Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
DECISION 94
incumbent Democrat (CSE) gives concession speech amidst GOP landslide win
— My copy is missing the beginning of this cold opening, in which Kevin plays a news anchor introducing the concession speech that Elliott’s character gives. I only point this out because that ends up being Kevin’s ONLY appearance all night, and anyone watching the same copy I’m watching of this episode would think Kevin was completely absent all night. After getting a decent amount of airtime in the first four episodes of this season, I think tonight is the turning point where Kevin’s airtime takes a turn for the worse and he starts coming off invisible and unnecessary this season.
— A good laugh from Elliott’s mention of a murdered nun attack ad run against him.
— An okay walk-on from Jay’s Mickey Rourke and Tim’s Rick James.
— I liked Elliott’s “I honestly just felt people read more” line.
— Elliott sets up his delivery of “Live from New York…” by saying he has one more big regret. Much like Rob Schneider revealing “Live from New York…” as bad news in an apologetic manner in the preceding season’s Singapore Caning cold opening, this seems to be a self-referential way for SNL to acknowledge their own declining quality and the ire that viewers had developed towards the show lately.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
ex-Annie host sings “Tomorrow” for loser Democrats, MIM & DAS say “stop”
— Sarah: “This has not been a great week.” She ain’t kidding (see my post-show thoughts to understand what I’m referring to), though she’s not referring to SNL here.
— David: “We really don’t like the Annie song.” That makes two of us. I despise “Tomorrow”, and that includes Sarah’s parody of it here.
— David and Mike are doing nothing to help this tepid monologue. Even David’s comical line about even Ellen Cleghorne being a republican was delivered awkwardly.
STARS: *½
ETERNA REST
Eterna Rest coffin mattress is well-suited for your loved one’s remains
— It feels like every fake ad this season stars Janeane and/or Michael.
— Ugh, that disgusting animated graphic of a corpse slowly rotting. Only in season 20 would you see something like that. I remember an SNL fan once making a post on a (now-defunct) SNL message board, listing this animated rotting corpse among some of the many vile, tasteless things that season 20 contains. I always crack up when I think of that post. I recall the tasteless things listed off in that post being something like “…anal-raping UFOs, vomiting cops, a graphic of a rotting corpse, a sketch ending with two men being murdered just for pitching a commercial containing an interracial kiss, a sketch ending with 19th century children agreeing to be raped by a devil behind a shed, etc.” Seriously, someone could make a complete long list out of every single vile, tasteless thing this season contains.
— Didn’t care much for this overall ad, though the performances were fine, and I guess Michael’s ending line about how long the coffin air freshener lasts (“Just for the period where it would really stink”) was kinda funny.
STARS: **
GOOD MORNING BROOKLYN
(host) & James Barone (JAM) offer local flavor
— Here comes Jay Mohr’s attempt at a recurring sketch as an original character. I like Jay as a celebrity impressionist, but as for his character skills, ehhh, I dunno…
— This sketch so far – oof. Just a whole bunch of “fuhgettaboutit”s and other tiresome, lazy, cliched stereotypical New York humor.
— Adam’s walk-on gets a huge reaction from the audience.
— The clip of Adam’s Sleepless in Seattle “appearance” got a pretty good laugh from me.
— Adam’s interview ended weakly.
— Aaaaaand there goes our obligatory Farley pratfall of the night.
— Overall, a poor attempt at a recurring sketch. Unfortunately, they end up bringing this sketch back anyway, later this season. I guess I can understand, as the studio audience did seem into this.
STARS: *½
ALTERNATING GUITARISTS
host alternately sings duets with nice (MMK) & naughty (ADS) guitarists
— Okay, I can appreciate the change of pace they’re going for here, with the unique structure and the use of the home base stage, but man, this sketch is not coming off well AT ALL.
— The novelty of Sarah’s back-and-forth transitioning between Michael and Adam’s vastly different singing styles has gotten old fast, and Adam’s just doing his tired loud, crass shtick, immediately following a sketch where he had just played a loud, crass character.
— I kinda like the random inclusion of Tim as a Midas guy, but nothing funny is actually being done with him.
— Adam and Tim, to Michael: “(singing) We were only having fun, please put away your gun.” Uh, what gun? Geez, this sketch is so half-assed, they couldn’t even be bothered to give McKean a prop gun.
— Overall, I wanted to like this so much more than I did.
— Tonight’s episode has gotten off to a terrible start.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Gil Graham relates more of his hard-luck concert-going experiences
— Thank god Norm has come along to give me SOMETHING to laugh at tonight.
— Norm has developed what would go on to be his trademark of staring down the camera in a deadpan manner while the audience is reacting to the punchlines.
— Speaking of audience reactions, I love hearing their reactions to some of Norm’s very Norm-esque jokes, such as the one about a hangover-free vodka that causes “massive anal bleeding”. Much like “whore”, “anal” is another word that’s always inherently funny when delivered by Norm.
— I really could do without Gil Graham becoming a recurring character, though this thankfully ends up being his final appearance.
— I was a little lenient on the season premiere’s Gil Graham commentary, but his commentary tonight is noticeably weaker and is going on even longer. Adam’s cracking up at his own material more than I am.
STARS: ***½
FORTUNE COOKIE FACTORY
Confucius (CHF) visits the abusive owner of a fortune cookie shop (MIM)
— Oh, god, here begins a long streak of consecutive episodes featuring Mike “Should’ve Left With Phil Hartman” Myers playing bad Asian stereotype characters, almost all of whom have the EXACT SAME look and voice. (I’ll let it slide in the classic soon-to-come Japanese Game Show sketch, but don’t expect me to be lenient towards it in other sketches from this season.)
— What was with David’s Gap Girls-esque delivery of “Whatevaaarrr!” before angrily exiting the scene?
— Are Mike’s relentless insults to his employees even intended to be funny? This sketch is god-awful.
— Now they throw in Farley as Confucius to “save” the sketch.
— Farley’s exaggerated performance is doing nothing for me. He also keeps doing that certain over-the-top, hammy laugh that we would hear from him A LOT this season. I’ve always gone back-and-forth on that laugh; sometimes I find it kinda goofily endearing, other times I find it just plain annoying. Guess which side I fall on in this sketch.
— Confucius getting his wisdom from Bazooka Joe would’ve been a clever ironic twist in a better sketch, but is just falling flat in THIS sketch.
