Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
NIGHTLINE
Madonna (ANG), Debbie Reynolds (CHO), Courtney Love (MOS)
— This is the first time Darrell’s Ted Koppel has appeared all season, which is surprising, considering the frequency of his appearances in the preceding season.
— Interesting seeing Cheri playing Debbie Reynolds outside of a Leg Up sketch.
— Funny little part with Darrell’s Koppel scoffing at the Golden Globes when it’s compared to the Oscars.
— A good throughline with Molly’s now-straitlaced Courtney Love slowly relapsing to her former self over the course of the sketch.
— Maybe it’s just me, but Ana seems kinda miscast as Madonna.
— A big laugh from Debbie Reynolds telling Madonna “Nice try, venereal girl.”
— I love the part with Darrell’s Koppel going on about the pleasure he got from fantasizing about Carrie Fisher in Return Of The Jedi.
— A dark but funny cutaway to Madonna having hanged herself.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
CHC brings his alleged family on-stage after thanking them for their love
— Seems like we’re in for another genuinely sentimental Chevy Chase monologue, like his last one in season 21 where he gave a heartfelt reminiscence of getting ready for the first SNL episode’s cold opening.
— Ah, we end up getting a comedic turn with Chevy’s obviously-fake family joining him onstage. A mildly funny gag, but wasn’t worth such a long, serious set-up.
STARS: **½
HOME SECURITY DECOYS
Rerun from 10/19/96
CLINTON’S ITINERARY
petty money-making ventures dominate Bill Clinton’s (DAH) itinerary
— Funny opening visual of Darrell’s President Clinton chowing down on some pancakes in the Oval Office.
— Very funny part with Mark having paid five dollars to “kick Clinton in the ass”.
— I believe Tim’s small appearance would later be removed in Comedy Central’s 60-minute version of this episode. No idea why, unless they just needed to trim a few extra seconds to get the episode down to 60 minutes.
— Chevy is pretty sloppy with some of his lines here.
— Funny part with a Thailand real estate agent wanting Clinton to wear an S&M outfit.
— Solid turn at the end with Nom’s Bob Dole temporarily taking over as the president.
STARS: ***
O.J. SIMPSON PUNITIVE AND COMPENSATORY DAMAGES TELETHON
O.J. Simpson (TIM) emcees telethon to raise money for civil suit damages
— A funny opening announcement of the line-up of guests (e.g. The Banana Splits, Herb of Peaches & Herb, etc.).
— This is the only time I can think of where Will ever plays Harry Caray outside of Weekend Update and the “Space: The Infinite Frontier” sketches.
— Harry Caray’s trombone-playing is cracking me up.
— I like Tim’s O.J. threatening a phone caller by bluntly asking “How’d you like it if I come over there and cut your head off?”, then turning to the camera and casually saying in a light-hearted manner “But seriously, folks…”
STARS: ***½
BIRTHDAY MEDLEY
Marty & Bobbi sing a coming-of-age medley at niece’s 16th birthday party
— The Culps officially become recurring characters.
— As usual, I’m being tickled by Will and Ana’s opening banter and statements to the off-camera audience.
— Funny hearing Will singing “Lay, Lady, Lay”, considering a sketch he would later do with Robert Duvall the following season, in which Will sings “Lay, Lady, Lay” to Duvall as a hospital patient.
— As always, a fun and amusing medley of Will and Ana singing operatic-sounding versions of hit songs. I especially like them singing the theme from “Rocky”.
STARS: ***½
SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT
20th anniversary re-release of Smokey & the Bandit contains a Yoda scene
— Funny fake-out at the beginning, where the opening narration made you think they were talking about the original Star Wars movie, only for it to turn out to be another 1977 movie: Smokey And The Bandit.
— A laugh from Yoda randomly being shown as one of the truckers.
— Overall, this was decent, but forgettable and too brief. I wanted this to go further.
STARS: ***
CHARLIE ROSE
Goat Boy, Cow Man (CHC), others discuss legal system
— Oh, that’s right, Chevy Chase is tonight’s host. The last sketch he appeared in was so long ago that I almost forgot this episode even had a host.
— Goat Boy’s shtick has now gotten to the point where I’m completely stone-faced during it.
