Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
after Dateline NBC anchors admit ethical lapses, Toonces drives them home
— Funny line from Julia’s Jane Pauley about Dateline being a cheap knock-off of 60 Minutes.
— I like how the NBC mishaps the anchors are apologizing for are getting more and more ridiculous.
— Reruns of this episode use the dress rehearsal version of this cold opening (you’ll see why later in my review of this opening). One big difference between the live and dress version is that the live version I’m currently watching doesn’t have the meta bit with Mike’s Stone Phillips apologizing for SNL’s crass comments about Chelsea Clinton in a recent Wayne’s World sketch (during that apology, Mike gets in a dig at himself by mentioning that the Wayne’s World sketch starred an overrated performer). SNL’s director apparently didn’t receive notes that that portion of this cold opening was removed after dress, because there’s one point where, after one of Julia-as-Jane-Pauley’s news items, the camera mistakenly cuts to a close-up of Mike’s Stone Phillips as if it’s his turn to tell the next news item, but he’s just sitting silently while an off-camera Julia is the one doing the next news item.
— Odd moment where, as the Dateline show is fading to black, Julia is heard mistakenly saying her “Well, that was pretty painless” line way too early, when she’s supposed to say it a minute later when she and Mike are shown in the car.
— Toonces! First time we’ve seen him since late last season. They’re clearly phasing him out by this point, as this is among his final stretch of appearances, each of which feature him only making a surprise appearance towards the end of an unrelated sketch.
— After the car crash, there’s a malfunction with the chroma-key screen behind the car, as it isn’t showing any scenery.
— I love the idea of Toonces meowing “Live from New York”, though even that had technical issues. The audio of Toonces meowing LFNY fails to play when the LFNY subtitle appears on the bottom of the screen, then the meowing starts playing too late right as the SNL theme music begins.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
host generously tips cast & crew to get special backstage treatment
— Fun monologue with Alec going around the studio thanking and bribing various crew and cast members for their efforts. I love how Alec is smoothly navigating through this monologue with total ease, showing how extremely comfortable he had become as a regular host by this point.
— Fantastic how during Lorne and Paul McCartney’s conversation, we get a clever reference to Lorne’s famous Beatle Offer sketch from the original era. The studio audience seemed to miss the reference because they were too busy going “Woo!” at the mere sight of Paul.
— When Alec returns to the home base stage, you can see a section of a football field laid out on the floor in front of the stage (you can also see it on the floor in the second above screencap for this monologue). This is leftover from the preceding episode’s SNL Halftime Spectacular sketch.
STARS: ****
THE CLUCKIN’ CHICKEN
Rerun from 11/21/92
THE MIMIC
(JUS) hires self-proclaimed master of 1000 voices (host)
— I like the 1960s aesthetic to this.
— Paul McCartney as a butler is actually a clever reference to the preceding week’s also-legendary and also-English-accented musical guest Mick Jagger playing a butler in a Prince Charles sketch. Unfortunately, this reference is lost on a lot of viewers nowadays, as the Prince Charles sketch has kinda faded into obscurity over the years (partly because it was cut from Comedy Central’s old 60-minute version, and partly because I don’t think it’s available online) while this Mimic sketch is very well-known and fondly remembered by SNL fans.
— Great opening title sequence.
— This sketch is an excellent display of Alec’s comedic talents. His horrible, cartoonish-sounding imitations of Julia’s character and her husband are hilarious.
— I love how Alec is now doing bad imitations of miscellaneous sounds, such as bird-squawking and pier noises.
— Funny turn with Alec revealing it was him who made the phone call to Julia recommending him to her.
— Classic ending with Alec telling the butler in a McCartney-esque voice “But, Jamison, you can’t throw yourself out, I’m you!”
STARS: *****
THE CHRIS FARLEY SHOW
CHF asks musical guest some dumb questions
— Here comes a legendary Chris Farley classic that would go on to be among his most defining SNL moments.
— Farley’s usual routine of “You remembeeerrrrr when…”s, pulling his hair in anger after making a faux pas, and asking the guest off-topic questions are coming off particularly charming in this installment.
— I love Paul actually having to clarify to Farley that the “Paul is dead” thing was a hoax and that “I didn’t really die”.
— Wonderful part with an excited Farley silently mouthing what appears to be “Awesome! Fuckin’ A, man! Fuckin’ A!” to the camera, in response to Paul’s answer to the question about the “The love you take is equal to the love you make” lyric.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Get Out Of My Way”
WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN gives a subliminal editorial about early days of Bill Clinton’s term
ADS sings an ode to his “Red Hooded Sweatshirt”; Linda McCartney cameo
— Kevin’s subliminal editorial contains the usual good laughs, especially the subliminal lines about J. Edgar Hoover being an example of a strong woman in the White House, and Hee-Haw being the right forum for Bill Clinton.
