Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
STAYIN’ ALIVE
“Stayin’ Alive” follows host as he wanders lost through the studio
— A very fun way to spoof an iconic scene in Saturday Night Fever.
— I love the subversions and variations on the joke, such as the song being sped-up when John is running, and the camera following the legs of someone who exits the bathroom, only to reveal it’s not John.
— This is starting to show signs of season 20’s terrible habit of running a single joke way too long, but there’s enough goodwill towards this fun idea that the repetition isn’t hurting it.
— One change I would’ve made is, when John took a few steps back to allow for scenery to come through, it would’ve been funnier if the Stayin’ Alive snippet that briefly played during that part was played in reverse.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host claims he wants to forget his old roles but relives them anyway
— A pretty corny but funny way for John to go through a succession of quick parodies of things from his career. He’s pulling this off well and is making the corny humor charming rather than groanworthy.
STARS: ***½
BATHROOM MONKEY
(JAG) talks glowingly about her Bathroom Monkey lavatory cleaner
— I love the very random concept of this, and it’s being executed very well.
— A particularly funny part about how when your bathroom monkey is used up, you can just throw it away and purchase another bathroom monkey in a box.
STARS: ****½
COFFEE TALK WITH LINDA RICHMAN
Linda welcomes a Barbra Streisand impersonator (host)
— Like I said about Stuart Smalley in my review of the preceding episode, it feels weird seeing a Coffee Talk sketch appearing this season. This (thankfully) ends up being the final installment during Mike’s tenure as a cast member (not counting when he hosts in season 22).
— Adding to the odd feeling of this Coffee Talk installment, Linda Richman’s wearing a completely different sweater for once. Even her hair looks longer than usual.
— Pretty fun performance from John.
— The whole Streisand impersonator premise is at least adding a bit of a different spin on the usual Coffee Talk concept.
— John’s performance is even making the Streisand medley somewhat more fun than it would normally be.
STARS: **½
DRACULA
Count Dracula (host) tries to convince (KEN) & (JAG) that he’s not gay
— I love John’s Dracula wheeling back into the scene to sneak up behind Kevin and Janeane, only to wheel right back out of the scene after hearing Kevin’s theory that Dracula is gay.
— This is the type of sketch that I would normally dismiss as typical groanworthy season 20 homophobia, but I feel this particular sketch is a fairly clever way for John to poke fun at rumors about his own sexuality. The reality subtext is making this sketch a lot more tolerable to me than it normally would be. It also helps that this sketch is airing in an episode that has put me in a very good mood so far.
— Dracula: “I am a man of many secrets, but humping a mental defective is not one of them.”
— The off-camera gay bat sex is another one of those gags that would normally be groanworthy to me, but something about Kevin’s delivery when he details the gay bat sex is cracking me up.
— Michael steals the sketch with his walk-on as a flamboyant wolfman.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Prayer For The Dying”
WEEKEND UPDATE
to CHF, the baseball strike is tragic because he can’t run on the field
Two Guys From A Religious Cult (DAS) & (ADS) give the weather report
— Oh my god at that insane chipper loud laugh heard from a female audience member in response to Norm’s joke about “the guy who attacked Monica Seles”.
— Feels odd seeing Farley do a commentary as himself at this point of his tenure.
— Farley’s straitlaced reminiscing of ridiculous things he’s done at baseball games is pretty funny.
— Not caring at all for this Two Guys From a Religious Cult commentary. Yet another tired “Sandler does a voice” bit this season, and the voice he’s using here is PARTICULARLY grating to me.
— We get our very first Weekend Update occurrence of Norm uttering the word “whore”, a word that he never fails to make hilarious with his delivery.
STARS: ***½
QUENTIN TARANTINO’S WELCOME BACK, KOTTER
Squiggy (David L. Lander) & Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) vs. brutal Sweathogs
— An absolutely fantastic concept.
— I love the opening title sequence.
— All of the impressions are very fun, especially David’s Horshack.
— Excellent Reservoir Dogs reference with Barbarino dancing with a knife.
