Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
ALLOWED EVIDENCE
Judge Ito (MIM) decides what evidence will be allowed in the O.J. trial
— For some reason, the way Farley looks as F. Lee Bailey cracks me up.
— A good laugh from Mark high-fiving his opposing team after the Pamela Anderson announcement.
— Just now, a mysterious blue light flashes onscreen from off-camera (first screencap below). No idea where that blue light came from (somebody snapping a photo, maybe?), but SNL would later hide this in reruns by substituting this small portion of the cold opening with the dress rehearsal version, a substitution that’s very noticeable, as the wig that Mark wears throughout the sketch is suddenly missing and he’s sporting his normal hair (second screencap below).
— Very funny line about a request to show Mandingo and the whipping scene from Roots.
— Poor Laura, being stuck in yet another non-speaking role in what ends up being her only appearance of the entire night.
— I guess it’s nice that Mike gets to say “Live from New York…” on his final episode as a cast member, whether they know he’s leaving or not.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— The theme music would later be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version. Same goes for the following monologue.
MONOLOGUE
host sings variant of “I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General”
— Very interesting, out-of-the-ordinary format for this monologue. I love this. This has always been one of my favorite monologues of this season.
— Very catchy song with funny lyrics.
— David Hyde Pierce’s timing seems a little off and shaky with some of his lyrics.
— Just now, Pierce completely misses his musical cue to start singing a verse, so he just stays silent and does a goofy little finger dance while waiting for the next go-around in the music to sing his verse. This, along with his aforementioned shaky timing earlier in this monologue, is presumably the reason why this monologue would be replaced in reruns with the dress rehearsal version.
STARS: ****
AMAZIN’ LASER
lawn care barely taps the potential of the Amazin’ Laser garden gun
— Years ago, I used to dismiss this as a poor man’s hybrid of two classic commercials from the late 80s/early 90s years: Happy Fun Ball and Yard-a-Pult. I would later come around on this commercial and realize how unfair I was in my dismissal of it.
— Elliott is perfect for this.
— A lot of laughs from the disclaimers shown throughout this, even if it does have somewhat of a Happy Fun Ball-esque vibe.
— Towards the end, you can hear a voice in the studio loudly yell “Ten secoooonds!”, which is presumably the stage manager alerting the performers on when the next sketch is about to go on air.
STARS: ****
POETRY CLASS
(CHF) & (JAG) use rock song lyrics to do well in (host)’s poetry class
— One of the more popular sketches of this troubled season.
— I’ve always noticed that the leather jacket Farley wears in this sketch seems to be the same one he wears in another popular classroom sketch from earlier this era, French Class with Alec Baldwin (side-by-side comparison below). I wonder if this connection between both sketches is intentional or just a coincidence.
— The reveal of Farley’s poem being lyrics from “You Shook Me All Night Long” is absolutely hilarious.
— Is Janeane trying not to laugh during the part with Pierce having her and Farley stand with him together in front of the class?
— Janeane and Adam’s poems also being from rock songs are funny as well. Adam’s delivery of his poem is especially priceless.
— Pierce is helping sell the joke with his obliviousness to all the plagiarism.
— Good turn with Pierce mistaking Adam’s “Jump” poem as a cry for help.
— Great line at the end with “Wanna go fire up a doobie?”
STARS: ****½
TALES OF LITTLE WOMEN
prim kids turn nasty after falling through the ice
— I’ve always felt this sketch was highly overrated. To me, this is just one of a billion tired season 20 Chris Farley yelling sketches, which I’m noticing the show has been relying particularly heavy on these last two episodes.
— Much like the Mystery Dinner Theater sketch in the preceding episode, I probably would enjoy the turn with Farley’s prim 19th century character yelling a whole bunch of crude things had this sketch appeared in one of Farley’s earlier seasons, before the days of him screaming his way through every single sketch.
— I think in the “Live From New York” SNL book, Janeane discloses the fact that she was very bothered by the audience laughing and applauding at Farley calling her a “stupid whore”.
— The other performers joining Farley in the “yelling crude things” bit isn’t helping at all. Pierce is actually pretty good at the crude yelling, but the other performers’ attempts are kinda cringeworthy to me, especially Janeane’s.
