Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESS CONFERENCE
O.J. Simpson (TIM) lies about money available for civil suit judgement
— A very funny overhead shot of Tim’s O.J. leaving from a bank with a wheelbarrow of money bags, and even stopping at one point to happily wave to the overhead camera.
— A big laugh from Tim’s O.J. muttering the n-word in a different voice, in a bad attempt to pretend it was one of the reporters who said it.
— I think SNL would later replace this cold opening with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. I recall the reruns of this episode having Tim deliver “Live from New York…” in a different way than he delivers it in the live version I’m currently watching.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host gets a Scream-style phone call from DAS, but it isn’t very scary
— The joke with Neve following up her clarification on the pronunciation of her first name by pronouncing words like “believe” in the same way her first name is pronounced is very reminiscent of a poorly-executed joke from Bronson Pinchot’s monologue from 10 years earlier. Tonight’s version of that joke was executed a little better.
— Ha, that’s clearly David Spade’s voice on the phone, trying to sound sinister.
— A funny call-waiting bit with Neve casually telling the second sinister caller “I already got a creep on the other line”.
— A laugh from the voice of David being heard singing “Sister Christian” when Neve returns to his call after the aforementioned call-waiting bit.
— And now, David has been exposed and we see him onscreen, making his first cameo since leaving the cast a year earlier.
STARS: ***½
CARIBBEAN ESSENCE BATH OIL
Rerun from 10/5/96
JACKPOT
contestants can’t understand game show emcee Suel Forrester
— An interesting use of Suel Forrester.
— This is being executed pretty well, and as I always say, I’m a sucker for the Suel Forrester routine.
— The speed round part is funny, with the use of electric shocks whenever contestants get a question wrong.
STARS: ***½
THE DELICIOUS DISH
essay contest winner (host) joins Margaret Jo & Terry during pledge drive
— I’m kinda surprised at the frequency that this recurring sketch has been appearing so far, but I’m not complaining much, as I always enjoy this particular recurring sketch.
— As always, Ana and Molly are getting a lot of humor out of the mundane.
— Neve is doing a good job at speaking in the soft-spoken NPR style.
— Unlike the first two installments of this sketch, we didn’t get Cheri as a caller in tonight’s overall installment, but we did get Mark as a caller once again, which proves my theory that the show Delicious Dish has no more than two listeners.
STARS: ***½
TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- State Of The Union address is crashed
— Looking forward to this. Smigel has been having a very strong track record with his Fun With Real Audio cartoons so far.
— A huge laugh from Newt Gingrich licking the spilled beer on his desk.
— I love the visual of a straitjacket-wearing Ross Perot giving his speech in a sanitarium.
— A particularly hilarious part with the giant rabbit’s screaming sounds when giving a speech.
STARS: ****½
SIDNEY’S PARTY
Sidney Prescott (host) is embarrassed by her cousin Arianna & Craig
— A good fake-out at the beginning, when we’re shown a horror movie-esque first-person perspective of someone creeping into the party, only for it to turn out to be the Cheerleaders.
— I like the “Jamie Lee, where’s her bra, I don’t know, I don’t know” cheer that Craig and Arianna do.
— Nice turn with Neve using a Ghostface disguise to scare out all the guests.
— I myself am surprised at the positive reception I’ve been giving the Cheerleaders sketches lately. Like I said in a previous review, it turns out that these Cheerleader sketches are actually tolerable when they have an actual storyline.
STARS: ***
JANET RENO’S DANCE PARTY
attending teens receive some tough talk
— They’re making this recurring ALREADY??? I don’t want to complain, considering how much I absolutely loved the first installment of this sketch, but they’re bringing this sketch back too soon. It debuted just TWO EPISODES AGO.
— By the way, is tonight’s episode going to be another Rosie O’Donnell episode-type recurring character fest? Literally every single sketch so far tonight has been recurring.
— So far, there’s been nothing new in tonight’s Janet Reno Dance Party installment. Everything is being repeated from the first installment, right down to the small appearance from Darrell’s President Clinton at the top of the basement stairs. Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think they were literally just re-airing the first installment of this sketch.
