Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
NIGHTLINE
Deep Blue’s chess win has made Ted Koppel (DAH) technophobic
— Mark’s Bill Gates voice gets me every time. These are probably the last laughs that Mark will ever get on SNL, considering tonight ends up being his final episode.
— I love Will-as-the-Unabomber’s line about preferring to mail his response to Bill Gates.
— I’m enjoying Darrell-as-Koppel’s paranoid, agitated attitude throughout this sketch, due to his fear of technology taking over mankind. A change of pace from Darrell’s usual portrayal of Koppel.
— A big laugh from the name graphic for Garry Kasparov billing him as “A big ass” as we see a pouting Chris Kattan as Kasparov.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
JMB does dinosaur impressions in hopes that host can get him a job
— Accurate and funny dinosaur sounds from Jim so far.
— Feels rare to see Jim getting the spotlight as himself.
— Heh, Jim is like a little kid in this monologue with his actions. I remember finding him a little annoying in this monologue during past viewings, but I’m more tolerant of it now, even if it’s still nothing particularly great.
STARS: ***
BIG BRAWN
Rerun from 9/28/96
TEACHER’S LAST DAY
Mary Katherine Gallagher finds a soulmate in teacher (host)
— As is inevitable with a lot of recurring characters, we now get Mary Katherine Gallagher doing a “recurring character is paired with a person with similar traits, played by the host” sketch.
— Much like with Steven Tyler in MKG’s last appearance, MKG licks Jeff Goldblum’s body, though it’s only his midsection she licks, whereas she licked Steven Tyler from toe to head. I mentioned in my review of that Steven Tyler sketch that Molly disclosed in, I think, the “Live From New York” book that the NBC censors warned her not to lick Steven Tyler during the sketch, but now I’m thinking that she may have actually been talking about Jeff Goldblum in tonight’s MKG sketch and I probably misremembered it as being Steven Tyler who she talked about. I don’t have my copy of “Live From New York” available, so I can’t check.
— A decent double pratfall from both MKG and Jeff.
— Overall, this MKG installment had its charm, but ehh, I felt a little lukewarm on this sketch (and I’m usually a little more tolerant of Mary Katherine Gallagher than some other SNL fans are). This installment just didn’t interest me all that much.
STARS: **½
SPACE, THE INFINITE FRONTIER WITH HARRY CARAY
Harry Caray (WIF) & astrophysicist (host)
— The debut of a Harry Caray-hosted talk show sketch. Tonight’s installment is by far the most famous installment of this sketch, and I believe is widely considered the definitive appearance of Will’s Harry Caray.
— So far, this is an improvement over the already-funny appearances that Will’s Caray made prior to this. I love how this appearance from Will’s Caray is really doubling-down on the absurd non-sequitur statements and questions.
— A classic part with Caray asking Jeff if he would eat the moon if it was made of barbecue spare ribs.
— Non-stop laughs throughout this. This sketch is an absolute riot and is indeed deserving of its high status among SNL fans.
— Great ending line from Caray, regarding trying to get the dead Albert Einstein to be his next guest.
STARS: *****
TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- talk show trash is taken to the dump
— Interesting format with Sally Jesse Raphael’s show being created from horse defecation and regurgitation.
— A laugh from the overexaggerated size difference between a heavyset female guest and Sally Jesse Raphael.
— This feels weird for a Fun With Real Audio cartoon, but I’m enjoying this biting satire of trashy daytime talk shows from this era.
— I love how SNL’s studio audience can be heard groaning “Ohhh!” when a pile of garbage transforms into Johnnie Cochran. And, boy, did the animators make Cochran’s face look goofy and unflattering in this cartoon.
STARS: ****
GOTH TALK
Circe & Azrael welcome dark musician Count Feedback (host)
— This sketch officially becomes recurring.
— The phone-ringing bit is pretty funny.
— Jeff surprisingly looks right at home in that goth make-up.