STARS: *
THE CASTING COUCH
Robert Evans (MMK) gives starlet (host) showbiz lesson
— Tonight’s episode continues to get more and more offensive and questionable, as we now get an uncomfortably skeevy sketch that has too much of a rape-y feel. Even if that’s the idea, there’s nothing laugh-worthy about this premise.
— The bit with one of the callers being a female oncologist expressing concern over the state of Robert Evans’ skin was a pretty funny idea, but even THAT’S not working. And what was with the oncologist initially speaking in a sultry voice before clearing her throat and suddenly speaking in a stern, professional voice? An odd gag that landed with a thud.
— Speaking of the uncomfortable nature of this sketch, the silence from the studio audience during the particularly skeevy portions of this sketch is UNSETTLING. This is a comedy sketch I’m watching?!?
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bang & Blame”
MUNCHKINLAND
the Munchkins want nothing to do with accidental hero Dorothy (JAG)
— (*sigh*) As if this episode hasn’t already been unbearable enough, here comes a notorious sketch that’s often cited as a prime example of this disastrous season’s faults, as well as how ridiculous it is that they built such a fancy, elaborate, expensive-looking set for such an abysmal sketch that lasted no longer than two-and-a-half minutes.
— I feel bad watching Janeane in this sketch after once hearing about a backstage story that another SNL fan read in a Laura Kightlinger autobiographical book. My memory of the story is fuzzy, but basically, sometime before this Munchkinland sketch was performed in the live show, Laura, Adam, Farley, and Janeane (the latter already wearing her Dorothy costume) complained to Lorne in his office about having to do this sketch. During that complaining, Janeane had an emotional breakdown, at one point yelling in tears “Why am I doing this?!? I’m killing my career!!” This sketch can pretty much be pinpointed as what officially broke Janeane and would lead to her looking miserable and joyless in a large number of her performances for the remainder of her short-lived SNL stint.
— We’re in the last 15-20 minutes of tonight’s episode, and Ellen is making her first and ONLY appearance of the whole night, just playing a small role in this tripe. She (understandably) looks just as miserable as Janeane must feel.
— Some of the other cast members also don’t look too happy performing this, especially David (though that’s par for the course for him this season).
— Sarah-as-Glinda-the-Good-Witch’s cheerfully delivered line about getting “pissed off” is only time I’ve come close to cracking a smile.
— Ohhh, god, this sketch is insufferable so far.
— Awful ending.
— Overall, yep, this sketch definitely lived up to its negative reputation, and truly does epitomize some of season 20’s problems. Jesus Christ, it’s almost becoming morbidly fascinating to see how low tonight’s episode can continue to sink.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Don’t Sleep, I Dream”
MICHAEL O’DONOGHUE TRIBUTE
BIM eulogizes the recently-deceased MOD
LAN sings Madam Butterfly aria while MOD makes a Soiled Kimono {rerun}
— Sudden Bill Murray appearance. I should be excited by an SNL legend like him appearing, but I just feel sorry for him having to be associated with tonight’s trainwreck of an episode. I can’t even imagine what must’ve gone through his mind as he sat backstage witnessing tonight’s episode.
— As I chronologically go through SNL’s timeline in this daily SNL project of mine and become attached to so many cast members, it’s always sad to hear a mention of a cast member’s death.
— Some good dark humor from Bill, regarding Michael O’Donoghue going straight to hell.
— Bill’s tribute speech is simultaneously well-done, funny, and heartfelt. So nice to have Bill to add much-needed class to the proceedings tonight.
— A solid choice for a Mr. Mike sketch to show an encore presentation of as a tribute to him. For my thoughts on the original sketch, read it in this episode review.
— As I said in my afore-linked review of the original sketch, the encore presentation of this sketch really emphasizes how far SNL’s quality has fallen by this point in 1994. The contrast between the quality of this Mr. Mike encore and the rest of tonight’s episode is jarring and sad.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Aaaaaand the turning point of season 20 has officially begun. After a string of episodes ranging from decent to strong, the true reality of season 20 has suddenly come crashing down HARD. A dreadful, dreadful episode tonight, one that felt like it got worse and worse as the night progressed, culminating in a particularly abysmal and notorious Wizard of Oz sketch that practically destroyed Janeane Garofalo’s soul just for having to perform it. Not counting the cold opening, there wasn’t a single sketch that I came remotely close to liking all night. Not one. single. sketch. This may be the first time that’s happened since I covered the also-infamous season 11. Hell, this may even top the worst of season 11, and maybe even the worst of season 6. I mean, Jesus Christ, none of the actual sketches tonight got a rating higher than one-and-a-half stars. That’s GOTTA be a first in this SNL project. I don’t calculate average sketch ratings for each episode review, but if someone were to do that for every episode I’ve reviewed up to this point (or at least for every notoriously bad episode), I’m pretty sure tonight’s episode would be the one with the lowest rating average. If it wasn’t for Norm’s Weekend Update, I shudder to think how even more unwatchable I would’ve found this episode. I’m aware that this was a bad week for the show behind the scenes, between Michael O’Donoghue’s aforementioned death and Lorne’s baby being born with complications. Knowing all of that just adds to the already depressing vibe of this episode. What’s even more depressing is knowing that as bad as this episode was, it doesn’t even end up being what I feel is the worst of the season. Yes, there are a few soon-to-come instances of this season sinking even lower than tonight. (*shudder*)
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dana Carvey)
a colossal step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
John Turturro
For the life of me, I don’t remember the Oz sketch. I do remember turning it off after “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth” knowing it was going to be bad. Now going to try to find the Laura K book.
I also wonder if it was so bad because of Lorne Michaels having a terrible/crazy week. According to LFNY, his son was born this week and there had been problems. Then MOD died, so he was emotionally and physically exhausted. Then this happened:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/only-an-snl-wake-could-be-this-wild
And hey, Stipe got to say “fuck” in “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth”. That was probably the least of the show’s problems at this point. (Thankfully Turturro is better.)
I am from the UK does anyone know where I can see the infamous OZ sketch?
You’re bothered by death-oriented humor so soon after MOD died? I’d take it as tribute were the sketch funnier. O’Donoghue was the prince of darkness, the unflinching flesh-clogged chainsaw of sick humor. “Mr. Mike: The Life and Work of Michael O’Donoghue” by Dennis Perrin is one to read when you can.
