Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Operaman comes within one number of hitting the lottery jackpot
— HUGE extended applause (albeit delayed) after Phil mentions the name Operaman. I love how after the applause died down, Phil just says “Indeed!”
— A great change of pace to see Operaman outside of Update. This is a very creative use of him.
— This is a fun bit that’s giving me really good laughs, especially Operaman’s “no more masterbato” promise to God if he wins the lottery.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
videotape of host’s recent wedding shows there was plenty of fighting
— Odd how both monologues so far this season have relied heavily on a pre-taped video package.
— New SNL writer and soon-to-be-added-to-the-cast Norm Macdonald makes his onscreen SNL debut here, playing a caterer arguing with Shannen. It’s just a straight role, but he even manages to make his repeated line “The deal… was cash!” funny with his delivery.
— A lot of big laughs throughout this wedding video. I especially like Shannen and the reverend’s shoving match and the random exploding car stock footage (the latter of which was previously used in Linda Hamilton’s season 17 monologue and will later be used at the end of a notoriously bad season 20 sketch called Sparklebright Toothpaste).
STARS: ****
CRYSTAL GRAVY
the latest in the clear food craze is a transparent sauce
— I love the reveal of Crystal Gravy after such a serious beginning. This is an absolutely priceless subject matter for a fake ad.
— Every single aspect of this is an eerily spot-on, detailed, and well-done parody of the real Crystal Pepsi commercial from this time.
— The shot of Kevin splashing his face with the Crystal Gravy is especially giving me a good laugh.
— Overall, one of the most memorable fake ads from this era.
STARS: *****
THE REAL WORLD
diverse young adults are sensitive to perceived prejudice
— I get what the opening Jim Downey-read disclaimer (the first two above screencaps for this sketch) is going for, comically overemphasizing the show’s genuine reality, but it’s going on way too long.
— I love the opening intros, where after each roommate mentions what type of people they hate, the next roommate shown is the exact type of person who was just mentioned. The bit with Rob as an Eskimo is especially funny.
— Pretty lousy English accent from Tim.
— Boy, Adam’s constant, repetitive, exaggerated yells of “Shaddap, you (insert words here)!” are kinda annoying me. In all of my previous viewings of this sketch, I had always found those lines from Adam hilarious, but watching it now, not only do I find it unfunny and repetitive, but I see it as an early sign of a lot of bad and obnoxious things to come from the Farley/Sandler/Spade group both this and next season.
— The sketch as a whole was okay and was an accurate Real World parody, but I’m not quite as big on this anymore as I used to be.
STARS: ***
THE DENISE SHOW
jilted Brian (ADS) is obsessed with ex-girlfriend (host)
— Lots of Adam Sandler tonight.
— I really like the format of this sketch, and Adam is solid as this obsessed, heartbroken character.
— All the various little segments within this show (e.g. “The part of the show where I call Denise and hang up on her”) are really funny, as is Adam always ending them with an “Okay, that was great.”
— I love Phil as the voice of Adam’s dad screaming at him over the phone.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Insane In The Brain”
WEEKEND UPDATE
ROS narrates some wacky sports bloopers that are actually quite mundane
Ike Turner (TIM) hits KEN with a cake, then tries to make up with him
— After his “I’m Kevin Nealon” sign-on, Kevin just bizarrely pauses while staring at the camera for a long time, to complete silence from the audience, then he finally moves on. Ugh. This unfortunately ends up becoming a thing he often does at the beginning of his Updates this season, and I’ve always hated it.
— Boy, that “Jury retires in Denny beating case” bit from Kevin was just plain stupid, not helped by his bad delivery of it.
— Rob’s sports “bloopers” bit is a fairly cheap premise, but Rob is making it fun with his amusing and dead-on imitation of a cheesy announcer’s voice.
— At the end of Rob’s commentary, I love Kevin’s exaggerated amusement at the sports “bloopers”.
— After a rough start early on this Update, Kevin’s jokes have thankfully gotten better.
— The debut of Tim’s Ike Turner, which we’ll be seeing A LOT this season. It is nice, though, to see the underused Tim Meadows being given a showcase.
