Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
GENITALIA LINE-UP
Paula Jones (CHO) looks for Bill Clinton’s (DAH) genitalia in line-up
— A hilarious gathering of politicians dropping trou in a police line-up.
— Some of the politicians’ comments about each other’s penises are hilarious.
— Ha, Will showing up as Ted Kennedy. I had forgotten until now that Will plays him a few times this season.
— Cheri’s Paula Jones: “It’s not the black guy.” Tim’s Clarence Thomas: “I bet you wish it was.”
— Funny ending with Darrell’s Clinton trying to disguise his voice by speaking in a Spanish accent.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host sings “Let’s Get Butt-Naked In The White House” to mark inauguration
— Great turn with David Alan Grier breaking out into a slow-jam, “Let’s Get Butt-Naked In The White House”, for President Clinton’s inauguration.
— I like the song’s random lyric about the big-headed banjo player from “Deliverance”.
— An overall memorable and very funny song from David.
STARS: ****
DEATH ROW BLOOPERS AND PRACTICAL JOKES
capital punishment wackiness on Death Row Bloopers & Practical Jokes tape
— A hilarious concept.
— I howled at the bit where, immediately after Will and the prison officials share a hearty laugh, the electric chair switch is suddenly turned on and Will starts getting electrocuted before the camera quickly cuts away.
— An overall very amusing and fun commercial.
STARS: ****
20/20
Barbara Walters (CHO) interviews musical guest amid his entourage
— I love the contrast between Cheri-as-Barbara-Walters’ lighthearted, silly demeanor and Snoop’s deadpan, aloof demeanor.
— Funny line with Barbara telling Snoop “Sinatra may have did it his way, but you did it doggystyle.”
— I got a laugh from Snoop sending one of his boys after Hugh Downs.
— Overall, a good sketch, but I wanted this to go a little further.
STARS: ***
WAITING TO EXHALE
(host), (TIM), (TRM) get emotional while watching Waiting To Exhale
— Ha, we get our very first Tracy Morgan SNL utterance of the phrase “Sweet like bear meat”, which would go on to be one of Tracy’s catchphrases. I’m surprised to hear that line this early in Tracy’s SNL tenure.
— A lot of laughs from how into it David, Tim, and Tracy are getting during their viewing of “Waiting To Exhale”, and how sentimental they’re increasingly becoming.
— A very amusing slow-motion montage of the guys during their viewing.
STARS: ****
BOTH SIDES WITH JESSE JACKSON
Kincaid & others discuss Ebonics
— Was this a real CNN show at the time?
— A humorously out-of-place setting to put Ana’s Kincaid character in. I keep thinking I’ve had enough of this character, but she still manages to make me chuckle.
— Tim’s Johnnie Cochran, regarding The Jeffersons: “Weezie was an outrage!”
— Some funny Ebonics demonstrations from David’s Maxine Waters, especially her telling Kincaid “Bitch, you be trippin’!”
STARS: ***½
THE ROCKY ROADS
(ANG), (MOS), other Rocky Roads say no to sexual harassment & shoplifting
— If you recall, the first installment of this sketch from David’s previous hosting stint is a personal favorite of mine. And as I said in my review of that one, I’m not familiar with this second installment. For some reason, I’m kinda expecting to be let down by this one. Hopefully, I’m wrong.
— The female Rocky Roads member previously played by Nancy Walls has been replaced by both Ana AND Molly, interestingly enough.
— I like David’s corny compliment “It looks like you’ve been dipped in pretty sauce.”
— Like last time, I absolutely love Will’s cheesy performance and David’s enthusiastic preacher-esque singing.
— The corny songs that the Rocky Roads are performing in tonight’s installment aren’t as catchy as the songs they did in the first installment.
— Overall, I was sorta right about being let down by tonight’s installment, to an extent, but I still enjoyed it as a whole. It came off very average compared to the first installment, though.
STARS: ***
MAYA ANGELOU FOR BUTTERFINGER
Maya Angelou (host) recites verse in praise of Butterfinger
— The beginning of a runner tonight.
— Such a funny concept, with David’s Maya Angelou spouting inspiring wisdom about Butterfinger, of all things.
— Overall, this was well-written and well-performed.
STARS: ****
WEEKEND UPDATE
though Michael Irvin was falsely accused, COQ isn’t going to apologize
— Good to see Colin doing an Update commentary as himself, even though I was disappointed by the last one he did as himself.
— Just half a minute into Colin’s Michael Irvin commentary so far, and it’s already miles funnier than his last commentary as himself.
— Colin’s overall commentary was very solid. This is the type of funny stand-up that I’ve come to expect from him.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Snoop’s Upside Ya Head”
WONG & OWENS, EX-PORN STARS
ex-porn stars Don Wong (JMB) & Reggie Owens (TRM) try a fast-food career
— Amusing concept.
— Throughout tonight’s episode, Tracy has been receiving the most airtime he’s gotten all season, though it’s obviously only because we have a black host. Similarly, in the following season’s Samuel L. Jackson-hosted episode, Tracy appears in a particularly large amount of sketches.