Yes. MOD probably would’ve raised a Soiled Kimono and said “The rest of the show was terrible, but that commercial was funny. Well done. Also, this cast is awful. Thank you for your time.”
Another possible tribute clip if they had the time: The Ray Charles show when he was so obnoxious that Ray Charles said friends of his were going to beat him up at the after-show party.
The guy who listed off this season’s bad qualities was probably me. I definitely remember doing that on the SNL.com forum.
Steven, was your username on SNL.com TheLazenby? That’s who I remember making that post.
I’ve been anticipating the SJP review ever since you started this project because this episode is extremely fascinating. I’ve probably rewatched it as many times as my favorite episodes; it’s so interesting seeing it completely fall apart sketch by sketch, culminating in Munchkinland which *has* to be somewhere on the top 10 of SNL’s lowest moments. You can see everyone’s souls dying.
Personally, I think this is straight up the worst night for SNL ever. There’s never been (and probably never will be) an episode as dire, unfunny, and completely devoid of joy as this one. It makes total sense considering what was happening in regards to backstage problems and Lorne and O’Donoghue’s death at the time and so on…but still, that doesn’t take away from how insanely awful this was. It’s like the complete antithesis of everything SNL should be. Alternating Guitarists straight up feels like an unfinished sketch, The Casting Couch and Fortune Cookie Factory aren’t funny enough to account for how needlessly off-color they are, and it’s unbelievable that Munchkinland even got past script readthroughs and had that extensive of a set built.
At least R.E.M. got to play three songs, but even that’s bittersweet because it feels like it was just to fill up time, since nobody’s heart was in it that week.
The only positive for me about the Evans sketch is that the whole thing is so repulsive Sarah Jessica Parker seems to tap into the atmosphere and gives a strong performance (either that or she, like me, was genuinely repulsed…), but what is this doing on a comedy show?
The album R.E.M. was promoting at the time (“Monster”) was a staple of used CD bins for many years afterward …
Other than “Commie Hunting Season” the Wizard of Oz sketch might be least favorite in the show’s history.
I remember this episode well. I was in 10 grade and had a horrific sinus infection at the time. I remember laying on the couch sick as hell watching this shit. What an embarrassing show. I guess Sanders and Foreman are somehow worse. Probably Reiser as well
Love this review. There is something so fascinatingly awful about this episode that reading your notes makes me want to immediately watch it again. The only debate is what the show’s low point is. For me it’s Good Morning Brooklyn, which cements Jay Mohr’s awfulness—there’s a reason he was gasping for airtime even in a dire season like this. Note that REM play three songs off their most recent disc. I can’t think of another instance of this, as usually when a non-hosting musical act gets three songs, they do two new and one classic.
I think the sketch kind of sums up what the biggest problem with Mohr was – he’s really just a discount Sandler. He’s a little better at impressions, and in a Saved by the Bell/California Dreams way, is cuter, but anything else he brought to the table, Sandler could already do. He was on the show at the absolute wrong time, and was probably lucky to even make it into that second season.
Provided I have the right ASCAP cue (and looking through them in order of Work ID #, I think I do), it took five people to write the guitarists sketch.
https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/search/workID/498132508
Let that sink in for a moment.
Also, Stipe drops an “F” bomb toward the end of “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”
(Lastly, personal trivia: the morning this episode finished was the morning I was born.)
At least next week’s episode has the famous guest appearance by David Hasselhoff during Weekend Update. Apart from that high note, I can’t remember there being anything particularly bad in that one.
Other than Myers and Spade as Chinese restaurant workers, the only part of the Turturro episode that I remember intensely disliking is the awful Joey Buttafuoco cameo. The rest I thought was either about typical for the season, or decent.
This is the most depressing episode the show has ever aired, along with the Paul Reiser episode later in the season. Even the Chevy Chase episode from 1980, which might be a close third, causes you to disassociate and you can start to lose track of the sheer deadness of it all. The main set and the atmosphere also feels very dark – literally dark.
I think Michael would have loved this particular ad airing the week of his death. He probably would have said a rotting corpse was the best visual representation of SNL anyway.
Other than the cold open (which is a very accurate representation of the 1994 campaigns and is well-performed by Chris Elliott), the fake ad, and yes, Norm’s WU and I’d also say Sandler’s Gil Graham (which makes me laugh, especially being beaten up at a Rockettes show and enjoying the experience), the whole episode is wretched. And wretched in so many different ways – from flat out lazy (Good Morning Brooklyn) to nauseating (the Robert Evans sketch), to wanting to crawl inside yourself from sheer embarrassment (duelling guitarists), to just wondering how in the world any of this even got on the air (Wizard of Oz).
I don’t think Sarah Jessica Parker was that great a choice of host anyway. Juliette Lewis, the original choice, would have fit in much better for this time period. SJP has always been very cutesy and very cloying, and very “earnest.” I say that as someone who was generally a fan of hers in the ’90s. It’s not a good mix for this era of SNL, which was very callous. Seeing her trying so hard in the guitarists sketch just makes it worse. Her overly sincere work also helps sink the monologue, although even Buck Henry couldn’t have salvaged that. As much as, on paper, I kind of appreciate the IDEA of such a heavily political monologue, it just feels forced. The Carvey episode is full of audience members who applaud and cheer positive mentions of Republicans or digs at Democrats, so they may have wanted to lean into that more in the week of a Democratic wipeout, but…no effort was put into any of the jokes, so the whole thing dies.
The yellowface parade of Myers in this season is demoralizing and also incredibly unfunny (and in the Turturro episode actually ruins a sketch that otherwise would have been strong), although to say one positive thing, it feels like there’s a moment in this fortune cookie sketch where Spade is trying to lapse into even MORE stereotypical “Engrish” and Myers shuts it down.
Murray’s tribute to O’Donoghue is perfect, and I love the clip they use (and Laraine’s role is the strongest any woman will have all season).
For me, other than Reiser, this is the nadir of the season, and the next two episodes have some moments I care a great deal for. It’s just the season as a whole is so wrong-footed and the decay of the show is so systemic that NBC well and truly had no choice but to clean house the way they did.
I’ll give McKean (who wrote it, I’m pretty sure) credit for prescience in realizing that there’s comic potential in Robert Evans, though I think what sinks the sketch is that it’s TOO accurate about him. Givd me “God’s Autobiography” from MR. SHOW any day. (Yes, the two main impersonations of Robert Evans in 90s comedy were performed by each of the McGill brothers.)
Norm’s “Just like a snake” has to be the funniest line of the show, even if the sketches had been written better.
You’re right, William, McKean wrote The Casting Couch with David Mandel.
Makes you wonder how Juliette Lewis would have fared hosting this ep.
My sweet Janeane gets her spirit broken by that Wizard Of Oz sketch, why wasn’t it cut at dress rehearsal? That had to know that it was going to bomb.
Janeane looked hot in that wig in “Good Morning Brooklyn” , sadly that’s all I can say about that turd.
Someone on the old SNL usenet group said that “Laura Kightlinger can get lost in a wig” in regards to the Cold Open. She did look good.
R.E.M. were the most consistent thing about this episode, and that says a lot.
Here are some different attempts at a promo for the episode, from an REM documentary.
Would you believe Murray is 44 here?
Great review, Stooge. I had never heard this backstage story about the Wizard of Oz sketch before and I’m fascinated that even Farley and Sandler thought that sketch was below their standards, since there was a lot of not so great material that they didn’t seem to mind performing, or in Sandler’s case even writing. And to be fair, I think the Fortunie Cook sketch is even worse.
On another topic, Michael McKean didn’t seem to mind being part of the writing process, unlike Chris Elliott who thought it was unfair that he had to write without being paid at this point of his career. One way or the other it was sad that two brilliant comedians like them only joined SNL at this particular season.
I was 14 when this episode first aired, and had been consistently watching SNL every week since the 1988-1989 season, and I remember this being the only time I actually turned off the show before it was over, tuning out before the Munchkins sketch. That still to this day is the only time I didn’t make it through a whole episode because I was so turned off by the material. I would actually rank this as worse than the infamous Malcolm Mc Dowell episode of 1980, which is saying a lot. The next worse I would say is the George Foreman coming up the month after the SJP episode.
McDowell is a much better host.
It’s a sad day when that cold open ends up being the best sketch of the night. (It’s not even that good)…but I do love the irony of Elliot saying “one more thing I regret…LFNY! Etc” Yeah, you’re definitely going to regret tuning in live to this ep. 🙂
I agree with the other commenters here, I think O’Donoghue would have been honored to have that Eterna-Rest commercial air on the show following his untimely death. It’s a pretty funny commercial, and the rotting corpse demo is a good send-up of commercials that have visual demonstrations like that…overall, it’s a pretty funny gag.
And now the rest of the episode…oy! Good Morning, Brooklyn is not so bad, so who am I kidding, it’s bad…at least the audience seemed to enjoy it. Which is more then can be said for the other sketches. I don’t know what the attempts was with the dueling guitarists sketch was. Sarah’s dancing is tough to watch…and their’s just nothing particularly comedic about the whole thing. What was the point? Casting Couch was dismal…I guess a little too on the nose. Especially in hindsight. A sleazy director trying to get in bed with women by promising them roles in movies…wow, hilarious!…yikes… Fortune Cookie sketch just sits on your head and crushes it…
Now the Wizard of Oz one. You know, I remember watching this episode live, but I don’t have any concrete memory of this sketch. The pics here are familiar…I know I’ve seen it, but not since it aired. I’ve heard that it is an infamously bad sketch, but why? I can’t find this anywhere skit online (not even the transcript). What was the premise? Why was it so bad? Can someone help me out here. Stooge’s review doesn’t really say what the sketch is about, just that it is so bad. Can someone give me some more details?
The sketch is basically what if Dorothy saved Oz and the Munchkins didn’t care? That’s it. The Munchkins telling Dorothy to GTFO, and jeering Glinda when she tries to speak on Dorothy’s behalf. Finally, Dorothy asks if she can at least crash somewhere for the night. They tell her no.
Oh and they also sing for her to GTFO.
That’s it.
For me the sketch is “better” than the Evans, duelling guitarists, and fortune cookie sketches, but that isn’t saying much. I think it is mostly remembered because it’s mentioned in that New York piece as such a huge money burn.
The Amy Poehler Oz Sketch from 2004 was a lot better and was post-Update sketch too.
Ehh even if I defend this season a ton this episode’s awful, no denying that, so is Sanders’s show. That being said the whole “it ruined the season,” statements on here are over-dramatic. It didn’t, they had 3 fun shows after this before the awful Foreman show. Unlike season 11 this year didn’t fall off the rails for such a consistent time, they rebounded as much as they lost.
This episode had 2 big issues: 1. Lorne lost control that week due to personal matters, and 2. SJP was just an awful excuse of a host. I feel so bad for Lorne when I watch this show.. all the stuff that happened to him was then followed by people digging at him, even Buck Henry did (which he apologized for later.) It shows a lot he did the show that week when he shoulda just delayed it.
SJP on the whole was just awful this show. Her monologue’s one of the most out of touch ones a host has done, reminds me of Arquette’s monologue in 1986 and a bit of Kellerman’s too. She comes out all arrogant then she goes into the piece. The Dems lost and she looked sore and delusional by the time it was done. Then she starts singing ages after she lost her voice and it’s a painful watch which never recovers. The forced comedy made it stupid Her hair looks real weird (too much hairspray lol,) which is kinda distracting. She ends up being a waste of a host which makes no sense because she had the broadway background to be a great live performer. She just never had a funny side to her.
Lewis woulda done a ton better. She was a lot younger and more hip and I see her fitting with the group more. It woulda been an odd show though but who knows maybe we wouldn’t have had 1 of those big 2 skits or maybe ignored both. It woulda been less of a trainwreck I think.
Thankfully the next three shows especially the first one rebounds. The next one itself is one of my favorite SNL episodes. Turtoro fits with the group well and made a new bestie in Sandler.
I’m glad someone else has a certain fondness for the Turturro episode, flaws and all.
Season 11 sort of has a few peaks as well later on (like the FFC episode, although you could argue that was a one-off), but I agree it’s more of a consistent slog post-Garr than season 20 is. Season 20 is all over the place, due to having a much more disparate cast. Season 20 also has a number of hosts who have such strong comic identities that they make the show their own – Carvey, Roseanne, Bob Newhart, Dan Aykroyd (for me he is the host of Goodman’s episode), Damon Wayans (although his episode should have been a bit better than it was).
