Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Coffee Talk- alone & farklempt Linda takes calls on Mother’s Day
— A few minutes into this and I haven’t really been getting any real laughs, which is business as usual for me when watching these Coffee Talk sketches.
— Okay, I did like Linda Richman’s line just now about calling a half-Episcopalian half-Jewish person a “pissy-jew”.
— This is the first Linda Richman-hosted Coffee Talk sketch to feature no guests.
STARS: *½
MONOLOGUE
during her week in NYC, host visited malls instead of unique attractions
— A fairly lazy and one-joke premise. Christina is at least coming off likable, though.
— I do like the ending with her pointing out how the studio has the shape of a mall.
STARS: **
NERF CROTCH BAT
Nerf bats & missiles are OK for use with crotch, the pure stuff is not
— A priceless concept that’s being pulled off hilariously.
— As a 90s kid, this brings back a lot of childhood memories of the real Nerf commercials from this era. This spoof is perfectly capturing the look and feel of those commercials.
STARS: ****½
FOCUS ON BEAUTY II
Cher (host) loves Lori Davis’ (CHF) no-alcohol spray
— For some reason, the VERY early 90s-sounding music used as the Focus On Beauty II theme cracks me up.
— I have no familiarity with Lori Davis, but Farley’s performance as her is fantastic. This is just the first of two well-known Chris Farley performances in tonight’s episode. I’m sure you can guess what the other one is.
— When the ladies are asked if they use hairspray, I liked Melanie’s “I use it… but I hate it.”
— The ladies’ constant failure to understand simple things they’re learning from Farley’s Lori Davis is really funny.
— There’s the memorable part with Farley’s Lori Davis running her hands through her hair in fake slow-motion.
— Hartman’s now stealing the sketch with his very funny stilted, uncomfortable delivery as the scientist.
— I love the disappointed “No” from Phil Hymes (SNL’s lighting designer) when asked if there’s any alcohol in the sample that was sprayed in his mouth.
STARS: ****
SAN LUIS OBISPO EXPERIMENTAL THEATER
The Backwards Romance- the events in (PHH)’s play are anti-chronological
— A big audio glitch at the beginning, which causes us to not hear anything until shortly after Phil has started speaking.
— The bizarre premise of a backwards play, with all the action and dialogue being done in backwards order, is right up my alley.
— Phil’s interjections with him eagerly explaining various aspects of the play are cracking me up. I love his gleeful over-enthusiasm.
— Hmm, the sudden non-backwards ending of the play didn’t really work for me, nor did Phil’s explanation for it. I wanted the backwards stuff to go on further and continue getting more and more bizarre.
— Pretty good bit at the end with the preview of an upside-down murder mystery play.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Truganini”
WEEKEND UPDATE
ADS plays guitar & sings “I Love You Momma,” KEN also tries a few verses
— The graphics for Kevin’s Christian Right joke got screwed up really badly, causing the joke to make no sense and die with the audience.
— Adam gives us yet another charmingly goofy Update guitar song with silly lyrics. This song isn’t as well-remembered nowadays as his preceding two Update songs (The Turkey Song and Red-Hooded Sweatshirt), but I’ve still always liked this a lot. And the “I love you, maaaaaamaaaa” chorus is very catchy.
— A blooper happens during one part of Adam’s song, where he stops mid-lyric because he’s having a hard time reading that lyric off the cue-cards. This blooper is coming off more charming than unprofessional, though I find it odd that Adam wouldn’t already know the lyrics of this song by heart considering he (presumably) composed it himself.
— As always, I love Kevin’s participation during Adam’s song, especially him imitating Adam’s high-pitched singing whenever he says words that end with “ama”.
STARS: ***½
THE GAP
Kristy & Lucy help orient a new employee (host) at The Gap
— It’s fitting that this recurring sketch is appearing in a Christina Applegate-hosted episode, especially given the theme of her monologue earlier tonight.
— Feels a little weird seeing Farley playing his second drag role tonight.
— I liked David’s “Don’t play God, alright?” line to Christina.
— Rob’s Donut Hut character always cracks me up.
— Loved the part with David’s recalling of a phone conversation delivered entirely in Spanish.
STARS: ***½
MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER
motivational speaker Matt Foley (CHF) warns two teens about using drugs
— Oh, here we go, folks…
— When it’s mentioned that the cleaning lady found a bag of pot, I loved Christina’s only response being “She didn’t smoke it, did she?”
