Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
androgynous Pat sings “The Crying Game” for host & Stephen Rea [real]
— Yet another fantastic, creative usage of Pat. This Crying Game setting is particularly fitting for this character.
— I like Miranda Richardson’s various reaction shots during the song.
— This ends up being the final full-fledged Pat sketch (not counting Pat’s future appearances in recurring character group pieces like So Long Farewell from Phil’s final episode, or Recurring Characters For Unity from a little later this season), despite the fact that there’s still a little more than a year left in Julia’s SNL tenure. I recall once reading an interview with Julia years ago in which she explained that when she signed on to do a Pat movie somewhere around this time in early 1993, she didn’t get Lorne’s permission first. Lorne was not happy when he soon found out, and as a “penalty”, he forbid Julia from doing any more Pat sketches on SNL. In retrospect, that’s probably a good thing, as it caused Pat to bow out while the character was still funny, instead of eventually fizzling out like several popular recurring characters tend to do towards the end of their run.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host sings like Marilyn Monroe & tries to ingratiate herself with USA
— Great performance from Miranda during her musical number so far, with a lot of funny little comedic touches from her.
— I love how this is now starting to really get fun as the musical number really kicks into high gear and has Miranda doing a wild range of different things, featuring participation from male cast members.
STARS: ****
GREEN & FAZIO (PART 1)
Rerun from 10/10/92
THE RAIN PEOPLE
actor (PHH) frustrates (host)’s attempts to complete an emotional scene
— Very funny characterization from Phil here.
— Phil’s various ways of screwing up the scene are increasingly funny. I also love the growing-but-understated frustrations from Mike and Miranda.
— Phil’s adding so many funny dopey little touches to his characterization, such as him sitting in an eager listening posture when Miranda’s about to disclose to him a traumatic childhood memory of hers.
— Miranda’s over-the-top hysterical crying during the final, successful take of the movie scene is cracking me up.
— Hilarious turn with Phil stealing Miranda’s traumatic childhood memory during his Oscar acceptance speech, resulting in an outraged Miranda.
— An overall excellent sketch. Very funny, well-structured, perfectly performed, and stands out as some of Phil’s greatest SNL work.
STARS: *****
BAD NEWS
after WWII soldier (MIM) recovers, nurse (host) gives string of bad news
— I’m getting so many laughs from the bad news Miranda breaks to Mike in response to every positive thing Mike brings up.
— Priceless entrance from Rob as a three-legged Hitler.
— The frying pan bit at the end was great.
— An overall fantastic and strongly-written sketch with wonderfully bizarre British-style humor. This felt unusual and refreshing to see on SNL. Miranda herself must’ve had a hand in writing this, knowing her background in British comedy.
STARS: ****½
GREEN & FAZIO (PART 2)
Rerun from 10/10/92
EAGER & JONES
heterosexuals Eager (CHF) & Jones (TIM) sing duets as if they were gay
— As I mentioned recently, this sketch was originally cut after dress rehearsal from the Harvey Keitel episode.
— Amusing concept, and the songs and performances from Farley and Tim are a lot of fun.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Somebody to Shove”
WEEKEND UPDATE
KEN gives a subliminal editorial about David Koresh & Branch Davidians
Hanna-Barbera paid ROS to discuss the educational merits of cartoons
— Kevin’s subliminal editorial on David Koresh was okay, though no subliminal lines stood out to me as particularly noteworthy here.
— A great blooper just now during Rob’s commentary: Rob says a line regarding tomato juice that makes no sense, then he makes a face showing that he’s aware something was wrong with the line he just read, then he saves himself with a great “That’s what it said” ad-lib, referring to the cue-card. Rob then gets Kevin involved in the ad-libbing by asking him to back him up. All of this gets a huge audience reaction.
— Rob’s whole cartoon commentary is a lot of fun.
— Rob claiming Elmer Fudd originated the Ride of the Valkyries tune reminds me of that Jeremy Irons “Looney Tunes Classics” sketch from two seasons earlier.
— Ellen had a commentary cut after dress rehearsal in which she played the president of the Eddie Murphy Fan Club being saddened by Eddie’s recent wedding, eventually launching into a song she wrote called “Eddie My Love”.
STARS: ***
MTV SPRING BREAK U.K. ’93
VJs get roughed up by British hooligans
— Adam is very funny in his imitation of the insufferable Pauly Shore.
— David’s Denis Leary is making me laugh.
— One of the various times throughout this sketch that the British hooligans knock Adam’s Pauly Shore to the ground and pile on top of him, Adam seems to forget that he’s supposed to say something to the camera, as the camera holds on a lengthy close-up of him exiting the pile while oddly not saying anything or even acknowledging the camera, resulting in long awkward silence until the camera cuts back to Mike’s Prince Andrew.
— An odd coincidence about Duran Duran being impersonated in this sketch is that Duran Duran was the musical guest on SNL that exact same Saturday exactly 10 years earlier (March 19, 1983).
STARS: ***½
RUSSELL SIMMONS’ DEF MAGIC SHOW JAM
foul-mouthed illusionists
— Hilarious concept right out of the gate.
— A dead-on parody of Def Jam Comedy.
— The overall sketch was short and sweet.
