Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
OPRAH
Marv Albert (NOM) discusses his unusual sexual practices
— It’s noteworthy that this is the very first live SNL episode to have an NBC station bug in the bottom corner of the screen, as can be seen in this review’s screencaps.
— A laugh early on from Tim-as-Oprah’s “I lost 20 pounds!….aaaaand I gained 35” announcement when talking about her summer.
— A humorous way to tackle that summer’s Marv Albert scandal.
— Yet another great celebrity impression from Norm.
— Oprah: “Here’s the difference between you and me, Marv: I like to eat baklava, baby back ribs, and back bacon. But you like to eat back.” Marv Albert: “Yessss! And ASS!”
— Marv Albert: “Usually when I eat pizza, I do not have a FULL ERECTION!”
— Yet another funny line from Marv Albert, with his “It’s great to have the support of Rod!”, which is more funny for Norm’s delivery of it.
STARS: ****
OPENING MONTAGE
— New montage.
— Yikes. SNL, what are you doing with this montage? This is just plain bad. The graphics are overly simplistic and boring, and this has the distinction of being the only SNL opening montage to not show any New York City scenery. SNL opening montages and NYC scenery should go hand-in-hand. Overall, this is easily the worst opening montage in SNL history, in my opinion.
— I recall hearing that there was a new Ed Sullivan Show commercial at this time that the style of this SNL opening montage seemed to be inspired by. I’m curious to see that Ed Sullivan commercial for myself, just to compare to this opening montage.
— The new theme music isn’t bad, though, and the fast tempo of it fits this montage well. Speaking of the new theme music, it’s actually different from the one that would soon go on to be regularly used for this montage.
— Colin Quinn has been promoted from featured player to repertory player.
— After debuting a year ago, TV Funhouse now has the honor of being credited in the opening montage, being billed as “A Cartoon by Robert Smigel”, which feels like a nice throwback to how the opening montage in season 1 used to credit “A Film by Albert Brooks”.
MONOLOGUE
trainer Mickey (JMB) advises host- “less Cop Land, more Rocky”
— Jim’s impression of Burgess Meredith’s Mickey character from “Rocky” is cracking me the hell up, though I’m aware that some SNL fans at the time considered it a bit tasteless, considering Burgess Meredith had recently passed away.
— Funny walk-on from Tracy as Mr. T (wearing the same camouflage pants Tracy wore as Mike Tyson in the cold opening).
— A fun, energetic turn this monologue takes at the end when Sylvester allows himself to go full-on Rocky.
STARS: ***½
XEROX ASSJET 790
the Xerox Assjet 790 photocopier is optimized for office hijinks
— Every time I’ve seen this commercial in the past, I’ve always howled at the part where Will as the spokesman asks us, in regards to a sophisticated copier, “But can it copy your ass?” as Jim is seen in the background accidentally crashing ass-first through the copy machine. During that part, you can hear screaming laughter from a woman in the audience.
— It’s Colin Quinn’s first episode as a repertory player, and he makes his ONLY appearance of the whole night in a brief, silent role in a pre-taped ad. Geez. An early sign of the huge struggle for airtime Colin is going to have in the first half of this season, before he gets the Weekend Update anchorperson gig mid-season when Norm gets canned.
— A particularly funny feature of the Assjet, with the butt-shaped bucket that you place your ass onto.
— A very funny and solid execution of a juvenile premise.
STARS: ****
NEW CAR
Rita Delvecchio is excited when husband (host) brings home a new Cadillac
— I’m kinda surprised they’re leading off the season premiere with this, but I’m not complaining, as I always like this character and find her to have more depth than most of this era’s recurring characters.
— Interesting how we now get to see Rita Delvecchio’s husband for the first time ever.
— The car alarm saying “Back away from the freakin’ car” in a monotone goombah voice made me laugh way more than it should’ve.
— I like Rita’s anger over Molly having ridden in the new car first.
— We get a Frank Stallone reference from Sylvester.
STARS: ***½
ACCIDENT
car wreck victims (NOM) & (ANG) slam host’s career when he comes to help
— Here comes one of my all-time favorite Norm Macdonald sketches.
— Seems to be a car theme in tonight’s sketches so far.
— Great premise of a dying Norm calling out Sylvester on his bad movies.
— I got a huge laugh from Norm’s sudden yell of “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I just remembered ‘Staying Alive’!”
— I particularly love the part right now with Norm snarking on the ridiculous premise of “Over The Top”, involving Sylvester arm-wrestling for the custody of his son (I can’t even describe that movie’s premise with a straight face).
