March 15, 1997 – Sting / Veruca Salt (S22 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

REPLACEMENTS
injured Bill Clinton (DAH) points out the undesirable order of succession

— Some laughs from Darrell’s President Clinton blaming Hillary for his wrongdoings, though it reminds me a little too much of a cold opening that Phil Hartman did as Clinton in the Nancy Kerrigan episode from season 19.
— I love Clinton’s line about Al Gore: “If I go down, that boring sumbitch is goin’ with me.”
— Hilarious how Strom Thurmond is represented by a picture of the Cryptkeeper from “Tales From the Crypt”.
— Chris’ brief scene made me laugh.
— A big audience reaction to Clinton casually admitting he just smoked a huge brick of hash on Monday.
— We get the very first instance of Will’s Janet Reno busting through a wall, which would go on to be a recurring gag in subsequent Janet Reno appearances.
— Very funny visual of Will’s Reno grabbing Darrell’s Clinton in a headlock.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
host helps save rain forests for the sake of animals like Mr. Peepers

— Meh, they’re wasting a monologue to do another Mr. Peepers reprisal.
— I did get a laugh from Sting’s translation that Mr. Peepers’ favorite song is “King of Pain”.
— A fairly wild sight to see Mr. Peepers going out into the audience, humping audience members. Otherwise, nothing new here. And Sting is no Kevin Spacey when it comes to playing a great straight man to Mr. Peepers.
STARS: **

EVITA
Juan Peron (NOM) can’t fathom why Evita (ANG) breaks into song

— A variation of the classic West Side Story sketch from earlier this season.
— While this is still making me laugh, it’s just repeating the exact same bits from the West Side Story sketch, and it’s not as funny here.
— A pretty good laugh from Norm pushing Chris off the balcony. Knowing the real-life animosity between Norm and Chris, I bet Norm got a kick out of doing that.
— This sketch is such a carbon copy of the West Side Story sketch that we even get Tim again doing a foreign accent as a rival character.
— A hilarious blooper at the end, where Norm forgets to duck out of the shot after “jumping off the balcony” (the last above screencap), shattering the illusion that he jumped from a high area. When realizing his mistake, Norm awkwardly keeps alternating between ducking out of the shot and standing up, with a goofy smile on his face the whole time, before just giving up and walking out of the scene. This was absolutely priceless. My description does not do it justice, nor does the screencap; it needs to be viewed to be appreciated. SNL would later replace the ending of this sketch with the error-free dress rehearsal version in reruns. Bad move there. The botched live version of the ending was much funnier.
STARS: ***

THE NUDE CRUSADE
Middle Agers (WIF), (ANG), (CHK) try to sell Pope (MAM) on a nude Crusade

— During the opening listing-off of fake sponsors, the first sponsor is Spider Whistle, which is reused from the Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer sketch from the first Phil Hartman-hosted episode. Seems kinda lazy to reuse that. Thankfully, the rest of the fake sponsors in this Nude Crusade sketch are new (the first two above screencaps for this sketch).
— Chris has been all over tonight’s episode so far.
— Ana’s story of how she was convinced to join the Nude Crusade is very funny.
— A good laugh from Will’s suggestion to wear flesh-colored armor with painted-on nipples and pubic hair.
— This sketch is tickling me, and I like the Monty Python-esque feel to it (hell, why couldn’t Michael Palin and John Cleese have been given this in the Kevin Spacey episode instead of doing an unnecessary reprisal of their Dead Parrot sketch?). However, despite the laughs I’ve been getting, I’m not finding this sketch quite as strong as I usually find Jack Handey-written pieces.
STARS: ***½

THE LAID BACK NEUTRAL MC’S
The Laid Back Neutral MC’s (TRM) & (TIM) fear gangsta rap violence

— Funny concept and a decent use of Tracy.
— Tracy’s singing during the “Let’s Learn a Lesson From the Swiss” song has always stuck in my memory since the days of Comedy Central frequently showing SNL reruns.
STARS: ***