There’s another fairly sweet spot coming up (Daniels/”Goodman”/Hyde Pierce/Newhart) and Turturro and Roseanne also have some really good moments. I think it’s just the worst of the season is so numbing that it overshadows the rest in the memory.
John, I think Aykroyd was there to simply help promote Tommy .Boy which was released around that time. But agreed it’s nice to think he was the host of that episode
Strummer, someone once told me that John was not able to fully participate in the episode because of unexpected filming commitments, which is why he has a lighter set of roles and they re-use his season 19 photos, so I thought that may have also been why Aykroyd has such a heavy role. I’m not sure though.
Around this time, it was announced that John Goodman would be joining Aykroyd in “Blues Brothers 2000”, hence Aykroyd’s multiple appearances in the Goodman episode (that film would not come out for another 3(!) years)
Curious to see chatter about the Roseanne episode. I find that one aggressively unfunny, particularly all of the humorless swipes at Tom Arnold. I mean, I’m all for mocking Tom Arnold, but can there be something resembling humor involved? But you do get the Hanukkah Song!
Roseanne’s episode is extremely bitter, and as a fan of hers in those years who got tired of her because of said bitterness, it’s not the most easy to watch, but her therapist sketch with Norm is one I think is great. I also appreciate that she (presumably) helped get two female-centric sketches on the air, one of which I actually even sort of liked (the prison talk show). The only sketch I heavily dislike is the one about stupid people not knowing the Civil War, which just feels like punching down.
I guess it’s tough to rate but the highs of this season are higher than anything in season 11 and especially season 6. It’s just that the lows are immeasurably low. Again how do you rate or measure this? Still say season 6 is the worst. That season didn’t have a stretch like Pee Wee, Lithgow, Hanks or Tomei, Travolta, and Carvey. Or even the non Foreman shows that close out 1994.
I’ve watched an old promo to the season premiere of this season and according to it, Juliette Lewis was originally supposed to host this episode but I guess she cancelled due to some type of issue and so I only assume that SJP was her last minute replacement.
You did the lord’s work today, Stooge–I wouldn’t blame you if you needed a few days off to recover from this one.
When I first saw this episode at the enlightened age of 10 years old, I just thought it was “Dumb”; Things being “offensive” or outright “Bad” didn’t really factor in until I was older. It wasn’t until this episode eventually reran on the old 3AM “Classic” shows when I saw this episode for what it really was; a toxic waste spill disguised as a funeral in comedy show clothing…the Only other episode this year that I feel may be WORSE than this one is Deion Sanders; Yes, WORSE than Foreman, Reiser, Saget & this one…and I would mentally prepare yourself for that one Now
Take this with a grain of salt, because the only parts of this episode I’ve seen recently are the ones online right now: cold open, Good Morning Brooklyn and Alternating Guitarists… and I have hazy memories of Fortune Cookie and Casting Couch from Comedy Central reruns around 1998.
-There’s no way this episode (or most of season 20) can be as bad as the worst of season 6 (pretty much everything aside from Gould, Karen Black, Bill Murray and Ebersol’s episode).
-I don’t know what her singing is like in the monologue, but she does pretty well in the McKean parts of “alternating guitarists.” I had forgotten the backstage stories from this week until reading all the comments, so when I watched this sketch the other day, I thought “if SJP’s intro had said something like ‘this is how I feel as I meet different men in the dating world,’ the whole thing would have made more sense and been passable.” But that kind of attention to detail is what Lorne would be doing – and he wasn’t around this week to do it, I guess. There’s a story in the Hill/Weingard book (I think) about a sketch where someone comes to the door with flowers, and Lorne instantly said, “make it candy. Otherwise, the audience will be anxious about why they’re not putting the flowers in water.” Little touches like that make a huge difference, and would have made this sketch relatively more palatable. That’s not to say it’s great; SJP’s singing with Adam is forced, and Adam’s first time singing is way too mumbly for any jokes to land. They could have made this a sort of quasi-comedic piece if they wanted (think Scotch tape store or Solomon & Pudge), but that didn’t happen.
-I never took the cold open’s “I have one more regret” to be a comment on the show… but maybe? It smacks more of lazy writing to me: why not have him say, “and I have one more thing to say”? Again – Lorne would think of these things if he were around that week
-McKean and Janeane actually perform well in Good Morning Brooklyn, and SJP and Adam are passable, but the script itself is boring. As Stooge pointed out, it’s a ton of “fuhgeddabatit.” How did this get on the air? Aside from the Walken impression and maybe a couple others, Jay Mohr’s entire tenure feels like a warm up for Mad TV. Not sure how he even got hired on the show.
-When I saw Casting Couch years ago, I think it seemed to me like a perfect encapsulation of the sick behavior we hear about from old Hollywood types… something McKean (and Shearer, Guest and even Billy Crystal) love to lampoon. So if this sketch had had a better ending for SJP’s character, it may not have come off so uncomfortable. Again, though, I may be mis-remembering.
-Fortune Cookie: I only remember thinking that the Confucius section should have been a standalone bit, or the focus of a better sketch. Kind of reminded me of the vibe of “El Nino” from when Farley hosted a few years later.
It must’ve been weird waiting for such a long time in the standby line and *this* is what you’d have to watch after all that anticipation.
It was really sad how little the audience reacted to Bill’s intro for MO’D. You can tell they were all so not into the hour that had just preceded and weren’t in the mood to laugh anymore.
I forgot to say thanks, Stooge, as I never knew the opening wasn’t complete. Seeing Kevin’s portion on the NBC site, I actually prefer the truncated version, as there are certain elements that work better when we hear Chris reveal them (like only having 7% and fighting the NRA…in Montana). SNL overexplaining a joke as always I suppose. I did like the bit about how his opponent was a carnival ride manufacturer.
John, that reminds me of one thing I forgot to mention: when Kevin said that two percent of precincts were reporting, I thought “of course it’s lopsided — it often is when so little of the vote is in.”
And no candidate has ever done anything — especially conceded — based on early returns of just two percent of the vote. Lazy writing. I agree that just having Chris say he only got 7 percent of the vote, and leaving the joke at that, makes more sense and is actually funny.
Also, I thought the photo of the challenger (Crane) looked a little like Andy Richter when I first saw this.