— Sylvester’s a good sport to allow this sketch.
— Will, to Sylvester: “The man is injured and he happens to think ‘Tango & Cash’ is jackass, so you hit him?!?”
— Norm, in a panicked, half-conscious manner: “Stop… Stop… Stop… Or My Mom Will Shoot sucked.” I also love Sylvester begrudgingly repeating to everybody “He said ‘Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot’ SUCKED!!!”
— A priceless ending with Will finding a copy of “Rambo” in Norm’s possession, only for it to turn out to be a porno titled “Rambone”.
STARS: *****
THE ROXBURY GUYS
Roxbury Guys take Rocky (host) on the town & teach him how to dance
— Meh, this sketch again, although having this installment be a crossover with “Rocky” has promise and might add some new life to this recurring sketch.
— This is the third consecutive sketch tonight to involve a car. Just a random little thing I’ve been noticing.
— I like the turn with Rocky’s “I can’t dance!” outburst.
— Sylvester’s performance is fun, and is helping to make this sketch more tolerable than most of the latest Roxbury Guys installments.
— Not sure what the point is of Rocky being joined by a large group of kids dressed as the Roxbury Guys. Seems corny to me. Maybe this is just SNL’s way of showing how much the popularity of the Roxbury Guys sketches has been taking the nation by storm, much like how a Halloween sketch that SNL did in the preceding season involved, at one point, two trick-or-treating kids dressed as the Spartan Cheerleaders. Is there a “kids dressed as Mary Katherine Gallagher” sketch that SNL eventually does, to complete the trifecta?
STARS: ***
INVESTIGATION
Janet Reno (WIF) mulls Clinton fund-raising charges; Richard Jewell cameo
— I have to laugh at how the real Richard Jewell showed up just to punch Will’s Janet Reno in the gut and then immediately leave.
— I am kinda liking the montage of Reno in deep thought at various locations.
— This overall sketch felt a little weak and seemed kinda underdeveloped compared to other Janet Reno sketches.
STARS: **½
TV FUNHOUSE
“Fun With Real Audio” by RBS- flatulence dominates Casablanca outtakes
— I can appreciate a well-done fart gag, but man, this cartoon is NOT working for me and is very one-note.
— That’s it? The cartoon is over? I was hoping this would take an unexpected turn. Overall, this is, by far, my least favorite TV Funhouse to air up to this point.
STARS: **
WEEKEND UPDATE
Cinder Calhoun sings “Sausage of Pain” to protest existence of hot dogs
though Richard Jewell [real] has been cleared, NOM is still suspicious
— The audience reactions to some of Norm’s jokes are pretty delayed.
— Did I just hear Norm say “flemale” instead of “female” during the WNBA joke?
— Ana’s Cinder Calhoun character, who made her debut in an ensemble sketch the preceding season, now makes her first Weekend Update appearance, with a bit of a different physical appearance.
— Good characterization from Ana here.
— A pretty good laugh from the little touch with Cinder Calhoun’s accented pronunciation of the word “Latina”.
— Funny “Sausage of Pain” song from Cinder.
— Boy, Norm could not look any less interested during this Cinder Calhoun commentary.
— Another Richard Jewell cameo.
— Meh, this Richard Jewell commentary isn’t too funny, but I am liking Norm’s delivery throughout it.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Joe Pesci (JMB) is upset with host for stealing his co-stars
— A nice deviation from SNL’s usual straightforward musical guest intros.
— I like Jim’s Pesci complaining about being in the movie “8 Heads In A Duffel Bag” “with freakin’ David Spade ova here”.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Alright”
THE COMPUTER STATION
Orange Julius holdover (host) waits on customer (WIF) in computer store
— Already a laugh right from the start of this sketch, with Sylvester entering with a disheveled, seedy look.
— A hilarious off-beat characterization from Sylvester, who’s doing a great job in this role.
— Will is equally great, doing a terrific straight man as usual.
— So many funny lines from Sylvester, especially him confusing a vending machine for a computer.
— Interesting new hairstyle from Tim this season, which eventually grows into long dreads over the course of these next few seasons.
— I love Tim trying to convince Will to buy the vending machine just to appease Sylvester.
— Very funny ending with Sylvester at Orange Julius.
STARS: *****
THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS
— After being away for two seasons, Deep Thoughts returns, under the new title of “The Lost Deep Thoughts”. Feels weird hearing someone other than Phil Hartman doing the voice-over intro for this.