— Jim and his obnoxious friends suddenly crashing Jeff’s dark music video is pretty funny, but this doesn’t hold a candle to the memorable video that Rob Lowe did as “The Beholder” in the preceding installment of this sketch.
— Man, the audience has been pretty dead during this sketch.
— Overall, a step down from the first installment of this sketch, but still okay.
STARS: ***
WEEKEND UPDATE
breaking the chain of violence has aided Lenny The Lion’s personal growth
In Their Own Words- kids’ letters to Bill Clinton have anti-GOP spin
— Surprised to see a third Lenny The Lion commentary on Weekend Update. I thought he only did two Update commentaries, both of which I already covered. This isn’t my favorite Colin Quinn recurring character, but this character has its merits.
— Tonight’s overall Lenny The Lion commentary actually had a solid first half, being better than the usual commentaries from him, but trailed off towards the end and whimpered to a finish.
— Didn’t care for Norm’s “In Their Own Words” segment.
— Boy, this is surprisingly the first in quite a long time that we’ve gotten a “Marion Barry loves crack” joke from Norm.
— Wow, and speaking of Norm bringing back an old running joke, we now get a “Germans love David Hasselhoff” joke for the first time since way back in season 20. Norm’s breakin’ out all the classics for tonight’s season finale. I wonder if this made SNL fans at the time speculate that this is possibly Norm’s final episode.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Let Go”
KENNEDY KAPERS
Ted Kennedy (WIF) & relatives disgrace family name on game show
— I like the sudden gameshow reveal after such a serious beginning about the Kennedy family.
— Jim as William Kennedy Smith is good casting, as I do feel there’s somewhat of a resemblance between the two.
— Will’s Ted Kennedy impression is always worth some laughs.
— Some good tasteless humor with the running gag regarding Michael Kennedy’s preference for underage girls.
— Pretty funny speed round with the Kennedys trying to make JFK spin in his grave.
— An overall pretty fun gameshow sketch, but this didn’t feel as memorable as it should’ve been.
STARS: ***
LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) gives even more News & Views
— Hell yeah! Glad to see this back.
— As always, I’m laughing non-stop at Norm-as-Larry-King’s random opinionated one-liners into the different cameras.
STARS: ****
RANT
Janet Blaum’s ineffective invective dooms her attempt at unionization
— That looks like the same workshop set that was previously used in that awful Pacemaker sketch that David Spade did in the Bob Saget episode from season 20.
— The return of Ana’s Janet Blaum character. I liked the first installment of this sketch, but I can tell that this will not work as a recurring sketch.
— Yeah, Ana’s comically bad insults aren’t as funny this time, though as always, Ana’s pulling it off really well, like a true pro.
— I do like Ana’s clumsy attempt to stand on a chair that has wheels under the legs.
— I also like the bit right now with Ana making a sloppily-written “Unon” sign. Aside from that and the aforementioned chair bit, everything in this sketch is just a copy-and-paste of the script from the first installment of this sketch.
— Like the last time they did the sketch, Ana’s rant is going on too long.
STARS: **
VIC OCASEK’S ROCK & ROLL FANTASY CAMP
Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp of Ric Ocasek’s cousin Vic (host) has has-beens
— I like the photos of campers with has-been rock stars. And in one of the photos, we get a Frank Sebastiano sighting (the heavyset, bearded, long-haired, biker-looking SNL writer), which is always a plus in my book. Speaking of Sebastiano, is tonight his final night in the SNL writing staff, or does he return next season?
— The campers’ excited testimonials are fairly funny.
STARS: ***
INTERVIEW
(host) interviews unduly-confident job applicant Jerry Steve Dave (TIM)
— Wow, where has Tim been tonight? He’s JUST NOW making his first appearance all night, in the final sketch of the season finale. You can hear one lone person in the audience applaud when Tim makes his entrance.
— Early on in this sketch, I can already tell this is going to be really good. Tim always excels at making silly characters like this work. Fantastic name for this particular character too: Jerry Steve Dave, the Magic Man.
— I love Jerry Steve Dave being under the impression that Napoleon conquered Japan.
— Jerry Steve Dave’s confident attitude when spouting his various clueless statements is great.
— When getting the hint that Jeff doesn’t want to hire him, I like Jerry Steve Dave saying “Did I happen to mention I have 101 Dalmatians on laserdisc?”, as if that would persuade Jeff.
STARS: ****
LARRY KING’S NEWS & VIEWS
Larry King (NOM) voices still more News & Views
— And here we have our final segment of the season.
— This is tickling the hell out of me as always. Even when some of the one-liners aren’t inherently funny, they’re sold by Norm-as-Larry-King’s delivery and the tight close-ups of his face during them.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
— Former SNL writer Marilyn Suzanne Miller is credited as a guest writer in this episode, billed as “Marilyn Miller” (as seen in the last screencap above). Whatever she wrote must’ve been cut after dress rehearsal, because none of the sketches that aired in this episode match her recognizable style. Or is Marilyn Miller a different person from Marilyn Suzanne Miller?
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average season finale. Kinda disappointing that the season ended on an unexciting note, but I can’t complain too much, as I still liked a good number of things in this episode and there were a few great high points, mainly Space The Infinite Frontier and Jerry Steve Dave. I feel like I’m not going to remember much from this episode as time passes, though.
— Season 22 as a whole was a little better than what I was expecting. I came into this season with a little bit of dread, as I had remembered this season for being practically “all recurring characters, all the time” and for heavily toning down the number of absurdist, oddball sketches that season 21 wonderfully leaned into. While I still turned out to be right about those two things to an extent, I ended up finding this season more palatable than I was expecting. This was just an average season, but it was a pleasantly average one, where most of the episodes had a comfortable consistency to them. While I didn’t find too many stand-out classic sketches within a lot of the individual episodes, there was a refreshingly low number of truly bad sketches. One thing about this season that was an upgrade from season 21 was the addition of TV Funhouse, which has brought a fresh new aspect to SNL and has been very reliable for the most part, usually being one of the biggest highlights of the individual episodes they’ve appeared in. Another positive asset to this season was the Distinguished Alumni series, which was five consecutive episodes hosted by former cast members, an experiment that was very fun and made me wish that SNL would do more variations of that idea.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a mild step down
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: These picks were hastily made off the top of my head and will naturally be missing some deserving sketches. I don’t have enough time to do full, thought-out “Best Of” picks for this whole season)
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1995-96)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 23 begins, with host Sylvester Stallone
A pretty averagely good year, yes. But, I’m willing to bet that some other people who also watched this season live got a bit annoyed at how it could occasionally seem like you were seeing the same episode again, what with the recurring bits. I’d be curious to know if anyone who was watching this season at the time felt that way.
At the time the season aired, my viewing experience was more on-and-off than week-to-week, but I mostly remember still pining for the early ’90s SNL (namely the sharper takes on pop culture and the sharper political writing – and the cast) and getting tired of certain recurring characters and certain cast members screaming at me. There were still elements I enjoyed (probably the strongest were Ana Gasteyer, Tim Meadows, and Norm’s Update [even if at the time I could sort of tell it was past its best]), enough to maintain some interest in the show.
It’s easier to watch now because you know how the story plays out in terms of cast departures and different eras. When you tune in hoping for something fantastic and then see Molly Shannon smelling her armpits, you just wonder why you bothered.
Watching the season alongside the reviews, there’s stuff I didn’t pay attention to at the time that I now appreciate much more, like Colin Quinn’s sketches. For me they were a near-consistent strength the whole season and help made it stand out from the more formulaic approach. I’m also able to be less critical of some in the cast (Ferrell, Molly, Cheri) than I felt at the time. The episodes are generally watchable (if not that great), and they still manage to find some moments of creativity. I also find myself appreciating Mark McKinney far more than I did at the time (at the time I thought of him as just being…there), and what a balance he and Jim Breuer bring to the male side (along with Tim of course).