— Oh, and goody goody, we end the sketch with a child rape joke! Ugh. This is exactly the type of unnecessary, unfunny, tasteless humor that season 20 has a reputation for over-relying on.
STARS: *½
SCOTTISH SOCCER HOOLIGAN WEEKLY
rowdies Andy (MIM) & Ian (MAM) talk shop
— The opening theme song is in the same melody as the theme song from the later recurring sketch Dog Show, from the Will Ferrell era.
— Very interesting pairing of Mike and Mark, one of them a veteran cast member in his final episode and the other a new cast member in his second episode, both Canadians, and both have the initials MM. This sketch feels like it’s intended as a passing of the torch between the two performers.
— We get a random part with Mark throwing a dart at someone off-camera, because we apparently needed to hear Farley screaming YET AGAIN tonight. Admittedly, his off-camera yell in this sketch used to crack me up when I was younger.
— I’m liking the way Mike and Mark are playing off of each other here. Makes me wish Mark joined earlier in Mike’s SNL tenure, so they could’ve done other sketches where they’re paired together.
— Even though this sketch features Mike ONCE AGAIN treading old ground by playing a character with a U.K. accent, I find that this sketch actually has a fairly fun and enjoyable vibe. Even the typical season 20 over-reliance on blood and gore is coming off tolerable in this.
— I like how we see during the camera pull-out at the end that this sketch’s set is placed on the Tales of Little Women set (screencap below).
— And with the end of this sketch, we officially reach the end of the Mike Myers era of SNL.
— SNL would end up bringing back this potentially-recurring sketch a few years later when Mike hosts in season 22, where Mark would still be a cast member.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Alone”
WEEKEND UPDATE
TIM & entire African-American community are glad the hockey strike’s over
JAM’s Wacky Sports Bloopers consist of crudely-manipulated videotape
— Nice to see Tim “Little Hockey” Meadows doing a follow-up to his hockey commentary from earlier this season. Solid bit from him tonight.
— I liked Norm’s “I’m afraid to know why you’re applauding at that” ad-lib after some audience members applaud a joke about gays only being allowed at a parade so they can get beat up.
— Interesting seeing Jay doing a commentary as himself.
— Jay’s doing a variation of Rob Schneider’s sports bloopers commentary from the preceding season. This at least has a different spin on it, with the gimmick being that the “bloopers” are just manipulated videos of normal sports plays. I used to really like this bit when I was younger, but now it feels kinda on the hacky side to me.
— I love Norm’s amusement at Jay showing a “real” sports blooper, with a basketball player’s missed dunk.
STARS: ***½
ROBOT SPY
the crew of a spaceship suspects nerdy (host) of being the robot spy
— I could do without Ellen’s constant repetition of “freakin’”, which started out funny but is increasingly getting old.
— Overall, not really sure what to say about this sketch. I’m not too crazy about it and I didn’t get too many laughs, but it wasn’t horrible and it was adequately performed.
STARS: **
NERVOUS HABITS
(MMK) dislikes fellow lawyer’s (host) nervous habit of sheep shearing
— A very funny casual reveal of Pierce’s nervous habit being sheep shearing, of all things. I really like this absurd premise.
— Haha, things are going off the rails with Pierce struggling to keep the sheep from roaming around the set, and the camera (unsuccessfully) trying to hide that by doing a clumsy zoom-in to a close-up of Michael. At one point, you even see a stagehand accidentally enter the shot when trying to handle the sheep (on the lower half of the screencap below).
— As this season progresses, it’s becoming more and more awkward and sad to see Kevin “Oh, He’s Still On The Show?” Nealon pop up in a sketch at this late stage in his SNL tenure.
— Good ending with the insemination of a pony.
— I love how at the end, the sheep from earlier can be seen in the background just randomly wandering back into the scene.
— Unfortunately, I believe SNL would later replace this sketch with the error-free dress rehearsal version in reruns, robbing us of the funny animal bloopers.
STARS: ***½
BROKEN ENGLISH
Jersey kids’ (ADS) & (DAS) fun with foreigner (host) makes instant karma
— Solid characterization from Pierce here.
— Adam and Spade’s nonsense translations to Pierce’s sentences are providing good laughs.
— Great twist at the end.
— A weird little overall piece, but it really worked. I used to kinda hate this sketch when I was younger and dismissed it as typical lousy season 20 fare, but I now have much more appreciation for what this was going for.