— Immediately, mere seconds after his entrance as Matt Foley, Farley is already killing me.
— So many memorable lines from Matt Foley throughout this. I’m especially partial to “Well, la-di-FRICKIN-da!”
— Now comes the classic turn where David and Christina begin visibly cracking up helplessly, David in particular. This is definitely one of the best and most famous examples of breaking on SNL. Supposedly, there’s an interview Christina did shortly after Farley’s death where she talks about this sketch at one point when being asked about working with Farley, and she mentions that at rehearsals, Farley was more toned-down in his Matt Foley performance and didn’t perform the character quite as over-the-top and high-energy until the live show, which would explain why David and Christina keep losing their composure.
— Farley is amazing to watch throughout this sketch. He’s also throwing in so many priceless touches into his characterization. His arm movements when miming running while saying “How can we get back on the right track?!?” is something that particularly always kills me in this.
— I love Phil’s slowburn facial reactions to the things Matt Foley yells in his face throughout this.
— The part with Matt Foley crashing through a breakaway table actually wasn’t in the script, nor did Farley’s scene partners expect it. It was added to the sketch before the live show in an attempt to make Farley’s scene partners crack up. The reactions you see from them when Farley crashes through the table are 100% genuine. David’s reaction is interesting: he initially leans forward in concern while covering his mouth in shock, apparently thinking Farley truly did crash through a real table and hurt himself, and then David cracks up when realizing it was just a gag. Even the usually-professional Julia Sweeney breaks a bit. Of all the non-Farley performers, Phil is the ONLY one who doesn’t break during that part, proving once again how amazing that man is.
— Great ending with the family fearfully gathered together in a circle, concluding an absolutely legendary Chris Farley sketch that is probably tied with Chippendales as his most defining SNL moment.
— Part of the reason this sketch worked so well is that it wasn’t all that common at the time for Farley to scream his way through sketches (yet), and thus, him doing it in this sketch came off fresh and somewhat unexpected. I’ve always believed that the strong reception this sketch received is what would unfortunately lead to SNL’s upcoming gradual over-reliance on Screaming Chris Farley Sketches the following two seasons.
STARS: *****
YOU BET YOUR LIFE
Bill Cosby (ADS) babbles his way through the game show
— Oh my god at Adam’s Bill Cosby… uh… impression.
— This has always been one of my favorite Stupid Adam Sandler Sketches. So many things about his Bill Cosby impression make absolutely no sense, including the coherency of his dialogue, but it’s hilarious to me. Adam is fun here at puling off gibberish sentences and making them seem perfectly normal.
— You can tell Tim is genuinely amused by Adam throughout this, as he keeps visibly stifling his laughter, which is starting to become a theme tonight.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “My Country”
HANGIN’ WITH MTV
G-Spot members (TIM) & (CSR) sing “All I Wanna Do Is Suck Your Big Toe”
— I’m loving the melody to this Big Toe song.
— The comedic lyrics are hilarious and well-written. Rock especially has some funny ones, like the “suck on my Tic Tac” one, him mentioning how he doesn’t mind a corn on a toe because he loves the “extra meat”, and his whole “this little piggy” bit.
— Rock taking his shirt off when getting REALLY into the song is hilarious. My god, is he skinny.
— The pre-taped foot clips shown during the song are adding to the humor.
STARS: ****½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
CASTING AGENCY
an actress (host) gets some worrying warnings just before an audition
— I’m loving Kevin’s increasingly disturbing descriptions of the people who Christina will be auditioning for. This is the type of sketch that I always refer to as a quintessential Kevin Nealon sketch. He always excels at this kind of humor and dialogue.
— Great ending, and I loved the frozen stare on Christina’s face as Kevin is walking her into the audition room.
STARS: ****½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Despite a slow, unpromising start with the cold opening and monologue, this ended up being a very strong and memorable episode, with a legendary centerpiece (Matt Foley) and a high number of really solid sketches surrounding it. I’ve always felt this is an episode that well-defines SNL’s early 90s era, and I think there are other people who share that same viewpoint.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kirstie Alley)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 18 comes to an end, with host Kevin Kline. It’s also the end of the road for Chris Rock and occasional featured player Robert Smigel.