Unfortunately, my issues with Hammond’s Clinton and with Kattan have not changed, and I feel like we haven’t gotten into their worst by a longshot; I think some of the show’s worst writing habits of this era also haven’t fully kicked in. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing 97-98 again and getting our last real look at this cast.
My picks for best episodes of the season – Hartman, Grier, Rock.
Worst – Hanks (how sad), Lee, Baldwin
I was still on my Nut-Rific induced hiatus but I’d always check in every once in awhile. This season I always conflate with a few later ones, and these years just seemed to be an endless loop of Will Ferrell yelling at Mango jumping on a Catholic schoolgirl saying “I love it I love it I love it” ad nauseum while Cheri Oteri looks right in the camera pretending to be cross-eyed.
Lemme clarify, this was in response to Ruby’s comment above about those watching at the time. I thought I had it nested there but maybe not.
In these years Jeff Goldblum was put into more of the straight man role, but still, I can’t help thinking this episode pretty much wasted him. The Harry Caray sketch and the Tim Meadows sketch are classics, but could have been done with any host. Probably the main good piece which couldn’t have happened without him was the monologue, and that was about Jim Breuer, not about him.
This episode also has a pretty solid TV Funhouse – I tend to like Smigel’s diatribes against the media more than his recurring characters.
I think this may be my favorite of the Norm Larry King sketches. Some absolutely hilarious lines.
What I like best about the Tim sketch is it doesn’t try to escalate, as most of these types of sketches do. It’s just the same level of craziness throughout, relying on Tim’s laser-sharp focus. Good to see they had so much confidence in him by this point.
Many finales have a lackluster feel, so I can’t single this one out, although the episode felt very stumbly – Hammond’s stumbling over his lines in the cold open is extremely distracting.
The Kennedy game show sketch is a great example of a sketch that is a funny idea and never works beyond the idea stage. There are some cute visuals and music cues but I don’t think there was much of a laugh to be found; I think they also reused some of the Ted Kennedy jokes from Phil’s time in the role.
Farewell, Mark McKinney, sorry to see you go…
Sebastiano will still be there next season, then will be gone for a few years, then return midway through ’00-01 and remain until ’05-06.
Sebastiano left to work on Norm’s ABC sitcom (’99-’01) – looks like he came back to SNL when it was cancelled
Ignore my last post!
Did he go to MAD TV? I know he and Artie Lange were close as they made Beer League together. Or maybe that was just a mutual friend thing with Norm.
Jim (this time joined by Tracy) does another monologue similar to this when Matthew Broderick hosts to promote Godzilla the next season. I think that particular one actually had something to do with him getting fired or quitting, as he told it on Maron’s podcast he got in some big blow-up with Adam McKay over it.
Tina’s fist show coming up next with Stallone. Pretty incredible how much power she gained backstage in a short period of time. Arguably even quicker than McKay did or at least at equal ground.
These seasons sort of run together for me but I remember not thinking that much of 97-98. Farley episode is so sad. And we are about to see the debut of a handful of Molly characters in the next few years that I didn’t care for at all at the time. And Kattan is pushed ever stronger as Mango is about to debut in a couple episodes here
There were a number of weird edits to the Season 23 episodes when I saw them in reruns on Comedy Central circa ’98-’99 – at least one whole cold opening was missing and/or moved to later in the show
I vaguely recall the Cobras sketch (from John Goodman’s episode) losing the epilogue where a cobra (voice of Cheri) taunts the audience.
Season 23 is butchered. The Farley show is horridly edited. You get 15 seconds of Freakin Giuliani (not to mention Sarah McLachlan’s musical performance is cut and they consider her appearance with Cinder Calhoun as the musical performance), monologues missing or heavily edited. Many more I’ll remember as we hit each show.