— On a similar note, Chevy as “Cow Man” is doing absolutely nothing for me.
— Boy, the combo of Goat Boy’s braying and Cow Man’s moos is grating on my ears. It doesn’t help that Chevy is putting zero effort into his performance.
STARS: *½
WEEKEND UPDATE
COQ thinks that Bill Clinton’s infidelities should be no big deal
— One of my all-time favorite offensive Michael Jackson jokes from Norm, with the punchline being that MJ’s three-day-old son is such a chip off the old block that he’s already molesting a one-day-old boy.
— They seem to be making it a regular thing for Colin to do Update commentaries as himself with a graphic of celebrity pictures being displayed next to him.
— An overall pretty good commentary from Colin tonight.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lakini’s Juice”
7 ACTION NEWS
news anchor (CHC) returns to the desk following a credibility breakdown
— What was with Chevy’s random mumbly, half-assed pronunciation of “Barnum & Bailey Ringling Brothers Circus”? Was that yet another instance of Chevy’s long-standing habit of trying to make a “funny” bit out of a flubbed line? (*groan*)
— This sketch isn’t doing much for me so far. I blame Chevy’s performance. This seems like the type of sketch that 1970s Chevy Chase could’ve gotten some laughs out of, back when he was in his prime, but not 1990s Chevy Chase, who is beyond checked-out.
— An interesting, out-of-the-ordinary casting of Colin as a news station boss.
— Overall, blah. Didn’t care for this sketch.
STARS: *½
PLAYING FIRST DATE
Zimmermans (CHK) & (CHO) spice up their marriage by playing “first date”
— The debut of Chris and Cheri’s sex-crazed couple, the Zimmermans.
— I’m getting some laughs from Chris and Cheri constantly censoring themselves on saying “fuck” during their dirty talk to each other.
— Good characterizations from Chris and Cheri here.
— An oddity about this first Zimmermans sketch is that the Zimmermans are alone. Part of what makes the subsequent installments of this sketch work is that each of them have another married couple for the Zimmermans to play off of.
— Good twist at the end with it being revealed that the Zimmermans have a baby in the other room and were merely playing “first date” with each other. By the way, the aspect of the Zimmermans having a baby would be dropped from all subsequent installments of this sketch.
STARS: ***
FITTING ROOM PEEPHOLE
department store employees (WIF) & (CHC) peep at (MOS) in dressing room
— Interesting casting of Norm in a normal straight man role.
— During his excited exclamations while peeping on Molly, I love Will saying at one point “Heeeey, Macarena!”
— A few laughs here and there, but this sketch isn’t anything great so far. Even Norm’s straight man performance isn’t making me laugh quite as much as I expected it to.
— While a cheap gag, I did kinda laugh at the ending with Will and Chevy agreeing to let Will peep on Chevy trying on a women’s bathing suit.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Heropsychodreamer”
CHOPPER 4
newsstand owner Andrew (MAM) is obsessed with fog-penetrating Chopper 4
— This is remembered by a number of SNL fans as a rare Mark McKinney season 22 showcase, and possibly the last great SNL sketch he ever does where he plays an original lead character.
— Great voice and characterization from Mark.
— (*groan*) I see they’re having Chevy do his old “constantly calling people by the wrong names” routine, which stopped being funny ages ago.
— Mark’s bizarre Chopper 4 obsession is getting big laughs from me.
— Funny stock footage ending of Mark happily riding inside a Chopper 4 that he stole.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty “meh” episode. Some good stuff, but I was not crazy about this episode as a whole. I’m having a hard time even remembering a lot of the sketches I just watched. A big part of the reason for the “meh” feeling of this episode is Chevy Chase, who came off even more disinterested and bland as a host than he had ever been prior to tonight’s episode, and that’s saying something. It also didn’t help that things weren’t too pleasant behind the scenes during the week of this episode. Chevy’s notorious habit of pissing off the SNL cast and staff whenever he comes back to host came to a head this week, in an incident during rehearsals in which he reportedly smacked Cheri Oteri in the head when she flubbed a line. I believe this is widely considered to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in regards to Lorne’s tolerance for Chevy’s asshole-ish behavior, as this would end up being the final episode that Chevy would ever host, though he would still make occasional cameos.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Neve Campbell)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin