Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
LARRY KING LIVE
Ross Perot (DAC) & other third-party candidates
— Feels very odd to see Will playing Larry King, especially knowing that Norm takes over the impression later this season and would do a definitive take on him.
— A welcome sight to see Dana’s Ross Perot impression back.
— Will’s Larry King impression is reminding me a lot of Kevin Nealon’s impression of him.
— A funny bit from Perot about how we all love the visual of dictators.
— Hmm, Mark playing an insignificant role who’s lines always get cut off by a more popular performer. Sadly, this is unintentionally a spot-on representation of Mark’s time on the show this season.
— Chris playing a candidate from the Female Circumcision Party is really funny.
— While Dana’s Perot is making me laugh as usual and is selling this as best as he can, this cold opening is going on pretty long for something that’s thin on material.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
DAC & his recurring characters sing “I Like To Be These People For You”
— Wow, that has to be THE longest ending note the SNL Band has ever played at the end of an episode’s theme music.
— I like Dana saying “I got wig hair, man!” when pointing out how unkempt his hair looks from the quick change he went through between the cold opening and monologue.
— Dana’s doing such a great job making funny little ad-libbed asides towards the audience. I had forgotten how great he is at improvising like that.
— A funny “I’m in denial” aside from Dana right after he claims he’s hosting because he currently has a hit show on ABC that follows Home Improvement.
— I absolutely love Dana’s song featuring various popular SNL characters and impressions of his. Very fun.
— The song gets even funnier when it gets to the point where Dana starts falsely claiming that among his SNL characters are Mr. Uneven Sideburns (a non-existent character), Eddie Murphy’s Buckwheat, and Cheri’s Cheerleader character.
— Wow, what a visual of Dana dancing with all of his characters. Impressive special effects on SNL’s part.
STARS: ****½
HEY, REMEMBER THE 80’S
George Michael (DAC) & Joseph Hazelwood (MAM)
— Not excited to see this sketch become recurring.
— At least we get the return of Dana’s George Michael impression. Interesting seeing his George Michael have a more modernized look compared to the 80s version of George Michael that Dana used to always play.
— Boy, Jim seems to be going PARTICULARLY heavy on the goat-braying sounds in tonight’s installment. Sorry, Jim, but it’s not making this tepid material any funnier.
— Some laughs from George Michael going on about the power of his butt.
— A big laugh from Goat Boy biting into George Michael’s butt when hearing a high-pitched tone from it.
— A wild, out-of-control melee with Goat Boy going nuts with the prod that he snatches away from the scientists. Decent way to end this sketch. That ending and the aforementioned bit with Goat Boy biting into George Michael’s butt are ALMOST enough to save this entire sketch.
STARS: **½
THE BARBARA WALTERS SPECIAL
Elizabeth Dole (ANG) lauds her husband
— An interesting Ana Gasteyer showcase.
— I love Cheri-as-Barbara-Walters’ delivery of “Will somebody get me a towel? I’ve just been doused with a bucket of southern comfort!”
— Cheri’s Barbara Walters is developing more and more into the version that SNL fans today are familiar with.
— Ana’s Elizabeth Dole trying to get more and more comfortable throughout the interview (slipping into fuzzy bunny slippers, unbuttoning her skirt, drinking beer, etc.) is providing pretty good laughs. This sketch is a solid early use of Ana.
STARS: ***½
BROKAW PRE-TAPES
Tom Brokaw (DAC) pre-tapes news to cover Gerald Ford death contingencies
— A very popular SNL sketch, one that I hear was originally performed on Dana’s short-lived ABC show.
— There’s Dana-as-Tom-Brokaw’s first utterance of a line that would be ingrained into the brain of hardcore SNL fans: “Gerald Ford dead today…”
— The increasingly outlandish death scenarios for Gerald Ford are priceless. Some of my favorite Ford death scenarios are overdosing on crack cocaine, eaten by wolves, and strangled to death by Richard Nixon’s corpse.
— During the aforementioned “eaten by wolves” part, I love Brokaw adding in the detail “He was delicious”, then when Brokaw questions why he said that, the off-camera director responds “He’s a former president, Tom. What are you saying, he’s not delicious?”
— The director telling Brokaw “Fine, we’ll get Stone Phillips to do it” reminds me that SNL would later do a sketch in a bit of a similar vein to this with Rob Lowe as Stone Phillips taping various intros for Dateline NBC.