— Tim-as-Ike-Turner’s love/hate behavior towards Kevin is giving me some laughs, and I’m really enjoying the way Tim and Kevin are playing off of each other here.
— I like how after the Ike Turner commentary ends, Kevin delivers the remainder of his Update jokes with cake still around his mouth and shoulder, from when Tim’s Ike hit him with the cake earlier.
STARS: ***
IS IT DATE RAPE?
(host) & (CHF) use Antioch College guidelines to decide
— I’m getting an unintentional big laugh from the opening theme music used for this sketch, because it’s the same music that would later memorably be used for Will Forte’s classic Dancing Coach sketch with Peyton Manning.
— Uh, wow. What a premise for a sketch.
— Spot-on casting of Chris as a rowdy fratboy, a role he was born to play.
— I’m very impressed by the part with Phil rapidly explaining the very lengthy gameshow rules in almost one breath without missing a single beat. Absolutely perfect, fast-paced, flawless delivery.
— A pretty good laugh from Shannen’s stern “Take your hands off me” to Phil during the “meet the contestants” segment.
— Despite the dodgy premise, I feel this sketch is being executed okay enough. However, sketches like this and the preceding episode’s What’s That show how downhill SNL’s gameshow sketches are going this season compared to earlier this era when gameshow sketches almost always ended up being a very memorable hit.
STARS: ***
THE RELAPSE GUY
Relapse Guy (CHF) says he’s changed, but he’s still unreliable
— Hoo, boy, speaking of sketches with dodgy premises…
— This sketch, based on Chris’ real-life addiction battles and constant rehab stints, is considered by a lot of SNL fans to be too uncomfortable to enjoy after Chris’ death from a drug overdose. Heading into tonight’s episode, I was conflicted on how I should handle reviewing this sketch, and ultimately, I decided to take the same approach I used when reviewing the Gun Safety sketch from a Fred Savage-hosted season 15 episode (a sketch that a lot of SNL fans find uncomfortable to watch after Phil Hartman’s tragic death, considering most of the sketch features him having a gun pointed at him), and that approach is to just watch this in the same innocent mindset that SNL viewers at the time would’ve when this sketch originally aired. I feel that’s the most fair thing I can do.
— Is the name of the rehabilitation center, Verdant Meadows, an inside reference to Tim Meadows? He does play the center’s counselor.
— I’m enjoying the running gag involving Mike’s healing arm.
— Seems kinda late in the sketch to be showing its opening title sequence, but I suppose it was necessary to have such long pre-credits scenes to set up the premise. I like how this opening title sequence is in the traditional style of some other sketches from the late 80s/early 90s era.
— Phil is very funny as the dad, especially his line about how he hasn’t liked his son for about “15, 20 years now”.
— The increasingly exaggerated “I love you!” reconciliation hugs between Phil and Chris are cracking me up.
— As I’ve mentioned a few times recently, I enjoy sketches that involve constant scene changes and set changes, and this sketch has PLENTY of that.
— The operation room scene is hilarious, with Chris trying to pass off a calves’ liver from the supermarket as the human liver he’s supposed to deliver to the surgeons, and then him suddenly falling and crashing over the breakaway operating table (which was funny because of the way it was executed).
— Okay, the running punchline of Chris falling through a breakaway prop at the end of every scene is now starting to get kinda old to me, and serves as an unfortunate reminder that the days of SNL’s bad overreliance on Chris screaming and falling down in a majority of sketches is approaching. (As I mentioned recently, I blame the first Matt Foley sketch on that. While an undisputed classic, that Matt Foley debut eventually created a monster when it comes to SNL having Chris constantly play screaming characters who fall through breakaway props.)
STARS: ***
DRESSING ROOM
hairdresser Noah (MIM) & wardrober Frans (TIM) give host advice backstage
— This feels like it’s attempting to be this era’s version of Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo’s hairstylist characters, Dion and Blaire, from 10 years earlier. Problem is, this sketch is lacking the strength and great chemistry those Dion/Blaire sketches had. If SNL is setting this sketch up to become recurring, it doesn’t work, as we end up never seeing these characters from Tim and Mike ever again.
— I am liking the fact that the underused Tim Meadows has been getting more and more chances lately, though.