— Okay, we now get something that’s actually new in this sketch, with a “Teen Talk” segment.
— I love Will’s Reno saying “Bullcrap, you liar!” when Ana says she’s 17.
— Great ending with Will’s Reno diving into the mosh pit.
— Overall, a weak start, but the sketch got better and better as it went along. This is still a somewhat big step down from the debut of this sketch. There would be better follow-ups of this sketch to later come, especially the one with Rudy Giuliani.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE
Hollywood Minute- DAS comments on showbiz items from his post-SNL days
— Special guest David Spade bringing back Hollywood Minute.
— Oof, David’s jokes are starting off rough so far.
— I like David’s ad-libbed aside “Thanks for that joke, Norm” when one particular joke of David’s gets a tepid audience reaction.
— Okay, David’s jokes are getting better and better as this goes along.
— Wow, I’m surprised to see David taking a harsh shot at the Dan Aykroyd/John Goodman Blues Brothers revival act. No argument from me, though. Should’ve let the Blues Brothers die with John Belushi.
— Hmm, they’re letting tonight’s Hollywood Minute go on a lot longer than usual, obviously because David’s a special guest.
— Odd how Norm cut himself off before finishing the obvious punchline of his Michael Jackson joke, then let the audience get their laughs out, and then repeated the set-up of the Michael Jackson joke before cutting himself off again.
— And now Update just randomly ends after that awkwardly cut-off Michael Jackson joke, without Norm even saying his usual sign-off.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Little Wonder”
20/20
a Mia Farrow (ANG) interview turns into a Woody Allen (DAS) movie
— A very funny and spot-on Woody Allen impression from David Spade, which comes as no surprise, considering the Woody Allen Fan Club sketch he was in several seasons earlier, where he, a few other cast members, and host Jason Alexander all played very Woody Allen-esque fans of Woody.
— Interesting visual of Ana’s Mia Farrow stepping out of the TV to confront Woody in his living room.
— I like the increasing number of random people appearing in Woody’s living room, including Darrell’s Hugh Downs showing up just to ask for the bathroom.
— Boy, those are some heavy eye prosthetics on Molly as Soon-Yi. I know they’re attempting to make Molly look Asian, but the eye prosthetics instead make her look kinda freaky.
— Overall, I enjoyed how this sketch gradually turned more and more into a typical Woody Allen movie, right down to randomly having ending credits.
STARS: ***½
BASKETBALL COURT
urban teens (CHO) & (host) scope out some guys at the playground
— I like how 90s this sketch feels.
— So far, this sketch isn’t particularly hilarious, but it’s interesting in a realistic way. I’m enjoying the authentic feel of the various conversations between the young urban characters.
— As much as I hate to make this comparison, this sketch kinda feels like a better version of that god-awful Homegirls sketch that Rosie O’Donnell, Melanie Hutsell, and Ellen Cleghorne did in the season 19 episode that Rosie hosted.
— Good sarcastic line from Cheri: “Yeah, right, and I haven’t had chlamydia four times.”
STARS: ***
NAZI GERMANY
during a Hitler speech, Rolf & fellow Gestapo members gossip about Fuhrer
in order to evaluate the sketch, TIM & LOM employ its style
— The return of Colin’s Rolf character from the preceding season’s Christine Baranski episode. I like this black-and-white WWII setting for this character.
— Like the last time this sketch appeared, tonight’s installment has some funny relatable conversations between Colin and the other characters.
— Nice ending with Lorne and Tim in the control room, and I love the little hug Tim gives Lorne at the very end. I recall the latter eventually becoming a bit of a running gag between Tim and Lorne.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Scary Monsters”
ADVENTURES OF THE WHITE TRASH DISASTER TRAILER
incest amid high winds
— Boy, this is one bizarre sketch.
— I did get one laugh just now: Jim’s redneck character saying “Smell like cat food and ass in here!” when he enters the room that Neve and Chris have just had sex in.
— What the hell is this sketch?!?
— And the sketch is now over. Overall, yeah, I have no idea what the hell I just watched. All I know is I barely laughed. I wanted to like this, as I’m usually always down for a sketch with an oddball premise, but this was just dumb and baffling.