SHOPPING AT HOME NETWORK
Don West (WIF) & Eddy Lewis (CHK) put Mark Hamill [real] up for sale

— Feels odd seeing this sketch in such an early timeslot, considering the previous installments of this sketch all aired towards the end of their respective episode.
— Chris continues to dominate tonight’s episode.
— The baseball card of Chewbacca gave me a good laugh.
— Funny involvement from a kidnapped Mark Hamill, being put up for sale.
— Great line from the Shopping at Home Network guys about how last year, they sold a Mark Hamill that turned out to be a Bruce Boxleitner.
— The ridiculous quotes Hamill is forced to say are pretty funny.
— I like the phone call from a low-talking, grumbly Harrison Ford, voiced by Darrell.
STARS: ****

KU KLUX KLAN
(JMB) dislikes white power gossip of fellow Klan members Rolf & (host)

— A somewhat fast costume change for Jim, considering this sketch is airing back-to-back with the Shopping at Home Network sketch (which Jim appeared in during the first minute), without a commercial break in between.
— IIRC, this ends up being the final appearance of this Colin Quinn character, Rolf.
— I love the country music conversation between Rolf and the other guys.
— A very good meta turn with Sting, in character, defending Sting’s solo work as a singer.
— Overall, a solid final appearance from this Rolf character, who went out with what I feel is his best appearance.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE
during his St. Patrick’s Day message, drunk COQ gets defensive & bugs NOM
(ANG)’s assumption of Annie role drives Joanna Pacitti (CHO) batty

— Funny commentary from a drunken Colin.
— When telling Norm he was a comedian longer than him, I like Colin saying “I was on Remote Control”, which gets a big reaction from the audience.
— I love how after Colin’s commentary has ended, Norm continues doing Update jokes while Colin’s drink on the desk is still visible in the shot.
— Ah, a crew member must’ve realized that Colin’s drink was visible in the shot, as it has now suddenly disappeared. Too bad; I kinda felt it added an even funnier touch to Norm’s jokes.
— I love the running gag throughout tonight’s Update with Norm doing constant “Note to self”s. It’s now gotten to the point where as soon as Norm reaches for the tape recorder in his pocket, the audience immediately laughs.
— A rare season 22 Weekend Update that has more than one guest commentary. Until now, the only Update this season that had more than one commentary was way back in the season premiere.
— Speaking of rare, it feels kinda rare at this point in Cheri’s tenure to see her do an Update commentary as a character.
— During Ana’s singing, I like the cutaway to a distressed, cigarette-smoking Cheri stabbing her mechanical pet pig with a knife, then pointing a gun at the audience.
— Funny how both guest commentaries in tonight’s Update (Colin and Cheri) have ended with the commentator being dragged off-camera by the same two security guards.
— After non-verbally ad-libbing for a long time with Cheri’s cigarette after the Cheri/Ana commentary has ended, Norm looks off-camera and says to someone “Yeah, I know”, then says “Oh, you want me to say that?” Haha, Norm must’ve been speaking to an off-camera crew member who I’m guessing was impatiently signaling Norm to move on and read the next line off the cue card. After finally reading the next line, Norm turns back to the off-camera crew member and says in a humorously wise-ass manner “I said it.”
— WTF? And now, after Norm’s aforementioned “I said it” remark, the screen suddenly goes black when Norm turns to the other camera to tell the next Update joke.
— And now, when the screen finally comes back on after several seconds of blackness, the camera is on the wrong shot while Norm is delivering his Update joke. When realizing the camera is on the wrong shot, Norm stops mid-joke and looks at someone off-camera while saying with a smirk “You know, it’d probably be better if I was over on this camera”, which receives huge audience applause and laughter. Then when SNL finally cuts to the correct camera, Norm says “Now that I’m over on this camera, it’d probably be better if you put the cards over here.” Absolutely classic Norm. (And these fantastic ad-libs of his are somehow made even better by the fact that he still has Cheri’s cigarette in his hand, which, when combined with his ad-libbing, unintentionally accentuates his badass, don’t-give-a-fuck style.) This Update has imploded in the best way.
— More great ad-libs from Norm to end this Update.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Shutterbug”

