Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
ADS plays guitar & sings a song about why he won’t get toys for Christmas
— Hmm, here’s a change of pace: starting the show with a Sandler guitar song on the home base stage. I wonder why we’re not seeing this song on Weekend Update like we’d usually see in this era.
— As usual for Adam’s guitar songs, this song has a catchy melody.
— Ha, Adam seems to have a weird comedy obsession with bearded grandmothers. He mentions one in a lyric here and there’s a whole bit about shaving a grandmother’s beard in a Herlihy Boy sketch from the Emilio Estevez episode later this season. I can’t remember if there’s a bearded grandma joke in Adam’s song about his grandmother when cameoing on Weekend Update in the Tom Arnold episode from season 21.
— Some fun confessions of naughty things Adam did this year.
— According to GettyImages, the dress rehearsal version of this cold opening had Rob, Tim, and Chris participating in Adam’s song (pic here and here). I wonder why they got cut from the live show.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
disappointed audience members leave when host says she won’t rehash roles
— The shot of the audience applauding after Sally steps out onstage would later be removed from reruns, presumably because the shot gives away the group of Gidget fans in the front seats, who are going to be shown later in the monologue.
— Oh, no. Yet ANOTHER audience-involved monologue, for the FOURTH episode in a row?
— Okay, so it turns out this monologue isn’t using the tired questions-from-the-audience trope used in the last three consecutive monologues, but it’s still inane to me that SNL keeps relying on audience-involved monologues week after week this season.
— Funny seeing a Burt Reynolds imitation right after the hilariously random shouting of his name from an off-camera audience member during one of Paul Westerberg’s musical performances in the preceding episode.
— I like the bit with Phil’s Burt Reynolds initially getting up to leave when hearing there will be no “Smokey and the Bandit” parody, then changing his mind and staying, only to storm off when Sally mentions she’s always happy to make fun of crazy people.
— A good “You like me, you really, really like me” reference during Chris’ bit.
STARS: ***
NCI
Rerun from 9/25/93
I WANT MY BABY BACK!: THE HARRIET CRALBONI STORY
host in TV movie about mother trying to reclaim kid
— I like Kevin’s sleazy performance.
— A good laugh from Tim as the welfare department guy randomly showing up and sternly telling Sally “Give me the baby.”
— During Melanie’s baby-switching confession, there an accidental view of cue cards in the background (seen in the top right corner of the screencap below)
— I’m usually a sucker for this type of epic movie-like sketch that involves many scene and set changes, and the frequent turns and escalations this sketch keep taking are funny in themselves, but I dunno, something about this sketch’s execution is coming off a little underwhelming to me. I’m also not crazy about hearing “I want my baby back!” shouted over and over throughout the sketch, even if that’s part of the point. I am really appreciating Sally’s commitment in her performance, though.
— Didn’t care for the ending.
STARS: **½
WHITE DIAMONDS
soft focus hides Elizabeth Taylor’s (host) age
— An initial laugh from the age-hiding soft focus filter used for Sally’s Elizabeth Taylor. I’m aware this is parodying the use of soft focus in a real Elizabeth Taylor perfume ad from this time.
— Wait, that’s it? The filter joke got old after about 10 seconds and this didn’t go anywhere else.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “If I Had No Loot”
WEEKEND UPDATE
lame duck NYC mayor David Dinkins (TIM) vows revenge on the city
— A good string of Clinton-related jokes early on in this Update.
— A great sudden dark (figuratively and literally) turn during Tim-as-David-Dinkins’ kind message, where he threatens New Yorkers for not voting for him. One of Tim’s funniest showcases during his neglected years in the first half of his SNL tenure.
— Funny little bit after the David Dinkins commentary ends, with Kevin innocently telling us “Hey, I voted for the guy.”
STARS: ***
HEADGAMES
quizmaster (PHH) messes with his relatives’ minds on game show
— Great concept, and a perfect cruel characterization from Phil.