STARS: *½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A (mostly) consistently decent episode. Not much to say about it, but it was a satisfying show. Nothing was particularly great aside from TV Funhouse, but almost the entire show ranged from okay to pretty good. Pretty much in the same league as the then-recent Rosie O’Donnell episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (David Alan Grier)
a mild step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Chevy Chase
I think the end of WU was actually a botched joke — he said the wrong word (“contraception”) for the punchline, totally ruining the joke (which should end with “conception”). That’s why some audience members started kind of half-laughing/half-feeling-sorry for Norm, and then as a goof he pretended he was going to actually start over… but then just gave up and said “it’s conception.. the last word was supposed to be conception.” You can see how dejected he is to screw up what he thought would be hot joke to end on. Very awkward, though, you’re right.
Oh, Neve Campbell. The love of my middle school life. This is probably my favorite Cheerleaders sketch, too.
My name is Sidney
That ain’t no jive
People say I look like the girl from
Party of Five
BUT SHES NOT!!!
I think this might’ve been my favorite Suel installment, or at least tied with the debut where he was the substitute teacher.
Also one of my favorite of Tim’s OJ sketches. Also always felt like all of Colin’s short-lived recurring sketches were underrated, the gossipy Rolf character was one of those sketches always in very different setting each time that I liked. I have a vague memory of another one coming up where he’s in the KKK gossiping about the grand wizard or something, I think Sting was in it!
You are right, they did one with Sting that featured a meta joke about people leaving great groups.
I always liked this Tim-as-O.J. installment. Something about his “I don’t even own a shovel” line while he has a shovel in his hand made me crack up.
I don’t remember too much about this Janet Reno’s Dance Party. Maybe because it aired so quickly after the first one.
I’m not certain I ever saw a single episode of Party of Five, but I did love me some Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt back in the day.
I’m with you there, I was just starting to become a horror junkie around this time when I was middle school aged and Neve was definitely my favorite “scream queen” of the 90s (were there any other contenders? Mainstream horror was pretty dead during most of the decade before the Scream movies rejuvenated the genre) and I was pretty obsessed with her for a while there too after just seeing Scream around the time this aired.
Scream rebooted the genre, but Neve was always the top because Scream was the first (and a blockbuster), and she had done “The Craft” the same year.
“Interesting visual of Ana’s Mia Farrow stepping out of the TV to confront Woody in his living room.”
A reference to Allen’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo” (in case you didn’t know). I think that film was also mentioned in the “Chris Farley Show” with Jeff Daniels.
I’ve noticed a lot of eps. from this era have a bunch of “solid but not spectacular” or “perfectly fine” reviews. A far cry from the previous era which could often see such drastic shifts in quality even in the same episode. Not a huge amounts of classics ( though they are there and more will come) but almost zero duds. Lorne was certainly going to make sure another 94-95 never happened.
And wow with all the recurring bits this season
I saw most of the episodes from this era as Comedy Central 60-minute reruns in the late 90s – indeed, most of them were very reminiscent of the Ebersol era episodes – occasional standout bits, good performances, but nothing spectacular. This era doesn’t really peak until Season 25-26, but you can see that the cast and writers are getting more comfortable.
I wonder if they wanted Spade as a host this season but could only get him to commit to a cameo for this episode. For a guest star he was all over this episode, almost seemed like he stood out more than Neve. If you include this, it really felt like the 86-93 guys were all over this season.
Just Shoot Me would start its first season (as a midseason replacement) on NBC at the beginning of March, so Spade was probably too busy working on that to take a full week out to host (they increased his role considerably after the first few episodes)
I guess the upside of having everything being recurring means that for the material I have no desire to see again (Janet Reno’s dance party, the Cheerleaders, that Chris Kattan shoutfest [and we got another Kattan shoutfest at the end too – what a treat]), there were a few returning bits that I could look forward to – Delicious Dish (the audience seemed eerily quiet for most of the sketch but I really enjoyed Mark’s lively phone call) and the Nazi sketch, which for me was much better than the jail sketch Colin did the season before. I realize watching this now that they did a lot of the same jokes with Tim and Lorne that they now do with Kenan and Lorne.
