Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
TRIAL REENACTMENT
TV re-enactment shows O.J. Simpson (TIM) obstructing justice on the stand
— Feels weird seeing an O.J. Trial sketch in 1996. Am I unknowingly watching a season 20 episode?
— Bailiff: “Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” O.J.: “I do.” Bailiff: “Seriously, do you?”
— Only one minute into this sketch, and this is ALREADY miles funnier than most of season 20’s O.J. Trial sketches. This sketch is tickling the hell out of me. This really puts into perspective how much SNL’s writing has improved since season 20.
— I like O.J. getting busted on making a fake bomb threat phone call.
— Interesting turn with this being revealed to just be a fantasy sequence from O.J. Network.
— I love Will’s particularly excited delivery of “Live from New York…” at the end of this.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
PHH tells how his career has allowed him to buy his family’s affection
— Phil’s opening line: “I just flew in from Hollywood, and boy, is my full-of-crap tired.”
— For obvious reasons, it’s bittersweet in retrospect seeing Phil talking so much about his children.
— Oh, no, and now he talks a bit about his wife, Brynn. Hoo, boy.
— A fairly funny turn with the sudden Michelob ad. I love Phil’s delivery of “That should cover the necklace!” Nice to see Phil still getting some good laughs out of material that’s not the funniest. This monologue is kind of a letdown compared to Phil’s epic monologue from his previous hosting stint.
STARS: ***
LUX 420SL
Cliff Robertson [real] introduces the Lux 420SL, the car for crazy people
— I love this era’s penchant for getting distinguished actors to play spokesmen for ridiculous fake ads. First Sam Waterston in Old Glory Insurance, and now Cliff Robertson in this ad.
— The car for crazy people is freakin’ priceless, and Will is perfect for this.
— I love the absurd trio of scientists who made the car, including Dr. Zaius.
— Lots of hilarious features of the car, especially the trunk space for 200 jars of urine.
— A very funny ending nonsensical jingle: “There’s a radio in my fingernail… CAR!”
STARS: *****
HOUSE OF CONGRESS
Kincaid welcomes Jesse Helms (DAH) & Ted Kennedy (PHH)
— I liked Ana’s Weekend Update commentary as Kincaid in the season premiere, but I’m not sure we needed to see her get spun-off into her own sketch.
— I like Darrell’s Jesse Helms asking Kincaid what kind of acid is she smoking.
— Kincaid’s endless pop culture references are still making me chuckle, but it’s very one-note and not good enough to carry an entire sketch.
— Weird seeing Phil’s Ted Kennedy being played so straight in this sketch. He’s usually given raunchy dialogue, but in this sketch, his dialogue is serious and Phil is playing him in a very dour manner.
— I spoke too soon about Phil’s Kennedy, as he now suddenly has a wild, pervy reaction to Kincaid showing the tattoo on her butt.
STARS: **
TV FUNHOUSE
by RBS- a Hanna-Barbera-like Michael Jackson goes gaga for a young boy
— I love this hilarious concept of a boy-crazy Michael Jackson starring in a 1960s Hanna Barbera-esque cartoon.
— The animation is a perfect imitation of Hanna Barbera’s style.
— A particularly funny part with MJ going through Hanna Barbera’s famous “excited dog” reactions when seeing a little boy at the press conference.
STARS: ****
TEXACO
Uncle Tom Texaco employee (TIM) enjoys being mistreated at work
— Some pretty good laughs from Tim proudly downplaying his poor treatment from Texaco.
— I love the goofy gleeful look on Tim’s face during his soft-shoe routine.
STARS: ***½
THANKSGIVING SONG AUDITIONS
Cinder Calhoun (ANG) & others seek NEA funding for Thanksgiving songs
— Darrell does a dead-on imitation of the singing style of typical country singers.
— Tracy’s reggae song is hilarious. I also love the cutaway to Phil’s frozen shocked face during it.
— This is a fun sketch, showing pretty much the entire cast each coming on one-by-one to audition with a different singing style.
— Hmm, we get the debut of Ana’s Cinder Calhoun character, which I’m surprised to see here, as I had always thought she was a Weekend Update-only character who didn’t debut until the following season.
— Funny number from Cinder Calhoun here.
— Tim’s raunchy R&B song is priceless, as is him humping the floor during his song.
STARS: ****
THE JOE PESCI SHOW
Frank Sinatra (PHH) & Michael Jackson (TIM)
— I’m kinda surprised they waited this long to have this recurring sketch make its first appearance of the season. I’m glad they’ve been cutting back on the frequency of this sketch’s appearances.
— A funny visual of Phil’s Sinatra making his entrance in his pajamas and an I.V.
