Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
NEW RATING SYSTEM
John Cleese & Michael Palin [real] explain SNL’s sketch ratings system
— Palin and Cleese!
— Already starting off funny with the applause bit.
— Ah, that’s right, this was back when the TV ratings system was a new thing.
— I love Lorne saying about SNL, in regards to his children, “I don’t want them watching this crap.”
— I love this concept, and there’s a lot of laughs from the content rating for sketches, complete with a clip demonstrating each type of sketch.
— Considering how quickly tired I’ve gotten of Goat Boy’s one-note childish shtick while doing these reviews, I particularly enjoyed the dig about Goat Boy not being suitable for anyone over the age of 14.
— Another particularly good laugh, with the “gratuitous, unnecessary, mild vomiting” bit.
— I love the rating for if Chris Farley ever returns to host: “May contain portions of fat man’s ass”, demonstrated with a clip of Farley’s infamous accidental mooning from a notorious UFO sketch.
STARS: ****½
MONOLOGUE
while host sings, on-screen text says that he really is a psycho
— Ah, they’re doing the old “Buck Henry onscreen text monologue” gimmick. I always find this type of monologue to be a fun throwback.
— The onscreen text in tonight’s monologue is like a more violent, psychotic version of the monologue they did when Bill Murray hosted in season 18.
— Some particularly funny lines from the onscreen text so far, especially the mention of Kevin’s demand for a separate dressing room for his split personality “The Bad Kevin”, and the mention of an incident in which Kevin stuck a gun in Norm’s mouth.
— Needless to say, Kevin’s real-life ruined reputation in more modern days puts this monologue into a bit of a different light in retrospect, but I’m still enjoying it.
STARS: ***½
THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN
repetition dominates the program
— Hell yeah! The debut of Norm’s David Letterman impression!
— “Uh… y-ya got any gum???”
— Such a hilarious Letterman impression from Norm.
— I love the spoof of the typical banter Letterman always has with Paul Shaffer, the latter being played perfectly by Mark.
— The violent coughing fit that Norm’s Letterman has laughed himself into is absolutely slaying me.
— The first of MANY funny and spot-on celebrity impressions from Kevin Spacey tonight.
— A pricelessly random and pointless “Can You Sell Me a Hot Dog” segment.
— Every single thing about this overall sketch was absolutely perfect to me. A goofy little masterpiece.
STARS: *****
MARIJUANA DOCTOR
easy-to-get prescriptions show potential danger of medical marijuana laws
— Hilarious turn with Kevin casually prescribing Will “two huge bags of weed”. I also love Will’s confused reaction to that.
— Another great line, with Kevin recommending Darrell take “two huge bong hits”, a line made even funnier by Kevin’s fantastic delivery.
— I absolutely love Tracy’s performance as Kevin’s shady weed guy, a precursor to a running joke in Tracy’s later seasons about Tracy loving weed.
— Kevin is so perfect for this sketch. I love his execution of this material.
— Very funny walk-on from Michael Palin.
— During the direct-to-camera PSA turn at the end, I got a big laugh from Palin introducing himself as “Home Improvement star Tim Allen”.
— Funny PSA at the end about keeping pot on the streets “where it belongs”.
STARS: ****
STAR WARS 20TH ANNIVERSARY HOME VIDEO
Star Wars 20th anniversary re-release contains unsuccessful screen tests
— Yes! Here comes a now-legendary SNL piece.
— The first of many pre-taped movie screen test sketches that SNL has done over the years, and to this day, the best one. No matter how many of these screen tests pieces SNL will continue to do, they’ll probably never top these Star Wars ones.
— Darrell never fails to crack me up as an angrily-ranting Richard Dreyfuss.
— I love that they’re letting Kevin do various impressions in this. He is simply incredible here with this great Christopher Walken and Walter Matthau.
— Looking forward to seeing Part 2 of this later in tonight’s episode.
STARS: *****
JANET RENO’S DANCE PARTY
Janet Reno (WIF) insists on hoofing to “My Sharona”
— Tonight’s episode is on a freakin’ roll.
— I absolutely love the very random concept of this sketch. This sketch is killer right from the opening visual of Will’s Janet Reno dancing wildly to “My Sharona” among a huge group of teens in a basement.
— I’m always down for an appearance from SNL writer Frank Sebastiano (the second above screencap for this sketch). Dude looks hilarious.
— I love Kevin as Donna Shalala.
— A great running bit with Will’s Reno refusing to dance to any song that’s not “My Sharona”.
STARS: *****
STAR WARS 20TH ANNIVERSARY HOME VIDEO
more Star Wars screen tests by celebrities who didn’t appear in the film
— Norm’s Burt Reynolds is always a riot.
