Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
GIFTS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS
Bill (MMK) & Hillary (JAG) Clinton pander to the middle class with gifts
— Hoo, boy, tonight’s episode is already starting rough.
— Hartman and Hooks, these two are not. This feels just plain sad to watch.
— This ends up being the ONLY time in SNL history that we ever see Janeane as Hillary, and the second and final time we ever see Michael as Bill. SNL must’ve realized how poorly the new Bill Clinton impression was going, and put the kibosh on it real quick. And considering there’s nobody else in this season’s cast suitable for the role, SNL ends up going through the entire second half of this season without doing ANY sketches portraying the president, which is almost unheard of.
— The topical bit with gunshots being heard outside the White House fell completely flat.
— Feels odd (and sad) seeing Mike doing his usual George Stephanopolous impression next McKean’s Clinton, when I’m so used to seeing Mike’s impression in Hartman-era Clinton sketches.
— (*groan*) They keep repeating the unfunny gunshots bit when it didn’t even work the first time.
— This whole cold opening is very weak political satire that’s landing with a resounding thud.
— Even the “To Angela” gift bit at the end came off lazy.
STARS: *
MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)
— I did get a chuckle (my first of this entire episode) from George trying to keep the opening applause going by saying “I said ‘thank you’, not ‘stop’.”
— I do like his mentions of some of the individual cast members, but nothing he’s saying about them is particularly hilarious.
— “Your shoes untired”??? Our first of many odd line flubs from George tonight.
— This ended pretty awkwardly.
STARS: *½
TIME BOXER
host fights Hitler (MIM) in 1939; Michael Buffer cameo
— Oh, god, I’ve always absolutely hated this sketch and have found it an absolute chore to watch.
— After playing broad Asian stereotypes for an endless amount of consecutive episodes this season, Mike takes the only logical step left by now playing freakin’ Adolf Hitler.
— Also, since when was Hitler a redhead?
— Even something about Farley’s fight introduction into the camera is coming off so shoddy, poorly staged, and low-budget-looking.
— They got the “Let’s get ready to rumble” guy to cameo for THIS?
— Wow, that “Yaaay…. I mean, booo” comedic line from an off-camera extra was very poorly delivered and fell completely flat. Man, what is happening to SNL this season? Why do some things this season have such a low-budget, high school production-esque feel? Actually, I started noticing this in the second half of the preceding season, but it’s carried over into this season.
— The “Let’s get ready to rumble” guy and Farley sloppily keep accidentally talking over each other throughout this sketch. Did SNL even bother doing rehearsals for this sketch?
— The ending with George asking “New fuhrer? What??!” was awful.
— Oh, god, now we get a text crawl ending, one of the laziest ending tropes that SNL has a habit of occasionally falling back on.
— Mercifully, this sketch is over. Unmercifully, this is FAR from the last bad, laughless sketch I’ll have to suffer through tonight.
STARS: *
LOOKING GOOD
host’s makeovers involve beating up his subjects
— George has appeared in three things so far tonight, and every single one of them have revolved around “George Foreman solves everything by beating people up… because he’s a boxer, get it?” Could SNL’s writing tonight be any lazier?
— Pretty dead sketch so far, and George’s line deliveries are painfully awkward.
— I got a laugh from Adam entering with that grotesque makeup. Jesus Christ, I just realized, we’re about 15 minutes into tonight’s episode, and I’ve only gotten TWO laughs all night so far. TWO laughs, and one was more of a chuckle than an outright laugh.
— The “before” picture of Elliott with that goofy grin is hilarious (the second-to-last screencap above).
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Doll Parts”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Martha Stewart’s (JAG) past Christmases don’t jibe with New Jersey locale
Two Guys From A Religious Cult & their Leader (CHF) review a restaurant
— Boy, the audience is pretty dead during Norm’s jokes so far. Has all the horrible comedy from earlier tonight completely killed the audience’s energy by this point?
— Okay, the audience is starting to get more responsive.
— As odd as it was seeing Janeane doing a Hillary Clinton “impression” earlier tonight, it’s almost as weird seeing her as Martha Stewart. I can’t help but compare her impression to the famous one that Ana Gasteyer would later do, and even the forgotten one-off impression that Nancy Walls would do in the upcoming season 21, and needless to say, Janeane’s take is coming up short.