PLANET HOLLYWOOD
at Planet Hollywood opening, fans (JMB) & (TRM) eventually tick off host
— Tons of camera-mugging from Jim here, reminding me of his mugging-directly-at-the-camera performance in that old lady sketch he did in the Tom Arnold episode from season 21.
— Tracy has noticeably lost weight over the summer, beginning a gradual transformation that we’ll be seeing these next few seasons until we get a thin Tracy in his last three seasons.
— Tracy, when meeting Sylvester: “You better than Gumby, dammit!”
— Tracy is really funny in this. Jim’s making me laugh too (yes, even his direct-to-camera mugging), but Tracy’s performance is standing out to me.
— I like Jim telling Sylvester “I gotta say……. I thought you were bigger, man!”
STARS: ***½
LOU’S LOVELY DAUGHTERS
homely (ANG), (MOS), Maria (CHO) need men
— A hilarious look for Cheri’s soon-to-be-recurring character Maria, and I like how she’s spending most of the sketch just silently staring at the camera.
— I love the voice Darrell’s using as the caller.
— A pretty good laugh from Maria’s accordion-playing.
— Good reveal of one of the daughters being pregnant (and smoking a cigarette to boot).
STARS: ***
MORE SONGS I REWROTE TO HONOR DEAD PEOPLE
Elton John’s (WIF) album features More Songs I Wrote To Honor Dead People
— A laugh from Elton John’s Jimmy Stewart tribute song being a sloppily-altered version of the song “Daniel”, titled “Your Name’s Not Daniel”.
— Wow, after only about 40 seconds, this sketch suddenly gets cut off by a commercial break right when Will’s Elton John started launching into another song. The show has obviously run out of time, forcing them to abort this sketch mid-progress. This sketch got cut off so early that I have to wonder what in the world made SNL think they had enough time to perform the full sketch. Why not just air a pre-taped fake ad in this spot instead?
— I believe they would later show the full version of this sketch in reruns, but I’m not 100% sure, as it’s been ages since I’ve last seen the rerun version of this sketch.
STARS: N/A (incomplete sketch)
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good start to the season. There was a bit of a slump in the middle of the show shortly before Weekend Update, but the show as a whole was enjoyable and contained two personal favorite sketches of mine (Accident and The Computer Station). I’m also glad that, aside from Roxbury Guys, this season premiere didn’t go overboard with overexposed or soon-to-be-overexposed characters the way the preceding year’s Tom Hanks-hosted season premiere did.
— Sylvester Stallone kinda surprised me with how good and funny of a host he was. I liked him a lot in this episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1996-97)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Matthew Perry
For anyone who hasn’t heard the story, this episode marks the end of Frank Stallone jokes on SNL. Sylvester asked Norm what was the point of the jokes, and he said it wasn’t targeting Frank at all; it just was funny as a non sequitur punchline. Stallone mentioned that Frank was in a bad place in his career and asked if Norm would do him a personal favor and drop the bit, which Norm did.
Man, the opening credits for this season sucked. The use of the headshots (too big), the color bars, and even the font for the cast members’ names were bad. I’m really glad it was used for one season only.
The kids following Rocky is taken from the training montage in Rocky II
Stallone certainly has a good sense of humor, but I would have pegged him more as “a good sense of humor in a certain defined way”–as in, I could have easily predicted the Rocky sketches but not the Norm insulting him and certainly not the Orange Julius one. The Norm as the accident victim sketch is one of my favorite sketches of all time.
Arguably Stallone in more recent years is a bigger star than Stallone in 1997, so I’m sort of surprised he didn’t host again, but I have a feeling that may not have gone as well.
Weird seeing Richard Jewell in this as the Richard Jewell movie is about to open.
The guy playing Jewell would be perfect if they ever made a Farley biopic. That actor (who also started off as a comedy guy originally) is kinda having the career Farley seemed to want before he died, playing all the famous fat guys in every biopic now.
There’s probably no point in saying this since it’s already been commented on…but yes…this opening montage is THE WORST. Just downright terrible. Boring, bland, and bad. The headshots are all really washed out (look at the pic of Molly…you can barely see her nose)…maybe that’s just the quality of the tape you’re watching this episode. But man, who thought this was a good idea? Ugh…
The montage is something you might expect from a reboot season like 95-96, where perhaps they weren’t sure if the show was going to survive. But at this point, you know things are going well, why look so cheap?