— WTF? Why did a picture of George Burns randomly show up on the news screen briefly during Kevin’s news item about a Dallas Cowboys parade? That gaffe caused the Cowboys parade joke to completely bomb with the audience.
— Oh, NOW I see why a George Burns picture mistakenly showed up, as the aforementioned Cowboys parade joke was followed by a mention of George Burns’ birthday.
— Adam’s guitar songs officially become a recurring Update segment.
— Nice topic for Adam’s guitar song tonight. Much like his preceding Turkey Song from earlier this season, the lyrics here are very fun and charmingly goofy, though I appreciate how this one is actually telling a coherent story and isn’t just a collection of random, non-sequitur lyrics.
— The obligatory participation from Kevin during Adam’s song is particularly great here, with the intermittent close-ups of Kevin looking into the camera to say some of the brief lyrics (e.g. “dip dip dip”, “sham-a-lam-a-ding-dong”).
— And now, the “audience” participation is making this song even more fun, especially with Paul and Linda McCartney’s involvement.
— Between these guitar songs of his and his smash-hit Operaman commentaries, Adam has recently become Weekend Update gold.
— An interesting tidbit about the Red-Hooded Sweatshirt song: it was originally going to be performed in the Harvey Keitel episode from earlier this season, where instead of being a Weekend Update commentary, it was going to be a standalone sketch in which Adam performs the song on, I’m assuming, the home base stage. That version of the song also obviously didn’t feature participation from Paul and Linda McCartney. Also in that version of the song, Adam set it up by saying he feels bad that the preceding week’s episode (Danny DeVito) used the word “ass” about a dozen times, so he wants to sing about something nice: his red-hooded sweatshirt.
— I loved the audience’s “Ohh!” response to Kevin’s “And now, for the lighter side of the news” one-liner when a picture of Michael Jackson shows up on the news screen.
— Very nice touch at the end of this Update, with Kevin working “dip dip dip” into his usual “I’m Kevin Nealon, and that’s news to me” sign-off.
STARS: ****
FRANCAIS
French teacher (host) makes sure students’ inflection matches his
— A lot of laughs so far from each student eventually catching on that Alec wants them to say their French phrases in the same goofy, gleeful inflection that he’s using. Farley’s attempt at the inflection is particularly priceless.
— Adam’s very Adam Sandler-esque over-the-top gibberish when repeating Alec’s French phrase was hilarious.
— Surprisingly, this is Phil’s first appearance all night (not counting the Cluckin’ Chicken repeat), and it’s just a small role at the tail end of this sketch.
— Very funny ending with Alec getting the crap beat out of him when trying to correct real Frenchmen’s language.
STARS: ****½
SOAP OPERA DIGEST
TV doctor (host) mispronounces medical terms
— Funny mock-dramatic entrance from Phil, who has a great soap opera-esque look in this. I think that’s the same wig he wore in another memorable soap opera parody, All My Luggage from two seasons earlier.
— By the way, this ends up being Phil’s final appearance tonight. An episode with Phil only having two measly walk-on roles, both being in sketches buried after Weekend Update, is unheard of (at least until the upcoming season 19, where we’ll sadly see Phil often pushed to the side), especially considering how particularly heavily he dominated the preceding week’s episode, appearing in almost every single sketch in a lead role. Maybe SNL felt he needed a breather after that? He was in several cut dress rehearsal sketches from this episode, one of them having him in a lead role that will later be recast with host Bill Murray in the following week’s episode (I’ll reveal which sketch that is when I review that episode).
— Alec’s hot streak tonight continues, as we get another all-time memorable performance from him here. His various medical mispronunciations are great. I especially love the “ay-nal cay-nal” (anal canal) one. The premise itself isn’t particularly amazing, but Alec is absolutely perfect for this material and this is a quintessential example of how his dry, serious delivery can make certain dialogue hilarious.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Biker Like An Icon”
THE GAP
Gap employees Kristy & Lucy both think (host) is their guy
— This sketch officially becomes recurring.
— I like how there’s nice continuity, with Mike’s character referencing his appearance in the preceding Gap Girls sketch, as he makes a passing mention of the baggy outfit the Gap Girls convinced him to buy in that sketch.
