at one point to focus on his kids.
I’m glad he got to host a few times; the lack of any send-off for him was absolutely ridiculous.
In the late ’90s, Dana almost died from a botched heart operation, so that has to be taken into account as well.
I think in Dana’s case it was a combination of some bad movie choices, being so heavily identified with SNL (if viewers had to name one cast member from the late ’80s and early ’90s, it would probably be Dana). He also never really went the route of a sitcom, or a talk show, as many past cast members have done.
Dana’s one of those players who was pretty much born for a format like SNL. Even all these years later, even when the material for some of his cameos hasn’t been up to much, he’s still full of life and doesn’t seem like a relic of the past. When your talents are so honed to this type of format, it can make other realms more of a struggle. I think the same happened with Gilda.
Carvey only needs to host one more time to become a member of the Five-Timers Club (he did several cameos as Church Lady during the 2016 campaign, but has not hosted since 2011.)
Maybe he wasn’t quite at Dana’s level, but it seemed that Fred Armisen was always doing a variety of impressions and debuting recurring characters every other month, whether or not they were funny. So as far as being prolific goes, I’d say Fred.
Agreed, re: Dana’s lack of send-off… is there a story behind that? Was he supposed to stick around to the end of the season and he angered Lorne? Could this be related to his rejection of the Letterman gig in some way?
More recently we got the Rolling Stones singing to Kristen Wiig, which seemed equally ridiculous to older viewers who remembered all the low key send-offs that arguably greater talents had received in the past (if they received any kind of send-off at all).
Regardless of that, Dana did have the most perfect timing as far as when he joined and left the show. Lovitz and Miller started a little too early (although they probably saved the show from cancellation in Season 11). Hartman arguably stayed a year too long. Whether by accident or design, Dana got it just right.
I think Lovitz joined at the perfect time for him – he had a ton to do in his season, was seen by Lorne as a big asset, and got to carve out his own niche for when a new cast came in. I also think he left a year too early. I think Miller stayed a year too long.
I wonder if there was any acrimony with Dana (given the number of cameos he’d make in the next few years, along with hosting, and Lorne nearly bringing him back as a cast member) or if it’s just Lorne wasn’t that interested in flashy exits at this point. Phil stayed one whole more season, at a time when the show desperately needed him, and at a time when they were blatantly bringing in another comedian (who’d had the TV success Phil hadn’t at that point) to replace him, which could have been seen as deflating to someone who had a fragile ego. So that may be why Lorne gave him a big goodbye. Similar to when a season later, he didn’t give Kevin Nealon (who’d contributed so much to the show without ever being a “star”) a big goodbye, but did let him tell viewers he was leaving, rather than letting people assume he was just dumped with so many others.
I wonder if Dana meant to leave at the end of 91-92, but agreed to stay just long enough to cover Mike Myers going on a break.
I think Lorne really liked Kristen and maybe became more sentimental with age, so that’s why she got a big exit (I think Kate McKinnon will get the same when she leaves).
Maybe Dana stayed on just in case Bush was re-elected. When he lost maybe that’s when he decided to leave
Oh you’re right – I totally forgot he’d have to stay on for that reason. Thanks. Idiot moment for me.
I doubt Lorne was mad at Carvey – quite the contrary, he was probably pleasantly surprised he stayed as long as he did! Lorne has also said multiple times that Carvey was one of the only two cast members in the show’s history who “got the show” from the very beginning – everyone else, even the legends, had a bit of a “learning curve.” (IIRC, Wiig was the other one.)
Not all of the Rolling Stones. Just Mick Jagger.
Around the time Wiig left, a number of cast members got big farewells (Samberg and Hader, as well), but in each case they were all justified–they had great runs. On the other hand, equally deserving people like Forte and Sudeikis did not get a send-off, so who knows the show’s logic.
To be fair to the show, the idea that the show would “send off” departing cast members…I also don’t know if that was a thing at this point in time (prior to the 1990s, very few cast members of note had left without a full-scale turnover).
I think I recall Dana’s contract was up at the end of season 17 (like Victoria, Jan left a year early and Phil signed an extension) and did Lorne a favor by staying through the election. I think he was supposed to be in and out for the rest of season 18 and a movie he was shooting ran long.
Yeah, the absence of a big send-off for Dana was not that surprising. It was relatively rare for the show to do them at the time.
Phil’s swansong at the conclusion of 93-94 season was pretty much the first time the show did any kind of big send-off for one of its cast members (and Phil was universally beloved and had been on the show so long…he absolutely deserved it).
I guess there was a few before: they let Dennis Miller do “LFNY” when he left in the cold opening of his last episode. And I believe Buck Henry mentions Chevy Chase was departing in the goodnights or something. And then the conclusion of Season 11 (where everyone dies(?) from the fire, except for Jon Lovitz)…might…be kind of considered to be a farewell…certainly not a sentimental one. 🙂
But other than that, I don’t think any cast member got a special “good-bye” until Phil. And then Will Ferrell got one, and now they do it much more often.