The cold open suffered from too many OJ sketches, and from Hammond’s surprisingly bad Dan Rather impression, although Tim gave his usual charismatic, assured performance.
This is the type of Update that I remember from Norm’s last year on the show – the audience seems to be confused or over some of his material, and Norm himself has become more stumbly with what he’s given. Hollywood Minute – well when you start out with that old Mike and Maty joke for the third (?) time, you know what you’re getting. That joke about the women Mark Hamill was at the new premiere with being “fours” was probably the only part I remember, for better or worse.
The Woody Allen sketch was a real mixed bag. I liked the premise, and Spade gave what may have been his most enthused performance in a sketch. Unfortunately the eye makeup on Molly Shannon is just so insane that you end up wondering if their only idea of an Asian woman was one of those old Fu Manchu films. Almost as confusing is Neve Campbell popping up in a wordless appearance as Julia Roberts. Yes, Roberts was in a Woody film around this time, but Neve looks nothing like her and she or SNL clearly knew that she also sounded nothing like her, so she just stands there looking embarrassed. I know Neve was big at this time but this was one week where a host did not need to appear in every sketch if there was no role for her.
She seemed to have the most fun in the ‘homegirls’ sketch with Cheri. I keep thinking this was recurring, but I guess not.
Absolutely love the TV Funhouse in this one. An ever-escalating chain of absurdity mixed with a mundane quality.
Neve also has a very talented and handsome brother, Christian, who in another world probably would have made a great host, but never really got the right roles.
Neve was on Kids in the Hall and Mad TV – she is stronger in both, likely because they were taped, not live.
During the break between the David Alan Grier show and this one, Cheri Oteri makes her awkward appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that is rumored to be the unidentified career-ender that Kattan talks about in his memoir Baby Don’t Hurt Me. She is ostensibly there because she is on SNL but IIRC there is a passing mention that she has a role in the new Jim Carrey movie (Liar, Liar) which would come out in March
It’s been a while since the video was online but I’m pretty sure Leno mostly lets her control the segment. Some of her quips get a tepid reaction so she does what she always does when a sketch isn’t working get frantic and louder. She also interacts with Leno’s first guest then-recent SNL host Kevin Spacey which includes a weird comedy make out.
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/episode-1078-pictured-actress-cheri-oteri-during-an-news-photo/160439912
An alright episode in general, but Bowie’s Scary Monsters performance is just superb
I just saw another of those endless clickbait “People Banned from SNL” stories in my news feed, and the graphic showed a still of Bowie from this episode. So I clicked on the article (at ultimateclassicrock) and it contained the following. Actually seems like a legitimate story, but it’s the first time I’ve heard any of this: In 1997, David Bowie was booked as ‘Saturday Night Live’’s musical guest and even offered to appear in one of the sketches. Writers came up with a simple concept: The rock legend had been roped into doing TV commercials for a local bakery, with lyrics to several of his famous songs altered to match the pastry premise. “One of the things they came up with was a version of my song ‘Watch That Man,’” Bowie later recalled to ‘Pulse’ magazine. “But instead, in the chorus I would sing, ‘Try our flan.’” The rocker was miffed by the rhyme, insisting that flan (with a soft “a” sound) was the proper way to pronounce the dessert. Though he initially agreed to do the sketch as written, the rocker decided at the last minute that he no longer wanted to go through with it. Bowie took things further by switching up the song in his second performance of the night. “I was scheduled to perform a single from my ‘Earthling’ album called ‘Telling Lies.’ Just before the band took the stage I decided to take the piss out of Lorne a bit, because I knew he wasn’t happy with me,” Bowie recalled. Instead, he performed “Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps),” a song Michaels had said was “absolutely terrifying” to him because it reminded the producer of one of the darkest times in his life. After playing the song, Bowie was abruptly escorted from the studio and banned from ‘SNL.’ Still, his suspension didn’t last long. The legendary singer was back in 1999, his friendship with Michaels seemingly healed. “We’re mates. We have been since the 70s,” Bowie explained. “He knows now that I was just trying to get a rise out of him. Maybe I could have done it less, I don’t know, showy. But the air has been cleared.”