STARS: ****
PERSPECTIVES
urban community programming with Lionel Osbourne (TIM)
— I’m very happy to see the debut of this Tim Meadows sketch.
— I love Tim’s constant “If you’ve just tuned in…”s and reintroductions.
— Some good laughs from the dryness and blandness of this interview, and from Tim’s bad interviewing skills.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Selling The Drama”
INTERNET CHAT
Claire (CSE) finds an unwilling Internet sex partner in Darrill (MAM)
— Ladies and gentlemen, SNL has officially entered the internet age. An important milestone, as this is the very first SNL sketch centered around the then-novelty called the internet.
— Our very first instance of Mark bringing a Kids in the Hall character to SNL.
— Speaking of Mark, he’s been getting a lot of airtime tonight, which is great to see, especially after he made only one brief appearance in his debut episode the preceding week. The way Mark’s being utilized tonight is how it should regularly be for him on SNL, but sadly, his tenure would instead go in pretty much the opposite direction.
— It’s funny in retrospect seeing internet terms like LOL and ROFL being treated as such a novelty that Janeane’s character doesn’t understand what they mean and Darrill has to explain them to her.
— I love the inclusion of Elliott as a sleazy, naked, hairy perv (is he wearing the same fake body hair from the Bad Striptease sketch earlier this season?). Ever since December, we’ve been getting an oddball Chris Elliott character piece on a weekly basis, and I, for one, could not be happier about that.
— This sketch really feels ahead of its time.
— Some really good laughs from the Elliott/McKinney online chat, especially the “How big is your hard drive?” innuendo.
— Janeane must be uncomfortable being “naked” at the end, as she can be seen quickly putting her robe back on before the sketch even fades to black.
STARS: ****
MOVIE NEWS
small print reveals the “show” to be a vehicle for Disney ads
— The constant disclaimers of “(insert company here) is a subsidiary of Disney” are getting repetitive and are not that funny.
— Okay, the disclaimers are now getting funnier, such as the one about Sharon Stone.
— I got a chuckle from a female audience member being heard screaming in excitement at the mere mention of Sylvester Stallone.
— Funny gag with the person who’s typing the disclaimers making Pierce say something ridiculous about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid and consistent episode, and I feel it’s definitely one of the better episodes of this troubled season. There were some really strong sketches, some pretty good sketches, and very few sketches that I disliked. The post-Update half in particular had a nice run of sketches ranging from decent to strong once they got the Robot Spy sketch out of the way.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jeff Daniels)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Bob Newhart
Probably one of the better shows of the season. Even though it’s not super laugh out loud “funny” the whole time, I appreciate the interesting sketch concepts and hardly any reliance on hacky or off-color humor, aside from Little Women.
Out of the two Crane brothers, Kelsey Grammer probably had the marginally better episode imo.
Surely you mean Grammer’s 1998 ep, not ’94.
Always loved the Poetry sketch. If you notice towards the end when Janeane and Farley are called to the front of the class, Sandler adlibs “give them detention!”. Janeane gives Adam a death stare afterwards. My guess has always been Janeane’s main problems were with Sandler and Farley. At the end of the Clooney episode she gives Spade a gigantic hug in the goodnights. I also remember an interview she did with Tom Snyder a few years after this saying she got along great with Mike Myers and they used to prank call “psychics” during downtime at the office.
I never thought Janeane was giving him a “death stare”, just more of a “WTF was that about?” stare. The adlib threw her off.
I think you guys are reading way too much into that moment. They’re supposed to be playing bratty high schoolers after all.
Any final overall thoughts about Mike Meyers’ tenure?
Do you mean Stooge, or anyone? I’ve probably gone on enough as it is but I’m sure Stooge would have some good points to make.
Seems like this episode represents an attempt at doing more conceptual, surreal humor–even the reviled Little Women sketch has some potential as a conceptual piece (tbh, if the sketch was purely about, say, Pierce’s character turning vulgar after falling into the water, that might have been funnier, and the ending is like something a 13-year-old would think is funny).
Shit, I forgot this was the episode with that awful “Don’t go in a shed with the Devil” sketch. Other than that, I don’t think there’s that much wrong with this episode.
Luckily, we’ve got Bob Newhart coming up next. I hear that one’s pretty good. Unfortunately, after that we have *ominous music* DEION SANDERS…..