Oh, man … January/whenever we reach 1999-2000 (the dregs of Mango’s overexposure) … that’s gonna be the pits.
I remember during the summer of this season all the SNL sites kept reporting that this was going to be Tim’s final season and the Jerry Steve Dave was supposed to be a possible send-off for him. Then like a week or so before the premiere they finally reported he was actually coming back. Was that just internet speculation or was Tim really not planning on returning at one point over that break? I think maybe he got married over that summer and was still deciding whether to return or not was what I remember, if I’m thinking of the right timeframe.
Also has it ever been said if McKinney was fired or left on his own? Didn’t seem to be any bad blood with him and Lorne since he appeared in all 3 of the SNL spin-off movies that came out in the next couple of years.
Farewell to Mark McKinney. Huge talent, but definitely underused and never got any big recurring characters or impressions going to distinguish him from the rest of the cast. His biggest characters were probably The Fops (and he lost that with departure of Koechner the year prior) and Steve Forbes (who, even though he hosted SNL and won a primary or two, was a rather obscure political figure).
It seems like this era if you didn’t have popular recurring characters/impressions or did Update…you weren’t going to excel on the show. That’s probably always been true on SNL for the most part, but particularly with this late 90s era.
A rumor I just remembered that was going at the time of his departure was Lorne not being pleased with Mark goofing on him in the Kids in the Hall movie. Though he didn’t really seem to have much of a problem with it when Mike did it a year later in Austin Powers, so I don’t know if I buy that.
He hasn’t let Mike come back to host a second time, has he?
Eh, more likely, it’s another behind-the-scenes NBC executive dictating who they think is and isn’t funny.
Here are the five star sketches from the 96-97 season:
Brokaw Pre-Tapes (Dana Carvey)
Street Gang (Robert Downey Jr.)
Lux 420XL (Phil Hartman)
Monologue (Martin Short)
Martha Stewart’s Home For the Holidays: Topless Christmas Special (Martin Short)
The Late Show With David Letterman (Kevin Spacey)
Star Wars 20th Anniversary Home Video 1 & 2 (Kevin Spacey)
Janet Reno’s Dance Party (Kevin Spacey)
Bill Brasky’s Funeral (Alec Baldwin)
Monologue (Mike Myers)
Space, the Intimate Frontier with Harry Caray (Jeff Goldblum)
12 sketches. A drop off from the previous year, though I’m surprised Celebrity Jeopardy didn’t make the cut. Also a bit surprised the Will Ferrell vomit edition of Update didn’t make it. Still, this season is SNL basically settling into the groove it would sustain until about 2004. Steady with some notable highlights.
“I’m surprised Celebrity Jeopardy didn’t make the cut”
I feel that Celebrity Jeopardy doesn’t reach five-star status until a little later on, when it becomes an established recurring sketch.
I think I’ve always had a greater fondness for the Bury Reynolds ones, although the best of them is for Norm’s return obviously. The Sean Connery ones are great obviously, but the Burt ones tickle me a bit more. Then again, they’re all so ubiquitous that I can basically take or leave them all.
Obviously I did not mean “Bury Reynolds”
Would Brasky’s Buddies from the Goodman episode technically qualify as a 5-star sketch? Even though Stooge gave the live version 4-stars due it being rushed as a result of the show running late, he gave the Dress Rehearsal version a full 5-star rating.
Promo for this episode. It’s dress rehearsal footage, which includes a Mr. Peppers sketch which got cut.
Here are the average ratings for Season 22:
*may not represent review’s perception*
2201: 6.6 (Tom Hanks)
2202: 6.6 (Lisa Kudrow)
2203: 6.2 (Bill Pullman)
2204: 7.4 (Dana Carvey)
2205: 7.3 (Chris Rock)
2206: 7.4 (Robert Downey Jr.)