So Dana leaving without any notice was the norm back then.
I always felt that Dana stuck around this season simply to do Bush and Perot for the election stuff. Once they lost…he could leave. I always wonder if Dana would have stuck around if Bush or Perot would have won. (Probably not, he seemed ready to go).
I remember reading an interview with Dana awhile ago where he said he initially planned to leave after the 91-92 season, but Lorne asked him to stay another half season because of the upcoming election, and Dana felt a loyalty to Lorne and the show to stay a little while longer just for that.
Well, they did a good job fading Dana out with very little fanfare, because as a teenage regular viewer at the time, I remember not really noticing that Dana had left, for perhaps a number of weeks. It took me a while to realize it. I think it was when the writing started going downhill in Season 19 that his absence became more obvious to me at the time.
My two encounters with Dana – and the hundreds of hours I’ve spent watching him on TV, as a fan – lead me to wonder if he himself felt it would be too much to have an official send-off. He seems like a genuinely nice, modest person, and maybe it was his decision. Though I would have loved to have seen them do something official.
What an odd cameo – Giorgio Armani! A nice reflection of the show’s white-hot status back then.
Julia in the yard-boy sketch reminds me that I always found her to be a little like Jan Hooks’ slightly awkward little sister. That’s a compliment (to both of them!).
The rest of this episode was excellent, too, and it’s pretty amazing that they bettered it the following week.
I did find it strange that Dana couldn’t have hung around one extra week to be on the show with one of his idols (and of whom Dana did a weirdly accurate impression). I hope he got to hang backstage, sit in the audience and just watch and enjoy.
The promo for the following week’s show referenced this week: Alec Baldwin says something like “man, I can’t believe I missed hosting last week with rock legend Mick Jagger. They’ll never top that!” And then McCartney pops into frame with a jokey “hello!” This era could not have been better.
Yeah, it’s a shame that Carvey didn’t hang around for the Baldwin/McCartney episode – when he guested on Pete Holmes’ podcast recently, Carvey said that he stayed at Lorne’s house in the Hamptons for an extended period prior to the beginning of Season 12, and developed a friendship with Paul during this time (Paul would often come over to Lorne’s house in the evenings around dinner time.)
Is that where he came up with the inspiration for his impression of Sir Paul?
Recently caught this episode on an NBC “SNL Vintage” showing. It wasn’t as funny as I remember it being back in the day, but I, too, was taken by the Magic Fish sketch, which I didn’t recall from back in the day. As usual, Mr. Hartman is genius in the sketch, and yes, that’s definitely Al Franken who wished for the big ol’ brain. One thing about this episode: I was reminded why Sir Mick’s solo career never quite caught fire. He was hilarious in the two sketches, though.
A little note on the BBC1 thing in the Tampon Sketch, the British term for those is “Idents”…yeah I watch a lot of shows about British TV Branding, I’m a nerd for that stuff, even before 2020, I’ve been into stuff like that since I was like 6. Thanks Klasky-Csupo for getting me into closing logos and station IDs/Idents. (Y’know that Splaat face they used to have after All Grown Up? Eh, maybe that was after y’all’s time.)
Also, it’s weird that they’re using the 1985 BBC One ident when by 1993, there had already been an Ident refresh, with their Virtual Globe introduced in 1991. Just sayin’. Yes I’m also a broadcasting student.
I see someone dressed as Cajun Man in that group shot of the Superbowl Halftime sketch.
Here’s my review of the musical performances.
Sweet Thing
— Pretty good funky rhythm guitar parts to start things off
— Jagger’s using that falsetto of his on the verses, similar to the Emotional Rescue era of the Stones
— The band is riding the groove pretty well here
— Mick switches to his gritty blues voice for the chorus.
— I like the coordinated bobbing and swaying the backing vocalists are doing.
— Yes! A sax solo! Rather brief but pretty good
— Oh nice, the sax soloing continues along with the rest of the song. Good stuff.
— Mick is providing a lot of energy here.
— Nice riffing by the organist to close the song out.
— Pretty fun performance here. Not the kind of thing the Stones would usually do, so a nice opportunity for Mick to branch out into a different feel.
STARS: ***1/2
Don’t Tear Me Up
— Nice organ to start the tune
— Some tasty licks by the rhythm guitar
— I like how this song is building intensity a bit as it goes along
— Still some great energy by Mick
— Very good guitar solo here. And a killer drum fill with the hi-hat (reminiscent of Green Earrings by Steely Dan) that I’m a sucker for.
— A delectable organ chord ends the song.
— Another strong performance all around. Mick really picked a great backing band for this show. Both of these performances really fit well with the upbeat vibe of this show.
STARS: ***1/2
Dana had come to the end of the road here it happens to all the cast members who stay too long, Phil stayed one season too long.