— When Rock later hosts in season 22, they do another Def Jam Comedy parody that’s a spiritual successor to this sketch, titled Russell Simmons’ Def Emergency Room Jam.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Black Gold”
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
DIETER’S DREAM
whorenun (host), shemale Susan, Marv Albert [real] inhabit Dieter’s Dream
— When Dieter is first shown in the studio audience at the beginning of this, you can hear a female audience member excitedly say “Oh, [inaudible] Sprockets!” when recognizing Dieter.
— A very creative different usage of Dieter. This dream format is a lot of fun.
— Ha, a random Marv Albert cameo!
— I love how this film is turning the weirdness of the already-weird Sprockets sketches up to a full 11.
— Susan the Shemale: “I want to poke out your eyes and make love to your skull.”
— The Electric Company-esque “whorenun” bit is absolutely priceless.
— I love the twist on the usual “touch my monkey” bit.
— Overall, I could not have loved this film more. This has got to be my absolute favorite Dieter appearance ever.
STARS: *****
JACK MCMANUS BAR
spineless pub owner (CHF) remembers celebrities taking advantage of him
— I’m not caring much for the repeated joke of Farley’s celebrity encounter stories always ending with him cowardly backing down on his bossy treatment of the celebrities.
— I am liking the way Farley is carrying this. His fun performance is making this weak material a little more tolerable for me.
STARS: **½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fantastic episode; one of the strongest of this great season. Aside from the last sketch, there was a consistent high quality throughout the night, we got a lot of standout great sketches, and nothing besides Weekend Update got below a three-and-a-half star rating. Miranda Richardson was a very strong and skilled host who blended perfectly into SNL’s format, which is no surprise given her aforementioned comedy background. U.K.-born hosts like her who are mostly known for doing serious roles but have any kind of comedy background usually always make for strong SNL hosts.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a fairly big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Jason Alexander
Sandler was never known for impressions but his Pauly Shore killed me here.
Great episode with Miranda fitting right in
Who is David Spade playing in The Rain People sketch–is that his Michael J. Fox again?
Yes, David’s playing Michael J. Fox. It was never stated in the sketch who he and Ellen are playing, but you can tell who they’re playing when you’re watching the sketch, especially since David and Ellen did those impressions on the show before.
Is it me or did Miranda remind anyone else of Christine Ebersole in the monologue and especially in the hospital sketch?
This is a very strong episode – even the bits I could have done without, like the McManus’ Bar sketch, were exceptionally well-performed. Only the not-gay singers sketch truly felt overlong to me because there was nothing to sustain the same beat being played over and over.
Miranda Richardson is an absolutely fantastic host. This could have started a trend of British comediennes-turned-dramatic actresses hosting, as they tried to get Emma Thompson for fall 1993. She had to drop out. Anyway, Miranda’s work just shows how much the show is lifted in this era when funny women are given a chance. The monologue was a real blast too, and it feels like it sort of tells us who the main men were for the show at this point (Hartman/Myers/Schneider/Sandler). I wonder if she was supposed to look like her Dance With a Stranger character. Anyway, I love when we get these usually one-time hosts from serious acting worlds who pop in and blow everyone away.
I was sure for a minute that Jay Mohr was one of the Duran Duran members. Speaking of that sketch, certain cast members’ terrible attempts at British accents are hilarious – and so is Phil Hartman as Dame Edna. Priceless.
I’m glad this was the last Pat sketch. They’d done all they could with the character, and even this one could have easily been slightly trimmed a bit.
This episode is also one of the best of the season for cast use – other than Melanie, everyone gets something memorable to do.
I wonder if there’s a reason why the movie in the (brilliant) Fobody’s Nault sketch is called The Rain People, which was an early Coppola film. Was it an in-joke?
Glad you enjoyed “Dieter’s Dream” as much as I did. I love Marv Albert attempting to speak German and ending with Yes!, and the “Carr-i-booo.” So much great weirdness. Does anyone know what Marv was saying in German?
Here’s the promo for this episode.
You mentioned that nothing got below a 3.5, but the bar sketch with Farley has a 2.5, unless I read that wrong? Not to be picky; this episode is fantastic all around, as you said.
@William Sisskind, the full statement from my review that you’re referring to says “Aside from the last sketch, there was a consistent high quality throughout the night, we got a lot of standout great sketches, and nothing besides Weekend Update got below a three-and-a-half star rating.” All the stuff I said in that sentence after “Aside from the last sketch” was with the EXCEPTION of the last sketch, which is why I said nothing got below a three-and-a-half star rating. I now realize that the way I worded it in the review comes off confusing. Sorry about that.
The Ryan Fletcher sketch needs more recognition; it truly is one of Phil Hartman’s most underrated SNL work
Julia did personal appearances as Pat while she was on SNL. Here is what she said about them in an interview, and one of them on YouTube from March 27, 1992.
“Then I met this friend who asked if I’d do appearances as Pat, so I came to Chicago and I did the St. Patrick’s Day parade—and made a lot of money, too! Then I started being Pat and he would pitch me to mall openings.”
I watched this one when it aired live back in the day and for, lo, these past thirty years, “Don’t you understand? It’s fobody’s nault!” has lived rent free among my mind grapes ever since. Phil Hartman: there’s no one better.
The Rain People is so, so perfect. My username is from that sketch. Criminal it’s not on Phil’s Best Of. This whole episode is near perfect.
Watching this one now. The Spring Break sketch is fucking hysterical. Phil as Dame Edna is an absolutely priceless visual.