— Lenny and Squiggy!
— Ha, now this has gotten even better with a Steve freakin’ Buscemi walk-on.
— Great ending.
— Overall, a classic and by far one of the top 3 best sketches of the entire season.
STARS: *****
WOMAN’S SELF DEFENSE CLASS
women’s self-defense class participants kick unprepared (CSE)’s genitals
— This is the first time we’re seeing most of the female cast members tonight, though considering this is season 20, that’s no surprise.
— Not caring for this at all. Just a one-joke bit to me.
— Terrible punchline with Elliott saying that after a while, he’s started to enjoy the crotch beatings.
— Overall, a poor waste of Chris Elliott.
STARS: *½
LARRY KING LIVE
Marlon Brando (host) exploits indulgent interview
— Hilarious initial visual of John as a bare-footed Marlon Brando.
— John’s Brando impression is very funny, and I’m loving all the weird things he’s having Kevin’s Larry King do during the interview.
— The “cookie-eating grin on your face” part gave me a huge laugh.
— I love Kevin’s Larry King still conducing the interview in a normal manner while so many ridiculous things are going on.
— Very funny culmination with Brando riding King, who’s on all fours.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Crazy”
OFFICE MATES
a small office causes co-workers (CHF) & (TIM) to yell at everybody
— Our first of MANY sketches this season centered entirely around Chris Farley screaming his dialogue for five damn minutes.
— Odd casting of Tim here, who seems out of place getting into a screaming match with the Screaming King of this season’s cast. Then again, maybe I should be happy Tim’s the one cast in this role, as I can’t imagine how even more unbearable Sandler would’ve made this sketch with his yelling had he played Tim’s role.
— I did get a laugh from Tim telling David “Get out, bitch!” and David immediately exiting the office in a hurry.
— Funny cutaway to Farley and Tim in a ridiculously gigantic office, but even THAT culminates in a dumb drawn-out ending with Farley and Tim just fighting for no reason for an extended amount of time.
STARS: *½
HEARING PROBLEM
a drug dealer’s (host) hearing difficulties lead to miscommunications
— Another example tonight of season 20’s habit of running a joke into the ground, but I’m actually finding this sketch funny. I know I’m in the minority in liking this sketch, but I can’t help cracking up at the various odd sentences that John thinks he hears, and I find this to be a pretty funny parody of when mobsters say variations of “Something must be wrong with my hearing” when they’re told something unacceptable.
— Even Adam getting into the hard-of-hearing thing is making me laugh.
— Hmm, Adam’s sudden loud goofy-voiced outburst before leaving (which was completely unnecessary for the tone of this sketch) was done in the exact same manner as his “I AM GONNA KICK THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!” outburst before leaving in the first Total Bastard Airlines sketch. His outburst was a lot funnier and more fitting there.
— I love John’s line “Did you just say I look like the black guy from Forrest Gump?!?”
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
cast sings “We Go Together” as host drives off in Greased Lightnin’
— An incredible deviation from normal goodnights. This is fun as hell, as the perfect way to end this particular episode.
— I love the superimposed effect of John and a blonde wig-wearing Seal riding off into the sky in a car.
— The upbeat and uplifting nature of these goodnights is such a great contrast to the typical atmosphere we’ll be seeing this season.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong episode, and a ray of light in this infamous season. As pointed out throughout the review, this episode had a very fun atmosphere, which was thankfully backed up by some solid writing and a few sketches that would end up being among the best of the entire season. John Travolta was a more-than-game host who added a lot to the episode’s great vibe. Some of the material he nailed would’ve come off very hacky under a different host.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Marisa Tomei)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Dana Carvey
I’m not going to lie, I also liked “Hearing Problem.” Something about John’s delivery when he’s turning down “fruit juice” cracks me up.
It’s a little surprising they waited this long to have Linda interview “Barbra.” I want to say I read that Travolta heard Brando got a kick out of his sketch, while he never found out how Barbra felt.
I actually liked Sandler’s delivery of “HIGHS IN THE LOW TO MID 50s” as the cult guy. Otherwise, I can take ’em or leave ’em.