STARS: *****
WEEKEND UPDATE
Joe Blow talks about decadent behavior he witnessed in Yankee Stadium
— A rare miss for an O.J. joke from Norm. I’m not even sure how this particular one was even supposed to be funny.
— Joe Blow makes his first appearance of the season.
— Did Colin lose weight since season 21? He looks thinner here.
— As always, some really funny ranting from Joe Blow. I especially love him detailing the odd way he and his brothers used to eat hot dogs when they were kids.
— Okay, we now get a better O.J. joke from Norm.
— I like the oddly awkward way tonight’s Update ended, as if Norm was surprised this was the end of Update.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Been There Done That”
CHURCH CHAT
Church Lady judges O.J. Simpson (TIM) & Madonna (MOS)
— Church Lady makes her SNL return for the first time since Dana publicly announced his retirement of her on SNL in February 1991. Feels nice to be able to review a Church Chat sketch for the first time since season 16.
— Fun to see Church Lady interviewing more modern (for 1996) celebrities, which is something that’s always interesting to see whenever Dana brings this sketch back in his post-cast member days.
— Decent song at the end.
STARS: ****
BOB DOLE’S TIME TUNNEL
the future visits young Bill Clinton (DAC)
— Fantastic concept. I love the idea of this sketch.
— Wow, it feels weird seeing Dana playing Bill Clinton on SNL.
— Hilarious visual of Norm’s Dole dressed as a hippie.
— Interesting seeing Dana’s young Clinton and Darrell’s modern Clinton side-by-side.
— Funny ending with a callback to Chris’ Female Circumcision Party candidate character from the cold opening.
STARS: ****
HALLOWEEN
Rita Delvecchio receives trick-or-treaters & battles Halloween pranksters
— I always like this Rita Delvecchio character. There’s a realistic, slice-of-life aspect to her that I enjoy.
— A meta turn, with two trick-or-treaters dressed as SNL’s Spartan Cheerleaders, which shows what a huge part of pop culture those two characters had become. This portion of the sketch gets even more meta with Cheri’s Rita saying in regards to the Cheerleaders “If I see that freakin’ skit one more time, I’m gonna put my foot through the TV”, echoing the complaints of some SNL fans (including myself).
— The Madonna bit is pretty funny.
STARS: ***
JOHNNY CARSON AND PHIL DONAHUE: THE RETIREMENT YEARS
retirees Phil Donahue (DAH) & Johnny Carson (DAC) look for latter’s keys
— A fun use of Dana’s Johnny Carson and Darrell’s Phil Donahue, and it’s interesting seeing them in a normal setting, outside of their usual talk shows.
— As usual, some great run-on ranting from Darrell’s Donahue.
STARS: ****
RUSSELL & TATE
attorneys Russell (TIM) & Tate (TRM) have the means to get you your money
— Nice to see Tim and Tracy paired together for the very first time. This is also Tracy’s very first really meaty role in a live sketch.
— Some really funny lines from Tim and Tracy regarding how they’re gonna “git’cho money”.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The first strong episode of the season. This was as solid and fun as a Dana Carvey episode can be expected to be. Almost every single sketch was enjoyable, several were great, and one was a true classic (Brokaw Pre-Tapes). Even the weakest sketch, Hey Remember The 80’s, was slightly more tolerable than the usual installments of it.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bill Pullman)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
The second of five consecutive episodes hosted by a former cast member. This time, it’s Chris Rock, with special guest Dana Carvey (yes, you read right).
Oh man, the Tom Brokaw sketch reporting on death of Gerald Ford might be one of the best skits SNL has ever done. (And of course, I realize it was originally made for Dana Carvey Show). Just absolutely sublime. Brokaw doing the Zimbabwe language reporting the headline is so hilarious.
Dana didn’t really seem to like doing Church Lady here, but I’m glad they brought her back. Of course, I would have been fine with just the mention of her in the monologue instead of doing a Church Chat sketch, but oh well, not a big deal. A great episode. They should really bring back Dana to host this season. I think if he does one more, he can officially be a five-timer.
I’ve always loved that Johnny Carson and Phil Donahue sketch. It always made me laugh, even though there’s nothing that memorable about it. It’s just all silly character work from two great impressionists.
“Taft was.”
“Really? Taft?”
I still will drop that into the occasional conversation.
Funny seeing some of Carvey’s timeless characters stopping to do the VERY 1996 “Macarena” during the monologue song.