I first watched this episode on Comedy Central in a very butchered form (No monologue, random edits) and found it boring. Then I watched the NBC All Night airing and realized there was no saving this turd. I almost taped over this episode. At least the Dion Sanders is so bad its entertaining. This episode is just boring and bad. Norm is the best part.
Was this ever encored on NBC aside from the all night airing? In the All Night airing you don’t hear the SNL Band playing in from commercial over the bumper photo like on a live show. Reruns always have you hearing the band playing in from commercial. The only other All Night airing I remember being like this was the Chris Farley episode–which also never reran on NBC.
I don’t remember ever seeing a 60 min cable edit from ‘94-‘95 that cut the monologue entirely. I could easily be wrong. IIRC, Season 20 was the first season where they’d make significant edits to Update and usually cut the MG’s second song.
Prior to that, during the Nealon era in particular, they’d keep an entire 10 or 12 min Update intact if it had any memorable guests or bits (or if the rest of the show was weak), they’d always keep 2 songs, full cold open and full monologue, regardless of quality. So you’d often be left with only like 3 actual sketches, and you’d sometimes lose a ton of good material, much of which I still haven’t seen since. Used to drive me crazy.
The VH1 edits I’d see for ‘96-‘99 in particular seemed to go heavily in the other direction, where you’d often get the cold open or monologue (or sometimes both) cut entirely, which changes the overall feel of the format we’re used to significantly.
It dissolves from the montage to Dueling Guitarist. Until I saw the full episode I thought THAT was the monologue
Actually, it was S18 where they began cutting Kevin’s Update out. The Bill Murray episode is missing it, making you wonder where Fr. Guido Sarducci is as well as Steve Martin. They just began to ramp it up during the 20th season.
This makes 40 comments on this review, which is the most I’ve seen thus far for a single episode. I continue to look forward to this review series every day, and I’m enjoying the steam it’s been picking up in the comments sections.
Thank you for taking on a project with such an ambitious scope, Stooge, and sticking with it! In 2000, I decided to review all 500 albums in my CD collection, in alphabetical order. I think I made it as far as Beck’s Odelay before abandoning ship. This is an important public service for all die-hard SNL fans.
Season 20’s Viking Death Ship is cruising at full speed now! RIP Michael O’Donaghue.
Heh – it just occurred to me that a number of this show’s participants (Lorne, Murray and Farley for sure; undoubtedly many others) went straight from 8H to O’D’s downtown apartment to pay their respects to him (and, in many cases, their disrespects to one another). So, yes, for many of these folks, the afterparty that night was a literal WAKE. Fitting…
My mind is now blown at the idea of Farley and O’D having interacted at least once. What on Earth was that experience like? Mr. Mike meets Mr. Awesome!
“Djjjjyou remember when, um…. you remember when you made that movie Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video?” 😛
From New York Magazine:
“Other close friends tell anecdotes about O’Donoghue. Then Chris Farley peels himself off Duff, the actress and perfume spokeswoman, and takes the floor. “Uh, I didn’t really know Michael O’Donoghue,” Farley begins, “and I don’t really have a story about him, but I’m honored to be here.”
Murray, standing nearby, feeds Farley a meaty setup line. “Okay, what would you have said to Michael if you’d met him?”
Here’s Farley’s chance to make a roomful of his idols laugh. Instead, he whimpers. “That I loved him,” Farley says. “I loved everything he did. I loved him. I loved you guys, and it’s why I always wanted to be on the show.”
It’s a paradigmatic moment: Murray’s cockiness devolved to Farley’s pleading. “Right now the show doesn’t have anybody who is compelling to watch,” says one of the best writers from the recent past. Mike Myers bailed out at the end of January—even though he had nowhere to go, since his “Coffee Talk” movie deal had collapsed. The mid-season shuffling continues, with the addition of stand-up (and Sandler pal) Molly Shannon two weeks ago: British comic Morwenna Banks joins on March 25, boosting the cast to fourteen.
Mike Myers plays Jim Lau in a quick silent pre-tape in the previous episode’s Nobel Prize Awards sketch, so his consecutive Asian streak technically begins there (plus he’s Lance Ito until January). i think there are only 3 episodes (Travolta, Foreman, Daniels) of the 11 he’s in, where he doesn’t play an Asian.
Also agree that Eterna-Rest was a perfect choice for the first show after MOD’s death. I think all the fake ads this season are pretty solid, if a bit jarring because the ’94 hires: Janeane, McKean, and Elliott are in most of them. I love the “is your corpse comfortable” angle in this one
Casting Couch is online, which I didn’t realize earlier. I have to take back my previous comment:
Having watched it, I found the pervy behavior to be a lot less prevalent than I remembered. It’s a small piece of what turns out to be a savage (and accurate) portrayal of Evans, who rightfully comes off pretty sad and pathetic. Too bad the audience was dead for this, aside from the various lines about The Godfather or “between the ages of 18 and 19.” I think they just didn’t get the anti-showbiz place this was coming from. Also, SJP’s strong denial of Evans actually works well — both then and now. This is easily 3 stars for me.
Yeah, just watched that for the first time in forever as well – definitely better than a one-star sketch, though probably still a bit too “inside” for the masses (a weird recurring issue with this season: in amongst the really dumb sketches are a few that are a bit TOO smart for the room – “Masters of Monologue” and “His Muse Friday” in particular, both of which, like this one, seem to be very McKean-heavy in the writing department). Easily a two-and-a-half or a three star sketch for me. Still no “God’s Autobiography” or Patton Oswalt’s hysterical stand-up bit about Evans (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkN226PToig), but not bad at all, especially in the company it keeps in this episode.
When I watched this live, I was 14 and having an absolute shit weekend.
Met a girl at a party the night before, but neglected to get her number.
Watched this episode while doing a history report that was due Monday and I’d completely forgotten about it in the month since it was originally assigned. Let’s just say this episode didn’t lighten my mood anyway.
And to top it off, my Philadelphia Eagles (who entered the game with a 7-2 record) got blown out at home by the Cleveland Browns the next day to begin what became a seven-game losing streak to end the season.
The Robert Evans sketch is something that might work better in a different show (one that uses more pretapes) or even, oddly enough, in something like Mad Magazine or National Lampoon where the audience can process the jokes and points on their own pace and time. There’s an incisive point to be made and the depiction of Evans is entertainingly savage, but it’s also obviously something that won’t get an audience reaction and as others have pointed out, it’s awfully insider.