What’s funny is that when I was 15 and the Little Women sketch appeared on the Best of Chris Farley, I thought, in my pre-woke ignorance, that the sketch was a hoot. Adolescent me just could not get enough of Farley screaming. But even then I knew that the ending with the devil was very sour. Fred Wolf wrote some great pieces, but his edgelord humour really curdled badly.
Re: the monologue. The awkward timing of it kind of takes me out of the fun. Also, didn’t Studio 60 do something based on “I’m the Very Model of a Modern Major General” for that show’s big “comeback” moment? God, that show made for some great hate-viewing.
Always liked Scottish Soccer Hooligans. It’s a nice passing of the torch and Myers’ best showcase of the season (his Judge Ito Update commentary is fun too). To me, it feels more similar to the type of sketches we will be seeing over the coming decade of the show, for better or worse.
I think I know what you mean regarding Scottish Soccer Hooligans, Carson. Over the next few years, we’ll see a decent amount of sketches built around “unconventional duo hosts a show.” Goth Talk, Morning Latte, Dog Show, Hello, Dolly! (okay, that was more host and special guest, but you get my point), Jarett’s Room … I feel like I’m missing one or two.
I can’t speak for Stooge but sense I get is that Mike was doing some really offbeat, intelligent stuff for the first half of his tenure and then, once Coffee Talk took off and he became distracted by writing Wayne’s World 2 (which I really liked), he kind of fell into the repetition trap that SNL can become. Happens to almost everyone after they’ve been on long enough, I guess. Overall, I think he’s one of the best cast members the show ever had. His various ethnic characters never bothered me back then, though I can see how some of them are problematic today. His Judge Ito, though, is just colorblind casting to me; he’s doing a straight imitation, complete with annoyed West Coast accent/delivery, beard and glasses. That’s it.
Given that it prominently features both Satan and both Farley & Spade soaking wet and screaming, I’m willing to be good money that “Little Women” was written by none other than Fred Wolf. I mean, aside from fake vomit or other spewing bodily fluids those are all his known trademarks.
How was Fred Wolf allowed to continue on to season 21 knowing this was his specialty? I think he wrote that bad campfire sketch in Quentin Tarantino’s episode.
One of Wolfs’ aforementioned trademarks was revealed in an “interview” between him and Bobby Moynihan in this summers’ Biography “Anything For A Laugh” special on Farley.
I haven’t seen this episode in a very long time, but I don’t believe Myers’ departure was announced on the show itself – it was announced off-air that morning (I remember it actually being announced as a news item on the radio: “Mike Myers’ last episode is tonight”)
Yes, Myers stayed too long, but he was really inspired at times, particularly in Seasons 14 and 15
I’d say this is a candidate for best episode of the season. Top 3 certainly. Everything is pretty good. Amazin’ Laser is sublime. And, I hate to admit it, but I like Farley’s “Whatever shall we do?…save me you stupid whore!” I find it funny…oh well.
Farewell to Mike Myers, I would love to hear more from Stooge on his thoughts on his legacy. He usually will write about that, maybe he’s reserving it for the end of the season? Anyway, Mike created some great and iconic characters during his time on SNL – Wayne, Dieter, Simon in the bathtub, Lothar of the Hill People, and yes, even Coffee Tawk 🙂 I always liked Mike on the show, but I have to admit he wasn’t a *strong* ensemble presence on the show. Whenever he was on screen, he would usually demand all the attention (for good or bad). Maybe that’s just me. Also I would agree that the first half of his tenure was MUCH better than the latter half (he suffered from senior-itis big time, especially this season) But he’s a Top 10 not-ready-for-prime-time player, definitely.
I’m also glad to start seeing Mark McKinney. He was absolutely an underrated cast member and it’s too bad he was used so little throughout his tenure. He had a lot of talent.
Yeah, Little Women is a low class sketch and it’s incredibly lazy, but Farley performs the hell out of it. There are some guilty laughs to be had here.
Yeah when I was younger his performance here made me laugh pretty hard
I agree with this assessment. I would add that Mike — like Christopher Guest or Peter Sellers — always seemed more comfortable the further his characters got away from his baseline personality. Anytime he played himself or a character close to himself he seemed a bit tense and awkward. There haven’t been many on SNL who could disappear into a character as well as Mike could, but he wasn’t great at playing “straight man” roles, and his impressions were just ok. A huge asset to the show for the most part, but a limited one.