I recall Dana promising he was working on a Bill Clinton impression, wasn’t that in the goodnights in his epsisode in the 94-95 season? Not long after he debuted it in the imfaous “Bill Clinton Breastfeeds Puppies” sketch from The Dana Carvey Show.
Tracy had a pretty light debut season, but I recall loving those Russell and Tate sketches, which basically seemed like an extension of his hilarious Hustle Man charcter from Martin, which was probably the thing he was best known for before SNL.
The 1st of 7 alumnus to host this season! Fun to see how old recurring characters would fit with the new cast.
Colbert wrote the Brokaw sketch
I’ve always thought that in some alternate universe it would been amazing for SNL to just import the entire cast/writing staff of the Dana Carvey show for this season, AND for CBS to have picked up The State to run Saturday nights. “What a time to be alive.”
And then over on Fox… ah, never mind.
Is this the last time a host sticks around to cameo the following week?
Interesting this episode features a legendary castember and Dr. Dre on the Halloween show… just like Norm’s episode in ‘99
Host sticking around is rare but it has happened since:
– In S24, John Goodman has a voice-cameo on Gooding Jr’s episode following his.
– In November 2003, André 3000 of OutKast appeared in the next week.
– In December 2006, Matthew Fox was in a Digital short immediately after his host episode.
– In early 2011, Jesse Eisenberg would also in a pre-recorded sketch the following week.
– In November 2017, Larry David stuck around the next week to participate.
This articles goes in more detail about the “Gerald Ford is Dead” sketch.
https://tv.avclub.com/an-unaired-dana-carvey-show-episode-offers-a-taste-of-w-1798285484
Going back to watch old episodes again this past year, for the first time in ages and ages, made me reassess my negative opinion of Dana Carvey as a performer. I’m glad I did, because it made me enjoy episodes like this more than I probably would have at the time. Dana’s in great form – his performances are crisp and clean, with little of the heavier mugging he could indulge in at times. He’s also very present with his scene partners – compare his interplay with Jim Breuer in that Goat Boy sketch (trying to make it seem as if he is actually in the moment) to Hammond’s work with him in the Carson and Donahue sketch – Hammond plays to the studio audience much of the time, not Dana, sapping away some of the chemistry the bit should have had.
Speaking of the studio audience, I felt like they had a much quieter response to most of Dana’s material than the material focused on the cast, like the Rita Delvecchio sketch. I suppose part of the reason is how played out characters like the Church Lady were, even if the performances are pretty on point and the script has a much sharper edge than most of the rest of his sketches that night (the part where the Church Lady jabs at OJ for his love of white women, where she covers his mouth right after the “I did it” part of “My Way,” and so on). The main exception was the Tom Brokaw sketch – which also happened to be the freshest material he’d done on the show in a very long time.
Tim tends to make me cringe a little in these roles, but I did enjoy the in-joke about his being a professor named Russell Johnson.
I think most of Norm’s reactions were playing off the audience having such a muted response to a lot of his jokes (don’t really blame them this time…).
Lots of sloppiness in this episode – very noticeable flubs and slips from Kattan, Cheri and Tracy.
I remember all the media hype over Elizabeth Dole at the time. The show seemed to have no real idea how to address said hype, but it was still nice to see Ana given a showcase.
I remember cracking up at Cheri’s exasperated “Dana! That’s my character!” in the monologue.
My childhood friend and I were (and still are) huge comedy nuts, and we were inspired greatly by several SNL cast members of the 90s. Dana was the most influential, bar none.
“Wow, that has to be THE longest ending note the SNL Band has ever played at the end of an episode’s theme music.”
Looks like it was 16 seconds. Don’t know of any other ones that were longer.
Hey all! Know this is a bit out of the ordinary, but since Stooge is momentarily out of commission I thought I’d take the time to rewatch and talk about one of my favorite one season curiosities: The Dana Carvey Show (I also watched the Hulu documentary about the show Too Funny To Fail, which has a lot of interesting behind the scenes info and I highly recommend. Even if you don’t watch, check out this clip, which really made me laugh: https://youtu.be/aysryvEymc4?t=52)
Interestingly, Stooge has already 2 sketches from the show. The Brokaw piece from this episode came TDCS’s unaired final episode, and the first Ambiguously Gay Duo short (and first ever TV Funhouse) from this season’s Tom Hanks was from TDCS’s second episode. I thought since we have some time, I’d leave my thoughts on a few other notable sketches from the show’s short run.