— When Wong and Owens each do the porn-esque removal of their shirt, Tracy is particularly funny doing that.
— A good laugh from Jim’s nudity being censored by a “TV 14” rating symbol (the last screencap above). I see SNL’s really taking advantage of the then-new TV ratings system.
STARS: ***
MAYA ANGELOU FOR FROOT LOOPS!
Maya Angelou (host) endorses Froot Loops! poetically
— Another funny topic for David’s Maya Angelou to wax poetic about.
— Towards the end of this, I especially love David’s over-the-top delivery of “The KUM…QUAT! The KI…WI!”
STARS: ****
SHOPPING AT HOME NETWORK
mispriced Scottie Pippen bust may ruin Don West (WIF) & Eddy Lewis (CHK)
— Good to see this back, though I’m not too familiar with any of the installments of this sketch besides the original Shaq Plaque one.
— A good laugh from how the sculpture that’s supposedly of Scottie Pippen looks nothing like him.
— I like seeing David acting like Will and Chris’ portrayals of Don West and Eddy Lewis.
— I love Will yelling at the camera “You’re ruining us!” and “You selfish bastards!”
— Will and Chris’ overdramatics over how much money they’re losing is a riot, especially a defeated Will calling his wife, asking her to tell their son to come home from college.
— Now this gets even funnier with the guys deciding to douse the place with gasoline, and Chris dousing himself with gasoline.
— Overall, not quite as strong as the Shaq Plaque installment of this sketch, but this still had me howling.
STARS: ****
TV FUNHOUSE
“Wheaty the Wheaten Terrier” by RBS- dog’s supposed heroism not apparent
— An unusually late spot in an episode for a TV Funhouse to air. I think the Roma Downey-hosted episode from the following season has a TV Funhouse that airs even later, shortly before the goodnights.
— Another oddity about this TV Funhouse is that it’s entirely live-action, with no animation at all. Off the top of my head, I can only think of two other non-animated TV Funhouses that would later air: “Find The Black People At The Knick Game” and the Tom Brady-starring PSA about sexual harassment in the workplace. There are also some later TV Funhouses that are half-animated and half-live-action, such as the Black History Month one with Dennis Haysbert, the “Pothead Theater” cartoon, and the Ambiguously Gay Duo installment that suddenly becomes live-action halfway through.
— Hmm, no SNL performers in this live-action piece. I don’t recognize any of the actors.
— I spoke too soon about not recognizing any of the actors. Just now, the camera has cut to Stephen Colbert as the dad. Colbert has been all over SNL this season.
— A very odd TV Funhouse, but there are some laughs from how the various cutaways to the “heroic” dog were obviously each filmed at a different time. It especially gets funny when the cutaways show the dog doing unpleasant things like drinking from a toilet or humping another dog.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Vapors”
NEW MICROSOFT PRODUCTS
Bill Gates (MAM) introduces Microsoft products that will change the world
— Geez, I thought it was weird seeing a TV Funhouse air fairly late in the show, but that’s nothing compared to this: a presidential address-to-the-nation sketch airing around the 10-to-1 timeslot?!? That’s unheard of.
— Wait, what the hell? After only a few seconds, this President Clinton address-to-the-nation, which was shown interrupting an airing of “Caroline in the City” (remember that sitcom?), itself gets interrupted by another special message.
— Ah, it turns out to be a special message from Bill Gates.
— Wait, Mark is playing Bill Gates? Not Chris Kattan? Ah, that’s right. I had forgotten until now that Mark originally played Gates before Chris would later take over the impression the following season, after Mark’s departure. Until now, I had only remembered Chris playing Gates.
— Mark is getting some good laughs from me here. It also feels good seeing him get some rare focus this season.
— I like Mark-as-Bill-Gates’ line “Don’t cry for me, Argentina…. BECAUSE I OWN YOU.”
STARS: ***½
MAYA ANGELOU FOR PENNZOIL
Maya Angelou (host) voices muse-inspired admiration for Pennzoil
— Pennzoil isn’t as inherently a funny product for David’s Maya Angelou to pitch as Butterfinger and Froot Loops were.
— Overall, this was still fairly funny, but yeah, they should’ve kept these Maya Angelou bits at just two. This third one wasn’t necessary.
STARS: **½
WORCESTER CENTRUM
see monster trucks & funny car civilization Sunday at Worcester Centrum
— A very funny absurd concept, and I’m getting a lot of entertainment from the increasingly complex things the “funny cars” are shown to do, represented by amusingly crude computer animation.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid episode. Not as outstanding as David Alan Grier’s previous episode, but there was a large number of strong pieces tonight, and nothing was particularly bad to me. Much like in his previous hosting stint, David Alan Grier was a fantastic host who’s comedic skills and sketch comedy experience was very welcome. I wish the fact that he hosted in two consecutive seasons would’ve led to him becoming a John Goodman/Alec Baldwin-esque regular host in this era, but unfortunately, tonight’s episode ends up being his final hosting stint. A shame.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kevin Spacey)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Neve Campbell