— I got some good laughs just now from Mike’s odd detailing of the chocolates he eats when he’s feeling blue.
— Why is stage manager Joe Dicso telling Shannen to get ready for introducing Cypress Hill’s second musical performance? After this sketch, there’s another sketch Shannen appears in before Cypress Hill’s performance. And this is the live version I’m watching of this episode. Reruns of this episode wildly scramble the running order of the second half of the show, where this sketch airs AFTER Cypress Hill’s second number, which causes Joe Dicso’s line to make even less sense.
STARS: **
SALEM BITCH TRIALS
early-American lynch mob wants to find (host) guilty at Salem Bitch Trial
— The bitchcraft reveal was worth a good laugh.
— Wait, Mike’s supposed to be playing a woman? Why???
— Kevin looks kinda cool and bad-ass in that wig and facial hair.
— I’ve never been able to look at this sketch quite the same way after reading a criticism from someone on the SNL newsgroup (alt.tv.snl) years ago about how he tried to enjoy this sketch, mostly because it features the great Phil Hartman in his final season, but couldn’t get past the fact that Chris and Adam’s performances in this are “so awful”. The newsgroup member who wrote that was someone who admittedly generally HATED the Farley/Sandler/Spade group, and he was kinda using this sketch as an example of how the unprofessionalism, hamminess, crassness, and lack of range of the Farley/Sandler/Spade group was such a downgrade from what the Hartman/Nealon/Carvey/Hooks/Dunn/Lovitz/etc. group was doing just a few years before. He certainly has a point there (I’ve been mostly positive towards the Farley/Sandler/Spade group so far in this SNL project, but that’s because I hadn’t gotten to the truly troubled part of their tenure yet; I’m of the popular opinion that THIS is the season where that group slowly started hurting the show, and then by season 20, they had gotten so bad that I find their shtick mostly UNWATCHABLE), and he’s definitely not wrong about Chris and Adam hamming it up in this sketch (David’s more low-key here, though), but I’d be lying if I said Adam’s bizarre-voiced “I guess everybody likes ye!” rant in this sketch doesn’t crack me up every time I watch this, even if his characterization feels very out-of-place for the tone of this sketch. (Besides, I personally feel that Adam’s performance in tonight’s Real World sketch is a better example of how the Farley/Sandler/Spade group could tend to be detrimental to the show.)
— I like how after Shannen’s speech defending her own bitchiness, Phil’s lengthy, calm, professional response ended with an unexpectedly stern “…if they hadn’t been delivered in such a bitchy manner!”
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That”
A MESSAGE FROM MICHAEL EISNER
Michael Eisner (PHH) assures tourists they’ll be safe in northern Florida
— This sketch was cut from the preceding week’s season premiere.
— The voice Phil uses as Michael Eisner is always pretty funny.
— Phil’s Eisner now translating his speech into German is making me laugh.
— I’ve never been all that crazy about these “message from Michael Eisner” pieces (which we’ll be seeing quite a bit this season), but I actually found this particular one okay overall.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. It started very strongly with the cold opening, monologue, and Crystal Gravy ad, but then the quality cooled down, where most of the rest of the show was just in the “decent/pretty good” range. I can’t complain much, though some of the first few post-Update sketches had dodgy premises, and I’m still seeing early little signs of trouble for this and next season.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charles Barkley)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Jeff Goldblum hosts, and we get two new additions to the cast
Wow, there ended up being THREE Denise Show sketches? They really did try to reprise everything around this time.
I’d agree that Is It Date Rape? somehow manages to barely thread the needle. I was actually pretty impressed that it wasn’t a total disaster.
Same goes for Relapse Guy which, in hindsight, is pretty brutal, but on the surface is solid enough.
The Denise Show was a relatively solid limited recurring sketch. I think this edition is probably one of the best sketches of the season and a good example of what Sandler could do well. But yeah, by and large there aren’t really any episodes that fully pull it together (though I do love the finale).
I think the Date Rape and Relapse Guy sketches work precisely because they weren’t trying too hard to take a stand or say something profound. They’re satirical, but the focus is on being funny or at least entertaining.