I don’t think there’s anything really too skeevy in this sketch–the joke is obviously about how awful Evans is and in no way is the audience meant to sympathize with him. While different tonally, it’s functionally the same to me as like a sketch about bumbling hit men or bank robbers–we aren’t meant to think that murder or robbery is funny or cool.
Evans parodies became more accepted – or at least more widespread – after The Kid Stays in the Picture’s documentary adaptation and Comedy Central’s 2003 animated sitcom Kid Notorious.
Given the accuracy of the sketch, I wouldn’t be surprised if Evans liked it as a) his biography was published earlier in 1994, and b) Evans has no problem selling himself as a sleazy fuck if that’s what makes him money at the moment. I still shake my head at Kid Notorious’ existence, even given that was part of CC’s “gotta find another South Park” wall-flinging period.
I just rewatched the Munchkin land sketch and it’s bad and kind of fascinating but I don’t think it’s the worst sketch ever. I think the attention to detail of the costumes and the sets are actually admirable and a little bit charming, at least at first. And Janeane, SJP and Myers were at least putting some energy into it and trying to give the sketch some life.
It couldn’t save the sketch of course, which suffers in part from the contrast between the uninspired writing and performing and the iconography of the source material. The general negative tone of the sketch also seems to reflect the feelings of the performers about the quality of the work they’re doing.
The worse part was when Sandler and the other two munchkins come in singing and it’s completely incongruous to the familiar incidental music that played during their intro. While they’re singing, there’s some weak, lone bass notes playing and the whole sequence comes off very sloppily executed. Also bad are a few lines said by Jay Moore and others (can’t identify them; perhaps it’s Michael McKean and someone else in the upper window) that can’t be made out.
However, the vibe isn’t all bad — watch Sandler and Tim Meadows goofing off at the very end, while the cast is sloppily urging Janeane’s Dorothy to hit the road and a visible boom mic can be seen.
Yeah, I think McKean’s in the top window.
When I watched it for the first time yesterday, I noticed that too – the band seems COMPLETELY lost, and for the Lollipop Guild just starts playing totally random notes.
SJP is quoted in the infamous New Yorker piece saying that Lorne Michaels was impossible to talk to, and I wonder if that’s why she has never been back. Sex and the City, next to SNL, was one of the most NYC-centric shows on television.
I rewatched this episode yesterday and re-read your review, and changed my mind on a few things about it.
I used to think this was THE worst SNL episode ever, but nah. Reiser and Foreman are worse and there have been a lot of future shows that were a greater struggle to get through (for example, Johnny Knoxville or Tina Fey’s 2018 episode.) It’s at least an interesting viewing in a bizarre, kinda morbid way, and the R.E.M. performances absolutely rip.
After a lot of digesting of the sketches, I can see what the Robert Evans is going for too. When I first saw it, it just seemed like a bunch of skeevy nonsense and the writers being edgelords, but I understand it more now. Still, probably the wrong episode for it to be in, and too inside baseball.
Also, I used to think Good Morning Brooklyn was the only saving grace of this episode sketch-wise, since the audience seems into it and Jay is certainly energetic. But it might actually be the worst part of the whole night. It’s not laughably bad like Munchkinland or Fortune Cookie Factory; it’s just…bad. It’s so hacky and uninspired and Jay’s performance gave me douchechills. It further proves that Jay is probably the worst SNL cast member ever. Aside from his Walken impression, his whole tenure is just douchechills, plagiarism, overacting, and clichéd ideas. He reminds me a bit of Finesse Mitchell but without any of the likability (I like Finesse but he had a bad tendency to have really tired, borderline hacky material.)
I only really remember Wizard of Oz and of course Sarah’s song with Michael McKean, Adam and Tim. I forgot Bill Murray’s tribute was in this episode; bad as it was. He always had class when it comes to this. I especially remember how we handled the segment of the 40th anniversary where they did all the tributes at once. What a guy!!
I did get one unintentional laugh from the Wizard Of Oz Sketch. You can clearly tell the actors playing the munchkins are on their knees when they turn sideways. They went through all the trouble with the set, and they couldn’t be bothered to make decent costumes. Biggest laugh I had in the entire episode.
I watched this last night to see if it was as terrible as I expected, and since it pretty much was, I felt like taking a crack at reviewing the part that WASN’T terrible- the performances by R.E.M., whose music is very near and dear to my heart, and yet I had not heard the album they were promoting with this appearance until very recently.
Musical Performance #1: “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”
-Mike Mills looks pretty damn cool in that red suit.
-Man, that fuzzy guitar lick that plays throughout the chorus gets me every time. I don’t recognize the musician playing it, though.
-Michael Stipe’s twitchy movements are a great representation of how I feel listening to this song. It’s not my favorite of theirs, but it’s so electrifying.
-Decent solo from Peter Buck, though I wish he’d done a little more with it.
-Ha, love how Stipe turns around to deliver the “don’t fuck with me” line- I’m guessing he knew the camera would be on him.
-Definitely the first bright spot in this episode (for me); I really loved that.
Stars: ****1/2
Musical Performance #2: “Bang and Blame”
-This song has a VERY cool vibe.
-It also has a pretty familiar melodic/harmonic structure- reminds me in parts of the verse to “Losing My Religion,” if it just repeated the first two chords over and over instead of going to the iv chord.
-Unexpected shift into the chorus- I feel like it goes to the major somewhere but will have to look at a chord chart. Anyway, I’m really liking this.
-Nothing else to really say, I got too caught up in enjoying the music. So far, two strong performances from R.E.M. I always love their energy.
Stars: ****
Musical Performance #3: “I Don’t Sleep, I Dream”
-I honestly wasn’t expecting a third performance, but at the rate this episode is going, this is probably the best course of action…
-Another very cool opening vibe to this song. Love Peter Buck’s riff, and the piano is a very nice touch.
-I love Michael Stipe’s jump into the higher register two lines into the chorus. What an odd yet compelling choice.
-Wish the camera had been on Mike Mills for the second chorus, I’d love to confirm if what I’m hearing (staccato eighth notes on organ with additional piano chords) is all being played by him.
-Never mind, they show him playing both parts on the third chorus.
-The ending felt abrupt, but maybe because I was enjoying it too much.