Just to clarify, the actual text from the story starts with “In 1997, David Bowie was booked…”
The spacing in my earlier post was strange. Here’s the full article if anyone is interested: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/banned-from-saturday-night-live/
After being thwarted from reviewing the amazing David Bowie performances in Season 5, I recently discovered that he’d been a musical guest a few other times, so I thought I’d take a crack at reviewing one.
Musical Performance #1: “Little Wonder”
-Interesting zoom-out after Neve’s introduction, revealing that the camera was filming a TV screen.
-I’m not very familiar with this song, and I’ve never been one to focus on the lyrics, so my reaction to hearing the opening verse right now is: THAT’S what he’s saying?!
-I like the low notes at the end of each vocal phrase. I do enjoy me some Bowie baritone.
-Hehe, I see bassist Gail Ann Dorsey mouthing along with Bowie’s lyrics. That’s making me smile.
-I’m pleasantly impressed by how well the bass is coming through here. Feel like that instrument has a tendency to get lost in the mix.
-If we’re going to talk about instruments that ARE getting lost in the mix, I’m having trouble hearing the keys.
-Oh, right as I wrote that, the keys become very prominent during the breakdown following the chorus. I really love the sound chosen for them- it reminds me of Pink Floyd’s song “On the Run.”
-The backing vocals could be stronger following the second chorus.
-Very nice compositional choice to return to the uplifting chords of the first verse after the break.
-I know the album version of this song is longer, and this definitely feels shorter, but I can’t remember the song well enough to figure out what exactly was cut.
Stars: ****
Musical Performance #2: “Scary Monsters”
-That is one fiery guitar intro.
-I love Bowie’s… jacket?… cape?… Whatever it is, it’s very flattering.
-Already thinking that any chance of me properly reviewing this performance is going to be a washout, as I’m starting to rock out while watching this.
-Those dark, heavy piano chords on the chorus sound SO good.
-Hahaha, funny interaction between Bowie & Gail as they stare wide-eyed into the camera, as if afraid of the “scary monsters” they’re singing about.
-Even though the guitar solo is clearly the important part here, I’m more fixated on what’s making that descending “ah ah ah” noise in the background. I’m guessing it’s the keys, but it also sounds like a distorted vocal sample.
-The guitar is drowning out the vocals a bit on the pre-chorus leading into the second chorus.
-Very nice vibrato from Bowie on the drawn-out line right before the second guitar solo (I think it’s “she ruuuuuuns”).
-Great shot of keyboardist Mike Garson playing the chords on the chorus that I previously pointed out. I couldn’t tell until this moment that there are two levels to the keyboard, and he’s playing on both at once.
-Haha, pausing this video while Bowie’s singing the “oh! oh! oh!” part at the end is a VERY entertaining experience. Trust me on this.
-Wow, I forgot how great that song is. The whole band really tore it up.
Stars: ****
I just clicked on the link that @Kubelsky shared above and noticed that the article has been revised to say that the David Bowie story never happened. I had a feeling, since not only did it sound like someone’s idea of a joke (probably Bowie’s tbh) to begin with, but it was the first I had heard of the story too, and surely it would have been repeated more frequently alongside mentions of Sinead O’Connor, Frank Zappa, et. cetera…
And now for the funny parts. I can see why the game show sketch was the lead-off sketch, as I thought it was perhaps the strongest, or at least the one I laughed at the most (while simultaneously thinking “why am I laughing at this?!”). I thought the Cheerleaders sketch was surprisingly sweet. Have to agree here: “…it turns out that these Cheerleader sketches are actually tolerable when they have an actual storyline.” I actually felt invested in these characters here, which I haven’t before watching the few Cheerleaders sketches I’ve previously been exposed to. Although “Basketball Court” was a bit baffling to me, I liked the character work, and felt it was Neve’s best performance of the episode.
I agree with the last sketch of the night receiving the lowest rating. That was just strange. Also surprised by how many jokes fell flat during Update- for both Norm and David. Oof.
“…which proves my theory that the show Delicious Dish has no more than two listeners.” And now that is my theory, too.