I don’t think the date rape sketch is downplaying or finding humor in date rape itself. Instead, it finds much of its humor in universities’ absurd attempts to regulate the sexual interactions between students. In addition, Doherty’s character is played pretty straight — she says no and means it. Without that character, the sketch perhaps would’ve been too frivolous or too much of a downer for the subject matter.
In the case of the relapse guy, I think Farley felt ok about mining his life’s pathos for laughs, which makes the sketch ok to enjoy without any guilt. Farley was a born entertainer and I think he would’ve wanted people to have access and enjoy all of his work, even if it sometimes hits some dark notes.
All in all, I think this is a pretty solid ep. — somewhat typical of the time period — almost hitting a sweet spot between the old and new casts before things got really weird and sometimes abysmal in the next season.
yeah I remember the Real World sketch being pretty popular at the time. I was in 9th grade then and we were all talking about it. I guess it hasn’t aged well
It’s alright, but reminds me of the Game of Thrones sketches of recent years – something someone wrote more because they had to as it’s popular than due to them being interested in the show. They get the basic details right but then we just get a loop of “you racist” and “I’m from _____” over and over and over to the point where you just can’t laugh. I don’t know who wrote this and who wrote the Real World parody a few years later where Bob Dole moved into a RW house, but that one was, to me, much truer to the spirit of the show, and much funnier.
The theme music is the theme from the 1967 version of Casino Royale, by Herb Alpert.
It seems like Spade was barely used this week, but Phil got some nice showcases.
I still say “I’m from Dublin” from time to
Time.
Doherty was a huge whipping girl around this time, in that hyper-intense early ’90s way where a celebrity would be run into the ground for months or years. While she may have not been the best behaved, she certainly never deserved that level of hatred, so it was nice to see from the goodnights that she must have enjoyed her experience. The big bear hug with Farley at the end puts a smile on my face. Doherty is the last of the 90210 gang to host (and aside from an unintentionally hilarious cameo on the way from Brian Austin Green I think she’s the last person tied to 90210 to ever appear, aside from Hillary Swank). Doherty only had two fairly demanding roles, but she was still thrown all over the episode. Unlike certain other hosts this season put in that position, she mostly coped well.
The relapse sketch – it’s very difficult for me to separate the sketch itself from what Farley was going through at the time (myriad rehab stints the season before; a backstage atmosphere that may not have approved of his worst moments, but did little to stop them). He was a grown man and he was clearly fine with the sketch, so I will just say that I thought it was decent enough once you check your other thoughts at the door. It was also performed better than his work in the date rape and bitchcraft sketches, both of which were damaged by his interchangeable bellowing and contortions.
Michael Eisner put his face on TV for years, so the idea of Phil impersonating him for these Disney bulletins focused on Florida messiness isn’t a bad one…but Eisner was such a specific presence that it’s very difficult to impersonate him, and the material in of itself isn’t all that funny.
There was a market for straight men camping it up to make viewers laugh (hell, there still is), which I imagine was the only real idea behind the Meadows and Myers sketch. To their credit, neither of them went out of their way to lisp and have limp wrists, and other cliches. If they had, maybe it would have been more of a hit. Either way, it wasn’t very memorable.
So much of Phil’s role in this episode is passing the torch – ironically to people who only outlasted him by a season. This is probably put to best use in the Opera Man cold open, where he plays the pretentious announcer to a tee and adds some kind of heart to the proceedings. Much preferable to moments that are coming, like having to be bully #3 in one of those wretched Canteen Boy sketches.
The Crystal Gravy commercial is fantastic. So great. I also think Adam’s performance in Denise Show might be some of his best work on the show. It’s very good. I haven’t seen that Real World sketch in a very long time, but I do recall Mike Myers “I’m from Dublin” schtick being funny. Overall, a pretty good episode.
Yeah the big hug Doherty gives Farley in the good nights is pretty damn heartwarming. Everyone seemed to love that guy
After only ever seeing the 60 minute edit, I finally watched the original 90 minute broadcast last week, so this one is still pretty fresh in my mind.
I thought it was mostly a very good episode. I actually wasn’t a big fan of the Opera Man open, and I generally like Opera Man. Loved Phil in it, though.