— Adam and David’s catty comments early on in this sketch are cracking me up.
— Tim’s character makes a passing mention of Tater Junction, which is where a future Gap Girls sketch takes place in (the famous one with Farley’s “Lay off me, I’m starving!” moment).
— The fast-paced back-and-forths between Alec and Adam during their conversation are really well-delivered and entertaining.
— Farley’s Gap Girl character makes her debut here.
— Rob’s Donut Hut character is very funny, especially the bitchy looks she constantly gives the other girls.
— Overall, an improvement over the first Gap Girls installment.
STARS: ***½
NAKED WOMAN THEATRE
(host) responds to complaints the show has received
— Alec’s dignified delivery while defending the show’s random use of naked women is fairly funny, but this sketch is nothing particularly great, especially compared to most of what preceded it tonight.
— I absolutely love the way this ended, with Alec’s host character seguing into the following Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley sketch by saying viewers in other parts of the country will see that instead of the Naked Woman Theatre play that’s about to take place. Feels like a nice throwback to times when the original SNL era would segue from one sketch to another in this manner.
STARS: **½
DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart deconstructs some Valentine’s Day cards
— It’s nice to see more and more of a glimpse into Stuart’s personal life, as he now mentions recently getting out of a toxic relationship with someone named Dale.
— I’m getting some good laughs from Stuart deconstructing Valentine cards and relating them to issues like co-dependency.
— The ending was actually sweet and heartwarming, with Stuart detailing how he’s going to send himself a bouquet of roses with a sentimental note to show himself some much-needed appreciation.
STARS: ***½
THE BODYGUARD: THE SERIES
David Hasselhoff (host) & Patti LaBelle (ELC) in The Bodyguard TV series
— Funny concept of a David Hasselhoff/Patti LaBelle-starring Bodyguard TV series.
— Eh, I’m not caring too much for how the Alec/Ellen scenes are turning out.
— The testimonial quote from Jay Leno is priceless (the third above screencap for this sketch), and serves as a reminder that the infamous late night war between Leno and David Letterman was taking place around this time. Funny thing is, the Leno jokes in this sketch still remained relevant decades later during the 2010 late night war between Leno and Conan O’Brien, which is when I first saw this sketch.
— I like how the ending of this went further with the Leno bit, with Kevin popping in as him and smugly bragging “I got to stay!”
— According to GettyImages, Mike Myers had a part cut after the dress rehearsal version of this sketch where he plays an assailant shooting Alec’s Hasselfhoff (pic here).
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hey Jude”
— Funny to think that while this absolutely legendary performance is going on, Al Franken is somewhere in the studio stealing jeans from the Gap Girls set, as he would later disclose in the “Live from New York” book.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A phenomenal episode, and one of the best and most memorable of this early 90s era. So many things to rave about in tonight’s episode: there were lots of classic moments all throughout, there was a long streak of sketches receiving a four or five-star rating from me until we got towards the end of the show, and the overall episode had a very fun and charming vibe. To say nothing of what Paul McCartney’s mere presence brought to the show. While a lot of hosts would get overshadowed by such a heavy dosage of McCartney throughout an episode (Paul Rudd knows what that’s like), we thankfully had Alec Baldwin as tonight’s host. Alec, who had already proven himself twice as a fantastic host before tonight, gave what I personally feel is his strongest hosting performance of all time in this episode, enhancing every single sketch he was in with masterful performances and having some of the most memorable roles of his SNL hosting stints.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Luke Perry)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Bill Murray
Phil is pretty light here, but I think that’s fine. Baldwin presumably got some roles Phil might have gotten otherwise, and the funniness of the episode clearly indicates the other cast members (and guests) did just fine. I’m more frustrated in weeks in which cast members are sidelined in favor of hackneyed crap.
There’s something very moving about seeing Linda McCartney, still so full of life, singing along with Adam Sandler. And seeing Chris Farley doing the “we’re not worthy” for Paul, knowing Chris and Linda would pass away only a few months apart.
Given that Leno was on the show not all that long before these episodes, it’s interesting to see how many shots they were willing to take at him.
Other than the monologue, which minus the wonderful bit with Paul and Lorne just gives me the Baldwin smarm vibes of later years, the only real weak spot for me is the cold open, which has that dead, uncertain feeling on the way in the next few seasons. On paper the whole thing must have been a blast, but the execution…not so much.
Was the WU intro having snow a snafu, or was there a blizzard in NYC at the time?
