Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
FISHING DOCK
George Bush (DAC) prepares Bob Dole (NOM) to lose to Bill Clinton (DAH)
— After hosting the preceding episode, Dana Carvey immediately returns as a credited special guest tonight, as he will be appearing in a few sketches. I’m certainly not complaining about more Dana, but why is he appearing as a special guest just one week after he hosted? Does it have anything to do with the then-recent cancellation of his ABC show?
— Many funny lines from Dana’s George Bush to Norm’s Dole about how badly he’s going to lose the election on the upcoming Tuesday. I especially like the line “Bill’s gonna spank ya just like he was your daddy.”
— Norm is showing some genuine amusement towards Dana’s performance, as you can see Norm stifling his laughter at times throughout this cold opening.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
CSR does stand-up about Bill Clinton & sexual harassment
— Rock: “Every town’s got two malls: they got the white mall and the mall white people used to go to.”
— I love Rock detailing how he IS Bill Clinton because of how he can relate to Bill’s realistic problems.
— You can really see how much Rock has honed his act and onscreen persona after leaving the SNL cast. Throughout this monologue, he’s using what’s now known as his trademark loud, raspy stand-up voice, something that we almost never heard from him when he was an SNL cast member.
— Hoo, boy. Rock’s bit right now about how most sexual harassment claims are actually NOT sexual harassment will not sit well with a lot of people nowadays, especially in our current #MeToo climate. As I often do when reviewing old SNL things that would now be considered touchy by today’s standards, I’m trying to be fair by looking at this in the context of when it originally aired, so I won’t have my judgment clouded by changing PC standards. As I do that, I’m finding myself actually laughing at Rock’s sexual harassment material. It helps, though, that Rock had already been on such a roll in this monologue that nothing can ruin it for me.
— Hilarious bit from Rock about blind people being given seeing-eye dogs.
— Rock is a freakin’ riot in this monologue.
STARS: ****½
EXCEDRIL
to some, lack of medical evidence that Excedril relieves pain is a plus
— Very funny premise of there being no medical evidence to prove what Excedril can or can’t do.
— Stephen Colbert!
— Molly’s whole bit about using Excedril as a birth control is great, especially her line “I’m just glad I found a pain reliever that can kill the tiny babies living in my husband’s sperm.”
STARS: ****
I’M CHILLIN’
Onski plugs I Ain’t Tryin’ To Hear That home pregnancy test
— Oh, what are you doing, SNL? You know you can’t do this sketch without Farley.
— Jim seems like an odd choice to replace Chris Farley in this sketch.
— At least we get Rock’s usual funny long-winded rhyming intro to his co-host.
— A good laugh from the sponsor, “I Ain’t Tryin’ To Hear That” home pregnancy test for men.
— It’s mentioned that B-Fats, Chris Farley’s character from this recurring sketch, was killed in a rap war. I understand that they had to come up with a reason for B-Fats’ absence in tonight’s sketch, but was killing him off really necessary? After all, both Rock AND Farley would later end up appearing together on SNL again when Farley hosts in the following season.
— Boy, Jim’s performance in this is not good. Regardless of whether or not he’s convincing in his attempt to sound urban, his characterization isn’t remotely funny.
STARS: **½
WOMAN, BLACK GUY, GAY MAN
in Dole ad, woman (MOS), black guy (TIM), gay man (MAM) say “don’t vote”
— I like the characters casually referring to each other as the generic type of person they were each introduced as (e.g. black guy).
— Great twist at the end that this ad was paid for by the Dole/Kemp campaign.
STARS: ***½
THE DARK SIDE WITH NAT X
Jesse Jackson (DAH), Tori Spelling (CHO), Mike Tyson (TRM)
— Now we get the return of the only other big recurring sketch Rock had during his SNL tenure.
— Feels weird hearing somebody other than Phil Hartman do the voice-over during the Nat X opening title sequence. Mark takes over as the voice-over tonight, but he doesn’t have Phil’s great knack for voice-overs.
— In between all the familiar, obligatory Nat X beats (the White Man Cam, Top 5 list), we get an interesting topical segment with Nat X talking about O.J.
— As always, Darrell’s Jesse Jackson impression is cracking me up. I also love Nat X’s response to Jesse’s long-winded “x” spiel.
