October 4, 1997 – Matthew Perry / Oasis (S23 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRACTICE
hoping to become real Spartans, Craig & Arianna practice for tryouts

— A bit of a change of pace by having the Cheerleaders star in a cold opening.
— I got a laugh from the prostate exam part of a cheer that Craig and Arianna do.
— Funny bit about Arianna’s brother’s blow-up doll.
— This feels like a step backwards for this recurring sketch as a whole. I’ve never been crazy about the Cheerleaders sketches that just have Craig and Arianna doing various cheers for four minutes and occasionally having a conversation with each other in between the cheers, which basically sums up the first few sketches they appeared in, as well as tonight’s installment. I prefer the more recent (at this point in the show’s history) Cheerleaders sketches that involve actual storylines and various characters.
STARS: **½

OPENING MONTAGE
— The theme music is still the same one that was introduced in the preceding week’s season premiere, but the tempo is slowed WAY down tonight. This slower-tempo theme music doesn’t fit this opening montage at all. The faster-tempo theme was much more in line with this montage’s style.
— I do like the long saxophone note that’s played at the beginning of tonight’s theme music, though.

MONOLOGUE
host tries to get NYC residents to help re-create Friends fountain dance

— I like the older woman responding “F*** off!” to Matthew’s question about dancing in a water fountain.
— Adam McKay probably wrote this monologue, as we get an appearance from two of his Upright Citizens Brigade buddies, Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts, the latter of whom has probably the funniest part of this monologue, as a guy who all-too-eagerly takes his shirt off as soon as Matthew asks him the water fountain question.
— Funny scene with Matthew and a fat guy jovially dancing with each other in a water fountain while the “Friends” theme song plays.
STARS: ***½

COOKIE DOUGH SPORT
the drink replenishes sugar lost during exercise

— Hilarious concept, replacing Gatorade with cookie dough, of all things.
— I love the cookie dough-themed recreation of scenes from typical Gatorade commercials.
STARS: ****

CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Michael Keaton (host) & others exasperate Alex Trebek (WIF)

 

— The audience finally gives Norm’s Burt Reynolds impression the recognition applause it deserves when he’s shown during Will-as-Alex-Trebek’s introductions to each contestant.
— I like Trebek immediately replacing the “Renaissance” category with the much simpler category “Shapes”.
— I don’t understand Darrell’s John Travolta impression at all. It sounds nothing like Travolta, and just seems like Darrell’s doing a bad variation of his Bill Clinton voice. Once you hear Clinton in his Travolta voice, you can’t unhear it.
— Matthew’s Michael Keaton impression is cracking me up. I know a lot of SNL fans have found his Keaton impression baffling and nothing like the real thing (it doesn’t help that the wig and make-up do nothing to help Matthew resemble Keaton), but I definitely see what he’s going for, especially with the hesitant mannerisms and constant eyebrow raises. It’s all making me laugh.
— Michael Keaton: (dramatically) “I’m Batman!” Alex Trebek: “No, you are not.”
— I absolutely love how the Audio Daily Double for the “Name this continent” question is just a man saying “ASIA” in a booming, monotone voice.
— Wasn’t necessary to have Norm’s Burt Reynolds do the “Kick me” sign prank a second time.
— A big laugh from Travolta’s “Miso Horny” Final Jeopardy answer.
— Overall, another great Celebrity Jeopardy, though for me, these sketches haven’t quite reached five-star status yet. (And Darrell’s bad Travolta impression didn’t help.) IIRC, these sketches finally become five-star worthy with the next installment of this sketch later this season, even though Norm and his Burt Reynolds impression are unfortunately gone by that point.
STARS: ****½

SARCASM 101
students in (host)’s Sarcasm 101 class get first-hand irony experience

— After the opening sarcastic conversation between Matthew and the students, I like the eventual reveal that the class is named Sarcasm 101. This sarcasm premise seems perfect for Matthew, given his character on “Friends”.
— A laugh from Tim telling Ana “Whenever you talk, it makes me wanna have sex with you less.”
— Norm’s off-beat, idiotic one-liners are priceless.
— Interesting twist with Ana turning out to be a plant.
— When Norm is told that he cannot take a bath with Ana, I absolutely love the brief close-up of him just looking at the camera with a hilarious teeth-gritting facial expression (screencap below). That is an all-time classic Norm Macdonald image to me.