I wonder what the SNL equivalents of Mike are in other casts–to some extent, I guess, Fred Armisen, who also rarely played “himself,” but was never at a star level like Mike.
Yes. Mike would absolutely disappear into his characters. One of the best, sometimes he would mug it up a bit, but not too bad. I would also say that Aykroyd was like the Mike Myers of the original cast, in that he would disappear into his characters and he wasn’t good at playing “himself” but Dan fit better into the ensemble mold than Mike ever did.
@Frederick interesting to hear you say that about Mike Myers, because I’ve always felt the same. Wacky Myers is a hit in anyone’s league, but he really never seems comfortable playing an everyman. In Chippendales, for example, he’s stilted and awkward throughout the setup, and his timing is out of whack, as though he’s wayyyy out of his element.
Indeed @Carson. I’ve always loved Little Women, with the exception of the wholly unnecessary devil ending that’s only there for shock value. Farley gives it 110% and it’s peak Farley, at that. It was a top-five SNL moment of my childhood to hear the ice crack, followed immediately by a bellowing “SON OF A BITCH!!”
I would have a problem with “Save us you stupid whore!” if Janeane was being actually harassed or whore-shamed or demeaned. The Road to the NCAA sketch from a few years prior, for example, was a major misstep from which SNL is definitely not immune. In Little Women, it’s just a desperate Farley shouting obscenities. I just can’t read any sexism into that.
I think that when it comes to Season 20, people will filter everything through a prism of sexism and homophobia, as if only Sandler and Farley were guilty of calling women bitches and whores and it ended the second they were fired.
The sexism didn’t end here, the homophobia would actually ramp up and, my God, the use of black actors during the Tina Fey years is DEPLORABLE. But Sandler makes low-brow movies and Farley endorsed a conservative once, so the entirety of the show’s transgressions can lay on their shoulders.
I distinctly remember those Disney “Movie News” promos airing on late night, usually during SNL- back when Disney had Touchstone, Hollywood, and Miramax. It’s a very specific parody that’s not too far off from the real thing.
This season is where I started watching SNL live, in the eighth grade- my sister had tapes of episodes from seasons 14 and 15 that I enjoyed a lot; even as a 14 year old, I knew Season 20 wasn’t quite as good as those peak years, but there’s still some goodies to be found, even in the worst seasons.
I’ve sometimes wondered if NBC had DHP, Clooney and Cox host to try to revive SNL’s flagging fortunes, given that they were on three of NBC’s biggest shows at the time. Of the three, I’d say DHP has the best episode. I was never that much into Frasier so I was pleasantly surprised at just how good he was as host, especially since, as Stooge pointed out, he’s visibly nervous. As Ruby says above, there are some wonderful concept pieces in this episode, and concept pieces like the train sketch or the animals sketch that can still connect with the audience, rather than formless garbage like duelling guitarists. The monologue is great fun (one of the few musical monologues I truly enjoy), and the poetry class is a clever and yer crowd-pleasing idea that is also well-executed – a rarity for SNL by this time. I do wonder if it was down to a busy schedule for DHP why he was not in several sketches, or if it’s just that back then hosts weren’t put into every sketch as they often are now.
The Disney propaganda sketch is hugely ahead of its time and is a million times better than the crap poor Phil got in 93-94.
Farley yet again derails or nearly derails a number of sketches with his screaming and mugging, but the Little Women was garbage no matter what, and the robot sketch, while certainly not bad, was one of those pieces that feels like it was written mostly to justify a well-designed set and costumes. And it needed a better ending.
Jay Mohr is, as always, cute as a button, but doesn’t have the polished delivery that made Rob Schneider sell the sports “bloopers.”
Great to see the debut of Perspectives, one of the first moments where we finally start to see SNL appreciating Tim Meadows’ talent and giving him a chance at something different.
The Internet chat sketch feels like a glimpse into an alternate universe where Elliott and Janeane had a fantastic season and were joined by experienced newcomer Mark. The tone, the level of performance, and the confidence in such truly offbeat material (along with the audience actually appreciating said material rather than just being silent) is all something that makes you wish for what might’ve been.