The Larry King-Marlon Brando sketch is certainly a contender for my favorite sketch of Season 20. Unfortunately, it ends up not having a ton of competition.
Don’t mind me, I’m not even here…
To me, Sandler’s religious cult member voice always sounded similar to his voiceover in The Cluckin’ Chicken from season 18.
The first four hosts this season really put forth the effort in selling the jokes they’re given, it doesn’t always work out but the commitment is there. That seemingly goes downhill starting in the SJP episode, whom I believe was a late replacement for Juliette Lewis.
Hmm never knew that.. that woulda been a fun show. She was very hot then after NBK and I think she woulda been more open minded than Sarah was. I guess that’s one reason they mocked her on the Walken skit on the Tourtoro show.
I’m dreading that show it’s truly awful. Lorne despised Sarah and didn’t enjoy having her, it was also the week O’Donnahue died so he wasn’t fully 100% there either. It shows sadly.
Wasn’t SJP’s show also the week Lorne’s son was born? I think he remarked in the Shales/Miller book that there were complications resulting from that event.
I think it was Tomei that replaced Lewis
No, Juliette was supposed to host the episode with R.E.M. that SJP ended up hosting.
“We get our very first Weekend Update occurrence of Norm uttering the word “whore”, a word that he never fails to make hilarious with his delivery.”
I agree. Remember that Jeopardy sketch where his answer to a Beatles question is “Chinese whore”? Hilarious stuff!
I’m anxious to see what horrors await us in the Dana Carvey episode. There shouldn’t be too many things wrong with it, but I am aware that most of the episode is just a showcase for his recurring characters (minus Garth, for some reason).
From what I remember Carvey’s episode is good-to-watchable, aside from the Nobel Prize Awards that is a huge dead spot in the middle of the night. His recurring characters are all effectively used, and thankfully, unlike certain other hosting stints, the worst are left out of the episode.
Quentin Tarantino’s Welcome Back, Kotter feels almost Ben Stiller Show-esque to me, the way it’s like “let’s just combine two unrelated things from pop culture and that’s the joke.” It’s an okay sketch though.
I hate to be too negative, but I thought this show was still pretty weak. The Tomei and Carvey episodes its sandwiched between were funnier, imo. Travolta did bring a good energy, the cast members still have life in their eyes, and the goodnights were great; but, stuff like the gay Dracula and the screaming co-workers and the Update correspondents really bogged it down for me. The performances were there, but the writing seemed iffy.
Also, I liked Seal’s songs in this. This year is similar to ’80-’81 in that even though it’s bad, it’s got some great musical guests. Not as zany as the Doumanian bookings, but still great.
The thing with the Welcome Back Kotter/Tarantino sketch for me is that it reminds me of something we’d get in more recent years, especially the last 5 years, in that there’s a lot of effort made on cameos and on wardrobe…but the “jokes” amount to checking moments off a list. I don’t think I laughed once. It’s a sketch I can admire for their efforts, but not something I would want to see again. I will say I’m very glad they had David Lander on for a cameo while McKean was in the cast as he’s just a great presence (and both he and Molly Shannon were on Twin Peaks around the same time so we’re keeping those Twin Peaks/SNL vibes going strong).
The screaming co-workers also reminds me of something from more recent years – I could see Will Forte and Andy Samberg in those roles.
I liked the episode overall but it’s mostly just sort of there for me. Not one of my favorites this season. Something seems a little off here and a little off there, aside from a few moments.
Need to re-watch this one again but it’s pretty solid. John was on a high due to PF so to get him to host was a nice steal for Lorne. I always lmao in the SNL book when someone mentions how odd he was that week, he told Lorne supposedly he always considered Kotter to be as rebellious as SNL was, the primetime version of SNL. Lorne was just like “Yeah okay..”
The Dracula skit’s pure gold.. Nealon and John make it fun, it’s easily one of Kevin’s few highlights from that year. JG doesn’t add much but it’s great none the less. The fact the rumors about John’s personal life still goes now still makes that skit relevant. I’ll admit the cult members bit was stupid but that was the point honestly.. they did it to make the critics angry.