— Yet another hilarious bit from Norm (who’s providing my only real big laughs here, though I am enjoying the sketch), with him going “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!” You can tell that’s not part of the script, as Tim and some of the background extras are seen being genuinely amused by it. Also, pay attention to Will during that part: while Norm is going “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!”, Will still stays in character and just stares towards the camera in a comically dumbfounded manner.
— Speaking of Norm’s “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!”, he would later repeat it in his epic monologue when he hosts in season 25.
STARS: ***

THE LADIES’ MAN
old-fashioned player Leon Phelps (TIM) takes some calls

 

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— The lisp on Tim’s Leon Phelps is a nice touch.
— When a caller asks how he can spice up his love life, I love Leon’s response being a blunt “May I suggest you consider the butt?”, which is followed by the caller immediately hanging up the phone.
— Leon not knowing what self-esteem means is funny.
— Some laughs from Leon’s bad, insensitive advice to the overweight female caller.
— Tracy’s role as Leon’s stage manager ends up becoming a recurring character in these Ladies’ Man sketches, but gets dropped after a few installments and is now forgotten by SNL fans. I myself didn’t even remember Tracy’s recurring role in these early Ladies’ Man sketches until seeing it just now.
— An overall good debut for this sketch, and Tim already seems to have a good handle on this soon-to-be-big character of his.
STARS: ***½

SPACE, THE INFINITE FRONTIER WITH HARRY CARAY
Harry Caray (WIF) drifts into sci-fi

— I have mixed feelings about seeing this sketch officially become recurring. On one hand, Will’s Caray is always a hoot and the first installment of this sketch with Jeff Goldblum was a bonafide classic, but on the other hand, I already know they’ll never top that first installment and I’m worried the follow-ups will just come off as inferior imitations.
— I got a good laugh from Caray’s “Don’t jerk me around, Ronald, it’s a simple question!” line.
— Overall, this was very funny, but yeah, doesn’t measure up to the first installment. While Harry Carey had lots of funny absurd statements and questions tonight as usual, none of them really stood out as classic and some of them just felt like thinly-altered versions of some of the memorable lines from the first installment.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE

— Norm surprisingly does a Janet Reno joke that, for once, doesn’t end with a punchline about her being a man.
— Norm’s “forgetting to go to an evangelical group meeting” joke was so bad in itself, but he made it so damn funny with his delivery. It’s that weird Norm magic.
— No guest commentaries tonight.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Go Away”

MTV NEWS
Goat Boy sings with Willie Nelson (WIF) & Julio Iglesias (host)

— I think this is the only time Kincaid appears outside of season 22, but I’m not sure.
— Kincaid AND Goat Boy sketch in the same sketch? A rare occurrence of two unrelated recurring sketches colliding.
— Kincaid’s typical routine of reminiscing about pop culture is receiving dead silence from tonight’s audience. I still find it somewhat funny, though her routine feels more forced than usual in this sketch. If this indeed ends up being her final appearance, no big loss there. I’m surprised by how tolerant I’ve been of her in my reviews, though, considering I used to find her pretty insufferable when I was younger. Goat Boy, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. I used to find him pretty funny when I was younger, but he now does nothing for me.
— Hmm, the audience gives Kincaid nothing in this sketch, yet a minute later, they laugh heartily at the weak, one-note Goat Boy shtick that ran its course long ago. Go figure.
— Matthew’s Julio Iglesias impression is pretty funny. In fact, he’s been providing my ONLY laughs here.
— This feels like a jumbled, messy, unfunny mishmash of a sketch.
STARS: *½

THE KEVIN FRANKLIN SHOW
The Kevin Franklin Show will be different from the other black talk shows

— Interestingly, the title of this sketch, The Kevin Franklin Show, was actually used on SNL before, in another Tim Meadows-hosted talk show sketch back in the Danny Aiello episode from season 21. (Even the “The Kevin Franklin Show” logo is the exact same) However, the Kevin Franklin character that Tim played in that season 21 sketch appears to be different from the Kevin Franklin he’s playing in tonight’s sketch. He has a completely different look and personality. Makes me wonder why they bothered reusing the “The Kevin Franklin Show” title.
— A good parody of interchangeable urban talk shows from this era.
— Tim’s always able to get laughs with silly-but-likable characterizations like this.
STARS: ***

FRIENDS
host doesn’t care for COQ’s fey Chandler characterization in Friends skit