— Norm’s baffled questioning of the odd words Janeane’s Martha keeps throwing into her sentences is making this whole commentary.
— Norm makes his very first joke about The Byron Allen Show, which would go on to be a running gag this season.
— God, no. The damn Two Guys From a Religious Cult become recurring. I hate these characters.
— Yep, this Religious Cult commentary so far is more of the same.
— Now we get an addition of Farley as the leader of the Religious Cult, which is just yet ANOTHER season 20 Chris Farley screaming role.
— I do admit to getting a big laugh from Farley’s coy delivery of “The peach cobbler was deliiiiightful!”
STARS: ***½
FOLEY TRAINS FOREMAN
Matt Foley’s unorthodox training revives host’s will to hit people
— Interesting different use of Matt Foley, and it seems to be a fun idea seeing where he lives.
— Yikes at Farley’s voice in this. I recall commenter and fellow SNL reviewer Ben Douwsma saying in the comments section of my Martin Lawrence episode review that by the time of the George Foreman episode, Farley’s increasingly exaggerated Matt Foley voice has gotten to the point where it’s just a whine. Ben definitely wasn’t kidding. Farley’s voice is unbearable in this.
— Turns out the change of format in this Matt Foley sketch, which initially seemed promising, isn’t doing ANY good. This sketch is not working at all, and the training montage is completely laughless. It’s sad seeing a Matt Foley sketch die a horrible death like this. While I’ve always been of the opinion that they should’ve kept Foley a one-off character after his classic first sketch, at least most of his subsequent installments have had SOME laughs, despite how few they are in comparison to the laughs in the classic first sketch. But THIS installment is simply pathetic.
STARS: *
UNCLE JOE
(KEN) recruits reluctant Uncle Joe (host) to sing at a wedding reception
— This sketch is known as the nadir of Kevin’s SNL tenure and is often used as an example of how unnecessary this 9th season of Kevin’s tenure is.
— The “comedy” in this sketch is dreadfully unfunny, and yes, it’s indeed sad watching Kevin in this, considering how consistently funny his character pieces were during his prime years.
— THAT’S how the sketch ends? Man, they didn’t even TRY with this sketch.
STARS: *
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
Incredible Hulk (host) shares viewers’ ire toward SNL writers, G.E. Smith
— Aaaaand the show continues to sink further and further. As if things hadn’t already been dire enough tonight, here comes a particularly notorious sketch from this season.
— What’s with Elliott playing so many scientists in this episode?
— I did get a chuckle from Elliott’s deadpan delivery of “What the hell was that?” after the first instance of Hulk Foreman transforming back into Tim.
— Jesus Christ at the unfunny repetitive nature of this. If they cut to that Hulk transformation pre-tape ONE more damn time…
— (*sigh*) Yep, and there goes the transformation pre-tape once again. My god, you are DESTROYING me with tonight’s episode, SNL. Destroying me.
— Now Hulk Foreman breaks the fourth wall and calls out the sketch on its bad writing and repetitive one-joke nature. This is just coming off as a poor man’s version of what they did in the first Hub’s Gyros sketch. At least the repetitive one-joke nature of that sketch was actually FUNNY, even before they broke the fourth wall and called the sketch out.
— Now Hulk Foreman goes further with the fourth wall-breaking, by calling out how bad this season is, expressing the same complaints that many viewers had towards SNL at the time. At least this shows how self-aware SNL is of its own suckiness lately, but openly mocking that doesn’t make the problem go away.
— Okay, I do love the ending with this sketch overlapping with the subsequent SNL Band shot, by having Hulk Foreman interrupt G.E. Smith’s guitar-playing to smash his guitar to pieces (a bit that would sadly be cut from this sketch in Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of this episode). Considering the ire that some SNL fans at the time had developed towards G.E. Smith’s “mugging” and “grandstanding” during the SNL Band shots (I’m not saying I agree with those complaints), this Hulk bit probably satisfied those G.E. haters.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Violet”
BEDTIME STORY
CSE wants host to read him a bedtime story so he can sleep during show
— God bless Chris Elliott, who has come to save tonight’s trainwreck of an episode with another one of his patented oddball sketches, which have been a consistent bright spot these last few episodes.