The Kotter skit was gold.. getting Buscemi was a nice steal but I loved how Myers had something to do. One of his best last skits on the show. I honestly love the Screaming Office skit.. that being said I think Tim wasn’t right for it. It shows how fun he and Farley was but I think Sandler or even Elliot coulda done it better. I loved the end, letting Meadows win was a nice twist and something no one would expect since Farley was always so huge.
The end’s pure goofy but makes the show one of a kind.
I always get really sad at that ending still with John, Kelly, and his son in it when he was real little. They both looked so happy with life, I know John was in his high spot then. Poor Jet, he didn’t deserve the awful stuff that happened to him, RIP.
Solid show with the exception of the Tiny Office sketch, Travolta really enjoyed being there.
The Brando sketch should’ve been moved the front of the show, ditto for the Kotter sketch, perhaps they could’ve done the sketch-fake ad-sketch thing they sometimes do before the second commercial break. Does anybody know if anything was moved in the rerun?
Notice Janeane is wearing the same wig in the Bathroom Monkey sketch that she wore in the HHT ad, they were obviously filmed on the same day. I also noticed that she’s wearing her real hair during the shower part. Did they not have wigs that could get wet in 1994?
Laura’s wig in the Tiny Office sketch looked ridiculous, why not use her real hair>
Also, Janeane’s wig looked great in the Dracula sketch. That sweatshirt in the “Self Defense” sketch barely fit her because she’s so tiny.
I remembered three things from this episode – the cold open, Dracula, and the self-defense sketch (no one ever talks about that sketch so I’d almost started to think I’d made it up). After seeing much more homophobic material on SNL and elsewhere over the years, I’m not as critical of the Dracula piece now, and it’s something that would be very silly to get on a high horse about…it’s just that I don’t really find the whole gawking aspect very funny, and McKean as the resident flaming joke also isn’t very funny. Again, not extremely offensive, just not amusing to me.
“Not extremely offensive, just not amusing to me” is probably how I’d sum up the episode. Travolta’s whole persona has always been corny, outside of a few strong dramatic roles, so it was a good thing that this episode leaned into his cheesiness, which made the cold open, the monologue, and Coffee Tawk very charming. This installment was a good way for the latter to go out – if I ignore the weak Myers tropes, this has the same basic and likeable vibe of the early pieces (I still wish they’d brought Paul Baldwin back for the last one).
The standout sketch for me is Larry King and Brando, which is just a great deal of goofy fun, perfect use of Kevin Nealon’s strengths as a performer – he never had that nasty edge to him that most new additions of the early ’90s had, and he never tried to prove how funny he was through shouting and noises.
Farley’s Update piece is another highlight – probably one of the best things he ever did on the show. Even the office sketch is more restrained than many moments with Farley these last two seasons. I know the general idea is this sketch “ruins” the episode, but I can’t say I thought it was any worse than Dracula, self-defense (which I’d call more pointless than bad), or the hard of hearing mobster (a good ending and a lot of stalling to get to that point, almost ruined by Sandler’s shout-slurring). It’s just sort of the usual mid-90s slog – aimless and loud.
The only ‘bad’ moment for this episode for me is the Sandler and Spade Update piece, which made my blood curdle, as it does when it returns later this season. Aggressively self-indulgent junk.
The goodnights are, in a way, nice and clever, but also have the feel of a rictus grin – there’s something ghoulish underneath the FUN FUN FUN. I did laugh at them putting Seal in a Sandy wig.
So, anyway…a solid episode, and one that manages to stand out from many of the worst trends of this season, but not one I can say I’d rush to watch again. There are actually a few season 20 episodes that are quite a bit worse I’ve watched more often, because they had something in them – a sketch, or an energy, or a performance – that connected with me. This, solid and competent and admirable, did not.
I have always wondered if the Larry King interview would have been better with Chris Elliott playing Brando. I like Travolta in it but Chris was always hilarious doing Brando on Letterman.