The full version of the Elton John sketch was indeed in the rerun. I taped the live show obsessively from January 1998 until May 2004, including reruns of 97-98 if I didn’t have the live version. It’s been a good while since I’ve dug up the tape back home, but I remember one of the songs to the tune of “Rocketman”:
“Red Skeltooooon, he had his own TV show”
Yeah I remember thinking they played it during a Rob Lowe rerun a few weeks later, replacing Ana Gasteyer’s Janet sketch at the time. It was a good one, too bad it was cut from most reruns. Can’t remember if it made it into the 60-minute versions of this episode on Comedy Central or not. I also managed to get that on tape and remember rewatching it a bunch, thought it was really well done.
Definitely remember that Red Skelton/Rocket Man one now that you mention it. Also remember a great Andre The Giant/Crocodile Rock song in there somewhere, and a Robert Wuhl tribute because Elton cant remember if hes dead or not sung to Bennie and the Jets.
Sadly, Norm starts to seem more and more checked out as this season goes on. It could also be the shit audience thats ticking him off, some nights they’re dead silent for most of his jokes this season.
Yes in the NBC All Night rerun of the Rob Lowe show the Janet sketch is absent and the Elton Sketch is in its place. I thought I was crazy when I didn’t see it in the Rob Lowe review.
I’ve always enjoyed this version of the theme. Fast tempo with a lot of energy. It is slowed down in the next show and gone by the third. It does come back once or twice at the beginning of next season. Also, it would be used up until 2006 for the promo spots that aired before the 11/10 o’clock local news right before the show on Saturdays.
I mentioned the titles a while ago elsewhere on my blog; But in regards to them getting “Inspiration from the Ed Sullivan show” for the titles, my only guess is that somebody in the creative department was watching one of the Syndicated Rerun Re-packagings that aired around that time (and still air on the Digital Channel “Decades”). Your guess is as good as mine where the disconnect is between them & SNL, but maybe we’re all missing something…
https://youtu.be/3bPgOCn3bW8?t=3
And since THAT Link no longer exists, here’s a fresher (and better quality) version…
Here’s a question:
Would anyone consider the Season 23 credits better or worse than Season 6 and/or the first four episodes of Season 11?
I would personally say it’s a tie between s23 and the first four of s11.
I don’t recall that early season 11 montage well enough to comment, but I thought season 6 wasn’t bad… very new wave/1980, as it should be
As a huge Rocky fan, it killed me in the Roxbury sketch when it was obvious that Stallone doesn’t know the lyrics to Eye of the Tiger. That was the moment in my life when I realized there couldn’t be a God.
And yeah the kids running after him was an homage to the famous training sequence in Rocky 2.
I always liked this episode. Stallone was a good sport. He’s kind of goofy too, which is something I appreciate.
For much of this season it seemed to start to become a more regular thing for musical guests to only get one song. Any story behind that?
That was one of the big pushes by NBC, they were recording the ratings on a minute-by-minute basis and found that ratings dipped for musical guests and Update, which leads us to Norm’s undoing.
I should note that in this AV Club article, the 1997 credits are a FAVOURITE of those being interviewed.
https://tv.avclub.com/40-years-of-inspired-graphic-design-in-snl-s-title-sequ-1798248042
I’m in the minority in that I don’t mind the opening credits, but there’s no excuse not to throw NYC monuments in the background and/or some of the dancing lines to break up the monotony of the kitschy 1950s-inspired design (which, IMO, was overexposed to hell by the late 1990s). It’s not like SNL can’t rejig credits on a dime, like it did in 2006-07 where the finalized logo doesn’t appear until the third episode IIRC. It’s a minor thing, but SNL doesn’t return to “here’s our castmembers interacting in the city” for a few years, and the show realizes that’s its opening-credit calling card at this point.
The intro to this year is just putrid and lame.. I’m honestly surprised Jean didn’t do something like it in 1980 as it seems like a bad decision she woulda made. Like who serriously approved this? If Lorne was 100% behind it it’s one of his worst decisions lol.
I’d rate the early season 11 intro to this way higher any day. It at least had heart put into it and had some NYC in the background.. granted it was cheap as hell too but nowhere as lame as this one’s. 1980’s hasn’t aged well with all the goofy effects to it (the wagging horse tail on the cop’s horse makes me cringe like crazy) but it at least was very competent.
Sly made for a darn good host.. shame he never did it again. He always had great comedic timing just never picked a winning project movie wise to show say besides Demolition Man. Here’s he’s allowed to show it and he does well. Plus Cop Land came out around this time and it’s one of my faves.. winning move to do this show on his part. I still wish he hosted again in 2006 when Rocky 6 came out.. woulda helped the movie make more $ and the cast was strong that year he coulda had a good time.