— Elliott, on if he’s supposed to be getting ready for a sketch right now: “I’m gonna leave that for the kids. You know, the Farleys and the Spades and the Piscopos.”
— A lot of funny little lines from Elliott from here.
— I love the reveal that Elliott wants George to read him a bedtime story; Goodnight Moon, to be specific.
— Elliott’s really good at selling the childlike behavior while George is reading to him.
— Good inclusion of Lorne at the end, and I like seeing the interaction between him and Elliott.
STARS: ****½
STALKING
by Bruce McCulloch- stalkee (JAG) calmly converses with suitor
— Our first Bruce McCulloch film of the season. Needless to say, his work is VERY welcome in this particular season.
— I like Janeane’s very casual reaction to Bruce flat-out telling her he’s stalking her.
— This film is a very interesting change of pace, not only for this episode, but this era in general.
— Great turn with Bruce disturbingly waxing poetic about why he decided to stalk Janeane, complete with a lighting change.
— Solid film overall.
STARS: ****
JACKIE STALLONE’S PSYCHIC CIRCLE
be like Sylvester, not Frank
— I’ve sometimes seen this referred to as one of Janeane’s better performances during her short-lived SNL tenure, a compliment that I’ve never understood. To me, Janeane’s performance in this sketch is just one of her many sullen, lifeless, “I don’t wanna be here”-type of performances, which gives this sketch too much of a dead, slow feeling for me. I can’t help but think of how much better this Jackie Stallone role would’ve come off had it been given a season earlier to Julia Sweeney, who, despite her many frustrations with SNL that season, still would’ve put actual effort into the role and would’ve done an actual characterization, unlike what Janeane is doing here.
— Using the name “Frank” as a substitute for negative words is an okay idea, and is coming off funny with Adam’s delivery during his testimonial. David’s testimonial, on the other hand, was pretty bland, adding to the slow, dead feeling of this sketch. (Much like Janeane, David is another cast member who’s guilty of giving many lifeless, “I don’t wanna be here”-type of performances this season.)
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Simply awful. One of the worst episodes I’ve reviewed so far in this SNL project. Until the last 15 minutes, this episode was one laughless, painful dud after another (aside from Weekend Update) and seemed to get even worse and worse in the second half of the show. Thankfully, that disastrous downhill slide was cut off by a brief sudden upswing in quality towards the end of the show, with our weekly oddball Chris Elliott sketch and a refreshing Bruce McCulloch film, before the episode’s quality dipped again with the not-terrible-but-dull closing Jackie Stallone sketch. Tonight’s episode also wasn’t helped by George Foreman’s dreadful hosting performance and his consistently awkward line deliveries. This was also possibly the least Christmas-feeling Christmas episode in SNL history. Almost none of the material was holiday-related.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
plus this bonus shot…
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a big step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
We enter the year 1995, with host Jeff Daniels. We also get a new addition to the cast.
I mean yes, bad host and bad episode but a couple quibbles:
While it’s mostly poor in execution, I admire the ambition of the Time Boxer sketch. I wish there were more sketches of its ilk these days. I prefer noble failures to tepid retreads that kill with the studio audience.
Love Two Guys from a Cult, PARTICULARLY with the addition of Farley.
Imagine how Bruce McCulloch would have fared as a cast member. I think he’s the genius of KITH but I’m not sure he could translate to an SNL audience.
The sketch itself isn’t up to much, but I have to admit I too sort of like the Time Boxer sketch. I like it mostly because of the ending – rather than the obvious (some stock footage of a planet blowing up – or that car yet again) when Foreman beat Hitler, they just say “oh he became fuhrer, and conquered the world, but he was a good and kind fuhrer.”). There’s something brazenly simplistic about this that is refreshing. The whole sketch has that feel.
The main part that throws me is Buffer actually agrees to wear an SS outfit, complete with swastika armband. One of those moments where I remember just how long ago 1994 was. That would not go well today.