The Gay Dracula sketch isn’t a great moment in comedy, but I find it pretty funny (although the ending is dumb) and it’s particularly nice to find a S20 sketch that:
-makes good use of Kevin Nealon and some frequently misused cast members this season (Elliott and McKean)–even Garofalo, while a straight role, gets some good lines in
-gives the host a good, funny role that he seems to be enjoying
I’d say this episode is a big improvement over the first two. The only real downers are (1) Self-Defense Class (plays like something a high schooler would write) and (2) Farley and Meadows screaming at each other in the office. They’re both just really lazy attempts at humor.
But let’s not dwell on the negative, every thing else in the show is pretty good. I particularly enjoyed Travolta as Brando and Nealon as Larry King. One of the best sketches of the season honestly.
Anyways, a fun episode, and you can tell the cast had a pretty fun time doing the episode as well (which is rare this season). It’s kind of amazing that it took this long for Travolta to finally host the show.
Apparently Travolta was supposed to host all the way back in Season 3, but dropped out unexpectedly (this is after SNF came out, but he was still on WBK at the time and getting ready to film Grease).
Speaking of the “We Go Together” number at the end of this ep, did anyone watch the Grease Sing-a-Long on CBS last night? I was pretty amused by all the muted and not printed dirty words from the “Greased Lightning” number though “shit” was represented by a bunch of typed symbols!
The goodnights are replaced with a NYC background and a generic credit roll on the Peacock version of this episode. I can only assume because of musical clearances.
Wimps.
RIP Squiggy 🙁
Was just watching Used Cars the night before too which I totally forgot had McKean and Lander partnered up again as those weird techie guys who hack into the tv station. I always feel like I jinxed someone when they die right after I watched them in something lol
I can’t remember the episode, but I think Lander appeared a couple years later in some weird Bob Dole dream sequence cold open.
He was in Lisa Kudrow’s episode, yes.
Very funny, talented guy – sorry to hear he’s gone.
According to Tom Davis’s (RIP) 2010 memoir, Lander was in the running for the season 11 cast: He was “flown out to New York, told he was hired, then told he wasn’t. That was Lorne’s doing….”
I watching this episode when it originally aired and I thought that the “Office Mates” sketch was funny. In fact, I remembered it and searched for years to find a clip of that particular skit.
However, I remember reading a review in the New Yorker or some similar periodical where they absolutely hated this sketch.
So, did that YMCA women’s self defense skit remind anyone else of the King Of The Hill episode Bobby Goes Nuts (the episode where Bobby takes a women’s self defense class at YMCA)? That episode was written by Norm Hiscock. He most likely wrote this skit too.
That Kotter sketch is pure gold. Dead on Horshack impression from David, too.
Season 20 Episode 03 John Travolta
If you are watching this on Peacock, you shouldn’t bother. You won’t get the cold open, Coffee Talk, The Vampire Sketch, the Welcome Back Kotter sketch, Seal, or the Grease themed closing.
– Cold Open was definitely a great start, 5 seconds too long but still good.
– Leads to a nice monologue honoring some of John’s former movies.
** EARLY OBSERVATIONS–One thing is for certain; the kid Robbie from the Cobra Kai series definitely took the haircut that Travolta is rocking on stage right now.
SHOCKING REVELATION…99% of you had NOT seen Pulp Fiction yet when you watched this episode live, it just got released in the states the night before this episode and you definitely didn’t see it Cannes now did you? So, when you watched that Welcome Back Kotter sketch initially you probably only got the Reservoir Dog references…
– Toilet Monkey was amusing. The peacock version mentions “The orangutan won’t wear the diaper” while the original does not. JAG doing really well so far this season.
– Coffee Talk. Now, I loved Mike Myers for his full body of work but I was well over Linda Richman at this point. I didn’t enjoy it. Not saying Travolta was bad, it just didn’t keep my attention.