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
-Dana’s Clinton is FAR from his best impression. Dana himself would later admit he hadn’t found a hook for Clinton yet when doing this sketch.
-Pretty decent but mostly safe political commentary in these first 2 minutes. It’s more interesting watching in retrospect knowing this is just about the only 2 minutes of the show that looks like what ABC wanted from a “Dana Carvey Show”.
-LOL at Dana’s Clinton saying all he needs to win is not have a sex scandal. Ah, 1996.
-Funny enough, though no one ever talks about it, I find the brief Hillary dig at the beginning of this open to be much more mean spirited than the material about Bill that would cause all the controversy.
-And there it is, the infamous turn where Dana’s Clinton reveals he’s had plastic surgery in order to be able to breastfeed. This caused a massive shit show at the time, although it feels a little tame by today’s standards. In an interview with the AV Club years later, Smigel pointed out that Two and a Half Men, the highest rated comedy on TV at the time of the interview, was FAR more dirty on an average episode than this show was at ANY point during it’s run (though it wasn’t in any way subversive, which is where you’re really going to get in trouble with the network).
-Great ridiculous escalation with Clinton’s grotesque rubber nipples and him going on to feed multiple puppies and kittens. I especially love the reveal of him having a hen’s ass. I know this disgusted a lot of people in 96, but I’m getting good laughs from it.
-Reportedly the minute-by-minute ratings showed that 6 million people tuning in gave up during this open. It’s funny, a later sketch on the show features multiple actors in brown face doing exaggerated Asian accents. Now today that would get you immediately cancelled, and yet in 1996 it went by without any controversy. Meanwhile, this skit that was deemed one of the most offensive things in the world in 96 probably wouldn’t make many bat an eye today.
RATING: ***1/2
GERMANS WHO SAY NICE THINGS:
-A very silly sketch I’ve always loved.
-Dana’s said he had trouble keeping up with Carrell here, and you can tell. He’s still very funny, but Carrell is just CRUSHING.
-Carrell’s delivery of “Mr. Holland’s Opus is the feel good movie OF THE YEAR” is freaking PRICELESS, and gets a well deserved big reaction from the audience.
-This and the upcoming sketch Waiters Who Are Nauseated By Food are, in my opinion, the show’s two best examples of this type of presentational sketch that it loved to do, where they would just simply state the premise, have the characters say a few lines that fit in that premise, and then the sketch is over.
RATING: *****
OLIVER STONE’S WASHINGTON
-This was Dana’s choice for the leadoff sketch of the first episode, while Smigel and C.K. wanted the Clinton breastfeeding one. Funny that both groups wanted to open with a sketch making a president look ridiculous.
-I haven’t heard the real Oliver Stone talk too much, but I’ve heard Colbert’s impression is very accurate. Either way, he definitely has some really good and interesting characterizations here.
-Dana’s very funny as Antonio Banderas.
-Some good laughs from the increasingly offensive things Stone has the founding fathers doing.
-The little teeth chattering thing the anchors did as the show wrapped up made me laugh.
RATING: ****
LEFTOVER BEATLES MEMORIES
-Smigel looks eerily like Ringo with that makeup and wig.
-A dead on George from Colbert. Colbert claimed he stayed up all night the night before listening to tapes of George to master the impression.
-Love that Ringo thinks “Yellow Submarine” was responsible for submarine sandwiches being popular. Also love that next time they cut back to him, he’s just wordlessly eating a sub.
-Very funny story from George about “Octopus’s Garden”, though it incorrectly implies Paul wrote that song, when it was actually one of the few Ringo wrote.
RATING: ****
LARRY KING LIVE
-Phil Hartman!!! (Sorry, Phil deserves at least 3 exclamation points).
-Interesting choice to have Phil come back and play Larry King, someone Kevin typically played on SNL in their days. Phil’s doing a typically great job with the voice and mannerisms, though.
-Dana brings back another famous SNL bit of his, playing Ross Perot here.
-The whole bullfrog spiel from Perot is so funny. So many great lines from him in this in general.
-Some good laughs from the cutaway to the cast of Ellen saying lines obviously written by Perot.
-I love Perot claiming he was born in 1993, as well as him claiming King is spinning his words by saying that makes him 3 years old.
RATING: ****1/2
GRANDMA THE CLOWN
-A well beloved sketch.