I recall hearing that when KITH ended, Lorne offered a SNL cast member spot to each Kid if he wanted it (Mark was the only one interested; Bruce was more interested in directing, so that’s why he did the short films.) In retrospect, Kevin McDonald may have been a better fit for the SNL cast in this era …
Ah, that makes more sense than my previous assumption, that Mark was finishing a contractual obligation. An apparently personal/unique one …
Probably not. You saw what happened with Mark McKinney as a SNL cast member: underused.
I’ve heard the complaint about G.E. Smith mugging from a variety of people (including, of all things, on a Simpsons DVD commentary)–I have to say…I’m confused. Why was this so bad? Yes, the guy mugs, but it’s not like he was doing it during the actual show. Is it just something like a loved one’s annoying tic that you tolerate for a while and then causes you to blow your top when things get bad?
Is this the first mention of Frank Stallone on SNL?
The *idea* of Time Boxer is pretty funny, so it’s unfortunate that the sketch is so awful. A later era would probably do the concept better by turning it into basically a blackout gag, instead of an insanely long trudge. I can imagine the ’05-’11 era having the Pardo narration of “And now…George Foreman Goes Back In Time to Fight Adolf Hitler” or something, and then just showing the boxing scene.
Also, Elliott’s line about “the Farleys and the Spades and the Piscopos” killed me for some reason. That’s probably one of my favorite lines from the season. It’s unfortunate that it’s super obvious how much he (and Janeane) hate being on the show by this point, though.
Yes, the Piscopo reference is the highlight of the show. I’ve always felt that Piscopo is the most unfairly maligned cast member of all time, yet at the same time I love any put down of him. Oh, and the Uncle Joe sketch is the biggest WTF moment of the season so far. That sketch should have ended careers.
First off, my wife hated G.E. Smith too. She always said he was her single least favorite part of every episode. She just hated his dumb mugging face. So this was definitely a complaint I heard a lot at the time, ha ha.
Also this might have been the single worst SNL episode I’ve ever watched live. What a complete trainwreck it was.
My mom also seemed to hate G.E. Smith, but it had less to do with his “mugging” (which I barely noticed myself) and much more to do with the fact that he apparently dated Gilda and was just using her and her fame to secure his spot on the show.
That seems…dubious.
He was in fact married to Gilda, but they were already divorced by the time he was hired on SNL in 1985. I don’t doubt that connection helped him get the job and jumpstart his career, but he was already pretty successful before then, having completed a run as Hall & Oates’ guitarist.
G.E. Smith had played guitar in Gilda’s 1979 Broadway show, and during that time he not only got to know Gilda (and was married to her for a brief period) but also got to know Howard Shore and Lorne Michaels. According to Smith, when Michaels came back to “SNL” in 1985 he asked Smith to be the musical director. Insofar as his work on her show helped him make those connections, Gilda kind of did have something to do with Smith being on “SNL,” but I’d argue he was there on his own merits as a skilled musician (and has been pointed out, they were no longer together by that time anyway).
I never cared for Smith’s mugging for the camera, but I didn’t give it too much thought. I could always look away and concentrate on the music if it got too much.
“Stalking” later re-appeared on a Bruce McCulloch comedy/music album, with Janeane’s lines delivered by another actress (I assume due to legal reasons):
I thought it was the other way around.
It was nice to see the little wedding band with Cheryl, Shawn and a couple of other people. By this time SNL Band members were rarely seen in sketches at all. G.E. put in 10 good years with SNL but even he knew his time was soon going to run out. (Also I think that’s Lawrence Feldman again filling in for Georgie Young.)
The next episode has one of my all-time favorite sketches: the one where they keep playing the same clip of Jeff Daniels on the toilet over and over again. Unlike the Hulk sketch, the repetition gets funnier each time they use it.