— I’m loving Phil’s seamless transitions from professional gameshow host to sadistic husband/father.
— A lot of really funny back-and-forths between Phil and his family.
— I really liked Phil’s “final round” fake-out to Sally, and her angry response of “You bastard!”
STARS: ****½
BAND SHOT
ROS sings “Blue Christmas” Elvis-style with SNL Band
MOTIVATIONAL SANTA
shopping mall Santa Matt Foley teaches kids about harsh realities of life
— Though I’m still not all that crazy about them keeping Matt Foley a recurring character, I’m glad to see them putting him in a new setting for once, which is a nice change and provides a new outlet for laughs.
— The cue cards make a second onscreen cameo tonight (seen in the top right corner of the screencap below).
— Some good laughs from the Christmas story Foley reads to the kids.
— Farley’s pratfall through the chimney reminds me of Chevy Chase’s famous pratfall off a Christmas tree in a Gerald Ford sketch.
— Overall, though it still comes NOWHERE close to touching the classic first Matt Foley sketch, tonight’s sketch is probably my favorite of all the Matt Foley follow-ups.
STARS: ***½
CRAB LICE SINGLES CLUB
first-timer (host) feels uneasy at a crab lice singles’ club mixer
— Uh, what a premise.
— Rob has some funny bits here, such as him trying to tempt Sally with a “romantic” promise to take her to a pharmacy and show her all the disinfectant shampoos, and him combing his hair with a tiny crab lice comb.
— Adam getting busted on not really having crab lice is funny, especially when he answers Phil’s “What color are crabs?” question with “…….Blue???”
— The ending with Chris’ direct-to-camera message fell flat.
— The overall sketch didn’t quite work for me as a whole, but there were some individual funny moments.
STARS: **½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
— Surprisingly, this is the first time we’ve gotten a Deep Thoughts since the season premiere.
— According to episode guides, this Deep Thoughts is a rerun, but it wasn’t in my copy of whatever episode it originally aired in.
THE SUICIDE ATTEMPT MACHINE
Dr. Jack Kevorkian (NOM) shows attention-getting suicide attempt machine
— I love seeing Norm cast in this role.
— This is the first of three solo Norm sketches this season that feature him as a famous figure. The other two sketches are funnier and more memorable (Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt and 60 Minutes), but this is a pretty solid one that I’ve always liked too.
— Good concept.
— I love how, during the Suicide Attempt Machine tape message that’s playing, the camera pans over to Norm’s Kevorkian just grinning at the camera in a smug, somewhat creepy manner.
— Good ending line from Norm’s Kevorkian, with “Maybe this year, what they’ll find under the Christmas tree… is you!”
STARS: ***½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Tell Me Mama”
PRAYING
Jesus (PHH) asks a pious housewife (host) to pray more selectively
— I’m enjoying Sally’s religious southern housewife characterization here, as well as her habit of praying for trivial things.
— Always very welcome to see Phil’s Jesus appearing in a sketch.
— Considering he’s been getting phased out this season, it’s great to see so much Phil throughout tonight’s episode. Tonight’s episode is one of the final gasps of Phil’s dominance from seasons 12-18.
— I loved Phil’s delivery of “…I know…” when Sally tells him “I pray to you all the time”.
— Excellent reveal that Jesus is here to ask Sally to try not praying so much.
— Phil’s down-to-earth delivery as Jesus is so great.
— Overall, a fantastic sketch and our second strong and memorable Phil Hartman-starring piece of the night.
— Years ago, on an old blog Julia Sweeney used to have, I recall seeing a publicity photo of this Praying sketch in an “SNL photos” section of the blog, except Julia was in the praying housewife role, and get this: Christian Slater was in the Jesus role. I kid you not. This sketch must’ve gotten cut after dress rehearsal from the Christian Slater-hosted episode earlier this season. I cannot for the life of me imagine Christian Slater pulling off this role.
