Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THIS WEEK WITH DAVID BRINKLEY
Bob Dole (DAA) loses his temper
— Dan Aykroyd makes his first of many special guest appearances throughout tonight’s episode. Good to see his Bob Dole impression back.
— Seeing Mark and Michael as David Brinkley and George F. Will, respectively, makes me kinda miss Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey’s impressions of them.
— A lot of funny lines from Dan’s Dole.
— I like the turn with Dole’s angel and devil giving him advice.
— When Dole and his angel & devil are all supposed to say “Live from New York…” in unison, the pre-taped angel and devil Doles are accidentally played a few seconds ahead of live Dole. This would later be fixed in reruns.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
Mighty Mack (host) & Elwood Blues perform “Flip, Flop, & Fly”
— When bragging about the benefits of being a five-timer, John says “You don’t even have to show up until Saturday.” I wonder if that’s an inside joke, considering John truly didn’t show up to SNL until late in this week, due to a scheduling conflict with the show Roseanne. That’s the reason we’ll be seeing so many Dan Aykroyd appearances tonight. That’s also the reason why all the SNL bumper pictures of John tonight are reused from John’s season 19 episode, reformatted to fit the style of this season’s bumper pictures (side-by-side comparison below).
— Interesting transition into a Blues Brothers number.
— Not sure what to say about this Blues Brothers number. The performance is kinda fun, but I’ve never cared for the revival of the Blues Brothers after John Belushi’s death, and needless to say, Goodman is no Belushi when it comes to these two characters.
STARS: N/A (I don’t usually rate segments like this)
BOB SWERSKI’S SUPER FANS
Irwin Mainway & Super Fans on Michael Jordan return; Brian Dennehy cameo
— The return of the Super Fans! I didn’t realize how much I missed this recurring sketch until its return tonight. And they have a great excuse to bring this sketch back with the then-recent announcement of Michael Jordan’s return to the NBA.
— I like the Pork Soda sponsor shown at the beginning.
— John takes over Mike Myers’ Pat Arnold character, who we’re told gained a lot of weight due to binge eating during Michael Jordan’s retirement.
— A significant meta moment with Farley, in character, ranting about how bad SNL has gotten lately, a moment made even more poignant by the slow zoom-in the camera does towards Farley during it. Some great self-aware lines during this rant, such as “They got that fat guy screamin’ all the time” (so very, VERY true) and “Pull the plug on that freakin’ thing.” I wonder if this whole meta bit was fueled by the fact that the infamous scathing New York Magazine article about the troubles of this season had come out the preceding week.
— Wow, now we get the return of Dan’s Irwin Mainway character. I love this hybrid of the Super Fans and Irwin Mainway. It fits perfectly, since Mainway always did have a Chicago-type accent.
— As usual, very funny dangerous toys displayed by Mainway. I especially like the Jordan Head toy’s warning label: “You be careful with that”.
— Now we get a Brian Dennehy cameo.
— An absolutely fantastic ending with Dennehy revealing he’s here to help set the record for most fat guys in a single sketch, a reveal that’s followed by a group photo being snapped of said fat guys.
STARS: ****½
THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER
calls & Tom Snyder’s (DAA) rambling marginalize host
— Wow, they’re bringing back all the classics tonight. A real treat and very fun. Such a turnaround from the dour Paul Reiser episode the preceding week.
— When it comes to impersonating Tom Snyder, Dan hasn’t lost it at all.
— I liked Snyder’s “We’re gonna get a lot of letters on that one” line after mocking the names of Chinese food.
— A lot of laughs during the John Goodman “interview”.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Grace, Too”
— The novelty of this choice of musical guest adds to the fun and special feel of tonight’s episode.
WEEKEND UPDATE
nervous Kato Kaelin (DAS) shows skills while testifying at the O.J. trial
— Interesting how they’re doing something a little different with David’s Kato Kaelin impression.
— Another instance of Laura giving an off-camera performance as Marcia Clark.
— Uh, yeah, no idea what to say about this Kato Kaelin segment so far, except that it feels more like a separate sketch than a Weekend Update commentary.
— A surprisingly fairly short Update.
STARS: ***½
DOG RUN
(host) talks with (LAK) while his “dog” (ADS) mingles with canines
— I think the dog costume Adam is wearing is the same one that would later be worn by Will Ferrell in another John Goodman sketch, Happy Smile Patrol, from season 24. I’ll do a side-by-side screencap comparison between Adam and Will’s costumes when I eventually review that season 24 Goodman episode.