2207: 7.3 (Phil Hartman)
2208: 7.8 (Martin Short)
2209: 6.4 (Rosie O’Donnell)
2210: 7.9 (Kevin Spacey)
2211: 7.2 (David Alan Grier)
2212: 6.6 (Neve Campbell)
2213: 5.9 (Chevy Chase)
2214: 6.9 (Alec Baldwin)
2215: 7.0 (Sting)
2216: 6.9 (Mike Myers)
2217: 7.7 (Rob Lowe)
2218: 5.9 (Pamela Lee)
2219: 7.4 (John Goodman)
2220: 6.8 (Jeff Goldblum)
Best Episode: 2210 (Kevin Spacey)- 7.9
Worst Episode: 2213 (Chevy Chase) + 2218 (Pamela Lee)- 5.9 (tie)
Season Average: 7.0
I’m curious what Vax Novier’s list of average ratings would look like if it was ranked from best episode to worst, so I’ll do it below:
2210: 7.9 (Kevin Spacey)
2208: 7.8 (Martin Short)
2217: 7.7 (Rob Lowe)
2204: 7.4 (Dana Carvey)
2206: 7.4 (Robert Downey Jr.)
2219: 7.4 (John Goodman)
2205: 7.3 (Chris Rock)
2207: 7.3 (Phil Hartman)
2211: 7.2 (David Alan Grier)
2215: 7.0 (Sting)
2214: 6.9 (Alec Baldwin)
2216: 6.9 (Mike Myers)
2220: 6.8 (Jeff Goldblum)
2201: 6.6 (Tom Hanks)
2202: 6.6 (Lisa Kudrow)
2212: 6.6 (Neve Campbell)
2209: 6.4 (Rosie O’Donnell)
2203: 6.2 (Bill Pullman)
2213: 5.9 (Chevy Chase)
2218: 5.9 (Pamela Lee)
For fun, here are this season’s episodes ranked from best to worst based on the “Immediate Post-Show Thoughts” that I wrote in my reviews:
Kevin Spacey
Martin Short
Rob Lowe
David Alan Grier
Dana Carvey
John Goodman
Robert Downey Jr.
Sting
Phil Hartman
Chris Rock
Mike Myers
Jeff Goldblum
Rosie O’Donnell
Neve Campbell
Lisa Kudrow
Alec Baldwin
Tom Hanks
Bill Pullman
Chevy Chase
Pamela Lee
And finally, I never got around to doing a tally of sketches I rated four-and-a-half stars this season, as a companion piece to Carson’s list, so here they are:
Creativity Test (Tom Hanks)
TV Funhouse: Clinton/Dole Debate (Bill Pullman)
Monologue (Dana Carvey)
Monologue (Chris Rock)
Russell Simmons’ Def Emergency Room Jam (Chris Rock)
Weekend Update (Robert Downey Jr.)
Milsford Spring Water (Robert Downey Jr.)
Shopping At Home Network (Robert Downey Jr.)
Acting Workshop (Phil Hartman)
Pacific Brigade (Phil Hartman)
Celebrity Jeopardy (Martin Short)
The Terry Gantner Family Workout (Martin Short)
New Rating System (Kevin Spacey)
TV Funhouse: State of the Union Address (Neve Campbell)
Monologue (Alec Baldwin)
Weekend Update (Sting)
Race and Racism (Sting)
Keds (Rob Lowe)
Perspectives (Rob Lowe)
Celebrity Jeopardy (John Goodman)
Weekend Update (John Goodman)
Ian Roberts from UCB appears in the Goth Talk sketch.
LFNY Counter:
Darrell Hammond: 5
Norm MacDonald: 3 (1 solo, 1 with Dana, 1 with Bob Dole)
Tim Meadows: 3
Will Ferrell: 2
Dana Carvey: 2 (1 solo, 1 with Norm)
Mark McKinney: 1
Molly Shannon: 1
Chris Kattan: 1
Alec Baldwin: 1
Bob Dole: 1 (With Norm)
Don Pardo: 1
John Cleese and Michael Palin: 1