STARS: ****½
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
BAND SHOT
ROS sings “It’s Now Or Never” Elvis-style with SNL Band
— This is missing from my copy.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The quality of tonight’s episode was a little more shaky than the last few episodes, but this was an overall decent episode, keeping alive the streak of satisfying episodes since Rosie O’Donnell. The placement of sketches tonight sure needed some tweaking, though, as it wasn’t the best idea to have the two lead-off sketches be iffy pieces like I Want My Baby Back and White Diamonds while burying the solid stuff after Weekend Update. Sally Field was a very game host who gave fully committed performances in every sketch, even the weaker ones.
— This is the final episode before there’s a change of tone in several aspects of this season, especially the quality.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charlton Heston)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
We enter the year 1994, with host Jason Patric
I wonder if they buried the Jesus sketch because they weren’t sure if they would get complaints. The sketch is a quietly audacious one, one that makes a real point but isn’t just trying to be irreverent for no reason.
Was Sally Field the host that disdainfully rejected a Zoraida sketch? Has that been confirmed anywhere besides Jay Mohr’s book?
Yes, Michael, Sally Field’s that host, and no, I haven’t seen it confirmed anywhere else. I don’t have a hard time believing it, though.
Did I give you a complex about filing out five star sketches? The Jesus sketch is going to break the algorithm!!!
I dig the monologue a lot more than you. I don’t think it really qualifies as a 93-94 audience Q+A piece. Like I said, I like to view the Charlton Heston as the punchline to a long culminating meta joke.
Have an open mind about the Jason Patric episode. He’s a bit of a black hole, but the show is not without its high spots. My theory about this season’s downward turn is that it has more to do with exceptionally poor hosts (Patric, Lawrence, Kerrigan, Locklear) hastening the downturn.
I have been a little more self-conscious lately about which sketches I give five-star ratings to. But don’t worry; long before you get to season 19, I’ll have already come to a decision on the rating for the Jesus sketch. I only need a day or so.
Somebody told me when I recently watched this episode that Robin Williams was asked to host, but suggested Sally Field instead. Not sure if that’s true or not.
I find Field somewhat irritating at times as an actress, due to her very neurotic delivery, but the writing made that a core part of most of her characters here, so it worked. The one piece she had that was a departure – the Elizabeth Taylor impression – was fun and well-performed, although I kind of wish Julia or Melanie had had that chance. Oh and Phil’s accent reminded me of a combo of Sprockets Susan, and the announcer for Calvin Kleen.
I wonder what sketch Christine Zander wrote. I could see her being involved in the Jesus sketch. That sketch is just first-rate, a true showcase of Phil’s depths as an actor, and the type of character piece that was nearly extinguished.
I’m so glad to know via your review that Rob did sing “It’s Now or Never” at some point in his tenure, as I’d half-believed I hallucinated it. I hope I can see that again someday because it’s one of my favorite memories of this era of SNL.
Couldn’t sit through Matt Foley.
The first time I saw Tim’s Dinkins piece, I thought it was a little forced, but watching again, I appreciate it more. Sad to see this is Kevin’s last Christmas Update.
Adam was better off doing his song solo, although I wonder if the original idea inspired the “I don’t care what…” quartet of the end of the decade.
Head Games is absolutely brilliant – another of those fleeting moments in 93-95 where the vision the main writers at the time had managed to work. I loved Phil on SNL and I loved Bill Hader on SNL, but as time passes I become more and more wary of comparing them, because their performance styles and places on the show were very different. I often think of their game show hosts as a primary example. THIS, however, is the classic Bill Hader game show host – you could easily swap this Phil in with, say, Bill’s “What’s Wrong With Tanya?”, and Bill into this sketch, and the result would be fantastic viewing.
It’s hard to believe Norm had only really been around for a half-season or so as he’s already so assured on air, and managing to get such bleak premises through, sold only by himself. Norm also tended to have certain ideas he’d push over and over – this one was pretty compelling.