— I’m surprised tonight’s obligatory “Friends” parody is being buried so late in the episode. I feel like in more recent years, this would be the first sketch right after the monologue.
— I’ve seen much better Jennifer Aniston impressions in more recent years (including on SNL itself), but I can see what Cheri is going for with the Rachel mannerisms, especially the head-bobbing, which is pretty funny.
— Facially, Ana could not look any less like Phoebe, but her vocal imitation is pretty solid.
— Chris’ Ross impression is dead-on and hilarious.
— Speaking of Chris, he’s surprisingly been having a quiet season so far. He’s barely appeared in any sketches in these two episodes. Maybe I should be happy about that, considering the very next episode has him debuting a certain dreaded recurring character that would go on to define his SNL tenure (you can probably guess which character I’m speaking of).
— Speaking of underused cast members, the recently-promoted-to-repertory-player Colin Quinn is just now making his first live appearance of the whole season, after practically being shut out of the season premiere.
— Colin’s inaccurate foppish imitation of Chandler is very funny.
— I like Matthew visibly being thrown off by Colin’s baffling take on Chandler, but trying to stay in character as Joey.
— Yikes, Matthew screws up what was supposed to be a big laugh line. He tells Chris “Do yourself a favor and stick to characters that TALK!”, when the latter part of that line was obviously supposed to be “characters that DON’T TALK”. As you can imagine, this botched line results in confused silence from the audience. Oof. You can tell Matthew realized he screwed up the line, as he delivers his next line in an awkward, halting manner, as if he was distracted while probably thinking in his head “Wait, did I just fuck up that last line?” SNL would later show the dress rehearsal version of the second half of this sketch in reruns, where Matthew delivers his “characters that don’t talk” line correctly and the sketch in general flows better.
— The ending is also a bit different in reruns. In the live version I’m currently watching, the sketch ends with Matthew entering the set of “Friends” while saying in Colin’s foppish Chandler voice “Ooh-hoo, Chandler’s home!”, before the screen does a freeze-frame as the “Friends” ending music sting plays. The rerun version has Matthew’s “Ooh-hoo, Chandler’s home!” line being followed by a few more foppish lines from him before the freeze-frame and music sting occur.
STARS: *** for the live version, ***½ for the dress rehearsal version shown in reruns

THE GOLORDS
puppet siblings Mike & Sissy Golord rescue kidnap victim Bill Clinton

   

— An out-of-the-ordinary segment for SNL, which eventually becomes a recurring segment this season.
— The Asian whorehouse scene has some good laughs, especially the male Golord getting a “quickie”.
— I love the differing reactions that Bill Clinton and his impostor have to being shown a picture of Paula Jones.
— Some very funny gory visuals when the Golords are beating up the villains, such as one villain’s brains getting blown out all over the wall behind him when he gets shot (which receives groaning laughter from the audience) and another villain getting his heart pulled out through his stomach.
— Overall, this was surprisingly hilarious. When I last saw these Golords segments ages ago, I remember kinda dismissing them as an unnecessary alternative to TV Funhouse, but I now have gained much more appreciation for them during tonight’s viewing. I’m looking forward to seeing more installments of this.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Acquiesce”

GOOD MORNING WITH LIZA!
unstable Liza Minnelli (MOS) & Woody Allen (host)

— Meh, yet another example of SNL’s lazy habit of giving celebrity impressions their own talk show sketch. I can occasionally let it slide when it’s great stuff like Space The Infinite Frontier, but the idea of a talk show sketch hosted by Liza Minnelli doesn’t exactly excite me.
— I am kinda liking Molly’s unhinged, quivery take on Liza Minnelli. The sketch itself isn’t doing much for me, though.
— Yet another funny celebrity impression from Matthew tonight, with him now doing a spot-on Woody Allen.
STARS: **

DISCOVERING FAITH
a sober Kevin Franklin announces his new show- Discovering Faith

— I like how Tim-as-Kevin-Franklin’s hyped-up descriptions of “unusual, innovative” things his talk show will contain are actually just generic things that every talk show has.
— Interesting twist with a now-solemn and rehabilitated Kevin Franklin condemning his former self and announcing a retooled version of his show. The incomplete feel of the first Kevin Franklin Show promo earlier tonight now makes sense, as it just turns out they were waiting until later in the night to give us the payoff. This is more clever than funny, but still fairly well-done.
— Funny line from Kevin Franklin about not legally being allowed anywhere near a party anymore.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average episode. Not much else I can think of to say, other than it was a satisfying-enough episode with a few strong highlights that were buried among a sea of averageness, and there were a few sketches I could’ve done without.

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

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sylvester Stallone)
a mild step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Brendan Fraser