– Vampire Sketch: Look, lots of controversy here but if you could go back in time and sub out Nealon’s lines of “something is wrong with him” and replace it with “he is hiding something from us” and getting rid of the line “he’s a fruit”, which has never been a funny word, and we could air this all the way up through 2018! Everything works really well here because the joke is about the count being insecure and the subtext of Travolta’s own rumors. It was well done minus the Renfield Bat reveal at the end. McKean with his best moment of the year I am guessing. I really liked Travolta as the Count.
– Weekend Update: 9 of 13 jokes hit (IMO) but the religious cult guys are the absolute worst, Chris Farley does a nice job with his streaker sketch.
– Tarantino’s Welcome Back Kotter was inspired. Spade super solid as Horchak and nothing to not like. To be fair, not really funny, but definitely enjoyable.
– Self Defense Sketch: I am not finding it quite as bad as the above comments and I laughed quite a bit at the “What’s the helmet for?” that Elliott mutters early on. Ultimately, it was too long and not very good.
– CONFLICT brewing: I didn’t like the Larry King sketch with Travolta as Brando. I am really surprised at how much love it is getting above. That being said, it wasn’t bad it was just, I get it, Brando is a D, Larry King panders, and the performances are pretty spot on. I just didn’t find the antics funny.
– Office Mates: Let’s have Farley do what he does best. Yell his lines for no reason and mix in Meadows….only fun bit was David Spade getting that “get out bitch” from Meadows.
– Hearing Problem: Part I was fine, Part II was not funny at all, but I guess necessary to set up Part III. Part III was funny until Sandler started to leave. Jay Mohr ad-libbing at the end spectacularly!
– Again, not watching this on Peacock robs you off the top 4 moments of this episode, none more important than the ending. This cast actually looks like it is having fun! As stated above, a brilliant close.
– Top sketch- For me, it was The Vampire Sketch. Although Kotter and the closing were exceptional.
– Worst sketch was Office Mates by a good margin
– Top performer was John Travolta. SNL cast, I am going to give the nod to Janine Garafalo.
– Worst performer was Adam Sandler. Chris Farley giving him a run though.
** Peacock has the Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey for this episode but the recording I am watching online of the full episode does not have it.
I actually enjoy the Self Defense class sketch. Elliott as that sort of hapless character is inherently hilarious to me and he sells it well.
This has been the best episode of season 20 thus far, I found a majority of it to be very solid stuff and nothing that I hated (exception being the women’s self defense class).
Cold Opening: loved the premise of hearing staying alive as the camera shoots from the shoes to the head, yay it’s John Travolta! I thought it was a refreshing idea to use the host and also not do something news or political based. Only thing that annoyed me was I love this song and was awaiting to hear at least half of it, instead of it having to be sped up during the finale minute etc. But overall loved it! 5 stars.
Monologue, It does have a bit of cheesiness to it, but I don’t find it tacky. I thought he did a good job in the monologue and it was short enough that the new roles Vs old roles didn’t overwhelm. 4 stars.
Monkey commercial, I already mentioned in the first episode of this season that I was hopeful as I enjoyed a good SNL spoof commercial but didn’t like this one or the headache one, though think I liked the headache one a bit more. Also they look nearly identical since JG is wearing the same wig as the headache commercial. 2 stars.
I actually prefered the later part of the show Vs the beginning aside the cold opening and monologue. I wasn’t a fan of the coffee talk but at all, at this point it’s so overdone, it’s on the Level of Ginny which Wigg played way too much or Shannon’s Superstar. Enough, but give Travolta props for being a trooper. 1 star.
The Vampire sketch I didn’t hate but didn’t love either. Thought it was kinda dumb humor and also it didn’t really do much, as opposed to when James Woods hosted several seasons back, and played a vampire that came on to all three female cast members (Hooks, Jackson, & Dunn), but in the premise of finding out their sexual history as he was concerned of contracting AIDS. I thought that sketch was super funny and clever, versus this one where it was way too long and not a stand out piece. 2.5 stars.
Weekend update got better this week, so I’m remaining optimistic, and was wrong by confusing last weeks with this weeks, but appreciated Farley toned down and calm and talking about baseball. Only thing I didn’t like was the really random cult weather report done by spade and overly annoying Sandler at this point.