The “don’t take my baby” sketch was, presumably, a spoof of Sally’s much-derided movie “Not Without My Daughter.” Not a very funny spoof. Funnier was how the monologue mocked Sally’s very well-known reticence for talking about a number of her past roles. The bit where she apologized to Burt for making fun of him did make me pause, as it reminded me of how last year, she said she was glad he’d passed away before her autobiography came out, (which had some unflattering passages about their relationship) as she knew it would hurt him.
I really disliked the “we have no ending” ending to the lice sketch. It pretty much made everything in the sketch feel pointless.
This is what my main memory of Tony Toni Tone and SNL will probably always be:
(it’s about 3 and a half minutes in)
The “Deep Thoughts” about dropping keys in lava was originally on the 10/31/92 episode with Catherine O’Hara.
i wanna say Tom Davis wrote the Jesus sketch but I’m not sure. Maybe Zander?
Davis wrote the Jesus sketch, yes; I think he even mentions in his memoir that it originally had Slater as Jesus. IIRC, he mentioned Victoria Jackson playing the housewife in the original (so… Slater’s 91-92 episode), but it got the ax then. Wonder if the Julia dress version was the second go, from Slater’s second episode this season.
I THINK I remember Victoria giving an interview where she said she didn’t like having to pretend to pray in a sketch. She kinda seems the wrong kind of person for such a sketch, to be honest.
Yeah always thought that was a Davis piece. Thanks for the confirmation!
The White Diamonds commercial is a good example of “you had to be there.” That commercial was so ubiquitous and so puzzlingly obvious in what they were doing that only a little nudge was necessary. It was one of the jokes people talked about the next Monday at work. I see how it would be totally meaningless so someone unfamiliar but that little joked killed back in the day
Agreed. There was a reason it showed up in the 93-94 Best Of. Short and sweet, but a good gag.
“…meaningless *to* someone unfamiliar….”
Wish I could remember where to find it, but some time ago in an interview (or maybe Twitter?), Norm Macdonald recalled witnessing the studio audience boo the final It’s Pat installment. Obviously we never saw this, as the only time Pat appears this season is in the So Long, Farewell finale. Christine Zander guest-wrote in this episode and the Nancy Kerrigan episode, but the dress info for Kerrigan lists no Pat sketch, so it must have been this ep. Unfortunately, that episode guide Stooge received with dress info doesn’t have anything for this show,,,, but hot damn, I would love to morbidly watch the audience turn on such a popular character, though I feel bad for Julia because this season was a sad way to end her tenure.
Norm briefly describes the incident in this article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/magazine/norm-macdonald-still-in-search-of-the-perfect-joke.html.
Specifically:
“At that time, “S.N.L.” was at a critical and popular nadir — Macdonald told me of watching in astonishment as the live audience booed the final installment of the “It’s Pat” sketch — and the “Update” writers were trying to break out of it.”
The article (or Norm) kind of flings the timeline in the air, though–as “at that time” is linked to the season in which Norm is doing Weekend Update (and in the same breath is linked to Kattan/Oteri!). Maybe there’s a source that has more, accurate details.
Rob Schneider’s “It’s Now or Never” is not on Internet Archives, either. Luckily a good friend of mine made me a copy and it has the performance. But hasn’t he done that going into commercial before? (Not including the “Natalie Cole Sings With All Her Dads Dead Old Friends” sketch) I swear he did that another time before.
Ellen was on Jeff Richards’ podcast recently and denied that anything ever happened with Sally.
https://jeffrichardsshow.libsyn.com/the-doctor-is-in
So it’s proving more and more that the accounts written in the Jay Mohr book is not true.
As a strange choice, the music used in the White Diamonds sketch is from the soundtrack to John Carpenter’s “Prince of Darkness.”
I think the Praying sketch deserves 5 stars, both Sally and Phil were phenomenal in it. Sally’s acting was almost too good.