— A hilarious unscripted part with a dog almost attacking Adam for trying to hump it. Adam’s reaction is priceless.
— Not too sure about the premise itself, but it’s coming off pretty fun in the execution.
— Weak ending.
STARS: ***
RUSH AND HOWARD
Rush Limbaugh (DAA) manages to steal Howard Stern’s (MMK) act & entourage
— Nice to see Dan introducing a new impression, after bringing back so many of his old characters and impressions earlier tonight.
— A welcome return of Michael’s Howard Stern impression.
— I love Ellen’s impression of Robin Quivers’ hysterical laugh. Ellen’s better at imitating it here than she did in the previous McKean-as-Stern sketch from the preceding season.
STARS: ***
LOSERS
self-deluded losers (CSE), (DAS), (MOS), (host) can’t identify rejection
— Is this Elliott’s first appearance of the whole night?
— A rare occurrence of David actually showing effort in a performance this season. Why can’t his season 20 performances be like this more often?
— A solid premise that’s being executed well by the writing and by all the performances.
— Weird how this is the second sketch tonight to end with a group of people at a restaurant table having their photo taken.
STARS: ****
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
trail of evidence fails to lead to origin of universe
— An interesting choice to bring back Dan’s Robert Stack impression, one of his more forgotten and underrated impressions from back in the day. I like how he’s now updated his Stack impression from the Untouchables-era one he used to do.
— Uh, I’m not really getting what the comedic through line here is supposed to be.
— That’s the whole sketch? I wanted this to be so much better than it was, especially since it included a rare occurrence this era of pre-taped outdoors footage.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Nautical Disaster”
COAL MINERS
coal miners (KEN), (host), (DAA), (MAM) tell anecdotes about cave-ins
— The sudden dark ending to Dan’s first story, with someone dying in a cave-in, is pretty funny.
— Ehh, now they’re just repeating the cave-in story endings over and over again. I guess this wouldn’t be a season 20 episode without at least ONE one-joke sketch.
— Very interesting seeing so many great performers paired together in one sketch, but damn, couldn’t they have been given some actual funny material here?
— Oh, no, now the laziness of this sketch has gotten to the point where we get a text crawl ending, a sketch-ending crutch that SNL occasionally relies on.
STARS: *½
DENVER AIRPORT
in new Denver Airport, (CSE) surveys interest in penis-measurement device
CSE says he’s leaving SNL to make penis-measurer, is shot Oswald-style
— After a nice long string of episodes earlier this season where we got a delightfully oddball Chris Elliott piece on a weekly basis, there’s sadly been a complete absence of them in the last few episodes. Glad to see it make a return tonight.
— I love John’s facial reaction to being asked about a hypothetical penis-measuring device.
— Kevin also has some great responses to the penis-measuring device hypothetical, such as “I would have to know more” and “Would the device itself be heated?”
— Very interesting turn with Elliott breaking the fourth wall to make a big announcement to us.
— I love Elliott revealing he’s leaving SNL after “10 glorious years as a cast member” (a nice extreme exaggeration of his tenure on the show) to invent a penis-measuring machine.
— I like hearing the audience’s gradual realization that the black-and-white backstage scene of Elliott walking away with Lorne and a man in a cowboy hat is a Lee Harvey Oswald parody.
— Excellent gunshot ending, and I absolutely LOVE the comically pained look on Elliott’s face during the freeze-frame.
— Overall, one of my absolute favorite sketches of this entire season, and is probably Chris Elliott’s greatest SNL moment.
STARS: *****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— One of the more popular episodes of this troubled season, and rightfully so. This was a great and very fun episode, and had a VERY atypical feel for this season. Of course, a big part of that atypical feel is due to the return of beloved things from the past, most of those things being from special guest Dan Aykroyd, who added much-needed life to the proceedings tonight (and might as well have been billed as tonight’s co-host if they were going to use him THIS heavily). I used to consider it a sad sign that they had to resort to bringing back old things from better days in order to have a truly strong episode this season (a move that, again, may have been fueled by the then-recent scathing New York Magazine article about the show), but that sadness has somewhat diminished for me now that my long-standing hatred of this season has recently softened to a degree while doing these reviews.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Reiser)
a huge step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 11 rebel Damon Wayans hosts. We also get yet another new addition to this season’s cast.