Welcome Back Kotter, ok this piece was done well but because I only know this show by pop culture reference and name, (I have never seen it as this was way before my time and not something I ever had interest to get into later on as opposed to more 80s esque stuff like facts of life and Miami Vice). So it is a bit hard to follow, I did watch Resovoir Dogs for the first and only time with a boyfriend in college, but this was 20+ years after it was released, but appreciated the Steve Bushimi Cameo at the very end and also when Travolta is combing his hair, in a way where I feel he’s done in Grease, but obviously it’s more so a reference to kotter or dogs? Either way thought this was a really well done sketch, and great use of cast. 4.5 stars.
Self Defense Class was my least favorite sketch of the night. Just dumb and cheap humor imo. Way too long. No stars.
The Marlon Brandon Larry King interview I felt was somewhat amusing, perhaps I liked the beginning and the end, and feel like Nealon deserves props for staying in character throughout, but thought it dragged and wasn’t into it. 2.5 stars.
My favorite sketches were the finale two.
Office Mates was not the typical one sided Farley yelling. I liked Medows as his opposite. The only other person I would have liked maybe more than him would have been Travolta, that could have been funny. Find the ending to be fun loving and overall a simple but good sketch. 4.75 stars.
Hearing Problem was my favorite, and thought it got funnier as it picked up. Loved all the rhyming words that they came up with as a replacement for Nealons lines and then Sandler, and ending with Travolta yelling at Mohr who did a great job in staying character. 5 stars.
The ending was a cherry on top, thought that it was really great to see the cast come together and pull off this musical number instead of the typical goodnights.
I know musical reviews aren’t rated but this is the only one this far in the season I’ve felt like writing about as the other 2 didn’t stand out to me. Thought Seal did a great job, wasn’t familiar w his first song but liked it a lot. Thought he did a wonderful job doing Crazy. I was very impressed that both the host and the musical guest did such a good job, where as I find most of the time it’s either you watch for the host or the musical act but not both. Thought this was a great episode overall, even better than some of the bombs from season 19, despite Hartman still being there, he was so underused at many points, so it felt like several episodes were turning into too much over the top Farley & Sandler at times, and way too much coffee talk. Something that used to be promising and fun, just really got way too much attention, versus things in earlier seasons like the McLaughlin group which could have had at least a dozen instead of 4, and none would have ever gotten redundant and irritating, as Carvey just had a way that Myers IMO could never fill, but feel like that’s comparing caviar to crackers.
Nick, my immediate first thought re: the self defense sketch was Bobby Hill. I had no idea about the writing connection with Norm Hiscock. Thanks for pointing that out.
Credit to our own Anthony Peter Coleman for finding this article, which shows a graphics sheet giving some writing credits for this episode (best as I could discern the initials)…
https://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/the-daily-heller-snls-graphic-parody/
* Cold Open — Steve Lookner, Jim Downey, David Mandel
* Kingpin (assuming this is “Hearing Problem?”) — Norm Macdonald, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Lew Morton, Steve Koren, “LH” (?)
* Vampire — Ian Maxtone-Graham, Lew Morton, Steve Koren, Norm Macdonald, Jim Downey, Robert Smigel
* Coffee Talk — Mike Myers, Robin Ruzan
* Kotter — Al Franken, David Mandel, Jay Mohr, Quentin Tarantino(!)
* Larry & Brando — Kevin Nealon, Steve Koren, Steve Lookner, John Travolta
* Co-Workers — Tim Meadows
* Woman’s Self Defense Class — Norm Hiscock, Chris Elliott, Janeane Garofalo
* Goodnights — David Mandel, Lew Morton, Steve Koren, Robin Ruzan, Brian Kelley
Very interesting! And it looks like there was a Chris Elliott sketch called “The Food Kisser” that got cut.
Someone once said in another review poor Tim Meadows getting in a screaming match with Chris Farley was like bringing a knife to a gun fight, it is a very apt description.