“Crystal Gravy” is a genuine classic, one of my favorite commercials parodies, and like many others from this era, a nearly pitch-perfect spoof of the real thing.
I actually liked “The Real World” sketch more this time than I have in the past. I didn’t think it was GREAT, and Myers’ “I’m from Dublin!” and Sandler’s “SHUT UP YOU __________!” repeated lines got old fast (the first times were funny, and then progressively less so as the sketch went on). Still, not bad, at least not as bad as I was remembering.
I can’t recall if I ever saw any of the subsequent “Denise Show” installments. I can see how it might not hold up as a recurring sketch, but I have always enjoyed this one here, the highlight for me being the screaming match with Phil.
I love Tim’s Ike Turner during WU and Kevin continuing after he’s gone with cake all over him.
But hoo boy, “Is It Date Rape?” and “The Relapse Guy,” I didn’t find the former particularly funny (though it gets credit for not being as cringe worthy as I was anticipating when seeing the title), and the latter, well, I didn’t think it was a great sketch on its own, and it’s certainly uncomfortable in light of events a few years later. IMO Phil is without question the MVP in both sketches.
“Dressing Room” did absolutely nothing for me, and “Salem Bitch Trial” is somewhat amusing at first, but not particularly good either. (Phil, again, is the best thing about it, IMO.)
Of course, this is the infamous episode where Cypress Hill got themselves banned by having a joint on stage.
Overall, not a bad episode. I liked more of it than I didn’t, anyway!
Can someone answer this?
The rerun version I’m watching of The Real World the title cards are different from your screenshots. Why is that?
My copy is the rerun one also. It looks to me like they “improved” the rerun title cards by splitting the funnier text out onto a later title card. That way you can’t read ahead to the punchlines before the announcer says them.
“Okay, the running punchline of Chris falling through a breakaway prop at the end of every scene is now starting to get kinda old to me”
Fair enough, but it seems like his falling through objects is your biggest takeaway from sketches like these, and if that’s the case then there’s a lot you are missing out on. I don’t mean to say that you’re oblivious in your observations, just a little too fixated on certain things? I get that the writers kind of made it that way with how much falling around he does, but there are so many other great moments that are unique to Farley that I still have not seen matched by any cast member since.
I think people should keep in mind that comedy isn’t all about making jokes and in turn trivializing things, it’s often about truth and honesty and it’s not simply ‘Haha drug addiction is funny’. It’s rarely ever that simple. I totally understand if people find the sketch uncomfortable and that’s ok, but I think that’s something worth bearing in mind. Also Chris constantly bothered Al Franken to write him more of these sketches lol.
I’ve also had “I’m from Dublin” stuck in my head for almost three decades. I finally watched this sketch again for the first time since the first time. I love it. It may work in different ways now than it did then. Back then, just aping the Real World format would’ve added some humor. But now the format of that show has been so ridiculously influential that an infinite number of modern shows have the same structure. So seeing them copy the format is just a given. I love Downey’s voice in the announcement and how they go for the jugular on how “real” the show is.
Parodying the idea that the producers of these shows try to create conflict among the cast members is still very relevant. But the revelation for me that I had forgotten about is all the characters calling each other racist. That was ahead of its time, as it accurately captures the level of discourse with which a lot of even grown adults have been talking to each other for the past few years. I love the repetition of things in this sketch, because it’s needed to drive the point home of just how vapid these characters are. They can’t think of more than a couple of different things to say. And the idea that even the characters themselves only see themselves as stereotypes drives home both their vapidness and the simplistic way in which reality shows try to portray people. Mike’s confessional is great too, as it just skewers the idea of making drama out of trivialities on reality shows. The Eskimo character is the absurdist part of it, and the least amusing part of the sketch to me, but I do like that they tried to fit every possible type of comedy into this one.
The “date rape” sketch, similar to the “racist” gags in the Real World sketch, also shows them skewering something that might be considered a sacred cow on the left. Especially the parts where they show how the couples are “supposed” to get consent from each other. I think at the time it was going after college campus rules but this is even more relevant now as these kinds of things are making it into state law. This is great satire against the encroaching political correctness that became a trend in the 1990s. Before this, Carlin’s “seven dirty words,” saying “penis” and the like were the type of free speech issues that had to be dealt with. But with the banning of Huck Finn from libraries in the ’80s and some of these other issues cropping up, attacks on free speech started coming from the left as well as the right. SNL, at that time, definitely saw any attempt to regulate or control speech as worthy of ridicule. The idea that we’re watching a sketch they “couldn’t do” today is definitely sad, as it shows the amount of things you can’t say on television is going up, not down.