— When Cheri’s Tori Spelling tells Nat X that he looks like Dwayne from What’s Happenin’, I like Nat angrily responding “Don’t you talk about Heywood Nelson!”
— Tracy’s Mike Tyson impression is very funny.
STARS: ***½
MARK RUSSELL’S ELECTION YEAR COMEDY SPECIAL
Mark Russell’s (MAM) special features impish lyrics
— Mark McKinney FINALLY gets his first comedic lead role of the entire season. Jesus Christ, it’s about time.
— I don’t have much familiarity with Mark Russell, but I get the gist of him from this SNL parody.
— Mark’s performance in this is great, and he’s giving me some good laughs with his intentionally cheesy performance.
— I like the newspaper reviews, especially the one from Christian Science Monitor: “We’ve reconsidered our concept of God, and it just might be Mark Russell!”
STARS: ***½
CHARLES GRODIN
Abe Vigoda [real] & other celebrity guests opine
— Dana debuts a new SNL impression.
— I’ve been told that, much like the Tom Brokaw sketch from the preceding episode, this sketch was originally written for Dana’s ABC show.
— I’m not sure about the accuracy of Dana’s Charles Grodin impression, but it sure is funny, especially when he just freezes and stares blankly off-camera for a few seconds.
— I love Darrell-as-Richard-Dreyfuss’ angry ranting ending with “…until it swims up behind you and bites you IN THE ASS!!!”
— Rock’s Nipsey Russell impression is much funnier here than it was the one time he played him on Weekend Update during his SNL tenure.
— I love the camera briefly cutting to Abe Vigoda only to show him say “Clinton’s a schmuck!”
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE
— I love the audience’s taken-aback, unsure reaction to Norm’s punchline “He’s the guy who killed Vince Foster.”
— Tonight’s overall Update had no guest commentaries at all, but I’ve noticed that those usually turn out to be among my favorite Norm Updates.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “One Headlight”
TV FUNHOUSE
“Queen of Terror” by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo thwarts Serena’s scheme
— The Ambiguously Gay Duo officially become recurring.
— Mayor: “Ace and Gary are on it.” Cop: “When they’re not on each other.”
— I like Big Head being called out on how obsessed he is with Ace and Gary’s ambiguous gayness.
— Like last time, we get some hilarious suggestive homoerotic visuals from Ace and Gary, especially their penis-shaped car squeezing between two big boulders that collectively resemble a butt.
STARS: ****
SPEECH PREP
Bob Dole (NOM) rehearses his mean-spirited victory & concession speeches
LOM tells NOM it’s time to retire the Bob Dole impression
— I like Ana’s Elizabeth Dole telling Norm’s Dole, with a smile, “On Tuesday, you’re gonna get your ass handed to you on a silver platter.”
— Another funny line from Ana’s Elizabeth Dole: “This isn’t the man I halfway fell in love with.”
— The fourth wall has been broken with Lorne suddenly entering the scene and saying “It’s over, Norm”, letting Norm know that his services as a Dole impersonator will no longer be needed. I like Lorne saying “I got the call yesterday”, regarding the election results, when voting hasn’t even taken place yet.
— I love the clip show montage of Norm’s Dole impression, especially the random fake clips added in of Norm’s Dole doing insane things, such as running away from an elephant, getting whipped by a Nazi dominatrix, and biting off a chicken’s head.
— This sketch ends with Norm saying “At least I still got Update” and Lorne responding “Actually, Norm, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.” Yikes. I’m sure that was just intended as a throwaway joke, but it’s eerily prescient, considering what ends up happening to Norm in the middle of the following season.
STARS: ***½
COLLEGE GRADUATE
to his dad (CSR), college-educated (TIM)’s simple acts are affronts
— Feels weird that this is Rock’s first sketch appearance since the first half of the show.
— The premise started out a bit slow and repetitive, but it’s getting increasingly funnier when it gets to the point where Rock is surprised at Tim knowing how to use the phone, saying “We didn’t know what the hell that thing was, we let it ring for years and years.”
— Funny bit with Rock responding to Tim’s use of the word “thesaurus” by saying “Boy, you curse at me again, I’ll whoop your ass!”