— I love the brief moments of negative tension between Pesci and Sinatra, with Sinatra’s ruthless digs at Pesci. This is actually being played very realistically.
— For some reason, Tim seems to be speaking in a lower pitch than he usually speaks in when playing Michael Jackson.
— I like the ending with Pesci finally snapping at Sinatra and lunging towards him, only to get roughed up by Sinatra’s bodyguards.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE
Rodney Dangerfield [real] tells what it’s like to be 75 years old
— Not too great of an Update from Norm tonight so far. Kinda sad seeing him resort to prop comedy too, bringing out a giant wine glass for the punchline of a Boris Yeltsin joke (the second above screencap for this Weekend Update). Blah. However, he does lampshade the hackiness of that prop joke by ad-libbing “Like a joke from the old Dean Martin show.”
— Okay, Norm’s jokes are slowly getting better, though this Update still feels a bit below par for his standards.
— Rodney Dangerfield cameo!
— As expected, Rodney is slaying me with his trademark style of self-deprecating stand-up jokes.
— A particularly great joke from Rodney about how his lawyer is so good, Rodney was able to get a rape charge reduced to tailgating.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Swallowed”
THE GOSSIP SHOW
Julie Brown (CHO) dishes & compromises national security
— This sketch feels like it’s going over my head. Maybe I need to be familiar with the real show it’s spoofing to “get” it.
— I do like Phil’s harsh wishes for certain celebrities to get illnesses.
— Okay, this is slowly getting funnier with the random turn with Cheri’s Julie Brown giving out secretive nuclear arms info.
— Overall, a weird sketch and had an iffy start, but I did like the direction it eventually went in.
STARS: ***
BAND SHOT
going to commercial, TIM plays saxophone with SNL Band
ACTING WORKSHOP
Bobby Colsman manipulates fledgling actors attending his workshop
— The return of Phil’s great acting teacher character from the last episode Phil hosted.
— I love Phil’s brief interruptions throughout Molly and Will’s acting demonstration, giving them very random suggestions, such as telling Molly to act like her feet are on fire and telling both Molly and Will to change their characters to a southern whore and a bottle of Windex, respectively.
— Hmm, Mark playing a guy forced to face away from the camera while staring at a wall. There’s something strangely symbolic about that, considering Mark’s extreme underutilization this season.
— Phil’s Conrad Bain story is great.
— They’re really upping Phil’s character’s homoerotic predatory behavior towards Chris that was implied in the last installment of this sketch.
— Interesting turn with Molly telling off Phil’s character and putting him in his place, only for it to turn out to be an acting choice from Molly that Phil praises.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Insect Kin”
PACIFIC BRIGADE
WWII commander (PHH) tells his men they’re “not coming back” from mission
— Some good laughs from Phil already having knowledge of which soldiers won’t be coming back from the mission they’re being sent on.
— Some nice variations in how Phil is saying a succession of “no”s to each soldier asking if they’re coming back. I especially like the sing-songy “Nooooo” Phil delivers at one point.
— Phil telling Chris that Tracy is going to be the one to shoot him is very funny, as is Tracy humorously responding to that by telling Chris “I’m sorry, man.”
— A particularly great part with Phil detailing the torture that Will is going to suffer when captured by the enemy, especially him being given a foreign nickname that will translate to “He Who Begs For The Death That Will Not Come”.
— For a thin premise, this sketch is well-written and well-performed, and Phil is absolutely perfect for this material.
STARS: ****½
FROONGA
Froonga tumbling glassware game is one of many dangerous Grelco products
— I like the ridiculous concept of playing a Jenga-type game that replaces the wooden blocks with glassware.
— The dangerous toys mentioned in the many listed-off fake sponsors are providing some pretty good laughs. I want to say this is Jack Handey’s handiwork (no pun intended), as he’s the SNL master of fake sponsors, but the style of these particular sponsors feels different from Handey’s usual stuff.
— The dangerous toys being sponsored also feel like toys that Irwin Mainway would’ve displayed on Consumer Probe back in the day.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode. For some reason, I didn’t feel too crazy about the episode’s quality as I was watching it, probably due to the high expectations I had for a Phil Hartman-hosted episode, but when the episode ended, I found myself pretty satisfied with its overall quality. This episode had a few really strong highlights, and Phil did his usual masterful job, even though he wasn’t utilized as well as he was in his previous hosting stint. While watching him during the goodnights of tonight’s episode, I got a bit of a lump in my throat when realizing that this is the last time we’ll EVER be seeing him on SNL during his lifetime.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert Downey Jr.)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
The last of five consecutive episodes hosted by a former cast member. This time, it’s Martin Short.
At first I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to watch this one, as it’s the final goodbye, but I’m glad I did.