I loved the fake ad, Elliott sells it like he’s actually making the product, but the disclaimers, which feel like they were added on to hammer the “funny” home, get in the way a little.
As for Mike Myers…he’s certainly a major comic talent. Growing up, I had fond enough memories of him on SNL – even if I was never interested in Wayne’s World, I still enjoyed Sprockets, Coffee Talk, and Simon. That hasn’t really changed, in that I still mostly enjoy those (especially Sprockets), but there’s a cynicism behind the structure and performance of these pieces that I didn’t notice at the time, which carried through even in the hooligan sketch in this last episode. So much overacting and repetition of catchphrases, and so much hard pushing of these points to wring the laughs out of viewers. On the one hand, this is what Lorne built SNL into being – he wanted competition and he wanted precision and success (often through recurring characters). And Mike seemed to get along fine with people at the show, so it’s not as if he should be criticized for just wanting to do his job, and doing it well. But as someone who prefers my SNL performer and material to have a little more heart, and a little more connection with other scene partners, I’ve found Mike’s presence, especially in his last 3-4 seasons, to be very cold and alienating, and divorced from pretty much everything else on the show. I’m not sorry to have reached this particular end with him.
Thank you John. You nailed it on the head. Although Mike seemed to get along with everybody, there was kind of an odd disconnect on-screen between he and his fellow cast members, even on Wayne’s World.
The reason I didn’t write a retrospective on Mike Myers’ SNL tenure is because I’ve honestly gotten tired of doing that for departing cast members. Doing that, as well as writing a season retrospective after I’ve finished reviewing a season, are the two things I dread the most about my reviews. I don’t know if that shows in my writing, but I’ve never considered myself good at writing retrospectives on a person or season, and when it comes to SNL, I often have a REALLY hard time coming up with stuff to say about a departing cast member or an overall season, which makes it awfully time consuming (and doing daily reviews ALREADY takes up a lot of my time). I’ll still continue to write season retrospectives in each season finale review, as I feel it’s a necessary thing to do after I’ve completed a season, but I’m done with cast member retrospectives. I’d rather leave it to you commenters to discuss departing cast members’ legacies, as I feel you guys express that better than I ever could. The stuff you guys have been saying about Mike Myers’ legacy, for example, echoes my thoughts in a much better-written way.
Never really cared for this show much, Pierce in general I always found a bore and to a point odd. He fit in with the skits decently and did a fine job but it never bothered me that he didn’t return for another one. Both this one and the Newhart shows I find boring, starts a rough 3 week stretch.
Real stars of the show for me were Live who had the audience in their hand both times, their performance of I Alone is one of the best ever on the show. The crowd went crazy when they started and stayed crazy at the end.. very fun. One thing about this year is that when the musical artists were good the audience were into them. Mohr even said at the aftershow when they walked in the whole place applauded them.. nice.
I agree on the whole NBC thing.. that’s always been a thing for them to try to push hosts from their shows but it didn’t become a thing until the 90’s when they were hard on Lorne. In the 70’s they wanted Eric Estrada to host and Lorne just laughed at them, here he couldn’t.. at least no one too awful hosted, no Dustin Diamond hosted shows thankfully. More than likely that’s why there were so many NBC show hosts in 1995, 3 this season and 3 the next.
Never cared for how Myers left the show.. why commit to a season then quit halfway? Same for the other people who left halfway out of choice.. maybe it’s just a personal ethics thing on my end but that’s always bothered me. He wasn’t really needed this year anyways, all he did of any good was Ito. McKinney shoulda just had his spot at the start of the year like how Shannon shoulda had JG’s spot. The show woulda been better off from the start if both those things happened. Myers checked out once 1992-1993 ended anyways.. besides the bike messenger skit and the first Stewart skit he didn’t do anything good.
Dread the next show, tried 3 times to sit threw it but couldn’t do it. Newhart on the whole i’ve always found bland. Sanders’s show is at least a fun bad. You get Adam Sandler’s legendary Bobcat Goldwait impression lmao.
Mike was on the show for exactly 6 years I think he saw the date and said yeah I am leaving exactly the same date I started.
I had always thought the “Scottish Soccer Hooligans” theme was based on the New York Cosmos theme song from the 1970s
A great night for Janeane, appearing in nearly every sketch, a shame this wouldn’t last. The wig she wears in the “Poetry Class” looked her hers. Wonder why they didn’t have her use her own, as she’s the only one wearing one.