Everyone else already said it about these awful credits – I’ve always said the 94-95 credits are the worst for me, and they probably still are because at that point in the show they should have done much better, but these are a real eyesore. The grainy black and white photos used for the cast and the host make zero sense to me. For whatever reason the late ’90s and early ’00s have a lot of this failed type of pseudo-artistic stuff in credits and bumpers.
What stands out most for me in this episode is how Will Ferrell takes over pretty much all the straight man roles in the absence of Mark McKinney. Even the Elton John role is something McKinney would have probably done in the previous two seasons. While Will is a more than adequate straight man, it’s not really his strong suit, and relying on him so heavily in both roles is one of the reasons SNL will begin struggling so much with the male side of their cast in these years.
The material wasn’t up to much but Jim Breuer’s energy really helps keep all his sketches going. One thing I’ll say about him is even though he mugs, I never feel like it’s in the nakedly desperate way of some in this time period.
Tina Fey wrote about some of her experiences with this episode – the one which most pertains to what we watched is that Cheri Oteri wanted to play Adrian but it was decided Kattan would be funnier. I think Cheri would have been pretty good.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/apr/18/tina-fey-bossypants-autobiography-comedian
On the subject of Cheri, I wasn’t too thrilled with the Rita sketch in this episode. I feel like when they bring in too many characters for her sketches, she loses her originality and we just get stuff like we got here that you could have found in any loud sitcom. The beauty of the Rita solo sketches is just getting a snapshot of Cheri’s energy and her sense of timing.
I agree with the comments about Stallone being a surprisingly good comedian – put to best use in the Orange Julius sketch. Stallone had tried comedy in the early ’90s, but the public wasn’t interested. I’m glad he got more of a chance here.
As much as Norm loved Update, I think his true talent was in sketches, and this episode just makes that even more of a sure thing for me. The cold open is powered by his performance, and his work in the car crash sketch helps make it a classic piece. Update by this point just feels lethargic – I think the Reagan jokes and the paparazzi joke (a topic Smigel will really tear into soon) were the only parts worth remembering.
Stallone’s reference to “ER” being live reminds me of all the hype they got at the time for having a live season premiere (the episode itself ended up being somewhat panned).
I’ll jump in a bit on the talk of the opening credits: I think the lines motif is pretty cool actually, a nice retro-modern hybrid. The cast pictures however are terrible and the like of cityscape footage feels off brand. That said, I think the 98-00 credits are even worse. Sure, there’s a vague nod to New York in the credits, but only a token amount. The staff pictures are bland as hell and motif is basically nothing. Frankly, the show’s credits don’t get interesting again until 2003.
If I’m gonna be honest…I think I like the opening credits. Not love them, however. I do like that sort of Retro-modernist vibe, and the font really reminds me of both the Klutz books and Arby’s since a similar font is used by both. That being said, It could use a lot more color. More bars and the cast photos gotta be in color too. I do like what they were attempting to do, and having the guts to not show the City for a season. Still, I wouldn’t say it’s the worst. I think that one episode of Season 6 is worse, and yes, I know it was made in a rush, and yes I’m cheating here, but If you really want me to use a full season intro, I’m gonna have to go to Season 20.
I think you’re right about the need for color here—it would have helped.
That one Ebersol/season 6 episode open actually reminds me of the original LN w/David Letterman open, just recreated with stills.
The other season 6 open reminds of season 1, just with photos of post-punk NYC (instead of the holdover 1960s look of the season 1 pics). One thing I don’t like, though: they used videotape instead of film for season 6 (I think) and it looks a little cheap/grainy
I want to correct something I had stated in the comment section of the ’96 Jim Carrey episode. According to schedules posted on the old SNL newsgroup, THIS was the last episode Comedy Central ran while they still had the rights to the 1980-2001 SNL catalog. It turns out they aired three additional episodes the day after the “Top 50” marathon concluded.
Personally, I think the 2001 Walken episode would’ve been a more fitting choice as it was last one CC had the rights to and it had a sense of closure with all the references to it being the season finale. It did end up being the penultimate episode, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.
Marci Klein on Fly on the Wall said she, Ferrell and McKay had to visit the set of Copland to try and convince Stallone to host the show.
Being completely honest, I actually like this intro of the show mainly because of the cast photos and theme. I remember actually calling this my favorite of all time but I no longer feel that way (it’s now the one for the following two seasons).