The first half is a bit shaky (Ana and Hammond are both great here but I’m not sure how that Kincaid talk show got past dress; the monologue is lazy; the Texaco sketch is cute but mostly sold by Tim’s charm; TV Funhouse mostly feels out of place), but there are no real duds, and the night gets better and better.
I was kind of dreading the Joe Pesci return, but I think this ended up being tied with Carrey’s as my favorite. Phil is phenomenal here, as the absolute malevolence of his Sinatra washes over the entire sketch. Rather than waiting for the punchline of Pesci getting violent, you wait to see whether he’s going to screw up and fall into Sinatra’s very well-baited trap. The ugliness of the sketch also serves to make the very overexposed material about Jacko less of a chore to sit through.
The acting class sketch is just a fabulous showcase for Phil, and he more than delivers. It takes an immense talent to be able to make such a premise not devolved into old ham.
The army sketch is the only thing I remembered from the episode (I kept thinking it was a drill sergeant sketch) – again, wonderfully acted, and just slightly diluted by the “we don’t know how to end this” bug.
I watched The Gossip Show in these years and the show was more than ripe for parody. Initially I was rolling my eyes at Cheri jumping around, but the increasingly apocalyptic tint contrasted to the complete vacuousness of everyone involved worked amazingly well. This is a sister sketch to “Wake Up and Smile” and in some ways may even be a little better.
I’m not sure why they didn’t just have Phil do the car ad, although Cliff Robertson was more than fine in his old pitchman role (and he did one or two in the Ebersol era, didn’t he?).
This was a worthy sendoff for Phil, even if it was never intended that way. I’m very very glad that turned out to be the case.
There have been cast members in more recent years that I’ve felt a connection with and would rank among the very best, like Bill Hader, but I don’t think anyone will ever have my heart the way Phil and Jan did. It just doesn’t seem possible. They gave us so much, and I hope that if this world is still around a hundred years from now, someone somewhere will find as much in their work as I have for so much of my life.
I couldn’t agree with you more about Phil and Jan. Their talents separately and together were rarities and I’m not sure that we’ll ever see anything like that again. I just rewatched Phil’s monologue on SNL.com. Oh Lord. Listening to him talk about his kids and then…Bryan and the necklace. I don’t think I can watch that another time. I’m just thankful that we do have this episode.
Brynn (stupid auto correct!)
Since this episode, How many times has someone hosted twice in the same calendar year? Can’t be many
Ben Affleck 2004 is the main one I can remember.
Jon Hamm in 2010
Chris Hemsworth in 2015
Alec Baldwin in 1994
I think Stephen Colbert is in the background of WWII sketch standing behind Tracy Morgan.
It is. He was a guest writer during this month.
I love the attention to detail combined with the bad taste of the Michael Jackson kiddy cartoon and it seems unlikely we’ll ever see anything quite like it again.
Although it might being just a *little* too bit long…the Thanksgiving Song Audition sketch is pretty entertaining and fun.
If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t the act Kattan & Ferrell did in “Thanksgiving Songs” a prototype of what would eventually be The DeMarco Brothers (Only with Chris Parnell in Ferrell’s place eventually)?
This is the Vintage episode on Saturday.
There’s also a Thanksgiving special airing tonight.
As an aside I was a senior in high school in 96-97. In early November I became ill. Originally thought it was a cold. Kept getting worse worse and more worse. Turns out I had pneumonia. I was in the hospital for a week. I became sick the Friday before thanksgiving 96 and didn’t return to school till the week before .christmas break.
Anyway so these shows in late 96 are a blur to me I guess. Downey, Phil, Short, etc. I vaguely remember watching the Rosie O’Donnell .Christmas show.
remember picking right back up when 97 started though
They bleeped Rodney saying “rape.”
They cut:
LUX420
House of Congress
Gossip Show
Texaco
Froonga
Maybe Froonga should merge with Mattel, makers of the Eye Poker Outer and Gasoline-Powered Sharp Thing.
Not a big fan of the content of the MJ cartoon, but the art style is dead-on accurate.
I just watched this episode on TBD and couldn’t help but notice that the visual quality of this episode seemed somewhat “off”. It looks as if it was sourced from a copy of a copy of the original master.
Speaking of the TBD edit of this episode, here’s what was shown:
-Cold Open
-Monologue
-Lux 420SL
-Texaco
-Thanksgiving Song Auditions
-Weekend Update (w/Rodney Dangerfield commentary)
-The Gossip Show
-Acting Class
-Froonga
-Goodnights (oddly enough, the bumper photo preceding it was omitted)
Ironically Phil Hartman and Frank Sinatra died only two weeks apart.