STARS: ***
WEDDING TOAST
music teacher couple Marty (WIF) & Bobbi (ANG) sing a pseudo-soul medley
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— You can tell this is the first Culps sketch, because the way they were introduced by Jim at the beginning of tonight’s sketch is different from how the Culps are usually introduced at the beginning of their sketches.
— Until now, Will has surprisingly been almost non-existent tonight. In fact, this has been a light night for quite a number of cast members. Hell, Chris Kattan doesn’t even appear AT ALL. He was almost non-existent in the last episode too. His airtime has surprisingly been in a slump lately. I guess I can’t complain about that, after how he annoyed me with his two big sketches (AT&T Operators and Hollywood Party) in the last episode he received a normal amount of airtime in (Bill Pullman). I generally like Chris in these early seasons of his, though. It’s his later seasons where I can’t stand him.
— A very funny detailed look for Will’s character.
— Right out of the gate, Will and Ana have such a good handle on their characters, and their delivery and low-key performances are tickling me. I wonder if Will and Ana already developed these characters at The Groundlings.
— This is the very first time on SNL where Ana gets to display her fantastic singing voice.
— I like hearing the Culps sing operatic-sounding versions of contemporary hit songs. Their medley tonight is increasingly fun, especially their “You’re Gonna Miss My Lovin’” number.
— Another amusing number from the Culps, with their operatic version of Sexual Healing.
— The Culps would go on to basically be to 90s SNL what the Sweeney Sisters were to 80s SNL and what Nick the Lounge Singer was to 70s SNL. I wonder why the 2000s and 2010s don’t have any recurring characters in that vein.
STARS: ***½
RUSSELL SIMMONS’ DEF EMERGENCY ROOM JAM
foul-mouthed physicians
— A sister sketch to the Def Magic Show Jam sketch from Rock’s years as a cast member.
— Rock’s bleep-filled lines are freakin’ priceless.
— Overall, brief but hilarious. I liked this even more than the Def Magic Show Jam sketch. The fast pacing of this worked, and something about the erratic camera work added to the humor.
STARS: ****½
PERSPECTIVES
Lionel Osbourne talks with Million Man Marcher (CSR)
— This is the first and only sketch all night where Rock uses his natural soft-spoken voice. Feels weird hearing it after a night full of him using his loud, raspy stand-up voice in every sketch.
— In Tim’s rarely-seen “Best Of” special, they show a snippet of the dress rehearsal version of this sketch, in which Tim and Rock keep uncontrollably cracking up, and their performances are much more loose. At one point during that, Rock even responds to Lionel Osborne’s question of how many men were at the Million Man March by saying “A million, ya dumb fuck!”, then looking into the camera and humorously saying in a mock-insincere voice “I’m sorry!”
— So far, this isn’t quite as funny as the usual Perspectives installments.
— A laugh from Rock saying “No Asians” when he and Lionel Osborne are talking about who can join Rock’s organization.
— When talking about his sons, Rock says in a straightforward manner “My other son, Trey, is dead.” In the aforementioned dress rehearsal version of this sketch shown in Tim’s “Best Of”, Rock delivers that line very differently, in a much more comedic manner: “And my other son, Trey…. well… TREY DEAD!”, the latter two words being delivered in Rock’s trademark raspy stand-up voice.
— I like Lionel Osborne’s constant confusion over the Million Man March.
— Funny ending with Lionel proudly announcing that his show will be airing in prime-time for the first time ever, only to immediately be handed a paper informing him that his show will instead be on at its regular time at 4:42 in the AM.
— Overall, a sketch with a slow first half, but a better second half. Still not quite as strong as the usual Perspectives installments.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode. I liked just about every sketch tonight (I gave a somewhat low rating to I’m Chillin’, but that was only because Jim Breuer’s lousy performance dragged it down for me). Much like Damon Wayans when he hosted in season 20, it was great to see SNL heavily utilizing Chris Rock to his full potential for once, after how underused he was as a cast member. It was also interesting seeing him come back to SNL with a more defined comedic persona.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dana Carvey)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
The third of five consecutive episodes hosted by a former cast member. This time, it’s Robert Downey Jr.