-Such good dark humor. It really is just as sad as it is funny, a VERY hard balance to pull off.
-Genuinely brave to put something so mean spirited and off putting in a prime time show (one that aired after Home Improvement, of all shows), especially when they were already getting a lot of pressure from the network to be more accessible.
-Doesn’t have the classic visual of the slow pie to the face (followed by Grandma’s sad, confused look on her face) that the next installment has, but probably still funnier overall.
RATING: *****
LIVE WITH REGIS AND KATHIE LEE
-Jan Hooks!!! (Another cameo worthy of at least 3 exclamation points).
-Dana bringing back another impression he famously did on SNL, with him playing Regis here.
-Good parody of Kathie Lee’s Christian music. Still feel like Jan could have had a little more to do before Dana’s Regis left her.
-A lot of laughs from how desperate Regis is to get on Letterman.
-Random Carol Channing cameo.
-Random Tony Randall cameo as well.
-Great absurd escalation throughout this. Particularly love Regis fighting giant sewer rats.
-Now we have a cameo from Letterman himself. Boy, this is a star studded sketch.
-The visual of the mashed potato suit is really funny.
RATING: ****1/2
WAITERS WHO ARE NAUSEATED BY FOOD
-One of the show’s most famous sketches.
-According to Colbert, Jon Stewart was such a big fan of this sketch that it got both him and Carrell their Daily Show jobs.
-Colbert and Carrell are both so funny here, and I like how each has a very distinct dry heave from the other.
-Such a silly sketch overall, but one I’ve always loved dearly.
RATING: *****
BBC SPECIAL REPORT
-Dana bringing back yet another impression from his SNL days with Prince Charles.
-Needless to say, the material about Prince Charles wanting Princess Diana dead has aged a bit oddly.
-The song Dana’s Prince Charles launches into is fun, and there’s a lot of good crazy escalation here.
-The psychedelic interlude is especially funny.
-Even crazier now as we actually see Charles chop off Diana’s head.
-Diana’s headless body is now dancing around with Charles. This was on directly after Home freakin’ Improvement, people. You have to love it.
RATING: ****1/2
SKINHEADS FROM MAINE
-Very funny folksy voices from Dana and Colbert, especially in contrast with the hateful things they’re saying.
-The “suckah punch a queeah” punchline is a great “so wrong” laugh. Also got a good laugh from Colbert’s follow up “how bout the Henderson queer? He’s a goodun.”
-Probably couldn’t do this one today, but I’ve always loved it.
RATING: ****1/2
BOB DOLE UNDERCOVER
-The set up to this could have been a lot funnier. Dana’s laugh as Clinton is really fun, but there’s a surprising amount of dead air in the first minute of this.
-Smigel’s take on Dole isn’t as legendary as Norm’s, but it’s still really funny.
-The montage of Dole in different disguises is hilarious, especially a young boy with a lollipop.
-Dole’s bumbling speech as Gore is a riot.
-Even funnier escalation with Dole now posing as Hilary.
-Blah at that ending.
RATING: ****
Hope I didn’t go on too long! Just have a lot to say about that show, since I think it could have been something really special if it was given a chance. Ah well.
Very cool review!
That was stellar, @APC, glad you shared this. I loved The Dana Carvey Show. I can’t speak for Stooge, but I would love to read more reviews if DCS during this tech hiatus
Great review, @APC. I haven’t watched much of his show but appreciate the time you took here and if I ever watch I will go back and make more comments.
(is this the Regis and Kathie Lee sketch where Jan’s Kathie Lee sings that hilarious song to the monkey?)
Thanks for the kind words guys!
@Kubelsky, that’s sweet to hear but those were the only ones I could find myself to say more about than “I like this” or “I don’t really like this”. Definitely made me appreciate what Stooge does even more!
@John yes, that’s the same sketch.
Tom Brokaw Pre-Tapes is my pick for best SNL sketch of all time.
Robert Smigel did an interview a few years ago, and talked about coming back to the show after Dana’s sketch series was cancelled (1hr 2 mins in):
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/robert-smigel?clip=133684#people-clips
Smigel talks a bit about how difficult it was to get the Brokaw sketch on, and the clique-y attitude of that next generation working there.
The whole interview is interesting too, but that part particularly stuck out, especially for how he describes the show changing after the ‘95 cull (which a lot of commenters here have touched on too).