Stars: ****
I’m super biased because this is one of my favorite bands, but man, how do you do reviews like this without getting distracted?
As for the rest of the episode… oof. I honestly expected, maybe even wanted it to be more trainwreck-y than it turned out being. I was expecting stuff that would make me CRINGE, not just… sketches with absolutely no jokes to be found. The worst were everything after Weekend Update (not counting the O’Donoghue tribute) and I can’t decide which one I disliked the most. “The Casting Couch” is MAYBE the most tolerable to me because I can sort of see what the humor might be (and I liked one of the jokes), but it sure is uncomfortable. My thoughts exactly: “This is a COMEDY SKETCH I’m watching?!?” The audience sure didn’t seem to think it was one. The other two sketches had nothing going for them. Especially the Wizard of Oz one, no wonder that in particular got savaged. I will say, the costumes and set looked amazing… but you need to have, I dunno, actual jokes thrown in there too? Or at least SOMETHING resembling humorous content…
In Jay Mohr’s book, he mentioned that he had to change SJP’s character’s name to Angela Evans, as the name he’d originally chosen sounded too stereotypical, but I noticed she’s still credited as “Angela Tucci” in the credits at the end of that sketch. I thought that was interesting. Probably the most interesting thing about it.
Not to sound like a totally valley girl from clueless but this episode REEKS! I think this is now the worst episode I’ve watched thus far but I haven’t done the super early stuff yet nor have I done the later stuff (obviously I’ve seen the more recent episodes from the Pete Davidson Kate Aidy etc period).
Best part of the episode was the Eterna rest commercial though it does seem that JG and CE are the only two to play a couple, so that’s wearing thin.
Good Morning Brooklyn was the only sketch that I could stomach because unlike many I root for the underdog and thought Mohr had promise, and as it’s mentioned earlier in a post that he had too many similarities to Sandler, and that he was maybe a California dreams/saved by the bell better looking version, but talent wise he didn’t have room to be there. Something to that affect.
I know Sandler has come a long way since his SNL days, but never ever got into the infamous Happy Gilmore / Billy Madison that other fans of his love as much as Will Ferrell in Old School, which I just don’t find my cup of tea, I am more of a Wedding Crashers and Forgetting Sara Marshall girl, but will say I do love the classic “Wedding Singer”, and who can forget the Chanukah song?
But I think that had he not existed it would have been interesting to see a Mohr show more of his comedic character stuff, and he might have made it well, but do find that with Farley & Sandler& Myers, he really must have been gasping for airtime.
I can’t review the rest of the show as it’s already exited my mind. The only thing that doesn’t make it a complete train-wreck is the stellar performance R.E.M. gives, particularly stoked that they did a third song, “I don’t sleep, I Dream” which is one of my favorites from Monster, a CD my older bro had gifted me as a tween, before he left for college, and during the loss of my beloved housekeeper who lived with our family until she got sick, and the crashing of my parents marriage ending in divorce, and the moving of one of my best friends who lived down the street from me to the Midwest. It was a great gift, alongside Pearl Jam’s “Ten” and SmashingPumpkins “Melancholy & the Infinite Sadness.” I listened to those old albums so much then and they remain timeless to me.
I can’t give such a detailed stellar musical review like Blue, but all I can say is thank goodness R.E.M. was there to make it worth sticking around for.
Perhaps if SJP had hosted during her SATC time it would have worked, but it’s hard to imagine making most of what happened during this episode work with another host, the stuff was just plain bad, so I don’t pin that on the host. I put that on the writers and lack of direction the show seems to be taking.
They used to rerun the 94-95 season on CC in the 00’s, including this episode. I remember the Wizard of Oz, monologue, Brooklyn, and the two guitarists were included in the CC edit. I do NOT remember the sleazy director sketch which I think was edited out. I think the fortune cookie sketch was also missing from the 60 minute edit.
This show wasn’t funny. But it also didn’t make me cringe like some of the episodes that I saw from season 6. I think the closest I came to cringing for this season was when Deion Sanders did a music number.
Norm’s jab at Liza Minelli is one of his most underrated moments as Update anchor. I especially love the “yeah, I went there” expression on his face while the audience is jeering. The man was unafraid.
Random trivia: Much of what REM wears in the episode (Stipe’s silver pants, etc) were random things Bill Murray grabbed for them from the costume closet, as seen in a documentary on the band made at this time.
Having seen the Wizard of Oz sketch it is bad just one joke and it’s not funny
70 comments wow
I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m going to try to defend the Alternating Guitarists sketch (just a little).
I first saw this episode a couple of years ago, and my reaction to this sketch was an annoyed confusion (or is it a confused annoyance?), which seems to be the same response most people have to it. But just today, I was surfing the SNL YouTube channel and saw that this one was on there, so I decided to give it another viewing, just for kicks.
Something I picked up on, which I didn’t the first time, was that they were trying to tell a story through music. The story is that Michael and Sarah’s characters have a sweet, tender relationship, but unbeknownst to Michael, Sarah is cheating on him with Adam’s character.
If you listen to the lyrics, Michael describes having to temporarily leave at the end of his first two sections, so the idea is that once he steps out, Sarah and Adam are going at it hot and heavy. The part at the end where Michael says “What the hell’s going on?” is supposed to be the moment he catches them in the act. And the reason they have the line “please put away your gun” despite the lack of a prop gun is the same reason we don’t see the flower Michael says he picked for her or any of the sexual activity Sarah and Adam sing about: The story takes place within the lyrics, so we can just assume that jealous boyfriend Michael was threatening them with a gun.
The main reason I would give for this sketch failing so badly is Adam’s gruff, hard-to-decipher singing, which obscures the fact that there’s actually a linear sequence of events taking place here. When all you can really understand are phrases like “I’m gonna give it to ya good!”, it comes across as a mere exercise in contrasts.
I might also put some of the blame on Michael’s sections being too long. The lyrics are important to understanding what’s going on, but by the time Michael gets to the relevant lyrics, you’ve basically tuned them out, because the setup lulls you into thinking that the excessive sappiness of his song is the joke.
Do I think this sketch would’ve been an all-time classic had it been executed better? No, but I think it could’ve at least been passable. Even though it ended up being a bad sketch, I think the attempt deserves some credit. Like a lot of sketches that fail, it had potential, but they whiffed on it.