— Kevin is absolutely priceless as a foul-mouthed, uncooperative Jack Lemmon.
STARS: *****
WEEKEND UPDATE
NOM asks Courtney Love (MOS) about her role in The People vs. Larry Flynt
— Did Norm blow his voice out during the Letterman sketch earlier tonight? He sounds hoarse during this Update.
— I definitely like Molly’s Courtney Love impression better as an Update correspondent than as the host of her own talk show. She’s really cracking me up here.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Where It’s At”
MONKEY LAB
Mr. Peepers refuses to behave for laboratory assistant (WIF)
— The streak of greatness tonight comes to a bit of a halt, as we get the return of a one-time funny Chris Kattan bit that won’t work as a recurring sketch.
— I will say that Kevin is a fantastic straight man to Mr. Peepers; better than Tom Hanks was in the first installment of this sketch. Kevin is making this installment fun.
— An amusing and disgusting visual of Mr. Peepers sucking on Will’s face.
— Wow, the sketch is already over. They were wise to keep this sketch short, and this ended up being better than I thought it would be.
STARS: ***
TV FUNHOUSE
“X-Presidents” by RBS- superheroes Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush foil a plot
— The debut of The X-Presidents.
— I love each president’s one-liner before hitting a villain, especially Jimmy Carter saying “I have lusted in my heart… to kick your ass.”
— Between the Ambiguously Gay Duo and now this, Robert Smigel has a knack for making entertaining parodies of animated superhero cartoons.
— I love the jolly 1970s-esque musical at the end.
STARS: ***½
THE JOE PESCI SHOW
Al Pacino (host) & Rodney Dangerfield (DAH)
— Another very funny impression from Kevin, as his Al Pacino is cracking me up and he’s giving a strong performance.
— Very funny delivery from Kevin of the line “What am I, cock-a-roach?”
— I absolutely love Darrell’s Rodney Dangerfield impression. It’s especially funny seeing it a few episodes after the real Rodney appeared on SNL.
STARS: ***½
DEAD PARROT
Mr. Praline (John Cleese) returns dead parrot to (Michael Palin)’s shop
— A re-enactment of a legendary Monty Python sketch. This re-enactment is notorious for inexplicably receiving complete silence from the audience, from what I’ve been told.
— Well, we at least get recognition applause early on when the audience realizes what sketch they’re in for.
— Hmm, am I watching a different show than the one that people claimed the audience was dead in? The audience has been laughing just fine during this sketch so far. Not quite as hard as they should be laughing, but they’re not dead at all.
— Okay, I’m noticing that the audience’s laughter is getting more and more mild as the sketch goes on. Still not quite as bad as I had heard their reaction to this sketch was.
— I do have to wonder, why are Palin and Cleese re-enacting this Dead Parrot script anyway? This re-enactment is kinda fun, but also feels kinda unnecessary. I’d rather have seen Palin and Cleese perform a new Python-esque piece.
STARS: Not quite sure what to give this. The original Monty Python version would get an undisputed *****, and while I enjoyed this re-enactment, it didn’t come remotely close to measuring up to the original, so I’m afraid I’ll have to give it ***.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Devil’s Haircut”
HOME SECURITY
home security technician (host) tires of Mrs. Attebury’s (ANG) stories
— The debut of what would go on to be a now-obscure Ana Gasteyer recurring sketch that I had completely forgotten about until now. Thinking back on it, I remember never caring much for this character of Ana’s. We’ll see how I react to her now.
— I’m now a minute-and-a-half into this sketch, and yeah, this is as weak as I had remembered. Ana’s character is doing nothing for me. Mark’s deadpan interjections as her disinterested husband are providing some amusement, though.
— My slowburn towards this sketch is starting to mirror Kevin’s impatient facial expressions in this.
— Wow, a sudden turn with Kevin going on an insane violent rant.
— I love Kevin’s angry threat to “shoot crystal meth into my thigh and go caveman on you! (*thrusts hips*)”, only to playfully reveal he was only kidding around just to get a word in edgewise.
STARS: **½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— This is a highly-regarded episode among SNL fans, and it’s easy to see why. This was a very strong episode, mainly the first half, which was PHENOMENAL. One classic segment after another, pretty much. Things slowed down in the second half, but it was still good, and the overall show is a keeper. Kevin Spacey was an outstanding host, working well in every single sketch, having great comic timing, and displaying a countless number of hilarious celebrity impressions. He even managed to make an unnecessary sequel to Mr. Peepers work, and managed to almost singlehandedly save the Home Security sketch.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Rosie O’Donnell)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
David Alan Grier