I thought Baldwin’s best performances were in the Naked Woman Theatre intro (what could have been a lazy or overextended number felt fresh and funny throughout) and the soap opera sketch (if he hadn’t committed to getting the pronunciations wrong so many times, it wouldn’t have worked). I agree this was his best hosting performance. It almost felt like another performer entirely at times.
(and Baldwin started out on a soap called The Doctors so I took that last sketch as a homage, whether it was meant to be or not)
I was trying to remember if Dale’s gender is ever mentioned in the Stuart sketch. I felt like they tried to blur lines a bit with Stuart, as with Pat, although he was pretty obviously gay.
Wasn’t “The Mimic” a Christine Zander piece?
Yes, along with David Mandel and Al Franken
The title sequence appears to be a parody of I Spy, whose star, like Alec, is rather problematic these days.
Kind of like Springsteen in the season before, I feel like Paul hadn’t done much high-profile TV in a long time. His appearance on “The Tonight Show” in 1984 and MTV Unplugged (1991) were the two most prominent since the ‘70s. I remember watching this live and thinking it was a really big deal.
Did anyone notice Linda said “sham-a-lama-LING-dong,” not “ding-dong?” She was adorable.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen this edition of Daily Affirmations, but I recall wondering if Dale was a man or a woman, as opposed to assuming. Some other commenters have mentioned this, too; likely they wanted to keep things ambiguous.
I seem to recall some kind of big snowstorm during the week this aired; that’s probably why they picked a snow globe effect.
I love all the digs at Leno. His appearance via satellite from the LA riots smacked of the kind of cheap stunt that Don Ohlmeyer and his cronies would insist on to make it look like Leno was part of the “NBC family.” Gross. I’m glad SNL was relatively merciless. I always liked the endless “woooooos” in the Bodyguard sketch; it’s the repetition that makes it.
I posted this on the Luke Perry review, but it bears repeating… the promo for this week’s show had Alec saying 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!” I wonder how Mick felt about that? Doesn’t seem to have affected his approximately-every-7-years rotation on SNL.
Yeah McCartney very rarely did any tv appearances around this time so this was quite special. I think he did an interview with Costas in maybe 89/90 on “Later”. So this was his first appearance on the show in 13 years I believe unless I missing an obvious one.
This season really is incredible!
To me, the show started to go downhill in 1990.
A slow decline may have already gone on for a couple years, but for me Season 19 is when the show is obviously starting to falter.
Tim Meadows mentioned in his Reddit AMA that he wrote “Soap Opera Digest.”
Tangentially related to the episode, but when I wrote a review of SNL’s The Best of Alec Baldwin DVD for Blogcritics in 2006, I used “it might be benig, it might be mal-ig-nant” from Soap Opera Digest as the subhead for the review.
The subhead as published read “it might be benign” – a minor thing, but it upset me at the time. Given the mispronunciations present in the sketch, it destroyed the point of using that line for the subhead. I don’t think the review’s online anymore, which is just as well as the review was poor anyway.
Any lead on where a version of the episode with The Mimic can be found?
A little over 2 minutes of promo:
youtube.com/watch?v=YcHVzKZ7V9g
Here’s my review of the musical performances:
Get Out of My Way
— Nice down home rock n’ roll vibe to this song. Great job by Paul on the bass while he’s singing.
— Both guitarists are doing an excellent job here.
— LOL at Linda blowing the train whistle randomly. So bittersweet to see her here, she has such a carefree presence onstage.
— Fun tune that really rocks. Good choice for a lead off song for Sir Paul
STARS: ****
Biker Like an Icon
— Paul switches to acoustic guitar for a slightly more laid back number.
— Tasty slide guitar work on this one. Nice touch.
— Very McCartneyesque lyrics to this one. Reminiscent of Get Back.
STARS: ***1/2
Hey Jude
— Uhhh, yeah there’s not much I can say that’s going to do this performance justice. Magnificent SNL moment, and always great to see classic songs like this performed on SNL — as long as they are done well, which this one most certainly is.
STARS: *****
I’m a big McCartney fan but I’ve always had healthy disdain for Biker Like an Icon. Music isn’t particularly catchy and the lyrics seem to be meaningless and go nowhere; even the title of the song gets on my nerves…
I laughed so hard when Alec handed multimillionaire Paul McCartney several one dollar bills.
The audience sure seemed to get a kick out of the infamous Melanie Hutsell Face in the soap opera sketch. No offense to Hutsell, whom I actually like very much as a player.
It’s oddly fitting that they re-aired the Cluckin’ Chicken commercial in an episode where both the host and musical guest are dedicated vegetarians and animal rights advocates.