Disagree that DHP was nervous, he stumbled a bit during the monologue(music tripped him?) but was stellar in every sketch.
I have to say, never been a fan of Janeane’s, on SNL or otherwise. I’ve been racking my brain for 15 minutes and can’t remember anything of hers that’s ever made me chuckle.
I’d say Garafolo is a bottom three SNL castmember, but credit where due – she is strong on the Ben Stiller Show and Wet Hot American Summer is a modern comedy classic in no small part because of her presence.
The thing that has always bugged me about the Scottish Hooligans sketch…?
They never would have referred to the sport as Soccer. 🙂 😉
Seeing as Janeane did the V/O in the opening, it was clearly a show catering to American audiences, so they used “Soccer”. Just like BBC America.
Not counting any reused voiceovers, this episode is probably the closest we’ll get to a Phil Hartman cameo this season with him appearing in the poster of “Houseguest”.
I’m going through the 94-95 season now, and I just re-watched this episode for the first time since it first aired 26 years ago. I remember hating this episode back then, only liking the poetry reading class. I was surprised to see re-watching this episode tonight how much better it was than I originally thought. I was only 14 when this season first aired and was losing patience with the season, but now re-watching episodes individually and with a difference perspective at age 40 some of the sketches I’m finding better this time around. I totally did not remember the sheep sheering sketch, which I think was hilarious. The robot sketch was clever and I liked that Ellen was included into a Farey/Spade/Sandler sketch with the “he’s a freakin’ robot” line she kept repeating. Even Chris Elliot’s odd “Claire” sketch which I thought was gross back in 1995 I found funny this time. Only Mike and Mark’s Hooligans sketch was I thought was awful.
Funny, I’m doing the same thing and also just hit this episode. And I thought the Hooligans sketch was a funny premise with great energy (from Mark especially) but not enough real jokes. Overall great though, I never watched Frasier but DHP makes a hell of a host, very dry. A top-ten monologue maybe? Top 20 for sure.
Rewatching Season 20 for the first time in over 20 years and I was also 15 when the season premiered in 1994/95. I giggled with the sophomoric jokes back then, but now I am able to, in my adult mind, evaluate the sketches from a different point of view, so here we go:
(Star system based on a 1-5 star rating)
Cold Open –
Mike Myers’ last show and the final time we see him as Lance Ito. I have to agree with Stooge that the typical and tiresome Asian stereotype from Myers got severely old before this season even started. Did they have to do a Court TV sketch in EVERY episode?! This one I found funny and at the time didn’t realize that it was Myers’ last show until a few weeks later. The formula of Farley as Bailey, McKean as Shapiro and Kightlinger as Clark worked but to throw newcomer McKinney in there without so much as a line (the high five doesn’t count) was ridiculous for his first episode. And what was with the quick clip with McKinney wearing a wig and then not?! I mean, it’s not the first time SNL has done this in reruns, but whatever. Mike getting to say “LFNY” was cool even though by this time in his tenure, his characters were old, tiring and one-note. (Notice this in his “dance moves” in certain sketches which would become the trademark of his Austin Powers character)
*** stars (only because it’s the debut of McKinney and the goodbye of Myers)
Monologue –
Now I remember distinctly the live monologue as opposed to the rerun copy I have. I enjoyed the “I Am The Very Model…” song from Pierce and crew. It also reminded me of a Studio 60 episode (S1, E2) where they did something similar to the lyrics “The Very Perfect Model of A Modern Network TV Show” or something like that. I rather enjoyed the flubs of the live version, but this version still is enjoyable.
***** stars
Amazin’ Laser –
Meh. I was never a fan of Chris Elliott at all. He dominated the commercial parodies of this season and it wasn’t met well with my 15 year old self as well as my now 42 year old self. This seems like a rip off of Happy Fun Ball (as mentioned above) with the disclaimers. One would think Hartman would’ve made this 1,000,000 times funnier!