THE BRENDAN BOYLE SHOW
leprechaun (host) rebukes limerick critics

— Interesting sketch for Colin, who’s getting a lot more screentime than usual tonight, between his Rolf sketch, his Update commentary, and his lead role in this sketch.
— I love the visual of Tracy as a mustached Irish leprechaun.
— A funny turn with Molly questioning why all of Sting’s limericks have to do with women cooking and the food not tasting good.
— Sting’s various limericks are cracking me up.
— I like the visual of a leprechaun goblin hesitantly starting a standing ovation.
— Funny ending line from Colin about how the guests in his next episode will be the Keebler Elf and David Spade.
— I’m surprised by how little this sketch ended up focusing on Colin, who, despite being the host of the sketch, basically just set up Sting’s appearance and then concluded the sketch after Sting’s whole bit was over.
STARS: ***½

NEW BEAU
Mrs. Attebury’s daughter’s (MOS) 37 year-old boyfriend (host) gets fresh

— The return of Ana and Mark’s Atteburys characters. I’m not too happy to see these characters back, but I’ll try to be more open-minded towards this sketch, after I’ve noticed several commenters on this site express appreciation for these characters in response to my fairly negative review of their first sketch.
— I love Mr. Attebury’s line “Weren’t we supposed to get divorced at one point?”
— So far, Ana’s Mrs. Attebury character is making me laugh a little more in tonight’s installment, and I can appreciate what Ana is going for in her characterization.
— When Mrs. Attebury is speechless while Sting suddenly makes out with her, there’s a good laugh from Mr. Attebury saying a delighted “Ah, silence.”
— This ends up being the final Atteburys sketch to have Mark playing Mr. Attebury. The next installment of this sketch wouldn’t be until THREE YEARS LATER (long after Mark had left SNL), where the role of Mr. Attebury would be taken over by Will, who I never felt was as good at doing this character’s deadpan one-liners as Mark was.
STARS: ***½

AUDITION
host’s wife Trudie Styler [real] digs song interpreter Kyle DeMarco (CHK)

— Speaking of a sketch that would later go through a casting change in its subsequent installments, this is the debut of a Chris Kattan sketch that, in all future appearances, would give Chris’ character a brother to be paired with, played by future cast member Chris Parnell.
— Being familiar with the Chris Parnell-involved installments of this sketch, it feels odd seeing this sketch with Kattan’s character working solo.
— Some laughs from Kattan’s literal interpretations of various Sting songs. However, I feel this gag works a little better when it’s both Kattan AND Parnell doing the song interpretations, even if I was never all that crazy about the Parnell-involved installments of this sketch.
— Decent ending.
STARS: ***

RACE AND RACISM
(TIM) asks apartheid dismantler (host) about Ghostbusters

— After such a serious start to the interview, I love the sudden random turn with Tim asking Sting “Have you ever seen the movie Ghostbusters?”
— Throughout his straitlaced comments to Sting, it’s very funny how Tim occasionally throws in a lighthearted, goofily-delivered “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts!” and “Who you gonna call?”
— I like how, as the sketch goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that Tim’s character has no idea what the apartheid is.
— I love Tim’s goofy dancing to the Ghostbusters theme song at the end of this sketch, so much so that, ever since I first saw the full version of this sketch(*) years ago, I’ve never been able to hear the beginning of the Ghostbusters theme song without picturing Tim doing that goofy dance. (* I say “full version of this sketch” because the old Comedy Central version of this episode, which was my first actual viewing of this sketch, abruptly edited out the ending of this sketch, presumably due to music licensing issues regarding the use of the Ghostbusters theme song.)
— Overall, this was the type of sketch that Tim is always fantastic at pulling off.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “My One & Only Love”

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode. There wasn’t much that stood out as particularly great, but the show had a consistently good flow for the most part, despite some slowness early on with the weak monologue and derivative Evita sketch.

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a step up

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Mike Myers becomes the seventh and final former cast member to host this season