Oh, and if you thought Matt Foley’s voice sounded bad here, just wait till you get to his final appearance in Season 23…
At the time of this episode, Foreman had a deep history beyond “punches people, boxer”. SNL couldn’t base a sketch around his failed 1993-94 sitcom, or his career as a commercial pitchman? A George Foreman Grill sketch is too early in the device’s lifespan, but you don’t book a “not trying this week” episode around a man who exemplifies “charismatic, but awkward”. Even by sports star standards, SNL tries harder for Deion Sanders, and HIS show…*seethes*
Chris Elliott’s character in Bedtime Story is absolutely his character from Get a Life, his Fox sitcom that also featured his dad, Bob Elliott (of Bob and Ray) and Brian Doyle-Murray. I adored that show – definitely a cult fav. If you want a classic dose of “Chris Peterson”, check out Zoo Animals on Wheels on YouTube.
I like G.E. Smith’s mugging. I didn’t really notice it until people pointed it out anyways.
After this episode we get a string of three better shows. Daniels is okay, and DHP and Bob Newhart are good aside from the Little Women sketch. But then we’re hit with the Sanders episode and the season never recovers, imo.
Few quick observations:
Janeane was in a lot more sketches than I remember.
Aside from Update very few showcases for Spade so far
Poor Ellen is basically non existent
No Jay or Laura. I wonder if Lorne just told them to go home for Christmas…
Regarding the “Stalking” film, during one of her HBO comedy specials (her half-hour special in 1995, IIRC) Janeane Garofalo noted a guy in the audience who seemed just a little too enthusiastic about seeing her. She had him come up, introduced herself to him, then said something like “If you’re going to be stalking me later, we may as well meet now.” The synopsis of “Stalking” brought that memory back….
I don’t really have as much loathing for this episode as you (or many others) do. It’s not even one of the worst of the season for me. It’s mostly just flat. George Foreman isn’t a very capable host, but he’s likeable enough, and in his better moments has a sort of Redd Foxx charm.
There are two exceptions – I can’t watch the Matt Foley sketch or the Hulk sketch ever again. I watched the first one once, just to say I did, and the second one twice, once a long time ago and again in a rewatch this year. They are just absolutely wretched – the latter has what may be Tim Meadows’ worst performance on the show (not that I can blame him). I once read a comment saying Tom Schiller left SNL because of this piece – that he filmed some of the inserts for it and realized he was just fed up. A sad way for a legend to leave, but somehow fitting.
Norm’s crass joke about the woman with multiple personalities (the “no no no no no no yes yes no no no no means no”) was pretty clever. While I agree with you Janeane was no Ana Gasteyer, I liked the Martha piece. I thought she committed, and Norm trolling her about scamming everyone on her childhood as she seethingly refuses to rise to the bait was well-played by both Norm and Janeane. For whatever backstage tensions they had, they worked well together oncamera.
(it’s either a sign of writer laziness or of just how dominant both ladies were in the ’90s and ’00s that Amy Poehler, Ana and Janeane ALL played Hillary and Martha)
I have to defend Uncle Joe just a tiny bit. I don’t think it’s very good, but I don’t think it’s godawful. It just feels very childish and padded out. I actually sort of like the ending…although again, it’s very childish. For me the nadir of Kevin’s tenure would be him having to participate in that lousy gay stripper sketch in the upcoming Daniels episode.
In spite of myself I like the talk show sketch. One-note, to be sure, but the performances sell it (Janeane seems to try a bit harder here than she does most of the rest of the night, aside from Update), as does the terrific makeup work. It’s also the best use of Foreman’s intimidating persona.
The bedtime story is one I had to watch a few times to get into, as Elliott got on my nerves in the first minute or so, but overall I find the piece very sweet. It’s refreshing to see Lorne in this type of role compared to his usual dictator persona.
I love the Stalking film. ***** for me. Great work from Janeane and from Bruce – the type of weird and frightening material the season 19 and 20 writing teams tried to do but rarely managed.
In the goodnights, Courtney Love seems to be on a one-woman mission to liven up the deadly atmosphere. It makes me cringe, but…points for trying.
I used that pic of Chris Elliott as my profile pic at work until I was told I needed to use an appropriate picture.
I’ll give this one credit it’s nowhere as bad as I remember, I just spent more of the time wondering why in the world Lorne booked George anyways? Granted he was in demand then but he picked the worst possible time to have an athlete host as Christmas shows usually are hallmark episodes of each year, but I agree this one didn’t feel like one at all. That’s one thing I will give the 1995 season both their Christmas shows felt more festive. Hole I despise but they at least tried to make it festive.