The only sketch I truly remembered as being from the Shannen Doherty episode over the years was the Denise sketch where she shows up to lambast Adam Sandler. I love this one. I also liked his Operaman intro here. Definitely not a fan of Sandler’s comedy overall but with the writers of this era backing him up, he did some funny stuff. Farley’s cameo on The Denise Show is great as it combines the vapid platitudes you say when trying to comfort a friend with the “incredibly short” talk show guest appearance gag they had used on the Regis skit in the past. The way this era would turn the goofiest stuff into a “show” (also The Chris Farley Show) worked very well. They’re using their medium as the message effectively.
As usual, the writers do a good job of playing off of the public perception of their host It was fun to see Shannen participating in the wedding photo gags and playing with the “bitch” persona later on. But my heart kind of sinks whenever I see one of these “medieval” sketches with everyone doing an “old timey” accent. I just kind of feel that adds nothing to a scene. Setting it in the present day might’ve been funnier, especially since this was only “like” a witch trial, but not a witch trial itself. Chris’s “relapse” sketch also felt like it was extended too long to fill up time, but I enjoyed seeing him do his schtick here. Weekend Update was solid. Nothing too exciting in the other sketches, but nothing terrible. Of course, the Crystal Gravy commercial is one of the all-time classics! I think this is the kind of solid, reliable episode with some very strong stuff and no very bad stuff that we were routinely spoiled with back in the early ’90s.
“…attacks on free speech started coming from the left as well as the right. SNL, at that time, definitely saw any attempt to regulate or control speech as worthy of ridicule. The idea that we’re watching a sketch they “couldn’t do” today is definitely sad, as it shows the amount of things you can’t say on television is going up, not down.”
Excellent analysis, JediJones. That is one of the elements that made SNL, In Living Color, Key & Peele, and South Park so good…at their best, nothing was off-limits, and that’s one of the core principles of comedy. (I think South Park still does a really good job of sticking to this principle, but they are a true rarity.) Today, all groups have their sacred cows, and those groups will go off completely whenever there is any perceived attack on one of them…comedy today suffers for it.
R.I.P. Norm.
https://deadline.com/2021/09/norm-macdonald-dead-obituary-comedian-saturday-night-live-weekend-update-anchor-was-61-1234833212/
Wikipedia has this as the first episode with Norm in the cast, but he isn’t shown in the credits until the next episode. Any info on this?
It’s probably due to Norm making his first on-camera appearance even if he’s not credited until the following week. The same way that episode is listed Sarah’s first when she’s not credited until a month later, or Eddie’s initial Raheem piece on Update being considered his first episode when he doesn’t get credit until the following week. YMMV on legitimacy, but these early credits can fall under the same category as Bill Murray or Parnell/Fallon/Sanz not being credited until their second episode.
I mainly remember Shannen’s monologue and “wedding” footage, “Crystal Gravy” “The Denise Show”, “The Real World”, and “Is It Date Rape?” I mainly enjoyed “The Denise Show” and that wedding. “The Real World” was too repetitious and “Is It Date Rape?” seemed perhaps too uncomfy. I really liked Adam Sandler during this period.
RIP Shannen Doherty
She fought very hard. I’ve long had a great deal of respect for her, not just over her cancer battle, but the hate she got in the ’90s. This episode is so emblematic of season 19, often in the worst ways, but there are a number of very strong moments too and she’s a big reason why. She really threw herself into the night and I’m glad she did. I remember the big hug she gave Farley in the goodnights – I hope wherever they are they got to meet again.
RIP Shannen, I knew you from this and Charmed, hope your with Chris and Phil having a laugh.
Yeah I remember the big hug she gives Farley in the good nights. Genuine nice moment. Around 97 or so she and Farley were both on the Tonight Show and she brought that up during the interview.
RIP