* star (Elliott did nothing for the show….at all)
Poetry Class –
Now, you have to realize that my 15 year old self had just gotten into SNL the season before with the Emilio Estevez|Pearl Jam episode, so the sophomoric comedy was everything to me and seeing Farley and Sandler in a sketch together, trying to make each other laugh was the best for me! I thought the sketch was greatly executed. Pierce was fantastic as the teacher who just let his students write song lyrics as essays! Garafalo, with this episode is finally noticeable on-screen that the material she is performing is getting to her. (Cry me a river) You could’ve replaced Elliott with McKinney in this sketch and it would’ve made the end line a bit better. (Notice a pattern I have with my liking of Elliott?!)
**** stars (because of the way Sandler and Farley brightened my teenage years)
Tales of Little Women –
This one holds a special place in my heart. Yes, it’s Farley screaming throughout the sketch….but it’s done in a great way! Garafalo was good until she flubbed the one line, then just looked annoyed when she went into the water with Spade and Pierce. I couldn’t even make out what she was screaming in the water. McKean as the devil was ok, but again, the repetition of the rape jokes was a bit much, Could’ve just ended it at “Your immortal souls” and I think it would’ve been just as funny.
**** stars
Scottish Soccor Hooligan Weekly –
50/50 on this one. I know it’s Myers’ last show and all, but his Scottish drawl has become shall we say once again, tiresome. I like the addition of McKinney, though. Pierce as a “Tennis Hooligan” was funny enough.
*** stars
Weekend Update –
*sigh* I’m sure no one here knows of how little respect I had for McDonald then and NOW as an SNL performer. His punchlines were so repetitive and unfunny. I read somewhere that he did WU just for himself, but why’s that?! You’re on a 20 year network television COMEDY show that is broadcast for the AUDIENCE, not you! How many freakin times can we hear “Germans love David Hasselhoff” or “Whore” or “Crack” or OJ is guilty”!?!???!? Oh, but let’s hold out for applause while you do another asinine joke. Tim Meadows as the recurring hockey loving cast member is awesome and I guess Jay Mohr doing hacky sports bloopers (see what I did there?!) is just ok with the manipulated footage. None of it saved the crummy Weekend Update that usually is, well….crummy.
0 stars (I really didn’t care for McDonald’s WU)
Robot Spy –
I enjoyed this one because right off the bat with Pierce’s voice, you’d assume the sketch would revolve around them assuming it’s him as the robot spy. McKinney as the leader is great for his first episode and he doesn’t flub one line. Spade is a bit dramatic in this one for it being a comedic sketch. Again you can see in the background that Farley and Sandler like to goof off. The end with them shoving him through the airlock just for being a nerd is funny, as is once the show goes to commercial, you can see Farley get back up and goof with the cast.
**** stars
Foreigners and Jersey Kids –
Pierce’s accent is funny and the duo of Sandler and Spade as the Jersey kids incorrectly telling him how to pronounce American words is fun in it’s execution.
*** stars
Perspectives –
The debut of this somewhat obscure late night talk show sketch. For me the best one always will be the Chris Rock one in the upcoming season 22 episode. This one is good because it teams up, once again Meadows and Cleghorne in a wonderful display of the only black cast members in the season. (Much like the Jamaica sketch and MLK Office Day sketches, respectfully)
**** stars
Internet Chat –
Another McKinney showcase! This is certainly a time capsule because I remember logging on to internet chat rooms and learning the “LOL” and other computer lingo back in the day. As much as I don’t like Elliott, he plays creepy really easily which may say something about him in general LOL. (See what I did there?!)
Sir, your daughter was a MILLION times better than you were on SNL. The concept of Garafalo’s “Amy” character going along with the creep at the end made the sketch pretty funny. I remember in the original airing, Garafalo quickly putting her robe back on as the sketch faded to black. A little bashful, are we?!
** stars
Movie News –
I vaguely remember these late night mini episodes after SNL would air. Pierce does a nice impression of Patrick VanHorne. I like the bottom disclaimers of the Disney quips and jabs at Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
*** stars
Nervous Habits –
Silly at first, but incredibly funny as the nervous habits get a little wacky, such as sheering a sheep and inseminating a horse. The sheep who can’t stay in the sketch is funny and another example of live animals going crazy live on set (ie. Camel in Tracy Morgan 2009 ep, Monkey in Jason Bateman 2003 ep, Monkeys in Tim Kasurinsky “I Married A Monkey” sketch)
****
Overall rating is **** stars. Number 2 out of 5 best episodes for this season.
Thanks for reading!