The Boxer skit I remember hating when I was a teen and first watching it I remember it being stupid.. it still kinda is but it was a nice effort to try for George. He’s just no actor but he is at least very likeable.
Besides that most skits are watchable just not great by any means.. the Foley skit shoulda been much better but Update was solid again and I really love the Elliot skit, he’s becoming the saving grace of the season who never got much credit.
The next 2 shows I remember being unremarkable but are way more entertaining on the balance. Daniels was always fun and Pierce was surprising I figured he’d be dull. It’s also the time Myers runs away like a coward too so you see his last skits.
There are five widely held “bad episodes” from this season: SJP, Foreman, Reiser, Sanders and Saget. The Reiser and SJP episodes feel like wakes. Their energy is just so toxic, nearly everything a miss. The Sanders episode is just spectacularly, wonderfully bad. Sanders’ musical performance itself is a masterpiece of accidental comedy, a true fiasco. The Saget episode is the one I’d suggest is “not that bad.” One legit great sketch and then a whole bunch of very guilty pleasures. It’s more fun than the Steve Martin episode, but it’s plenty stupid so your mileage may vary.
This episode, however, is just kind of classically bad. Foreman’s clunky and the show can’t really work around it. That said, the makeover sketch is truly benign, not worthy of the low rating. It used to show up in the SNL Sports specials and it tended to hold its own at least in a vacuum. It’s less impressive in the context of a one-dimensional episode. I think there is some ambition in this episode, but neither the host nor the cast and writers could push that boulder over the mountain.
Yeah is it that far fetched to say the Saget episode is better than the Martin premiere?
It is sad to see Matt Foley hit rock bottom in this episode…but then, it’s not quite rock bottom, that would be when he came back to host. Boy, that sketch is tough to watch.
Love Janeane (in most of her stand-up/film acting work, and even some of her SNL work this season), but her impression skills were never the best: her strongest impression was probably her Juliette Lewis in the Ben Stiller Show’s Cape Fear parody “Cape Munster.” (Fun fact: both Janeane and Martha Stewart spent most of their childhood in Nutley, NJ!)
George was okay as a host for this episode, but nobody would have been able to salvage this one, quite honestly. He would do better a year later co-hosting the Disney Channel’s “Walt Disney World Inside/Out”:
As much as I love Chris Farley, he’s definitely gotten complacent by this point in his SNL tenure. He keeps relying on crutches for laughs, like shouting, pratfalls, or that sad-sack whimpering that Matt Foley has devolved into by now. He did the same thing with “Mr. O’Malley” in the Herlihy Boy sketches: The character starts out with a strong presence and energy, but his performance gradually gets more half-assed with each subsequent installment. It’s sad to see so much talent going to waste.
On the subject of G.E. Smith’s “mugging,” it’s never really bothered me. Some people just reflexively make certain faces when they perform, and he might be one of them. I seem to remember Dana Carvey even doing a stand-up bit about that once.
Haha. So this episode sucked so much everyone’s busy taking about GE Smith’s facial expressions. Looking back, maybe it was his way of signaling the director to switch camera to someone/something else.
I’ve never understood the problem with his mugging. He’s not doing it in sketches. Why does it matter? He just seems to be really into the music, which is entirely why he’s there.
Thank you, G. E. was not mugging for the camera. Him. along with the rest of the band got a lot more air time back then. The SNL band does not get any air time at all any more. I think he helped to get the musicians screen time back then.
The one thing I remember from this Foley sketch is Farley screeching out the word ‘dexterity!’ over and over again. Truly painful.
In a less creatively stunted season, they could’ve used Foreman in a similar capacity to how they’ve used Charles Barkley in his 21st centy gigs.
Terrible episode yes. But I thought Hole were fantastic. A little sloppy but great nevertheless.
Using a wrestler to play a wrestler?
That’s about as Lazy as using Elton John for Gay/British sketches. I’m kidding SNL wouldn’t do that.